Chapter 22
Founder's Day
"Suck it in, Elouise," Caroline orders me, pulling my dress in making me feel like somehow I had lost the ability to breath.
"This is torture," I moan, how anyone could do this on a regular basis.
"Beauty is torture," Caroline informs me, turning me around so she could inspect her work. She smiles satisfied as I grab my phone as it announces another text. It was from Daniel again, I'll admit I was avoiding him but considering we were going to have to be on the float together it wouldn't really work out.
"I have to call Daniel," I tell Caroline, my voice obviously giving something away because she frowns.
"What happened with you two?" she questions.
I shrug, "He just you know, may have mentioned liking me as more than a friend," I squeak, feeling the need to tell someone.
"Elouise," Caroline exclaims, "what did you say?"
"Um I ran away," I admit, feeling bad as I said it. Daniel was my best friend he didn't deserve that.
"Then you best talk to him," Caroline advises me, nodding towards my phone as she walks out. I sigh, she was right after all.
"Hey, Elouise," Daniel greets cheerfully as he answers.
I pick up one of my books playing with it nervously, "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't texted you back or anything its just," I pause trying to come up with an excuse.
"Its okay Elouise, I know how you react to things like that," Daniel assures me.
"You're always making excuses for me stop, I should have called," I argue with him, I was in the wrong, he wasn't going to excuse that.
"Yeah, you probably should have," Daniel agrees, but it sounds almost as if he's joking, "so um am I still your escort today or," Daniel says sounding nervous.
"Of course, I mean if you still want to be," I reply, cringing at my words, this was just so horrible.
"Yeah," Daniel tells me, "and Elouise its fine, I knew your answer," he assures me hanging up. I look down at my phone, wondering why if he knew my answer, he had to say it at all?
Stefan stands alone wondering patiently for Elena to show up so they can board the float. "Look at you, all retro," Damon comments as he walks up to his brother.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan questions confused at his appearance.
"Why wouldn't I be here? Bonnie deactivated the Gilbert invention, Isobel and Olivia are gone and its Founder's Day! I'm here to eat cotton candy and get my girl," Damon teases knowing it will upset Stefan.
"Don't start with me Damon," Stefan warns.
"Oh you started this with that whole, "I'm worried, leave Elouise alone," speech, I'm enjoying that," Damon retorts.
"As long as you heard it," Stefan remarks.
"What? You have no sense of humour, Stefan," Damon complains at his brother's words.
"Actually I have no sense of Damon humour," Stefan corrects him.
"Damon humor, hey look I get it. You're scared that now Katherine is out of the picture I'm going to turn all my attention onto Elouise, but you don't have to worry about it, Elena isn't Katherine and Elouise isn't Rose," Damon tells him. S
tefan nods in agreement, "You're right, they're not," he agrees as they both turn to see the girls approaching. Dressed in their period clothes they look identical to Katherine and Rose.
I stare at Stefan in disbelief, he did not just go there. "John, is that even possible?" Elena questions, sounding as shocked as me.
"There is no proof, but he dated Isobel when she was a teenager and he was the one who brought her to your dad's office for the delivery," Stefan tells her, leaving the words hanging.
"But seriously me, there's even less proof," I point out, trying to hold onto something that proves Damon's wrong.
"I don't know Elouise," Stefan tells me, "but I wanted to tell you both before Damon dropped it on you in some typical inappropriate way."
I shake my head, "I have to go find Daniel," I tell them walking away as I tried to convince myself it wasn't true.
The parade was not fun, I hated being in the spotlight and things between me and Daniel weren't great. To be honest though I was just glad to be out of my damn dress. "I like you better like this," Damon comments as I walk into the Grill, "the period look doesn't suit you."
I roll my eyes, "Why are you insulting me?" I question him annoyed, today was not the day to insult me.
"Actually Elouise, it is a compliment of the highest order," Damon corrects, giving me this look that kind of makes me weak at the knees.
I shrug it off, "Hey um I just wanted to, you know I know that Stefan is kind of worried about our friendship," I tell him, having picked that up from Stefan whenever I mentioned Damon.
"Did he mention something to you to?" Damon asks me in surprise.
I frown, "No, did he mention something to you?" I question, wanting to know what Stefan had said about me.
"No, nothing worth repeating," Damon tells me, making me more curious to hear what it is.
"Okay, so I think that maybe you should stop doing that eye-thing," I advise him, I had enough to deal with.
Damon smiles, "What eye-thing?" he questions, giving me the look.
I frown, "Don't make me regret being your friend okay," I tell him, walking away.
"You got to wonder why everyone gets so hyped up about these things," Daniel comments as we stand in the crowd in the square.
"I think its an excuse to party," I reply looking around, "you know last year we were watching movies," I remind him.
"Good memories," Daniel mutters more to himself.
"They were," I agree, "but life now its good to. Expanding our horizons its not a bad thing Daniel," I say, trying to I don't know, encourage him to make other friends. The irony of this wasn't lost on me.
"If this is you telling me to go find someone else to fall for, I get it," Daniel replies shrugging.
I shake my head, "No this is me saying that I hate that you think that I'm leaving you behind and maybe its time you leave me behind too," I admit, Daniels about to say something but I interrupt him, "we'll always be friends, you'll always be my best friend, but," I pause trying to figure out the right way to say it.
"Its time to move on, it will never be the same, and that's okay," Daniel finishes for me.
"Yeah," I murmur, placing my head on his shoulder, trying to shake away the sad feeling that was building. I jump in shock when I feel Damon take my hand, "What are you doing?" I ask in confusion, trying to shake away the warm feeling that came from his touch.
"Saving your life. Fifteen words or less, tomb vamps are here, founding families are their target," he informs me, looking over at Daniel, "get her to Stefan now," he orders him, walking away.
"Wait where are you going?" I call as Daniel grabs my other arm.
"That's more than fifteen words, Elouise," he replies.
I turn to Daniel, "Caroline, she's here," I tell him, fear coursing forth for my sister.
"We need to warn Stefan," Daniel reminds me, "look I'll find Caroline, you find Stefan," he offers.
I nod, "Okay be careful Daniel," I plead with him, worried for his life as well.
"Don't worry I'm not a founder," he reminds me, a half smile on his face. I run through the crowd trying to desperately find Stefan and Elena as Mayor Lockwood begins his speech.
My heart pounds with relief when I see them in the distance, "Stefan, Elena," I call out to them.
Elena smiles and the immediately frowns when she sees my face, "What's wrong?" she questions me.
"Tomb vamps here," I say, making it as quick as I could, "oh and they're going for the founding families," I add, remembering that part was important to.
"Jeremy," Elena breathes.
"Let's go," Stefan says without thinking, just as the firework display begins. Just as we begin to walk Stefan falls, gripping his head.
"Stefan," I say, worry tainting my voice.
"My head," he cries.
"What?" Elena questions confused.
"My head," he repeats in pain. Stefan falls to the floor writhing in pain and I look around to see the deputies injecting vampires with vervain.
"Oh no," I mutter, looking at Stefan. I catch my eye to see Alaric, talking to a deputy before he runs over to help us, pulling Stefan up.
"He just dropped," Elena explains to Alaric as we make our way to the stairs.
I take a deep breath looking around, "They're rounding up the vampires, aren't they?" I guess, it was like 1864 all over again.
"Are you okay?" Elena asks Stefan, he had recovered which means whatever was happening had stopped.
"It was like needles were piercing my skull, then it just stopped," Stefan explains to us as Alaric arrives back.
"I saw at least five vampires go down, they're taking them to your family's old building," he tells Elena.
I sigh, "It's the Gilbert device isn't it?" I guess, I felt bad. We had promised Damon when we took it from him, he had trusted me again, and I had failed again.
"But how did he get it to work? Bonnie unspelled it," Elena points out, but I had a feeling Bonnie hadn't been so truthful.
"Maybe she didn't," Alaric suggests.
"She did, we saw her do it," Elena argues.
Stefan shakes his head, "No, no, no, he's right. Think about it. We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires," Stefan tells her. Which was something from my experience with Bonnie she wouldn't do.
"So we could protect you," Elena replies, still refusing to believe Bonnie would do that.
"And Damon, vampires. Where is Damon?" Stefan asks. I frown this couldn't be good, what if he had been caught.
"I haven't seen him since it started," Alaric tells us.
"We need to find him," I say urgently, I wouldn't let Damon die.
The building was on fire, they were burning the vampires. And right in front of us stood John Gilbert, the man I disliked the most right now. Elena's possible father and mine. But he couldn't be. I'll admit if he was, his interest in me would finally make sense but still. "Where's Damon?" I question him, Damon was more important right now.
"With the rest of them, where he should be. Its over for Damon," he hisses at me.
"You're crazy," I retort, Damon didn't deserve this.
"Why?" John questions, "because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and forty five years ago? This is the right thing Elouise and Elena," he tells us. Stefan is looking at the building obviously trying to figure out how to save Damon, "Go ahead, you won't make it out. It'll save me the trouble of killing you myself," John tells him, his voice full of hate.
Stefan ignores him turning to Elena, "You know the building well, is there another way in?" he asks her.
She thinks for a second, "Utility door, there's one round the side," she tells him.
Stefan begins walking and I follow when John grabs my arm, "You take one more step and I'll alert those deputies that they missed a vampire," he warns me.
"I'm asking you not to," I answer him, hoping that actually meant something.
"That doesn't mean anything to me," he retorts.
"As our father, it should," Elena tells him, saying the words I couldn't.
John looks at the both of us, releasing my arm, "You know," he says simply.
"We weren't sure, but now we are," Elena responds, I shake my head following Stefan, unable to look at him.
"Stefan," I call as I watch him step into the building.
"Elouise, you can't go in there," Bonnie's voice calls.
"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Elena questions her best friend.
"I'm sorry I lied to you," she admits, grabbing Elena's arm.
"I have to go," I tell Elena, I couldn't leave Damon in there.
"I'm coming with you," Elena says to me. Bonnie looks from the top of us before shaking her head, as she closes her eyes reciting a spell.
"I have to go," I say but Bonnie grabs my arm to as she continues to recite the spell. I want to run, run and save Damon, but something in me tells me Bonnie's helping Stefan and Damon.
She opens her eyes looking at Elena, "Are they going to be okay?" Elena asks, hope in her eyes. I turn my eyes to see them come out of the building, I smile, a smile that takes over my whole face they were okay.
"I'm fine mum promise, I'm just going to grab my stuff then go to Elena's," I say to mum through the phone.
"Okay, well I'll call later," she tells me, as she hangs up. I sigh, smiling as Daniel texts back, I was basically through my contacts of people I had to tell I was fine to. I look up to find Damon at the school's entrance.
"Hey," I greet him, "what are you doing here?" I question.
"Looking for you," he admits, seeming more serious than usual.
"Well you found me," I reply, "what's up?" I had so much to deal with the fact John was my father, the fact me and Elena were half-sisters that I was trying to push my feelings that came up for Damon tonight aside.
"You know, I came to this town wanting to destroy it," Damon comments, "tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen? I'm not a hero, Elouise, I don't do good. Its not in me."
I shrug, "Maybe it is," I tell him, "buried really deep down somewhere."
Damon shakes his head, "Nah its reserved for my brother, and you, Elena, and Bonnie, who even though she has every reason to hate me, still helped Stefan save me," Damon says, sounding kind of disbelieving.
"What's with the surprise?" I ask him.
"Because she did for Elena, and Elena did for you. Which means somewhere along the way, you decided that I was worth saving, and I wanted to thank you for that," Damon admits.
I smile, "You're very welcome," I tell him. He leans down placing a gentle kiss on my cheek, I stare into his eyes trying to ignore the beating of my heart. He moves forward his lips grazing mine and everything tingles and I just wanted to kiss him forever but I couldn't. I move back, "Damon we can't go there," I tell him.
"Elouise," he argues.
"I'm serious, you're my friend, but I just can't not now, its to much," I tell him, brushing past him as I made my way into the school trying to get some breathing air.
Elouise makes her way up the stairs to Elena's house, holding her dress just as Damon steps out. "We've got to stop doing this," he comments on seeing her.
Elouise smiles, "Actually I'm glad you're here, I sorry for kind of running away before. You know how I handle these things," she rambles, "anyway I want you to know," she says moving closer, "that I have never wanted to just be your friend," she murmurs, kissing Damon, who responds instantly by placing his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he deepens the kiss.
"Elouise," Jenna says to her as she opens the door.
They instantly separate, "Hey Jenna," Elouise mutters sounding embarrassed.
"Its late you should probably come inside, you too Elena," she calls, as she spots Elena walking up with her dress in hand. Elouise nods, smiling at Damon as her and Elena make their way inside. Jenna gives Elouise a questioning look but she just shrugs. They walk into the kitchen, surprising John as he shuts the fridge.
"You're scared me," he tells them.
"Sorry," Elouise says, looking at him.
"You know, I first met Isobel and Olivia when I was a teenager. I fell in love with Isobel instantly, although I'm pretty sure she never loved me. She was special. Olivia was a different story, she was used to being the one who got everything, I guess she couldn't take the fact that Isobel had someone that loved her before she did," John seeks to explain to them, as he begins as the girls put away the dishes, "I'm telling you this because I hoped maybe you'd understand," he admits to the two girls.
"Thank you," Elena says, while Elouise remains silent.
Elouise shakes her head, "Can I help?" he questions them.
Elouise's eyes find the Gilbert ring on his fingers and she tightens the hold she has on the knife in her hand, "Sure," she agrees. She sends the knife crashing down on his fingers, cutting off the Gilbert ring. John screams in pain as both Elouise and Elena's faces transform.
"Rose, Katherine," he says in confusion. Rose forces him against the fridge, handing her mother the knife.
"Hello John, goodbye John," Katherine says, stabbing him.
"I just don't get who could have taken our stuff," I say to Elena in confusion as my phone rings. "Just a second," I say. "Mum whats up?" I question as I answer the phone.
"Its Caroline, she's had an accident. Elouise you need to come to the hospital," she urges me.
"What?" I repeat in fear for my sister, "Elena and I will be there as soon as we check on Jeremy," I promise her, trying to breath over my heart attack of fear. "Its Caroline, accident," I tell Elena as he looks at me.
"It'll be okay," she promises me as we enter the Gilbert house, "I'll just see Jeremy and then we're gone," she assures me, seeing my face.
"Good," I nod, needing to be at the hospital as soon as possible.
So finally finished the first season! And now Rose and Katherine are here which I'm really excited about because you'll find get to know the elusive Rose :) I hope everyone's enjoyed Until the Last Petal Falls so far and please feel free to give me some feedback on the first season...things you liked, things you didn't, maybe something on Elouise herself :)