AN: First of all Thanks to the guest reviewers. I am sorry I am not able to send a personal thanks to you guys. Your reviews are awesome too. Thanks to everyone else as well for reading my story and loving it. This is another chapter. It's not much fun but it's needed for the plot. Hope you love it too...
Chapter 21: Getting over Katherine
I was exhausted from the activities of the entire day and my legs were killing me. I had just said my good-bye to Uncle John. He was leaving us and the town for good. Jenna particularly was very happy about it. I came into my room to finally get some rest. I dropped myself on my bed and laid back. While staring at the ceiling I started thinking about what happened today and what is about to happen in the near future. Mason Lockwood was quite friendly with me. And the fact that I was Tyler's best friend earned me more liking from him. When Tyler asked me to join them for the jogging tomorrow morning Mason didn't mind it at all. Moreover he encouraged me to come along with them when I hesitated to interfere in their family catching up moments. I was quite surprised by that gesture. I guess it's safe to say now that I am very lucky in Mason's case.
Even though I was occupied with Tyler and Mason but I didn't forget about Katherine. I knew that tonight Katherine would kill Caroline and thus she will become a new born vampire very soon. I have decided to go see her in the morning right after meeting up with Tyler. I promised myself that I wouldn't let Caroline kill anyone innocent and give Bonnie a reason to hate her. I will go and talk to Caroline from beforehand so the whole chaos would never take place this time. My train of thoughts broke when suddenly Jeremy appeared at the door. I sat up on my bed while looking at him with curious eyes. What did he want?
"Can I come in?" He asked and I nodded obviously.
"Sure." I said to him and Jeremy walked inside and sat beside me. He seemed to hesitate about saying something.
"Is everything alright Jeremy?" I asked with concern and he nodded his head in reply.
"Uncle John left." He informed me but I already knew that and Jeremy knew that I know it. It must be something else. Did he want Anna to come back to Mystic Falls now? But they can't come back as long as Katherine is here as well. I was about to tell him that when Jeremy showed his hand and a blue ring was on his finger. Uncle John gave his ring to Jeremy like he did in the show.
"Uncle John's ring." I said out loud.
"He gave it to me because this one was dad's. This ring protects the person wearing it from death by anything supernatural" explained Jeremy and I nodded.
"I know that Jeremy." I said and was still confused as to why he was telling me this so seriously. Then Jeremy took the ring off from his finger, confusing me even more. And then he held it to me.
"I want you to have it. You need more protection than I do" said Jeremy with seriousness in his voice that I never heard before. I was really shocked to hear that. How could he care about me so much? I didn't even exist here before. But still he is willingly giving up his only protection from death and he is giving it to me. Am I worth it? Jeremy obviously thinks that. But I don't deserve it. I will never be good enough to deserve such kindness. Jeremy and everyone else might not know but I was nothing but a killer once. I have ruined enough lives to last the guilt for eternity. I took the ring from him then took his hand in mine. I slipped the ring back on his finger again.
"It looks good on your finger. It belongs there." I said looking at the ring on his finger now. He looked at me with eyes full of emotions.
"Never take it off Jeremy. We live in a world full of supernatural beings and for most of them, human life means nothing. We are mortal human beings, fragile as a dry leaf. This ring is the only thing that can protect you from unavoidable death from them." Jeremy's eyes got teary and so did mine.
"What about you? You need protection more than me or any other human around us" said Jeremy and I offered him a small smile for that.
"You will protect me, won't you? And for that I need you alive." I said to him forcing Jeremy to give up trying to persuade me to take his ring. Jeremy knew very well that arguing never changes my mind.
"How are things going on with Anna?" I asked changing the topic. Jeremy visibly blushed a little at the mention of her name.
"Things are going great. I will leave you to take rest" saying that Jeremy left. I lay back on my bed again. Well at least Jeremy has his love safe and sound. But most importantly with him. None of them is torn between past and present life ex-s. Which makes me wonder what Damon might be doing right now?
At the boarding house...
Katherine was at the boarding house. She was resting comfortably on the couch. Damon on the other hand just made a drink for himself and was heading towards his room. That's when he sensed her presence there.
"Very brave of you to come here." Damon turned to face Katherine.
"I wanted to say good bye." Katherine said to Damon in her forever seductive tone of voice. There was a pause before Damon spoke up again.
"Leaving so soon?" said Damon bitterly. Katherine titled her head a bit.
"I know where I am not wanted." Damon took a gulp from his drink.
"Don't pout. It's not attractive on a woman your age." Katherine breathed out a laugh. "Ouch!" When Damon started to leave she blocked his way in a blink of an eye.
"What no good bye kiss?" She asked politely even though she was actually mocking.
"Why don't I kill you instead?" It sounded good to his ears. But then Damon got serious and asked- "What are you doing here?"
"Nostalgia, curiosity, etc." Katherine replied smartly.
"I am better at the enigmatic one liners Katherine. What are you up to?" asked Damon and she smiled at him.
"Trust me Damon when I am up to something, you will know it." She approached him more. "Come on kiss me, or kill me. Which one it will be Damon because we both know that you are only capable of one."
Damon tried to walk away but Katherine pinned him down on the floor. She was on top of him and her hands roaming over his chest. But Damon was unaffected completely. He turned them around and got on top, hands gripping on Katherine's throat. Her eyes were turning red, as the vampire face desired to come out. Damon stared at her for a moment then crushed his lips on hers. Just to prove it to himself that he really have no feelings left for her. And surprisingly he found that kissing her wasn't the same anymore. It didn't send waves of pleasure throughout his body neither it satisfied his thirst. There was no spark left. Katherine took over control and pushed him up against the wall. He let her do so hoping to feel something at the change of dominance. Katherine tore his shirt and kissed him hungrily. He kissed her back but without any emotion in it. It was nothing but a dead kiss for him. Damon stopped Katherine from going further. He got the answer he was looking for.
"This is where it stops." Damon pulled her away from him much to Katherine's disliking.
"Then there is no point in staying here anymore." She started to walk away but Damon got to her before she could leave.
"Before you leave, just answer me one question. Answer me truthfully and I will forgive you for betraying me. For making me miss you for 145 years" said Damon and Katherine sighed out heavily.
"I know what do you want to ask and the answer of it too" said Katherine and Damon kept looking at her for the answer.
"The truth is I never loved you Damon. It was always Stefan." That should have crushed him down bit by bit. His dead heart should have started bleeding inside his chest. But shockingly nothing happened. Damon felt none of that. The only thing he felt was light and relieved. Katherine felt a bit sad too and started to walk away but Damon stopped her again.
"Thank you" said Damon that confused Katherine very much.
"For what?" She asked.
"For freeing me of you. Now I can love someone with my whole heart without you in it. Someone worth loving and giving my heart to."
Katherine didn't ask the question that she really wanted to ask him. Damon was clearly over her and Katherine had felt that the moment they started kissing. Even yesterday when they kissed, it was nothing but a dead kiss. But Katherine thought Damon wasn't feeling it because he thought she was Elena. But now that he kissed her knowing it's Katherine and still didn't response the same way once he used to, Katherine didn't need more proof to believe that Damon was not hers anymore. He is over her and already in love with someone else. She wondered who. It wasn't Elena, her look alike doppelganger. Sooner or later Katherine would find out about this girl who now have Damon's whole heart. Was she jealous? No, Katherine didn't lie when she said it was always Stefan. She really loved him only. The reason she wanted to find out about the girl Damon seems to be in love with was nothing else but pure curiosity. Without another word Katherine left the house.
Jacqueline's POV
After some hard and important thinking and planning, I closed my eyes hoping to catch a little sleep. I was too excited about tomorrow. Caroline would finally be a vampire. It felt like Christmas to me. She would become an entirely new person. And I can't wait to help her and tell her things that she missed because of being a human. I would catch her up with everything that she was oblivious to. Obviously Caroline would need Stefan to teach her hunting and controlling her hunger. But I will be there for her too. Before I could drift off into deeper sleep, I felt someone caressing my face softly.
"You are such an Edward Cullen, Damon." A smile appeared on my lips as I said that. I opened my eyes and saw Damon smirking down at me. He didn't even snap at me for comparing him with Edward Cullen. Also he looked awfully happy. It was radiating off of his face and eyes. Then I remembered, Damon must have encounter Katherine already. Wasn't he supposed to be all heartbroken and drunk? Or did the encounter part skipped and it never happened this time? I sat up and looked carefully at Damon. Making sure that I was seeing right and not just dreaming it up.
"You seem to be in a good mood." I said to Damon who in return raised an eye brow at me.
"You are saying it as if it's a bad thing" said Damon and I wanted to say it's not a bad thing but rather a confusing thing. But avoided saying that.
"No, I was just wondering what got you in this mood." I said and thought to myself should I just ask him if he met Katherine or not? No, that will be too suspicious.
"Just cleared some issues. Besides, it's my turn of doing the neighborhood watch. And I love being a trusty bodyguard" said Damon. Well this was really not what happened last time. I mean in the episode. What changed? I couldn't help but know.
"Cleared some issues, huh? Let me guess, you had an encounter with Katherine again." I said and Damon looked shockingly at me that I figured it out so easily. As there was no point in denying it he admitted to that.
"Yes, she came over to the boarding house to say good bye. I asked her some questions, though she answered only one which was enough for me and then she left." Damon finished explaining and I raised my eye brows at him.
"That's it?" I asked knowing that it was not the entire description of what happened between them.
"Yeah, that's it." Damon lied smoothly which made me smirk at him.
"Liar, you skipped the whole making out part." I said and his eyes went wide dramatically.
"We didn't make out." Damon strongly defended himself which only made me roll my eyes at him.
"Save your breaths Damon. By the way what was your question that you asked her, the one she answered?" I knew that too but wanted to hear it from Damon because something has definitely changed this time. Did Katherine say that she loved Damon instead of Stefan? Damon wouldn't be here if she had said that and probably doing something much more than just making out with her right now. Damon sighed out heavily and gave in.
"I asked her if she really loved me back in 1864 but she said she didn't and it was Stefan she loved. It was always him." I was shocked that there was no bitterness in his voice, no hurt feelings, no heart break, no nothing. Damon was actually being extremely normal about this confession from Katherine. It definitely confused me.
"And you are perfectly okay with it? I mean it didn't hurt you a bit when she said that she only loved Stefan and it was always him." I asked Damon and wondered to myself how is that possible?
"Nope, it didn't hurt a bit." Damon confirmed saying that popping the p a bit for more effect.
"So, you are ready to move on from Katherine? I mean you are completely over her now." Damon nodded his head with a huge grin. I breathed out a heavy sigh. I was kind of happy to hear that too. But wait Elena was still in the row. Is he going to go after her now? Well Damon was definitely supposed to do that according to the the show. I felt bad to push it on him when he looked so happy but I needed to do it.
"Well it's good for you. Now you can completely focus on keeping Elena happy and protect her and hope for her to one day fall in love with you too." I finished with a shrug of my shoulders. Damon groaned and rolled his eyes at me.
"Oh come on, how long you are gonna hold that against me?" said Damon. The nerve of him. He actually wanted me to just forget about it. Even if I wished to do that but I simply can't get over it.
"What? Isn't that your sole purpose of living now?" I said crossing my arms over my chest.
"Look, I know you are upset that I kissed Katherine and made out with her too. But I needed to do that. I needed to figure out that my feelings for her are completely gone now." Well Damon was being truthful at least so I decided to be too.
"Damon believe me or not, I really don't mind that you kissed Katherine or made out with her. I am not saying that to be ignorant of it but I really mean it. It doesn't bother my mind a bit. But I have to admit that when you kissed Elena-" I was cut off by Damon immediately.
"I never kissed Elena." He pointed out making me roll my eyes at him.
"I know, it was Katherine but you kissed her thinking it was Elena and that's a huge difference. And honestly it bugged my mind a lot thinking that you kissed Elena." I finally confessed my guts out to him. But it made Damon very confused. Well I was confused myself.
"What does this even mean? I mean you are completely okay with me kissing Katherine but you are jealous when I kissed her thinking it was Elena. It doesn't make any sense" said Damon obviously it wouldn't make any sense to him. I huffed out a frustrated sigh and walked up to my window and leaned against the frame. Damon followed me too and stood at the opposite side while facing me.
"I don't know Damon. It's confusing to me too." I said after a moment. Trying to understand myself what I just said. I said what I felt but I have no idea why I feel that way. Or maybe I do? I know that after what Katherine did to him, Damon would never love her like that again. But if given the chance Damon could easily fall for Elena and be in love with her. And I guess I am quite insecure about that. And that's why it bugged me that Damon kissed Katherine thinking she was Elena. Which meant that he could kiss Elena too and feel something for her. It was still so confusing. However Damon was smirking at me suddenly. I scowled at him with confusion.
"What?" I asked as his smirk grew more.
"So you do agree that you were jealous when I kissed Katherine thinking she was Elena. And that's why you kept fighting with me since that happened. Admit it, you have feelings for me. Otherwise you won't be jealous." Damon said that with pleased tone of voice and I gaped at him for sometime. He is such a jerk sometimes. Well all the time. He wanted me to confess my feelings to him first so that I will be the one going through all the awkwardness and tension. And he wouldn't have to worry about anything at all. That's really not gonna happen.
"Let's get one thing straight Damon, I wasn't jealous okay. It just bothered me. And feeling jealous and bothered are two very different kind of feelings. But whatever, you are here to ensure Elena's safety. She is in her room right now. You should go see her." I looked away from Damon and looked out of the window. Cold wind rushing through my hair and making me shiver now and then. Damon suddenly got very close to me and leaned near my side to whisper in my ear that gave me goose bumps all over my body.
"I am here to ensure your safety too" said Damon in a seductive tone of voice. If that was his way of saying I love you then it's certainly not gonna work.
"Elena is the one who needs safety Damon, not me. Besides, I am not yours to protect." I said and Damon opened his mouth to say something but Jeremy appeared at the doorway at that time.
"What's going on?" Jeremy asked eyeing us suspiciously. I looked away from Damon but he was still boring his eyes into me.
"Nothing Jeremy, Damon just came to check up on me. He is leaving now." I said to Jeremy. Damon clenched his jaws and sucked a deep breath and finally walked out of my room. Jeremy stared at me for a moment. I obviously looked disturbed. But he didn't say anything. Little did I know that he was going after Damon to confront him?
Third Person POV
Damon was about to enter Elena's room to check if everything was alright. Right then Jeremy walked up straight to him.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Jeremy asked angrily. Damon just cocked his eye brows at him.
"What?"
"Look, I don't care if you really feel something for Jacq but from now on you gonna stay away from my sister." Jeremy glared hard at Damon but it only got him angry. Elena came out of her room hearing their voices outside of her door. She was wondering what was going on.
"It's for your sister to decide, not yours." Damon said calmly but he was boiling with rage inside. How dare this kid tell him to stay away from Jacq?
"Guys what's going on?" asked Elena but no one answered her.
"I think she wants you to stay away from her too. I am warning you Damon, I don't want you anywhere near her again." Damon had had enough. He dangerously approached Jeremy.
"It won't matter what you want when you are dead" and saying that Damon just snapped his neck in a blink of an eye and killed Jeremy. Elena cried out and ran to him. Jeremy was lying dead on the floor. Elena couldn't believe Damon just killed her brother. Tears fell from her eyes. Damon stared at them for a while. He shouldn't have done that. He realized that immediately. But what's done is done. He can't take it back. Instead Damon just walked out of the house.
Jacqueline's POV
I heard Elena yelling my name. I got out of my room and saw her holding Jeremy's dead body and crying. How the hell did that happened? I thought everything is changing now. I rushed to them quickly.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Damon killed him." Elena could only say that between her sobs. I quickly checked Jeremy's hand and the ring was on his finger. I sighed out in relief.
"He will come back. He was wearing the ring." I pointed to Elena and called Stefan right away. Then I sat beside them as well, waiting for Jeremy to come back to life. Thank god I didn't take his ring when he had offered it to me. He would be really dead if I had the ring with me. The mere thought created a hollow inside my chest and filled it with fear and pain. I don't know where it went wrong that the same thing happened. Damon wasn't drunk or upset this time because of Katherine. I didn't do anything either to piss him off so much that he really killed Jeremy. Only Jeremy knew what really happened. But after what happened I didn't know what to feel for Damon anymore. Hate won't be enough for him. How dare he kill my brother? He is gonna pay for this. I am gonna put him through hell. Stefan entered the house and made his way upstairs where we, the three Gilbert siblings, were sitting while holding each other. Stefan checked Jeremy and his ring.
"What happened?" He asked. Thankfully Elena was able to talk by the time.
"Jeremy was warning Damon to stay away from his sister. I don't know who Jeremy was talking about. Then Damon just snapped and killed him."
Both Stefan and I knew which sister Jeremy was talking about. But Elena didn't know that and as Damon just claimed to have a heated kiss with her yesterday, she was thinking it was her who Jeremy was talking about. Stefan did try to defend Damon and accused Katherine for it but I knew better. I was furious and so was Elena like she should be. The difference was that Elena voiced her hatred for him while I stayed quiet about it. I knew how to get to Damon in a better way. Jeremy came back to life. He was very shocked and pretty shaken. I didn't know which one was worse dying or coming back from the dead. Stefan and Elena took him to his room and put him to sleep. I knew it would be impossible for me to sleep tonight. Therefore I didn't try at all. If Damon is going to be this way then I really need to keep him and everyone else away from me for the time being. Any day now Tyler will have the moonstone with him. I need to focus on that. It was not the time for love problems and teenage dramas. Because if I don't get my hands on the real moonstone everything will fall apart and get destroyed. And I simply can't let it happen.
AN: I hope you liked it. Reviews please 'hugs and love'.