Turning Point
"I want to give you something."
Elena jumped at the sound of the voice. She hadn't even heard him approaching her. She had been too lost in her memory of Damon, seducing her on the exact same spot she was sitting now. She idly fingered the keys of the piano in front of her. It seemed like ages ago, with everything that had happened in the meantime. The wedding was less than two weeks away. The walls were closing in. Her cage was ready.
"Elena?"
She looked up from the piano to see her father standing in the doorway. His face was unreadable, but serious. Quietly, he stepped into the room, his eyes never leaving hers. In his hands he carried a small box.
Elena looked up at him in confusion. Why was he giving her a gift already? Was it for the wedding?
Grayson Gilbert nodded his head at her piano seat, indicating that he wanted her to scoot over. Dutily, Elena did as she was told.
"You know how proud I am of you. You've turned into such a beautiful young woman. Master Lockwood cannot wait to marry you. I'm very happy with this union, as you know, and I hope you will have a prosperous life. I know I should have waited until the wedding, but I wanted to give it to you now. I hope you will wear it every day and know that I love you," her father told her.
Elena blinked up at him. It wasn't like her father to get emotional. Not even about his own daughter. So this surprised her.
She watched as he opened up the small box and revealed a beautiful silver bracelet. Elena gasped at the sheer beauty of it. It had an interwoven band with a charm dangling in the middle. It was truly stunning.
"Thank you, father."
Her father smiled at her, before putting the bracelet on her wrist.
"There, that looks very good on you."
Elena held up her wrist up in front of her, watching the bracelet sparkling in the sunlight that came streaming through the windows until a scent caught her nose. It was very faint, but surely there. It smelled like an herb and it was coming from her bracelet. She bent down a bit to be able to identify the strange smell better.
"Ah, you can smell it. Open up the charm on your bracelet," her father urged her.
Elena followed his instruction and frowned at what she saw. Her nose hadn't failed her. It was definitely an herb that she had smelled. Her father had put it in the charm of her bracelet.
"It's called vervain."
Elena's head snapped up at her father's words.
Vervain?! As in the vervain Damon had burned so he could compel her father to give him information about that thing that he wanted? Where did he get it? Damon had told her he had burned it all!
Her mind went into overdrive. If her father still had some vervain left, then Damon couldn't compel him. If Damon couldn't compel him… But Damon HAD compelled her father a few weeks ago at her engagement party. Hadn't he? Did her father actually have vervain back then?
O god!
Did her father know?!
"I can see the wheels turning in your head, Elena. I'll bet you're trying to think of a way to warn him right now, aren't you?"
Elena's heart was pounding in her throat. Fear made its' way through her body. What had they done? His father's circle… Had they outsmarted Damon's plot?!
"H…how?" she squeaked.
Her father scooted a bit closer towards her, looking her dead in the eye. Elena couldn't look away if her life depended on it.
"He played it well, I have to give it to him. But when my vervain burned to the ground and Logan Fell miraculously disappeared, I got suspicious. What if I had an inside player on my hands? What if it was someone I knew? I decided to tell all of my business associates that I had no vervain left. It would only be a matter of time before one of them would begin to compel me if they were a vampire. Damon slipped when he met you in my opinion. He became careless."
Elena swallowed something.
"I was part of his plan," she whispered.
Her father shrugged.
"Maybe at first. Vampires always want danger. You were dangerous because you're my daughter. It excited Damon to chase you. But he messed up when he had sex with you in my goddamn library room! The bastard tried to compel me to forget."
Elena was mortified! So her father HAD heard them, then? What was he going to do now? What was he going to do with HER? She could only hope that the fact that she was his flesh and blood would hold him back from doing something stupid.
"I am VERY disappointed in you, Elena. It's really ironic how the daughter of a notorious vampire hunter falls for a despicable vampire! So this is how we're going to do this: Damon is currently walking into my trap as we speak, he gets killed and you're going to pretend like this has never happened. I haven't filled Mason Lockwood in on anything. He still wants to marry you and I certainly don't want the shame of having the community know that my daughter was defiled by a monster. You ARE going to marry him, Elena. And after that, I will wash my hands off of you. You are in the Lockwood's care now. Thank the Lord your mother doesn't know about all of this!"
Elena sat stumped. There were no words left to say to her father. She sat hunched as he stared her down, daring her to try anything.
"Now you stay here and be a good little girl. The next time you see your boyfriend he'll be dead. Truly dead this time," her father spat.
With those words, he stalked off.
Elena wasted no time. She quickly made her way towards the Gilbert carriage outside. Her father had hired a new driver after Damon had killed Frederick and Elena only hoped that he would help her. She didn't exactly know where Damon lived. But he had told her once he resided mostly on the outskirts of town. She would order the carriage to take her there and then she would look for him.
"Donald," she breathed when she reached her driver.
"Miss Gilbert," he nodded. "How may I help you?"
"Take me to the outskirts of Mystic Falls, please."
Donald looked hesitant.
"The outskirts are not very safe, ma'am. But I could take you somewhere else," he offered.
Elena shook her head.
"I NEED to get to the outskirts, please. It's of utmost urgency," she pressed.
Donald sighed.
"All right, then. Let me help you into the carriage."
As soon as she was seated, the driver took off.
Elena sat back, anxiety written all over her face. Was her father really ordering to kill Damon? And what was the plan? How was he going to do it? She couldn't even wrap her mind around what had happened in these past few moments.
Yesterday morning, everything had been a whole lot better. Elena had been in the sitting room with the fitters, trying on her wedding dress, when Damon had spotted her.
Elena could feel him before she even saw him. His eyes were on her as she was standing with her back towards him. She grinned, because his gawking made her feel desired. Of course, he would never admit that he had been gawking.
"You look beautiful," he suddenly whispered seductively behind her.
She turned around to find those icy blue eyes filled with heat. Heat for her.
"Could you please excuse us for a moment?" she told her fitters.
They all hurried out of the room, but not before one of them gave her a disapproving look. She wasn't supposed to be alone in her wedding dress with a man who wasn't her future husband. Elena ignored the look and focused on Damon instead. He was eyeing her from top to bottom. Elena knew that her wedding dress suited her well. It was off white and had a tight bodice. Something her mother highly disapproved of, but because all of her skin was covered up, she couldn't really complain about it. It was very simple, but lacy and had a long train.
"No one is supposed to see the wedding dress before the actual wedding, Mr. Salvatore!" she scolded him.
Damon grinned evilly.
"I'm not planning on coming anyway."
Elena smacked his arm.
"You are awful!" she bit out playfully.
Damon's grin disappeared from his face and he suddenly got serious.
"Do you think your husband would mind if I kissed the bride first?"
"Damon…"
"Do you think it would upset him that I know about every delicious delicacy his future wife has to offer?"
Elena's heart began to pound in her chest. Why was it that the simple act of him speaking sinfully would already get her excited? He was the temptation embodied .
He stepped closer to her, closing the gap between them until their noses almost touched. Moments like this seemed even more erotic to her than the act of sex itself. The way the air crackled around them, the way their bodies were very much aware of the other's presence. The way her blood boiled at his nearness…
"Damon..," she breathed again.
"Don't you think it would be sexy if I touched you with your fitters waiting right outside? In the dress that promises you to another man?"
Elena shook her head.
"Don't. We already got lucky in the library room, Damon," she warned him.
"Ah yes. I definitely got lucky," Damon winked.
"Damon!"
Damon held his hands up in surrender.
"All right, I'll give. I have a meeting with your father in a few minutes anyway. I can't stall," he told her.
Elena nodded and ran her hands down her bodice to wipe off the sweaty hands he had caused her to have.
"Ouch!"
Damon's eyebrows shot up at her outburst.
"What happened?"
"Pinprick. I think one of the pins that holds my dress together pricked my hand," she explained.
"Let me see"
Elena held up her hand in front of him, letting him examine it. There was a tiny drop of blood on her fingertip, making his eyes change and the veins underneath them appear again.
"Mmm," he almost groaned.
He looked deeply into her eyes as he raised her hand towards his mouth. He kissed around the small wound for a second, enjoying the taste of her flesh in his mouth. He was still looking at her as his lips finally closed around her finger. Elena's legs almost buckled as he began to softly suckle her digit. Her insides quivered in need again, making her seriously reconsider his offer to have her in her wedding dress.
She eyed him through heavy lidded eyes. He always made her want it. Crave it.
She thought back to that moment when she had been the one who drank HIS blood. That had been so.. deliciously sinful. As if he could read her mind, he dropped her finger and bit into his own palm, offering it to her.
She hesitated for a moment, but the heated look in his eyes pulled her in. She closed her mouth over the wound he had created and drank. She made it her business to be careful, since she didn't want to spill anything on her wedding dress.
All too soon the moment ended, and Damon pulled back.
"We'd better let the fitters in, before they have a fit," he chuckled at his own joke….
"Donald? Why did we stop?" Elena asked as the jolt from the carriage halting pulled her back towards the present.
Donald didn't answer.
The whole situation reminded her of the day on which Damon had killed Frederick weeks ago. And sure enough, it was Damon who opened her carriage door. Elena almost wanted to roll her eyes at him.
"Please don't tell me that you've killed yet another one of my drivers, Master Salvatore!" she threw at him.
Damon chuckled at the familiarity of the situation.
"I've merely knocked him unconscious this time, Miss Gilbert. No need to get your undergarments in a twist."
Elena smiled, but quickly became serious again.
"I actually came to warn you. My father knows what you are. You have to run. He wants to kill you," she quickly informed him.
"How does he know? You didn't tell him, did you?" Damon almost glared.
"Of course not!" Elena told him, outraged. "He still had vervain, Damon. He couldn't be compelled!"
Damon stepped back from the carriage and ran his hands through his hair.
"Damn it! That son of a bitch! He told me he had no vervain left!"
Elena stepped out of the carriage completely and eyed him warily.
"He outsmarted you, Damon. Your plan is failing. You'd better leave now, before he and his men find you."
"But I can't leave! If he gets his hands on what I'm looking for…"
"Then tell me, Damon! Tell me all about your plan and I will help you," Elena offered.
Before Damon had a chance to reply, an arrow pierced his chest. Elena watched in horror as smoke sizzled from the place where it had entered Damon's body. Damon groaned, his face contorted in pain and a familiar smell hit Elena's nostrils.
Vervain.
A shadowy figure stood at the end of the road, holding up the bow that had shot the arrow. Elena couldn't make out who it was. But he or she scared the living daylights out of her. In front of her, Damon dropped to the ground in a heap.
"Damon!"
But Damon was unconscious; unable to reply. Elena crouched over him, trying to shake him into waking up. But to no avail.
She could hear footsteps approaching.
"Thank you for tipping me off about this one, Katherine. You've been a great help," Grayson Gilbert's voice loomed over Elena's form.
"Anytime, Mr. Gilbert. I've wanted to capture this particular vampire for a VERY long time….."
A/N: Yes, I know there will be A LOT of questions now. I guess I'm a sucker for cliff hangers ;) I hope you liked it. And please review to let me know how you want these questions to be answered. They feed my muse. *hugs*
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