Author's note: I realized I need to clarify one point before I move on. I briefly mentioned it in "Bittersweet," but I'm operating under the assumption that the Salvatore brothers had different mothers. Damon's mother was a Petrova. Stefan's was not. (That's not completely spelled out in canon, though, so I have no way of being sure.)
Ratings: MATURE - adult content, violence, non-consensual adult content, language, sensitive subject matter, character death
"Thanks for coming over, Kennedy." Damon locked the front door behind him.
She stepped out from the kitchen carrying a can of soda. "I hope you don't mind that I ordered pizza. The natives were getting restless."
"No." Damon shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the clock. They should have eaten hours ago. "I'm glad you thought of it." He gave his niece a tired smile. "How much do I owe you?"
"For the pizza? Nothing. Aunt Elena showed me where she keeps her secret drawer of cash when I was here last week while she was at her doctor's appointment."
Damon ran last week's schedule through his head. "Elena didn't have an appointment last week."
"She did." Kennedy nodded. "On Thursday. You were at a City Council meeting or something." She leaned over and looked out the window. "Mom's here. I've gotta go. I have a ton of homework. I don't know what the teachers are thinking. It isn't like the school year is almost over or anything."
"You sure she was at the doctor's office?"
"Yeah. Every Thursday afternoon."
"Every Thursday?" Elena hadn't told him about weekly visits. The only time she'd had to go to her doctor's that often at this stage in her pregnancy was with the twins, and that's because they were high risk. High risk.
She'd been having headaches. More than once, he'd seen her holding onto the bannister on the stairs a little too tightly. And she'd just seemed a little off from her normal self.
Damn. He'd assumed she was stressed because of the vampires in town. Something wasn't right, and of course she hadn't told him. Typical Elena.
"Uncle Damon? Is everything okay?" Kennedy must have been talking to him for a while, but he hadn't heard a word she'd said after every Thursday. "Oh, Mom's here. I've got to go."
Jenna parked the car at the end of the driveway and jogged up the sidewalk. She tapped on the window to the side of the front door and motioned for Damon to step out onto the porch. "Have you heard anything?"
"Not since Claire texted me that they're on their way home." Damon glanced back down at his phone. "I tried to call Elena twice, but she's not answering her phone."
"I wouldn't want to be Claire right now." Kennedy had joined the conversation. "Aunt Elena's scary when she's mad."
"Truer words have never been spoken." Damon agreed, thinking that Kennedy must spend a little too much time at their house. "I know you need to get going. I'll have Elena call you when she gets home. Can you tell Ric and Jackson thanks?"
"Sure." Jenna followed Kennedy to the car.
Damon looked through the front windows and saw that everyone was still happily eating around the kitchen table. Kennedy must have bribed them - soda with dinner was reserved for special occasions. An unfamiliar car wound its way down the street and Damon stepped off the porch. Isobel was behind the wheel. Claire was sitting in the passenger seat next to her, arms crossed, and jaw locked in a very Stefan-like expression.
Claire hopped out of the car without speaking and tried not to look at Damon.
"Where's your mom?" Damon wasn't sure if he should be asking Claire or Isobel.
Claire shrugged her shoulders, still staring at the ground. "She was talking to Mr. Silverman and she told me to leave. Did you know he's like British or something?"
"Mr. Silverman? The one who owns the newspaper?"
Claire nodded. She finally looked up at him, and her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "He's like, really weird, Dad. Like, really, really weird."
"What kind of weird?"
"It's hard to explain. He went all lurky on us."
"Lurky?" Somewhere inside him, a latent instinct had stirred. This wasn't simply an issue of a teenager who'd decided not to come home from school. Suddenly things had gotten much more complicated.
"Claire, why don't you go inside?" Isobel handed Claire her backpack.
Damon realized Isobel was trying to get Claire away from them. Rather than lecturing his daughter about the danger of what she'd done, he followed Isobel's lead and just tried to get her inside the house. "Everyone else is eating pizza. If you hurry, you might still get a piece."
Isobel waited until the door latched closed behind Claire. "Before you ask, I don't know what's going on. All I know is that Claire was hysterical when she came to the door of the boardinghouse. When no one answered, she practically broke a window trying to get inside. She told us about Mr. Silverman, Katherine asked her a few questions, and she told me to bring Claire home."
"Where's Katherine?"
"She went after Elena."
"Why do I think something's wrong?"
"Because you have good instincts." Isobel reached into her pocket and pulled out John's ring. "Before she told Claire to leave, Elena dropped this into her pocket."
"He's the vampire." Damon fought back his frustration. "I don't know how I missed it. New in town, the attacks started a few weeks after he arrived." He stormed for his car.
"Where are you going?" Isobel took hold of his arm.
"To protect my wife." Damon tugged against her.
"No you're not." Isobel refused to let go. "Katherine is with her. Even if you were still a vampire which, as I might remind you, you're not - Katherine is older and stronger. Unless we're dealing with an Original, she's going to be able to protect Elena better than you could. And if she can't," Isobel's voice caught in her throat in a surprisingly human burst of emotion. She reached out and took hold of his shoulders spinning him around until he was looking in his window. "If something happens to Elena, they need one of their parents." Isobel pointed back at the house. "I watched my daughter when she lost both Miranda and Grayson. Don't make them go through the same thing."
A weight settled in the pit of Damon's stomach. Her words confirmed his worst fears. Even now, if he went to find Elena, he might already be too late. His hope for keeping Elena safe rested on Katherine.
Katherine.
He'd never felt more conflicted in his life. Elena was the very breath inside his lungs. But the faces gathered around the dinner table right now needed him too.
"Dad," Nathan opened the door and peeked outside. "When are you coming in?"
"I'll be right there." He stared at Isobel's hand wrapped around his arm.
"Can I trust you? You won't go after him tonight." Isobel didn't look convinced. "Stay with them."
"Dad! Brayden's jumping off the stairs." Emma stood behind her twin.
"I'm coming." He turned back and answered Isobel. "I won't go after him." As Isobel released her grip on his arm, he fought against the urge to ignore everything she'd just said and jump into his car. But then he looked at the two sets of eyes peering out from the doorway. They couldn't understand everything that was happening around them recently, but they were doing their best.
"Where's Mommy?" Emma carried Molly onto the porch.
"She'll be back soon." He lifted an unspoken prayer that he wasn't lying to them.
"Why did she bring Claire home?" Nathan pointed to Isobel's car as it backed out of the driveway.
Damon swallowed thickly. "She's a friend of your mom's."
"I know all of Mom's friends. I don't know her," Nathan argued.
"Well, obviously you haven't met one of them." Of course Nathan would pick tonight to turn into an angsty pre-teen. Damon followed Emma and Nathan inside and locked the door behind him. The click of the deadbolt seemed awfully hollow against the growing threat he knew was outside somewhere. Waiting for them. Maybe it had already gotten too close. Too real. He needed more answers. "Where's Claire?"
"She went upstairs." Brayden took a sip of his orange soda. "She said she wasn't hungry."
Damon gave a jerk of a nod. Probably better that way. The other kids didn't need to see the drama that was about to unfold. She saved him the trouble of sending her to her room. "I'll pay each of you a dollar if you'll clean up the dinner dishes."
"Aren't you hungry?" Nathan pointed to the pizza.
"I'll eat when your mom gets home." He jogged up the stairs and knocked on Claire's closed door. "Claire?" He waited. "Claire?" He knocked again.
"Go away."
"Claire?"
"I said, go away!"
Damon fought to stay in control. Kennedy might have said that Elena was scary when she was angry, but he knew Elena's temper was no match for his. But now might not have been the best time to let Claire see just how mad he could get. "I'm your dad. I can come in the room if I want."
Slowly the door cracked open and Claire peeked out. Staring into her troubled eyes, he decided to skip the lecture. "Are you okay?"
Claire nodded.
"Are you hungry?"
Claire shook her head. Damon was reminded of all the times when she was tiny and she liked to play the yes/no game. She started to say something but then seemed to change her mind.
"What is it, Claire?"
She chewed her lip and opened the door a little wider. "Why was Mom afraid of him?" Claire reached out and wrapped her arms around Damon's waist.
"Dad, I've never seen Mom that scared. She was shaking. And she dropped this into the pocket of my jacket." Claire held out Elena's Gilbert ring.
Damon really didn't need that information right now. It only served to confirm his worst fears. Elena was afraid the man was going to kill Claire, and she'd given up the one thing that might have saved herself.
"I don't know." He brushed his hand over the top of her head. "When she gets home, you can ask her." He took a deep breath and held on to his daughter as her shoulders began to shake.
"Mommy!" Emma shrieked from downstairs. "Mommy's home!"
Damon released his grip on Claire and stepped away. "Let's go let her in." He walked down the stairs, but he was still surprised to beat Elena to the front door. His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he noticed she was wearing an unfamiliar jacket.
"Mommy, you're late!" Emma lurched at Elena.
"Ohh - not so close. I got really dusty in the woods." She knelt down next to Emma. "You haven't had your bath yet?"
Emma shook her head. "Daddy was talking to Claire."
"Well, let's not wait any longer. You can't stay up too late. You have school tomorrow." She felt Damon's eyes on her and she answered his unspoken question without meeting his eyes. She couldn't right now. If she looked at him, she already knew she'd break, and she couldn't do that in front of their children. "I'm alright."
She nodded - as much to convince herself as the others standing in the room. "I think I'll run through the shower too, though. I walked through a cobweb or something." She stepped behind Emma and patted her back. "Come on, I'll even run bubbles in the tub for you."
"Aren't you going to eat?" Nathan asked.
"After my shower. You can leave a slice of pizza out for me." Elena hesitantly walked up the stairs and into the hall bathroom shared by the girls. She turned the faucets on and tipped a capful of Mr. Bubble into the stream of water. Emma giggled excitedly from over her shoulder. She could still feel Damon's eyes staring at her bedraggled appearance. "Can you take over so I can run through the shower?"
She didn't wait to see his answering nod. She wasn't going to be able to hold it together much longer. She needed to be alone. Away from the little ones. Away from Katherine. She bit down on her bottom lip. She couldn't even be with Damon right now. Not until she'd had a chance to see exactly how much damage Josef had done.
She stepped into the bathroom and changed her mind about the quick shower. Tonight she needed to soak in the tub. Leaning over, she turned on the tap and cringed as she felt her muscles tighten in an ever-increasing practice contraction - or at least that's what she kept telling herself. She hadn't been timing them, but she knew she definitely had enough to deal with right now. She'd just done too much today...that was all. She was likely dehydrated too. After her bath, she'd go downstairs and have a glass of herbal tea.
As the bath was filling she began to undress - carefully peeling her blouse over her head, attempting to keep from starting the bleeding again. She needn't have bothered, though, it didn't appear to have stopped yet. A think trickle of blood ran down her back. This shirt had once been her favorite, but looking at the crimson stain now covering most of the back, she knew it was destined for the trash. Even if she'd been able to get the stain out, she'd never be able to wear it again without thinking about tonight.
And she really didn't want to think about everything that had just happened.
Elena eased herself into the tub, her stomach turning slightly as she watched the water take on a pinkish hue. It wasn't as if this was the first time she'd been bitten, she reminded herself. But it was the first time in a long while that she'd been bitten so deeply - and without her permission.
She slid deeper into the water to wash her hair and flinched as the soapy water burned against her open wound. Taking in another deep breath, she realized it wasn't going to be as simple as she'd hoped to keep Damon from seeing the marks left by Josef.
Damon stepped into the kitchen and pulled a slice of pizza from the refrigerator. He wasn't really hungry, but he wasn't certain what else the night was going to hold. He might as well eat while he waited for Elena to get out of her bath.
He heard a tap on the door.
Walking to the window, he flicked on the porch light. He looked out with mild surprise at Katherine. He unlocked the door and stepped back to let her in. "Making this a nightly habit?"
"Actually, I wanted to see if Elena was alright." She looked around the room.
"She's upstairs." Damon studied her expression. She knew more than she was telling. "What happened?"
Katherine walked to the couch and didn't wait for an invitation as she took a seat. "She met Josef." She frowned.
"Daddy?" Emma's voice came from the top of the stairs. "Is somebody there?" Her footsteps proceeded her down the stairwell.
"It's okay, Sweetie. Go back to bed."
But it was too late. Emma had already spotted Katherine. "Hello." She hopped into the room - her bunny slippers peeking out from beneath her pink and white polka dotted nightgown. She studied Katherine with wide-eyed fascination as she crawled up onto the couch next to her. "You look like my mom."
Katherine's lips turned up in amusement. "So I've been told."
"But Mommy doesn't have curls." She reached out and carefully took hold of one of the waves in Katherine's hair.
"I think she probably does, but your mommy just flattens them out." Katherine answered.
"I like the curls." Emma gave Katherine a dimpled smile. "I have curls too." She pointed to her own hair.
"And they're lovely." Katherine reached out and stroked Emma's still baby-soft hair. A flash of an emotion Damon couldn't read came over Katherine's face. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"
Emma nodded glumly. "It is."
"Why don't you let your daddy take you back upstairs?"
"Ok." Emma spotted the puppy curled up on the couch. "Can I take Molly with me?"
"You know the rules."
"Just tonight?" She batted her eyes at him. "I had a scary dream last night. Molly will help."
Damon studied his daughter. After everything going on around her, he was surprised she could sleep at all. He reached down and scooped up the furry puppy. "Just this once."
Katherine stood up and studied the pictures on the mantle. She was still there when Damon came back into the room. "She's delightful."
"She's cute and she knows it - a very dangerous combination."
"She knows how to get what she wants." Katherine gave a calculated smile. "Not such a bad skill to possess." Katherine came back to her spot on the couch. "Damon, I promise you that I won't let Josef touch her."
Surprised at the intensity in her voice, Damon came to sit in the chair opposite Katherine. "You knew him?"
"Intimately. But not by choice."
Damon stared and her and realized for the first time since he'd known her, Katherine seemed to be hesitating. Anyone who made Katherine afraid terrified him.
"He was the father of my child." Katherine waited for the implications of her statement to soak in. "I was 15. A sickness had swept the village during my youth and had taken most of the young men with it. I really had no hope of marriage. The disease had sapped my mother's strength, and so I was a second mother to my younger siblings."
"My grandfather had taken ill. My uncle sent word that they didn't think he'd last more than a few days. Mama and Papa needed to travel quickly, without the extra burden of my sisters and brother. Josef was my father's best friend. He'd moved to our village when I was 10, and he'd immediately become a part of our family. He assured Papa that he'd look after us for the fortnight they'd be gone."
"And that he did. The rain was pouring down that first night. Josef came over just after supper. He wanted to check on us...make certain we'd eaten. Peter was afraid of the storm, and Josef said he'd stay longer and bring in more wood. After the little ones were safely in bed, he turned to me. He said I reminded him of someone - his first love - she'd died years ago, but he knew he'd have a chance to see her again. He'd been waiting a great many years to meet me. I was the key to seeing his former love again. First, he had to ensure nothing would go wrong. He held a glass flask to his lips and smiled at me, promising me it wouldn't hurt...at least not too much."
Katherine turned and stared at the fireplace as if imagining flickering flames. "He told me if I'd be quiet, he wouldn't hurt the others. I didn't really understand - not until after he was on top of me. In those days, we didn't speak of things like that. I didn't know what he was doing. I was terrified. After he was finished with me, he actually apologized. He said this began long before I was born, and he was sorry for what he'd done, but he had to make sure I had a child."
"He left then. He didn't come back until my parents returned from burying my grandfather. After a few weeks, I couldn't hide it any longer. I was having a child, Josef's child. Somehow Papa knew."
"Josef convinced him that I'd seduced him. I'd been so desperate for a husband that I'd bewitched him somehow. Peter tried to tell Papa what happened, but it didn't matter. The decision had already been made."
"Josef would raise my child, and I'd be sent away."
Katherine gave a disgusted laugh. "My father never believed me. He threw me out like I was garbage because of his friend. I won't let Josef destroy anyone else."
Damon's blood ran cold as he looked at the expression on Katherine's face. "Why are you telling me this?"
"You need to go check on Elena."
Damon carried a mug of peppermint tea upstairs to their bedroom, fighting back the rising tide of fear surging through him. Katherine said Elena had met Josef. After hearing Katherine's story, he didn't want to think too deeply about what the inflection to her words meant.
Elena had been strangely quiet when she arrived home with Katherine. She'd stiffly responded to the almost overwhelming hugs and excitement surrounding her return home. Her face was too pale. Her movements were unsteady. And she'd refused to look fully at Damon.
God, he was terrified to find out exactly what Elena had been through tonight.
With the children gathered around her, she'd forced a smile, explaining that she was tired and simply wanted to go to bed. He still hadn't learned what had happened once Claire left Elena. "Here you go." He placed the drink on her nightstand.
"Thank you." She attempted a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Elena took hold of the cup and immediately spilled it. Damon hadn't realized how much her hands were shaking.
"Elena." He jumped into the bed next to her and pulled her to him - only to have her hiss in pain as his hand brushed her shoulder. "What?" She tried to place her hand atop her shoulder and hold her robe still, but he gently pulled it away. He cautiously slid her robe away from her neck - his stomach churning, knowing what he was about to find. He'd once been a vampire. He'd once known the heady pleasure of biting someone against their will. "He bit you?" His voice choked over the words. He brushed her hair away to soothe it with a kiss and saw the second bite. "Elena." He had no other words as he wrapped his wife in an embrace.
He wanted to kill Josef.
Anger coursed like fire through his veins.
He needed to watch Josef suffer.
But he couldn't. Suddenly he realized just how powerless he really was. He had no weapons that would work against someone just as powerful as an Original. He was forced to trust the one person he'd once considered his most dangerous enemy. Watching Katherine's face tonight...he knew her words weren't an idle threat.