Chapter 18
The glass in Damon's hand shatters. He doesn't notice. Instead, he stares at Caroline with wide eyes, jaw hanging, and hand positioned next to his mouth as though still holding the lost glass. Seeing that Damon finally understands, Caroline throws her hands into air and mouths 'hallelujah,' but after several moments of silence, she starts to worry.
Can a vampire have a stroke?
A shrill ringing pierces the silent room and both vampires glance at Damon's phone vibrating on his dresser. The noise cracks Damon's frozen calm, and he takes a breath. Caroline grabs his phone to answer it, but keeps her eyes on Damon. He just now notices the shards of glass impaling his hand and the bloody bourbon dripping down his arm.
"Hello," Caroline says into the phone as she hands Damon his previously discarded towel. She motions for him to clean up the mess, and he accepts the towel as though in a haze.
"Caroline? Why do you have Damon's phone? Is he okay?"
Damon snaps out of his daze at the sound of Elena's voice. He looks up to meet Caroline's gaze, and she raises an eyebrow at him. She rolls her eyes at his predictability.
"He's…adjusting to a new reality."
"What?"
"Tell her we need to speak with Damon, now." Caroline frowns at human Elena's angry voice in the background.
"I'm getting to it," vampire Elena says.
"Hey, let's just stay calm," Stephan says, but a rustling noise cuts him off.
Music from a radio blares and a car door slams shut. Neither vampire can hear anything in the background thanks to the music, assuring them of privacy from the human and her boyfriend.
"What's wrong with Damon?" The concern in Elena's voice makes Damon smile and his brain cells start to fire again.
"Nothing," Caroline says. "I just spilled the beans. I'm hoping he can help soften the blow when we have to tell the Stefan and the other Elena."
"Oh. How'd he take it?"
"I think 'deranged deer in headlights' sums it up."
Damon narrows his eyes at Caroline, but he doesn't disagree. That's kind of how he feels. It's like he's staring into the bright light of happiness awaiting the sudden impact of reality. Elena falls in love with him? How's that possible? She hates him and loves Stefan. That's how it's supposed to be. She promised it would always be Stefan. Is he really supposed to believe that some time in the future she just shifts gears and dumps the good brother for the bad? That's ludicrous.
I need to eat someone. Damon eyes the exit. His blood-lust is broiling under the surface and the urge for violence and mayhem is tantalizing.
"No sarcastic remarks or threats of bodily harm?" Elena asks, and Damon savors the sound of her voice as an aching in his chest tugs at him. This isn't his Elena. His Elena hates him, but this Elena loves him. The ache in his chest swells, and the need for escape rocks him like a hurricane.
"Not a word." Caroline's mouth twists to the side as she watches her brother-in-law freak out. A silent Damon means trouble. So does a loud Damon. Hell, any Damon can mean trouble. But his silent contemplation and sudden eye obsession with the bedroom door has Caroline on edge.
"Let me guess, he's making a beeline for the door." Damon stops mid-step to see Caroline lay the phone on his bed with the speaker turned up.
"Yep," she says with a pointed look at him.
Damon realizes that this Elena knows him better than anyone. She knows him because she's spent the last two hundred years loving him. Damon tries to imagine an eternity with Elena the way he'd always imagined it with Katherine. But he can't. His Elena has never graced him with a flirtatious smile or blushed happily at his compliments. She has never laughed unabashedly at his jokes or teased him with a playful glint in her eyes. She's never curled against his chest for comfort or let him run his fingers along her skin. His Elena doesn't even want him around her. How can he expect her to ever want him the way this Elena seems to? It's like they're two different people.
"Damon, the stars look pretty tonight," she says, and he frowns.
"What?"
"The stars. There's no overhang tonight, so I can see all our stars."
"Our stars?" His heart stutters. The idea of 'our' or 'we' pertaining to Damon and Elena is like a dream come true. That ember of hope that Damon's struggled to extinguish since Elena walked into his life is now a red-hot flame engulfing his heart. The heat from his chest makes it heard to breath.
"Yeah," Elena says, and Damon can hear the small smile in her voice. "Our stars. Captain Cohort is bright as ever, but Lily is dimming just a bit. I think that's because Mars is too close right now. Of course, QB is dominating the sky as always."
"QB?"
"Queen Bitch. I can't tell you how annoying it is that you named the North Star after Katherine," Elena pauses for Damon's chuckle, and she savors the sound of it. She misses her husband. "I guess, I'll learn to forgive you eventually."
"Eventually," Damon says, letting the burning fire of hope within him settle into a simmer of happiness. He imagines what it's like to star gaze with Elena, to share with her the names he'd given to the brightest stars in the sky. He's spent thousands of nights lying alone on a dark road staring up at the sky ad waiting for the night he'd free Katherine from her prison. He'd always planned to stargaze with her and proudly point out the brightest star in the sky as her namesake. Of course, that was before he learned that she was the Queen Bitch of Slutsville. Thus, the name change.
It seems like his future stargazing will be even better than he imagined. One day, he'll have everything he ever wanted from life. He'll have Elena.
Not this Elena, he reminds himself. But if I do this right, I could have my Elena. And she'd truly be mine.
"Feel better?" Caroline asks from her corner of the room.
"Shove it, Blondie."
"That means, yes." Elena's quiet giggle sends shivers down Damon's back. He can't stop a goofy grin from spreading across his face.
"And there it is." Caroline rolls her eyes before steering the conversation back on track. "So why did you call, Elena?"
"She was calling me, remember?" Damon snatches his phone from the bed before Caroline could reach it. "So what can I do for you, Beautiful?"
"I was hoping you could help me with something."
"You're supposed to be at your house by now. You should be having a very emotional, but celebratory reunion with your family. Remember Jeremy and Alaric? And Jenna, for crying out loud?" Caroline says.
"We were on our way, but riding in the same car doesn't allow for the 10 foot rule. So we've stumbled across a memory or two," Elena says.
"Please tell me that none of them were incriminating." Caroline narrows her eyes at the phone in Damon's hand, and he raises an eyebrow.
"By 'incriminating' do you mean…"
"I mean, you and Elena doing the dirty in every single room of the boarding house and at least once in the girls bathroom of the Grill." Caroline shudders at the memory. "I will be forever scarred by that one."
"We've got three years of wiped memories to recover, Caroline. I'm sure there are plenty of 'non-incriminating' memories to focus on," Elena says.
Damon is too distracted by the idea of sex with Elena to realize the girls are still talking.
"Except that you spent the entire summer before college shacking up with Damon. I remember because I was pissed that I had to put up with him every time we wanted to hang out. It was like you were permanently lipped locked with the bad boy of Mystic Falls, and a skilled surgeon couldn't separate you two."
And Damon's focus snaps back to the conversation at hand.
"Really?" Elena's frustration seeps through the phone. "All I can remember from that summer is being really happy. Jeremy was back and…something…it's all hazy."
"That's because it was all about Damon."
He lifts his head and frowns at Caroline. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"If her memory is hazy that means the compulsion is affecting it," Caroline says.
"What's that have to do with me?"
"All my lost memories are about you, Damon," Elena says.
"Why?"
"It's…complicated." Elena doesn't have the heart to explain everything now. It's days like this that she still feels the guilt of her mistake. "Just know that we moved past it and made many more memories together."
The goofy grin reappears, and Damon is glad Elena can't see him. She'd think him a fool for not being able to stop smiling.
She's not your Elena, he reminds himself, but the smile remains.
"Look, just focus on the memories before you turned for now," Caroline says. "Once we break the news to Stefan and the other you, you can expand beyond that. Hell, I'm sure Damon will want to help when he gets here. Your Damon, I mean."
Damon's smile disappears.
"I'll try, but it's not that easy. The memory strikes aren't chronological. And I've already come across one from my first night as a vampire."
"Is that why you called?" Damon asks.
"Sort of. We've recovered two memories since leaving the boarding house."
"Well, you've been a busy little bee. Funny, it's almost like you wanted to be stuck in a small space with your younger self."
"Hmmm, I wonder why." Damon can hear the smile in her voice as she continues. "The first memory was about the night we met."
"So?" Caroline says. When she catches sight of the vampire's guilty expression, she adds. "What did you do, Damon?"
"Nothing, I was a perfect gentlemen."
"Uh, huh."
"He was," Elena says. "Except that he compelled me to forget afterwards."
Caroline snorts. "And? We already knew that, Elena. Damon must've dragged you through that memory a dozen times when he first got back."
"Got back?" Damon asks, but Caroline waves the question away as unimportant. The older Salvatore makes a face at her, but lets it go.
"I know, but now I actually remember it. And I don't care about the compulsion, but the other me does."
"I take it she's not happy." Damon sighs. He kind of feels guilty that he's enjoying future Elena's presence more than her present-day version. He can only imagine what kind of trouble that's going to cause.
"No, she isn't, which is why I called."
"Let me guess, she wants me to apologize and leave town immediately. You know, I know a great little town on the coast that has a magnificent little private beach. I bet you'd enjoy skinny dipping in the ocean and making sand castles."
"Your right, I did enjoy it. With my husband," Elena says in a meaningful, yet flirty tone.
"Mmmmm." He enjoys the tantalizing scenes playing through his head. He only now appreciates the creative aspects of his imagination. With the right muse, he can entertain himself for days.
"Okay, someone needs to take a cold shower," Caroline says, and Elena giggles through the phone.
"Before you go, tell me about the other times you've compelled me to forget. Maybe the other me and I can recover them."
"Elena, I don't know what you're talk about. I've only compelled you once."
"No, in the memory from after I turned, you mentioned at least one other compulsion. It seemed important to you," Elena says, but Damon shakes his head, forgetting that only Caroline can see him.
"Obviously, it hasn't happened yet," Caroline says. "But tell me about it, maybe I can offer some insight."
Damon twists his brow. "Why would you know anything about it?"
"Because Elena is my sister, and she tells me everything. And I do mean everything. So remember that next time you have the sudden urge to be an asshole."
"Like now?"
"Like always."
"Okay, let's focus people. I have two impatient teenagers on my end that are getting restless. Let's do this quickly," Elena says.
"Well, what do you know about it?" Caroline asks.
"Only that it has something to do with Damon being selfish."
"That doesn't narrow it down, like at all."
"Well, do you remember me telling you about it after I turned? That's when I found out," Elena says.
"Not really, but…" Caroline snatches the phone from Damon's palm, ignoring his protests, and tries to think back to two centuries ago. Finally, she sighs and shakes her head with her free hand held out in irritation. "We weren't exactly on good terms at that point, Elena."
"Shocker," Damon says, and Caroline glowers at him.
"I don't remember us fighting," Elena says.
"That because it was about the Prince of Darkness over here. Practically the moment you turned, you went from Team Stefan to Team Damon. It's a wonder we didn't figure it out sooner," Caroline says, rolling her eyes at her own ignorance.
"Figure what out?"
"That I'm the perfect specimen of man? Duh."
Caroline waves her hand in annoyance at Damon. Sometimes the man is incapable of taking anything seriously. She walks away from him toward the bathroom, so she can hear Elena better. The music on her end may drown out an eavesdropper, but it also means she has to concentrate just to hear sister-in-law speak.
"That you were sired to him, Elena."
"What? She's sired to me?" Damon follows Caroline into the bathroom with a horrified expression. That's a major piece of information not to share with someone immediately. It's like a giant asterisk on the whole 'two hundred years together' claim.
Caroline waves him away again. She can catch him up later.
"I guess that did cause some trouble when we first figured it out," Elena says as though it isn't the biggest f-you card Damon's ever had dealt to him in his entire life.
"Yeah, and by that time you'd already broken up with Stefan and jumped into bed with Damon. Stefan and I weren't exactly thrilled with you."
"What?!"
Caroline rolls her eyes at Damon's melodramatics. In an annoyed huff, she storms out of the room, closing the door behind her, and finds the nearest bathroom. Within seconds, she has the bathroom locked and the shower running.
"Did you just get rid of Damon?" Elena asks.
"He's driving me crazy. It's like come on, pull herself together. I can't fill him in on everything and answer you're questions all at once. That man needs to learn some patience."
Elena chuckles. "Good luck with that."
"Thanks. Anyway, I think I remember you telling me something about Damon compelling you in your room, but I'm not sure."
"In my room? So we did something in my room that he wanted me to forget."
"Don't worry. If it was something that qualified as cheating, I would definitely remember it."
"That's good to know at least," Elena says. "In my room. Okay, I guess that's where we need to start."
"It would probably help to be in your room when you attempt to recall the memory."
"Yeah, I figured as much," Elena says, and Caroline bites her lip.
"You can do this, Elena. It'll be good for you, maybe even help you get back to normal."
When Elena doesn't say anything, Caroline wonders if she went too far. The call disconnects, giving her an answer.
Damon sits on his bed, staring at the floor like a man that's had everything stolen away from him. That's how he feels. When Caroline told him that Elena fell in love with him, he believed her. Somehow, despite all logic, he believed that he would win Elena. But that was foolish. He doesn't deserve Elena.
How could she ever truly love him? She doesn't, and she never will. A sire bond is not real love. It's magic of the worst kind. How could he allow himself to be with Elena after learning of the sire bond? How could Elena and Caroline be okay with it? He knows how Elena would deal with it. He probably told her to accept it and not question it. And she would. She would do anything for him and anything he said.
Damon remembers Charlotte and how he'd tried to break the bond, only to be fooled by a witch. Surely he found a way to break it within the last 200 years. Then why would Elena still be with him? Caroline said Elena didn't break up with Stefan until after she turned. That's when the sire bond kicked in. In the future, does he truly sink so low as to accept the sire bond as real love? No, he couldn't take advantage of Elena that way. But he does. Caroline said as much.
Damon feels sick and gross. He feels dirty, and not the good kind. Does the sire bond only apply to him or just his future self? If he tells vampire Elena to do something, will the sire bond make her do it? He considers future Elena's behavior since he's met her. A sire bond would explain her affection for him. It would also explain why she was so concerned with calming him down after she described the destruction of his car. Wait, if Elena destroyed his car to make him mad, she can't be sired to him. But she had her humanity off. Does that affect the sire bond?
Damon growls and rubs at his face in frustration. How could this be happening? Moments ago, he was looking forward to a future with Elena Gilbert as his wife. Now, he's looking at an eternity with step-ford Elena.
How could this get any worse?
"Wow, a sire bond? I never saw that coming."
Damon jumps up to find Jo and Lizzie smiling at him from the other side of the giant bed. Their deep blue eyes are as dead and emotionless as the first time he met them. A man that looks like an extra from Deliverance stands behind them with a stern expression.
"What the hell? How did you get in here?"
"Cloaking spells are kind of our thing," Lizzie says with a smirk. She tucks a thick strand of dark, wavy hair behind her ear to join the blue highlights.
"Sorry, I don't speak witch. I don't know what that means."
"If I were you, I'd be more interested in this sire bond," Jo says. "It actually makes a lot of sense, considering how dysfunctional you and Elena have always been."
Damon flashes a big smile and tilts his head. "I hear, you two are the most powerful witches in the world."
"I see our reputations precede us," Jo says. Noting her tight ponytail and red highlights, Damon dubs her 'the serious twin.'
"So you can break a sire bond."
"Sorry, Uncle Damon. There's no spell that can do that," Lizzie says with a glance at her sister.
"Nope," Jo says, but they don't seem sorry at all. "Elena's sire bond stemmed from her human feelings for you before she turned. As a vampire, they were heightened. No magic can break that bond."
Damon growls at the heretics. "You're lying."
"Why would we lie?" Jo asks, and Lizzie agrees.
"This is far more fun."
Caroline opens the bedroom door and stops mid-step. "What are you doing here?"
"Enjoying our new found freedom, Mother."
"Lizzie, tell me that you and your sister didn't kill all those people. Tell me it was Hope or Klaus. Or even Mason," Caroline says as she steps into the room. Tears swell in her eyes when the girls smile coldly at her.
"Hope is busy at the moment. She's gathering important ingredients."
"Ingredients for what?" Damon asks.
"The spell," Lizzie says.
"It's going to fix everything," Jo says.
"And we're back to the freaky twin speak…"
"Fix what?" Caroline asks. How could her precious children turn into such monsters?
"Everything, Mom."
"Nothing needs to be fixed. Nothing that's worth this kind collateral damage."
The girls roll their dead eyes, and Damon feels like he's trapped in a bad mother-daughter feel good movie.
"Not to interrupt this moment of family bonding, but why are you here in my room?"
"Because of you two," Jo says.
"Klaus sent us to find you, Mother."
"Why?"
"Actually, he sent us to recruit the Ripper of Monterey and said you'd know where to find him," Jo says. "How about you make this easy?"
"What do you want with…" Damon tries to ask, but Caroline cuts him off.
"The Ripper of Monterey is not someone to trifle with. What does Klaus want with him?"
Jo glances at Lizzie, who just shrugs. "Something about a distraction."
"That would do it," Damon says.
"I'm not telling you anything until you both turn your humanity back on."
Both girls laugh. "Sorry, Mother. That's not going to happen."
"But our hybrid friend here," Lizzie says, motioning toward the man behind them. "He's been told to do whatever we say."
"You're not going to hurt me. I'm your mother, and Klaus would never allow it," Caroline says with a stern look that would scare any child.
"You're right," Jo says. "Besides, we can't risk our humanity clawing it's way back if we hurt you."
"But no one cares him," Lizzie says, motioning to Damon.
He doesn't see the hybrid coming until he's pinned against the wooden wall of his bedroom.
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