I'm back! Sorry about that. My brother brought me a video game. It's an MMO and I'm completely addicted. It's called Final Fantasy 14 and it's pretty amazing. Lol.
Anyways, I decided to take the time I was waiting for a boss battle to begin to get this out to you guys.
Thanks for the songs suggestions and please don't hesitate to throw out anymore that you guys can think off. I'll be making a playlist of songs here soon.
Enjoy and Review.
Chapter 18: The Murder of One
She circles around the car, her moves slow and calculated and Jasmine watches with bated breath unprepared for what she may find, her mind combing through excuses and explanations to feed to her assuming she actually does manage to find something wrong.
Upon glancing over to her much taller boyfriend, she finds his expression light and unworried but she can practically feel the tension radiating off of him, can see the stiff muscles of his arms as they cross over his chest.
Adele bends at the knees disappearing behind the mustang and Jasmine's heart rate rises just slightly. She knows there's nothing there, the car was brought back in same condition as when they left but just the thought that she found something that they missed brings a slight tremor to her otherwise steady hands. Michael sends her a glance, as if to tell her to calm down and she tries. She really does.
When Adele pops back up, her sharp blue eyes cut to them and Jasmine swallows back her fear. Adele circles around to them like she could smell fear radiating from her pores and once she's in front holds out a hand mentioning for the keys. Michael hands them over. "Everything look good to you?" He questions raising an eyebrow and Adele takes a look back before nodding.
"Everything seems to be intact. No scratches or dents." She looks back to them, the corner of her lips turning up into a smirk. "You got lucky. You can live another day." She jokes but Jasmine is smart enough to realize that it may not be just a joke.
Adele's blue eyes move past them, towards Nate, the tall Aussie male walking up from behind them from The Grill. Michael places a gentle hand against her arm and mentions her away giving the two a breath of peace to talk as Adele digs the truck keys out of her pocket.
"Keep 'em." He grunts when he spots them and her pink lips pull into a frown. "I have no use for it." He tells her, dark eyes barely sparing the truck a glance.
"Well…" She sighs out mentioning back towards her own car. "I think you'd get more use out of it then I would." She tells him but his expression doesn't change as he shakes his head.
"I can't." He swallows finally moving his gaze up to look at the Chevy. "I just…It's too…" His voice cracks and she doesn't want to push him so she nods pushing the key back into her pocket.
"I understand." She says, head tilting to get a better look at him. His dark eyes are haunted, full of pain and loss and she does understand. She can relate and he seems to realize that as he sends her a grateful smile for not pushing the issue. "Just know that I'll take good care of it. I won't get rid of it, I'm not going to change it and when you want it, you can have it. It's yours."
He nods, gaze moving towards the ground as his eyes fill with unshed tears and she steps up to wrap her arms around his lean waist, feeling his stiff muscles loosen as he pulls her close, his face burying into her neck as he inhales deeply, trying to get a grip of his emotions.
When he pulls away Michael clears his throat gaining there attention. "Just so you know you're going to need to give us a ride."
*VD*
She pulls into the Mystic Falls apartment complex and parks her mustang next to the familiar blue Camaro meeting Michael's questioning gaze through her rearview mirror. She explains to them briefly about the old Wickery Bridge sign being a weapon against the originals and Alaric's murderous problem before leaving the trio to their own devices while she walked to the apartment building next to Michael's.
She enters the apartment silently catching the last bit of Alaric's statement. "…I would like to take responsibility for the people I've killed."
"What's going on?" She questions drawing the attention towards her and Damon sighs out gesturing wildly towards the history teacher.
"Alaric is trying to turn himself into the police." He explains much to Adele's horror as she turns her wide blue eyes to him.
"That's a horrible idea." She states. "Plus if you really wanted to turn yourself in, you wouldn't be saying it out loud."
"I agree with that." Damon states pointing a finger in her general direction as he looks at Alaric who seems frustrated.
"Hey, listen." He directs at Adele. "You out of all people cannot psychoanalyze me, I'm the adult. I killed Caroline's father; I nearly killed Meredith. Everything's changed." He says.
"Nothing's changed." Adele insists. "It's not your fault."
"Look, you're not turning yourself in." Stefan speaks up. "Bonnie's herbs are working and we have Originals to kill."
"His morals get very questionable when he has revenge on the brain." Damon states earning a hard glare from his younger brother.
"Klaus needs to die." Stefan tone is firm and Adele takes a step forward closer to the three males.
"He's right." She says. "We finally have the chance to kill him," She shakes her head at Alaric slowly, blue eyes dead serious. "So you are not turning yourself in."
To make a point Damon grabs the Gilbert ring off the table and holds it out to the history teacher who practically hisses at the side of it. "Put it on."
"That ring," He spits. "Is the reason I've killed people."
"It's also the reason you're alive." Damon reminds him.
"You're going vampire hunting, Ric." Adele tells him softly. "Wear it." Though she doesn't want him to have to wear it, she'd glad when he takes it, slipping it onto his finger in defeat.
*VD*
Adele already has her stake locked away in the glove department of her car where only she can get to it but Stefan had 11 more just like it in a duffle clenched in his right hand as they walk towards the designated meeting area deep in the woods.
Why they couldn't all just meet at Alaric's apartment and go over the plans there, why they absolutely had to meet up in the middle of the woods, she'll never understand but it's too late to voice her opinion now as the three of them break through the tree line and into the small clearing where Elena, Caroline and Matt are waiting for them but as Adele glances around it seems they are missing a certain witch.
"Where's Bonnie?" Stefan calls announcing their presence. "I texted her too."
"Um," Caroline speaks up after glancing around at the only two humans. "Bonnie's mom bailed on her. Again. So, I think we should leave her out of this one." Stefan looks mildly annoyed at the news but otherwise ignores it.
"What are we doing here?" Matt questions.
"We found some more white oak." Adele tells the three watching there expressions melt away into shock.
Elena opens her mouth more or less about to question how and Damon sensing it quickly cuts her off. "It's a long story, wait for the movie."
"Okay wait," Elena finally gets in. "White Oak? You have a weapon that can kill Klaus?"
The three quickly glance at each other hoping their next move wasn't going to be there biggest mistake. "Nope." Stefan finally says, swinging the duffle in his hand and dropping it at their feet. "We all have a weapon."
Questions begin to fly at them all at once, how they managed to get so many, how they planned on killing all the originals, how they planned on going about this suicide mission and they let them throw their questions out until they don't have any left before Stefan finally speaks up to answer them or at least the ones he thinks matter most.
"Klaus has always been one step ahead of us, but now we have the advantage." He begins. "We're all armed and they are all linked, meaning we only need to kill one of them. We need to seize the best opportunity, which means we need to prepare for every opportunity."
"Scenario number one." Damon states moving forward, he grabs Elena by the shoulders and moves her into the middle of the group. "You get to play Klaus." He tells her and she mutters an 'okay' as she sends them a strange look.
"Rebekah is our target so we distract her and catch her off guard. To do that we need to keep Klaus separate and occupied." Stefan explains before cutting off and Adele's blue eyes move around to look at the entire group as they turn to stare at her as one.
She almost groans. "Why do I always have to be Klaus bait?"
"Because he's obsessed with you." Damon tells her, tone bitter and she glares at the ground. She really wanted to be the one that got to stab Rebekah in her undead heart.
"Caroline, you get to play Rebekah." Damon waves the tall blonde over and she sighs as she moves into the center. "We use the quarterback to distract her. Just keep her talking." He says looking over towards Matt.
"How?" He questions.
"Act interest. She's lonely, desperate." Damon answers and out of the corner of his eye he can see Caroline scoff.
"Obviously." She says, voice snarky. "She slept with you." She regrets the statement as soon as she says it as Adele's wide blue eyes snap up from the ground to stare at her, hard and cold. Damon glares is in full effect as well and Caroline realizes how inconsiderate her comment was to her best friend who was already dealing with so much on top of Damon's betrayal. It was completely horrible for her to throw it in his face right in front of her. "I'm so sorry." She apologizes quickly.
"Beefcake holds bombshell. I come up from behind her." Damon continues as the two completely ignore her apology. Damon moves around to stand behind Caroline. He grabs ahold of her arms and pulls them behind a bit harder than actually necessary as she squirms in discomfort. "Grab her arms like this."
"Ow." She growls but he ignores her and actually seems to squeeze harder.
Stefan comes up from the side with one of the stakes and acts like he stabs her. "Gives me time for one shot." He tells them and Damon finally lets her go, letting her move away as she rubs her arms where he was holding her glaring back at him. "Got it?" Stefan questions looking around for all there agreements. "Good. So we all have one stake, we keep it hidden and we look out for any opportunity we have."
"No last minute attacks of pity for any of them." Damon says ice blue eyes looking towards Elena who straightens her back.
"Don't worry about me. Not after what happened to Bonnie's mom." She tells him and he nods slowly before turning towards Caroline.
"Oh I'm ready." She states. "Anything that will free Tyler from his sire bond to Klaus."
"Busboy?" Damon questions and Matt merely shrugs.
"Do I have a choice?" He questions.
"Good point." His eyes move over towards Adele who's standing with her arms crossed next to Stefan and when she notices his look and shakes her head.
"I just want this to be over already. I'll do what it takes to make it happen." She confirms.
Satisfied with all of their answers Stefan mentions down towards the bag. "We have 12 stakes, 12 shots at killing one Original. We can do this. Alright, let's try another scenario. Elena grab a crossbow." Stefan holds out the weapon to her and she is quick to jump forward and take it. "Matt, you play Klaus."
Adele moves a little further away from the group, sliding her back down a tree to sit on the ground only glancing over when Damon takes a seat next to her and they continue to watch on in silence. She had a feeling this was going to be a long day.
*VD*
"So you're forgiving him? For everything that he's done to you?" Caroline asks arms crossed with a scowl mirroring her features and Adele sighs reaching up to push a piece of blonde hair from her face.
"I didn't say that," She begins but Caroline is quick to cut her off.
"You just said you're giving him a second chance." She reminds her as Adele glares.
"Giving someone a second chance doesn't necessarily mean forgiving them Caroline." Adele's blue eyes move over to Matt in apparition.
"Thank you." She says before turning back to her blonde best friend. "I haven't forgiven him but I want to try to. I love him as crazy as you think that is and I don't think I could ever stop and I'm afraid that breaking up with him would be a huge mistake. I'd regret it if I didn't at least try to move past this."
Caroline is silent for a full minute just staring at her while Matt glances between the two wondering exactly where Elena had run off to. It was starting to get a bit to awkward for him. "Okay." Caroline sighs. "I give up. When it comes to Damon your completely unreasonable."
Adele doesn't get the chance to respond before Elena reappears. "Is it weird that Bonnie's not returning my calls?"
"Is it weird that Klaus's brother is in the middle of town square?" Matt questions causing the three girls to whip around and there walking across the street is Finn with the red head known to only Adele as Sage.
Adele breaks out her cell phone quickly dialing up Damon as Elena explains that it's Finn and that she thought he had left town which it what Adele had thought as well and Caroline quickly takes to listening on the reunited couple's conversion. Damon doesn't answer so she calls Stefan.
He answers on the third ring with a gruff Hey. "Hey. Where are you?" She questions.
"I just got home, why?" He can hear the urgency in her voice.
"Finn is in the town square," She tells him. "And he's with Sage." She warns and he curses, he can hear Elena in the background asking how they should go about this.
"Adele, listen to me. You tell them not to do anything. Sage is very old and very strong. You guys don't stand a chance against her." He explains and she rolls her eyes, resisting the urge to go with the old "no shit Sherlock" line.
"You need to get Damon and get down here." She tells him instead and he's about to agree when he spots Alaric sitting up with a groan on the staircase.
"What the hell happened to you?" He questions and Adele's brows furrow in confusion.
"Stefan?" She questions but she can hear another voice, Alaric saying something about Rebekah happening.
"Adele," Stefan sighs. "I think we have a problem."
*VD*
The Gilbert twins meet up with Stefan outside of The Grill after giving Caroline the instructions to go back to the boarding house to stay with Alaric and keep an eye out for his murdering alter ego. "Hey," Elena greets to announce their presence but Stefan barely glances up from his phone.
"How is he?" Adele asks referring to Alaric since nobody exactly knows what happened. Just that Alaric was attacked by Rebekah and Damon was now missing, leaving the only conclusion to be that Rebekah has him held up somewhere for who knows what reason.
"He's just banged up." He answers. "Matt texted me and said Finn is still in the Grill. We need to plan our next move." He tells them and Elena's lips pull into a deep frown.
"Wait." She says before he can jump into planning mode. "Rebekah has Damon; our next move should be finding him."
Stefan glances towards Adele who is looking at her sister with furrowed brows. Wasn't she the one supposed to be worrying about Damon's safety? Why was Elena suddenly beating her too it?
"No." Stefan shoots back much to both of their surprise as Adele now directs her stare at him. "We need to stay on point. See an Original, kill an Original. That's the plan."
"Yeah, that was the plan before Damon's life was hanging in the balance." Elena shoots back and Adele is suddenly confused. She doesn't understand what alternate timeline she's stepped into but it was starting to freak her out.
"Look Elena, I know that your concerned for my brother and your sister's boyfriend's life," He puts a lot of emphasis on the words brother and boyfriend as if he's trying to remind Elena of who they we're talking about and that the large amount of concern she's throwing at them is completely unneeded. "But if he even knew, for one second, that we were talking about missing a chance to kill these people he would lose his mind."
"Yeah," Elena is smart enough to agree with that but she's not giving up that easily. "And if the roles were reversed he would stop everything to save you." Stefan's about to say something when Elena turns on Adele. "Why are you so quiet about this?"
"Maybe because neither of you have given me a chance to say anything nor asked me my opinion?" She says before sighing. "Of course I hate to say it Elena but Stefan is right."
"What?" Elena exclaims dark eyes outraged. Adele smiles at the few people she managed to draw the attention from before turning back to her fuming twin. "How could you even say that? Aren't you supposed to love him?"
"I do love him." She snaps in a moment of loss control. Elena of all people did not get to question her feelings for Damon. "If you'd give me a second, I could explain." Elena presses her lips together holding back whatever she was planning on saying next. "As much as I want to storm Castle Original, I know the likely hood we'd actually win and it is not high. Damon wouldn't want us to kill ourselves in the process of trying to save him but we've got a real chance here to not only to save Damon but to beat the Original's as well. Killing Finn kills them all; they're linked and Rebekah can't exactly hurt him if she's dead. So we kill Finn thus killing Rebekah and then we can get Damon back."
Elena doesn't say anything but she looks like she wants to, like she's trying to find some kind of flaw in her reasoning but she knows that she's right.
"So are you going to help us or not?" Stefan finally asks, fed up with waiting but when Elena can just stare at them it only fuels his annoyance. "Fine, we'll figure it out. Come on, Adele."
*VD*
His arms are raised above his head, his wrist caught in bear traps that hang from the ceiling. Blood drips down his arms soaking into the sleeves of the opened button down. Blood trailed along his chest from cuts made to the major arteries along his neck.
He can feel the strain on his body. He was hardly able to even heal fast enough anymore to keep from passing out. He's beginning to wonder how long it actually takes to get vervain out of someone's blood stream, certainly not this long. She was just dragging it out at this point, wanting him to suffer.
There's a creak from a door and the sound of approaching footsteps and he visibly tenses, waiting for the original blonde to appear before him but to his complete and utter surprise and slight horror it's not the original blonde but his own blonde girlfriend. "Kitten." He croaks out, sighing in relief. "What are you doing here? Rebekah will kill you."
"Well then hurry up and tell me what to do." She demands in a gentle tone her blue eyes meeting his and he lifts his head as best he can to give one of the bear traps a glance drawing her attention up as her lips part in horror.
"Open them." He tells her. "Carefully." She reaches up and as he instructed carefully pries one of the bear traps open catching him as slumps forward before reaching for the second one with a little more difficultly, his weight leaning on her making it harder to reach up all the way but she does get it. She grabs him, adjusting his weight against her side before he falls. He's too weak to hold himself up; he's lost way to much blood for even a self-healing vampire to be able to withstand for long.
She begins pulling them along needing to get him out of this house and to safety but he's so heavy against her side and he's losing consciousness fast. "Come on, Damon." She coos lightly. "You have to keep going. You can't give up on me now, we're almost there."
He can barely make it another ten steps and she can't hold his weight any longer. They stumble and she loses her grip. He falls and she goes with him, managing to land on her knees in front of him. "No, no, no." She breaths reaching out for him, fingers cupping his cheeks lifting his head. "Look at me, Damon. Look at me."
He pries his heavy eyes open to look across at her, her blue eyes intense and worried. "Don't be an idiot, Kitten." He mumbles barely able to form coherent enough words.
"I am not going to leave you." She insists and he can't understand why. He's hurt her so much, why was she so determent to risk her life for him over and over? "I love you okay?" She says as if reading his mind. "And I'm always going to so I'm not going to leave you to die." She shifts rolling up her right sleeve and holding out her tanned wrist to him. "Here, drink." She demands and he wants to refuse but just the sight of her blue vein offered up to him has his mouth watering and he reaches out a shaking hand to grip her slim forearm, pulling her up further to him as his mouth presses down into her wrist, pressing a soft kiss before his teeth sink into her flesh and she gives a small yelp before sighing eyes fluttering closed.
When he pulls away licking his lips, he can feel the blood stirring in his veins, can feel himself beginning to heal, becoming stronger. He opens his eyes to find her watching him, blue eyes full of wonder and he can feel the pull of them, the hypnotizing pull he's always felt. He reaches forward his own hand moving up to cup her cheek, fingers tangling into her blonde locks as he leans forward lips brushing against hers and that's when he realizes.
She's human and just like that this dream he's trapped in begins to fade, melting away into the harsh reality that he was still trapped, still bleeding and still in pain with no signs of help anytime soon. "You bitch." He croaks out upon catching the shadow looming over him.
Rebekah's smile is cruel. "It's not fun when someone messes with your thoughts, is it?"
"Actually I was having a pretty good time in there." He attempts wishing with almost everything he had, that it could have been real.
"Well," Rebekah begins, smile replaced with a sneer. "I hope you we're nicer to Adele then you were to me."
"Of course I was." He snaps with what little energy he has left. Her little games and her whining was beginning to wear on his nerves or maybe it had something to you with the pints of blood he's lost in the last hour. "She's my girlfriend." He reminds her. "Come on, I couldn't have hurt you that bad. I mean you had to have realized I didn't actually have a thing for you. Despite everything I've done to her, I love Adele." Rebekah actually looks hurt but it's beyond his capability to actually care. "But I get it." Now it's his turn to turn a cruel smile in her direction. "If Klaus bossed me around for a thousand years, I'd probably be pretty desperate for attention too."
Rebekah snaps, pulling a knife seemingly out of thin air and shoving it straight into his side and he can do nothing but cry out in agony.
*VD*
Adele sits at Stefan's side, playing the part of friendly bar goer as she chats up the bar tender, out of the corner of her eye she can see Matt walk up to take the coffee cup in front of Stefan along with the tiny bottle of liquid vervain that she was nice enough to supply him with.
She continues to chat with the bar tender every once in a while turning to say something to Stefan who nods along in his part as he types away on his phone. When he nudges her and mentions to the door, she's says a quick goodbye to the bar tender who looks slightly disappointed before sliding from the bar stool heading towards the side door in front of Stefan. Just as she's opening the door they hear some choking and glance back long enough for Sage and Finn to catch sight of them after taking there vervain laced shots. She sends cheerful wave as Stefan smiles back at them before they quickly disappear leaving the two older vampires to chase after them.
Adele rushes ahead of Stefan, knocking on a door that leads back into the kitchen of The Grill and it opens letting her slip inside with Matt and Elena. Matt hands her the white oak stake before grabbing the cross bow at his feet and Elena stays by the door waiting for her cue.
Adele listens carefully, she listens to the sounds of a struggle, she listens to Sage yell at Finn about the stake that's rolling down the steps and when his footsteps stop just beyond the door, Adele nods at Elena who pushes the door open for Matt to file out. He pulls the trigger on the cross bow, a regular stake shooting out and hitting its target in Finn's gut. Matt backs away back into the building as Adele moves forward as Finn is pulling the stake from his gut he doesn't have the time to dodge her attack and she lands a clean blow, the white oak stake sinking into his chest through to his heart.
She hears Sage's cry as she moves back into the building as well watching as Finn collapse just before the door swings closed. We did it. Adele thinks as she listens to Sage cry outside the door. We actually did it. It's over.
*VD*
It's not over. It's so far from over that Adele's head is actually spinning as she listens in on Elena's phone conversion with Bonnie explaining to them how Klaus has Damon which they already knew but also how Klaus forced Bonnie to do an unlinking spell, unlinking all the Original's just in time for them to kill Finn.
"Where's Damon?" Elena finally asks and Bonnie tells her what they also already knew, at Klaus's mansion.
"It's bad, Elena." Bonnie's voice is unsteady, trembling as she tries to force the words out. "He threated Jeremy and my mom." Adele stops listening after that, her anger reaching all new highs as she spins around practically kicking the steps behind her.
"Damn it." She snaps as Elena hangs up the phone. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?" She demands. "We have to get him back!"
"I told you we should have went for him in the first place." Elena reminds her much to her annoyance.
"Shut up Elena." She spits her frustration and panic leaking out through her tone. "This is not the time for your self-righteous 'I told you so.'"
"Adele…" Caroline whispers in shock as Elena's wide eyes stare back at her sister who scoffs before turning to Stefan.
"We need to figure this out now." She tells him and he nods in agreement. Her original plan hadn't worked. She didn't want to storm Castle Original but she would, if it meant getting him back and getting rid of this newly formed knot in her stomach, she would storm the castle of their enemy and risk her life. She would declare war if she had to.
"Okay." Stefan finally sighs out, reaching up a hand to run though his hair. He moves forward grabbing a white oak stake from the bag on the floor and sticking it into his pocket. "Klaus needs to die, we need to get Damon back. There's only one way to do that." He turns rushing towards the front door and Elena chases after him leaving Adele and Caroline staring after them.
"What just happened?" Caroline questions and Adele shakes her head as she moves to follow them, listening to them argue about Stefan's anger issues and how it'll get him killed but he just slams the door as he leaves. "I miss well-adjusted Stefan." Caroline comments right before the door is busted back open and Stefan comes tumbling through landing with a grunt.
"Ding dong." Sage follows him in much to Elena and Adele's horror.
"Oh shit." Adele mutters backing up a step knowing this was more or less going to be a losing battle. Caroline takes a step towards the older vampire but she swats her away like a bug.
"I'm not here for you." She turns her full attention towards Stefan. "I'm here for him," and then her eyes are seeking her out. "And then I'm going to take care of you." Elena tries to make a run for it but one of Sage's groupies is blocking the door in a second, backing her up into her the house.
Adele's mind is running a mile a minute trying hard to figure a way out of this. They didn't have time for this, Damon needed there help. "We had to kill him, Sage." Stefan wheezes out.
"Oh, you remember me." She kicks him hard enough to send him flying into a chair. "Good. Then you know I like to go all ten rounds." She barely has the chance to take a step forward before she begins to cough and for the first time since she's barged in, Adele notices her sickly complexion and her sunken in eyes before her nose begins bleeding.
Stefan stands and Sage throws a punch at him but he catches her fist throwing her to the ground as she begins to gag, like she's choking spitting out blood and Adele has to look away, vivid memories of the night she died resurfacing.
"Troy, help me." Sage yells and the vampire keeping ahold of Elena lets her go, rushing to his creator's side before he too begins to choke up blood and Adele turns back long enough to watch them squirm around in pain. "What is happening to me?" Sage asks just before she stops moving all together and slowing her skin begins to turn gray, Troy not far behind her.
"She just died." Adele points out as if they all had not just witnessed the same thing. With a deep breath, Elena lowers herself to sit on the step to the living room eyes glued to the two dead vampires as Stefan begins to pace.
"So Sage and this Troy guy die within an hour of Finn." Caroline concludes for them.
"But why?" Elena questions. "Were they bitten by a hybrid or…?"
"Hybrid bites do not look like that. Maybe Sage was so in love with Finn she just died of sadness." Caroline answers with a shrug of her shoulders.
"No." Elena shakes her head. "That doesn't it explain Troy."
"It's the blood." Adele speaks up drawing there attention. "The bloodline, they were both apart of Finn's bloodline. Finn turned Sage, Sage turned Troy. They're all part of the same vampire bloodline that originated with Finn." She explains to them.
"Wait, so when an Original dies every vampire turned from their bloodline dies along with them? Because that would mean..." Caroline trails of with the horrifying realization that the rest of them seemed to be having.
"So If the Originals die, so do all of you." Elena wheezes out with a painful knot forming in her stomach. "The entire vampire species would...it'd just be dead."
"So what do we do now?" Caroline whispers and Adele brushes hair from her face as she straightens up, looking towards Stefan.
"You know what we need to do." She tells him and he does much to his frustration. "We need to collect the stakes. We need to bargain for Damon's freedom and then we need to figure out what bloodline we all originated from because all of us originated from the same bloodline. Katherine's blood turned Damon, you and I and Damon's blood turned Caroline, Katherine was turned by Rose but that is as far as we know. Once we've figured it out, we can go from there."
"God," Caroline groans. "I really hope it's not Klaus."
*VD*
Once they gathered almost all the stakes expect for a select few that Stefan insisted they keep, the two set out to Klaus's mansion leaving Caroline and Elena to wait for them back at the house.
When they get there they walk right in with no restrictions and Adele glances around the massive house that looked much smaller the last time she was there but that might have been due to the lot of people that had been there as well.
Her eyes catch sight of the room off to the left and Damon strung up by bear traps hung from chains connected to the ceiling, fresh blood spilling down his chest. "Oh my god." She breaths rushing forward into the room. Damon's blue eyes snap open at her voice and he can't tell whether she's real or not until Stefan appears behind her and he realizes that he's not dreaming this time. "Damon." Stefan catches her by the arm and she almost fought before thinking better of it when he calls out that they're there.
Klaus and Rebekah enter a few minutes later, Klaus's eyes roaming over the both of them quickly. "Oh look, a hero." He remarks. What do you want?"
Stefan drops the duffle bag at Klaus's feet but Adele eyes have barely left Damon, whose eyes have been locked onto her before moving to the duffle bag when Stefan dropped it. "We're here to make a deal." Stefan tells them.
"Stefan," Damon groans out. "What are you doing?"
"Eight stakes made of white oak," He explains as Klaus's eyes snap down to the duffle. "The part of Wickery Bridge that you forgot to burn." Klaus turns accusing eyes on Rebekah who struggles for something to say.
"That's impossible." She finally settles with.
"Actually it's not. Finn's dead." Stefan informs them much to their utter surprise and slight horror.
"You killed my brother?" Rebekah growls and Adele finally turns to look at them as well sending a smirk in Rebekah's direction.
"Actually, I did." She taunts causing the blonde original to press her lips together with a glare.
"Damon in exchanged for the last eight weapons that can kill you." Stefan says watching as Klaus seems to think it over for a minute.
"How do I know there aren't any more left?" He asks and Stefan pushes back his annoyance as much as possible.
"Because there aren't." He snaps.
"Let's be certain, shall we?" Klaus's eyes fall on Damon before he walks forward, towards the suspended vampire. "Leave." He tells him.
"No." Damon barely gets out.
"Go on. Leave."
"Nik," Rebekah whines. "He's my plaything, not yours."
Klaus reaches forward grabbing the bleeding vampire by the neck and Adele's whole body jerks as she resist the urge to move forward. "I said," The two watch as Damon's ice blue eyes fall blank with Klaus's compulsion. "Go home."
Adele gasps as Damon begins to pull at his restraints, the bear traps pulling at his skin, ripping through it like butter but he keeps pulling, crying out in agony as Adele jerks forward but Stefan grabs her, pulling her back against his chest.
"Oh my god! Stop!" Adele finally snaps. "What is this going to prove?" Klaus looks back at her before sighing and glancing back at Damon still pulling.
"Alright, stop, stop, stop, before you hurt yourself." He immediately stops, sagging down with relief. "Well, seeing that he can finally be compelled. Now." Klaus reaches forward again, pulling Damon's head to look at him. "Minus the stake that's in my brother, how many more stakes are out there that can kill me?"
Damon looks like he wants to resist answering but it comes out anyways. "Eleven."
"Eleven!" Klaus practically laughs. "Really?" He turns cruel eyes back over to them. "So, not eight then."
"We can get you the other three." Adele tells him with a glare.
"Yeah, that'll be nice." Klaus nods before his gaze returns to Stefan. "Or since you lied, maybe I'll just compel your brother to chew out his own tongue."
"What is wrong with you?" Stefan questions in a whisper.
"What is wrong with you?" The hybrid exclaims suddenly. "Do you really have no appreciation for me? I have given you someone to hate, to loathe, a target for all of your anger; so you don't have to turn it on yourself. I have given your life purpose, as your friend." He laughs. "I really think you should be thanking me."
Stefan growls and lunges at him, throwing him back against the wall with a stake posed at his chest. "Stefan, no!" Adele shouts but he can barely hear her with the roaring of blood in his ears.
"Step down," Klaus warns. "Or I'll kill you and your brother." Stefan hesitates but eventually backs down, handing over the stake to Klaus who smirks at the younger Salvatore. "There, now you only have to get me the other two."
"This is ridiculous." Rebekah finally speaks up, sounding fed up with the whole situation. She storms forward confusing the hybrid.
"What are you doing?" He questions as she reaches up to the first bear trap and pries it open before doing the same to the other and Damon falls in a heap to the ground causing Adele to rush forward without someone holding her back. She drops down beside him as he pushes to his knees.
"I brought him here. I get to release him." She says. "My rules now. Bring us the stakes and you all live. Take your brother as a sign of good faith." She walks forward picking up the bag of stakes and ignoring the reunited couple as she leaves.
Klaus watches her before turning his eyes back over towards the freed vampire. Adele reaches up, brushing fingertips across his healed neck. "Are you okay?" She whispers. "I'm so sorry, I thought that it would work but it didn't." Damon doesn't know what she's referring to but he doesn't care. She's there and she's touching him and she's worried about him and all he can do is dip his head into the curve of her neck as she runs her fingernails against his scalp. It felt amazing a far cry from the agonizing pain he'd just been in moments ago.
Watching Adele coo over her healing boyfriend leaves a bitter taste in Klaus's mouth as he turns away back towards Stefan. "Bring us the stakes. All of them or I will wage a war against everyone you love. I hope I'm being clear."
*VD*
Adele hangs the last shirt from the pile of clean laundry she had done almost a week ago in the closet before turning around watching Damon slip from the bathroom, towel hanging low on his hips. His hair is still wet from his shower, water droplets sliding down across his neck and down his chest and she quickly looks away, picking up the laundry basket.
"How are you feeling?" She asks after a minute of silence as she throws the dirty clothes laying around into the basket and Damon searches for a shirt in the dresser.
"Physically? Fine." He sighs finally closing the drawer and moving onto the closet. He pulls the shirt she had just hung up back down and slings it over his shoulder. "We were this close." He growls, eyes full of frustration. "This freaking close to ending this."
"Yeah," Adele settles the basket against her side as she turns to look at him. "Let's just be glad we didn't because if we did, we'd all be dead."
He silently agrees though he won't voice it. "I guess we just better be happy that we all come from the same bloodline." He finally says.
"Well…" She shrugs. "Not all of us." He sends her a questionable look and she blows out a breath of air. "We don't know yet who sired our bloodline but we do know who originated Tyler's. Klaus."
"Yeah, I thought about that too." He attempts. "But we're just going to have to deal with that when the time comes. If by some possible way, Klaus has to die. That is the only way this will ever end."
"I know." She whispers glancing down at her feet. "I just don't want to hurt Tyler or Caroline in the process."
He comes to stand in front of her, shirt still hung over his shoulder and towel still dipping low on his hips as he places his hands against her upper arms, rubbing them up and down slowly and she can feel the heat his touch brings to her veins sizzling through her. "We'll figure it out." He says voice low as her eyes move up to meets his. She can see his want, his need but she doesn't think she can handle it. Not yet anyways.
She nods slowly as she steps back and he lets his hands fall back to his sides as he watches her. "Well, you need to go and get the stake back from Alaric. I'm going to go put on a load of clothes before heading home."
"You could stay." He says and she takes a deep steadying breath as her eyes dart towards the bed.
"I know." She says. "But I just…I can't. I'm sorry Damon but I can barely even look at that bed without seeing…" She trails off, the words on the tip of her tongue but she can't force them out. "Let alone actually get in it."
"Okay," He nods brows furrowing slightly. "I understand." And he does, completely. "We can fix that though."
"Yeah. I know." She agrees. "But let's just focus on what's important right now. We need to figure out everything about our bloodline and we need to make sure Jeremy is safe."
He doesn't want to show that she didn't think there relationship was important affected him as much as it did. He knows that she didn't mean it like that or at least he hopes she didn't.
"Okay. Then I'll see you tomorrow?" and she nods, sending him a small smile before disappearing from the room leaving him standing there staring at the doorway. She said she wanted to try, this wasn't trying. This was avoiding the problem.
*VD*
Elena knocks on the open door letting Stefan know she's there but he barely spares her a glance as he twirls one of the two white oak stakes around in his hands. "Hey." She greets slowly.
"Hey." He mutters back finally looking up to watch her step into the room.
"You haven't said much since you got back home." She mentions lightly, not wanting to pry but also wanting to know what was going on with him. Why he was acting so strange and impulsive
"I'll be a ball of sunshine once Damon gets Alaric's stake back." Stefan says sending her quick smile and even that seemed to come off as more of a frown. "Promise."
Since that tactic didn't seem to work for her, she'd try again. "You really scared me today. You wouldn't have survived if you went up against Klaus on your own, you know that, right?"
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." He mutters almost too low for her to hear and her lips pull down into a slight frown.
"Why?" She questions.
"Cause he's not worth it." Elena could almost cry in relief. She's been waiting so long for him to realize this. "All this time and energy that I've wasted hating him, it was for nothing. It's done, it's over. We lost. I'm right back where I started." Her relief isn't long lived as her mind processes what he's said and she sighs.
"That's not true. Yeah, Klaus dragged you through hell, but you came out the other side. You beat him by being better than him." She tries to assure him but he just doesn't seem to want to get it.
"And what did I lose in the process?" He gets up off the bed walking towards her swinging the stake back and forth before finally throwing it off to the side letting it roll onto a table. "Look, hating Klaus was easy. It allowed me to ignore everything that was happening around me. Everything I let slip away. Now I have to deal with that."
"Stefan," Elena sighs before he cuts her off.
"No, no, just admit it. Admit it to me, Elena." He practically pleads. "I know you don't owe it to me, but I just need to hear you say it."
She wants to pretend she doesn't know what he's talking about but she does. "I...I can't, because it's not true, Stefan. I never stopped loving you."
"I know that. I know you didn't." He nods. "Even though I did everything possible to push you away. It's my fault. It's all my fault. I mean, this is all my fault."
"What are you talking about?" Now she's actually confused. She doesn't understand where he's going with this.
Stefan's expression twists like he's in pain, like someone was running him through with a knife. "I'm talking about the fact that you're also in love with Damon."
Elena's eyes widen, her face pales and if someone walked in right now they would have thought Stefan had slapped her as her heart begins to pound in her chest and her hands begin to shake. "W-what? No, Stefan, I..."
Stefan reaches forward a hand cupping her cheek as his thumb runs along her cheek bone. "Hey," He cuts her off. "I love you. I will always love you. I just want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you don't feel something for him."
Elena actually hesitates, she looks him in the eye and she hesitates. Why? She doesn't love Damon. Damon was Damon. He was the bad guy, he was the guy who killed without remorse and he was the guy who's caused them so many problems but he was also the guy who was there when they needed him. He was the guy who almost threw away his own life to try and make sure she wasn't sacrificed to Klaus, he was the guy who spent the entire summer looking for a brother who didn't want to be found and making sure to keep her safe. He was the guy that despite everything, despite what he'd tried to make them believe was actually a good guy.
He'd become the guy she runs to when she needs help, when she's in over her head and when she needs someone to protect her.
But he was also her sister's boyfriend. The guy her sister was so madly in love with. He was the guy who would burn the world down for her sister if it would make her happy.
"I…" Elena swallows. "I don't know what I feel." She attempts as much as it chokes her up, as much as it pains her.
Stefan takes a deep breath as he lets his hand fall back to his side. He nods slowly before moving past her, grabbing the stake from the table and leaving her to watch after him, her thoughts and feelings more jumbled than ever before.
Don't hate me! D:
I know it's horrible but I swear I'm going somewhere with this. I promise. Pinky promise. (:
Anyways, leave a review and let me know what you think. Next chapter is when things start getting good. I promise that too.
Next chapter of Lose Myself:
Damon, Adele and Elena take a trip to check on Jeremy when a surprise guest shows up,
Elena must decide what she's feeling and what she wants,
And
Tension is still thick among Damon and Adele but things might start to look up.