Chapter 24
Elena stands in her empty room, confused. She walked out of her bathroom with the intent to do…something, but for the life of her, she can't remember what. Oh, well. It's been a long day, and it's time for bed.
Maybe that's what it was. I'm tired, and I need sleep. Maybe my sanity will return tomorrow. Not likely. I'm in love with a 150-year-old vampire, Elena muses as she touches her vervain necklace. It always reminds her of Stefan and her love for him.
Human Elena watches her memory version climb into bed as though Damon were never here. But he was here, and he said things. Things that shouldn't have been said. Things that change…everything. No, that's not right. It doesn't change everything, but it does change some things.
"So he's really in love with me?"
"Yeah." Vampire Elena smiles. She stares out the dark window, savoring the memory of Damon's vulnerable moment. The beauty of watching Damon fall in love with her is extraordinary. Watching his struggle to even say the words somehow strengthens her bond with him. She'd no idea that it was even possible to feel closer to the man with whom she'd spent 200 years. Elena closes her eyes and breaths in the tidal wave of euphoria that her vampire emotions create. As much as she hates the negative aspects of vampirism, this is a perk that she's determined to experience as much as possible. She almost feels bad that her human counterpart can't feel love this deep.
"I don't want to hurt him. I mean, I love Stefan. That's never going to change. He said he didn't deserve me," human Elena says as she tries to rectify Damon's confession within her mind. The thought of Damon feeling inadequate stabs at Elena's heart, but she hardens it. Damon needs to understand that he can't hurt people, and maybe this confession is a sign that he wants to change. "I need to speak with him. My Damon. I have to…"
"No," vampire Elena says, pulling away from her private celebration. "That's not a good idea."
"What do you mean?"
"He's not there yet. Your Damon, I mean. Look, this Damon was struggling. He said it and then erased it from my mind. He didn't say it for my sake. He said it for his. That was probably the first time that he'd ever admitted it out loud."
"I don't understand. Why would Damon struggle with that? He's always cared for me."
It's obvious to vampire Elena that her human counterpart doesn't know about or understand Damon's fifty-year break from his emotions. Elena may not remember Damon regaining his humanity, but he's described it enough for her to understand that she was the catalyst. And the last fifty years have proven that she's still the anchor to his humanity switch. Elena opens her mouth to explain to her younger version, but pauses. There's so much to discuss, and where does she begin? Is it really her story to tell? She opts for a simpler explanation that proves just as true, if incomplete.
"Because you're his brother's girlfriend. He may pretend otherwise, but the guilt of stealing his brother's girl…"
"He's not stealing me," human Elena says. "I love Stefan, no matter how Damon feels about me."
"Right, sorry. I didn't mean…"
The memory of Elena's room blinks away, and the bathroom returns around them. Vampire Elena bites her lip and avoids eye contact, but human Elena notices.
"You know what, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Let's just go down stairs and wait for Jenna and Jeremy."
"Okay." Vampire Elena follows the human back into the bedroom. Still determined to avoid a family reunion, she plots her escape. "How much longer do you think it'll be?"
"Actually, I'm surprised they aren't here alr…Oh my God, Stefan."
Human Elena rushes to Stefan's side on the floor. A crumpled mess, he groans and writhes in pain. She wipes at the sweat glistening on his pale face with her sleeve. "What's wrong with him?"
Vampire Elena steps around the couple, minding the ten-foot rule, and stares at Stefan. There isn't much that can make a vampire ill, usually witches are involved. Maybe the munchkins paid him a visit when the two Elenas were in the bathroom. Then Elena spots the wound on Stefan's arm.
"What is that on his arm?" She points, and her younger version lifts his arm for a better view. He grimaces from the pain and mutters something unintelligible.
"What's happening to him?" Human Elena asks as her voices catches in her throat and tears well. Stefan is a vampire. He's not supposed to die. Not ever. She can't lose him too.
"Oh, no." Vampire Elena recognizes the dark edge and black veins around the wound. "It's a werewolf bite. When did that happen?"
"I don't know. He's been with us this whole time, when would he have been bitten?"
Vampire Elena watches human Elena fawn over Stefan with great concern and love. She pulls his prone body close to her in an effort to comfort his pain, but the older doppelgänger recognizes a dangerous sign. His eyes slide open with a cloudy hue that suggests he isn't lucid, and his human mask falls away. Cradled against the Elena's warm body and pressed into her petite bosom, Stefan can hear the blood rushing through her veins, and his rabid hunger rages.
"You need to leave, Elena," the older doppleganger says. Stefan's vampiric face slips away at the sound of her voice, and she can see him fighting against his nature. "Now. I mean it, go."
"What? No, he needs me."
"The venom, it's making him hungry. Like, mad-dog hungry. You need to leave, or he'll hurt you."
"Katherine, she's not like you…" he mutters, and Elena pulls him closer.
Tears trickle across her cheeks. "Stefan, it's me. It's Elena. I'm here with you."
"Damon…he's wrong…you can't choose him…you can't love him…"
"He's hallucinating," vampire Elena says and steps closer, only to have the air around them hum with power. "And he's dangerous."
"I'm not leaving him. He'd never hurt me."
Vampire Elena growls. Angry and fed-up, she rushes to human Elena and jerks her away from Stefan and toward the exit only to find them both yanked into the Mystic Falls town square.
"Damn it."
"Why did you do that? We don't have time for another memory," human Elena says as she looks around the dark square. She ignores the swarm of people around them and the large projection of Gone with the Wind in the middle of the park.
"I didn't mean to do this. I was trying to get you out of there."
Elena fists her hands and fights the urge to scream at the vampire. "I don't need you to protect me. You're supposed to be me. You should know how crappy it feels to be sheltered from everything and have other people make decisions for you. I make my own decisions. Not Stefan or Damon and certainly not you."
"Shut up," vampire Elena says, flashing a bit of fang. "You need to suck it up and grow up a little."
"Excuse me?"
"You don't want people sheltering you and making decisions for you, then stop putting herself in danger. You're human. Deal with it," Elena says then slips her human face back into place. "And it's not all about you. I wanted you out of the room for your safety and for Stefan's sanity. Werewolf bites kill vampires, so he's struggling to survive right now. That needs to be his focus, not controlling his hunger. If you paid even the slightest bit of attention toward him, instead of panicking about loosing him, you might have noticed your nearness was driving him crazy. Any other vampire would've eaten you on sight."
Elena glares at her older doppelgänger for suggesting that she doesn't have Stefan's best interest at heart. She loves Stefan and would do anything for him. Her future self should know that, so why would she question it?
"Elena," Damon says, and three versions of Elena twirl around to face him. Seeing her husband so pale and weak, sets vampire Elena on edge, and she has to remind herself that he survives this infection. But human Elena doesn't have such luxuries. She gasps at his condition, recognizing the similarities with Stefan's illness.
"Is this how Damon dies?" She asks as memory Elena rushes to his side.
"No, Stefan gets the cure from Klaus. But he had to..trade for it. That's why he left."
"To save Damon?" Elena asks and watches her counterpart nod in confirmation. "So that's why Damon worked so hard to bring him back. He probably felt guilty."
Vampire Elena wants to point out that Damon helped to save Stefan because that's what the Salvatore brothers do. They help each other. They may fight on occasion, more so before Elena and Caroline came into the picture, but no matter what, they always showed up to save each other. Well, mostly always. It's hard to know when someone needs savings when you haven't spoken to them in fifty years. Regardless, when Stefan needed help to escape Klaus, Damon came to the rescue. But vampire Elena doesn't interject; instead she lets human Elena watch Damon suffer his first werewolf bite.
She witnesses memory Damon bite his Elena in a hallucination-fueled fit of hunger, then memory Elena comforts the remorseful vampire and listens to his deathbed confessions. Even though human Elena knows he doesn't die, tears well in her eyes when Damon thanks Elena for her sympathetic kiss. She also rejoices when Katherine shows up out of the blue with a vial of Klaus' blood.
Human Elena tries not to take Katherine's comment about loving them both to heart. Memory Elena was fulfilling a dying man's wish and nothing more, but it still makes her uneasy. She is slapped back to reality when Stefan's painful scream echoes through Elena's bedroom. Leaving the human at the doorway, vampire Elena rushes to Stefan. When human Elena tries to follow, the vampire beckons her to stop with an outreached hand.
"No, please leave."
"We need the cure," she says, and the vampire nods.
"Call Caroline. She'll know what to do."
Human Elena rushes out the door and downstairs, pulling her cell phone out as she descends the steps. Vampire Elena cradles Stefan in her arms and watches him with great sympathy. He groans and mutters something about Katherine, but she just ignores his ramblings. Elena picks up the eternal teenager and places him on top of the bed. She grabs a cloth from the bathroom and wets it, returning to place it on his face. He calms after the cool cloth touches his warm skin, and then his peek open. They seem clear, if not weak.
"Elena…"
"Shhh. You need to rest."
"Why him?" He asks. Elena tries to look confused and brushes off the question.
"Stefan, you're sick and hallucinating. What you're seeing isn't real."
He grimaces when another surge of pain wracks his nervous system and Elena grabs his hand for comfort, knowing it won't help. When the wave of pain eases, he takes a ragged breath. Again he looks at Elena, this time with a grim resignation.
"You love him, don't you?"
"Stefan, I…" Elena can't think of anything to say. She's never had this conversation with Stefan, at least not that she remembers. In the love story that Elena remembers, Stefan had already moved on with Caroline when she started dating Damon. Elena doesn't know how to handle this situation, so she just stares at Stefan with her mouth open. Tears well, and she's not sure what's hurting him more, the venom or her betrayal.
"Katherine," he whispers, but Elena shakes her head and wipes her eyes.
"No, it wasn't like that. I never betrayed you."
"Katherine," Stefan says and then winces as he lifts his hand. Elena turns to find Katherine standing at the bedroom door. She leans against the door frame with a conniving smile that fails to hide her pitiful state. Pale and covered in sweat, Katherine looks worse than her days as a homeless human.
"Hello, lover."
Elena lurches to Katherine and pins her against the wall. She shoves her hand into the evil doppelgänger's chest and wraps her hand around her black heart, but Elena stops when Katherine laughs. It's a half delirious and half maniacal laugh and not what she expected from someone whose life she holds her hands.
"Kill me, and you'll kill him," Katherine says with blood seeping from her mouth.
Elena frowns in confusion before recognizing Stefan's screams. She glances over her shoulder without removing her hand from around Katherine's heart to find the youngest Salvatore brother covered in blood and grabbing at a wound in his chest. He squirms and thrashes on the bed, smearing her sheets with gore. Elena slips her hand from Katherine's chest but keeps a firm grip on her throat. As the doppelgänger's chest heals, so does Stefan. The bitch flashes a weak smile, and Elena notes a werewolf bite identical to Stefan's on her arm.
Elena growls and releases Katherine. "You're linked to him."
"Whatever happens to me, happens to him. Including dying of a werewolf bite," Katherine says. She tries to sound superior, but in here weakened state, she can only manage a resigned bitterness.
"Why am I not surprised?" Elena says. "God forbid, you just die in a ditch somewhere, never to be found."
"Look who's grown a back bone. Having two Salvatore brothers at your beck and call for two centuries must really do a job on your confidence." Katherine pushes away from the way, only to fall back against it when walking proves too difficult. "I'm afraid we don't have time for games tonight, Elena. Grab Stefan and bring him downstairs."
"Why?"
"Because I make the rules. You should know that by now," she says then stumbles from the room.
Grumbling, Elena picks Stefan up from the bed. He mumbles incoherently about Lexie as she carries him down the stairs. When they reach the living room, Elena isn't surprised to find Lucy Bennett standing next to the couch with human Elena. The youngest doppelgänger glares at the taller woman as though they'd already had words. Elena curses for not paying attention while tending to Stefan. She should've heard Katherine and Lucy enter the house and certainly any argument between the witch and human. Then she spots the burning sage on the coffee table and doesn't feel so bad. A privacy spell would've masked any noise downstairs. Katherine slumps into the large sofa-chair and grasps at the armrests as though her life depends on it. Elena notices Katherine's eyes dulling into an unfocused cloud.
"She's outrunning her demon's at the moment, honey," Lucy says to Elena and motions toward the couch. "Why don't you lay him down?"
"How long have you been here?"
"Since before your family left for a late night movie. Katherine made sure your family wouldn't return until late. She doesn't like to be interrupted. I made sure you wouldn't spot us while I cast the linking spell after you arrived."
Well that explains why Jenna and Jeremy are late. Vampire Elena glances at the wall clock, surprised to find that they'd only been home for about twenty minutes. It feels like she's been in this house for days.
"Why are you helping her, Lucy?" Elena asks as she lays Stefan on to the couch. He growls and pushes her away.
"Get away from me, Katherine."
Elena doesn't fight him when he tries to stand and then falls back down to the couch. He falls still and prey to the images in his mind. He stares absently up at the ceiling, and human Elena whimpers in concern for him.
"Please, you have to let us help him. He's sick," she begs Lucy.
"I know, darling. And I want you to help him. All you have to do is help Katherine."
"Lucy, this isn't going to end well for you," vampire Elena says in a pleading tone. "You can still walk away from this."
"I can't. Kat saved my life once, so I owe her. Once you save her, I'm free," she says. "Either way, you have to go back to where you came from. Or when…whatever."
"You know that she's from the future?" Human Elena asks.
"Of course, I can feel it all around her."
"Witches can feel the imbalance from the portal. They're drawn to the portal and those that've used it," vampire Elena says. "The spirits drive them to returns us and close the portal."
"Repairing the imbalance." Lucy is impressed by Elena's knowledge. "You've done this before."
"A couple times."
"Enough chatter," Katherine says from her cushy throne. "Tell me about the cure."
"Did you call Caroline?" Vampire Elena asks her human version, but she shakes her head.
"I tried. The call wouldn't go through."
"Try again."
"Fuck Caroline, and tell me where to find the cure," Katherine says. Then she convulses under a wave of agony, and her fingers rip into the arm rests like butter. When the pain eases, she leans forward, trying to catch her breath.
"It doesn't matter, Katherine. You're going to die," vampire Elena says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No, if she dies, Stefan will die too." Human Elena shakes her head with the flip phone still pressed against her ear, then she slams it shut. "It says all the circuits are busy. How's that even possible?"
Vampire Elena frowns, and her eyes roam across the living room. Are they here? Or is that a coincidence. Maybe it's Lucy.
"Did you cast a spell to block communication outside this house?" she asks the witch.
Lucy snorts. "That's not possible."
I guess that answers that question. Elena scans the room again for a sign of the munchkins. If they were here, would they let their father die? Without their humanity? Maybe. Given that this Stefan is a copy from a different universe, Elena is pretty certain they won't give a damn about saving him. Especially, if it means they have to save the woman they were trying to kill earlier.
"If I have to ask again, I'm going to rip out my dull, little doppelgänger's throat," Katherine says, somehow managing to sound menacing despite her weakened state.
"We're trying to get you the cure, but we need to reach, Caroline. Right?" Human Elena says, looking to her vampire counterpart.
"It doesn't matter. There's no way we can get the cure for Katherine. Stefan, maybe."
"What's it matter who it's for?" Lucy asks.
"Because there are only two known cures for werewolf venom. Both of which want Katherine dead," Elena growls at the witch.
Lucy smiles, ignoring Elena's claim. "Look at that, Kat. You were right. Not only does the time traveler know about the cure, but she knows of two."
"I heard her, Momma." Katherine's eyes grow unfocused again. She mumbles in Bulgarian and tears glisten on her pale cheeks as she cries for a loved one. Human Elena can't stop the pang of sympathy for the dying immortal, and vampire Elena scowls at her younger self.
"Do not feel sorry for her. Be glad that you'll be rid of her, and pray that it sticks."
"She's suffering," Elena says. "And she's taking Stefan with her. I can't be happy about that."
"Stefan isn't going to die." Vampire Elena bares her vampire fangs at Lucy. "Because you are going to release him."
Lucy flings her hand outward, causing the blood vessels in Elena's brain to explode as fast as her vampirism can heal her. "No, I won't. To save him, you have to save Katherine."
"I can't save her. The cure is Klaus' blood," Elena screams, clutching at her head.
"Who's Klaus?" Lucy asks, releasing her magical hold on Elena.
"It doesn't matter. She's right," Katherine says during a window of lucidity. "That cure isn't an option. What about the second one?"
"The twins are the only other people that can help you, and they seem to want you dead too," vampire Elena says, not bothering to hide her pleasure. Then Stefan grimaces, and her guilt washes away her vindictive streak.
"We have to do something," Stefan says from the couch, barely able to lift his head. Human Elena tries to rush to his side to comfort him, but Lucy grabs her. She doesn't want the rabid vampires to eat Elena, and if she gets to close, they might do just that. Especially Katherine.
With the witch distracted, vampire Elena acts. She moves so fast, Lucy doesn't notice the vampire at her back until it's too late. Elena rips into Lucy's neck with the intent to incapacitate, not kill. The strike is fast and hard, and blood spews from the witch's neck, splattering across everyone in the living room and staining the couch. Human Elena screams when blood splashes across her face and chest. She stumbles away from the spray, shielding her eyes, and tumbles on to the couch next to Stefan.
Lucy passes out from blood loss, and Elena smears vampire blood into the wound to prevent the witch's death. She shoves the unconscious woman at Stefan, who is recovering from Lucy's kaput spell, and sets her eyes on Katherine.
The evil doppelgänger watches the fanatic attack, not entirely sure it to be reality. It all the same to her now. Katherine Pierce stands from the plush chair and glares at vampire Elena. Electricity hums in the air because of the two Elena's proximity, but the bitch doesn't notice.
"I will not die slowly in my bed."
"No, you won't."
Elena leaps across the room, snatches Katherine by the throat, and pins her against the far wall of the hallway. Katherine flails against the younger vampire at first then gives up. She wheezes and hangs limp against her Elena's tight grip.
"Do it," Katherine says.
"I will, but first you have to do something for me. You have to answer my question, and you have to answer it honestly."
"Or what? You'll let me live?" Katherine chuckles, blood spilling from her mouth, and she grimaces at another wave of pain. "Just get this over with already."
"Tell me the truth, and I will tell you something that will make you genuinely happy. I mean real happiness, Katherine. Something you probably haven't felt since you were human."
Katherine doesn't believe Elena's promise, but why not use her last words on this planet to fuck with Elena Gilbert one last time? That'll piss off Damon and Stefan, won't it? Too bad all her scheming was for not. She'll never enjoy true freedom, and she'll never again taste Stefan on her lips. The bitterness of failure drains what strength she has left.
"Fine, whatever."
"Do you still miss her? Does it still hurt to think of her? Even after 500 years?" Elena's eyes swim as she lets a small drop of her sorrow escape from behind the wall of denial, built by her humanity switch.
Between hallucinations of her dead family and terrifying images of Klaus, Katherine almost doesn't hear the question, but she can't miss the meaning behind Elena's words. Katherine surprises even herself with the truth.
"Yes."
Katherine never had the chance to hold her daughter. She was certainly never given the opportunity to name her or raise her. But carrying her child in her womb for nine months and birthing her was the most meaningful experience in her five hundred years of existence. Still to this day, Katherine wishes she'd had more time with her child. She would give anything just for the chance to hold her.
"Her name is Nadia, and she's alive," Elena whispers through her own pain. "You're daughter is alive."
Katherine listens to the words, but isn't sure if they are real or just a figment of her imagination. It doesn't really matter because she latches on to them like a life raft. Hope springs up from deep within Katherine and brings a hint of joy with it.
"Take comfort in the fact that she'll probably live longer in this timeline without you her to get her killed."
Katherine doesn't have a chance to fully comprehend the statement before Elena rips her heart out. Dropping the grey body of her doppelgänger, Elena stumbles away and wipes at her tears. Blood from her hands smear her cheeks, mixing Katherine and Lucy's blood, but she doesn't care. She gasps and wrestles back the negative emotions she let slip from behind her wall of humanity. Just about calmed down, Elena considers just darting into the night so as to avoid any more uncomfortable conversations with Stefan and her human version. But human Elena's scream rips away any thoughts of escape.
Elena spins around to find Lucy's headless corpse lying at Stefan's feet while he rips into his girlfriend's tender neck.
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