Twisted Love
Season One
Blood Brothers
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Vampire Diaries, I only own Grace :)
Stefan is still locked away in the cellar of the Salvatore Boarding House, beads of salty sweat roll down his forehead, arms, chest, back and hallucinating due to the withdrawal of human blood, all he could think of is 1864.
The towns people of Mystic Falls in 1864 capture yet another vampires and move them into the back of a wagon, it was the very same horse drawn carriage that was holding Fayth and Katherine. The Salvatore Brother's watch secretively from the brush beside the vicious act where no one can see them.
"We have to get to the church." A man announced as he held a burning torch "They're waiting."
"Circle around that way." Stefan told his older brother "I'll distract them. Go." He pushed his brother in the right direction before stepping out into the open "Over here!" He yelled to the men "There's another one! Quick! Help me!" Stefan yelled and ran off into the foggy woods.
"Arm yourselves." Jonathan Gilbert tells the men as they follow Stefan to where he thinks he has found a Vampire, leaving one man standing guard of the carriage.
Damon creeps around and suddenly hits the guard knocking him clean out, searching through his pockets he finds the keys to the cage imprisoning them and hears his brother coming back from the wild goose chase he sent the others on.
"Hurry, we don't have long." Stefan told the elder Salvatore brother.
Opening the door Damon revealed the many Vampire's that were being held captive, he searched around for his special vampire.
"Fayth." Damon whispered seeing her move around.
"Katherine." Stefan whispered.
They help both of their vampire woman out and untie them along with removing the muzzles from around their mouths.
"We're going to get you out of here." Damon promised.
Stefan heard a horse approaching "Damon, hurry. Hurry." They quickened their movements.
Suddenly a shot ran out and Damon fell onto his back, Stefan looked as his older brother fall to the ground and he shook his head as he held him watching him die. Looking up Stefan saw the others approaching, he ran to grab the gun the guard had been using but before he could fire, he was shot in the stomach, falling to the floor he began to fade.
"I love you, Stefan." He saw Katherine whisper to him before she was carried back into the back of the carriage again along with Fayth.
Back in 2010 Elena was watching Stefan through the bars as Grace and Damon stood behind her leaning against a wall.
"It's so hard seeing him lock up like this." She sighed.
"You're the one that locked him up." Damon replied with a smirk.
"You helped." She replied.
"I couldn't have him running around eating people while the town is looking for Vampire, now, can I?" Damon looked down at the telepath.
"Man has a point." Grace agreed touching her sore neck gently "But it had nothing to do with you actually caring about your baby brother?" She jabbed him in the rib with a teasing grin.
"hmm, that's your thing, not mine." He shook his head with a smirk as he left the room.
"What do you think he's thinking about?" Grace questioned.
"God knows." Elena replied watching him with his back to her "Let's go back upstairs." she walked away from the door with Grace following.
Stefan was having another flashback to when he was by the Quarry just after he'd woken up a Vampire.
Sitting up in a small wall less cabin he looked around him, staring down at his bloodstained shirt he ripped it open and saw that he now had no wound at all, but was wearing a tasteful blue stone ring, he inspected it carefully.
"Katherine had me make that for you weeks ago." Emily – Katherine and Fayth's handmaid announced whilst she was holding clean washing.
"Where am I?" He looked around.
"The quarry just north of town. My brother and I brought you here last night. We found you dead in the woods." She informed him casually, like she had told him the weather.
"Where's Damon?" Stefan looked around again to see Damon sitting at the water edge "Am I... Am I a...?" he couldn't bring himself to say the word... Vampire.
"Not yet." She shook her head "You're in transition."
"But how? I..." He creased his eyes brows clearly confused by the situation.
"You had Katherine's blood in your system when you died." Emily explained.
"No." He shook his head "I never..."
"She's been compelling you to drink it for weeks, Stefan." She told him with a small frown.
"And Damon?" Stefan quizzed.
"No compulsion was necessary. He drank from Fayth willingly." Emily explained.
Stefan rose from where he was seat and joined Damon by the water edge, they didn't speak for a while, they didn't know what to say.
"I woke up late night." Damon finally spoke "I didn't know where I was. I went to the church and I watched them drag them both inside. Then they set fire to it." He cringed at the memory "And the whole church went up in flames. They killed them, Stefan. Katherine and Fayth. They're gone." he breathed depressed.
Damon was looking at the Gilbert Device that Pearl had given him, Grace walked in the room grabbing some of her items.
"Did you ever figure out what that was?" Grace questioned pushing her clothes into her over night bag.
"Nope. Whatever it is, it doesn't work." Damon replied.
"Pearl didn't say anything else about it?" Grace walked over.
"She though she was stealing his Vampire compass, but that was a pocket watch... That Jonathan Gilbert was a crazy scientist... Have you spoke to John lately?" He quizzed looking down into her sparkling chocolate brown orbs.
"well from what little time I've had recovering from a Vampire attack and getting my life back to normal, I've bee avoiding him." She shrugged "Kinda been avoiding a few people."
"So... you'll be here again tonight?" There was a slight spark of hope thrown into his voice as he watched her saunter back to her bag.
"Is it a problem me sleeping in your bed?" Grace questioned "I could easily sleep on a couch-"
"Yes, it is a problem." he nodded jokingly and she gave him a questionable look "You a complete nuisance and you snore really loud."
"I do not." She threw her high heel shoe from the Miss Mystic Falls party at him.
"You don't hear yourself whilst you sleep, yet I toss and turn all night because your there snoring you little telepathic head off." He replied with a smirk holding her shoe in his hand.
"Whatever." She put her bag over her shoulder "C'mon, 'Lena, we better get going..." she called.
Jeremy was walking into school with his headphones in, he was blasting music to keep out the real world when someone rudely came over and pulled them from his ears, yanking him back into reality, but to his surprise it was a kind, smiling face grinning up at him.
"Hey." Anna grinned up at the boy "Surprise."
"What are you doing here?" Jeremy questioned excitedly.
"Picking this up." She handed him a single piece of paper.
He read it and looked at her "A class schedule?" He creased his eye brows.
"Starting tomorrow, I'm officially a student here." She beamed with excitement.
"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy asked.
"No. I finally beat my mom down." Anna boasted.
"Huh, but why would you want to go to high school? It blows." He shrugged.
"Do I really need to answer that?" She gave him a look.
"You'd suffer through all this to hang out with me?" Jeremy asked, surprised yet flattered.
"Yeah. I would." She replied with a kind smile.
"That's... erm..." he couldn't find the words.
"Stupid? Pathetic? Old lurky me?" She joked.
"It's awesome." He corrected her "It's awesome." he pulled her into a kiss.
Damon was standing outside of the cell that held a brooding Stefan, he placed a bottle of animal blood in between on the bars so that Stefan could see it.
"Brought you something to eat... 100% Stefan diet approved." He smiled "You know what will happen it you don't eat. You'll get all rotting and crusty."
"I'm not hungry." Stefan refused.
"Of course you are. We're eternally hungry. Take it..." He edge it closer "Grace's blood should be gone by now. You want to explain why you're still in here, feeling sorry for yourself... C'mon. Drink up." he pushed it through the gap so it hit the floor with a small thud "Fine. Starve. What do I care?" He walked back to the top of the house and got a phone call "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Alaric Saltzman." Alaric introduced himself.
"Before I hang up, how did you get this number?" Damon questioned.
"Ah, it's a mystery." Alaric rolled his eyes "Listen, I've, uh, been doing some digging on Grace's and Elena's uncle. You interested?"
"What kind of digging?" Damon asked, now he was interested in talking to Alaric.
"I've got an old friend from Duke. Who studied criminology when we were there together. Let's just say he's become a very proficient digger." The history teacher smirked.
"Well, did he find anything?" Damon quizzed.
"Well, I had him run a track on John's cell records. He was getting a call from a number... The same number that Elena dialled to get Isobel. And then the number was disconnected." Alaric explained.
"Isobel knows John. Whatever. We knew that." Damon shrugged.
"Right. Well, after that, he started getting calls from a new number. And I had my friend run a geotrack. Got the address. It's... it's an apartment in Grove Hill..." Alaric replied.
"Isobel's in Grove Hill?" Damon creased his eye brows.
"I don't know... I thought we could take a look and see what we find." Alaric shrugged.
"Perfect. Give me the address." Damon replied shortly.
"Oh, so you can do without me? No. I don't think so." Alaric replied stubbornly.
"I'm not going with you. You tried to kill me." Damon argued.
"Yeah, well, you did kill me." Alaric countered.
"Hold on." Damon replied as he got another call through "Yes?"
"Elena is just grabbing some clothes and we'll be right over. She wants to know how Stefan is." Grace told Damon.
"Extra broody. Hold on." Damon switched back to the Alaric conversation "You drive. Pick me up in an hour."
"Done." Alaric nodded.
Damon hung up and went back to Grace on the phone, she was sitting on the bed whilst Elena was packing her clothes into an overnight bag.
"He won't eat anything." Damon told her.
"He has to eat something." Grace creased her eye brows.
"Ask him what his favourite blood is." Elena told Grace.
"What did she say?" Damon asked.
"What's his favourite... you know... kind of..." Grace stuttered around her words.
"Favourite type of what?" Damon teased trying to get her to say it.
"Typer of animal blood that he prefers." Grace finished.
"Ew. Gross." Damon joked.
"Shut up. Your joking doesn't help this conversation." Grace told him.
"Helps me. Now, hurry up. I can't baby-sit all night. I have things to do." Damon told her impatiently.
"I would say 'drop dead' but I think I already covered that." She hissed.
"Funny." Damon rolled his eyes "Tell Elena Stefan likes... Puppy blood."
"Puppy blood." Grace repeated with a disgusted expression.
"Puppy blood?" Elena looked at the brunette.
"Little golden retriever puppies with cute, floppy ears. That's his favourite." Damon joked.
"You're the worst type of person." Grace shook her head as hung up.
Elena and Grace were about to walk out of the room when John was standing in the door way blocking his exit.
"Uncle John, what's going on?" Elena asked.
"I thought we could talk." John walked into the room "We haven't had a chance to catch up... And I haven't really had a chance to be introduced to you Grace..."
"We're actually just about to head out." Elena replied.
"Well, it wont take long..." John picked up a picture from Elena's dressing table inspecting it.
"What did you want to talk about?" Grace asked.
"Well... I know you know... That both of you know." John told them.
"Know what?" Grace questioned coyly.
"It's really silly to keep pretending. What do you think your mother would say? If she knew you were dating a Vampire?" John questioned no longer beating around the bush.
"Which mother?" Elena countered linking Grace's arm pulling her from the house.
Back in 1864 Stefan carried a pail of water to where Damon continued to sit at the edge of the quarry, they both began to wash out their shirts.
"I bet Jonathan Gilbert as told father by now. Wonder how he took that news that we are dead." Stefan mused aloud.
"As if he cares. He betrayed us." Damon replied scornfully.
"He thought he was protecting us, Damon." Stefan tried to defend his father "He thought he was protecting this town."
"God this sun hurts my eyes." The older brother winced.
"It's part of it." Stefan explained "The muscle aches, the sick feeling... Emily says it is our bodies pushing us to feed, to complete the transition."
"That's not going to happen." Damon replied.
"Is that your choice then? To die instead?" Stefan questioned.
"Isn't it yours? For me this was all to be with Fayth, but she's gone. I want it over." Damon explained.
"How are you feeling?" Elena asked Stefan through the bars of the cell back in the present day Mystic Falls "Damon says you need to drink that. You need it, Stefan. Can't survive without it..." She reasoned.
"I don't want to survive." Stefan told her before standing up.
"What? Don't say that." Elena shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Elena. No more. After what I did to Grace, it has to end. I just want it over." Stefan sighed heavily.
Elena took a step away from the door and walked back upstairs to see Grace and Damon talking in the library.
"He says he doesn't want to drink, he wants it to be over." Elena told them both.
"He's just being dramatic, he's not going to starve himself." Damon shook his head.
"Why would he say that?" Elena questioned.
"He feels bad about hurting Grace. It's a very typical Stefan martyr stuff. It will pass." He shrugged.
"Will it? Because he seems to be in a lot of pain." Elena argued.
"Yeah. Well, that will pass, too, once he eats." Damon shrugged.
"I didn't mean physical pain." Elena replied sharply.
"I know what you meant. Look, are you two going to be ok here if I have to run out? I have to go run an errand with the teacher." Damon looked at the telepath.
"The teacher?" Grace looked up at him "Alaric? Are you two best buddies now." She teased.
"I don't have friends, Grace. Remember." He grinned.
"Oh, yeah." She nodded laughing gently "Where are you going?"
"If it was any of your business I would have told you." He replied and she gave him a look "Oh and don't try to do any of your telepath ju-ju either."
"Fine." She held her hands up.
"Promise?" He quizzed.
"I promise." She nodded.
"You should keep your sister up here." Damon told her "She shouldn't go down there by herself."
"I was planning on it." Grace replied.
"I'll be fine." Elena told them both.
"You know you're very trusting in him, given the circumstances." Damon told Elena.
"So are you... Otherwise you wouldn't be leaving." Grace countered picking through a book.
"Shut up." He laughed at her "I won't be long." he almost promised.
"Have fun." She wiggled her fingers.
"If you feel up to it, find out what the stupid Gilbert device does." Damon called jokingly making Grace laugh.
At the Grill John was waiting for Pearl to arrive waiting at a table for her, when she did she took a seat opposite him.
"Hello, Mr. Gilbert." She nodded politely at him.
"Pearl. What a pleasure. I must admit, I'm surprised that you came." John nodded.
"Jenna tells me that you wanted to discuss the sale of the building in person." Pearl brushed a few raven black hairs from her pale face.
"Still, revealing yourself to me like this, it took quite a risk." The fair haired man replied.
"I'm not stupid, Mr. Gilbert." Pearl narrowed her eyes "You know who I was when you requested the meeting. So, Damon tells me that you're looking for the device I took from Jonathan. I'm sure you realise I have no intention of giving it to you." She shrugged.
"That's why I wanted to meet you. I'm planning on changing your mind." John smiled.
"Really? How so?" She cocked an eye brow.
"With my Gilbert charm." He smirked "I know that you have a weakness for it. May I buy you a drink?" He questioned.
Meanwhile across town Pearl's beautiful young daughter Annabelle or better know as Anna was in the Gilbert house with Jeremy whilst they sat upstairs talking in his room.
"So, your mother was in love with Jonathan Gilbert, and he betrayed her?" Jeremy questioned.
"Yep." Anna popped the 'p'.
"and now my uncle John wants the invention-device thing that she gave to Damon..." Jeremy quizzed.
"That's pretty much it." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"John mentioned there was more Gilbert journals. I bet that's how he knows everything." Jeremy guessed.
"Do we have to talk about this all night? I've told you everything. I probably shouldn't have, 'cause that could get us both in a lot of trouble." She informed him.
"I'm not going to say anything." Jeremy shook his head with a promise.
"Your uncle John wants us dead." Anna argued.
"Oh, you don't know that..." Jeremy reasoned.
"Yes, I do." Anna hissed "he's a hater, Jeremy."
"well, I'm not." He assured her.
"No, you're something else entirely." She giggled.
"Oh, yeah? What would that be?" He flirted.
"My weakness." She breathed before pulling him into a kiss.
It began to get a bit hot and heavy as they moved the kiss onto the bed, removing each others clothes in the process.
"I don't want Jenna to walk in on us." Jeremy pulled back from the breathtaking kiss.
"Jenna's in the kitchen. She just opened the refrigerator." Anna listened carefully.
"Wait. You can hear that?" Jeremy asked and she nodded "That is so cool." He began to kiss her again, more passionately this time.
Damon and Alaric walk up to the apartment in Grove Hill, they both looked at the place before walking up to the door.
"This is the one here. The records show it was paid three months in advance." Alaric informed him.
"This is where it gets tricky. I may or may not be able to get in." Damon glanced across at Alaric.
"Yeah, how does that work? You always have to be invited in?" Alaric questioned curiously.
"By the owner or the person of entitlement. Short-term rentals and hotels are a bit of a grey area. You kind of got to play it by ear." He shrugged.
"Huh. Could we not kill anyone tonight, please?" Alaric referred back to Ms. Gibbons from the last house of Vampires.
"You mean, you just brought me alone for my company." Damon smirked and opened the door, it wasn't locked.
"It doesn't look like anyone's home..." Alaric walked in.
"Yeah. I'm good." Damon walked in too with the need for him to be invited in by the owner "No permanent resident, apparently..."
They walked further into the house to see a kitchen, Alaric stood there as Damon checked out the fridge to reveal some blood bags.
"Uh, Ric, we have company." Damon informed him and as if on cue a man jumped out and attacked Ric.
In response Alaric punched the Vampire with wood knuckles knocking him back momentarily until he went back for more, this time Damon stepped in and threw him across the room angrily.
"Boys, boys..." Damon smirked "That's enough... I know you." He saw the Vampires face.
"Damon?" The man jumped up.
"Your name is Henry. You were in the tomb." Damon remembered.
"Yes, sir. What are you doing here?" Henry questioned.
Back in 1864 Stefan walked up to his old house hearing his father speak to Jonathan Gilbert, he stood outside the house hearing them loud and clear.
"May I offer you a drink, Mr. Gilbert?" Giuseppe asked.
"Thank you, Mr. Salvatore." Jonathan nodded as he scribbled in a large book.
"This won't take much longer." The Salvatore father guessed.
"I want to make sure the founder's archives are accurate." Jonathan replied.
"Be sure you document the loss of civilian life in the church." Giuseppe reminded him.
"They were hardly civilians, Mr. Salvatore." The Gilbert scoffed.
"As far as anyone needs to know, they were. As the record keep for the council, what you write will be passed down through generations. Certain details should be kept only between you and me." Giuseppe told him.
"For example?" Jonathan questioned.
"My sons." Giuseppe sighed "They will be remembered as the innocent victims of the Battle of Willow Creek, not for their shame." He spat.
"Certainly, Mr. Salvatore." Jonathan agreed.
Elena creeped down into the cellar without Grace knowing and looking in to see Stefan sitting on the floor with his head down in what looked like shame.
"You know, Damon hasn't fed me vervain in a while... I could be out of those bars in a flash, and you'd be dead, along with your sister." Stefan told Elena casually.
"Yeah, you could. But you won't." Elena countered.
"Please just go away. I don't want you here." Stefan told her.
Elena opened the door and walked into Stefan's cell letting the door close behind her, Stefan looked up surprised that she had come in.
"What are you doing? Get out of here." Stefan told her.
"No." She replied stubbornly.
"You're taking a stupid risk. I could hurt you." Stefan argued.
"Then I'm stupid." She picked up the bottled blood on the floor "You need to drink this..."
"Elena, get out of here, or you'll regret it." Stefan threatened.
"Drink." She pushed the bottle towards him.
"I said get out!" Stefan yelled fly towards her knocking the bottle from her hand, his face had transformed into the demon, evil side that struck fear into Elena's heart, but she would stay strong, for Stefan.
"No." She answered keeping a level head.
"Elena?" Grace called down the stairs, they heard her feet tapping on the staircase and she bolted down the stairs.
The tomb vampire Henry was fixing Damon a drink of blood from the blood bags he had stole from the hospital.
"So, how do you know John Gilbert?" Henry questioned.
"well, I've know him for years. He's a good friend." Damon lied earning a look from Alaric "How do you know him"
"I met him right after I got out of the tomb. He's been helping me out." Henry explained passing Damon his drink.
"Helping you out how?" Alaric looked at him with a questioning look on his face.
"Adapting." He went back to the fridge to grab another bag of blood "It's a whole new world... cars, computers, . There's so much to learn. He helped me get this place." He referred to the house around him.
"So, do you live here alone or is there someone else here?" Alaric asked coyly.
"That's my friend's very passive-aggressive way of asking, do you know a woman named Isobel?" Damon asked bluntly earning yet another look from Alaric.
"No, no. I don't know an Isobel. I know John. He's my only real friend. He really showed me the ropes... how to use a microwave, separate my whites." He shrugged.
"What else do you do for him?" Damon looked at the Vampire.
"I help keep an eye on things... You know, with the others." Henry informed him.
"The others?" Damon questioned.
"From the tomb. They're still pissed at the founding families for trying to burn them alive. I'm cool, but those tomb boys, they want revenge." Henry explained.
"What does John want with them?" Alaric asked.
"He's just keeping an eye on them, you know? Trying to make sure they stay out of trouble." Henry replied.
"Well, that's John. Huh. He's such a do-gooder." Damon replied sarcastically.
Henry's phone began to ring, he pulled it from his pocket and looked at the caller ID "Huh. That's John now."
"Oh. Hey, let me talk to him." Damon jumped up.
"Alright." He handed him the phone, but Damon just continued to hold it and now answer it "Are you going to answer that?"
"Am I going to answer that?" Damon questioned and Alaric shook his head.
"What's going on?" Henry asked now suspecting something was wrong.
Henry ran for Alaric about to attack him, but before he could do do Damon grabbed him turning him and Alaric stabbed him in the back with a stake, he fell to the floor dead.
"Let's not kill anyone tonight." Damon spoke Alaric's words from earlier with a smirk "Your words. Just pointing that out..."
John returns to the table tucking his phone away in his pocket, he sits back opposite Pearl in the diner part of the Grill.
"My apologies." John nodded at her.
"No apologies necessary. So, tell me, Mr. Gilbert, why should I let you have the device?" Pearl questioned.
"Because I can help you. I'm connected around here. The town council's eating out of my hand. They do whatever I say. And I know that you just want to live your life. Complete with a white picket fence, and I can help you do that." John informed her.
"But the device doesn't work. Why would you even want it?" Pearl eyed him suspiciously.
"It's a family heirloom. Call me sentimental." He shrugged.
"Jonathan was ahead of his time." Pearl nodded in remembrance.
"I read his journals... They're very extensive. He actually wrote about you. You were his one regret. He loved you and he hated himself for what he did to you." John informed her.
"You're lying." She spat.
"No. On his last days, he wrote how sorry he was. You were the only woman he loved." He saw the tears appearing in her dark black orbs "Good God. You vampires... you're so emotional. Jonathan Gilbert hated you." He told her the truth "His only regret was that he didn't drive a stake through your heart himself." He hissed.
"I gave it to Damon." She suddenly announced full of spite.
"What?" John's jaw dropped open.
"I gave your device to Damon. Why don't you ask him for it yourself? I'm sure he'd be delighted to give it to you. And then, Mr. Gilbert, may you rot in hell." Pearl growled before getting up and leaving.
"Elena, what are you doing in there?" Grace walked through the doors only slightly stepping into the room, still scared to be too near Stefan after he attacked her "Get out here now."
"Talk to me, Stefan. Why are you doing this?" Elena looked at Stefan ignoring her twin.
"I'm making the decision I should have made years ago." Stefan told her.
"What are you talking about?" Elena edged closer to him.
"Elena." Grace's full was full of anger "Get out here now."
"You have to feed in order to complete the transition." Stefan explained.
"I know that." Elena nodded.
"Elena, please." Grace took a step further inside the cell.
"It was a choice I shouldn't have made." He sighed.
Stefan walked into his 1864 Salvatore Boarding house, he stopped when he saw his father writing in a journal in his office, Giuseppe looked up surprised to see his son standing there.
"Dear God." He jumped up from the seat he was sitting on behind his desk.
"Even in our death, you only feel shame." Stefan shook his head disappointed.
"You're one of them now." Giuseppe stated.
"No. Father, I came to say goodbye." Stefan informed him.
"I watched you die." Giuseppe creased his eye brows.
"You were there when we were shot?" Stefan asked surprised.
"I pulled the trigger myself." Giuseppe replied blankly.
"You killed your own sons?" Stefan spat in disbelief.
"You were both dead to me the moment you sided with the vampires. I only thank God that your mother isn't alive to see the disgrace you've become." Giuseppe told him, tears burning his eyes.
"I haven't turned yet. I don't want to. I'm going to let myself die, father. Please." Stefan was looking for closer with his father.
"Yes you are." Giuseppe growled pulling out a stake and running for his son, Stefan acted quickly and used his new found strength to throw his father across the room, making him hit a wall and land on the floor with a groan, the stake was now in his father.
"Father, I didn't mean to." Stefan ran over kneeling beside the injured man.
"Get away from me." Giuseppe spat at his transitioning son.
"No, let me help you. Please." He pulled the stake from his fathers stomach and he notices the blood on his hand, he couldn't resist it any longer bringing his fingers to his mouth he sucked them clean from the blood, he needed more, pushing his fathers hands away from the wound he felt more blood wash over his bringing them to his mouth again, but this time it hurt. His fangs began to push through and his eyes became black as night.
"What's happening to me?" Stefan asked scared.
"How can you even look at me right now?" Stefan asked Grace in the present day as she leant back against a wall, Elena was placed next to him on the bed listening to the story "I almost killed you... and you're still here."
"I have a very high tolerance for people doing bad stuff to me, especially when they can't control themselves." Grace shrugged "I know if you were the normal Stefan you would have done that, but it's ok..."
"Are you not scared?" Stefan asked.
"Yeah." She admitted "But if Elena trusts you, then I trust you too."
"Let's go upstairs." Elena rubbed Stefan's arm "We can talk about it more, and we'll keep talking as long as you need."
"You're so sure I'm ready." Stefan glanced across at her.
Elena gave Grace and look and nodded, reaching in her pocket she pulled her hand back out opening her hand to produce his daylight ring in the palm of her hand, handing it to Elena she placed it on the cot Stefan had been sleeping in.
"And when you feel the same way... We'll be upstairs." Elena lead Grace from the room.
Damon emptied another blood bag into the sink and watched Alaric enter the room after searching the house for any signs of Isobel.
"Find anything yet?" Damon questioned seeing Alaric take a seat at the table.
"No, I looked everywhere. This place is... The place is clean." Alaric explained.
"Well, I found this." He threw a beer at him "Behind the blood in the fridge."
"Oh, man, this was a real dead-end." Alaric spoke more to himself than Damon.
"I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, man. What did you think you were going to find, huh?" He looked at the teacher "Isobel with a cigar and slippers?"
Alaric laughed "I... I got to stop this. I can't... I can't keep searching for her."
"Really? After only 2 years? That's actually... Moderately healthy." The vampire smirked.
"What are you going on? 146?" Alaric smirked at his search for Fayth.
"Well, I figure 200 mark is probably a good stopping point." Damon shrugged jokingly.
"I mean, no answer is enough. I keep thinking I want to know why, when, you know, the precise moment when my wife decided life with me wasn't enough..." Alaric sighed.
"She charmed me, your wife Isobel." Damon started "She talked a good game, man. She was smart. She had excitement in her eyes. I probably should have know there was something different about her, some tie to Fayth and Katherine. There had to be some reason I didn't kill her..." Damon noted.
"That's enough, Damon." Alaric stopped him "I don't want to hear anymore. I just don't want to waste any more of my life searching for answers that I really don't want. I'm through with Isobel. I'm done with all this." Alaric got up and walked from the room beer in hand.
Anna walked into her house she was staying in with her vampire mother Pearl and Harper, she saw that her mother was packing up a suitcase.
"Hey. What's the matter?" Anna asked concerned.
"I need you to pack your things. We're leaving." Pearl replied.
"What? No." Anna refused.
"I was wrong to think that we could make a home here. It's time for us to move on." Pearl informed her young daughter.
"But I don't want to move on." Anna shook her head thinking of Jeremy, her new life, school...
"We can't stay. There is too many people here who know the truth... Too much history." She shuddered at the thought of Jonathan Gilbert.
"So, what, you're going to give up, pac us up, and move us out?" Anna asked.
"It's not safe here. You know that." Pearl gave her daughter a look.
"Please." Anna begged, she didn't want to leave Mystic Falls.
"Is this about Jeremy?" A small laugh left her lips.
"No. It's about me finally getting to build a life for myself." Anna replied "Please, momma."
"You gave me my life back. I am just trying to protect yours. I can't force you. It's your decision." Pearl gave her daughter the power that she always wished for.
"Oh, you're still here." Damon noted as he saw Grace stepping out from the shower, a small towel wrapped around her petite frame.
"Oh." Grace attempted to cover more of her legs "I didn't think you would be back whilst I was showering."
"As if I'd miss this." His eyes began to take mental pictures of her dripping body.
"One second." She manoeuvred herself so she pulled on her panties without exposing herself and bra too "Ok, I'm more covered." She saw him laying on his bed, he wiggled his eye brows and patted the bed for her to join "So, how was your errand?" Grace questioned sitting next to him on the bed brushing out her wet locks of hair.
"Futile." He moved Grace so she was between his legs, her back on his chest and he started massaging her shoulders "Although, I think I witnessed the teacher having a existential crisis... Has Stefan eaten yet?" He questioned slipping one of her bra straps over her bony shoulders.
"I thought you didn't care." Grace stated gnawing on her bottom lip.
"Chalk it up to morbid curiosity." Damon peppered her slender neck with butterfly kisses.
"I think he's getting there." Grace moaned as he nibbled on the soft skin "But he's got a lot of guilt that he has to deal with. And it doesn't help that you've spent the last 145 years punishing him for Fayth getting caught." she arched her back slightly as he nibbled on her ear lobe moving one hand down to rub the soft skin of her stomach.
"What?" Damon whispered in her ear "This is my fault now? Whose side are you on?"
"I'm on no ones side." She stated "I'm just saying it's no ones fault, but you're not exactly innocent in all this, you made it your life's mission to make him miserable."
"Let me ask you a question. In all this important soul searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past, did you even manage to get the rest of the story?" Damon asked sliding the other strap to her bra down.
"He said there was more." Grace breathed.
"Yeah. That's an understatement." Damon replied pulling away from her.
"Damon..." She turned so that she was facing him, sitting on her knees between his legs pulling her bra straps back up "Damon. Tell me."
Back in 1864 Damon was sitting in the small wall less cabin by the quarry waiting for his life to end so he could be joined with Fayth again when he heard footsteps behind him, approaching him, turning he saw Stefan walking towards him and a young girl beside him.
"Who is that?" Damon questioned.
"I brought her for you. She's a gift." Stefan replied in a voice was cold as ice "Have a seat please." He told the girl and she followed his command.
"What have you done, Stefan?" Damon watched the girl turn away from him.
"Damon, I've been to see Father. He came at me. I didn't know my own strengths. There was blood everywhere. He was dying, and the blood was too strong. I needed it. I had to have it." Stefan explained.
"You fed." Damon stated shocked by his brothers actions.
"Yes. And it's incredible. My body is exploding with power, Damon." Stefan grinned.
"No." The raved haired human shook his head.
"I can hear things from far away. I can see through the darkness. I can move, like it's magic. And the guilt, the pain... Damon, I can turn it off. Like a switch. Katherine was right. It's a whole other world out there, Damon."
"Fayth is dead, Stefan." Damon got up and walked away "There is no world without here."
"No." Stefan grabbed his older brother "You can turn that off, too. You don't have to feel the pain anymore."
"I don't want it." Damon broke from his grip, but Stefan kept a hold of him.
"You're weak. You'll be dead soon. You need this." Stefan told him.
"No." Damon shook his head.
"You'll die." Stefan replied.
"No. I can't." Damon shook his head again, protesting turning into a vampire, not without Fayth.
"Please." He brought the girl towards him "I won't let you die."
"No. I can't." He stated as Stefan showed his fangs and dug them deep into the girls neck pulling back to Damon could smell the blood too, so tempted to drain her.
"Don't fight it." Stefan whispered menacingly "We can do this... together."
Damon couldn't resist he brought his head down and began to suck the girls blood from her body, he felt his fangs begin to push through and veins appeared around his icy blue orbs, he was turning...
"From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person." Damon finished the story as Grace pulled on her black skinny jeans and off the shoulder grey shirt "I suppose I should thank him. It's been a hell of a ride."
"Oh my God." Grace whispered "He said he wanted to die, that's why he won't feed. Now I understand why, but..." She shook her head.
"His choice. If he's stupid enough to make it, so be it..." Damon shrugged.
"Don't do this." Grace turned to him "Don't pretend like you don't care-"
"Stefan's gone." Elena burst into the room holding his daylight ring.
Jeremy is laying in his bed sleeping, when he opens his eyes he wasn't surprised to see Anna watching him sleep.
"Hey." He whispered sleepily.
"It's getting impossible to sneak up on you." She joked in a whisper.
"Nice try, though." He complimented with a smile.
"Sorry I woke you." she apologised for barging in.
"That's ok. You only woke me halfway." He replied groggily.
"So, listen. I..." She moved his hair stroking his smooth face gently.
"That feels good." He murmured closing his eyes again, she leaned down and pressed a kiss against his forehead as he drifted off back into sleep.
"Good-bye." She whispered before zipping from the room.
Stefan walked down to the quarry where him and Damon were first turned, all the memories came rushing back to him making him feel emotional
"How do you feel?" Stefan from 1864 asked Damon.
"You were right. It is a whole new world." Damon nodded walking towards him.
"We can explore it together." Stefan replied.
"You got what you wanted... you and me for all eternity. But hear this, brother. I will make it an eternity of misery for you." Damon growled before zipping off into the forest.
"Damon!" Stefan of the present called as if he was still in 1864, he began to stagger around, weak, growing weaker and weaker by the minute due to the lack of blood for a really long time.
"You've transitioned." Emily announced to Stefan as he continued to stand at the quarry in 1864.
"You'd have rather found me dead?" Stefan questioned.
"Katherine saved my life once, with the help of Fayth of course. I owed them. That doesn't mean I'd wish their curse on anyone." Emily shook her head.
"It feels more like a gift." Stefan boasted.
"That will change." Emily replied bluntly.
"Why is that?" Stefan smirked.
"Because even in death, your heart if pure, Stefan. I sense that about you. That will be your curse." Emily replied calmly walking away.
"Emily, wait." Stefan tried to stop her.
Stefan is staring blankly into the quarry where he was first turned Vampire with a torn expression on his face, Grace approaching him.
"Stefan. Damon told me rest of the story." Grace told him calmly "I thought I might find you here."
"I should have died that night, just like I had chosen. I should have let Damon die, too." Stefan noted.
"But you didn't. And if you die now, it's not going to change what happened." Grace shook her head.
"Every single person that's been hurt... Every single life that's been lost, it's because of me." He told her.
"You know the night Elena's adoption parents died I dragged her to a party across town, she blew of family night for me... She left the party feeling guilty and ended up getting stranded someplace, I didn't go to help her, I was trashed somewhere, but her parents came to pick her up... They why they ended up in a car at Wickery Bridge, and that's why they died. Our actions are what set things in motion, but we have to live with that." Grace explained.
"I made a choice, Grace. Because of that choice, a lot of people were hurt..." He looked back at her torn.
"You also made a choice to stop, to reject the person that the blood made you... You made a choice to be good, Stefan." Grace countered stepping towards him.
"No. Please don't do that." Stefan begged.
"That's the person that jumped in the water to save the family whose car had drive off the bridge." Grace told him.
"Please. Don't make this ok." Stefan whispered.
"That's the person who saved Elena's life." Grace smiled gently.
"You don't understand, Grace." Stefan told her raising his voice.
"Then tell me. Make me understand." Grace hissed.
"It hurts me. It hurts me knowing what I've done, and that pain... That pain is with me all the time. And everyday, I think that if I just... If I just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop. It would be that easy, and everyday, I fight that. And I am so terrified that one day, I'm not going to want to fight that anymore, Grace. Last time I hurt someone it was you, I almost killed you, next time it could be Elena, I couldn't live with myself..." Stefan was close to tears.
"There will be no next time." Grace assured him.
"You don't know that." Stefan shook his head.
"You're right, I'm a telepath, not a psychic... But what I do know is that you can this." She held up his daylight ring "Throw it in the quarry, and let the sun rise... or you can take this ring, put it on and keep on fighting, for Elena..." she put the ring in his hand closing it "It's your choice..." she walked away.
"Grace." Stefan called before putting his ring on and pulling her into a tight hug "Thank you."
Pearl was boxing some old books up into a cardboard box when Harper walked in carrying some of her luggage.
"Thank you, Harper." She nodded.
"You're welcome." Harper smiled placing her bags down.
"Annabelle should be back in a minute." Pearl noted "You know, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to." She gave him the choice.
"This was never my home, Ms. Pearl." Harper replied "I was just a soldier who was left to die. You saved me. I'm coming with you." He smiled.
"Let me help you with these." Pearl took a bag walking towards the front door, as she opened it she saw a sight that made her blood run cold and a stake was pushed into her heart, Harper caught her before she hit the floor, but Pearl was sadly dead.
"Where are they?" Elena paced the room "I don't understand..."
"Will you stop pacing?" Damon growled "You're giving me a headache."
Grace walked Stefan into the library he seemed weak, Damon sat up as soon as he saw her enter the room and Elena ran over embracing Stefan tightly, Grace then went over and took a seat next to Damon.
"little boy lost." Damon announced.
"I'll be upstairs." Grace told Damon before looking at Elena "C'mon."
"Alright." Elena pried herself away from Stefan to leave the room "Where did you find him?" Elena asked Grace as they walked up the stairs.
"Thank you." Stefan nodded at Grace and she just shrugged leaving the brothers to talk "Thank you." he then looked at Damon.
"No, Stefan, thank you. You're back on Bambi blood, and I'm the big badass brother again. All is right in the world." The icy blue eyed vampire smirked.
"I mean it. Thank you. For... helping the girls take care of me." Stefan nodded.
"You brood too much. Everything on this planet is not your fault. My actions, and what I do, it's not your fault. I own them. They belong to me. You are not allowed to feel my guilt." Damon told him firmly.
"Do you feel guilt?" Stefan questioned.
"If I wanted to, it's there. Emily waited till after I turned to tell me she'd been successful in protecting Fayth with her spell. She didn't want me to know about the tomb. She thought it would impact my decision." He shrugged.
"She didn't want either of us to turn. She said it was a curse." Stefan remembered.
"Witches... Judgy little things." Damon sipped his bourbon.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Stefan asked.
"Because I didn't want you to know. Because I hated you and I still do." Damon replied.
"I know." Stefan nodded.
"But not because you forced me to turn." He shook his head.
"Then why?" Stefan creased his eye brows.
"Because I was the only Salvatore meant to turn, just me and Fayth." Damon whispered before leaving the room.
Anna walked in the house ready to leave with her mom when she saw two bodies on the floor, both with stakes sticking out of their chests, Anna ran over and pulled the stake out of her mother and began to shake her, crying hysterically trying to wake her up, but her actions were futile, her mother was gone and so was Harper, and there was nothing she could do about it.
John Gilbert threw a weapon in the back of his car parked in the middle of the woods along with two stakes, he pulled out his phone and pressed dial.
"Sheriff Forbes, it's John Gilbert. Sorry to call so late. I have an update about the Vampires." John told her with a smirk on his face.
Alaric sat in the Grill drowning his sorrows in alcohol, it was time for him to give up on his wife, so he was going to use alcohol as the substance to do it, suddenly a voice came from beside him, one that he knew all too well.
"Hello, Ric." A high feminine voice announced.
He hesitated turning, but when he did he looked into a deep pair of dark brown eyes "Isobel."
A/N
Hey! So here is another chapter, I might get another one up by tonight, but if not it will be up tomorrow, almost finished season one! Damon and Grace are getting closer (Kinda)! Yay! And Isobel is back! Anyway, Review, Alert and Fav Please!
Graciiee xx