A/N - Greetings. Happy new TVD day! How are you guys liking this season?
IMPORTANT - While I was writing this chapter, I realized I had to tweak a few things from some previous chapters to make the plot work. I have already gone back and updated it, but all you need to know is that Klaus doesn't know that he needs the doppelganger's blood to sire hybrids (Which still wouldn't have worked with Max anyway because now she's a vamp but that's beside the point) instead, he thinks that he needs to finish what he started and kill the doppelganger in order for it to work.
The last 3 present-day chapters (this one and 2 more) in this book took/are taking me forever to plan and write. They have the most complicated plots I've written yet and I'm really trying to get it all just right. I'm really excited for where this story is headed.
As you probably already know, this is the longest story I've ever written, both fanfiction wise and original. I'm really enjoying creating my own plots and having my fav characters interact in ways I've never seen in the show. I think there are going to be two more "book"s after this one, unless I get a really good idea from season 6 and have to write it in.
As always, please leave a review. You're feedback is what keeps me going. Now, enough from me, ENJOY!
It had been a day since Elena and Damon had arrived back in their small hometown of Mystic Falls. Caroline had freaked at them initially, upset that neither had bothered to call and let the rest of them know they were fine. When she had finally calmed down enough, the duo were finally able to tell the others where they had been. They explained how they had gone to do some research at the Duke campus and Damon had thought it would be a good idea to turn off their cell phones so as not to get distracted.
"We must have forgotten to turn them back on when we got to the hotel." Damon explained, finishing his tale.
Caroline's eyes flew to Elena who seemed to be hiding a smile as she listened to Damon. Weird.
"So." Stefan stepped forward. "Why did you have to take Elena with you?"
Damon hesitated a moment, throwing a glance at Elena. He said, "She was assisting me with my research."
That was when Caroline thought she saw her friend give a small head-shake, as if she was laughing at a private joke. She squinted her eyes. No one else seemed to notice, so Caroline shook her head. Maybe she was imagining things.
Now it was Katherine that spoke up. "And?" she asked, addressing the question to Damon.
"And what?" Damon replied.
Katherine rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to the eldest Salvatore. "And what did you find? Did you learning of anything new and helpful? Something we could use to take down Klaus?"
Elena stepped towards her sister. "Katherine, we searched for hours and hours. The whole day, actually, and we couldn't find anything even remotely helpful."
Katherine directed a fake smile at her sister. "Great. So that was another two days wasted." She turned towards Stefan. "I hope this whole 'being patient' thing works, 'cuz right now, it's not looking so good."
At that second, the front door to the Salvatore house flew open.
"Guys I think we found something!" Bonnie exclaimed, looking around at the rest of the group. Jeremy followed her in, looking equally as excited.
Elena turned to the witch. "Bonnie, what is it?"
Bonnie glanced at Jeremy before answering. "Me and Jeremy were looking through some of my family's old grimoires and we came across a spell I think we can use against Klaus."
This news did the trick. Evernone was sitting up in their seats, eager to hear what Bonnie was thinking. Caroline noticed Lexi and Max come down the stairs, probably having heard the commotion from her room.
As Bonnie explained the spell, Caroline grew more and more confident. It seemed like it would work. The rest of the gang began throwing out suggestions, what they could do to help. Soon, each person had a role, except Max. She wanted to help, but Elena quickly shut down that idea.
"It's too dangerous." Elena said, with a voice of finality. "If Klaus gets his hands on you, he'll kill you. You're not risking it."
Max shut up pretty quickly after that. It almost seemed out of character. She would normally have argued a lot more.
Caroline tried to shrug it off. Maybe both Max and Elena acting strange was just a doppelganger thing.
The group put the final touches on their plan. It would happen at the Founders Ball Mrs. Lockwood had decided to hold. While the majority of the town would be dancing around the floor in gorgeous ball gowns, they would be enacting a plan to take down a hybrid.
Liz grabbed Damon's arm and pulled him into the secret council meeting. Every time anyone on the founding families did anything like a party or town gathering, it was really just an excuse to meet as the council and discuss what to do about the town's vampire problem.
Damon let her lead him to a seat as the mayor walked up to the front and addressed the council. "Fellow council members. By now, I'm sure you've all heard of the, so called, animal attacks and missing persons."
Damon glanced over at Liz, who had sat down next to him. They had both been hoping to keep this between the two of them for at least a little longer. They didn't want the council to do anything stupid under the influence of John Gilbert. But it seemed that that was now out of their control.
"Well, as I'm sure you've all guessed," Mayor Lockwood continued, "They were not actually animal attacks. We have reason to believe that there is a rogue vampire in our town and we need to figure out who it is and kill it."
Damon kept his poker face on, but was internally thinking frantically. He was pretty sure he knew what vampire was doing this and that that vampire was his brother. But even if Stefan was the one behind the attacks, he didn't want him dead. If the council found out about any of Damon's friends, they were in trouble. Even more trouble than they were already in with Klaus.
"I think we need to plan a round up." John Gilbert said, standing up. Liz rolled her eyes and Damon's heartbeat quickened. A roundup would be very bad.
The Mayor shifted his weight and crossed his arms, addressing John, "You mean, like the one in 1864?"
"Yes." John replied. "Just like that one." He held up his hand to show the council what looked like an old pocket watch. "This is a device that can find vampires."
The rest of the council stirred in their seats. They buying into every word John was saying hook, line, and sinker.
Even the Mayor looked impressed. "Okay John, how do you suppose we go about this?"
"We plan a date, then we track as many as we can, take them down with vervain and lock them up somewhere and burn the building down with them inside it. Just like 1864."
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Bonnie said, taking Jeremy's hand as they began to dance. Her dress fell to the floor and flowed as they began to slowly spin in circles around the dance floor.
"Talk you into what?" He asked, grinning. "Dancing with me?"
"No." She answered glaring at him. "You know what."
Jeremy sighed, frustrated that his attempt to flirt with her had been totally discarded. "It's the only way Bonnie." Jeremy said, knowing what she was talking about. "Damon and Alaric are needed elsewhere and I'm willing to risk it."
She stopped dancing in the middle of the floor. "But I'm not."
Jeremy pulled her out of the way into an empty hallway. He looked her straight in the eyes, trying to understand the meaning behind what she was saying. "What do you mean by that?"
Bonnie looked down at the floor. Is she blushing? Jeremy found himself thinking. "Jeremy, it's too dangerous. I have no guarantee that I can bring you back." Bonnie explained, avoiding the question. "It will take a whole lot of power that I'm not sure I have. I shouldn't have agreed to this."
"Bonnie," Jeremy whispered, putting his hand under her chin and lifting it so she was looking straight at him. "I believe in you. I trust you."
The corner of her mouth pulled slightly upward as she nodded. Then her eyes began to tear up, one quickly spilling down her right cheek, most likely against her will. Her gaze fell back towards the floor.
Jeremy wiped her tear away with a gentle finger. "What's wrong Bonnie?"
She shook her head and swallowed before she looked back into his eyes. "I can't lose you Jeremy."
For a moment, Jeremy didn't move. Then he did the one thing he had been wanting to do ever since she had rescued him from Klaus. He leaned forward and kissed her.
To his surprise, she kissed him back. He felt her hand and the back of his neck. It seemed to last forever and over too quickly at the same time.
When it ended, they looked into each other's eyes, their noses still touching. They both smiled and Jeremy reached out to push the hair out of her face. Almost immediately, she pulled him back down for another kiss.
Stefan spun Elena around on the dance floor, barely holding on her hand above her head as she twirled. She laughed as he pulled her back towards him, easily falling back into step with the him and the music.
The floor was filled with couples dancing, some serious, some more playful, all of them enjoying themselves. Elena spotted Caroline dancing with Matt a little ways away. She was wearing a strapless purple sweetheart dress that poofed out at the waist like a princess dress. Matt had a matching purple tie and looked slightly uncomfortable on the dance floor.
Elena was pretty sure she had seen Bonnie and Jeremy dancing together earlier. Sometime between then and now they had disappeared. They were probably getting ready for their part of the plan.
That thought brought her back to the present. Sure, she was at one of the fanciest founders day events of the year and dancing with her boyfriend, but she couldn't forget that that wasn't all it was. It was also the setting for their master plan to take down Klaus.
She scanned the room again over Stefan's shoulder. There was Alaric, standing to the side making small talk with someone. He would be ready for his part when it came. The others were probably getting ready somewhere nearby.
But there was one face that was missing. Where was Damon? He should have been there with Alaric. Elena scanned the room for the third time, fear beginning to creep into her mind for the first time that night. He should be here.
"Hey, you okay?" Stefan asked, noticing the shift in her mood.
She pulled back to an arms length from him so she could look him in they eyes. "Yeah, I just . . . I don't see Damon."
Stefan nodded. "He'll be here." He said, shrugging it off. "He's probably just off flirting with some poor girl somewhere."
Elena felt her stomach clench at the thought. Why did that bother her so much? Here she was, dancing with her boyfriend and thinking about his brother flirting with someone else. She took a deep breath and focused back on Stefan. "Yeah." She answered him finally. "You're probably right."
She continued dancing with him, enjoying the silent time, her head leaned against his chest. Like this, she could almost imagine her life was normal, that there wasn't some master plan going down tonight. She could almost convince herself that her and Stefan weren't growing farther apart by the day. She could almost believe she wasn't struggling with feelings for someone else whom she had never imagined she would ever feel that way for. Then the song ended.
As a new song began, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up and was caught off guard by the face greeting her. "Damon."
Damon turned to Stefan. "I'm sorry, brother, but could I steal a dance with your date?"
Stefan looked uncertain, glancing at Elena for guidance. She nodded to him, telling him it was alright.
"Fine." Stefan murmured, stepping away while handing Elena's hand to Damon.
Damon took her hand and they slid together easily. He put his other hand on her back and she put her's on his shoulder. They fell into step with each other and the song, drifting around the dance floor like they were floating.
"Elena, we need to talk." He said once they had gotten into the flow of the song.
"Okay." She agreed, letting her feet follow his lead. "Talk."
"It's about Stefan." He said, raising his eyebrows. She got the idea. It was about his suspicions. "Look," Damon continued. "I still don't know for sure if it actually is Stef, but that seems like the most likely scenario. People are starting to notice. If they figure out it's him, he's dead."
Elena shook her head. "Wait, I'm not quite following." She turned her head to the side, hardly even noticing her feet still moving rhythmically beneath her. "Who's starting to notice, and why would they want to kill him? Wouldn't they just . . ." Suddenly a thought occurred to her. It had been 150 years, so she hadn't really thought much of it, but it was possible.
"Damon." She said much more serious than she had been a moment earlier. "Who's they?"
"The council." He answered, confirming her suspicions. He continued talking, "Elena, I managed to gain their trust. I've been spying on them for months, keeping an eye on their progress. But I'm afraid they're getting too close now."
She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Like we don't have enough other stuff to worry about."
"I'm sorry." Damon said. "I just thought you should know that they are around and getting closer to the truth. I've been doing my best to throw them off, but there's only so much I can do."
Elena nodded. "Okay look, first, let's get through this dance, and then worry about the plan. After that we can worry about Stefan and the council."
Damon smiled. "Sounds like quite a plan. And perhaps you could assist me with researching later."
It was a lame attempt at a joke, but it made her laugh and she immediately felt less stressed. "But first the song."
He nodded goofily, "We finish the song first, of course."
She laughed again as he spun her out, away from him, then back towards him. She felt totally safe and secure in his arms. It wasn't like when she was dancing with Stefan. With Stefan it was as if she was simply covering up all the stuff in her life, forgetting about it for a time, but it would all still be there when she came back to reality.
Dancing with Damon was nothing like that. With Damon, it was like she knew she would be alright. With Damon she could stare all her problems in the face and knew that they would get through it. With Damon, she could get through any hardship, solve any problem. He didn't just make her forget about her problems for a short time, he got rid of them completely.
She danced, watching him watch her. She knew that what she was feeling was probably wrong, but she couldn't help but feel it anyways. Somehow, Damon had gotten under her skin, and no matter what she did, she couldn't shake him.
The song ended far sooner than she wanted. They stepped apart and looked around, still on the alert for Klaus and his gang. It was a good thing too, because as they watched, Klaus walked through the front door to the Lockwood's mansion.