All done! 9,142 words not including any of the author's notes, all for you guys. (I know, it should be longer.) I wasn't planning on it taking this long to upload but seriously the move was ridiculous and then I got sick and I'm talking like I wanted to die sick. I told my mom I had a sore throat a few days ago but she brushed it off and then the next day I couldn't get off the couch. I couldn't drink or eat anything without it hurting so bad all I wanted to do was spike my drink and go to sleep for 20 years, it made everything else on my body hurt as well. Finally she took me to the doctor, I had a throat infection. I'm sure she'll think twice before blowing it off the next time I say I have a sore throat. Whatever, I'm rambling. Sorry.
Shout out's over here:
SomebodyWhoCares: Taking Elena's side? xD of course! What do you think this is a Damon/OC story? :p Lolz. No but seriously, that would be a complete kick in the ass to Adele. Who agrees?
MysticGirl200: What are you Physic? You should get a price. 50 cookies for you. c(: Moving with my family is never smooth but thank you. We're very dysfunctional. It took my Cousin and his friend 30 minutes to figure out how to get our couch out the door. They even tried shoving it through the window and yet I'm still not sure how they did it, I know they broke a couple things. And Ah. Good I'm not the only one. I just…there's just something about her in this season that I just wished I could like erase her from the whole show and stick a whole new character in there.
helios101: First off, thank you. I'm glad you liked the chapter. Second, Klaus is a badass. He's an evil bastard and I absolutely love him. I'm glad you liked the scene between Adele and him. To tell you the truth, I almost cut it but then I was like well Damon, your amazing and we love you and we want you to be happy but come on now. This isn't how this works. You have to fight. Be a fighter, Damon. But seriously, I like the idea of a Klaus/Adele sort of thing. I know it's supposed to be Caroline and Klaus but that's just painful and I don't want to relive that by having to write about it. So maybe.
Nymartian: I just as surprised as you when I wrote it. Lolz. And even If I decide not to go the whole Klaus and Adele route there will be Klaus and Adele moments because what kind of writer would I be if didn't involve her and her snarky attitude with the original's?
klandgraf2007: I wasn't expecting to write Klaus in as just wanting to help her but I also didn't want to involve with him so fast as well so I thought to myself, Klaus does good things for just the hell of it, it's very far between but he does do it. Now we just have to wait a few months for him to do something nice again. Lolz.
And thank you to, lolsmileyface6, smkbaby123, Revenger's Sister, Padfoot Heir, Lucy Greenhill and Revenger Tigger. I'm so glad you guys are liking the story and thank you so much. You're all amazing. 1 million cookies for all of you. :p
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's, sadly.
I'm going to warn the lot of you now because I know some of you aren't sold on it that this chapter is has a lot of James in it. Just a heads up. You learn more about him and why he's doing everything that he's doing.
Chapter 3: The End of the Affair
She rolls over, having finally been able to get to fall sleep after her conversion with Jasmine. She was able to sleep somewhat decently through the rest of the night, having kicked off her blankets only twice for being too uncomfortable and scratchy.
Her head hits something hard but comfortable and whatever it is, is radiating enough heat for her to start snuggling up to it, dozing off once more, a lot easier than the first time but she doesn't question, she just wants to embrace the darkness.
"Rise and shine, Kitten." She makes a noise something between a moan and a purr as she realizes the thing she's laying on has a voice just like Damon.
She opens her eyes, moving her head to glare up at the raven haired vampire. "What the hell are you doing?" She grumbles pushing him away. She rolls over pulling her comforter up and over her body, curling her knees up to her chest and snuggling herself in. "Go away."
"We're apart for a whole night and that's the way you greet me? I liked the moaning better. That was a nice." He remarks shifting his position making the bed rock. She groans reaching over to grab her phone, she checks the time.
"6AM." She sighs.
"Like I said, rise and shine Kitten." He smirks as she sits up looking over at him.
"I have the urge to kick you out." She tells him.
"Well okay but if you do that you can forget about coming with me on my newest road trip." This gets her attention and she narrows her eyes at him as he slides from the bed making his way across her room.
"Where?" She asks watching him look around, though he's been in her room plenty of times.
"The Windy City." He answers.
"Chicago?" She kicks the covers off bouncing to the end of the bed. "We're going to Chicago? He's in Chicago? How do you know?"
"It came to me in a dream. I was naked, you would have loved it." He remarks with a smirk. "Start packing." He turns away, towards her dresser.
"Why is he in Chicago?" She asks as he opens the top drawer.
"Well he's not there to meet Oprah." He mutters taking out a pair of white lace boy shorts and holding them up. He turns to her with a not so happy expression. "How many times have I told you I like you in white?"
"A lot." She answers.
"Okay. So why are these here and not in my bedroom?" He flicks them at her and she knocks them away. "We're bringing those."
*VD*
Adele leans forward messing around with the radio of Damon's Camaro. He swats at her hands causing her to swat back. "Stop it." She grumbles finally reaching the station she wants and sitting back. She sends Damon a triumphed smile as he glares back at her.
"Will you please watch the road?" Elena asks for the fourth time since they've gotten on the road. He seemed to like to spend a lot of his time bickering with and looking at Adele more then he likes to watch where he's going. He was starting to make her worry.
"You know, I sure hope we find him, 'cause it would suck if the last momento of Stefan was that crappy old necklace." Damon comments and Elena reaches up touching the necklace around her neck.
"It's an antique, Damon. Like you." She says causing Adele to laugh.
"Oh. Burn." Damon glares at the blonde.
"Plus you gave Adele a necklace that's old." She points out and Adele reaches up as well to touch her locket.
"Yes but Damon at least knows where this one comes from, he knows its history and it's special to him. Can you say the same about yours?" Adele glances at her sister through the rearview mirror.
"If it's so special why did he give it to you? And what makes it so special? It looks like a locket it to me." Elena remarks and Adele sighs.
"It was my mothers." Damon answers as he too glances at her in the rearview mirror watching as her brown eyes widen slightly. "I gave it to Adele to protect her and because I needed her to have it. It's the only thing besides an old photo that I have of her, why not give it to the girl I'll love for the rest of my immortal life?" Adele smiles at him ready to say something along the lines of she loves him to before Elena cuts in.
"Forever is a long time and Adele's not immortal. She's going to get older, she's going to die." Adele looks away from Damon, down to her hands as Damon becomes completely focused on the road. Elena looks between the two with a small frown; she had expected some kind of reaction from them but was receiving none. It was a little weird. "All I'm saying is I'm not sure how realistic it is to say you'll love her forever." She continues and this time she does get a reaction.
"Says the girl who's traveling all the way to Chicago to bring back the guy she loves who might I point out is also immortal and you have no plans what so ever to turn in the future. What's the point then Elena? Why risk your life over and over for a guy when you know it's not going to work?" Adele turns around in her seat to look at her sister who opens her mouth to reply only to shut it with no answer. "Exactly. You know for a fact that you and Stefan aren't going to work out in the end because you want the small town life, with a husband, kids and a house with a white picket fence yet here you are. I have no such dreams Elena."
"That's a lie." Elena whispers. "You've always wanted kids. Always. I'm your sister, I know you Adele."
"But not as much as you, I don't have to have kids or a husband to be happy. You do. I can be with Damon and just be happy. You can be with Stefan but be completely stuck in the future." Elena stays silent, not having a respond for that as Damon reaches over grabbing something from beside Adele in the seat. He holds it back for Elena to take.
"Read this." He tells her. "It paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago."
"It's Stefan's diary. I'm not going to invade his private thoughts." She tells him crossing her arms.
"You need to be prepared for what you're about to see." He waves the leather bound book but she shakes her head.
"I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods. I can handle it." Adele reaches out taking the diary from his hands and opens it up to one of the pages Damon had marked. She clears her throat, making it deeper trying to sound more like a guy.
"March 12, 1922." She starts. ""I've blacked out days. I wake up in strangers' blood, in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember."" She stops reading turning to look at Damon who is smirking, highly amused. "You mean to tell me that Stefan isn't a virgin?" She glances back at Elena in mock surprise. She glares as Damon snorts a laugh.
Adele goes to continue but Elena reaches out snatching the book from her. Adele smirks sitting back, making herself comfortable for the rest of their journey as the song on the radio changes. With wide eyes Adele turns her head to look at Damon as he begins to smirk. Elena watches them closely and when they start to sing she groans.
She sits up reaching between them to turn the radio down but Adele smacks her hands, hard might she add as there singing gets louder. "There ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees, I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed. Ain't nothing in this world for free. No I can't slow down. I can't hold back. Though you know I wish I could. No there ain't no rest for the wicked. Until we close our eyes for good."
*VD*
Elena lets out a breath of air as she places the diary face down on the seat next to her. She runs a hand over her eyes before shifting in her seat to look over at her sister who leans against the side of the Camaro, pumping gas as Damon is nowhere in sight. A Ford Bronco is parked at the pump beside them and there are a few guys looking more interested in watching Adele then they do in getting the supplies they've come for.
But Adele ignores them seeming to not even notice them in the slightest. Elena can't blame them for staring, as she leans against the car with her Aviators on and her long jean clad legs crossed she looks more like a 20 something year old model then she does an 18 year old high school student. Elena shakes her head hopping from the car, wanting to stretch her legs.
Adele noticing her sudden movement turns her head watching as she rubs her hands down her legs, trying to get the feeling back. "Done reading Stefan's deepest thoughts or was it just too much for you to handle?"
"Did you read it before you gave it to me?" Elena asks turning to her sister.
"I read enough of it." She nods.
"Stefan's still Stefan, it doesn't matter who he was in the past, it matters who he is now." Elena crosses her arms tilting her head at her sister as if telling her to challenge what she's saying and Adele being who she is does.
"That is where you're wrong." Adele pushes off the car as she stops pumping the gas when they've spent 50 bucks. She returns the nozzle to the pump before turning to her sister as she pushes her Aviators into her hair. "Sister, you might have read about the things he's done to people but I've seen what he does. It's the stuff of nightmares. You can believe that Stefan is the same guy that left with Klaus but he isn't and just because we get him back doesn't mean we've saved him. It's going to take a lot of time and work to undo what Klaus has done to him. Damon didn't make you read the diary to torture you; he made you read it to prepare you for what you might see."
Elena looks away not having the response she knows Adele is waiting for. She doesn't want to believe what Adele is telling her, though she knows it's true so she turns the conversion around. "Speaking of Damon…" Adele replaces her glasses over her eyes. "What is this talk about forever? You do know it's impossible right?"
"You and I both know more than anyone else that nothing is impossible." She answers with a grin but Elena doesn't grin back. She simply stares at her with a blank look before blinking.
"Adele…" She steps forward lowering her voice. "Are you planning on turning?"
Adele licks her bottom lip turning to look towards the store making the three guys who are still there turn away quickly before she turns back. "We've talked about it."
Elena steps back her brows furrowing. "What…what does that mean?"
"It means we've talked about it but it is my decision and I haven't made one." She answers with a small shrug.
"What do you mean you haven't made one? Adele, you can't do it." Elena exclaims trying to keep her voice low.
"She can." Elena jumps, spinning around in surprise. She forgot all about Damon who must've heard there whole conversion as he comes up from behind her, slipping past and over to Adele's side where he hands her a small plastic bag from the store before placing a kiss to her forehead as she takes to looking through the bag. "I have the capability as we all know to make it happen but like she said it's her decision and I'll respect whatever she chooses to do and you can't tell her what she can and cannot to."
"You do know if you turn you'll be throwing your life away right?" Elena crosses her arms against sticking her chin up at Adele in that way that makes her look like she's better then you and Adele rolls her eyes.
"Actually and correct me if I'm mistaken, turning would expand my life, wouldn't it? I mean I'd be immortal and the last time I checked immortal means living forever unless someone killed me of course then I'd just be dead." Adele says as she pushes her seat forward allowing Elena to slide into the back seat before she pushes it back and sliding in.
"Well you don't have to be a smart ass about it." Elena mutters.
"And you don't have to be so stuck up." Damon retorts causing Elena to glare as Adele laughs.
"Exactly, you don't see me complaining."
*VD*
They pull up to a slightly rundown looking apartment building, where Damon parks the car along the curb. He comes around to Adele's side quickly enough to open the door for her and she steps from the car pulling the seat forward to let Elena out.
The twins follow Damon closely as he enters the building leading them past the vacated front desk to the stairs. They begin up as Elena finally huffs out a breath. "Why are we here?" She asks.
"Because this is where Ripper Stefan lived when he was in Chicago." Damon informs her.
"Stefan could've lived anywhere in Chicago and he chose this?" She scrunches her nose as they reach the third floor of the building turning into a damp hallway.
"There used to be an all-girls high school around the corner, but it shut down for attendance issues." He explains to them glancing back at the sisters and Adele catching on to his meaning raises an eyebrow.
"Weird." She mutters causing the vampire to smirk.
"If you're trying to scare me into giving up and going back, it's not going to work." She snaps at them and Damon shushes her as they reach the end of the hall and the very last door. He looks back at them as he breaks off the door handle and the door swings open softly. He steps to the side.
"Welcome to Stefan's second personality home." He waves a hand silently telling them to enter and Adele lets Elena go first before following after her slowly.
"He obviously hasn't been here." Elena points out as she crosses her arms, her eyes roaming for any sigh that he'd been there in the past few days but there was nothing; the place was clean…sort of.
"Tour is not over yet." Damon brushes past her, towards the open kitchen and over to a built in shelve case. He runs his hand down the side and they hear the click as he unlatches a latch on the side pulling the secret door open to reveal a small back room full of nothing but alcohol. As Damon turns on the light Adele moves into the small section standing beside him and her eyes fall to the side wall where he's staring.
"Stefan hid his Alcohol. What a monster." Elena mocks, Damon mentions her in as Adele snorts.
"I think you should look just little bit harder." She says as Elena steps in front of her, moving her own eyes over to the list of names written on the old wall.
"It's a list of names." She points out and she's right. It's a list of names including Giuseppe Salvatore, the first man he ever killed and his father. "These are all of his victims?"
"Still handling it?" Damon mutters leaving the small hidden room and Elena almost groans in annoyance as she watches him. Adele slips from the room as well going almost completely unnoticed.
"What were you doing in the 1920s? Paving the way for women's liberation?" Elena snaps.
"I was around." He answers as Elena is leaving the room. "Chicago's a big city. Stefan was a cocky ripper douche. But I could avoid him and still indulge in a few Daisy Buchanan's of my own." He explains to which Elena gives a snort of disgust turning to look at her sister who is examining the old appliances in the rest of the kitchen.
"Don't give me that look Elena. I know who he is and who he was and who he will forever be. I've accepted it and moved on." She says knowing without turning around the look she was sending her, a look that said "How can you date this guy?" It wasn't the first time she'd gotten that look regarding Damon and her, it was however the first time she's responded to the look.
"That's right. You should really stop being so judgmental towards your sister, I mean take a hard look at your own boyfriend." Damon says as he's moving towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" Adele stops her snooping at the sound of her sister's question to turn around, watching Damon.
"His old stomping ground." Damon answers and Elena jumps forward ready to run after him.
"I'm coming with you." She demands.
"No, you and Kitten are staying here to whip up an actual plan. I'll come back when I find him." He walks out, leaving Elena to turn around with crossed arms to stare her down and she rolls her eyes, pulling her cell phone from her back pocket as it buzzes.
"What is it with you today? All these dirty looks are getting on my nerves." She says scrolling through the three pictures of Jackie, Michael and Willy Jasmine just sent her. Michael seemed to be doing okay with Jackie being around and it was a relief to see.
"Did you know he was going to leave us here? I mean this just smells like something you two cooked up from the beginning." She accuses.
"Truth be told Elena, I didn't know about this little trip till this morning and between the time he told me we we're coming here to the time we left, I had no time to talk to him about plans regarding you. I'm sure this was his plan from the beginning but he sure as hell didn't tell me."
"That's a little hard to believe considering he tells you everything." Elena snorts and Adele resist the urge to chuck her phone at her sister. It was amazing how irritated Elena could make her just by opening her month.
"Well yeah, I mean isn't that what being in a relationship is about? I mean maybe you wouldn't know considering how much shit Stefan seemed to like to keep to himself but I guess that is what makes the two of them such polar opposites huh?" Elena visibly flinches at her words but Adele pays no mind and continues on. "Since you seem to be so interested in my relationship Elena, let me break it down for you. Damon is my best friend, my lover, my everything okay? Of course he tells me everything just like I tell him everything. What are we supposed to do?"
"I don't…I don't understand it Adele. You know who he is; you know what he's done and what he's capable of doing. He's the very definition of a monster and yet you're still with him, you still chose to love him." Elena regrets the words as soon as she says them as Adele's eyes harden. Her sister takes a deep breath, looking away trying to gather her thoughts before she turns back.
"Chose? I didn't chose anything, it happened and I want you to answer me something Elena, and I want it truthfully. If Damon is such a monster why is he risking his neck to search for his brother? Because you do know that if he runs into Klaus and Klaus finds out that your alive there's a very good chance that he will kill him, not to mention the many times of which he's saved your ass and mine for that matter and the fact that he still doing everything in his power to keep us safe. He saved Caroline and Tyler from being used in a sacrifice to try and help you. He got bit, he almost died. I know he's done horrible things Elena, but take a good look at your own boyfriend. For shit's sakes, he has a list of his victims in a hidden room!" She points off behind her dramatically and Elena swallows hard as she looks at her.
"Despite the whole Saint Stefan thing, he's not really a saint. He's a vampire with an uncontrollable blood lust that has him ripping the heads off of his victims," Elena cringes at the mental picture; she doesn't want to be reminded of what Stefan is capable of. "And I know you don't want to hear that but that's what he does and you need to understand that. You're doing everything you can not to expect the fact that Stefan may not be exactly who you thought he was so instead of facing realty you turn and point your finger at Damon, accusing him of being the monster here but Elena, it's not him, not this time."
Elena watches her sister walk past her, her words slowly sinking in, slowly making the pit in her stomach that's been there since Stefan left grow. "Where are you going?" She calls snapping out of it when she hears the door opening.
"Outside, just stay here. Don't do anything stupid." She mutters almost slamming the door behind her.
*VD*
She pushes her aviators into place as she exits the building. She looks both ways down the side walk; she had no idea what she was to do now. Leaving the apartment seemed to be the best idea. She and Elena hadn't been getting along well all summer despite the fact that Elena almost died, for whatever reason the twins couldn't seem to agree on anything. The two have slowly been growing apart for years, Adele was starting to see that now and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.
Adele had no idea where she was, she had no idea where to go. She'd never been to Chicago before; it was a big city one she could easily get lost in. Damon should've realized that leaving them alone was a bad idea but yet here she was roaming around outside an old beaten up apartment building because the urge to ring her sister's neck was a lot stronger now than ever before.
"Adele Gilbert." She freezes, her phone pulled halfway out of her back pocket as she had been ready to text Damon but she pushes it back down, turning around slowly. "How happy I am to have run into you on this beautiful day, a bit surprised but happy none the less."
Adele's lips twitch up into a sarcastic smirk as she regards the man standing before her, his dark eyes regarding her carefully. "Wish I could say the same but, honestly James the sight of you makes me sick to my stomach."
"With worry maybe? Considering what you did to five of my best agents?" She remembers the day well, the day she had to wing a rescue mission for Michael and Nate, the day Michael was turned into a vampire at the hands of the monster standing in front of her.
"With disgust James, you disgust me and after what you did to Michael you and everyone who blindly follows you deserve to burn. He was innocent; he didn't know anything about the supernatural."
"It was a small technicality really. I needed you to understand that this wasn't a joke. That I was serious."
"And we see how well that worked out for you." She remarks.
"I'll attempt that you caught me off guard then Miss. Gilbert. It was nicely played."
She scoffs. "Nicely played? I winged it. I didn't have any sort of Play James." He ignores her.
"And I sure wasn't expecting Justin to turn on me though I should've known sending anyone that close to you was dangerous. You seem to have some kind of charm that almost nobody can resist and when you asked him to jump, he jumped didn't he?" His tone is bitter and sour like the words tasted bad on his tongue.
"That's not the way it happened. Justin realized just how much of bastard you are, he wants to stop you. I had nothing to do with it that." She informs him though she knows it's only partially true and she knows he knows it to.
"It doesn't matter now, what's done is done. Justin is now a liability. As much as it pains me to say, he must be stopped." Adele swallows thickly; the idea of Justin getting hurt at the hands of this man who claimed to care for him was hard to think about.
"You don't know pain." She says in a whisper. "Pain is having everything you know ripped from underneath your feet, having the person you love torn from you because some twisted asshole declared them evil when in reality it's him who's the evil one. People shouldn't be wasting their time hunting down vampires; they should be hunting down people like you."
"Your so naïve Adele. So consumed in a love that's doomed, that's always been doomed from the start. I know he makes you feel important now but soon he'll move on because vampires are immortal and with immortality comes life times and life times of true loves, never just one."
"You're wrong. You wouldn't know true love if it bit you in the ass." She scoffs crossing her arms across her chest. His eyes flash with something Adele can't place before it's gone and she swears if she had blinked she would've missed whatever it was.
He regards her with thoughtful consideration before nodding. "Okay. I would like to show you something Miss. Gilbert."
"You have to be kidding if you think I'm going anywhere with you." She snaps taking a wide step back, looking around for her best possible escape route.
"I understand your hesitation Adele, but I'm not going to hurt you. It wouldn't serve my greater purpose." He tells her.
Adele stares at him, her eyes narrowing into blue slits. "Which would be?"
"I've told you. I plan on you joining us."
"And I told you, it's not going to happen." James is silent for a minute, his dark eyes studying the young blonde in front of him and Adele shifts her weight to the other foot.
"I would like to show you something. It's just around the corner." She blows out a breath ready to tell him to go to hell but she hesitates. This was a real opportunity she had here. The thought that it could be a trap crosses her mind as well but if it wasn't there was a great possibility that she could get insight into that world, get an idea of how to take them down.
She glances back up at the apartment building. If Damon comes back and finds she's disappeared he's going to freak and then he's going to be pissed. "Fine." She snaps turning back. "Make it quick."
*VD*
He brought her to an abandoned church just a block away from the apartment building. The outside was a mess with over grown grass ready to cover the pavement leading up to the steps completely; the stone sigh that sat beside the steps was completely demolished, leaving behind bits and pieces of stone. The red brick of the building was blackened in some spots and weeds grew up the sides of the building but the stain glass windows lining the top of the building looked in pretty good shape from what Adele could see.
"A church?" She calls as she follows him up the pathway. "You couldn't be a little more original then that?"
"It's not about originality Miss. Gilbert. It's about convenience. This building is abandoned and has been abandoned for quite some time; it was perfect for us to start a training faculty." He explains and her steps waver slightly.
"Training faculty?" She stops at the steps leading up to the two big oak wood doors. James stops at the top of the steps turning to look down at her. "Does that mean I'm about to walk into a building full of nothing but hunters?"
"Trainees. There will be hunters but most of the people you are about to see are just trainees, from what I've witnessed you could take the lot of them with no problem. There's nothing to worry about."
Adele highly doubts that, as many times as she's faced Justin, she's only beaten him a few times, he was fast and skilled. Though he wasn't a vampire, he was still deadly but she continues forward following him though the wooden doors.
At first Adele isn't sure what she's walked in on but slowly as the movement in the room comes to a halt and every pair of eyes turn on them, she realizes that it is indeed a training room. The pews have been removed leaving nothing but open space that's been filled with work out equipment on one side and mats for sparing on the other. On a far wall theirs weapons of every kind, homemade weapons as well.
James walks them straight through the middle, towards the stage that still stood along with the podium still standing for whatever reason. He climbs the side steps as she follows stopping to address the crowd who are still watching them. "There's nothing to see here. Get back to work." He calls out, his voice full of authority and everyone in the room becomes busy once again picking up like nothing had happened.
Adele watches silently as a boy who could be older than 13 easily took down a boy twice his size in just under 2 minutes before James brings her attention back to him. "This is our training room as you can obviously gather; this is where we train our people. We have training faculties all over the country; this is one of our smaller ones." Her eyes find the boy again, he's facing the same boy and with the same quickness and skill, he takes him down. "Follow me." She tares her eyes from them as they set up for another round.
He leads her through another door, into a brightly lit hall that has three more doors. One to the left, another to the right and the last one at the very end of the hall and she can guess that it's going to lead them back outside.
He walks past the two doors; the one of the right is opened revealing to her some sort of make shift nurses office where a guy looking around Justin's age is sitting at the end of a single twin bed, holding a white rag stained in blood to his head. He looks groggy and she can just here a female telling someone that's he's going to need stitches. She pushes forward not wanting to see anymore.
She was right, the last door on the end leads them back outside into some sort of back yard type seen. A large privacy fence blocks off the yard to the outside world and it was much neater then the front. The grass was cut and there was a stone pathway leading to a building at the back, it wasn't exactly a small building either but it wasn't huge.
And that's where he takes her. The door is locked. Pad locked as it would turn out and after bunching in a few digits the door unlocks and he swings it open letting her step through first. There's no light besides the sunlight coming through the now open door and from the little bit she can see, what she's staring at is a wrestling ring.
Flouriest lights flicker on and she blinks quickly letting her eyes adjust. She was right. In the center of the one roomed building is a wrestling ring and surrounding it is metal chairs aligned in rows.
"What is this?" She asks.
"We have a certain way of training our people Adele. We put them into physical training first before they move onto the mental training but before they can do that they have to pass a certain challenge so to speak. They have to beat our champion, a hunter who is our best fighter. They have three trails. In the first trail they have to last 5 minutes with our champion, if they last the 5 minutes they move onto more intense training and they go back into the ring with our champion this time for 30 minutes, if they last they move on. In the end they have to be able to last a full hour in the ring with our champion before they pass the physical training."
"And if they beat your "champion"?" She looks up at him only briefly.
"Then they become our new champion and they pass. It very rarely happens. Our last champion was champion for almost 10 years before Justin came almost 4 years ago, he wiped the mat with him and became our best hunter, but we all know how that ended up. Kyle took his place but he went on a mission and completely disappeared." James says letting the words sink in but Adele doesn't budge, she stares at the ring. Is that what he thought? That Kyle just disappeared? Good.
"Why are you showing me this?" She finally whispers her gaze never leaving the ring. James watches her with sharp eyes.
"We have a match up at about," he trails off to peek at the clock on his phone. "Now." He says just as the men and woman from the training room begin to file in taking up many of the seats leaving two open at the front to which James guides her over mentioning for her to take a seat. She does glancing around at the many faces. The boy she'd been watching before catches her eye and he smiles though his eyes are tortured.
It takes all of ten minutes for everyone to find a seat and get quiet and Adele can't help the slight jerk of her body when a bell rings silencing the quiet whispers.
A man steps into the ring. A tall man with strawberry blond hair cut short with the build of a mixed martial arts fighter. He reminded her slightly of the actor from the movie Never Back Down.
"That is Dan." James whispers to her. "He's our champion."
The second person to step into the ring is a boy, a boy who couldn't be older then Jeremy. His dark hair brushes along the back of his neck, his blue eyes are determined as he stares across the ring at Dan.
"And that is Greg. He's been training for a month now. I'm not sure it's enough time but he wanted the chance." He explains to her as her eyes catch sight of the wooden stake held with in a case on the boy's belt. James noticing her stare smiles. "Dan will be playing the role of vampire though he is slower it's still affective. Greg objective is to kill him, though he won't be able to. He simple just has to last."
A second bell rings and both boys ready themselves, Dan crouching into a position that is ready to strike and they circle each other before a third bell rings and with a speed that looks almost inhuman Dan swipes out a leg knocking Greg to the ground.
The impact of the fall echoes off the walls drawing a flinch from Adele as Dan makes to grab for the young boy but he rolls away swinging to his feet and delivering a harsh blow to the back of the head. Dan stumbles forward but keeps his balance. He swings around moving in for a punch that Greg easily ducks under with amazing Grace that lands him back behind his opponent, exactly where he's decided he needs to be.
Greg moves in for another blow to the head but is caught by Dan who shoves an elbow into the boy's nose, there's a sickening crack that makes Adele feel slightly sick but Greg barely flinches moving to dodge a second elbow but is caught by a hard punch to the gut instead. He bends forward obviously winded and Dan takes advantage shoving an elbow into the middle of his back sending Greg crashing to the mat on his stomach.
He rolls away from Dan quickly staggering to his feet, he draws his stake to which James closes his eyes briefly shaking his head.
Dan lunges forward giving the boy no time to react. The stake is flung from his hand and he's thrown back to the ground. He stumbles to his feet once more only to be knocked back a few steps by a punch to the jaw followed by another. Greg stumbles forward swinging an arm blindly. It's grabbed by Dan who uses it to swing the boy around before he wraps his arms around his neck just as a bell rings. Dan drops his arms automatically taking a wide step back as the boy falls forward back onto his stomach.
"Well look at that." James says aloud, standing from his seat to clap slowly. "Dan, get him to the clinic and when he is cleared bring him to Steve. He will start the next part of his training." Dan raises a blond eyebrow but doesn't argue as he host the bloody kid up and over his shoulder.
"Wait a second," Adele speaks up turning to James. Though he knows she's not talking to him Dan lingers in the ring as the crowd begins filing out the way they came. "You're passing him?"
"He lasted the 5 minutes Miss. Gilbert. That is all that was required from him." James says.
"He barely lasted. A second longer and the "vampire" would've killed him. I mean he had his arms around his neck. The clock should have been stopped right then. In a real life situation he'd be dead if a vampire got his arms around his neck. There are no clocks that are going to stop in real life. If this is the way you pass your people, this is a flawed way to train them."
"This is the way we've done things for years Adele."
"Yeah? Well it's wrong." Her phone buzzes in her back pocket and she digs it out. It's a text from Damon.
Where the hell are you? It reads and she blows out a sigh before spinning around and marching towards the door.
"Where are you going Miss. Gilbert?" James calls.
"I'm done. Done with this place and done with you. You've caused me nothing but anger, irritation and pain." She's very aware of both James eyes on her and Dan's who is still standing in the ring with the unconscious Greg over his shoulder.
"But I'm not done with you." He says causing Adele's steps to slow. She stops turning slightly to look at him.
"I don't care. You've ruined my entire life in a single night and just when I was putting it back together here you come, to destroy everything I've done for myself. Michael had nothing to do with this. He knew nothing about vampires and you forced him to turn with the promise to kill him, you almost ruined him. He has a sister who depends on him and he can barely be around her now. You're twisted and I want nothing to do with you or your cause."
"Dan," James says having noticed his champion listening to and watching the young Gilbert girl. The blond male tares his hazel eyes from the blue eyed female to his boss. "Get him to the clinic before he bleeds out."
With one last lingering gaze on the Gilbert girl he slips easily from the ring and retreats from the room. "I still have one last thing to show you. Hopefully it will help you understand where I'm coming from, why this is so important to me."
Adele glances down at her phone buzzing with a second message. I'm serious Adele. I need to know where you are. I'll tear this God Damn city apart if I have to. It reads and she quickly types out a reply.
I'm fine. Just find Stefan and I'll call you soon.
*VD*
He led her back to the church; back down the hall where he stopped to unlocked the closed door that's marked supervisor.
He closes the door behind them flipping on an overhead light that gives off a dim golden light.
The small office space was just that. Small. It could barely hold the two of them along with the wooden desk in the center. A laptop sat in the middle along with a plastic pencil holder containing pens, a desk lamp and a single picture frame faced away from her. A filing cabinet was pushed back into a far corner. A large leather chair sat behind the desk and a smaller chair sits across from it. He mentions her to have a seat and she does so slowly.
James doesn't take a seat, he moves to the side of the desk where he picks up the single picture frame. He stares at it for a minute, silent. His eyes are clouded over in something along the lines of despair.
He holds the frame out to her and she frowns reaching up to take it. Pulling it to her she flips it over. It's a picture of a woman, she's pretty with golden brunette hair and light brown eyes, her smile is completely worry free. She looked happy, like nothing in the world was wrong.
"Her name was Kelly. She was 28 when she died, killed by a vampire. It was late at night. She never saw it coming. She didn't know anything about vampires." Adele hands the photo back.
"Who was she to you?" Adele asks softly.
"My wife. We we're high school sweethearts. We had been married 4 years before the attack and just a month after we learned that we we're expecting a child." He explains to which Adele sits back slightly letting out a deep breath.
"I'm sorry." She whispers. "I am, that's…horrible." She shakes her head. "But…I don't understand what that has to do with me. Why you are doing all this to me."
"From that day on, I vowed to destroy the monsters that did that to her and then what happened to my brother and his wife and my niece Corrie." Corrie. Adele recognizes the name as the tattoo on Justin's wrist. Corrie was his sister and she died by a vampire attack, it had been the one thing that pushed Justin into the family business. He had been able to deal with the death of his parents but his sister was too much and he cracked. "It's been my life since then."
"You understand." She says after a minute. "You understand what it feels like to lose the one you love." She looks up at him. "Yet you still came into that house and tried to kill everyone. You almost did. Jasmine was the only one who got away from you. You killed 5 people I loved that night and you forced the change on Michael." He's moved to the laptop where he's been looking through it.
"I have a plan Adele, one that you'd be most valuable in. If I want to succeed I need you on my side. I've been watching you. I know you inside and out. I know your strengths and I know your weaknesses." He turns the laptop showing her a picture file. He pulls up the first picture and a muscle in her jaw twitches.
It's a picture of her, Caroline and Tyler from sometime over the summer. She'd hung out with them more; wanting to reconnect to the two people she was closest to in her childhood.
He flips to the next picture which is of Michael and Jasmine from sometime before they turned him. They we're walking up the stairs of his apartment building, fingers interlocked. Michael had Willie, his pure white English bulldog puppy in his free arm.
The next picture is of Justin and Nate, there standing across from each other in a parking lot, the parking lot of the motel Justin was staying at. It looked to be taken just a week ago, the last time they saw Justin and he was laughing at something Nate was doing. He looked happy in that one moment.
Her anger rises even more so at the next photo it's of her sister, Alaric and her. They had gone out for lunch or Elena had dragged them to lunch at the beginning of summer, trying to figure out where Stefan and Klaus could be. There was a map stretched out on the table in front of them and Elena was pointing at something.
Her breath catches as he flips to the next photo. Jeremy and Bonnie we're out most likely on a date. They we're walking through the park holding hands none the less. She lifts her eyes, to glare at James but he just shakes his head mentioning back down.
She looks and loses the ability to breathe all together. She and Damon had taken a trip to Richmond almost two weeks ago; they'd gone shopping, went to lunch and dinner and even got ice cream some time during the whole ordeal. This picture showed just that. There standing in front of a shop, Adele with a cup of ice cream in her hand as Damon is leaning down kissing the corner of her lips where she had a tiny bit of ice cream.
She stands abruptly not sure she could see anymore. "If you touch him, if you touch any of them…"
"Exactly my point. They are a weakness." He closes the laptop, leaning back onto the heels of his feet.
"No." She shakes her head backing up towards the door. "That's where you're wrong. I fight for them, I put my life on the line for them, and I survive for them. They make me strong because if it wasn't for them, I'd be lost. If you hurt any of them James, it'll be the last thing you do."
*VD*
She burst through the door that leads her back into the main room of the church, a few of the trainees and trainers stop having caught sight of her but most just go about their business like she wasn't storming towards the front doors. As she passes by, she realizes that one of the trainees to stop is the boy. He watches her with blank eyes along with Dan who's watching her from across the room with a thoughtful expression.
"Miss. Gilbert." She hears from behind her. James had followed her, calling for her to stop. She spins around obviously startling him as he takes a step back. Her eyes narrow as she steps forward, every part of her body is tingling with a rage that has turned her blood cold. She felt trapped, like a caged animal and she would attack if necessary. He seems to realize that, holding up his hands to her as if to calm her.
"I'm warning you now James, you've token everything from me once already and I'll be damned if I allow you to do it again. I'm never going to join you; you assured that when you killed them. You told me you're doing this for your wife that you're going to rid the world of monsters like them but news flash; it's you who's the monster. Killing 5 innocent…"
"Tony Braxton was hardly innocent Adele…"
"But River was innocent. So was Danny, she never killed anyone and of course we know what happened to Michael and now you have the nerve to threaten the lives of my family and I'm talking about my real family now which is a whole different story along with people I grew up with and yes my boyfriend who is a vampire. Whoop de fucking do." She shoves a finger into his chest causing the man to grunt. "I told you once already, if you touch them, it's your funeral and I'll dig the hole myself. That is my promise to you." By the time she's turning back around and continuing back towards the door she has the whole buildings attention.
She glanced back once. Every person in the room had their eyes fixed on James who still standing watching her with an unreadable expression as he rubs a hand over the spot on his chest that she had jammed her finger into. She sends him a cold, sarcastic smile. "Good night James, I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon."
*VD*
By the time she gets back to the apartment building she feels like she could cry, the anger quickly replaced by exhaustion and dread. Damon's car was still gone so Adele figures he had taken her advice and was still searching for Stefan most likely with her sister in tow this time which means going up to the apartment was out of the question, she wasn't going to go wait up there by herself. In fact she didn't want to be in Chicago. She was ready to go home, more than ready to go home. She wanted to get the hell out of Chicago and never return.
"Adele." She whips around, her heart beating wildly against her ribs. She lets out a breath of air as she sees who it is.
"You scared the shit out of me." She snaps more forcefully then she intended. Justin merely raises an eyebrow not bothering with a response as he steps forward baring his hands in the pockets of his coat.
"What did he say to you?" He asks and Adele closes her eyes not wanting to relive the conversion.
"You saw me?" She whispers.
"Not intentionally. I was following James when I spotted you walking out of…" He glances up at the building beside them briefly. "The building. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one. Adele why would you go with him?"
"Because I needed answers that he was willing to give me. He told me about Kelly." Justin's eyes flash at the name, like he's recalling some distant memory.
"Aunt Kelly, yeah. She was a good woman. Her death pushed him further into the hunting business but he was well on his way to being the same guy he is now; she was going to leave him. She didn't like what he was becoming. Don't let his story fool you Adele, he's a bad guy." Justin says glancing around him like he expected something to come jumping out at them.
"I know." She whispers. "He showed me pictures of my family and friends. He told me they we're my weaknesses. He's been following me." She rips a hand through her hair, an obvious sign of frustration and nerves.
Justin moves forward the rest of the way, wrapping her in his arms easily and she doesn't resist. "Of course he did Adele. He's trying to get in your head because he knows once he does; it'll be easier to achieve his goal." He pulls away, his hands on her shoulders as he meets her eyes. "You can't let him get the best of you Adele. You fight him; you fight him with everything you've got."
"What if it's not enough?" Her eyes are wide and vulnerable and he shakes his head a small barely noticeable smirk forming on his lips.
"You don't give yourself the credit you deserve. If there's anyone who's going to tear him down, it's going to be you. Adele if you can't do it, nobody can. You'll find a way and I'll be right here with you." A car turns the corner of the street and it has Justin leaning forward pressing his lips to her forehead before letting her go completely and disappearing into the night promising to call her.
She turns her head as the car wizzes past, blowing her hair in every direction. She pushes it out of her face and glances around but the street is silent leaving her completely alone with her thoughts, something she didn't want to be.
*VD*
When Damon pulls up to the apartment building, at first he doesn't see her. He thinks maybe she's in the apartment or maybe she hasn't returned yet but with a second glance he does see her, sitting with her back against the brick wall. She's hugging her knees close to her chest, her head rested against them.
As he approaches, he's not sure if she's awake. She looks to be sleeping but as he comes closer, her head picks up and her blue eyes find him. He doesn't know how long she's been sitting there and he hopes it wasn't long. Something looks to be troubling her.
"It's time to go Kitten." He speaks softly and her eyes move from him to the car parked on the curb, she can just make out Elena crawling into the backseat. She nods slowly as she picks herself up from the ground.
He opens the passenger side door for her telling her that they could get a hotel for the night and take off for home in the morning but she stops turning to look at him. "Let's just go home." She mutters. "I want to go home." He frowns but doesn't say anything as he just nods.
As he drives, he can't help but glance over to her. She's leaning her head against the window though her eyes are open, watching the scenery change around her. He doesn't know where she went, he doesn't know what happened but something was wrong. He figures he can't get her to tell him now with Elena in the car but he hopes she will.
He reaches over, his hand slipping easily into hers and she looks up briefly to give him a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
I told you. I told you there was a lot of James in this. Most of the chapter, okay like the whole chapter but it was a chapter that I needed to do so, there it is. It's done and over with. Lolz.
Anywho, reviews are amazing, so please make sure to leave them. I really like the amount I'm getting for the chapters; it's motivating me that much more. (;
Previews for the next chapter:
Tension is high among friends,
Jeremy is seeing the ghost of his dead ex-girlfriends,
And
Damon being a dick aka Damon.