AN: So I was trolling the interwebs when I decided to check out music from VD on the CW. I fell absolutely in love with some of the music. The best song has to be Stateless - Bloodstream. You should check it out if you get a chance. Oh and Within Temptation - All I Need, but I'm sure you've already heard that beautiful song from the Delena dance scene.
My mouth is still tingling from the taste of his blood.
Its been a few hours, the sun has set and the sky is dark. The streets are lit brightly by the many lights strung about the town square. Strings of light hanging off of almost anything they could. Perfect little white lights making the scene actually beautiful. I've changed out of my over sized dress and into my normal clothes. I step out onto the street looking around in the crowd for Damon. I spot him off to the back of the crowd talking to Anna. I watch the look on Damon's face change. I can see that he was using his usual smirk on her, probably degrading her with a smile on his face. Then his smirk falters. The smile I was wearing on my face falls away as I see the look in his eyes become…afraid? I'm not too sure if that's it. I step a little bit closer to the area that they are in. Concern. He's afraid for me. My heart begins to race as the anxiety starts to build up in my chest with a constricting pain. Damon breaks away from Anna, walking towards me. He doesn't look at me though, his eyes are fixated on the crowd.
"What's going on?" The panic in my own voice showing. Damon's eyes finally rest on me. His hands find my face, cupping my chin between them.
"I need to get you out of here now." Damon pulls away quickly, his hand immediately finding my own, our fingers entwine. The panic I had a moment ago washes away. I can sense the concern radiating off of Damon though. He must have noticed because he quickly pushes it aside. I know that he doesn't want me to worry but I just can't push mine aside. I can't stop myself from worrying.
I feel Damon's hand drop from my own. I look over at him just as Damon falls down to his knees beside me. His hands covering his ears. I drop down on my knees beside him. I can feel the pain coursing through him, it takes everything that I have to ignore what is being transferred to me. My ears feel like they are about to burst as a searing pain keeps pounding in my head. I put my hands on Damon's back almost as if in a reassuring manner.
"Damon what's going on?" I ask but I know that I may not get anywhere.
"The device…John…" It takes everything that he has to say the words. My heart feels like breaking watching him on the ground like this. I've never felt so helpless before. I look around the town and see at least 20 people on the ground just like Damon. Not people, vampires. The vampires from the tomb. Police officers are rushing to the vampires. I see a syringe full of vervain being injected into the vampire closest to us. One of the officers starts walking over towards us and the panic I had increases drastically. Right before the officer gets to us, right before he can see who it is kneeling on the ground Alaric is right behind me.
"I'll take care of this one." His voice is also ridden with panic but I can tell that he is trying to mask it. For a moment I am afraid the officer wont believe it but instead he walks away.
"Get him out of here." Alaric whispers to me before he runs off. I just nod at him as I put my arms underneath Damon's in an attempt to lift him off of the ground.
"Come on Damon, please try." I plead with him as I use everything that I have to lift him off of the ground while still trying to ignore the pressure in my head. As soon as I take my eyes off of Damon I notice that there are a pair of feet standing in front of us. My eyes travel up until I see who I am looking at, John. There is a syringe of vervain in his left hand and a wicked smile on his face.
"Please don't." It's a desperate attempt but at this moment I don't know what else to do.
"I can't have this Elena. I've had orders to make sure that the Salvatore brothers are taken down with the vampires from the tomb." The smile on his face matches the tone in his voice.
"You couldn't have gotten that order from Katherine, I know that's not what she wants. You must have gotten it from someone else." I say the words as my mind is trying to think of who it could have been. "Isobel." I say the name and I feel a pang in my heart for the mother that I will never know. The confident look on his face flickers for a moment giving away the answer.
"Speaking of Isobel, she should be here in a matter of minutes." The confident look that had faltered was now back in place across his features. John walks over to us, quickly injecting the syringe into Damon's side. Damon's weight collapses beneath me but John quickly picks up Damon's dead weight. My bottom lip is already trembling.
"Please don't." I keep trying to beg, but I can hear the hope gone out of my own voice. I have one last shot. "As my father, please don't do this." I sound frantic, I am though. John pauses for a moment, his lips pressed together in a line before he speaks.
"This is what Isobel wants."
Of course he would pick Isobel over me. John; my father, walks to the door just feet away from us. Dragging Damon's limp body down a set of stairs into a basement of one of the buildings. I go to run down the stairs after them when a voice interrupts me.
"You aren't going to save him." The voice is familiar even though I have only heard it a few times before this. I spin around quickly to see Isobel clad in all black living up to the vampire stereo type with ease. Her dark hair is pulled back into a bun, her eyes are smoky with dark liner making her eyes that were once full of life seem dead. Even though she is a vampire, there is a painful beauty to her.
"Don't do this." I say with a lot more confidence in my voice. I'm pushing away all the hopelessness I had a moment ago. I wont let anything happen to him, I can't.
"I wont let you live this life Elena. I don't want this for you." Her thoughts and concerns are real. I didn't think that she cared at all about me. Showing this to me though opens up the realization that she is still open to her human emotions, still open to her soul. I have to risk this, I need to try.
"Who are you to have any say in my life? I don't care if you are my birth mother, right now to me, you're just a vampire who thinks she has power but really is nothing. Especially once Katherine finds out what you've done, killing her Damon." I try this approach to see if I can get a reaction, her face never once changes. What I am saying though makes me want to flinch but I hold it back. I don't want to ever think of Damon as being Katherine's ever again. Isobel doesn't know any better though, she doesn't know about what I have with Damon. "Besides, its too late for me." I see a small interest flash across her face. I keep going with this. "If you let Damon die then I will just end up like Alaric. Spending the rest of my days in a sullen state eventually though I'll find someone to turn me. Just like you did."
There it is. I see the switch happen. The one that Damon has talked about. I see the humanity come to her as the hurt is easy to read. Her eyes that were blank a moment ago are swimming now. She doesn't speak yet though so I continue.
"It wont matter. I will become one of you regardless of the circumstances. I know that you still love Alaric and John. With time though, they'll both grow old. Don't let me go on without him." I know that I will become a vampire but part of what I said I was lying about. I know that I wont live if I don't have Damon. Its all that I have to try to reason with her. Its the only leverage I might have with her.
There is a slight nod from Isobel, she walks straight past me and to the entrance of the door. John walks out right as Isobel is about to walk down the stairs.
"Isobel." John says a little surprised. Within a moment there is a bright light coming from the basement. My eyes widen in shock as I realize what it is. I blink and by that time there are bright orange and yellow flames licking at the entrance to the basement. Isobel's face reflects my own, I see the fear, her once human emotions showing full force right now.
"I need to get down there!" Isobel practically snaps at John as her fingers are pointing down to the flames. I can feel the heat radiating from the entrance, I take a small step back barely able to take the heat.
"Have you lost it? You can't go down there, you'll die with them." John's voice is full of confusion and hate.
"I have to try." The words surprise me, more so John than anything. The desperation that I've had has rubbed off onto Isobel.
John doesn't say anything, he stands there in silence looking at Isobel. I see his hand lift up to hers, their fingertips lingering against one another.
"I can help you, but we have to hurry." I was so distracted that I hadn't heard Bonnie walking up to us. Isobel nods her head as John lets his hand drop from hers. "Damon and only Damon, no one else." Bonnie closes her eyes as she begins to chant a phrase in Latin. The flames begin to flicker and fade giving Isobel enough room to run down the staircase. Bonnie's voice fades to me, sounding more muffled and distant. Almost as if my reality has shifted from everyone else's at the moment as I wait for Damon.
Isobel is out of the door within a flash. She drops Damon down to his knees. He is grabbing at his chest as he is lightly coughing from the smoke that was building up in the basement. Bonnie's voice breaks bringing the flames back to life more than they were before. I look up at Isobel, the humanity that I had seen come from her a moment ago is gone. Her stern look is back across her face in an attempt to cover up the act that she just did.
"Thank you." My voice is a whisper but I know that she will have no problem hearing me. Isobel doesn't say a word. She stands there for a moment looking down at Damon in my arms. I can see John behind her. He is beyond furious, even from here I can see his nostrils flaring as he holds his anger inside. I know that he will forgive Isobel, he loves her too much not to. Isobel walks off, her heals hitting the pavement making a light echo in the ally.
I help Damon off of the ground, his body depending severely on mind for support. His black hair is out of place, loosely hanging in front of his eyes. Bonnie is standing in front of us.
"Thank you Bonnie." I say to her. I don't know if I will ever actually be able to thank her enough for what she did for me tonight.
"I did this for you Elena. I am letting you know this though, if Damon ever spills one drop of blood in this town, I will kill him. I don't trust him but…I see the way that you were looking at him. I never knew that this is what you wanted. Honestly I'm a little confused but I am giving him a chance, don't let him mess it up." With those words Bonnie turns in the opposite direction of us, her hair flowing behind her as she pushes against the light wind.
I can feel my knees begin to buckle under the weight. I try to position myself again to see if I can get a better grip. The weight is significantly lifted. I look over to my right to see Alaric with his arm underneath Damon's lifting him up. I smile lightly at him before I head towards the direction of my car. Alaric takes Damon as I open up my passenger side door. Damon practically falls into the seat with a groan. Alaric closes the door and I look at him, there is something different.
"Thank you for helping me."
Alaric places his hands on his waist, pushing his tan coat out of the way. "Well, I know that Damon can be a dick beyond all reasoning in this world but when I saw you with him earlier. God its hard to explain, you looked like you're in love. A lot different than when you were with Stefan, that seemed more like settling. I'm wondering if that's the right word. I hope this isn't too harsh. I just, I don't want you to lose that. Damon told me that you can switch your emotions on and off as a vampire. I think Damon has finally come to terms that he can't be the way he was forever." He's right. I can feel it in Damon as each day passes. There is a change in him. I can't guarantee that he wont kill anyone ever again, I know though that there is a guilt starting to build there. I also know that he wont go after anyone that I know. Even though I am not too sure of the future I am sure of my love for him. I can't push that aside, even if I wanted to. "I'm going to go check on your Aunt. Be careful." Alaric says as he walks off down the side walk. I pause for a moment before getting into the drivers seat of the mini cooper.
I look over at Damon, his skin is shinning but its in a sick way as his skin looks clammy. Damon looks over at me. He has stopped clinching his side. I look into his eyes and there is a sadness there that I have never seen before. The joy I had from being able to save him immediately falls out of my grasp as the emotions rolling off of him hit me hard. Anguish.
"I wanted to save her. I wanted so badly to save her. I never thought that I would want to save anyone that isn't you but as I laid there watching him drive a stake through her heart the only thing I could think about was getting up and ripping John's throat out. I couldn't get up though, no matter how hard I tried." The sadness in his voice hits me even harder. There is genuine remorse. It kills me to see him this way. Its not just a matter that I can feel everything that he is feeling right now but mixed with it are my own emotions. I want nothing more than to be able to comfort him right now. My heart wants to shatter seeing him this way.
"Save who?" My voice is quiet as I reach my hand out to touch his silky hair.
"Anna." His voice breaks saying her name and my hand falls from his face. "I wanted to save her for Jeremy."