I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Till the landslide brought me down
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
Chapter Nine: Landslide
"Faith Johnson" Sheriff Forbes said to Elena, holding the girls ID in her hands "That was her name"
"She wasn't from here, was she?" Jeremy asked
"No, her driver's license says she was from Richmond" Sheriff Forbes said
"…How old was she?" Elena asked
"Her birthday was…January 9th, 1993." Sheriff Forbes said "…Isn't that your birthday Elena?"
"…Yeah" Elena said and nodded a little and Sheriff Forbes walked off and Elena turned to Jeremy
"Damon and Stefan are on their way over" Jeremy sighed
"Jeremy, she had the same birthday as me" Elena said "Someone killed her to warn us. They want me dead"
"Elena, it could just be a coincidence" Jeremy sighed "Don't worry about it, okay?"
"Don't worry about it? There's a dead body in our kitchen Jeremy!" Elena hissed "You can't just tell me to not worry about it and that everything is going to be okay!"
"You're going to have to trust me then Elena" Jeremy sighed "I'll handle it" Jeremy said and walked over to the door to let Damon and Stefan in who managed to get by the cops and everyone else outside the Gilbert House now
Damon and Stefan stood there for a minute, waiting to know if Elena wanted to walk over to them and get away from where she had been frozen in place since someone grabbed her, or if Elena wanted them to come over to her. Instead, Elena walked over to them, and right into Stefan's arms. Not Damon, but Stefan. Stefan didn't know what to do at first when Elena wrapped her arms around him and started crying, Stefan looked over to Damon and tried to tell him he didn't mean for this to happen, but Damon obviously didn't want to hear it since he walked away before Stefan could explain anything. With Damon gone, Stefan just sighed and held Elena there and tried to make her calm down, but she just kept crying and crying and through her hysterics, Stefan swore she was trying to tell him what happened, but she was crying too much for him to understand, so he would have to wait until she calmed down. Jeremy walked over to Damon who was in the kitchen now talking to Sheriff Forbes trying to figure out what was going on.
"So you and Elena don't know her?" Sheriff Forbes asked Jeremy as Jeremy was watching the coroners start moving her bloody body
"No, never met her before" Jeremy sighed "Elena said there was something about a girl down here too, another one. Elena screamed and she said she cut her off, she put her hand over her mouth, tried to stop her from screaming but…when I came down here it was just her" Jeremy said and noticed Damon listening closely now
"Did she see her?" Sheriff Forbes asked
"No" Jeremy sighed
"Alright, well, we'll look into it" Sheriff Forbes sighed "We're going to need to talk to you, Elena, and Jenna tomorrow down at the station"
"Okay" Jeremy nodded, "I'll tell Jenna"
Sheriff Forbes walked away leaving Damon and Jeremy there.
"Where is Jenna?" Damon asked curiously
"She saw the body and…she had to go to the bathroom after that" Jeremy sighed
"Not one for blood and gore I'm guessing, huh?" Damon asked
"Nope" Jeremy said "I don't know how we are gonna tell her though about this. I think if there was anyone in here with Elena, it must have been a vampire" Jeremy said
"How though? Elena's wearing her necklace and you're-" Damon looked down at Jeremy's wrist to see that he wasn't wearing the bracelet Elena gave him "Where's your bracelet?" Damon asked
"It must be up in my room" Jeremy said "Elena asked that too, she said someone was at the door and I answered it, but I remember going up to my room and asking Elena to get me a glass of water" Jeremy said
"…This cannot be good" Damon sighed and walked over to the front door again, and there away from all the traffic of people walking in and out under a table by the door was Jeremy's missing vervain bracelet. Jeremy walked over and picked it up and it was then that he knew Elena was right, someone was at the door and was desperate to get in obviously to rip off Jeremy's bracelet. "You, Elena, and Jenna are not safe in the house anymore" Damon said
"Well it's not like we can just get up and move because a vampire compelled me to let them in" Jeremy hissed
"Then I guess me, Stefan, and Caroline are going to have to be on guard duty every night until we catch whoever this is" Damon said
"You guys don't need to protect us Damon" Jeremy said
"Listen Indiana Jones," Damon said "You were just compelled by a vampire who obviously doesn't give a crap that she was burned by vervain to rip your little bracelet off. I don't think she'll back down to you and Alaric playing Van Helsing. You need us here"
"…Fine, but you've got to talk to Elena about that, not me" Jeremy sighed "I'm gonna go check on Jenna" Jeremy said and walked upstairs
Damon stood there for a minute and looked into the living room and still saw a fragile Elena curled up in Stefan's arms on the couch. Damon wanted to go in there and rip Stefan to shreds even though he saw he did nothing. Why did Elena run to Stefan? Why didn't she run to him? He thought things were going well earlier in the day, especially after they kissed.
"There was a girl" Elena said finally without the hysterical crying to go along with it "I didn't see her, I think she was going to try to take me if I didn't scream" Elena sniffled "A-And the girl in the kitchen…she has the same birthday as me, year and everything, that has to mean something" Elena said
"Whoever it is, their trying to get our attention" Stefan sighed
"Well, I can say it rules out Stefan the Ripper here, I was with him the whole night" Damon said "Which means, we have another ripper in town and their after Elena. And Jeremy invited them in" Damon said
"Someone really was at the door?" Elena asked Damon now
"Yep. So you're not crazy. They just ripped the bracelet right off of him, didn't give a damn about the vervain, and compelled their way in here" Damon said
"I don't wanna be alone tonight" Elena sniffled
"I'll stay with you" Damon said
"…Oh…okay" Elena said and Damon noticed she sounded disappointed actually and grabbed Stefan's shirt and pulled herself closer to him
Damon just bit back whatever he was going to say to Elena and Stefan getting too close for comfort and he heard someone knocking on the door behind him. He turned around and opened it up to see Felecia there.
"Uh, can you get someone to let me in?" Felecia asked
"Yeah, hold on" Damon sighed
"Whoa, what's up with you?" Felecia asked, noticing Damon sounded off compared to his cocky self that he was earlier
"…When you come in, you'll see" Damon sighed and walked upstairs to get Jeremy who was standing outside the bathroom "Go invite Felecia in, I'll be on Jenna duty" Damon sighed and Jeremy nodded and walked downstairs to invite Felecia in
"Jeremy?" Damon heard Jenna ask weakly through the door
"Wrong guy" Damon said
"Oh great, what are you doing here?" Jenna asked
"Apparently, taking care of you for the moment, so, what?" Damon asked
"Can you go in my bedroom and get my necklace off my nightstand" Jenna sighed
"…Why would you need your necklace?" Damon asked curiously
"Jeremy told me I should have it on even though I'm in here, no idea why though" Jenna sighed
"Oh, okay, fine" Damon sighed and walked down to Jenna's bedroom, he could pick up the necklace as long as he didn't touch the actual part that was filled with vervain
Damon opened Jenna's bedroom door and instantly knew something was wrong, someone was in here. He saw the window wide open and knew Jenna didn't do that, every time Damon visited Elena through her bedroom window, Jenna always had hers shut, she was terrified to leave it open and with good reason. Damon walked over to the window and shut it and he grabbed Jenna's necklace off the nightstand. He smelled something in the room too, blood. He looked down over by Jenna's closet which was wide open and he saw a bloody white shirt on the ground in front of the closet. He picked it up and it smelled like that girl Faith's blood that was all over the kitchen. So Damon had two thoughts. Either Jenna was the killer which was highly unlikely; or, the killer came in here, ditched her bloody t-shirt, and just grabbed one of Jenna's shirts before she left through her window. Which made more sense than Jenna going physco, killing some random person, and trying to kidnap her own niece who she lived with. Damon picked up the shirt and walked out of the room and opened the door a little and put Jenna's necklace on the counter for her.
"Thanks" Jenna said and Damon shut the bathroom door again
"No problem" Damon sighed and Jeremy was walking up stairs again and saw Damon with the bloody t-shirt
"What's that?" Jeremy asked
"Tell you later, I'm putting it in your room for now though, got it?" Damon asked
"Yeah, sure" Jeremy said and Damon put the shirt in Jeremy's room before walking back downstairs. Elena was still curled up with Stefan and Felecia was in there now too, trying to figure out what to really make of the entire situation.
"You think it's anyone you know?" Damon asked her
"Well, it can't be Elizabeth, she's in Verona" Felecia said "She doesn't mangle them up that bad"
"You sure about that?" Damon asked "I found a bloody shirt up in Aunt Jenna's room, and since we can say obviously she's not the killer, maybe the scent is of someone you know" Damon said
"I'll check it out" Felecia sighed and let her glance drift over to Elena and Stefan "What's up with that?" She whispered to Damon
"Don't know" Damon whispered back
"Well, on that note. I'm gonna go check on that shirt" Felecia sighed
"It's in Jeremy's room" Damon said
"Okay" Felecia said and walked off
It must have been two hours before everything calmed down and the cops left. Even though Stefan and Damon insisted on Elena not cleaning up all that blood in the kitchen, she did it anyway. Stefan left a half hour after that and so did Felecia, not being able to pick up a familiar scent from the shirt. Jeremy finally got Jenna to stop throwing up and back in bed before he finally went to sleep too, and Elena took a shower and got ready for bed all over again. She walked into her room as if the floor was going to collapse from right under her feet and made her way over to her bed where Damon was sitting, waiting for her.
"You didn't have to be here tonight Damon" Elena said
"Why? Did you want Stefan here? I can go get him if you prefer him to protect you?" Damon asked and Elena noticed the anger in his voice
"Damon…I'm sorry" Elena sighed "I just…ran to Stefan. I don't know why. But I did"
"So what? You don't want-"
"Damon" Elena cut him off "I don't wanna go there tonight. I just want some sleep"
"…Okay" Damon sighed and got off the bed and let Elena get herself situated in bed and he took a seat in the chair over by the window across from Elena's bed so he could keep and eye on her tonight.
He saw Elena toss and turn and try to go to sleep, but she never did. It must have been an hour of watching her toss and turn before she finally sat up in bed again and looked over at Damon.
"Will you come sleep by me?" Elena asked him
"So now you want me over there?" Damon asked
"Damon" Elena whined
"Just tell me why you ran to Stefan" Damon said
"…I guess I still felt…safe with him" Elena said
"And you don't feel safe with me?" Damon asked
"No! I mean, I do feel safe with you Damon, it's just…Stefan used to always be right there and protect me from everything and…I guess I just wanted to feel like that again" Elena said
"So you feel safer with Stefan?" Damon asked
Elena looked down at her hands and didn't know what to say. It was the truth. She did feel safer with Stefan down there. She didn't know why, but she did. Even after everything her and Damon had gone through, she still ran to Stefan.
"I want to say no, but…" Elena sighed
Damon stood up from where he was standing now and fought everything inside of him that was screaming 'Go kill Stefan now! Go kill the murderer who caused all of this now! Show Elena who she really can feel safe with!'. Damon instead walked over to the window and opened it up and started leaving.
"Where are you going?" Elena asked nervously
"To go get Stefan. You feel safer with him" Damon said calmly
"No, please Damon, don't" Elena said
"Stefan will be here in a few minutes" Damon sighed and was about to shut the window behind him
"DAMON! NO!" Elena cried out and got out of bed and raced over to the window and Damon saw tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to pry his fingers off the window so she could open the window back up
Damon eventually let go when he saw her fumbling and she opened the window back up and leaned out the window and wrapped her arms around Damon's neck.
"Please don't leave" Elena said and Damon heard her crying as she buried her face into his neck and held onto him with all of her strength.
Damon put his arm around Elena and slowly made his way back through the window and scooped up the crying Elena into his arms. She was so fragile right now, like a porcelain doll. She knew something was coming for her, and she wanted to feel safe. She also probably felt sorry for the family of Faith. Elena was a caring person, she always felt the pain of death, even if someone she didn't know died, it still felt like someone died to her. Damon gently rested her down onto her bed, but she never let go of Damon and he had to lay down next to her in bed now. Damon laid there and held her close, never letting go, and he let her cry until she was done crying. Once the tears were done and over with, Elena grabbed onto Damon's shirt and pulled herself closer to him and she just laid there with her head on Damon's chest, listening for a heartbeat she knew she would never hear.
"Damon" Elena finally said and she heard her voice crack
"Yeah?" Damon asked
"I do feel safe with you" Elena said
"…You don't have to lie to keep me here" Damon sighed
"I'm not lying" Elena said "I do feel safe with you. I'm just really scared" Elena sniffled
"…Elena. I don't care who you feel safer with. I'll always be here for you" Damon sighed "And you know that"
"Thanks" Elena said
And just before Elena was about to drift off to sleep, she looked up at Damon and gave him a unexpected kiss. But it wasn't a kiss that sparked a make out session. It was just a peck on the lips and Elena situated herself again and she fell asleep on Damon's chest. Damon smiled a little one he heard her drift off to sleep and her heartbeat regulated itself and her breathing slowed down to how it normally was whenever Elena slept. He was just happy that she didn't want him to leave, and even though she claimed to feel safer with Stefan, it was still nice to know that she felt safe enough with Damon.
A/N: Okay, so the reason I made Elena run to Stefan, is because she used to date Stefan, you know how protective he was of her. And she just wanted to feel that again, even though Damon is just as protective of her, Elena and Damon haven't really had a real boyfriend/girlfriend relationship yet like Elena and Stefan have, so, she felt safer with Stefan back there. BUT, in the end, she didn't want Damon to leave to go get Stefan, proving that she does feel safe with Damon, and she will eventually feel safer with Damon over time.
Oh, I forgot the rose thing! Oh well, Damon will bring her roses in the next chapter, it didn't really fit this chapter anyway, it was more Elena trying to tell everyone what happened and such :)
I hope you guys like this chapter! Now, i have to go do homework which sucks :/
xoxo, Avril