Thank you again for all the reviews and apologies for the cliffhanger last chapter!
We're getting closer to the end of the story with all the drama unfolding, but I promise to make time for some calm scenes too. There's still lots to come though, don't worry.
x-x-x-x
He hadn't turned up to drive her to school and wasn't picking his cell up, causing alarm bells to ring in her head. Halfway to school the anxiety had overcome her, and she'd spun her car around.
The boarding house looked quiet, but she knew there'd be a sleeping Bree inside. Stefan tended to leave late for school too, so he might still be there. She hoped they were having some sort of brotherly spat, preferably the kind that didn't involve stakes and her worry was for nothing.
She didn't bother knocking, they never locked the door anyway, she just walked in. Heading straight for his room, he found it empty and undisturbed. The sheets were just as pristine as always, no clothes folded on the back of the chair to indicate he'd been here. Checking the en-suite just in case, she wandered through the rest of the house.
Knowing that disturbing a sleeping Bree was basically suicide, according to Damon anyway, she thought she'd try Stefan first. She knocked gently on his door, knowing if he was awake, he'd already know she was there but barging in felt too familiar. They weren't in that place anymore. Hearing no response she pushed the door open gently, stepping across the threshold tentatively.
She was staring at herself, like looking in a mirror. There she was, laid on Stefan's bed, her head in the crook of his shoulder. The feeling of watching herself was disorientating, to put it mildly. She knew, objectively, that it was Katherine. Watching it though? That was weird.
What the hell was Katherine doing here? With Stefan?
The other version of her propped herself up on an elbow and blew her a kiss, before disappearing quicker than Elena could follow.
"Stefan." She said loudly, clearing her throat.
"Katherine," He mumbled back, "It's too early."
"Stefan, it's Elena. Get up." She was short with him, snippy and quite frankly rude. She didn't care. What was he doing with Katherine?
He sat up quickly, a frown upon his face.
"Elena? Is that you? Sorry, I thought Katherine was here." He was looking around, completely bewildered.
"She was. Do you care to explain why?" She folded her arms and stared at him indignantly, disappointment and judgement coursing through her, and probably spilling out to him. She hoped he felt judged, anyway.
"No." He said, then reconsidered when he saw her expression, "She thinks if she manipulates my dreams, I'll feel differently about her."
"Do you?"
"No." he said, but his face said otherwise; his features momentarily wobbling into a smile before he schooled them into his usually brooding frown.
"Okay." She said, letting the sound whistle out, expressing her disbelief, "Have you seen Damon?"
He shook his head, "He isn't taking you to school?"
"Nope, no answer." She waved her cell at him, indicating Damon had missed her calls.
Stefan looked worried, she had to admit that however much he hated them at the moment it still looked like he cared about his brother.
"Go get Bree." He commanded.
She did reluctantly, knocking softly as she approached Bree's door.
"Bree, it's Elena and Stefan. Are you awake?" She heard a faint groan on the other side of the door and the creak of the mattress.
"Don't be gentle," Stefan said, suddenly appearing behind her, "watch and learn."
He pushed the door open and barged in quickly, yanking the cover off the bed and exposing a completely naked Bree. Elena quickly covered her eyes with a hand, out of respect.
She had to peek through her fingers when she heard Stefan yell out in pain, buckling to his knees as Bree gave him a headache to end all headaches.
"The best kind of wakeup call is the kind where I get to inflict pain," Bree said, as Stefan's whimpers reduced, "Why is dear Stefan being a masochist this time?"
The question was directed at her, so she removed her hand before answering. Luckily, Bree had already pulled on a top and a pair of pants.
"We don't know where Damon is." She said meekly, "He didn't arrive to give me a lift to school."
Bree raised an eyebrow at her, "Aren't you the one who wanted to spend more time apart?" She asked.
Elena took offence to the question, is that what Damon had told her?
"I didn't want to move in with him, that doesn't mean I won't worry when he's not where he says he will be, and he isn't answering his phone." She was reddening with anger, how dare Bree judge her relationship?
"Okay, Okay. Ignore me. You said he's not answering?"
Elena shook her head.
"He could be out with Mason, he mentioned joining his morning run- see if he has extra stamina as well as extra strength."
"Mason Lockwood?" Elena questioned, since when did Mason Lockwood have extra strength?
"Uh-huh" Bree responded absent-mindedly whilst pulling on her final layer of clothing. Elena glanced at Stefan and his confused expression clearly matched her own.
As Bree turned around, her face dropped. "Clearly, Damon didn't tell you that bit. Fine." She sighed, "Mason Lockwood has superhuman strength, Damon discovered it trying to win a bet at the bar. He's probably out investigating why, and clearly didn't tell you for whatever reason he didn't keep you in the loop."
She shrugged and tried to walk past them when Stefan reached out and grabbed her.
"Look, just do a location spell." He said, his brow creasing as usual, "Elena's worried and that makes me worry."
Bree sighed elaborately, "Fine, but only once I've had coffee. You two get out of here, don't you have school or something? I'll text once I know where he is. Though I'm sure he's probably waiting for you."
Elena couldn't shake the gut feeling that she was wrong, but Bree was clearly not in the mood to be pestered and quite honestly Elena didn't want to spend any more time with her ex-boyfriend and a grumpy witch that could probably fry her brain, never mind Stefan's.
As such, she followed the instructions begrudgingly.
x-x-x-x
It was the second lesson by the time Stefan and Elena received word from Bree that Damon was at the police station, her tracking spell placing him there. Probably with Liz.
It didn't explain the lack of calls, and something didn't sit right in Stefan's gut. He could tell Elena wasn't calm either, but when he'd tried to give her hand a reassuring squeeze she'd pulled away.
He wanted to be friends, with her at least. He wasn't sure he was ready to be friends with Damon, that they'd ever get to that point. They'd been so distant for far too long; he'd held hope twice before and didn't want to do that to himself again. The last time Damon had let him down had been a spectacular bloodbath.
Elena though, Elena he never wanted to lose. He could accept if she didn't love him, as long as she stayed in his life. He could be a good friend, watch her grow old and love her from a distance. He would do that for her, he wasn't the brother that would manipulate her into loving him back.
If she accepted his friendship, he could be there when Damon inevitably lost his sudden ability to be a good guy. However much he hoped the positive changes he was seeing in his brother were genuine, permanent, experience had told him otherwise.
Damon had tried to explain, excuse his behaviour, blame it all on external factors. But it was still him who had promised a life of eternal misery and delivered it for over a century. He couldn't trust his brother.
He'd watched her all day, sitting with Tyler and Matt during lunch he ensured she was in his eye-line. Twice he'd had to ask Matt to repeat himself, listening to her tell Bonnie her worries.
In History class, his mind had drifted whilst watching her. They had different mannerisms, Elena and Katherine. Elena chewed her lip when she was unsure, worried. Katherine would only do that flirtatiously. Elena was more introverted; Katherine practically defined the term extrovert.
If Elena told him that she wanted him, he'd have no doubt in his mind. She'd never lie about such matters. Katherine, though? She manipulated everyone around her. She'd lied to him, compelled him.
She may be perfectly stunning, seductive, wild, but she had betrayed him.
x-x-x-x
For what he guessed was hours, John had been gone. After the initial pain, he had left Damon to heal. Now, hours later, he was back, and the light flooded the damp cell again.
Luckily the window was behind him, the back of his neck and part of his arms was in the direct line of fire. He tried to stare at a brick on the wall, ignoring the bubbling of his skin. The blisters formed and popped, each layer of this skin scalding, trying to heal faster than they burnt.
He'd counted the cracks, the imperfections in the brick and drawn a hundred connect-the-dot patterns on the speckled stone in the moments the light was streaming in, but it had worked. John had closed the shutter and he was healing.
The breath came back to his lungs, but he refused to gasp it in. He refused to show any sign at all that John had an effect on him. He'd survived years of much worse, John Gilbert wasn't about to harm him.
"Why do you want her?" He asked, his back to Damon.
"Elena? Sorry, is this the part where I forgot to ask her father's permission, so I get cooked until I prove I love her?"
Not that John was any kind of father, or any kind of human being. The way he treated Elena and Jenna, commanding dominion of the family because he was supposedly the man of the house? He didn't deserve the respect Damon had allowed him thus far, he should have chopped that damn ring off and killed him already.
"You aren't capable of love." John spat at him, turning to face him and baulking slightly at the sign of his flesh knitting itself back together.
Damon only laughed in response, if only he wasn't his life would be a damn sight easier.
"Vampires can't love." John stated again, this time as if he were trying to convince them both.
"That's where you're wrong, John. I love your daughter a damn sight more than you do." Damon said, half through a chuckle. The guy was delusional if he thought otherwise.
The light came back. This time he learnt every intricate feature of a different brick. Luckily, there were hundreds to go.
"You don't know what you're talking about, vampire. All of this is for her, because of how much I love her. Do you even know how much danger you've brought to her life?"
John was mad, the veins prominent on his temples meandering into his forehead. Raised from the skin, they looked almost appetising. The hunger was starting to rise, Damon noted and bit it down. He had enough control to do this for days before his hunger would overcome him. Glancing upwards, he prayed he didn't have to.
"Too many people know she looks like Katherine, it puts a target on her back. I'm trying to keep her hidden, to prepare for the threat. You're not even keeping other vampires out of town, too distracted trying to fuck my daughter in my fucking house!"
His voice was raised now, shouting the words at Damon but all Damon could hear was his pulse. Elena was in danger; he'd used the word 'threat'. It had triggered an instinct in him, a desire to escape and run to her. If John got just an inch closer, just a tiny bit, Damon could get him. He could feed, escape.
He could protect her.
From what though, he had no clue. Focusing on the sound of John's anger and not the thrum of the blood rushing around his body allowed him to focus. He needed to learn more, to plan. He needed to understand the threat.
"You're going to have to fill me in here," he said, his voice calm.
"Why should I tell you anything?" John sneered in response.
The light came again.
This time, he sputtered his breath back. He was growing weaker, healing each time without more blood. John only smiled at his difficulty.
"Because if Elene is in danger, I need to know. I've even got a bonus for you, if you tell me now I won't let her know that her dickhead dad likes to torture vampires for fun."
Speaking was torture as he healed, but he needed to get John talking. Isn't that what the good guys always did in the movies? Get the villain talking until a rescue team showed up? Damon wasn't naive enough to think anyone would come rescue him.
He spun around, his face close to Damon's. Dangerously close. The pain in his eyes was unmistakable, though.
"You think I enjoy this? What kind of psychopath would enjoy this? I'm doing this because I want to save my daughter! I need you to leave. Yesterday. I know there's no goddamn way you're going to do that without some motivation."
"Tell me why," He responded softly, "If you're right, if the only way to save her is to walk away, I'm gone."
He meant it, with every fibre of his being. If there was a threat to her, he could leave her to save her. He doubted he'd survive long, probably drinking himself into a stupor and leaving himself out to burn, but he'd do it for her. He didn't have an ounce of doubt in his mind.
Luckily, he was 95% certain that the solution to whatever threat John perceived wouldn't be him leaving. It was probably all part of Katherine's machinations.
John paced for a while, muttering to himself so fast and silently that Damon couldn't comprehend without focusing, and right now his focus was elsewhere. He needed to ignore the hunger, the pain. He needed to keep his appearance, his responses, completely human. Only then would he have any chance of persuading John.
Eventually, John wandered out into the hall, where the spiral staircase stood. He returned with a thin wooden chair, pulling it into the corner to sit facing Damon.
"When Elena was young, she'd just taken her first steps, Grayson and Miranda had an unexpected visitor; a vampire. I was still in town; I'd recently been initiated onto the council. We tried to kill him; Grayson even got a wooden stake into his heart. He didn't die."
"He was an original." Damon muttered, connecting the dots with the notes they'd read about in Johnathan Gilbert's journals.
John nodded.
"He wanted Elena for her blood, he knew she was of the Petrova line. We didn't have a clue." He ran his hands through his hair, "Abbie Bennett was able to get rid of him. I don't know how, but they disappeared. Months, almost a year later, she sent Miranda a letter saying Elena was safe."
Damon watched the man, so obviously in pain, he was unravelling. Could he trust a word John was saying?
"What about the dagger, the one Johnathan Gilbert wrote about?" He asked. Surely they would have used that on an original?
"We didn't have it at the time. Grayson found that object years later. He spent years searching, collecting every Gilbert journal, every letter sent, until he pieced the puzzle together. If he were still here…"
"I'd be dead, for one." Damon smirked.
John nodded, agreeing.
"He hated vampires vehemently, I never truly understood until," He sighed, running his hand through his hair, "Until Isobel."
"I thought you sent her to me, to turn?" Damon questioned.
"I did. It's the biggest mistake we made." He seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment, regaining his composure. "I lost contact with Isobel for years, through college and our youth. Then, we reconnected. The internet really is a wonder. As kids, I'd told her all the stories Grayson told me about vampires. I learnt she'd picked it for her postgraduate work, folklore in Virginia. I was her biggest source."
Damon raised an eyebrow at him, John's voice was filled with regret and something altogether too tender. This was his friend's wife that John was thinking about.
"We spent hours, we'd just discuss every theory. We read every Mystic Falls journal I could get my hands on. I told her about the original vampire that came for Elena, and she went research mad. She discovered everything she could about the Petrova line, and we linked it to Katherine. She put so many dots together.
"I couldn't tell Grayson she was helping; he'd have put a stop to it. He didn't want her to be part of Elena's life, she was their daughter. But she was ours as well, so we kept going. Eventually it led her to a lead, a way to get to the rest of the original vampires."
Damon let the cogs in his mind whir, the strands of information connecting in his head, "She had to turn, to get closer."
John nodded, "Then she wasn't my Isobel anymore."
"She turned it off, she flipped the switch. Smart move." He was muttering to himself, trying to figure out how this all related to Elena.
"They want her blood; the original vampires wanted her blood for something? Because she's related to Katherine? Why couldn't they use Isobel's?" He was full of questions; some he was sure John wouldn't be able to answer. If the Petrova line was key, why go after a toddler and not her mother?
"Isobel isn't the doppelganger; she doesn't look identical to Katherine. Only Elena's blood will break the curse. Isobel still hasn't found an original, though she is getting closer. She did find Katherine, and Katherine told her of the curse. Elena has to be sacrificed to break it."
John seemed resigned to his daughter's face, his eyes swimming with grief as he begged Damon.
"Then we give them Katherine, she's identical."
"She's a vampire."
"Then Elena becomes a vampire." His voice was deep, growling with sincerity. He didn't care what he had to do to keep Elena, but he would not lose her for this.
"Katherine told Isobel a story, how she had run from the sacrifice. How they had chased her, killed her entire family. She's been running ever since."
"So, you're saving yourself by sacrificing her?" The fury was in his lips. She could run, as Katherine had.
"Jeremy. Jenna. Isobel. How many more might they kill besides me?" John whispered, "No, we found another way."
"The Gilbert device can kill an original, Emily Bennett spelled it so. I want Elena to live as long as she can before this catches up with her, to live a normal human life. Then when the original comes, we will use it. We'll kill them before they kill her, before she even knows of this."
Damon's mind was running a mile a minute, searching for a solution. There was one thing he knew for certain, a thought so painful it made his insides feel like lead but one he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt to be unquestionably true.
"She'll sacrifice herself." He stated.
"She won't get a chance, if you leave it might take years, decades, before they discover her. With no vampires in Mystic Falls, why would they even visit?" John said, calmly.
Damon laughed, "Don't be naive. All it takes is one vampire who met Katherine at some point in the last 500 years to wander through town and spread the word. Hell, Elena wants to go to college in a city. What's the chance she won't be spotted there?"
"Then what the hell do I do?" John asked, miserably.
"You let me out." Damon stated.
"Not a chance," John smirked, "I don't trust vampires."
"You trust Isobel, and Katherine." Damon could see his resolve weakening.
"Katherine is a manipulative whore." He spat.
Damon had him, he knew it. "But you still trust Isobel. If you let me go, let me help save Elena, I'll help you get Isobel back. I'll help you switch her humanity back on."
x-x-x-x
Furious wasn't the right adjective, she needed something more. If she had a thesaurus at this very moment, Caroline would use it. Damon Fucking Salvatore had not turned up and the parade was starting in 5 minutes. If she had given even an iota of crap about him before, she really didn't now. Plus, he'd stood her best friend up and that was just a shitty thing to do.
"Woah, Care, calm down." Tyler said, as she almost barrelled into him. The only thing stopping her sobbing into his shoulder was the fact that it might make her mascara run.
"How can I calm down, Tyler? The Founder's court is short of a person, they're going to think I'm the least organised Miss Mystic Falls, ever."
"Perhaps I could be of assistance?" The voice was strange, Australian maybe or maybe South African? She wasn't quite sure, but it was lovely. The intonation was almost lyrical, and it instantly made her want to melt.
Which of course, led to her feeling incredibly guilty as she unwrapped herself from her boyfriend to turn around and greet the stranger. He was older than then, he couldn't possibly be a student- he was probably about Damon's age if not older.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted, I just heard you're short a person. I am, in fact, a person- as such, I thought I could potentially be of use to you." He smiled sheepishly and extended his hand in greeting.
Tyler leant around her, possessively to take his hand and introduce himself.
"Nicholas, or Mr Michaelson to you, I assume you're both students at Mystic Falls High."
She felt her smile drop at the realisation he was a teacher and quickly picked the corners of her mouth back up. What did she care if this attractive man was a teacher? She he had dimples that made her want to stroke his cheeks and his hair looked like it simply demanded her hands to run through it- it was just the right mix of styled and messy. His stubble also called to her, and she could imagine feeling it against her neck.
No, she didn't care. She had Tyler.
"If you're sure, you could join the civil war reenactment float? I'll grab one of the boys from there for the court." It wasn't ideal, but it was a solution and she'd jump on it.
"Oh no need, I'll join the court float. I always did fancy myself as a King." He smiled, but this time his smile seemed less sweet and more menacing.
She gulped and nodded.
"Erm, ok, Mr Michaelson. The costume is over there." She directed him where to get changed and watched him walk away.
As he left, Tyler spun her to focus on him.
"I'm really, really glad you don't take art. The way he looked at you creeped me out, perhaps I should report him?" Tyler asked softly, his eyes scanning her face.
She shook her head, "He's just trying to be nice, maybe going about it the wrong way. I can handle myself."
"I know you can, Care. I still don't have to like the guy." Tyler bent to kiss her cheek, "Now let's get you in the most important spot, like the queen you are."
God, he knew how to distract her.
x-x-x-x
She was sitting behind the curtain, her head in her hands. He still wasn't here, and now she was beyond panicking. Not a single person she'd spoken to had seen him, she'd even begged Caroline to call her mom and Liz hadn't seen him all day.
That didn't make any sense, and her head had begun spinning at it all. Bonnie had whisked her back, saying that they could find him after the parade. If Elena wasn't on that Mystics Fall Court float, they'd have bigger problems to deal with. One did not mess with Caroline Forbes when she was organizing something.
So, she was sitting behind the curtain, looking far too much like Damon's memory of Katherine and she was replaying every moment with him.
The look in his eye when they'd been standing on that deck. The commitment they had all but promised each other at that moment. Surely, he wouldn't have left her by choice?
Her head went up when the curtain twitched, her heart falling once again when she saw Bonnie's face appear around the curtain.
"It's time." She said, biting her lip and holding her hand out. "Twenty minutes, Elena, then we'll find him. I promise. Bree is already doing another locator spell, and she's apologised ten dozen times for not taking you seriously".
Elena only nodded, she didn't feel like forgiving anyone and wouldn't until she saw Damon safe in front of her. Twenty Minutes. That was when he was supposed to be whisking her back to the boarding house for a weekend together. Just them, making new memories like they had at the lake house.
They were supposed to be taking the time away from the drama to just be together, to just be them.
Now she didn't know if she'd see him again. What is Mason had him, had staked him? Hell, John could have done it too or Katherine or some other unknown threat they didn't even know about.
"Is Matt coming with me?" She asked her friend. Bonnie had gone on a mission to find Matt and enlist him once Elena was dressed. They knew they couldn't have a gap on that float, or Caroline would blow her top.
Bonnie winced, taking Elena by the hand and encouraging her up the float steps. "Not exactly. It'll be fine, you'll see." She said quickly, before disappearing.
Elena looked around to see who she meant. Caroline and Tyler were stood one step above, focused entirely on each other, and the other couples were there on her level. God, she hoped it would be fine, standing alone would be humiliating and Caroline would never forgive any of them if her float wasn't perfect.
Not that that was one of Elena's biggest worries right now.
She saw him wandering up to the float, noticing the outfit Damon should have worn before she saw the face wearing it. He was older and looked a little scruffy but not out of place. His hair, a mousy brown, matched the stubble on his face. He looked smug as his eyes met hers, like he had won a prize.
Elena disliked him instantly.
Once he reached her side, he took her gloved hand and placed a gentlemanly kiss on the back of it.
"You must be the delectable Elena" he said smoothly, the words dripping off his tongue like caramel. The fact he must be British, or had spent time there, exaggerated the effect.
This was a man who knew how to flirt, she thought as his eyes twinkled at her. Damon could elicit the same reaction in pretty much every woman he encountered, and Elena had fallen for it every time. She wasn't falling for this stranger's act though,
"I am. We have to stand and wave; can you manage that?" She asked snappily.
"Yes, ma'am." He grinned, cheekily.
To his credit, he managed the task. It wasn't exactly difficult, but one of the other escorts had started picking his nose part way through so Elena was at least glad she hadn't been partnered with him.
The entire way around, she was watching for Damon. Could she see him in the crowd? There were so many people, too many, but she didn't spot the distinctive dark hair or leather jacket she was looking for.
"Looking for someone?" The British stranger purred into her ear, sending an unpleasant chill down her spine.
"My boyfriend." She snapped. That might make him back off.
"Ah, so you're spoken for. What a shame. I'm sure my brother, especially, would have been enamoured with you. He did always hold dear Katerina in far too high regard." His voice showed no sign of what he'd said, no lilt or intonation to denote the impact of his words. It was as if he was just making casual conversation.
She paused her waving, frozen in place.
"Oh dear, we can't stop the show, love. Keep waving." His fingers pressed more firmly into her hip, where his hand had been resting for the entire parade. She winced but followed his instructions, plastering the fake smile back on her face.
"You knew Katherine?" She stammered, weakly.
"Not well enough, I intend to get to know you far better, Elena Gilbert. I won't make the same mistake twice." He was whispering in her ear, the threat cutting through her like steel however quietly it was delivered.
"What do you want?" The parade was drawing to a close, the float pulling off so that they could depart. She needed him to stay, to explain who he was. He might have Damon, holding him somewhere.
She refused to consider any alternative.
"Everything." He said, spinning her around to face him, "Absolutely everything."
Then, he was gone.
x-x-x-x