Chapter Three: Mysteries & Epiphanies
"What do you mean you haven't seen Elena?" Caroline seethed, daggers flying from her eyes.
Upon Bonnie's realization that some sort of black magic had been involved with her and Caroline's dream, she had thoroughly flipped through Emily's grimoire and found out that the dream was a sort of psychic prophecy that effected people in an attempt of warning. Supposedly, the dreams, no matter how strange or out-of-there they seemed, were legitimate warnings that had some element of truth, and quite often, assist in saving lives.
Saving lives.
Meaning, Elena's life needed to be saved. But, from what?
Jeremy looked wide-eyed at Caroline, he was momentarily at a loss for words at her outrageous anger. "I, um, of course I don't know, she was supposed to be sleeping over with you?" he stated, almost question-like.
Bonnie put a hand lightly on Caroline's arm in a soothing manner, attempting to calm down her eccentric friend.
"This is bad. I can't smell or hear her anywhere, and her car's still in the school parking lot.." Stefan filled Jeremy in. He had only met up with them a couple of minutes earlier, after he had conducted a thorough search for Elena; a vampire-quality sweep of Mystic Falls and it's surrounding towns. The three of them were now interrogating Jeremy heatedly in the living room of the Gilbert household.
Jeremy's face fell into a worried scowl and the rest of the group sat in silence while contemplating their next move.
Bonnie had already done a location spell earlier that morning with Caroline. They had used the vile of Jeremy's blood left over from Rose and Trevor's attempt at turning Elena over to Klaus. Although the blood had worked to locate Elena then, when Bonnie had tried it just recently, the blood had freakishly disolved on the map.
It wasn't too hard to decipher the reason; other witches were involved. Most likely, a spell had been cast over wherever Elena was that kept her location hidden. However, it took an incredibly strong witch to cast such a spell. In fact, it would have to be a witch as strong as a Bennett, and Bonnie hadn't even heard that there were other Bennett witches apart from the sole cousin she had met at the Masquerade party.
Jeremy spoke up hesitantly, breaking the silence.
"I think we should find out where she was last. Maybe someone heard something, or saw something." Jeremy suggested, trying to be of some form of help.
Stefan's lost eyes glanced up to meet Jeremy's as he responded in a monotone voice. "I already told you, her car is still in the school's parking lot. She couldn't have left by herself. She's obviously not in Mystic Falls anymore, but how are we going to possibly find out what happened between the time when school got out yesterday and now?" Everyone in the room could tell how Elena's absence was affecting Stefan. Negatively. It was no secret.
Jeremy pondered this before Caroline answered abruptly, pulling her hands to her hips to signify her disagreement. "We could check her car. You know, look for signs of a struggle? Or maybe someone cut her wires and then tricked her to accepting a ride 'home.' Any little piece of information at this point is crucial." Caroline stated, glancing at the others seriously.
Bonnie, Jeremy and Stefan all nodded their heads briefly in agreement and the friends-turned search team filed out through the Gilbert's front door without another word.
Everything was happening so fast. A whirlwind of emotions was raining down and Elena was so blinded by the shrieks and cries of pain coming from outside of the door, that she wouldn't have heard a tornado if it had just blown off the roof. All she could think about was how absolutely defenseless she was, like a turkey waiting to be cooked for Thanksgiving dinner. Elena was just listening to the turkey ahead of her being butchered and all she knew was that she could do nothing about it; except wait to meet the same fate.
Elena made a desperate attempt to collect her thoughts before processing the information she already knew. For some reason, a vampire had taken her here. And, she couldn't just lie helplessly and listen to Brittany surrendering pleas. Whoever had brought her here had cruelly used Brittany as bait, and the mystery vampire was just enjoying its bonus meal.
The strange part was, the vampire had been wearing a ski mask. Why would a vampire with super strength, speed, and compulsion skills be afraid to be recognized? The situation was both utterly confusing and increasingly strange. What was even harder to understand was that her kidnapper had not taken her for Klaus. That much was certain; the moonstone was forever safe with with Katherine; there would be absolutely no reason to take the doppelganger without it. So, if this wasn't about Klaus, but it was important enough for a vampire to wear a ski mask while capturing her, what was this about?
The terrified girl was suddenly broken from her thoughts when she realized that Brittany was no longer screaming. In fact, there were no sounds at all. There was a strong sense of the 'way-too-quiet' feeling that usually appeared in horror movies before someone got killed.
Although Elena was rather peeved that Brittany had had a major part in luring her to her capture, the blonde had quite apparently been under compulsion when she had done so. Furthermore, now that Elena thought about it, Brittany had been in class the other day, so she would've had the study sheet. She had been compelled to say that she didn't. Elena, sighed. Stupidly, she had fallen for it. However, no matter the circumstances, Brittany did not deserve to die. The brunette knew she had to say something. Taking a deep breath, she prepared her words. Elena had been pondering something as simple as 'Please don't hurt her' to something as drastic as 'Suck me dry instead.'
But before she could even begin, she heard the unmistakable metallic clinking of nails being screwed into place.
'That's odd,' she thought warily. 'What is going on?'
Elena tilted her head upwards as far as she could stretch, attempting to peer through the the sheer material of the canopy and upwards at the ceiling. As soon as she had done so, however, she heard rustling beside her and realized a little too late that the nails being "screwed in place" were actually being unscrewed. A large iron disk crashed to the ground, and Elena saw that it had come from the air conditioning duct over the bed. In the blur of the moment, she felt rather than see the rough jab of a very sharp object pierce through her skin, and as the opaque black splotches clouded her vision, she came to the knowledge that someone was drugging her. The room began to spin dramatically, and soon afterwards came to a complete, soundless, and utterly dark stop.
"There's nothing here." Caroline announced, sulking wishfully at Elena's deserted GM vehicle.
She had been expecting at least some sort of sign that Elena had been kidnapped. Scratches running down the side of her car, a dropped purse or bag, pulled hairs. She would be able to detect any sort of disturbance that had occurred anywhere near here, she was a vampire for heaven sake! But, there was nothing but a coke can littered parking lot and cigarette buds for dozens of yards in every direction.
"She wasn't snatched directly in front of her car Care," Bonnie pointed out, rolling her eyes.
Stefan processed the statement thoughtfully and nodded in agreement. "I say we split up and check around the property, then. There has to be something, somewhere that gives us a hint. The football fields, her last class...?"
...
Three hours later, the two vampires in the group had searched every inch of the Mystic Falls High School with absolutely no headway in finding their missing friend. As for the witch and Elena's brother, they had been scurrying along just as carefully, looking everywhere for signs of her disappearance. Finally, after further miss-success, everyone met back up in front of the school.
Stefan had a difficult time hiding the defeated look spread across his usually precise looking face. Shouldn't he be the one protecting her? Isn't he the one who is always supposed to watch out for her, and be with her at all times? He cursed himself for not being there for her. He could've stopped her kidnapper. But now, with Damon gone, too, he was going to be very short on resources to help find her. Jeremy and Bonnie had been great to come help, but they wouldn't make much headway as humans. Especially since Bonnie's powers were void when it came to the current situation.
"Well, what to do now?" Bonnie broke him from his thoughts. "What can we do? If you guys are vampires and can't track her down, how do you expect she'll turn up?"
Caroline and Stefan stiffened at Bonnie's comment.
"Well, um," Caroline started, at a loss for words.
Stefan saved her from the on-the-spot question and turned to Bonnie reassuringly.
"This is hard on all of us, but we can't give up hope. We'll find her, I promise, I for one won't give up until I do." Stefan promised aloud.
"Neither will I." Caroline guaranteed
"Nor I." Jeremy countered.
"Me neither!" Jeremy piped up.
Stefan looked up at Bonnie and Jeremy doubtfully. "No, you guys need your rest." He said firmly, looking up at the sky. "It's getting dark and we'll find her faster if we all think this through carefully. Why don't you guys do some digging tomorrow morning and see if you can find out who saw her last?"
"Yeah Bonnie, and text us right away if you find something. I'll be sure to call you and do the same." The blonde confirmed.
Jeremy looked unconvinced, but Bonnie nodded a quick 'okay' to the two vampires and rubbed Jeremy's arm comfortingly as she led him back to her car.
When they were out of sight, Caroline turned to Stefan and he could see the gleam of one of her "brilliant ideas" in her eyes. Before he could even think about the kind of trouble she was considering, she spoke up.
"I think I know who can help us." she began. "Whoever napped Elena has got to be calculating, cruel, and manipulating. Anyone would have to be to want to slaughter an innocent girl for selfish reasons." Care pointed out.
Stefan's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion.
"Who do we know like that?" she continued, attempting to draw out his understanding. "Who do we know that could get in the mind of that kidnapper best?"
'Calculating, cruel and manipulative,' Caroline's words rang through his ears as wandering thoughts trailed through his mind.
'What is she getting at...?' he pondered
The it hit him.
'Oh, no. Oh NO, no, no, no, no. Don't say it.' Stefan internally screamed, his eyes widening subconsciously.
She just gave a small, amused nod before confirming his dreaded suspicions.
"Katherine."
"AHHHHHHHH." Elena cried out, stealing a glance behind her into the un-telling shadows.
Sweat poured down into her eyes from the perspiration collecting quickly along her forehead. Her head throbbed painfully as the bottoms of her dirty, bare feet padded quickly aginst the thorns and sharp rocks that she was trugging ever so quickly across. She continued to sprint longingly through the forest, waiting for the relief-filled, perfect moment that would arrive when she reached the highway; when he could flag down a car and quickly escape from the vampire hot on her heels.
Could.
Being honest with herself, however, she knew that she didn't have much of a chance. If she hadn't have stabbed her vampire pursuer with a couple twigs before fleeing, she would definitely be dead meat right about now. No, more like dead skin, because she wouldn't have enough blood left her in her body to even be called meat. Thinking about it, even if she did manage to hitchhike herself out of here, the vampire would definitely be recovering soon, and then she would endanger not only her own life but the life of whoever had tried to help her. 'No', Elena decided. She couldn't be selfish and get someone else killed in an attempt to save herself.
Elena pushed all thoughts out of her mind. Somewhere in her conscious, she knew what she was going to do once she reached the highway. It didn't matter what happened to anyone else, all she knew was that she had to get there. She had to save herself. She had to run. She had to try. Because if she didn't have hope, she would probably collapse right there in the mud and brambles scattered along the forest floor. She would have given up and waited to die. Because truthfully, she shouldn't still be running now. Elena couldn't explain how she was able to possibly keep going, but somehow she was. Somehow, she had surpassed the speed of a normal human being in a crazy adrenaline packed fit of fear. You know, the ones you hear about those soccer moms getting when their kids are in trouble? How they get super strength or speed in times of need?
'That must be what's happening to me,' she thought to herself as she whizzed by trees and bushes.
Pretty soon, she could hear the screeching of tires rolling over pavement and a deliciously heavenly smell wafted it's way up to her nose. She promptly became aware of her incredible thirst and for the first time since she had gotten away from her vampire captor, she was comforted with the feeling that her thirst would soon be quenched.
'Wait a second... Is there water nearby?' Elena wondered, utterly confused as her body kept itself moving towards her unspoken target.
Only, it wasn't her body. Now that she got a good look at it, she knew that it simply couldn't be hers. The petite, curvy body and olive toned skin did match her own, but the tight clenching around her waist clearly signified a corset and the ruffled, green lace victorian era gown wasn't hers. In fact, the glossy, spiral curls both pinned up and flowing around her angelic, heart shaped face weren't hers either. But there was one person who she knew bore that exact resemblance.
Just then, however, she was pushed roughly up against a tree, stomach first, and she felt a branch pierce through her stomach.
"EIIAHHHH," She shrieked, and out of the corner of her pain-filled eyes she took in the group of five handsome, male vampires dressed in similar period clothing, lined up in back of the one who had assaulted her.
Before she could utter further response to her attackers, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and she was pushed backwards, the sharp branch leaving her stomach. The pain was excruciating, and as she turned weakly around, she was meet with the practically smirking crystal eyes of someone she knew all too well.
"Damon." Elena rocketed upwards, breathing sharply. A hand flew up to steady her throbbing head and she consoled herself inwardly.
"It was just a dream," she reassured herself aloud, exhaling breathlessly and leaning back into the firm, cream colored couch.
Couch? She bolted back upwards in confusion and choked on her breath as her eyes fluttered in disbelief at the site before her.
"Or so you say." he smirked, glass tumbler in hand, filled to the brim with what Elena was sure must've been at least seven servings of scotch whiskey.
He.
Damon Salvatore.