Chapter Thirteen
'Oh come on, the limit is fifty!' I shouted, even though the driver in front of me who was currently doing twenty couldn't hear me. I huffed in annoyance and turned up the radio to try and distract myself from my annoyance, encase I ended up doing something stupid. I was on my way to the boarding house, hoping to talk to Damon about what we were going to do about the whole Stefan with no humanity problem. I had stopped off at Bonnie's first to ask her to do me a favour; I asked her to spell the shirts that Klaus had left behind so that they wouldn't lose their scent. Because I'd actually been able to get some sleep last night with Klaus' shirt on my pillow, and if that was the solution I didn't want to lose it when the scent faded. Though I had lied to Bonnie and told her they were my dad's; I didn't think she'd judge me or anything like that but honestly, I was having a hard time accepting that those were the measures I was having to take to get some sleep, and admitting it aloud would make it more real and I didn't know how I would handle it.
I cheered as the grandma in front of me finally turned down a side road, allowing me to put my foot down and get to the boarding house at a much more sensible rate. When I put the car in park in the driveway, I focused on the emotions coming from the house and I could feel pain. Without another thought, I pulled off my seatbelt and rushed into the house, taking the pain as I went.
'Damon? Stefan? Is someone-' I cut off as I rounded the corner and the living room was brought into view. Damon was strapped to a chair with chains and he had an iron poker in his chest, knowing he wasn't in pain anymore; I couldn't resist snapping a picture with my phone, laughing as I did.
'Do you mind? A little help here!' Damon demanded, irritation clouding his tone.
'What, did your BDSM partner get bored and leave you?' I joked, putting my phone in my back pocket as I waked over to him.
'Ha. Ha. You're hilarious.' Damon's voice dripped with sarcasm as well as the anger he was trying to keep at bay.
'So I'm told' I said, my voice bright as my hand grasped the poker in his chest, I focused, ready to take his pain, before I yanked it out in one swift movement. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out at the pain in my abdomen, pain that he should be feeling, thankfully it faded away to something more manageable soon after. I looked up to Damon when I felt his surprise; I narrowed my eyes at him in question.
'Why didn't that hurt?' He asked, studying my expression as if it would tell him the answer.
'Maybe it hurt so much the first time that you're numb to it?' I suggested sweetly, continuing before he could question me further, 'I'm not going to be much help getting those off.' I gestured to the chains that were keeping him in the chair.
'Be a doll and get Stefan, would you?' Damon asked.
I rolled my eyes and started shouting, 'STEFAN! STEFAN, I'M IN DANGER AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT ME, STEFAN!'
This time Damon rolled his eyes and gave me a look before sarcastically muttered, 'don't you think I could have done that?'
'Don't worry, I'm sure the blood loss accounts for your lack of bright ideas today, princess' I winked at him and laughed when he glared at me for using his nickname for me against him.
'You called?' Stefan said as he strolled into the living room, I turned to him and noticed his amusement at Damon's current predicament.
'Don't worry, I took a picture, I'll send it to you.' I said, making Stefan laugh out loud.
'Yes, it's all very funny, could you be a dear and help a brother out?' Damon muttered.
'What the hell happened to you?' Stefan asked as he walked over, snapping the chains, once he'd contained his laughter.
'Whatever twisted ripper game you're playing, leave me out of it.' Damon huffed as he tried to stand, I offered him my hand and he took it, able to get to his feet.
'I didn't do this.' Stefan said, and I could tell he was in fact telling the truth, 'It's pretty messed up though, isn't it?'
'Yup,' Damon muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
'Well I'm out of here.' Stefan said, leaving the room without another word.
'So who do you-' I started but I was cut off when the curtains opened by themselves and Damon started screaming; I took his pain but I had grab onto the armchair for support. Damon flashed over to the other side of the room and picked up his ring and put it on, and as quick as it had happened, his pain disappeared and I sighed in relief.
'What the hell just happened?' I said, trying to breathe through the last bit of pain I had taken as it settled.
'Let's just say, I'm having a bad sense of déjà vu.' Damon muttered, grabbing my hand and pulling me from the house. He told me to meet him at the Grill; he had an errand to run first. I knew it would have something to do with the whole poker and chains incident, and I wondered if something had gone wrong when Bonnie had blocked Vikki's connection last night. Elena had filled me in this morning; apparently Ric's car caught fire because Vikki had made a deal with a witch on the other side- she could come and go as she pleased but in exchange she promised to kill the doppelgänger so that Klaus couldn't make any more hybrids. She had manipulated Matt into doing some kind of ritual to make it happen; when I had found out about it I felt bad for them both, Matt had to say goodbye to his sister and Vikki lost her connection to her brother. One thing was for sure though; whomever the witch on the other side was she definitely had it out for Klaus, and with how much of a dick he could be I wasn't that surprised.
But if whatever Bonnie had done to send her away had somehow made it so all ghosts were able to have physical contact with us then it needed to be fixed. As far as I was aware I didn't have any enemies on the other side, but I was sure my friends did, in fact I knew they did, and Damon's situation this morning was just one example of that. I parked in front of the bar and noticed Elena, Ric and Jeremy sitting at a table out front. I decided to talk for them for a bit seeing as I didn't know how long Damon was going to be.
'Hey family.' I said brightly as I took the spare seat, making Jeremy give me a weird look, I could feel his annoyance and I frowned at him, 'what's that look for? Am I sitting on your dead girlfriend?' I asked, actually standing back up, I could feel Jeremy's surprise and I reached over to another table and grabbed another chair, pulling it up to the table.
'Better?' I asked, Jeremy nodded, smiling softly and I looked over to the chair, 'sorry Ana, I didn't mean to be rude.'
I could feel Elena and Ric looking at me like I was crazy but I didn't care; I couldn't even imagine being on the other side and having no one to talk to, not to mention literally being invisible. She must have felt so lonely.
'She says don't worry about it.' Jeremy said, glancing over to me after Ana had finished talking, I just sent a wink in the direction of the empty seat before I noticed the journals on the table and looked over to Elena for an explanation.
'I was asking Jeremy if he could contact Lexi. Every time he's turned it off in the past she was the one to bring him back.' Elena explained.
'Okay so you think if you find her she can give you a crash course in restoring a vampire's humanity?' I asked.
'Basically, but Jer said he hasn't seen her and because he didn't know her it would be much more difficult to get in contact with her.' Elena sounded defeated and I sent a comforting wave in her direction before looking to Jeremy as he stood.
'I'll catch you guys later.' He said.
'Bye Jer, bye Ana.' I called out, ignoring the questioning looks of people around us seeing as Jeremy was the only one they could see walking away.
'Don't give up hope, Elena. Stefan will turn his humanity on again, I know he will, but it's definitely going to take time.' I said, kissing her temple before I stood and went into the Grill, ordering myself a whiskey. I hoped that they continued not to I.D. me seeing as I was going to be twenty-one soon anyway; November was only weeks away.
'Feeling better, princess?' I asked Damon as he took a seat next to me, he glared at me for a moment, making me grin before he turned back to the person he was talking to, I looked around him and saw that it was Ric.
'Ah! But remember when you used to like me and we conspired to kill big bad werewolf Uncle Lockwood?' Damon asked, his tone sarcastic as he signalled for a drink.
'Yes, and?' Ric said, clearly annoyed.
'I think he's still pretty pissed.' Damon's voice actually sounded a little concerned as to what he was going to next, when I focused on it though I realised he was afraid to Alaric. Which was fair enough; Damon had woken up with a poker through his chest and tied to a chair, if Mason was looking for revenge, who knew what he would do to Ric, the one without a supernatural healing ability?
'So you think that's who attacked you last night?' I said as I sipped my whiskey.
'Yup. The set up was exactly the same as when I was torturing the Uncle wolf for information about the moonstone and Katherine.' He downed his whiskey, I could feel how nervous he was but he was clearly determined to hide it behind his arrogance and sarcasm.
'Well then… you can't really blame him. An eye for an eye, right?' I snorted when Damon glared at me and I heard Ric laugh as well, but everyone froze when Mason Lockwood walked up to the bar, smiling.
'Am I hallucinating?' I wondered aloud, genuinely confused as to what the hell was going on.
Mason grinned at my comment and walked forward, making a move to grab my whiskey, but I grabbed his wrist stopping him. He frowned at me, about to say something threatening, probably, but his mouth snapped shut when I gestured for another double whiskey and handed it to him.
'It's not everyday you re-join the living, you deserve your own glass.' I explained, picking my own up off the bar before clinking it against his. Before I had left town Mason and I hadn't exactly been best friends, but I could sense the loneliness on him; the least I could do was buy the man a drink.
He grinned at me before downing his glass in one go, moaning in pleasure when he swallowed, which I couldn't blame him for; whiskey was good stuff.
'God, I miss whiskey.' He muttered, almost talking to himself.
'You mean to tell me that there's no whiskey on the other side?' I asked, genuinely horrified.
Mason laughed but nodded in answer to my question, I felt my jaw drop in disbelief and Mason continued to laugh at my expression, which was very rude if you asked me; I had just found out that I would be without whiskey when I died and he was laughing at me!
'Listen, not to break up your weird little conversation, but if you're here for revenge you're going to have to get in line.' Damon muttered, clearly unhappy about being ignored, which made me roll my eyes.
Mason responded by breaking the glass over Damon's head, the shards embedding into his skull and making a crimson wave pour down his forehead. I winced and made a move to take his pain but Mason stopped me with a look, I frowned in confusion wondering how he knew.
'I saw it this morning. You were the one cringing in agony, when it should have been him. Trust me, with everything he did to me, he deserves to at least feel a little pain.' Mason said, giving me a look that told me not to mess with him, with a sigh I complied.
I looked over to Damon, about to offer to remove the shards in his head but when I saw how he was looking at me I stopped short. He was surprised and grateful at the same time, that much I could sense. But his expression was appreciative for a brief moment before he replaced it with shock, which I assumed was because it was a lot less vulnerable.
'That was you?' Damon asked me.
I didn't say anything; I just moved my ass up onto the actual bar so that I could reach his head to remove the glass better. He gave up questioning me when I didn't respond, wincing a little every now and then when I pulled out a piece that was particularly embedded into his skin.
'So, what do you want?' Damon asked, turning his gaze back to Mason as I gave his head one last glance before I confirmed it glass free, throwing the shards of glass that I had collected on a napkin into the trash.
'I want an apology.' Mason said simply.
Ric and I burst out laughing at the same time, sharing a look of amusement while we pictured Damon Salvatore offering an apology.
'Good luck with that. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what an apology is,' Ric said, sipping his drink with an annoyed look on his face. I assumed that meant that Damon hadn't apologised to Ric for snapping his neck for no reason at the founder's party.
'Don't you have a family to haunt? You know your nephew has turned into a mindless hybrid Minion.' Damon deflected, trying to change the subject.
'That's why I'm here. To help Tyler.' Mason said.
'Well, sorry to break it to you, buddy, but Tyler can't be helped. At least not while Klaus is alive. Which is, like, always.' Damon replied, his tone snarky.
'Not necessarily. Not if you got your hands on a weapon that could kill him,' Mason said, the smugness in his voice making it clear that he definitely knew something.
'You have a weapon that can kill Klaus?' I asked, trying to hide the fact that the pain in my chest was more prominent than ever, 'Original hybrid, Klaus?' I asked, desperate for him to be lying, even though I knew he wasn't.
He nodded, smiling when Damon spoke, 'what do you know?' he demanded.
'That you need to apologize.' Mason smiled.
'You gotta be kidding me!' Damon muttered.
'Are you incapable of remorse? Just apologize!' Ric shouted from the other side of Damon, clearly aggravated.
'You're right. I didn't have to kill you. Sometimes I do things I don't have to do.' Damon said.
I stared at the side of his head, waiting for him to actually say the words 'I'm sorry' but I laughed when I realized that was all he was going to say; Mason laughed too, but Ric just looked shocked at Damon's lack of an apology. Mason patted Damon's shoulder, still laughing.
'Good enough.' Mason said, amusement still apparent in his voice, 'meet me at the old Lockwood cellar.' His eyes flickered between me and Ric before they settled on Damon again, 'come alone and bring a shovel.' He said as he made his way to the door.
'What you're going to bury me alive?' Damon shouted after him.
'Don't tempt me.' Mason shouted over his shoulder before he pulled the Grill's door open and he was gone.
'Do you think he's telling the truth?' Ric asked, looking between Damon and me.
'I know he is.' I said, reluctantly; I didn't know how I felt about the idea of Klaus being dead, but I was pushing the emotions firmly down as I tried to remain present in the conversation.
'Well then, looks like I'm going on a trip to the old Lockwood cellar.' Damon muttered, sarcastic enthusiasm clouding his voice before he finished his drink and stood up.
'Have fun!' I shouted after him, chuckling when he flipped me off, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and was surprised to see a few text messages from Elena.
Elena: Turns out something got screwed up when Bonnie cast the spell to send Vikki back. The witch who helped her from the other side did something to open the door; Bonnie needs my necklace to put it back.
Elena: Can you meet me in the old city jail cells?
Me: Sure, on my way now.
I waved goodbye to Ric and made my way over to where Elena had requested that I meet her, when I got there I'll admit I was a little freaked out, especially when I heard a man screaming. I reached out, trying to sense pain but it confused me when I didn't find any pain to take, but I could feel panic. I rounded the corner and saw Stefan tied to a chair with a slender, pretty woman with long blonde hair leaning in his face, her hands resting on the arms of the chair. Elena was standing slightly behind her, looking troubled with her arms crossed over chest as she watched what she was doing to him.
'What the hell is this?' I asked, more than a little confused.
The blonde stood up and looked over to me, a genuine smile on her face almost as if she knew me, but I didn't recognize her.
'I'm Lexi. If Damon hadn't killed me, I'm sure we would be the best of friends.' She said, holding out her hand for me to shake.
'Kim, though I have a feeling you already knew that.' I replied with a wink, making her laugh, 'I like you.' I murmured; I got a good feeling from her.
'I like you too; I've seen you get these guys out of trouble more than once. It's impressive.' Lexi said, looking at me like she was in awe, it made me uncomfortable.
'I do my best' I shrugged and then looked over to Stefan, 'so I'm assuming that this has something to do with getting his humanity back?'
'Yup. I'm currently in his head, making him think he's starving. As you can tell by his screams he's at five years with no blood.' She made her way back over to stand in front of Stefan.
'Interesting tactic.' I murmured as I watched her work, where my expression was curious, Elena's was nauseated. I sent a comforting wave towards her and I was glad when her queasiness seemed to ease a little.
'Yours was better. I saw what you did at the school.' Her expression, like mine, was one of curiosity.
'Well then you would have seen me freak out when I couldn't stop it.' I muttered, looking over to Stefan when his screams suddenly stopped.
'Yeah, but still it was impressive. Once you learn to control it you'll be quite the weapon.' Lexi replied, her tone a matter of fact.
'If I learn to control it, currently the only thing that can bring me back is-'
'Klaus.' Lexi interrupts, finishing my sentence, I nodded in answer.
'Yeah, lets not talk about him.' I muttered, leaning against the wall of the cell, crossing my arms over my chest, and trying to ease the way that my chest hurt substantially more whenever he was mentioned.
'Yeah we wouldn't want to make things awkward by mentioning all the hybrid sex you two have been having.' Stefan muttered, his tone bitter.
I rolled my eyes at his attempt to get a rise out of me, 'I don't know who your trying to piss off, Stefan but Elena already knows and I'm assuming Lexi does too if she was at the school that night. But nice try.' I winked at him, pleased when he growled in aggravation.
'That's another thing we need to go over,' Lexi looked over to Elena, 'you have to separate yourself from your emotions. Don't let him play on them.'
As if on cue Stefan looked over to Elena, a pleading look replacing the pissed expression that had been there a moment before.
'Please, Elena. Make it stop it hurts. It hurts so much.'
I snorted, bringing his attention to me, 'could you be any more obvious?'
He looked back to Elena, pretending that I hadn't even spoken, 'Elena, I love you okay. I love you so much. Please let me out and we can be together, just like we used to be.'
I could feel Elena's heart wanting to hope, but I could also feel her reluctance to believe his act, much to my relief.
'I'm sorry, Stefan. I just don't believe you.' Elena said, her voice emotionless.
'You know what? I don't want your help, anyway. I wish I'd never met you. Every single moment that I've spent with you has been a complete and total waste.' Stefan growled out. I could feel Elena's pain at his words and I took it, refusing to let him make her feel that way.
'You see that? That's the ripper talking. Once he's weak enough, you have to cause him pain. Make him feel things. Anger, rage, anything. You have to make him see past the blood.' Lexi said her tone a matter of fact as she stabbed the stake into Stefan's stomach again, ignoring him as he cried out in pain.
She withdrew the stake and continued talking, 'think of it as a regimen. Day in and day out. Like running the treadmill. Like making coffee. Until he's ready to be saved.'
'I will rip you apart Lexi!' Stefan shouted.
'Aw, honey you can't. I'm already dead.' She smiled, stabbing him again.
'I can't…' Elena murmured, walking to the door. I could feel that she needed a moment, so I sent her a comforting wave but otherwise stayed where I was.
'She'll be okay. She just needs to adjust.' I assured Lexi when I felt the concern coming from her; I sent her a wave of reassurance and pulled out my phone when it continued to vibrate, indicating I was getting a call. I looked at the caller I.D. and just like yesterday, my heart stopped for a moment before it started to beat twice as fast. I put the phone up to my ear, making my way out to the hallway, even though the two vampires would be able to hear the conversation anyway.
'Hello, who's this?'
'Well aren't you hilarious?' Klaus said, though I could feel that he was smiling.
'That's what I'm told. I have several, reliable informants who have confirmed my hilarity to be a fact.'
'Really? Well then I wouldn't want to mess with your reliable informants.' Klaus said, his voice soothing the aching in my chest.
'Definitely not.' I grinned.
'So, how are you today love?' He asked, I heard something slam in the background and wondered what it was.
'Eh I don't think I'll ever have a drama free day ever again.' I muttered, smiling when I heard him chuckle.
'No, probably not.' He agreed.
'What about you? How drama filled has your day been on a scale of one to five?'
'A solid three. Nothing I can't handle, though.' He said, and I knew he was smirking.
'Are you ever not smirking?' I joked, rolling my eyes when he laughed.
'Are you even not rolling your eyes?' He asked.
'Touché.' I said, laughing with him.
'Sorry to cut this short love, but I'm going to have to go. I'll talk to you soon.' Klaus murmured.
'Okay, bye.' I replied, hanging up the phone, trying not to wince when the pain in my chest made itself known again as soon as his voice was gone from my ear. Elena made her way back to the tunnel and stopped in front of me, snapping me out of my trance.
'Hey, what are you doing out here?' Elena asked.
'Klaus called.' I answered her honestly, knowing that Stefan would happily use it against me if he heard me lie.
'Are you okay?' Her voice was sympathetic and I knew that she was still hung up on the whole mates thing. Personally I was in denial, he couldn't be my mate… right? I had already admitted that I missed him but admitting that he could be my mate was a whole other ball game.
'Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay? You took off out of here pretty fast.' I attempted to move the attention from me.
'Drama with the necklace.' She dismissed, not addressing what I was actually asking her about, I linked my arm through hers as we made our way back into the cellar.
'Stop fighting me, Stefan. I know you're in there.' Lexi insisted, stabbing him with the stake again.
'Not this time, Lexi,' Stefan grinds out.
'You say that every time. Until I make you feel again.' Lexi smiled sweetly, stabbing him with the stake again.
'You wasted your whole life taking care of me. Do you seriously have nothing better to do now that you're dead?' Stefan shouted, trying to get a rise out of her.
'We're running out of time.' Elena said, breaking Stefan and Lexi out of their stare down.
'What? No! You gotta get me more.' Lexi said, suddenly panicked, I sent her a comforting wave, trying to calm her.
'I can't they have the necklace, they're going to close the door.' Elena said.
'The necklace,' Lexi turned back towards Stefan, 'at least tell me you remember the necklace. You found it at your darkest time and when you made it through you said that that necklace represented hope.'
'Ironic, then, that it's about to be blown to pieces.' Stefan muttered, not bothered in the slightest.
'He's still in there. You just have to break through.' Lexi said, her voice pleading.
'It's okay, Lexi. We know what to do now, you can be free.' I said, sending her a comforting wave, she smiled, looked to Stefan and then disappeared.
'Can you leave me alone with him?' Elena asked.
I gave her a soft smile before I hugged her and kissed her temple, 'call me if you need me.' I said on my way out of the door.
'I will! Love you!' Elena shouted after me.
'Love you too!' I called back.
When I got to my car, I decided to text Damon and see if he was still alive, seeing as I hadn't heard from him since he left to meet Mason earlier.
Me: Hey, you still alive?
Damon: Sorry to disappoint, but yes I am.
Me: Boo. Shame.
Damon: You're hilarious.
Me: That is a popular comment today I must say.
Me: So did Mason actually give you anything or what?
Damon: Don't know, whatever it is is locked in a room that vampires can't enter.
Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Me: That's hilarious.
Damon: Shut it
Me: Do you need help vampy?
Damon: Nah, it's fine; I called Ric he's on his way.
Me: Cool. Let me know what you find.
Damon: Will do, princess.
I rolled my eyes at the nickname making a comeback but made my way home when he said he didn't need the help. I showered, brushed my teeth, grabbed one of the now spelled shirts and made my way to bed. It was only eight pm; I assumed that Jenna was still stuck at work and Jeremy was still with Bonnie because I was the only one in the house. I didn't give it any more thought though as I snuggled into Klaus' shirt, the scent calming me enough to allow me to fall into a deep sleep. I still had no idea how I felt about the whole weapon that can kill Klaus situation, but I did know that it could wait until morning.
There's chapter thirteen! I know this one is a little shorter, but honestly despite the fact that this is an action filled episode, Kim can't be everywhere at once, unfortunately. Let me know what you think!
Huge thank you to JolieNoir96 and yazzy97 for choosing to either follow or favorite my story- it means a lot!
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