A/N: Thank you so much for your amazing reviews! :):):)
I can't believe that we only have seven chapters left! How did that happen?! I also can't believe how long this chapter is lol If the remaining chapters are going to be that long, I'm afraid it may take me even more than a week to update... Hopefully not, but RL is about to get really busy (new job!), so I just wanted to give you a fair warning ;) Thank you in advance for your patience :]
In other news: the wonderful toolezbionic just posted the first chapter of her post-5x22 fic Letters from the Sky and it is FANTASTIC, so don't hesitate to check it out! :)
Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith & CW.
Chapter 16
"I should slap you so hard," Elena whispered, sliding her open palms down Damon's cheeks and onto his neck while pressing open-mouthed kisses all over his face.
"If that's not much of an inconvenience, I'd rather you continue doing this instead," Damon said with a lop-sided smile, running his hands up and down Elena's back.
Elena laughed brokenly through her tears, cupping his face in her hands. "I knew something would go wrong," she said with a grimace, drawing a sharp intake of breath, her heart clenching painfully at the memory. She threw her arms around Damon and pressed herself to him as close as possible. "I was looking for you," she whispered breathlessly "All this time, I was looking for you. I never stopped. Not even for a second. I was trying to find you, trying to get you back-"
Damon smiled into her hair. "Elena." He drew back and kissed her slowly on the mouth, cradling her face in his hands. "I died with you by my side, knowing that I was loved. By you. That's the most beautiful death anyone could ask for." Elena shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but Damon brushed the backs of his fingers across her lips and continued in a low voice. "But... " He brought her hand to his lips and held it firmly in his, grazing her knuckles with his thumb. "I can't even describe what I felt when I had to let go of your hand thinking it was the last time I could ever touch you, ever see you."
He leaned in and they kissed, softly capturing each other's lips in brief, impatient kisses that quickly turned fierce and more desperate. Elena's hands were shaking, their breathing ragged, tears slipping in between their lips.
Leaving the Other Side without Damon. Bonnie saying that it was too late. Six months of searching for hope, trying not be paralyzed by grief that would crawl over her, into her every thought, every cell of her body the moment she'd stop, if only for a split second, believing that it was possible to bring Damon and Bonnie back, that it was only a matter of time. Somehow Damon not remembering all of that had made it easier for her not to think about that half a year anymore, but now with his memories back, hers seemed to attack her with full force and Elena felt overwhelmed and terrified by merely recalling those horrible months.
"I thought you didn't want to hear my voice or talk to me or even look at me," Elena said in one breath in an attempt to lighten the mood, because she didn't want this evening, one of the most beautiful evenings of their lives, to end up being gloomy.
Damon smiled faintly, pressing soft kisses along Elena's lips. "That was rude, I admit, but if we're comparing our break-up speeches, your 'let's be friends' idea takes the cake. It was by far the worst."
Elena chuckled under her breath, running her hand across Damon's face and through his hair. "Speaking of break-ups and since you're so good at keeping promises," she said leaning her forehead against his when they both smiled, closing their eyes for a second, "you have to promise me that we'll never break-up again."
Stifling a smile that Elena didn't miss, Damon lowered his head to her neck and planted a few lingering kisses there. "Actually, now that I think about it," he muttered and she felt her skin tingle, a tremor running through her both at his touch, but also because of his voice, so comfortingly close, so endlessly warm, so familiarly teasing. "We never un-broke up, not officially at least."
The song ended in the background and they looked at each other in silence for a few moments, Damon's hand sifting through Elena's hair, his fingertips skimming across her cheek when he gently propped her chin with his hand and kissed her fervently on the mouth.
"Any ideas on how we do that, then?" Elena asked barely above a whisper, her hands anchored on Damon's shoulders, her eyes boring into his. "Even though I think we did un-break-up earlier today," she added, biting back an amused smile. "You might want to ask your amnesiac self about that."
"I didn't forget about that," Damon said with a smirk, tucking Elena's hair behind her ear with one hand, his other hand wrapped around her waist. "And by the way, it was all very sweet. The overprotective mode, memories censorship."
Elena sighed. "I didn't manage to make it last for very long."
"And just for how long you wanted it to last, Elena?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrows at her in a warmly amused expression.
"For as long as possible," Elena replied bluntly with a shrug and then laughed briefly, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I liked being your only girlfriend."
"You are my only girlfriend," Damon said, covering her hand on his cheek with his and bringing their joined hands to his lips.
"You know what I mean," Elena said, outstretching her fingers after he'd kissed her knuckles and sliding her hand down his face.
Damon caught her hand again and tugged her toward him, their lips colliding in a feverish kiss. "The only memories that I want to have, are the memories of you." He glanced at their hands and Elena followed his gaze, their fingers intertwining slowly as they looked up at the same time, their eyes locking.
"I need you to promise me one more thing," Elena said, her forehead falling against his and she smiled when their eyelashes touched every time either of them blinked.
"Anything," Damon said with a radiant smirk, his fingertips tracing the side of Elena's face, but then stopping when she said:
"Promise me you'll never die again."
It wasn't exactly a humorous thing to say and she felt a pang of pain at the words, but she just really wanted him to promise her that there'd be no more half-a-suicide missions that could potentially go horribly wrong.
Elena smiled a little, despite the tears still lingering in the corners of her eyes. But then she realized that Damon's hand was motionless on her cheek and that his grin faded into a faint, grim, bitter grimace. And she felt an icy-cold shiver ran through her, because there was no teasing in his voice, just sadness when he whispered hollowly:
"I can't."
xxxdelenaxxx
"We have to leave immediately!" Rebekah said impatiently, widening her eyes at Stefan and Caroline.
"Well, I'm sorry, but at the very least I need to get dressed first," Caroline snapped, holding onto the towel she had wrapped around herself when someone had started pounding on their door. The shampoo was still in her hair and she really didn't feel like the situation warranted interrupting her shower.
"They know where we are!" Rebekah repeated incredulously, shifting her gaze between them, wondering if they had even heard what she had said.
"Yes, you said that five times," Caroline said with a huff.
"Is there really a reason to panic?" Stefan asked to Rebekah's growing frustration.
"Are you deaf?" She asked with a grimace, squinting.
"No, we're not deaf. We're just failing to see why we should leave right away," Caroline said in annoyance, brushing the bubbles off her forehead. "Do you really think they'll randomly invade a hotel full of people in the middle of the night? They're not some reckless vampire hunters. They're just a bunch of deranged scientists and half-baked politicians who want to protect the human race," she said mockingly.
"Some people are trying to sleep." Enzo's voice broke into the conversation and Rebekah's eyes flew to him when he appeared behind Stefan and Caroline. "Nice outfit," he said with a smirk flickering across his face when Caroline glanced at him over her shoulder.
A knock on the door interrupted them and when Stefan opened the door Alaric peered inside. "Are you ready?"
Rebekah shot Caroline a triumphant look, demonstrating that apparently everyone else understood how dire the situation was.
"Bonnie and Jeremy are packing the grimoires. I'm going to go get Damon and Elena," Alaric said, glancing between Caroline, Enzo and Stefan. "We'll meet in the garage in a few minutes, alright?"
Caroline rolled her eyes and marched back to the bathroom. Alaric gave Stefan a questioning look.
"They just don't see a reason to panic," Rebekah said in a mocking tone, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We're not panicking," Alaric said with a thin smile, glancing at Rebekah and then looking back at Stefan. "We're relocating in a hurry."
"Well, I'm not relocating anywhere," Enzo said gruffly and everyone's eyes darted to him. "I'm setting my plan in motion," he said with a mirthless, crooked smile, walking past Stefan, Rebekah and Alaric and stepping out of the room.
xxxdelenaxxx
It took Elena a few moments to collect herself enough to say the words in the most accepting and calm tone she could muster. "You decided to stay human?"
As soon as she had said it out loud, she thought she shouldn't have made it sound like a question, because somehow the question mark had endowed the words with a hint of incredulity and that felt selfish. So selfish. With a twinge of guilt Elena realized, that despite genuinely wishing for him to really think it through, somehow at the same time, deep down, she actually didn't expect him to decide not to turn.
"Elena."
"I'm sorry." Elena shook her head, trying to shake off the painful feeling that seemed to fall heavily onto her shoulders, weighing her down. "I didn't mean to- I mean- Of course- I understand-"
"Elena."
She blinked rapidly when Damon abruptly cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.
"I didn't," he whispered against her lips, looking deeply into her eyes. "I didn't decide to stay human. I got injected with some stupid anti-vampirism vaccine and now I can't be turned," he said with a frown.
"What?" Elena gasped out in complete astonishment, trying to wrap her mind around what he had just said. "How? How did it happen? When? Where?"
Damon's expression brightened a little at the utter dismay on Elena's face. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the corner of her mouth. "I have to say I'm rather glad you're upset... but maybe you shouldn't be. What's great about it, is that if you get tired of me in fifty years or so, you can just put me in a senior care center."
"Damon, this is not funny," Elena said, wincing, her eyes absently scanning the room, her mind reeling in search of a solution.
"Elena." Damon slid his fingers into her hair and brushed his lips against hers, pressing a few kisses to her lips before saying. "I don't know if there's an antidote, but I'll find out."
Elena blinked and then her eyes widened in renewed dismay. "You can't go back to that hospital or anywhere near any of those people!" She exhaled, averting her eyes from him for a second. "Leave it to me. Maybe Enzo could help," she added under her breath, thinking that it might be a little preposterous asking Enzo to essentially put his life on the line for the third time within one day, and pretty much in the same way no less, but unfortunately he was the only one who'd been invited in that doctor's house and searching his private laboratory seemed like the best first bet.
Narrowing his eyes at Elena in a mockingly threatening manner, Damon backed her up against the wall. "If there's one thing worse than being human," he said with his lips hovering over hers. "It's being treated like one."
Elena snorted mirthlessly. "If you think that I'm going to let you run around risking your human life, then you should go to a hospital, but of a different kind!" She whispered with a worried, frustrated frown, purposefully deepening it when Damon began fumbling with the top button of her dress. "If you're trying to distract me, you're failing."
Damon smirked. "Am I?" He asked, slowly unhooking the first button, but then roughly moving his hand downwards, causing the rest of the buttons to scatter to the floor.
Caught off guard, Elena gasped, her eyes instinctively fluttering shut when Damon's lips captured hers in a bruising kiss.
"You liked him better, didn't you?" Damon asked breathlessly, breaking the kiss and Elena opened her eyes and stared up at him, perplexed.
"Whom?"
"The amnesiac me," Damon clarified and Elena suppressed a chuckle, her eyes laughing.
"Why would you think that?" She asked with a teasing smile, placing her hands on Damon's shoulders and pursing her lips to touch his when he inched his mouth closer to hers, their foreheads touching.
"You weren't getting mad at him," Damon pointed out with a small smirk.
Elena laughed under her breath. "Well, he was being more respectful toward my clothes," she added with pretended seriousness after a moment of consideration.
"That's because he didn't remember thinking that he'd never see you again," Damon replied in a hushed voice and Elena's smile turned into a grimace as she clasped her arms tighter around his neck and hugged him, closing her eyes when she felt his arms lock around her, gathering her to him. "Do you know what was the first memory that I got back?" Damon asked after a moment of silence and Elena could feel him smile against her neck. He lifted his head to look at her. "Our first kiss."
Elena's eyes widened in a smile, but then her expression turned grim again. "Stop trying to distract me!" She said with a resolute frown, pressing a silencing kiss to his lips. "I don't want to wake up tomorrow with a note on the pillow saying that you've gone on another suicide mission!"
"Technically, it'd be the opposite of a suicide mission," Damon said with a faint smirk, twirling a lock of Elena's hair around his fingers.
Elena's eyes wandered around his face for a few moments before she drew a breath and whispered in a challenging, determined voice. "I could compel you not to do anything stupid."
Tilting his head to the side, Damon looked at her with a glimpse of amusement in his eyes and then suddenly he whirled her around so she was facing the wall. He pinned her against it, swiftly tearing the back of her dress off her shoulders, gathering her hair in one hand and nestling his face in her neck.
"Could you?" He muttered huskily, planting hot kisses on her skin, trailing them over her shoulders, across her back. "Right now, perhaps?"
Elena closed her eyes with a gasp, panting quietly, shivering under his touch and his kisses, awkwardly supporting herself with her hands splayed on the wall in front of her. She shuddered when she felt his bare chest press onto her back.
"Right now you are compelling me," Elena observed in a pretendedly wry tone. She felt Damon smile against her skin.
"I missed you, Elena," he whispered in a tone that was suddenly painfully serious and Elena felt tears sting her eyelids, because she knew exactly what he'd meant.
She had felt it too, that gripping sense of loss that no words could properly convey, that had been constantly keeping her in excruciating pain, that had been choking her to death over and over again every second and yet never killing her enough for the pain stop.
"I missed you even when I didn't remember you. I was dreaming about you every night," Damon continued in a low voice, grazing her skin with his lips. "I couldn't see your face, but I felt that you were with me."
Elena bit her lip, stifling a sob, a broken smile flickering across her face. "I couldn't breathe without you," she said in a quiet, strained voice laced with tears that rushed down her face when she opened her eyes.
She felt a tremor ran through him and she slowly turned around, wincing even more at the tense, distraught expression in his eyes. She grabbed his face and kissed him.
"I can't lose you again," she whispered, her tears falling onto his cheeks when she snuggled her face against his.
He pushed her hair off her cheeks and smiled weakly, but with a determined glint in his eyes. "You won't." He kissed her and added with his lips still touching hers. "We'll find a way."
Elena nodded with a grimace and then they held their breaths for a few seconds, just gazing at each other before their lips crashed together and they smiled and laughed between the impatient kisses, Elena's nails digging into Damon's back, his hands roaming everywhere they could reach.
"Damon! Elena!"
They both jolted in surprise, Elena instinctively hiding in Damon's arms that closed protectively around her when after breaking the door open Alaric charged into the room, a deeply worried and anxious frown on his face turning into a startled and embarrassed one, when instead of finding the room empty, like he'd feared he might, he ran into half-naked people making out.
"I spent at least three minutes knocking on the door, very loudly," Alaric said, abruptly turning away from them and closing his eyes, even though technically either one of the precautions would've been enough.
"No, there's no bourbon in our mini-bar either. Now if you don't mind... Good night," Damon said with a thin smile. Elena stifled a chuckle, pressing her lips to Damon's shoulder.
Alaric snorted. "Yeah, well, I'm afraid that's not it. We have to go."
"What's going on?" Damon asked with a frown, which took some effort, because it wasn't easy to frown while Elena was pressing herself as close to him as possible, apparently thinking that under the circumstances it was the closest she could get to appearing not naked.
"Get your stuff, most importantly get dressed," Alaric said matter-of-factly, "and we'll meet in the underground garage," he said, opening his eyes and glancing with a sigh at the door he had damaged rather permanently. "The Augustines may know where we are, because Rebekah found some kind of a tracking device in her wrist."
Damon groaned under his breath. "Congratulations to the genius who rescued her," he said, giving Elena a humorously pointed look.
"Actually, that'd be Enzo," Elena replied, squinting.
Alaric blinked, suddenly struck by a familiar note in Damon's voice he hadn't heard since their post-death reunion yet. "Am I missing something?" He asked, wrinkling his forehead.
Elena shifted her eyes between Damon and Alaric, smiling a little at the realization.
"Damon got his memories back," she said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.
"What? Already? When?" Alaric almost turned around in surprise, but then immediately closed his eyes again and headed for the door without looking at them. "You'll tell me later how it happened. I'll see you in the garage. Hurry up. And don't bother closing the door," he added on his way out.
When Alaric left, Elena quickly sneaked out of Damon's embrace to find some un-ripped clothes, but Damon caught her hand and pulled her back into his arms.
"We don't have a door!" Elena whispered with a chuckle, playfully punching him lightly on the chest.
"I don't want a door. I want you," Damon said, slanting his mouth across hers and Elena gave in for a second, kissing him back passionately before abruptly snatching herself free, zooming to her suitcase and pulling a skirt and one of Damon's shirts she had been sleeping in out of it.
Holding his gaze, she put it on, quickly buttoning it up and smiling at him when he walked up to her.
"Cute PJs," Damon said with a smirk, looking Elena up and down, grasping her hand and rolling the sleeves up for her a little. "Any other interesting habits you've developed lately that I'd like to hear about?" He asked, keeping her hand in his, leaning down and planting a kiss in the middle of her palm.
Elena moved her hands to his cheeks and laughed briefly under her breath, brushing her lips against his. "Maybe," she said coyly. "But right now we have to go!" She said with another laugh, picking Damon's shirt up from the chair onto which he had thrown it and tossing it at him.
xxxdelenaxxx
"Don't they know where we live anyway?" Bonnie asked, placing one grimoire over the other in Jeremy's carry on. "If Dr. August knew your dad-"
"They could track us back to Mystic Falls, but we don't live there anymore anyway," Jeremy replied with a small frown, but then smiled and quickly continued. "Maybe we should move somewhere even further away? Moving to Florida for safety reasons sounds pretty good, what do you think?"
Bonnie smiled back at him, but then grabbed the last grimoire from the nightstand and walked up to Jeremy. "Do you miss it?" She asked in a low voice, looking at him intently.
Jeremy glanced up at her, picking his backpack up from the floor and sliding his laptop into it. "Miss what?"
"Home," Bonnie replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
Jeremy looked at her for a second as if trying to decipher her intentions behind asking the question. "Bonnie-"
"I know that you're trying to protect me, but..." Bonnie sighed, absently drumming her fingers over the hand-written grimoire in her arms. "Isn't it how we all ended up here? Trying to protect one another?" She smiled when Jeremy nodded with a weak snort. "It seems to me that with this supernatural factor in, keeping someone else safe usually means putting yourself in danger. So it's a vicious circle, really. A very beautiful, but vicious circle," Bonnie said with a brief laugh.
"But that's the thing, Bonnie," Jeremy said earnestly with a small grimace. "You don't have to be a part of this anymore. You're human and if you stay away from magic, you can have a normal life, a life Elena and Caroline can no longer have even if they wanted to. But you can. I don't want anyone to take that away from you."
"Jeremy, they are my friends, right? Elena is your sister. Your father was experimenting on vampires. You step-dad is a vampire. My grandmother was a witch, my mother is a witch-turned-vampire, my father was killed by an evil doppelganger warlock and my best friend is depressed because he can't be a vampire again," Bonnie said in one breath, smiling humorlessly at the list that she knew wasn't even half complete. Jeremy squinted, a little confused by the last example, but Bonnie continued, before he had a chance to ask for a clarification. "I don't think any of us can ever have a normal life," she said said with a weak chuckle. "But it doesn't mean we can't be happy," she added, glancing at the grimoire in her hands.
"Magic won't make you or anyone else happy, Bonnie," Jeremy said quietly with a small grimace, placing his hands on her shoulders and pulling her into an embrace, his eyes glimmering with concern.
Bonnie smiled and for a moment Jeremy thought he saw in her eyes a glimpse of that familiar, admirable, terrifying courage that looked deceptively similar to a veil of unshed tears.
"You're right. Magic can't do that," Bonnie said with a wistful, timidly hopeful smile. "But maybe I can?"
xxxdelenaxxx
"No, no, we're supposed to go down," Elena said, placing her hand over Damon's when after they'd walked into the elevator he'd pressed the button to go to the highest floor instead of the garage.
She really thought he'd made an accidental mistake, but when he clasped her hand in his before she managed to press the correct button and then used this hold on her to push her against one of the mirrored elevator walls her eyes widened in amused dismay.
They kissed and Elena thought that was as scandalous as they would get, but then she felt Damon's hands slide under her skirt. Moving his lips to her collarbones, he swiftly hoisted her up in the air, her legs automatically wrapping around him.
"Damon, we can't," Elena whispered breathlessly with a nervous smile, burying her hands in his hair when he nuzzled her neck. She glanced anxiously at the flickering floor buttons. "Someone may-"
She trailed off with an involuntary moan, her eyes widening before fluttering shut, her hands clenching around his shoulders. Damon's forehead fell helplessly against hers, one hand on her thigh, his other hand cupping her cheek. Elena leaned into his touch and they were completely still for a moment.
"I'm sorry..." Damon gasped out against her lips, kissing her and she shook her head with a faint smile, kissing him back and wrapping her arm around him, stroking the side of his face with her fingertips. "I just... I need you. I need this," he whispered, his face contorted in a grimace of pain, of ecstasy, the warmth of his voice enveloping her in the calm and the storm, all at once. "I need to forget ever being away from you."
"I know. Me too," Elena whispered softly, meeting his burning gaze when he opened his eyes, beginning to move against her. Her hands anchored on his shoulders, she glided her lips from one corner of his mouth to the other. "I love you."
"I love you."
They exchanged helpless, conspiratorial, feverish smiles before their eyes closed at the same time and they continued kissing slowly, thoroughly, tenderly, even as their movements were becoming more and more frantic, the heat sizzling between them like a single flame that suddenly burst into fire, into water, flooding their senses.
They were so close to each other, so close it was impossible to be closer and yet they were trying to be even closer, closer, closer with every kiss, every touch. There was nothing in between them now, there could never be, in any way. They'd never be apart again - the incredible, exhilarating realization made them cry out between the kisses, shatter in each other's arms, their eyes locking for a second before Damon buried his face in Elena's hair, and she pressed her cheek to his neck with a serene, exhausted smile.
Clumsily, they pressed the garage button with their interlaced hands, smiling against each other's lips and kissing hurriedly a few more times before hastily trying to remedy their disheveled appearance before the elevator reached the underground.
Damon grabbed Elena's hand and her carry-on while she once again quickly ran her fingers through her hair and smoothed out Damon's hair, stifling a smile when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, smirking and tightly squeezing her hand in his.
They seemed to be the last people to come, but luckily no one was sending any impatient looks their way, a heated discussion that was apparently taking place occupying everyone's attention. Although a discussion wasn't probably the most precise word to use, because it looked more like Caroline was doing all the talking, while Stefan, Alaric, Jeremy, Bonnie, Rebekah and Enzo were either listening or pretending not to be listening to her.
Feeling confident that even if they actually looked a little disheveled no one was going to notice anyway, Elena was about to make some humorous remark, but Enzo beat her to it:
"Oh dear. You broke up again, didn't you?" He said with a small, mischievous smile, tilting his head to the side and fleetingly looking them up and down.
Damon narrowed his eyes at him. Elena's forehead wrinkled in confusion, but then she felt the color rise to her cheeks in embarrassment. She shot Damon a wide-eyed look.
"You told him about that?" She asked incredulously in a low voice.
Damon grimaced. "Yeah, well, I was... confused, and... I wanted to hear someone else's opinion to know if it was... objectively confusing." He gave Elena an uncertain look, but suppressed a smile noticing that she was only pretending to be so outraged.
"And what did he say?"
"That it wasn't confusing at all."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes. He basically said it was completely normal."
"Completely normal." Elena widened her eyes at Damon trying to keep herself from chuckling. "That's a relief to know."
Damon nodded, somehow managing to keep a straight face before adding with a pensive frown. "He was confused by the part when we went to Jeremy's parent-teacher conference together, though."
Elena looked at Damon, willing herself not to blink, because somehow she was certain that if she blinked, she'd end up bursting out laughing.
"Great! You're here!" Caroline broke into their hushed conversation. "Now could you explain to these crazy people why blowing up a hospital is not a good idea?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest and sending both Enzo and Rebekah annoyed glares before shifting her eyes to Damon.
"Yes, exactly," Enzo joined, in giving Caroline a lingering look before turning his gaze to Damon as well. "Could you explain to these crazy people why running away from problems instead of facing them is a bad idea?" He asked, nonchalantly waving his hand into the general direction of Caroline, Stefan, Alaric, Bonnie and Jeremy.
Caroline chuckled mirthlessly. "That's a really weird and manipulative way of putting it," she scoffed, giving Enzo an irritated look.
Enzo shrugged, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Rebekah was watching him with a genuinely amused smile playing about her lips.
"And how exactly did I end up on the explaining things to crazy people duty?" Damon asked, glancing between everyone with his eyebrows furrowed.
"General community announcement," Stefan spoke up, raising his hand in a slightly comical way. "Damon has his memories back."
"What?!" Caroline swirled around, looking between Stefan and Damon. "Why no one told me about that?!"
"I just found out myself," Alaric said, glancing at Bonnie and Jeremy who didn't look surprised.
"Bonnie just told me," Jeremy explained with a smile.
"No one told me about it either," Enzo echoed Caroline's words, pushing himself away from the car. "But this is good news," he added with a smile in a gritty, ill-boding voice that Rebekah had to admit was rather attractive.
"No it's not!" Caroline exclaimed immediately, flailing her hands in the air. "It isn't, right?" She asked, giving Damon a demandingly questioning look.
Bonnie looked between everyone a little confused, having a nagging feeling that she was missing some vital pieces of information, because she wasn't sure she understood what exactly they were talking about.
Damon's mouth twitched. "I'm sorry, I zoned out," he said with a brief, fake smile. "What was the question?" He asked in a pretendedly eager voice.
Caroline crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a narrowed-eyed, no-nonsense look.
"The only question left is, do we take hostages or just get rid of everyone?" Enzo said offhandedly.
"OK." Elena shook her head with a small frown. "What is going on?" She looked at Jeremy, Bonnie and Alaric, hoping that they could provide her with some clear answers.
"Well, nothing new, apparently," Alaric said with a wry grimace.
"Team Renzo wants to kill everyone and Team Everyone Else wants to get the hell out of here," Caroline snapped.
"The Augustines know where we are, so we should at least change the hotel," Jeremy said matter-of-factly and Bonnie thought there was a hint of hesitation in his tone that indicated that for some reason he wasn't in favor of leaving the town altogether.
"I second this," Damon said and Jeremy raised an eyebrow in mild amusement over Damon agreeing with him. "Well, to some degree." Damon cleared his throat. "I have to stay here for a bit longer, but everyone else should fly back home." He looked at Elena and then shifted his eyes to Alaric, giving him a meaningful look that Alaric unfortunately seemed to ignore, looking at Elena and waiting for her opinion instead.
"You're not staying here!" Elena said, giving Damon an exasperated look.
Enzo smiled. "Like I said, good news."
"Why do you want to stay here?" Caroline exclaimed with a grimace.
"Is it about the cure?" Bonnie asked worriedly.
"We're not seriously back to that subject," Rebekah cut in with a disbelieving groan, although Enzo thought there was also an involuntary hint of hopeful interest in her tone.
"Not that cure," Stefan said, glancing at her.
"What cure?" Enzo looked between Stefan and Rebekah.
"We can figure something out when we get home," Bonnie said reassuringly, giving Damon an encouraging nod and glancing at Elena who looked grateful for her support, but also not really convinced it was going to work.
"Figure what out?" Enzo muttered, beginning to feel annoyed that he didn't understand what they were talking about.
"The Augustines injected Damon with an anti-vampirism vaccine. He can't be turned," Stefan explained, just so Enzo would stop asking questions.
"Well, that's arguably horrible, but how is that our main problem at the moment?" Caroline asked impatiently.
Alaric was about to point out that having this conversation here and now was probably not the greatest idea, but before he had a chance to do so, a piercing sound tore through the air and he felt an unbearable pain shot through his head, making him feel like it was simultaneously shrinking and about to explode.
Holding his head in his hands and trying to block out the pain, Alaric looked around. Elena, Caroline, Stefan and Enzo collapsed to the ground screaming while Rebekah seemed to be struggling to stand, wincing in pain. Apparently whatever was happening was affecting the regular vampires most, which couldn't be good.
Damon fell to his knees next to Elena, apparently calling her name, even though Alaric couldn't hear anything in the mind-numbing noisy silence, if there was ever such a thing.
"What's going on?" Bonnie shouted, looking around with terrified eyes, giving Jeremy a horrified, questioning look. She wanted to rush toward everyone to help them, but to her further dismay she realized that she couldn't move.
Jeremy also couldn't, as if they were suddenly confined to a space consisting of a few steps around them.
"Elena!"
Bonnie's eyes flew to Damon and she gasped in bewilderment at the sight of Elena's body floating in the air despite Damon's efforts to keep her in his arms and on the ground. He seemed to bounce against some invisible wall surrounding him, just like she and Jeremy did when they tried to move.
Everything seemed to be happening simultaneously in slow-motion and in a flash. Elena, Enzo, Caroline and Stefan were lifted off the ground and Bonnie's eyes followed the direction in which they were being taken, her eyes widening in shock at the sight of a familiar figure standing not very far away, behind one of the pillars, the look of cold concentration on her face clearly suggesting that she was making it all happen... whatever it was that was currently happening and Bonnie blinked in indignation, feeling painfully helpless and yet feeling as if the helplessness was being pushed away-
But before she had a chance to concentrate on the strange sensation rippling through her, everything stopped. The screaming and the weird, confiding barriers around her, Jeremy and Damon. Rebekah fell to the ground with a gasp, trying to catch her breath just like Alaric was. Bonnie's eyes scanned the surroundings with a growing sense of dread when she realized that everything stopped but... Elena, Caroline, Stefan and Enzo - were gone.
Damon looked around the garage in horrified dismay.
"I'm beginning to understand why Nik hates them so much," Rebekah grunted, straightening up and pushing her hair over her shoulders with an annoyed frown.
"What are you talking about?" Jeremy asked impatiently.
"Witches," Rebekah replied, giving him an irritated look, as if he should've guessed that on his own. "It was a witch. Just one stupid witch. I saw her." Rebekah squinted into the distance and then added with a weak snarl. "I should've realized she was a witch."
Bonnie shook her head, trying to break through her confusion and the unpleasant, cold feeling of sadness and disappointment evoked by the fact that witches could hurt people like that. "No, it wasn't a witch..." she said firmly, but could already feel the conviction beginning to fade from her mind and her voice, because she realized that there was no actual reason why Rebekah's assessment couldn't be a correct one. "I saw her too," Bonnie said tonelessly, wrinkling her forehead. "It was Amanda."