Bloodlines
Chapter 39: Man on Fire
Beta: PrincessOfSilence
Disclaimer: I own nothing of TVD or TO. I only own my characters and my story.
"Ah, this hurts," Cassandra whimpered and pulled at her ropes that bound her hands together; Stefan and Elena were seated in their own chairs beside her with their wrists tied tightly behind them. The entire cafe at Whitmore was bustling with people, but no one thought it was strange to see three people tied to chairs. Enzo paced between the three of them, nursing a glass of scotch and his gaze passed from one face to the next.
Today was supposed to be a lay low kind of day, but it had quickly escalated into a day where Cassandra had wished she stayed home and helped Damon with his Traveler hunt. She figured that she'd come up to Whitmore to help Elena with her studies since finals were coming up and she'd been absent a lot lately with all of the drama back home. In the middle of studying, Enzo had waltzed in with Liv who spelled the trio into unconsciousness and he'd had the entire cafe compelled to ignore what would be happening.
"Well, so much for studying, Elena," she added tensely.
"What the hell do you want, Enzo?" Stefan grumbled.
"I can't join my friends for a cup of tea?" Enzo chortled.
"Last time I checked, Damon is your only friend who isn't here, so why did you feel the need to knock us unconscious and tie us to chairs with vervain ropes?" Cassandra grumbled.
Enzo crouched in front of Cassandra and smirked. "No need to be rude. I've come here for a chat." He then straightened up and moved to the youngest of the vampires. "Elena, darling, perhaps Caroline told you I've been searching for someone I once knew. A woman named Maggie."
"Your elusive girlfriend from the Augustine days," she replied.
"Maggie worked there as an observer, taking notes on my behavior. She never got too close, never took off her vervain bracelet, but we spent hours and hours talking and we developed an attachment. Now, she left in 1950. I imagined her one day teaching at one of these fancy universities, starting a family, living her life to the fullest. I'm sure you two can appreciate that." Enzo went on and Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"Is there a point to this story?" The hybrid droned.
"That Traveler girl, Sloan, gave me this yesterday, making good on a promise." Enzo produced a piece of paper from behind his back and waved it around "Ahem, from the Augustine files left behind by our good Dr. Wes."
Enzo went to each of his prisoners and flipped the paper around, showing them a black and white photograph of a woman's corpse lying on the concrete. Her head was detached from her body, her dead eyes looking into the camera lens. Blood pooled by her neck, staining the gravel beneath her and a chalk drawing outlined her body and severed head. They'd all seen gruesome deaths before, but this one topped their lists by the looks on their faces.
"Yes. Imagine how I felt when I saw it. Turns out Maggie died in 1960 in Mystic Falls. Someone tore her head right off her body." The vampire explained and Elena peered over at Stefan.
"In 1960, were you—"
"A ripper?" Enzo jumped in. "Clearly."
Stefan continued to stare at the picture, his eyes filled with dread. "I wasn't a ripper then. I'm really sorry about your friend, but I had nothing to do with it."
"Once again, that is not the answer that I am looking for." Their captor tutted and then snapped his fingers. "Liv! A little service here, please."
Begrudgingly, the witch came from around the counter and held up her hands, making the blood vessels in Cassandra and Elena's heads pop at a dangerous speed. Both girls shouted out, fighting the ropes that kept them bound to their chairs.
"Liv, what are you doing? Stop." Bonnie demanded.
"I can't stop. Sorry," Liv said sadly.
"That's my fault really. See, I compelled a few blokes from the rugby team to keep her brother's life in jeopardy, so that should the witch disobey, he will die." Enzo elaborated and shoed Liv and Bonnie away for the time being. "Ok, Stefan. Are you ready to talk about what you did to the love of my life?"
"He already told you: he wasn't a ripper." Cassandra spoke up. "I would know. I popped into Mystic Falls to check up on him and he was fine."
"Last I checked, darling," Enzo took out the picture again, waving Maggie's dead body in her face. "This is what a ripper does and Stefan is infamous for leaving decapitated bodies all over the place. I would know. Damon told me about it all the time when we were locked in those cells, recovering from whatever body parts of ours were experimented on that day."
"How did you compel everyone here?" Elena asked him, very eager to get the heat off of Cassandra.
"Place opens at eight, you got here at nine. Do the math, college girl." He mocked and turned to Stefan. "I will gladly release them once you admit you killed Maggie."
Stefan pursed his lips. "I would love to, except I have absolutely no idea who she is.
"That's what this is for." Enzo fished a small journal from inside his jacket pocket and opened it to a marked page. "Police found it on her body at the crime scene."
The vampire then cleared his throat and began to read the entries. "June 10, 1951, I found a job at a preschool. I love the kids, but still I feel lost, listless. March 1953, while my girlfriends have all found love, for some reason, I can't seem to connect with anyone, as if a part of my soul is missing or dead. My sister said there are more men in the city. Maybe I'll move."
Enzo closed Maggie's journal with a definitive snap and glared at his prisoners. "Now it turns out she did move to the city in 1958, and in the move, she uncovered a box that she hadn't touched in years. They were medical journals from 1950, covered in notes about a special vampire patient named 12144. Of course, when she came back, the Whitmore house had burned, and it was concluded that I had perished in the fire," he explained, retracing Maggie's steps back in the 60s. He then peered over at Stefan who was shaking his head.
"You're a journal man, aren't you, Stefan?"
"This is ridiculous." He sighed. "In 1960, I was cleaned up. I was barely feeding on people, let alone killing them."
Enzo prepared himself to reply, but he just couldn't focus with the sound of a keyboard on a phone being clicked. He caught Bonnie texting out of the corner of his eye and sped over to her. He clasped her wrist in a deadly grip and the Anchor was frozen with fear. His playful eyes saw the person she was so eagerly texting and he plucked the phone from her delicate hand.
"Good idea. Let's call Damon." He smirked.
Damon slammed the front door of the boarding house with a definitive sigh and shrugged himself out of his leather jacket. He tossed it aside and wandered into the library to pour himself a tall glass of bourbon; he needed it after today. As he poured, he grumbled about Jeremy and Matt's inability to get anything done efficiently and he swore he'd never work with those two boneheads ever again. In an effort to get rid of the passengers in Mystic Falls, he dropped by Tyler's place to pick up the Traveler knife. However, when he showed up at the house, Matt and Jeremy had broken the news that the knife had gone missing. Tyler, who had supposedly hidden the knife under the piano, was nowhere to be found and no one had spoken to him in a few days. Damon had to physically turn himself around and step off of the Lockwood porch before the keys to his car magically found themselves in someone's chest cavity. He sped home and was planning to relax for the rest of the day, but his ringing phone would most likely put his idea on hold.
"How is it Travelers are everywhere until you actually need to find one?" He complained.
"Hunt going poorly then?" Enzo wondered.
"That's what I get for working with the Hardy Boys." He took a long drink from his glass and filled it up again.
"I take it you don't have Stefan's diaries handy?" The vampire asked curiously. "I'llneed you to check his journal for an entry on November 8, 1960."
"Stefan burned his journals a while ago. He was in a mood," Damon recounted. "Why?"
"Well, just trying to settle a little debate. No matter. I'm right." He said confidently.
Damon shrugged and flopped down on the couch. "Whatever you say."
"Well, not according to your lovely wife. She seems to think that she's right on the matter."
Damon's eyebrows creased and his lips pursed. If Enzo and Cassandra were together, then that meant Enzo was at Whitmore. "Oh yeah? You're with her now?"
"Yes and Stefan and Elena are here too. But they all won't be around for long. I reckon one of them will be dead soon." He murmured evilly. "An eye for an eye and all that."
Damon slowly sat up from the couch, trying to keep himself as calm as possible, but when his friend mentioned killing his brother, his friend and his wife, that only added to his panic. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Enzo. You have your murder voice on. I need you to speak very slowly and calmly and tell me what the hell the problem is."
"The problem, if you must know, is that my girl Maggie, the one who got away, it turns out she didn't get away for long." He growled. "Your ripper of a brother took a big bite out of her neck membrane in the sixties."
"Sixties?" Damon questioned. That didn't make any sense. "Stefan wasn't even—"
"Got to jet, mate." Enzo stepped on the tail end of his words. "Nothing personal, just a bit of revenge. You understand?"Damon wanted to reply, but he was met with the mocking sound of a dial tone in his ear. His fingers contracted around his phone, hearing the mechanisms bend slightly but he let up his grip. He bolted from the couch, clutched his jacket and keys and marched for the front door.
Enzo clicked off Bonnie's phone and dropped it to the floor. The Anchor reached out for it, but it was quickly crushed to bits under the vampire's foot. He glared at her and she backed away carefully as not to anger him further. Enzo then looked to Liv who took Bonnie back by her shoulders and moved her further away from them.
"Any history majors in the house?" He addressed the college students in the cafe, but they didn't respond to him. "Ah. Trick question. I compelled them all not to speak or react. Never mind." He frowned at Bonnie's shattered phone, but then looked to Cassandra who was struggling with her ropes.
"You're quite the history buff, aren't you?" He waltzed over to her and took her chin in his hand. "Tell me a few things that happened in the 1960s."
"Don't touch me!" Cassandra jerked her face from his grip and tried to bite at his hand, but Enzo was quicker. He grabbed her neck, wrapping his fingers around her throat and squeezed.
"Stop!" Stefan bellowed.
"I won't ask again," Enzo warned.
"Enzo, let her go!" Elena demanded.
The vampire bared his fangs in warning. "What happened on November 8th, 1960?"
"What...the hell do I look like? A damn history textbook?" She rasped.
"You said that you were in Mystic Falls in the 60s, so unless you and your child want to live, I suggest you think harder." He threatened and tightened his hold on her throat. She took a few moments to catch her breath and process the date that Enzo was asking about.
"John F. Kennedy was running for president that year, so naturally November 8th would have been-"
"Election night," Stefan responded which caused Enzo to roughly release the hybrid. He placed his hands on the arms of Stefan's chair and got in his face.
"Talk."
"I did meet Maggie that night. She saw me feed on someone and she knew who I was." He recalled. "I told her to go away, but she mentioned how she'd been searching for Damon for two years."
"Go on." Enzo prodded.
"She wanted to kill Damon, so I—"
"You killed her." He accused.
"No, I didn't!" Stefan hissed.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
"I didn't kill her. I was just trying to scare her into leaving town." He explained.
Enzo mocked him. "So, it was the other ripper in Mystic Falls then?"
"I have no reason to lie to you, Enzo." He said.
Enzo then grabbed Bonnie in a tight headlock, holding him close to her and everyone's eyes grew wide. "Are your lies worth Bonnie's life?"
"Bonnie!" Elena cried.
"What exactly happens if you die anyway?" The vampire examined her and leaned down closer to her neck. "Aren't you technically already dead? Should we find out?"
"Stop! You're right! I killed Maggie!" Stefan blurted out and Enzo lifted his eyes from the Anchor. Elena and Cassandra both stared at Stefan in shock, but he ignored them. "I tore out her throat and I ripped her head off; I completely forgot about her until now. That's the truth."
Cassandra knew that Stefan was lying to Enzo in order to save Bonnie's life, but now that he had confessed to killing Maggie, Enzo would take his revenge out on Stefan. There was no telling what kind of torture Enzo would put Stefan under, but she and Elena knew that it would only end in Stefan's death.
"Now let her go." He commanded. Enzo then pushed Bonnie away from him and into Liv.
"Take her upstairs." He ordered and the witch didn't question it. With a deadly look in his eyes, Enzo tipped over an empty chair and ripped the wooden leg off of it. He examined the splintered point and tapped it with his finger, testing the sharpness and smirking widely. He sauntered over to Stefan, twirling the make-shift stake with an evil glint in his eyes. Cassandra and Elena worked harder at their ropes, but the low sizzle of vervain taunted them.
"Let's get started, shall we?" Enzo grinned.
Damon's Camaro was parked hazardously up on the curb and he was practically jogging down the street to the cafe where he'd heard his brother's tortured screams from down the road. He knew that Enzo would overreact like this and if he knew Stefan, he would take the blame for killing Maggie just to protect Elena and Cassandra. Damon called in a favor to Liz who was kind enough to pull a case file for him which documented Maggie's murder. As soon as he saw the black and white photo paper clipped neatly to the details of the file, he knew that this was his crime, and that he had to pay for it. In his defense, he had no idea that this Maggie just happened to be the very woman that Enzo was enraptured with. Hopefully if he was to spin his story the right way, everyone would walk out of that cafe alive and in one piece.
He managed to sneak in and was greeted by the blank faces of the college students who were seated quietly and sipping their coffees. Enzo was twisting the leg of chair that was buried inside Stefan's abdomen while Elena and Cassandra were begging him to stop and let them go. The vampire drew closer as to not startle Enzo and he gave his wife a reassuring smile once she saw him. The vampire groaned loudly when Enzo pulled the stake out and stabbed him again, making his captor tut.
"I used to scream, too, but for me, it wasn't so much the sharp instruments as it was the fingers. Those bloody fingers. Like I was a ball of dough."
"Well, this is depressing," Damon announced his presence which made Enzo turn and leave the stake inside Stefan. "Stadium seating really necessary? These people are starting to creep me out."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a veiled attempt to get to release the damn hostages." Enzo spoke.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Was that veiled?" He grinned for a moment before his expression hardened. "Release the damn hostages."
"Whose side are you on?" Enzo asked him.
Damon growled heatedly. "There are sides now?"
Enzo marched forward to meet his friend. "You were there with me in Augustine. Don't tell me you've forgotten what it was like to cling onto the one thing that kept you from feeling pain!"
"Enzo, I get it. The prospect of seeing Maggie again was your safety line to the outside world, the one thing that kept you from shutting it off." He said calmly. "Just let them go."
"And why, pray tell, would I do that?"
"Because I didn't know she was your Maggie." Cassandra's gaze snapped up and so did Stefan's.
"What are you doing?" She mouthed softly, but Damon didn't see it.
"What are you talking about?" The vampire hissed.
"She didn't tell me her name when we met." Damon added.
"And when exactly was that?"
"November 8, 1960," he replied.
"What are you talking about?" Elena questioned.
"I got a call that someone wanted to meet me for a drink at the house. Naturally, I accepted the invite and she mentioned she was from Whitmore. She pulled out a syringe from her purse, tries to stab be with it, but I stopped her. I saw the crest on the tube of the needle and immediately recognized it from my time in Augustine." Damon recounted the night and his fear when he saw that crest that he thought died in that fire in 1958. He panicked and acted out, afraid that Augustine had started up again and was looking for him as a test subject. He couldn't go back there; no, he wouldn't go back there. So, in an effort to save himself, he caught Maggie around the neck and he squeezed so hard that her popped off from her shoulders.
"Had she gotten me with that vervain injection, things would have been very different. She didn't stand a chance against me." He added.
"And you made it look like I did it?" Stefan was beginning to put the pieces together in his mind.
"Maggie was the hope Enzo clung to. You were mine, and when you didn't notice that I was missing for five years, let's just say I held a grudge." He told his brother with a shrug.
Enzo was murderous. "You killed Maggie."
"I didn't even bat an eye. My switch was off, Enzo. But I didn't do it to make your life miserable from every angle. I did it because I didn't care. Just do whatever it is you got to do." Damon said. "You want to kill me; you want to hate me, do it. This is between us."
"Well, that's the problem, Damon. I don't want to hate you. Because if I hate you, then I have nothing left." He confessed solemnly, but that drifted away as his gaze met Damon's. "There is another option."
Damon always claimed how easy it was to "shut it off" and "not care", so Enzo decided that he'd find out just how easy it would be. He brought himself back into his subconscious where his deepest, darkest memories were locked away and forced himself to relive every single one. Compelling Maggie to leave Augustine and forget him, Damon's betrayal during the fire at the Whitmore house, it was all coming to a head in his mind and just as Damon realized what his friend was doing, it was too late to stop him.
Damon lurched forward and shook Enzo by his shoulders furiously. "Don't you dare! Hey, Enzo!"
The vampire's eyes flew open and he gave his friend a wry smirk. "There we are. You're right! I don't have a care in the world."
"Oh crap." Cassandra muttered under her breath.
"You can say that again." Elena whispered.
"This is fun, not caring." Enzo carelessly tossed a bottle he'd been drinking out of in the air and it smashed against the hardwood floor, shattering to pieces. He'd been parading around the cafe, bragging about how wonderful it felt to have his emotions shut off while his three prisoners just wanted to set free. The vervain around their wrists still burned quite painfully and their mouths were beginning to water at the sound of the human heartbeats in the room. Hunger was creeping upon them and they'd grown antsy and cranky.
"Yep." Damon grinned. "Emotion-free. Bye-bye humanity."
Enzo took up another bottle from behind the bar and raised it high in the air. "To Maggie James, for whom I feel absolute and blissful detachment."
Damon would never admit it out loud, but he was bored watching Enzo make a show of himself while his wife, his brother, and Elena were still tied up like hostages. He had to try and get Enzo to let his guard down, so that he could get everyone out safely.
"What do you say we get out of here? Where was it that you wanted to go? Cape Town?" He asked.
"Cape Horn." Enzo replied.
"Even better." He caught the look of pure shock and animosity in his wife's gaze, but he smoothed it over by sending her a wink. He'd deal with emotionless Enzo as soon as everyone was home safe and sound.
"Alright. Everyone's free to go! Show's over!" Enzo announced and the students all got up and exited the cafe. "Don't worry. I compelled you all to think you spent the day studying like the good, little students you are."
Cassandra let out a breath and squirmed around anxiously. Damon immediately began working on the tight knot around her wrist, but pulled back when the vervain burned his skin. He yanked the chair leg from Stefan's abdomen, earning a groan from him and went back to Cassandra's ties.
"Took you long enough to get here." She tried to joke with him.
"Yeah, well, you try finding a parking spot." He retorted and she let out a low laugh. "How are you holding up?"
"Tired and hungry. We've been here for hours." Her reply sounded very weak which made Damon nervous.
"As soon as we get out of this, I'll take you for anything you want to eat." He managed to loosen the knot, but it wasn't enough for her hands to slip through. "Sound good?"
"You know, we haven't had Chinese in a while." His wife suggested.
"We'll stop by the science building and pick someone up." He said.
Everyone had vacated the cafe, leaving the space empty and quiet. Liv and Bonnie had tacked on the back of the crowd, but Enzo gripped the young witch by her elbow, yanking her back. Fear took a hold of Bonnie as Enzo examined Liv very thoroughly as if she were under a microscope.
"Except you. Stay. I want to test something." His fangs elongated and he bit her neck. The blonde witch screamed and tried to fight him off, but Enzo's hold on her neck overpowered her.
"No!" Bonnie cried just as the vampire roughly tossed Liv to the floor. Hot, red blood coated his lips and he let out a low whistle.
"Look at that. I don't even feel obliged to say thank you." He smirked, but was quickly tackled by Damon who had worked to loosen Elena's and Stefan's ropes as well. The two men grappled on the ground until Enzo stabbed Damon in the neck with a piece of a broken bottle his hand had clasped around. While Damon tried to pull the glass from his neck, Enzo stood and kicked the fallen vampire in the stomach, sending him skidding across the floor.
Enzo broke the leg off an overturned chair and raised it above his head, ready to strike his friend in the heart, but he was smashed in the back of the head with a chair. Cassandra smirked triumphantly, took a piece from the broken chair she just hit Enzo with, and helped Damon to his feet.
"That was something out of wrestle mania," Damon remarked.
"Yeah, he's lucky I don't pile drive him." She growled. "That would hurt like a bitch."
"So would this." The couple was doused with the jug of vervain water Enzo had kept on him to soak the ropes in. Their screams were echoed by Elena's and Stefan's since he'd done the same to them. Some had gotten in Damon's eyes and he could feel his corneas sizzling to a crisp. His skin burned painfully and slowly began to heal just as he regained full vision. He blinked away the last bits of vervain to see Stefan helping Elena, but Enzo and Cassandra were gone.
"Son of a bitch!" The vampire roared, hurling the empty jug at the bar, breaking the assortment of bottles that once rested neatly on the shelves. "He took her."
Elena rubbed her healing wrists. "Let's go after them. We don't have any time to waste."
"No, please. You have to help Liv." Bonnie begged as she held a cloth to Liv's bleeding neck.
"You deal with her." Damon looked to his brother. "Elena and I will find Enzo."
"He's gonna kill her. You know that, right?" Stefan said.
"I can handle him."
"Damon!"
"I said I could handle him." His brother hissed.
"He wants to hurt you in any way he can. You can't save him." Stefan told him.
"Stefan's right. Enzo is off the rails and there is no telling what he'll do to Cassandra or the baby." Elena added worriedly. The seriousness of the situation was now escalated that Cassandra's wellbeing was now put in danger. Enzo was reckless and there would be no reasoning with him, but Damon wouldn't go down without a fight.
The raven haired vampire glanced to Liv whose breathing was very labored and raspy. "The witch is dying."
Stefan crouched beside her and split open his wrist, placing it at her lips. She was resistant, but with Bonnie's urging, she drank down the blood. The younger Salvatore looked upon the wrecked cafe and his forehead creased seeing that Damon and Elena had gone off to deal with Enzo. He knew that Enzo was Damon's friend, but he'd taken things way too far. Taking his brother's wife and threatening her life and the life of his unborn niece was not something that sat well with him. While he did not doubt his brother's ability to handle things, Stefan vowed that he would deal with Enzo if the opportunity presented itself.
"Get off me! You son of a bitch!" Cassandra screeched as Enzo dragged her weak form through the campus grounds. She'd gotten most of the vervain shower and her lack of feeding today only made her weaker. Her eyes were still healing from the vervain that burned them and she was having trouble adjusting to the shadows around her. Darkness crept around every veiled corner and Cassandra could feel the dewy grass beneath her bare feet. In her scuffle with Enzo, she managed to kick them off in an effort to make him unhand her.
"Let go of me, you brute!" She hissed and Enzo rolled his eyes.
"With pleasure, darling." With a rough shove, Cassandra fell to the ground. The fall happened so fast that she did not have time to brace herself on her hands which resulted with her belly hitting the floor. A sharp pain surged along her stomach and she cried out, her eyes screwing shut to stop herself from crying. She was hurting, but she'd never give Enzo the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
Enzo gave a sigh of boredom with his hostage and gripped Cassandra by the backs of her arms, he wound an extra piece of rope he'd held onto around her wrists and tied the knot tightly. She winced feeling the ropes rub against her already raw skin, but that discomfort couldn't hold a candle to the pain inside her belly. Her baby would be protected inside her, but Enzo threw her pretty hard which worried her. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth the calm her spinning head, but the pain continued to shoot up her spine. He sat her upright against a tree and noticed the look of pain etched onto her features. He took her chin in his fingers, tilting her head to look up at him.
"Don't worry, love. I'll make it quick and painless for you." He was talking about killing her that much she was certain about, but she wasn't entirely sure he knew that he caused her pain.
Cassandra jerked her head from his grip. "If you wanted me dead, you would've killed me already."
"I'd prefer it if Damon was here to watch this, but I guess leaving your corpse here will have to do." He sang.
"You know, Enzo, Damon saw the good in you." She growled at him. "But now I'm convinced that there isn't anything good left."
"If you're trying to make me feel, it's not working." He smirked at her.
"You're not worth saving." Her tone dripped with hatred.
Enzo's smirk grew even bigger, so wide that it nearly encompassed his whole face. "I'm the monster of everyone's nightmares."
The vampire stalked off, leaving Cassandra to wriggle with her bonds while he overturned a sign just a couple feet off. He tipped it over and stomped off the portion with the sign. The wood broke off, leaving a jagged piece behind. She only had seconds to get out of this mess and hoped that Damon or someone was on their way. Agony wrapped around her and squeezed tightly, making her groan and bite her bottom lip. Her belly was throbbing and she wasn't sure that it was soreness from the fall or from the baby kicking. She whispered under her breath as if her daughter could hear her promises that they would both be safe soon and her gaze snapped up to meet Enzo's murderous one as he marched back to her with the sharpened piece of wood in hand.
Cassandra rolled to the side and tried to crawl away, but was quickly hauled back by Enzo clamping his hand in her hair. He hoisted her up and pushed her back into the tree again. She looked up at the point of the stake as he placed it over her heart.
"Any last words, dear?" He asked her with a tilted head.
"Go to hell." Cassandra peered past Enzo's shoulder at the sound of the new voice to see Damon jump on his back. Before Cassandra could slump down the trunk of the tree, Elena caught her and moved her away from the fight. She yanked the ropes off Cassandra's wrists and her eyes widened to see her on the verge of sobs.
"Cassandra, it's okay. We're here now." She cooed softly and watched as the hybrid clutched her stomach.
"I...I can't...I can't breathe." She stammered, her gasps for air becoming more and more frequent.
Elena's face paled and swallowed thickly. "This...this can't be labor, is it? It's too soon." Cassandra shook her head and Damon was next to swoop in. He immediately dried her tears with his thumbs and looked her over for any wounds. He'd fought off Enzo like a champ, throwing in a few good punches and some verbal insults. Where Enzo rushed off to, he wasn't sure and didn't care at the moment seeing his wife so frantic.
"What happened? Why is she so upset?" He asked Elena who was just as clueless as he was. He took her face in his hands, feeling her tears stain his palms. "Cass, talk to me. You're alright. You're safe."
"Enzo...he-he pushed me." She stuttered and convulsed in pain. "I fell on my st-stomach."
It was Damon's turn to pale and Elena grew anxious that he might faint if anymore color left his face. He thought he was going to be sick, but now was not the time to lose his head. He needed to stay strong and take control before things escalated.
"We've gotta take her to a hospital."
"Whitmore has one right on campus. I know where it is." Elena said. Both vampires looped their arms around Cassandra's middle and lifted her up. Slowly, she put one foot in front of the other, allowing them to walk her to the hospital. The wounded hybrid leaned on them and buried her pained face in the crook of Damon's neck, praying that she and her baby would be alright.
Stefan's stomach twisted in knots hearing his older brother come through the front door of the boarding house. The door opened and shut quietly and a hushed conversation could barely be heard. He did recognize Elena and Cassandra speaking to one another with Damon chiming in every few words and their talk ended with Damon placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. He could hear Cassandra muttering to Elena that she didn't need help getting upstairs, but the young vampire was quite persistent. The sound of Damon's footsteps approaching made Stefan's grip on his glass grow significantly tighter. His heart was burdened with a dark secret he knew that he had to keep buried deep inside him. He couldn't even utter what he had done tonight, but it weighed heavily in the empty room.
Shortly after healing Liv, Stefan rushed off to find Enzo, knowing that his brother and Elena would need all of the extra help that they could get when tracking down an emotionless vampire. In the parking lot of the school, Stefan didn't have time to react before he was shoved into the side of a parked car by Enzo. The two bared their fangs, hissing like wild animals as they battled one another. The fight grew heated by the minute and Enzo was able to weaken Stefan enough to pin him to the side of a car. He punctured the gas tank, letting the flammable liquid coat the ground around them and he fished out Maggie's lighter from his pocket, threatening to burn them both alive. Stefan was able to even the fight by burying his hand in Enzo's chest, his fingers clenching around the beating organ and the two traded words of seeking revenge and avenging dead lovers.
"Wouldn't it be a sweet piece of revenge when Damon finds out you killed his best friend? Have fun sorting this out with your brother."
Those were Enzo's final words before pushing himself back from Stefan, ripping his own heart out of his chest. His grey body fell to the cement, leaving a shocked Stefan with a bloodied heart in his hand. For a few moments, Stefan remained frozen, unable to process that Enzo had killed himself just to pit him against his older brother, but he knew that all Enzo wanted was revenge on Damon for killing Maggie. He guessed that Enzo hadn't killed Cassandra, so he needed a plan B to set into motion. As soon as he regained his composure, Stefan snatched Enzo's phone and played back the messages that Damon left for him. As he suspected, were desperate pleas to not harm Cassandra or their child and Stefan deleted them.
He typed a message to Damon from Enzo's phone, telling him that he would be going to Cape Horn and he sped home after dumping Enzo's body and phone where Damon or anyone on the campus wouldn't be able to find him. Then, he called Damon who had informed him of Cassandra's fall and that he and Elena had taken her to the hospital on campus. A part of him wanted to pat himself on the back for taking care of Enzo because he hurt Cassandra and possibly his niece, but the other part of him wanted to hide this secret forever and never speak of it again. His eyes lifted to his brother when he entered the room and watched as he flopped down on the couch in the spot next to him. Damon looked as if he'd been run over by a truck. His hair was mused, his clothes were wrinkled and his face was worn. Stefan was almost afraid to ask him anything, but he felt the need to start the conversation.
"How is Cassandra?"
Damon passed a hand over his tired face, stopping for a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose. "She's fine. Doctor's at the hospital says her stomach will be a little sore and the baby is fine."
"I figured you'd be happy," Stefan murmured.
"I am," the vampire breathed, a ghost of a giddy smile gracing his lip, but it quickly melted into a frown. He was relieved, elated, over the moon that his wife and his baby girl had managed to escape from Enzo's clutches with just a few bumps and bruises, but his broken friend crossed his mind. While he felt sorry for Enzo, he wasn't sure if he could ever forgive him for what he had done. He thought that Enzo without his emotions would have skipped town without a word to anyone, but he ripped through Mystic Falls like a tornado. His hand tightened on the arm of the couch, his short nails digging into the weathered leather and his shoulders slumped.
"Damon, I think it's time you leave Enzo alone." His brother spoke up, his green orbs drowning in his drink.
"I know I should, but I don't know if I can." He almost whispered it, as if he was ashamed to hear himself speak those words.
Stefan's jaw clenched. "This man ruined our lives; destroyed everything and everyone in his path. He put your wife—your child—in danger."
"I know, Stefan." Damon stressed. "But I can't help but feel like part of this is my fault."
The younger Salvatore leaned forward, his shoulders hunched over. "Listen to me, you cannot blame yourself for Maggie's death. It was an accident."
"Doesn't matter, Stef. I killed his girl; the one thing that he was holding onto when he was locked in that cell," he said.
"Yeah, but that doesn't make it right for him to retaliate against you." Stefan countered. "Damon, he nearly killed your wife and unborn child tonight."
"Stefan—"
"Think about that," he growled. "He wanted to hurt you in any way that he could and that included killing something as innocent as an unborn baby. Your baby." Damon let those words sink in to the point where he felt himself drowning in a mix of guilt and anger. "I know that you guys were close and he was there at a time when I wasn't, but is not worth saving."
Damon swallowed hard as if trying to suppress the memories of his time in Augustine, but they assaulted him like bullets. Those five gruesome years seemed to drag on into eternity and nearly drove him insane. Enzo was his only sanity in those cells; the driving force that made him fight for every new day.
"The whole time I was in that cell, every time I'd say something terrible about you or blame you for not coming to rescue me, Enzo would bring me back from the edge." Damon's voice was soft, like a whisper on the wind. "Enzo reminded me that at least I got to grow up with a family, at least I had family still out there, which was more than he could say for himself. He said he envied me for having a brother."
"Even a crappy one like me?" His brother raised an eyebrow.
The corners of Damon's lips quirked up into a smirk. "Even a crappy one like you. He defended you, Stefan, even though he didn't know you. I know that he isn't my responsibility, but him threatening Cassandra made him my responsibility. I won't let him hurt her or my kid ever again."
Stefan pursed his lips and nodded his head without saying a word. For the first time in a long time, he and his brother were on the same page when it came to Enzo. While he understood Damon's empathy for the Augustine vampire, the things he did today were immoral and would not be tolerated by anyone in Mystic Falls. A hush fell over the boarding house; the silence cast a blanket over everything and everyone inside. Cassandra and Elena were asleep upstairs and the Salvatore brothers took the golden opportunity to stay downstairs and finish their drinks. It had been a long time since they were able to collectively agree on something and Stefan could feel their bond grow stronger. Over the years, that bond had been broken, beaten, torn apart, and severed what seemed like a thousand times over. Old wounds were reopened and salt was dumped into the already aching flesh which only added more hatred between them. It was a nice change to stray from their normal pattern. But not everyone was happy with the brothers' new-found peace.
Unseen by the Salvatores and the other bodies in the house was Enzo, who loomed behind the brothers. His hands were clenched into fists, his face screwed up in anger. Death had been all too kind for him. He remembered pulling back from Stefan and feeling his heart rip from his chest. He remembered the life leaving his body and he remembered waking up on the Other Side. It was a strange sensation still being a part of the physical world even though he was dead. He still felt like himself, he was just...dead.
Enzo drew closer to Stefan, wishing he could wrap his hands around his neck and choke the life out of him, but perhaps his anger was misdirected. He'd been listening to the entire conversation between the brothers and the change he'd seen in Damon wanted to make him look twice. During his time in Augustine, Damon was his only friend and the one person who understood his thirst for revenge and his need to spill Whitmore blood. But the man he shared a cell with, the man he shared his deepest secrets with was now a changed man. Enzo couldn't even recognize Damon anymore and he hated it.
"And here I thought you'd pity me." Enzo spat while moving towards Damon, standing behind his shoulder like the vengeful ghost that he was. "Put a woman in front of you and you forget all about everything we've been through together. It's quite sickening actually."
The vampire leered at the two brothers, his anger bubbling beneath the surface of his skin. Just because he was stuck on the Other Side didn't mean that he couldn't shake things up a bit. Hell, Cassandra was able to, so why couldn't he? He knew that Damon saw him as a threat to his wife and child, but he also knew that his friend would get awfully curious on his whereabouts. Sooner or later, he'd check things out and see that Stefan had killed him. Secrets were bound to be unearthed sooner or later. Enzo walked to stand between the two brothers and he placed his hands on the back of the couch that they were seated on. He leaned forward, his voice right at their ears even though they couldn't hear him.
"Well, no matter. If there is one thing you do know about me, Damon, is that I love a good vendetta and this one is just getting started."
Hello, my lovelies! I hope everyone is doing well in the snow and cold! It snowed here in NY again today and I am wishing for summer! Hope you enjoyed this update and I would love it if you all reviewed!
SomebodyWhoCares: Isn't Elijah sexy when he gets assertive? Damn, I love it ;) Thanks so much for reviewing!
grapejuice101: Thank you for reviewing! I hope you're asking for more Elijah/Giuliana moments? Or what other moments would you like to see? Please let me know!
elisesellas: Hello, my dear! I sent my beta the message about what you said with the quote and she thanks you! So do I! It was such a beautiful thing to read and I thank you again :) I have always loved Elijah and Damon and on some days, I can't decide who I like more ;) They are both protective of their respective beaus and have totally ruined men for me LOL! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reviewing!
Guest: Thanks for reviewing! Well, in the last chapter, Cassandra was about 8 months pregnant and she will be giving birth soon!
NicoleR85: I've always loved Klaus and Elijah ;) Sometimes I can't decide who I love more haha! Thanks for reviewing!
Guest12345: Thank you so much for reviewing! I am so happy to hear that you are enjoying my story! Cassandra was my first OC, so she will always have a special place in my heart, but I always love my other OCs. Cassandra is about 8 months along and the baby is coming soon!
binks13: Hi, my dear! I am so thrilled that you liked this chapter! I try to make things as smooth as possible between the characters, but some conflict will be happening in the next TO chapter, so watch out ;) Thanks for reviewing :)
CarlyLynn: Thank you so much for reviewing! Glad you enjoyed the chapter and here is a new update!
karen g: If you feel the need to call my story "dumb," then please refrain from reading it. Your review was extremely hurtful and negative which is something I refuse to tolerate.