Chapter Five: Snaking Suspicion
The bourbon slid down her throat smoothly, the sensuous tang of the addictive taste still fresh on her lips. The crystal goblet she was sipping from was exquisitely crafted and imported from Western Europe. Only the best for the life of the party. Ha! Life. A trait, quality, and experience that she not longer dealt with...and she'd never been happier about it.
"Katherine?" The voice was female, and the quiet gasp that followed upon the recognition annoyed the hell out of the dark-haired girl.
She grit her teeth and swiveled around in her chair icily, quirking an eyebrow. "Who wants to know?"
Oh. It was that girl again.
She sighed inwardly as her menacing scowl brought the witch back a few feet. Everything was so predictable with these little rug-rats. There was hardly a challenge when it came to ability.
"Have you been looking for me?" The brunette bit out harshly. "I told you to stay away."
The witch gulped visibly. "I...I missed you. I can't go another day without-"
Katherine snorted. "Oh, shut up. I'm so sick of you and your pathetic little crybaby attitude. I don't need your neediness, and I certainly don't need you following me around like a lost child." She shook the frightened woman for emphasis. Her head lolled back like a ragdoll. Hmmph. Some witch. "And don't you dare even consider telling the bubblegum gang where I am," she threatened darkly. "If you so much as breathe a word of our little rendezvous, I will have your head."
Katherine shoved the feeble human to the floor with a flick of her wrist, smiling a tad as she heard the girl grunting in pain.
She quickly gathered her belongings and exited the bar from the side entrance, casting a last glance behind her to check for witnesses. It wasn't until she'd turned back around that she saw a streetlight flickering from across the street.
"Found you," a voice whispered.
Katherine's eyes grew wide as saucers as she recognized the shape that appeared in front of her. "You..."
A deep chuckle was his only reply. "I've been waiting a long time for this, Katherine. You've been getting sloppy lately."
She backed away slowly, tears springing to the corners of her eyes. She was scared out of her mind, and desperate for escape. She thought about darting out of there, but she knew there was no chance that she could overcome her opponent. She'd tried once before, and had failed miserably.
The man glanced down at Katherine's midsection, and she quivered under his gaze as he stepped forward to trace the ghost of a scar trailing down her stomach.
"You've been a bad, bad girl," he told her. And that was all it took for the memories of their last encounter to come flooding back to her. She let out a loud, pained howl as she realized what would happen next, screaming like the humans she despised so much. The fear built up inside of her like snake venom twisting through her veins. She was just about to let her animal instincts take over and fight him like a hellcat, when she saw him step back suddenly. As if he could hear something that was silent to Katherine's own ears, he tilted his head slightly and his smug look disappeared.
His eyes met hers. "I'll be back," he promised, and with a whisper of wind that swayed her long chocolate locks, he was gone.
That night, Jeremy paced back and forth in his room of the boarding house. The group had decided to get some rest before gearing up to continue the search the next day. With Jenna's suspicions abated, they had all come back to their home base of sorts. Jeremy's mind wandered to Bonnie, who he knew was still searching through books in the library, and was the one who needed rest most of all. He pulled a hand through his hair, which had gone unbrushed since his sister had disappeared, and sighed deeply. He was stressed beyond belief, and he couldn't for the life of him sleep in good conscious. But there was no reason to let his friend suffer the same.
Exiting his guest room, he strode down the halls of the boarding house and headed toward the library. He was just about to turn the corner and greet Bonnie when he heard a soft voice coming from the room.
"I know it's tough, Bonnie, but you have to take a break. We'll need you to be alert and ready in the morning. You need your sleep."
Stefan. It seemed like he was one step ahead of Jeremy. The boy nodded to himself and was able to step out of hiding, when Bonnie continued her dialogue.
"I'm worried..." she admitted. "For different reasons than you all are. There are too many elements at play here. It's not logical that things would happen like this. There has to be something bigger going on. I just don't understand it."
He heard Stefan soothing her in reply and decided it best that he head back to his room. He didn't think it'd be appropriate to walk in and interrupt the heart-to-hear that was unfolding before him. He took a few steps, but when he heard his name, he backtracked.
Huh?
"He doesn't know; he'd go crazy if he knew," Bonnie was saying.
The sound of sparks flying emanated from the room in more ways than one. Jeremy knew they were stoking the fire, but he didn't know what his two friends were talking about.
Their voices had fallen to a near inaudible level, and it became harder and harder to make out the words he was hearing.
"Strange things...have to find her...she'll know..."
Jeremy struggled to piece together the rest of the sentence, but to no avail. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming in his direction and realized that he'd better get out of there quick. He began to speed-walk back to his room and closed the door softly, then leaned against with an exhale of relief.
Just then, there was a loud knock on the door behind him. He gulped, then opened the door cautiously. To his chagrin, it was Stefan, not Bonnie, who faced him now.
"Hey..." he greeted him.
Stefan just stared at him knowingly, obviously aware that he'd been eavesdropping.
Jeremy's eyes dropped to the ground. "If there's something you're not telling me about my sister, I deserve to know. I'm not a child, and you don't need to protect me from myself."
Stefan placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder and entered the room.
Her first thought was that her mouth must be gone. She couldn't even feel it, it was so dry. She ran her tongue over the front of her teeth with a pained moan. Carefully, she rolled over and her muscles stretched achingly. Her bones and ligaments felt as though she'd been crunched up in a tiny box and left for hours and hours. Moving her wrists gingerly, she eased her eyes open as she raised herself up into a sitting position. This floor was nowhere near comfortable, but until she was able to move, it'd have to do.
She cast a glance around. Metal gleamed at her from every surface. There was a large table in the middle that had been stained many times. Elena noticed a double-wide refrigerator and a supersized dishwasher and put two and two together: this was an industrial kitchen. Her eyes lit up when she saw the sink, and she forgot all past feelings of discomfort as she bounded over and turned on the tap. Sticking her head underneath the faucet, she took deep gulps of water for a long, long time. It felt like her thirst could never be satisfied, but finally, it was. That's when she felt the water dripping down her back and made a groggy face. Her hand came up to smack her neck like a mosquito was there, and her hand came back ruby red and shiny with blood.
She screamed. The angle of her neck must've opened the wound. She'd nearly forgotten that Damon had drank from her earlier. She was in a state of shock and disbelief. How could this happen? Why? She shook the thoughts from her head. She didn't want to dwell on the truth that would inevitably snake past the defenses of her mind. She had to stay in control.
Feeling determined, Elena checked around for possible exits and came across a double door in the far corner. She strode toward it and threw her bodyweight against it, but was not surprised to find it locked. She sank back down to the floor and rested her heads in her hands. Nothing was ever going to be okay again. She felt it in her bones...something bad was happening, and it was bigger than all of them.
That's when the banging started. Elena's eyes darted to the oven before she recognized where the noise was coming from. The freezer. And the pounding sounds were like fists...as though someone was inside.