Here it is. Chapter 23. This is where things start getting wild, so I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own OC's.
Chapter 23: Growing Pains
She can hear the sounds of a siren. The sounds of a distant church bell and birds chirping. It cuts through her subconscious first before she wakes with a start, wide brown eyes frantic and confused before they land on Stefan next to her and relief floods her. "Stefan." She mutters, sagging back against the headboard of her own bed.
"Hey." He reaches forward, placing a comforting hand on her arm. "I'm right here." He assures. "You've been in and out for hours."
"What happened?" She demands when her memories come back a little fuzzy. She watches Stefan's brows furrow as his eyes rank over her face as if he's studying it.
"There was an accident." He finally says and his words seem to trigger the memory, flashes of the accident coming back to her.
"Oh my god." She mutters sitting up a little straighter. "Matt! Is he…?"
"Alive?" She startles, brown eyes moving over Stefan's shoulder to Damon, on the bench seat below her window. She hadn't even realized he was there. "Ask Stefan." Damon's tone is angry and Elena frowns. "The Hero." Elena's eyes move back over to the younger Salvatore.
"He's fine." Stefan assures and Elena relaxes back again in relief.
"Thank you." Her voice is full of graduate before she tilts her head. "I thought that I…How did you…"
"Save you?" Damon cuts off, glare moving from the floor to Stefan's back. "He didn't."
Elena sucks in a surprised breath as Stefan jumps in quickly. "When Jeremy brought you to the hospital before all this happened, your injuries were worse than anyone knew. Meredith Fell made a choice, she used Damon's blood to heal you."
"And when Rebekah ran Matt's truck off the road, you had vampire blood in your system, Elena." Damon says, voice snippy and unhappy.
Elena panics. This is everything she never wanted. Ever. "Oh my god!" She looks between the two brothers. One regretful and sad and one down right angry. "Does that mean…am I dead?" The two brothers don't respond, Stefan's lips pressing into a line and Damon glaring at the floor. "No. No. No. No!" She yells. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Maybe it doesn't have to." Stefan chimes in quickly, to try and calm her down. "I talked to Bonnie, she says she's stronger than ever, there might be something that she can do to help you."
"No!" Damon snaps, moving blue eyes full of ice to glare up at them. "The only thing that's going to help is for you to feed and complete the transition."
"We have all day before she has to feed, Damon!" Stefan snaps back. "That's a day to exhaust every possible way out of this."
"There is no way out of it. We all know the drill." Damon yells and it causes Elena to jump, eyes swelling with tears before his voice levels back out as he continues. "You feed or you die. There is no door number three."
Tears spilling down flushed cheeks, Elena looks between the two vampires. "I was ready to die. I was supposed to die. I don't…I don't want to be…I can't be a vampire! If there's something that Bonnie can do we have to try." She's scared. Scared and confused and a little bit panicked. "Where is Adele?" Elena demands suddenly. She wants her sister. If anyone would know what to say or do it would be her. "I want my sister! Where is she?"
Stefan glances back, over his shoulder to see Damon stiffen at her question. Shoulders tensing and jaw clenching shut. His glare hardens on the floor. "Elena…" Stefan finally says turning back to look at her. He doesn't even know how to begin telling her. "Adele is…"
"Gone." Damon snaps out.
"Gone?" Elena looks in him in confusion.
"Come on, Come on…" Damon mutters as he presses his phone to his ear. It rings and rings before hitting voicemail and he curses. "Come on Kitten," He says to the voicemail. "Just answer the phone. Let me know where you're at. I've been searching everywhere for you." Stefan was in charge of getting Elena home, safe and sound in her bed while she slowly comes back to the world of the living. While he's been trying to find his girlfriend who has seemed to vanish into the night.
He's about to start calling friends. Caroline. Jasmine. Michael. Anyone at this point who may have seen or heard from her when his phone rings and he glances at it, brows raising. Speak of the devil…
"Jasmine." He says. "Please tell me you're calling because you're with Adele."
"Damon." Jasmine is whispering and Damon frowns. "She's here but she told us not to call you."
"What?" He shakes his head in confusion. "Jasmine what are you…"
"She turned it off." She cuts him off and his stomach drops. "Damon…she turned it off."
"What?" He breathes. "No." He denies.
"She can't know I called you." Jasmine whispers before hanging up and Damon curses before taking off towards Mystic Falls apartments. He's banging on the apartment door in minutes.
The door swings open and Damon eyes Michael standing there for a moment before Michael's eyes move to glance back over his shoulder before looking back at him. "Damon." He says, voice cheery. "What a surprise."
"Wish I could say this was a friendly visit but I'm looking for Adele." He says carefully. "Seems like I found her."
Michael's eyes widen. "I'm sorry man. She's not here."
He smirks. "The forth heart beat in there says otherwise." He snorts. "Human heartbeats that is. No dogs included."
"Look at that." Damon's smirk falls at her voice. It's light. No grief or anger. Almost carefree. "Good looking and smart." She comes into view, turning the corner from the hallway and Damon's heart drops at the sight. At her small smirk as she struts over to them. Michael's lips press together as he looks back at her and then to him. "Damn. I sure do know how to pick them." She stops beside Michael just inside the barrier where he can't get to her.
"Adele…" Damon breathes and she smiles at him before looking up at Michael.
"It's okay." She says reaching up to pat him on the shoulder. "Jigs up. He found me." Adele shrugs. "Or Jasmine ratted me out." She laughs as Michael stiffens under her touch. She stops laughing, expression sobering. "Guess we'll never know." She whispers before letting the musician go and he steps back.
"I'll…" He takes a shaky breath. "I'll leave you guys alone." He turns walking as casually as he can deeper into the apartment.
"You know what's funny…He isn't actually scared I'd hurt Jasmine for calling you." She laughs as she watches him. "Because I won't, of course. He's sad. Sad that they've lost me. At least the human part of me anyways." She turns back to him and her blue eyes shine in amusement. "It's pathetic, really."
"What…" He swallows. "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" She questions with a slight frown. "I thought I was avoiding you but yet here you are." She shrugs. "Honestly I should have known it was futile to try and hide from you. I'm smarter than that, I should have known. My bad."
"Adele…" He steps forward but is blocked by the barrier at the door. "What did you do?" He whispers and she arches a brow at him.
"I know you too are smarter than that. Smart enough not to ask questions you already know the answers to anyways." She states before sighing. "I mean I can tell you, I guess, if you need the confirmation." She tilts her head at him, blonde waves falling over a pale shoulder. "I turned my humanity off."
"Why?" He breathes. "Adele why? Elena…She's okay. She's alive."
"Oh I know." She leans against the door frame as she looks up at him, her feet are bare leaving her slightly shorter than him. "Caroline called. Left a voicemail. Cried her relief. It was all suuuuper dramatic." She says like it's the most annoying thing that's happened. "Almost as dramatic as you calling and begging me to answer the phone. I mean seriously. Take a hint, babe. Obviously I did not want to talk to you. But once again here you are."
"Why?" He demands, voice stronger as he ignores the ping of hurt at her words. This…whoever this was in front of him was not Adele. She may look like her but the emotionless amusement that dances in her blue eyes was a clear sign that she wasn't herself anymore. "Why would you do this?"
"What do you mean why?" She snorts. "Think about it, Damon. It's been a long time coming. The signs were all there, but everyone is so caught up in saving the town and saving Elena, that we don't really see the ones who really need to be saved do we?" She smiles an unamused and slightly sarcastic smile. "I'm free." She whispers. "No more crushing grief or crippling pain. I was so far gone I couldn't even breathe without feeling like I was suffocating."
"Adele, I would have helped you!" He snaps. "Why didn't you come back to me? We would have left like we were going to!"
"Leave?" She laughs but it's humorless. "Leave now? That poor helpless Elena is a vampire? Oh no. She's gonna need us now more than ever." Adele mocks. "You really want me to believe you would have left? You really think I would have left? Now we both know the answer to that." She sighs, looking annoyed. "I was drowning Damon. You couldn't possible know. I know you would have tried; you love me, and you'll do anything to protect me, but you can't protect me from myself. Only I can and that's what I did."
"You didn't have to…" He begins but she cuts him off.
"I did. I did what I had to do for me." She nods. "I don't usually do things for me…but I feel so much better. I'm finally free. The weight is gone and I feel so much lighter now. I kind of like the idea of doing things for myself for once." She stares at him as he struggles through her words.
"What about me?" He finally asks and she blinks slowly.
"I don't really know." She shrugs. "I would love to say we could keep going on the way we were but I know it won't work. You fell for human me…"
"I fell for you. All of you. Every version of you." Damon corrects and she scrunches her nose at him.
"And that's the issue yes?" She questions. "Every emotionless vampire has an emotional trigger."
"Your damn right they do." He snaps. "And I'm yours. I know it. You know it."
"Which once again is the issue." He looks down at her in confusion. "The whole reason to even be hiding from you to begin with. I'm not going to let you bring me back when I'm finally free. Honestly. This is what I want. I can play nice and we can pretend everything is normal. I'll be the best friend, the best sister, the best girlfriend, if you just leave this alone and let me be free." She says and Damon wants to yell that nothing about her humanity being gone was normal. "Or…If you decide to try and bring my humanity back," She cuts off his thoughts as her blue eyes gleam dangerously at him. "I can be your living, breathing nightmare." She smiles as his jaw clenches. "I'll let you think about it."
And she swings the door shut, leaving him standing in the hallway, staring at the door with a miserable look on his face.
"She…" Elena breathes, chest tightening. "She has no humanity?"
"Yep." Damon snaps as he stands. "But not for long." His voice is determined, and Stefan looks up at his brother.
"Damon…" He sighs. "Her warning was very clear. We can't do anything until we think of a solid plan and right now we have to focus on what's in front of us."
"Your girlfriend is in front of you. She died and she came back to life. While mine is out there running around with no humanity, wanting nothing to do with me because she knows I can bring her back!" Damon yells and Elena takes a shaky breath as she looks up at the furious vampire.
"We need to heed her warning, Damon. Adele was dangerous with her humanity, we have no idea how dangerous she can be when she doesn't care who gets hurt or dies." Elena says and Damon is practically glaring at her.
"This isn't your decision to make, Elena. Not this time." He stands and makes his way from the room quickly. He wasn't about to let anyone tell him he couldn't try to get his girlfriend back.
*VD*
Adele glances at her phone briefly as she pulls her mustang up to the curb outside Caroline's and feels a slight ping of annoyance as she declines his call. It was his second one of the morning and she has to hand it to him, he was really keeping his cool together rather well. She expected at least one kidnap attempt or intervention attempt by now.
Maybe he was heeding her warning. Maybe he'd let her be. Or maybe he was biding his time and waiting for the perfect chance to strike. That seemed more like it if she was being honest.
She steps out of the car, into the warm sunlight and she doesn't understand why she's even here. Caroline had called her so much the night before, especially after she heard about the whole humanity flip, what could they possible need to still talk about? Did Caroline need to yell about how selfish she was for leaving her in her most desperate time? That Tyler was dead and she should care. Because Tyler was her best friend and you're supposed to care when they die.
Whatever, she'd spare a few minutes of her morning if it meant getting the blonde off her back for half a second.
Honestly her whole so called friend group with their self-righteous bullshit was grating on her nerves and bad. The only one who hasn't said anything is Michael which surprised her slightly and if she could be grateful, she's sure she would be.
Maybe her ex-boyfriend just knew her a little better than everyone else and knew pushing her into something just succeeds in pushing her further away from it.
She moves around the car, leaning back against her passenger side door, she shoves her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket, letting herself relax as she waits for the blonde to come out, she said she'd be out in a minute when Adele texted her as she was pulling up and she was feeling rather patient today so she'd wait.
She didn't have to wait long before she sees her shadow moving towards the door and she's about to push up off her car when she hisses in pain as something jabs into the side of her neck and she sucks in a breath at the painful spreading of vervain through her system as she looks over at the man who stuck the needle into her neck and she bares her fangs before gasping as a second needle is jabbed into the other side of her neck and she struggles as her body falls weak, the vervain coursing through her blood like poison, burning in its wake.
*VD*
He's sitting on the top of a coffin, eyes fixated on the dusty floor under him before a ringing of his phone snaps him out of it and he shakes his head before reaching into his pocket and pulling it out. He glares at the screen. "You incessant woman!" He snaps before answering the phone. "Hey mom, what's up?"
Carol Lockwood breaths a quick sigh of relief at the sound of her son's voice. "Tyler. Thank god. Are you okay?"
"Fine." Tyler answers. "Why?" He tries to sound as concerned as he can. "What's going on?"
"Pastor Young had me arrested this morning." Carol snaps and he can hear the rattling of a bottle and sound of liquid pouring as she gets a drink. "The Council grilled me on your whereabouts. Tyler, don't tell me where you are, the less I know the better."
"Mom, I'm okay." He promises with a roll of his eyes. "Relax."
"You didn't answer your phone, honey." She says quickly. "I was so scared that you were with Caroline."
He inwardly sighs in annoyance. "Why?" He puts as much concern and worry as he can into his next question. "What happened to Caroline?"
"The council took her." His eyebrows rise in surprise. Looks like Alaric actually started something. "Took her and Adele."
His shoulders stiffen at the name, his eyebrows raising and he can hear how much more real his concern sounds now. "What do you mean they took them?"
*VD*
Adele watches as Rebekah begins waking across from her. Caroline sat next to her still passed out from the vervain in her system and Adele merely stares as the original moans in discomfort as she begins pulling at the ropes around her.
"Vervain ropes." Adele finally says watching Rebekah's eyes lift to her in surprise. "Looks like Ric ousted us all to the council."
"The council?" Rebekah mutters as she looks back at the blonde vampire who looks oddly amused being in the situation she's in. "What do they think they can do to me?"
"I can think of a few things." She answers causing Rebekah's eyes to narrow. Something was different about her. Something was off.
Before she can respond, something crashes from outside the van before the van itself is suddenly flipping, causing Adele, Rebekah and Caroline to be jerked around as it rolls to its side, having been rammed by something. Adele gasps as the wind is knocked from her lungs as Rebekah cries out. "What the hell happened?"
Before Adele can come back with some kind of witty response they both turn towards the van's doors as one is ripped from the hinges and Adele's eyebrow raises as the second opens revealing Tyler who she thought was dead. He steps onto the door; breaking Caroline's ropes off before turning towards Adele. "Tyler?" She questions and the hybrid smirks down at her.
"I'm harder to kill than you think." He says as he rips her own ropes off.
"How…are you even alive?" She questions and he reaches down, wrapping one hand around her waist and the other around her arm to yank her up and out of the van, placing her on her feet.
"No time." He turns, reaching down to grab the still conscious Caroline and Adele can't help but think she should be awake by now that or she needs to up her intake of vervain on the daily because damn, Adele didn't even pass out. "We've got to go."
*VD*
"Wait, wait wait…" Adele walks behind the hybrid who is carrying and the unconscious Caroline over his shoulder as he leads them through the woods and away from the crash scene. "How are you even alive?"
"It's a very interesting story actually…" Caroline begins to slowly stir so Tyler stops, bending down to place her against a tree before turning back to Adele who is eying him closely.
"You shouldn't be alive though, should you?" She questions as she tilts her head at him and he mirrors her as he watches her, watches the gears practically turning in her brilliant blue eyes. "Klaus is dead." She mutters. "If he was lying about our bloodlines, that would explain us still being alive but not you. Unless…Klaus isn't dead."
"Always so smart, love." He compliments and Adele's eyes widen before she breaks off in a laugh.
"Yes." She says quickly. "How could we all forget, your favorite party trick, body snatching." Her eyes gleam in amusement and her lack of reaction causes his lips to tilt down into a slight frown. "Let me guess…Bonnie." She shakes her head, moving forward to pass by him. "Witches. Always pulling some sneaky shit."
"Is that it?" He questions causing Adele to turn back, brows raised as she stares at him. "You're not going to freak out? Get upset that I've taken over one of your precious best friend's body?"
"Uh…" Adele glances around before shrugging. "I mean I can try?" She clears her throat before marching up to him and pushing him back with just enough strength to make him stagger. "How dare you trick us all and take over Tyler's body and be alive! We worked so hard to get rid of you, how you dare be a resilient evil…bastard…" She sighs before shaking her head. "You know there's a reason I never joined Drama as a kid…"
"Adele…" She blinks at the original in Tyler's body. "What happened love?"
Adele narrows her eyes at his gentle tone. She knows he realized what's going on and his question is directed at the event that led her to this. "My sister died." She answers after a minute. "And I made the choice that was best for me in the heat of the moment and then she…un…died." Adele shrugs. "But it was far, far too late to turn back." She eyes him before second. "You once told me that this town would destroy me. You we're right. It broke me, broke me down until I was suffocating but now…now I'm free. And I've had enough dramatics for one day so save whatever it is you're going to say."
"Oh no dramatics here." He assures raising his hands in defense. "I'm all for doing what's best for one's self." He smiles, walking forward where he stops, a breath away from her, dark eyes meeting blue as Caroline moans, slowly coming too. "Maybe now, you'll be more willing to accept my offer." And he moves past her to slowly disappear into the woods causing her to look back at him.
"What happened?" Caroline whimpers, eyes disorientated and dazed. "Where are we?"
Adele looks down at Caroline slowly before clapping her hands together causing the blonde to flinch at the sudden noise. "You'll never believe this Care." Adele says brightly. "Tyler's alive!" Caroline becomes instantly more awake, sitting up to look at her best friend more clearly. "And so is Klaus! In Tyler's body!"
Caroline's eye brows furrow in confusion. "What…?"
"Oh yes. The body snatcher strikes again." Adele laughs. "Poor Tyler though, must suck to have the man you hate the most, leave you completely at mercy to him even in your own body." She sticks out her bottom lip in a mock pout before shrugging. "Oh well. Nothing we can do now. Hey, I'm starving." She turns walking towards the direction of town, not caring if Caroline is following or not. "We should get some food."
*VD*
Adele swings the front door of the house open, letting it whoosh open dramatically for the four people standing in her living room before stepping inside, blue eyes moving over each of them as they all stare at her.
"Well...I'm not exactly sure who should be looking at who is disbelief as none of you live here." She states. "And with that said…what are you all doing in my house?"
"Adele…" Damon breathes and she looks over at him, his blue eyes looking her over from head to toe.
"How did you escape? We heard you we're taken with the rest of them?" Meredith questions when Damon can't seem to form a sentence.
"Long story." She says with a roll of her eyes. "It involves kidnapping, and surprises and crying and it was terrible. Really. Has this town always been this dramatic and none of us actually ever noticed it?"
"Adele…" Matt swallows as he looks over his ex-girlfriend's twin sister. They've never been practically close, friends at best and acquaintance at worst but he's never seen her look so unconcerned with her friends and family in danger and he remembers what everyone's been telling him, how Elena's death pushed her over the edge causing her to flip her humanity off and guilt hits him, hard enough to practically smother him. This was all his fault and no one was going to convince him otherwise.
"Plot twist in that story though…the only real interesting part anyways…" She continues after he doesn't say anything else, her eyes moving over to Damon. "Klaus is alive." Damon's icy eyes widen slightly as Adele smirks at him. "And he was kind enough to save my life once…again. He's doing a real good job of actually being there when I need help." She watches as Damon's jaw clenches tightly and her smirk grows.
"Adele…" Liz sighs and it causes the blonde to turn her attention over to her. "Did you happen to see where you were? Where you we're headed?"
"Middle of nowhere." She answers, though she knows exactly where they we're headed and Damon can see it in her eyes, can sense the intent.
"Now isn't the time for games Kitten…" He mutters with a tight smile.
"But what fun would it be to just give you all the answers for free?" She laughs and Liz frowns realizing she knew where the others we're and she wasn't going to tell them.
"Your sister is there." Matt says and Adele sends him a blank look.
"Adele…" Blue eyes leave Matt as Damon comes forward, stepping up in front of her. "Think about what you're doing. Stefan's life is in danger. Your sister's life…"
"Oh." Adele says suddenly cutting him off. "Has she fed yet?" When Damon doesn't respond she merely nods in remorse. "Oh I see. Well, I guess the council isn't really her biggest issue at the moment huh?" She shrugs carelessly as she check the invisible watch on her wrist. "She'll be dead before you can free her anyways."
There's equal looks of horrified surprise across the faces of Liz, Meredith and Matt while Damon stares at her with barely concealed pain. He hated this, hated seeing the girl he loved so much, be someone so very different that it was physically painful, he could feel his heart clench with each word. Her blues flick between them all before landing back on Damon.
"Oh man." She mutters. "That kicked puppy look is on point there, Damon." And she sighs. "Alright fine but I tell you what, I'm coming with you." Damon opens his mouth probably to refuse but she quickly cuts him off. "Either I come with or I don't tell you." And he snaps his mouth shut. "And you can all have fun trying to locate a needle in a haystack."
"Fine." He mutters. "No need to be a brat about it."
She smiles at him before looking around at them. "The pastor owns a cattle farm just on the outside of town." She says. "It's the only thing out there for miles and it has holding cells for the cattle that can be easily modified." Everyone looks at her in shock mainly because they aren't sure how they didn't figure that out on their own.
Damon nods slowly before turning back to look at Matt. "Looks like you'll get to prove how sorry you are." He reaches out, grabbing the teenager by the arm and dragging him forward before pushing Adele towards the door. "Let's go. Both of you"
"Have I ever told you, how sexy you are when you're demanding?"
"Shut up." And Adele's laugh is the last thing Liz and Meredith hear before the front door closes behind the three.
*VD*
"So what's the plan?" Matt questions as they get closer to the farm.
Adele glances at Damon, who she finds is staring back at her. There's a small pull at the back of her mind, a small ping of emotion not strong enough to push through in her chest that she promptly pushes back as she catches his eye before she tears her eyes away from him. "You two will go up and distract the pastor, making him call for backup which will lessen the security on the barn which will give me enough of a chance to get in and save the damsels." She explains.
"You really think we're going to trust a vampire with no emotions to save them by yourself?" Matt questions with a deep frown and Adele sends him an annoyed look.
"I'm not doing it by myself am I?" She snaps back at him. "You will make a great but useless distraction and Damon will take out the back up when it shows up."
"How do you suppose we distract them?" Damon questions and she blinks. "Oh wise one."
"You're big boy. You can figure it out." She responds as they pull up to the farm house and Adele gives them both a look. "Don't screw up." She sings before she disappears in the blink of an eye.
Damon sighs in frustration as he gets out of the car with Matt following his lead. "So she's just going to storm the place with no weapons?" Matt demands and Damon glances at him, his hatred for the human was growing the longer he had to witness this no humanity side of Adele. This was his fault after all, his and Stefan's.
"She doesn't need weapons, she's a vampire plus it doesn't matter, you're just bait anyways." Damon rushes forwards grabbing the human before he can react and tearing into his neck, causing him to yell out in pain as Damon made sure to make it hurt. He throws him down, blood running down his chin as the veins crawl under his bloodshot eyes. "Yoo-hoo!" He yells. "Anybody home? Big, bad vampire out here."
*VD*
Adele leans against a tree as she watches the human's crawl around the entrance of the barn, armored with guns probably loaded with wooden bullets and she narrows her eyes, pushing hair back from her ear as she listens for what's happening inside.
"I had to choose." Elena is saying, her voice is weak and dry. "And I picked you." Picked him? Picked him over what? "Because I love you. No matter what happens, it's the best choice I ever made." Adele rolls her eyes, the whole thing making her want to gag. "God. It sucks that I can't see you right now."
"I'm smiling." Stefan practically whispers, voice full of emotion.
"Me too." Elena sighs and Adele can hear her harsh breathing. She probably doesn't have that much time left. Adele remembers what it felt like towards the end, the pain and the fear, knows what Elena is probably going through and knows it's everything Elena never wanted. The thought causes Adele to smirk as gunshots ring through the open area from back towards the house and Adele backs up a little as two of the humans make a run for the direction, leaving two patrolling.
Adele moves up the side of the barn carefully, one human was just up ahead while the other was around the other side and Adele sneaks up easily enough on the one ahead of her, snapping his neck easily and lowing him quietly to the ground.
She moves closer to the front of the barn, listening to the other human stand at the front. "You got him?" He's talking on the phone as Adele peaks out. "Bring him back and we'll put him with the others." He turns his back on her as he hangs up and Adele lunges, fangs slipping easily into the side of his neck, her hand muffling his scream as she drinks just until he loses consciousness. She pulls back, blood dripping down her chin as she licks her lips.
She drops him before grabbing him by the front of his shirt before she reaches for the barn doors swinging it open causing it to bang against the wall, making Rebekah and Stefan jump as they look over, watching her stroll in casually, like she wasn't dragging a half dead human behind her. She sends a cheerful smirk to Stefan as she passes his cage and he moves over to grip the bars. "Adele…"
She stops at the cage next to him, dropping the body down at the bars with a thud loud enough to cause Elena to stir, weak eyes opening to find Adele staring back at her, the blonde crouching next to the human. "Adele…" She mutters, voice raspy and broken.
"Wow…" Adele tilts her head. "You don't sound so good sister." She smiles, trying her best to make it seem comforting but her eyes dance in silent amusement and her mouth is covered in blood and Elena frowns up at her. "Thank god I brought you a present." She mentions down to the human who Elena finally seems to notice, along with the blood that slides slowly under the bars from an open wound on his neck. Elena's heart beat speeds up slightly, her stomach churning in hunger and he gums aching. Her brown eyes flash is confliction as she stares at the blood. "Go on…" Adele coaxes softly. "It just takes a drop, one drop and the pain will stop. Remember Elena, Jeremy still needs you. You useless to him dead and he's lost everything on he's ever had. Mom, Dad, Jenna, Vikki, Anna, John…Me…You're all he has left Elena."
"Elena…" Stefan calls lightly. He knows what Adele is doing. Tempting her and feeding into her insecurities to force her hand. Changing was Elena's choice and Adele was trying to take that from her. "You don't have to listen to her. This is your choice."
"You don't have to listen to me." Adele agrees. "But you know I'm right. If you give up now…who is to say Jeremy won't be the next to get hurt? To Die? You can't leave him now Elena. He's going to need you. You don't want to be the reason he loses everything do you?"
Elena swallows as she looks up into her sister's blue eyes, so intense and hypnotizing. She can't leave Jeremy. He wouldn't have anyone if she dies. She's right. Their parents are dead, clearly Adele didn't have her humanity if the way her eyes gleam is anything to go by so she was all he had now. She nods slowly as she reaches down, fingers dipping into the blood and she brings her blood coated fingers to her lips, sucking them into her mouth and at first the taste is awful but the aftertaste is sweet and she sucks in a breath at the hunger that explodes in her.
Elena's brown eyes to snap up to her sister as she laughs, almost darkly. "Good luck, sister." She stands suddenly, snapping the lock from the door and turning on her heel.
"Adele!" Elena calls, voice stronger as she pushes the door open, moving into the hall. "Wait!"
Adele stops at the door, glancing back over her shoulder. "Welcome to being a vampire, it's gonna be everything you hate." And with that she's gone, leaving Elena to stare after her, terrified.
*VD*
"You made her change." Adele glances up into the bathroom mirror, blue eyes meeting lighter blue. "You didn't know if she was going to want to but you made her."
"She was going to change Damon." Adele sighs, picking up her hair brush. "I didn't force her into anything, I gave a small nudge in the right direction. Don't be dramatic."
She gasps when the brush flies from her hand and Damon spins her around, pinning her back against the counter with a hand to her throat but there was no pressure there, just enough strength to keep her in place. "I think…" She whispers. "This is the definition of dramatic."
"Shut up." She raises an eyebrow at him, opening her mouth to make some kind of snappy come back before she gasps, his lips over hers silencing anything she was gonna say and she slowly melts into him, lips moving against his as she brings nibble fingers up to tangle in dark hair. Desire runs rapidly through her veins as Damon's fingers move from her neck, over her chin where he grips her jaw pulling away and she sucks in a breath as she opens darkened blue eyes to look at him.
"I'm not going to let you ruin your life." He whispers and her swollen pink lips pull into a frown as his body cages hers against the bathroom counter. "Everything you do, everything you say with no humanity will haunt you for the rest of your immortal life and I know you, Adele. I know you'd never hurt anyone you care about intentionally but right now you don't care, so you'll burn bridges and ruin relationships but when you're you again, you'll wish someone had just killed you. You'll hate yourself and I'm not going to let you go through that." He leans up brushing his lips against hers in a quick kiss. "So, listen to me. I love you, Adele. I will never stop loving you. I don't care what you do or what you say. I will bring you back to me even if it kills me. I understand why you did it and I'll never blame you for it but I will never let you go. I will be here, day in and day out to remind you of your humanity. Every time you see me, you'll be reminded of who you were and who you are. If you run, I will follow you, I will hunt you down and I will Bring. You. Back. I don't care what you do to me."
Her chest rises and falls rapidly as she stares at him and he can see it. He can see the flicker of light in her guarded blue eyes, can see the emotion swirl before she promptly shuts down and with a strength he's surprised by, she pulls his head back by the fingers still gripping his hair and he hisses forced to back away as she steps forward lips pressed into a tight line. She doesn't let up as she practically forces him to his knees before bending down to him.
"Don't worry, I don't blame on running. I've never been one to run from the enemy now, have I?" She hisses and he ignores the jab of pain her words stab into his chest. "I'll be right here, the whole time where you can watch me live a life where Damon Salvatore means nothing to me and we'll see who's running in the end."
She lets him go, straightening up and smirking down at him. "Give Elena my best, will you? I'm sure I'll be seeing her around." And he's forced to watch as she walks away from him.
*VD*
"Well, she gave me an ultimatum. That we leave her alone or she becomes our living nightmare." Damon says as he takes a long sip from the bottle of bourbon in his hand. Stefan paced the back of the couch behind where Elena sat and Caroline leans against the table. "And I may not have heeded her warning."
"Damon…" Elena breathes. "What did you do?" and Damon looks at her.
"Doesn't really matter what he did." Stefan sighs, arms crossed and fingers running over his chin. "What matters now is that we have to assume she's now our enemy."
"It's Adele." Caroline says in disbelief. "She's not our enemy."
"But she has no humanity." Stefan tells her carefully. "Which makes her dangerous."
"So, we stop her." Elena says as she stands, turning to look at Stefan. "Like we did you. We locked you up. We can do that to her."
"Starve her until she's weak and unable to resist turning it back on?" Caroline shakes her head. "You know her as well as I do…As a human if she can take a bullet and a dislocated shoulder and still have enough strength to fight…a little bit of hunger isn't going to do it."
"So, we just give up on her?" Elena struggles to understand what they are trying to say to her. This was her sister, and she would be damned if they gave up on her.
"No." Damon snaps. "I will never give up on her. Ever but we have to assume that she's going to be one step ahead of us at all times."
"When vampires turn off their emotions, they still have a sense of vengeance. Of anger for those who have wronged them. She came after you, Elena and she threatened Damon. The two people she loves most in this world." Stefan leans his hands against the back of the couch. "Which means whatever she's going to do…you and Damon…you two are going to be her targets."
"She's my sister…" Elena whispers as if the idea of her sister hurting her in anyway was unthinkable even if she was the deciding factor in Elena turning even though she knew this life is never the life she wanted.
"And she gave up so much to keep you safe. She lost her parents, she lost Isobel and John, she lost Jenna, she lost Alaric…she lost you." Caroline says softly. "She gave up a human life to save Damon. And I won't even mention the absolute hell you've put her through." Caroline directs her comment to Damon who simply lifts his half empty bottle to her.
"None of that was my fault." Elena argues and Stefan nods moving around the couch to stand in front of her, reaching up to gently rub her arms.
"Of course, it wasn't." He assures. "But she's not going to care. She's just going to associate all of it to being your fault. All that loss, all that grief that pushed her over the edge…she's going to blame you. She's going to blame both of you."
"Which means we have targets on our backs." Damon concludes as he raises the bottle to his lips. "Cheers to having your emotionless girlfriend wanting to make your life a living hell."
Stefan sends him a long look before sighing and looking back to a terrified looking Elena. "We will stop her." He assures.
"First order of business is to find her. I already called Michael, she's not there." Caroline says. "I already tried the app, but she locked us out. It's going to take me some time, but I can get it unlocked and once we find her, we'll see what we can do."
*VD*
Adele hits ignore once again as her phone lights up with an incoming call. It was Elena but she had no desire to entertain her emotional sister tonight. No doubt she was upset about her turning her humanity off and no doubt she was upset over what happened today and Adele wasn't going to subject herself to her whining and crying if she could help it.
She also knows Caroline is looking for her. Michael had called to inform her that she called looking for her. Ever the trusty friend he was, even without her humanity he remained loyal to her and as long as he remained so she promised him the same loyalty in return and knowing the stakes of what she could do, he wasn't about to get on her bad side. So, she had changed the password on her connect app giving them one less way to find her. Though she knew no matter where she went in town eventually, they would track her down. So, she figures there was only one place and one person she could seek out. She closes the door to her mustang quietly as she glances around before her eyes move to the massive house in front of her and she smirks. If she was going to do this whole no humanity thing right, she may as well make herself as unattainable as possible and in turn she'd get her own ally for her own purposes.
And what better ally to have against her friends and family than Klaus Mikaelson himself?
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Next on Lose Myself:
Adele has aligned herself with everyone's favorite psychopath.
Elena is having trouble adjusting to her new vampire status.
And
A new threat makes himself known in the small town of Mystic Falls.