Disturbing Behaviour
September 3, 2010
"Louise." The voice whispered. "I've found you. Come."
Louise shook her head, her brown eyes squinting into a glare. "No." She fiercely refused and ripped herself from him. "I have to find Damon." Without any warning, she took off running once again. "Damon!" she called out as she moved through the woods before she came to a sudden halt when she saw him. Icy blue eyes glowed in the dark as he stood in front of her, his famous smirk plastered on his face. He held his hand out for her. "Damon." she breathed in relief and wasted no time jumping into his arms and wrapping her arms tightly around him.
After a moment, she pulled back to admire her lover's face but the smile was slapped off her face when she found his face. It wasn't Damon. It was the person she was trying to escape from. Klaus. The hybrid now smirked down at her. She violently trashed around in his arms, frantically trying to get out of his grip.
"Louise, love, you have no reason to fight. Give in now and your pain can finally come to an end." His voice portrayed kindness and leeway, but she knew the truth. He was and always will be a cold, calculated killer.
Louise looked into his distant and detached blue eyes. "Go to hell!" she hissed.
He caressed the side of her face and leaned into whisper in her ear. "Only if you come with me." He moved back and she watched in horror as his eyes shone gold and his fangs descended from his mouth. He plunged into her throat.
Louise couldn't breathe.
She awoke with a start, gasping and earning a mouthful of pillowcase for her efforts. Panicked, she struggled to roll over, but the sheets were tangled around her waist, pinning her to the bed. Turning her head to the side, she managed to draw in a full-length breath through the tangled mess of hair hanging over her eyes and twisting around her neck. Frantically, she clawed at it with her fingers, pulling it away from her cheeks wet with tears.
It was a dream, she thought desperately as she finally won her struggle with the sheets and lurched her way to a seated position. It was just a dream.
Prying her eyes open, she winced at the bright light streaming through her windows, and immediately buried her face in her hands. Propping her elbows on her knees, she curled protectively around herself and waited for her pulse to return to normal. Just a dream, just a dream, she thought, reciting the familiar mantra in her head. She was no stranger to nightmares, having suffered from them on a regular basis ever since her parents had died. She'd relived the horrific nightmare so many times that she had every word, every movement memorised.
Blindly, she reached toward Damon's side of the bed as she lifted her head and ran her hand through her hair. "Damon?" she asked, frowning when she found the bed empty. Lifting her head, she looked towards the bathroom. The door was open, revealing the equally empty interior.
He wasn't there.
Her heart seized with panic over his absence as the remnants of the nightmare tried to override rational thought.
Her cell phone was still siting on the bedside table where she'd left it the night before. Hoping Damon had at least thought to text and let her know where he'd gone and when he'd be back, she grabbed it. The blank screen mocked her as she repeatedly pressed the power button and with a sinking heart, she realised that the battery was dead.
She'd forgotten to charge it.
"Louise?"
Gasping, she lifted her head. Damon stood at her window, dressed in his usual black from head to toe, looking so beautiful it almost hurt.
Watching her carefully, he moved forward. Gingerly, he sat on the bed, close to her but just out of reach and asked. "Are you okay?"
"I...," she began, her voice sticking in her throat as her heart struggled to keep up with the rollercoaster of emotions. Wordlessly, she shook her head, shifting on the mattress to wrap her arms around him and press her face into the material of his shirt.
Silently, she clung to him as he returned the embrace, sliding an arm around her waist and slipping the other beneath her hair and down her back. Reassured by his physical presence, relief came to her in a slow flood of feeling that started in her heart, working its way outward. The frantic spiral of her thoughts ground to a halt around the only thing that mattered.
Damon was here.
"Louise-"
"I had a bad dream." she whispered into his shoulder. After a moment, deciding she could speak without dissolving into an emotional puddle, she lifted her head and met his confused gaze. "I woke up and you weren't here." Louise clung to him. "It was a bad dream. A nightmare."
"What was?" he asked, brushing her hair behind her ear in a tender caress.
"It doesn't matter," she replied, turning into his embrace and slipping a hand behind his head to tug him towards her Their lips brushed in the barest of caresses as she murmured. "It's over now."
"I just don't know why you want to bring chili to a potluck. Everybody brings chili." Damon made a dissatisfied face as he set the wooden spoon back into the pot on the stove. He shrugged and turned back to the breakfast table. "Louise, you're not really gonna bring the chilli, are you?"
Louise sighed and gave her boyfriend a look. "Of course I am. It's an old family recipe, okay?" She took the chopping board with the chopped vegetables on that Elena handed her before pouring them into the pot to which surprisingly, Damon stirred.
"Yeah! I know. I knew your old family. They made sucky chili." Damon said, flashing Louise a playful smirk. She rolled her eyes and lightly elbowed him into the stomach. He pretended he was weak and moved a little. Just then Alaric walked into the kitchen and he smiled at his friend. "Hey, Ric."
"What's up?" Alaric asked.
Elena looked up immediately. "What time do you want to go to the Lockwood party?"
Alaric's expression scrunched. "Ah. Those founders parties aren't really my thing..."
Damon, still fixated on the chilli situation, muttered. "Show up, there's going to be nine other people that brought chili."
Elena turned to him with a roll of her eyes. "Our family always brings chilli."
"And I just solved the food poisoning cases." Damon muttered.
Elena rolled her eyes yet again at the condescending tone from the vampire while Louise let out a gasp. He smirked as he bumped into her and grabbed a knife beside her. She turned her head to him, but he was hip-to-hip, and she bumped his hip in return out of annoyance. But Damon kept the game going by bumping her hip, and involuntarily, she let out a small laugh.
"Why are you here, exactly?" Alaric asked, his eyes darting between the pair.
"Besides seeing my girl." Damon nodded towards Louise who started to clean up. "They know why I'm here."
Elena sighed. "Lou and Damon think I'm going to break."
"Hey! I never said that." Louise commented, chucking the rubbish in the trash can.
"Yeah, but you were thinking it." Elena uttered and Louise grudgingly nodded. "I'm not going to break. I am just going to keep making chili, pretend like I didn't just spend the entire summer looking for someone who didn't want to be found."
"Does she sound like she's in denial to you?" Louis asked her boyfriend wryly, as if Elena wasn't in the room.
Damon nodded. "She's in denial."
"I'm not in denial." Elena threw her hands, frustrated.
Damon shot her a disbelieving look. "No?" He pointed at her chest, at the round, silver token of affection Stefan had given to her merely days after their first meeting. She looked down at it with wide eyes, as if she'd never realised what it meant by keeping it on. "You're still wearing that necklace. Isn't this the reminder of your unbreakable bond with Stefan?" Elena became silent, staring down at her necklace while thinking of what harsh words Damon implied.
Louise sighed heavily before she turned at her boyfriend. She lifted her arm and pointed to the back door. "Out."
Damon frowned. "What?"
"You heard me. I said out! You said Liz called earlier so...just go. Meet me at the Lockwood party in an hour."
After a Damon placing a quick peck on Louise's lips, the vampire did as he was told existed through the back door. Not long after, Alaric retreated to him room to reluctantly get ready for the day, despite not wanting to go. The Gilbert siblings weren't keen on attending either but being part of a Founding Family made their attendance mandatory.
Just then the doorbell rang. Elena moved to the door and pulled it open to reveal Caroline holding a bowl of food in her hands.
"I come bearing gifts!" Caroline announced.
Elena scowled. "Please say that's not chili."
Louise joined the pair at the door. Caroline doesn't respond, she just stepped aside to reveal a small, dark-skinned witch with her arms wide. "I'm back!" Bonnie exclaimed. Both Louise and Elena jumped forward to attack Bonnie with a hug. The trio clung onto each other as if they hadn't seen each other for eyes, and yet it had only been a few months. "I leave town for the summer and everything goes to hell for the both of you."
Soon enough the youngest Gilbert came running downstairs to greet his girlfriend. After a reunion, Jeremy retreated back to his room while Louise, Bonnie, Caroline and Elena made their way to the kitchen. Bonnie and Louise sat the island while Elena moved around the kitchen finishing the chilli with Caroline's help.
"The problem with my dad's normal side of the family is normal made for a really boring summer." Bonnie admitted.
Caroline looked at the witch with a scoff. "After the last few days, I would kill for a normal family."
"I second that!" Louise raise her hand in agreement.
Caroline helped Elena decant the Chili in a casserole. "Since when did you learn how to cook? Last time I checked, you burnt toast."
"It's not that hard to follow instructions." Elena shrugged. Suddenly, Elena screamed in pain and dropped her hands from the chilli bowl. Caroline quickly put the bowl down on the counter and everyone looked at the brunette with immediate concern.
"Did I splash you?" Caroline asked.
Elena squirmed as she tried to remove the source of the pain. "No, no, my necklace." She pulled the pendant of the necklace off her skin which had been burnt by the silver. She looked up. "It burned me." She removed the necklace from around her neck and held it by the chain."
"Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it." Caroline muttered.
"Caroline..." Louise warned.
"What, I'm just saying. If you're going to be cooking without Stefan."
The witch scoffed and merely turned to the brunette in front of her and nodded to the necklace. "Let me see it."
Elena extended the necklace as Bonnie examined the pendant. Bonnie reached to touch it but when she made contact, there was a zap and sparks flew out of it which caused Elena to drop it. They all looked at each other with confusion and astonishment.
Only five minutes ago Stefan had looked out the shop window to see the haunting presence of a ghost from his past standing across the street: Katherine Pierce. And now he was following her down a nearby alley way. Vivienne Pierce stood in front of them, hand on her hip, chewing gum as the two approached her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The Salvatore demanded.
"Hey, Stefan. Did you miss us?" Vivienne grinned. "You two look chummy. Klaus your new bestie?" She smirked, fluttering her eyes tauntingly.
"You know, if he finds out you guys in Chicago, you're dead." Stefan warned.
Katherine smirked knowingly. "Happy to know that you still care." After a long silent moment, she added. "So tell us if I'm wrong...Rebekah's necklace that Klaus is looking for...That's the necklace that you gave to Elena."
"Goodbye." Stefan turned to walk away.
"Hey, hey. Wait." Before he could walk away, Katherine blocked his path - not a trap, exactly, but the desperation in her tone was enough to held him in place." You're up to something, tell us..."
Stefan shrugged slightly. "They don't know where the necklace is. I just have to keep them from figuring it out. I have it all under control."
"Please, tell me us have a better plan than that."
Stefan doesn't answer. Suddenly interested, Vivienne perked up, eyes squinting with curiosity and suspicion. "You do. Come on, Stefan. You're not the diabolical type. Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work."
"Well, if the most diabolical women I know can't seem to figure it out, then I must be doing something right." Stefan counted, cocking his eyebrow, a smirk appearing on his lips.
"Uh-huh. I forgot. You're bad now." Katherine drawled with a slight roll of her eyes. "Don't get too cocky. Klaus is smarter than you. He's smarter than everyone. And I've heard about that sister. Be careful. She'll ruin you."
"Happy to know you still care." Stefan threw her own words back at her. With his smirk still plastered on his lips, he turned on his heels and walked away.
The lawns of the Lockwood mansion was littered with the residents of Mystic Falls, all sitting around the many tables. Away from the crowds, Louise and Elea sat on a bench while Caroline sat on the other. "Hey, I got it!" Bonnie called as she came running up to the trio, taking a seat next to Caroline.
She pulled her grimoire from her bag and placed it on her lap. "I have an identification spell that might be able to tell me what magic affected the necklace." Elena nodded and handed over her necklace as Bonnie looked around cautiously. "It's going to take a while, so tell me if anyone's coming, okay?"
They all nodded in silence, and after a moment of painstakingly brutal quite, Caroline had to speak. She turned to Louise. "How's Damon these days?"
The mention of his name and the memories it evoked worked like a balm on Louise's nerves. She briefly closed her eyes before glancing at her friend out the corner of her eye, a sly smile curving her lips. "He's...good. Can you guys keep a secret?" Louise questioned, as she grinned like a Cheshire cat, her eyes darting between the three. They all leant forward, nodding their heads as they waited eagerly. Louise took in a deep breath before she blurted out; "Damon asked me to marry him!"
"What?!" All three; Bonnie, Elena and Caroline, screamed in unison.
"Are you serious?" Elena questioned.
"Please tell me you said no!" Bonnie added.
Louise fought to keep a straight face but failed as she busted out laughing. "You should have seen your faces!" She shook her head, chucklingly slight still. "No. We're not getting married."
Caroline let out a breath of relief. "Thank God!"
As Bonnie continued with the spell, Louise frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? Would that really have been so bad?" she asked. "I guess if it was Elena announcing she was marrying Stefan, you wouldn't have a problem but with me and Damon, suddenly it's the end of the world."
"Well, duh! It's Damon."
Caroline tossed his name with disgust, leaving Louise stunned and immediately on the defensive. Her blonde friends had always been the least enthusiastic about her and Damon's relationship, but outright hostility always took her by surprise. Running her hand through her hair and taking a breath, Louise did her best to stay calm. "And what's wrong with Damon?"
"Where do I start?" Caroline asked rhetorically. "Let's just say, if my own father, who I love dearly, can't change me. No one's changing Damon. Not even you."
"Damon's fine the way he is." Louise fired back.
"Hey guys..."Bonnie trailed off, and the two arguing friends and Elena looked over to find Bonnie staring down at the necklace that had been resting on her grimoire now slowly beginning to levitate upwards in the air.
Caroline flinched away from it. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not doing anything." Bonnie admitted honestly. They all stared at the necklace as it rose higher into the air. "It has its own magic."
"I'm guessing that's not good, is it?" Louise muttered.
Just across the lawn, Damon walked around the picnic tables look for some decent alcohol and something to eat. However, like he had mentioned to the Gilbert sisters earlier, all anyone had brought was chilli. Lockwood Family Chilli, Fell Family Chilli, Gilbert Family Chilli...chilli, chilli, chilli. Louise should have listened to him. He was right.
The vampire looked up at Alaric across the picnic table and sighed. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret...Founders parties are just an excuse for the council to gather in back rooms and plot against vampires."
Alaric sighed and watched as Damon took a swing of the beer in his hand, but it wasn't strong enough for him and Alaric knew that. "I'm going to tell you something that you won't want to hear." he paused for a second. "So just listen, okay? And understand that I still consider you my best friend."
Damon tensed as every instinct he had told him to run before Alaric could utter another word. Ignoring them, he drew a deep breath. "Okay."
"Louise's happy. Really happy." Alaric began, staring at the surface of the table rather than meeting Damon's eye. "You're actually really good for her."
"I love how you say that like it's a shock." Damon muttered, even though that fact still surprised the hell out of him every goddamn day.
"She loves you. It's obvious." The teacher continued as if he hadn't spoken.
"But," Damon supplied as he took another swing of his drink, suddenly wanting to get very drunk, very fast. "Get to the point, Ric."
"The point is, she's eighteen, Damon." Alaric said, finally meeting his friend's eye. "Yeah, okay, so she's probably the toughest, most world-weary and mature eighteen-year-old in history, but she's still only eighteen. It's been quiet since she came back from Klaus and hopefully it will stay that way. She's going to college, going to put Mystic Falls and all of this doppelganger bullshit in her rear-view. She got a chance, at a long life, man. A normal, human life."
Damon felt as if all the air left his lungs. Alaric wasn't telling him anything he hadn't thought of himself, but hearing someone else say it made his heart constrict painfully in his chest. "And you think she can't do that with me."
"I didn't say that." Alaric said, looking at him with a sadness that implied it wasn't exactly what he meant. "Like I said, I'm not telling you what to do. Louise would hate me if she knew we were having this conversation, but I know you love her and I know you want what's best for her. All I'm saying is that maybe...maybe what's best for her is to end things now, so she can go to college and start a life without vampires, before either of you get in too deep."
Damon snorted. He was already in too deep. They both were. If Louise wanted out, there would be no easy way to do it. He'd try to be the better man, the one she managed to bring out in him, but he couldn't promise his best behaviour to anybody.
Not without her.
Tempted to knock back the beer and blur away, Damon hesitated. His friend's concern for Louise wasn't without merit and he'd be lying if he said he'd never had doubts about her chance at happiness if she was stuck with him. What the hell did he have to offer her, really? The longer they stayed together, the deeper, he'd pull her into the darkness of his world, no matter how quiet things stayed.
"Thanks for the pep talk." Damon muttered, taking another sip of his drink. From the corner of his eye, he caught Alaric's expression of surprise and confusion.
Before the teacher could say anything, Liz Forbes walked up behind him and interrupted them.
"Damon? Sorry." She looked at Alaric and gave him a pleasurable smile before turning back to the dark-haired vampire. "Uh, the mayor just called for the council meeting." Damon shot a glance at Alaric for a moment but without anything more to say, he nodded at Liz and walked off with her to the meeting.
Stefan knew that he had to do something about Gloria and the fact that she knew that the doppelganger, who was supposed to be dead, was alive. He had managed to slip away from Klaus and Rebekah long enough so he could head back to the bar and put a stop to Gloria. But he only found himself in a predicament. The witch had Stefan tied down topless on a table while white candles scattered the floor around him.
"I'm impressed. You've got discipline, Stefan. It's not going to do you much good, but-" Gloria took some red powder from her box of herbs and rub her hands in it. "Just let go, honey." She pressed both her palms on Stefan's bare chest. He roared in agony as his skins burned upon her touch. "There you go, there you go." She cooed.
Images of Stefan and Elena together flashed in her mind. She saw the Salvatore vampire give Elena the necklace.
"There's the girl with the necklace. You love her. You'd do anything for her. And you have. A lot of darkness, a lot of guilt. All to keep her away from Klaus. Why would he be interested in one girl?"
Stefan shook his head as he realised the witch was about to uncover his secret. "Don't do this. Don't do this."
Gloria's eyes suddenly widened and she moved away from Stefan. "She's the doppelgänger. She's supposed to be dead, and that's why Klaus can't make hybrids, isn't it?" Gloria's laughter started softly and built to echo in the stale air.
"This is creepy." A voice stated bluntly. Gloria whipped around to see Vivienne and Katherine stood behind her. Before she could react, Vivienne put a knife in side of the witch's neck which resulting in her falling on the floor, instantly dead. The brunette looked down at Stefan. "Maybe you do need our help, after all."
Stefan lifted himself up from the table once Katherine undid his restraints and put his shirt back on. As the sisters blew out the candles, Stefan and left and re-entered the room with a white sheet which he threw over Gloria's dead body.
"We've been thinking about your diabolical plan." Katherine stated and Stefan merely cocked an eyebrow at her. "Well, you must know that Klaus is too paranoid to ever fully trust you. But the sister, she loves you like it was yesterday. She's the easier mark. But you can't just pretend to care, because Klaus will know better, so you do the opposite. You bond with him; make her feel left out. That will only make her want you more."
"Oh! So you mean, I'm, uh, I'm taking a page out of the Katherine and Vivienne Pierce playbook." Stefan replied bluntly.
Vivienne rolled her eyes in response while Katherine narrowed hers.
"The only question is why, Stefan? I mean, I get it, you want to keep Klaus away from Mystic Falls, but...What else do you expect to get from it?"
"You know what's funny?" Stefan got to his feet. "You keep talking to me like I actually trust both of you enough to tell you anything."
"Oh, come on, Stefan, we're beyond that." Vivienne chimed in. "I saved you from Hilda the high voodoo priestess." She eyed Gloria's now covered body as she crossed her arms cross her chest.
After long pause, Stefan said: "Okay. I knew them, back in the twenties. They were running from someone. Someone who scared them."
"A Hunter." Vivienne breathed while Stefan nodded. The reason that Klaus had compelled Stefan to forget him and Rebekah was because they were running from someone and wanted to cover their tracks. "We've heard stories about him centuries ago."
Stefan raised a brow. "Don't you guys want to know why an Original vampire who can't be killed is afraid of a vampire Hunter?"
Katherine exchanged a look with her sister before she look back at Stefan. "If you're planning on making a move against Klaus...we want in."
"That's good. It's good to want things." He taunted.
"Stefan-"
"I'm in this alone. If you're looking for a diabolical partner in crime, I suggest you look elsewhere." Stefan gathered Gloria's lifeless body on his shoulder and leaves.
"Did Stefan ever tell you where he got the necklace?" Caroline asked quietly as she, Elena and Louise walked through the Lockwood mansion towards the front door.
"No." Elena sighed. "And I never asked. Hopefully Bonnie will be able to figure it out."
"Please tell me it's time to go." The trio looked over their shoulders to see Alaric settling a glass of bourbon down on a drink platter before he joined the teenagers.
Elena nodded. "Beyond."
"Where's Damon?" Louise asked.
"Probably off somewhere doing bad things to good people." Caroline muttered snarkily. Louise glared at her which caused the blonde to raise her hands in surrender. "Consider me the honesty police."
"I hate to break it to you but Tyler's not exactly a saint." Louise resorted.
"I know but he's not Damon." Caroline shot back almost instantly. She sighed when she saw the look on Louise's face before she spoke again, her tone softening. "I know you love Damon. And I know he loves you, it's just...you don't have to settle just because that's all you know."
Reeling back as if she'd been physically slapped, Louise stared at her friend. "Wow. Settle?" Blinking furiously, she tried to hold back the tears of indignation that were suddenly burning behind her eyes. "You think I'm settling with Damon? That's he's...what? Some kind of high school phase?"
"No, Louise, that's not...that's not what I meant." Caroline protested half-heartedly.
"It's exactly what you meant, Caroline." Louise replied, swallowing hard. "I knew you never really approved of my relationship with Damon, but I thought you at least respected it." She paused for a moment. "I love Damon. He's no saint and I don't need him to be one. He's not something I'm going to outgrow. Damon's part of me and every day that I'm with him just reinforces that."
"I'm sorry." Caroline apologised. "As your best friend I'm just trying to look out for you because I know you'd do the same for me. Look, I'll stop, okay?" Caroline sighed, but before Louise could respond, something caught the vampire's eye. She suddenly got very stiff and moved away from the foyer to Elena's side.
Louise realising the change in atmosphere, eyes squinted as she looked at her friend with knitted eyebrows. "What is it?"
"What the matter?" Elena asked.
"It's my dad." The blonde whispered. Louise, Alaric and Elena all turned to look into the foyer where Bill Forbes was conversing with a bunch of townspeople.
Elena inhaled sharply. "Why would he even show up here?"
"I don't know. But I can't..."
"I get it. I'll call you later."
Caroline nodded gratefully and without another word, made her way up the stairs to her boyfriend's room. When she was gone, Alaric turned to the twins, confused. "Okay, what was that all about?"
Elena shook her head dismissively. "Something to do with doing bad things to good people..." Elena noticed her sister glaring at Bill and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the door. "Let's go."
As the trio stepped out onto the front lawn of the Lockwood's property, the door opened and closed behind them with a panicked voice following their path.
"Wait, wait, Houston, we have a problem." Damon informed them.
"What sort of problem?" Louise questioned. "And where have you been?"
"Managing Bill Forbes. Apparently he's impervious to compulsion."
Alaric's brows knitted together in confusion. "How?"
"I have no idea. But he threatened to out me. Don't get me started on the irony of that."
"What did you do to him? How do you know the compulsion doesn't work?" Elena asked quickly which only earned her a Damon look of disapproval.
"That's not the most important piece of information I mentioned, Elena."
"What does he want?" Alaric urged.
"Other than hurting Caroline." Louise muttered under he breath.
"He wants to control the council." Damon stated as if it was obvious. "Says it's been compromised."
"It has!" Alaric exclaimed.
"He wants to put vervain in the town's water supply." Damon continued and Louise's eyes widened.
"Maybe it's not a bad idea." Elena suggested. "I mean, it'll help you keep yourself in control now that Stefan's not here to-"
Damon's eyes snapped to Elena, his expression furious. "To what? To keep me in check? Make me behave?"
Attempting to calm the situation, Louise stepped in, gently placing a hand on her boyfriend's chest. "Damon, calm down. She didn't mean it like that."
"I should have killed him this morning." The vampire spat.
"Don't be an idiot." Louise warned with a slight glare. "He's Caroline's dad."
"Yeah, and when I kill him, she'll have one more parent than we do." He moved past Louise to go back into the Lockwood mansion, but Alaric blocked him from the pathway angrily.
"Oh, come on, Damon!"
Damon snarled under in his breath. "You're repeatedly killing my buzz today, Ric. Step aside."
This only made Alaric angrier. He stepped forward and shoved Damon back harshly. "Yeah, it's not going to happen."
Damon stopped dead in his tracks, Alaric's hand on his chest preventing him from moving closer. With a sigh and a light shrug, Damon's eyes travelled down to Alaric hand where his Gilbert ring sat before his simply stated. "Your temporary funeral."
"Damon, no!" Louise called but it was too late as in one motion, Damon reached forward and snapped Alaric's neck, who fell onto the floor within seconds.
Elena's eyes went wide as she eyed Alaric's limp body on the floor before looking back at Damon with heated pupils. "What is wrong with you?!"
Without another word, Damon marched back into the Lockwood mansion. Louise sighed watching his back as he disappeared through the door, her eyes then flickered down to Alaric's body which now had Elena kneeling beside it.
"Call Caroline." Louise instructed. "Tell her, her dad might end up dead if she doesn't show up."
"Where are you going?" Elena asked.
"To stop my ass of a boyfriend from doing something stupid." Louise crumbled. She let out a heavy sigh before rushing off into the Lockwood property.
The brunette moved fast as she rushed through the corridors until she stopped dead in her tracks when heard a loud crash coming from the study. She wasted no time bursting in the room. Louise gasped when she saw Bill Forbes kneeling on the floor while Caroline was on her back on the desk with Damon straddling her as he choked her.
"I'm stronger than you, little girl." he snarled.
"Well, I'm angrier!" Caroline snapped back as she took his hand from around her throat and twisted it back. In a following sequence, she head-butted him and forced him off of her resulting in his back hitting the wall behind him. Caroline then rushed to her father and dragged him out of the room fast enough that Damn could not catch up.
Damon slumped against the wall he had hit and rolled his eyes. "Bummer. I love a good girl fight." He lifted himself from the floor and stumbled upright to see Louise standing at the door.
"What the hell is your problem, Damon?!" Louise shouted at him. "Do you even realise what you're doing? Who you're hurting? Is there some self destruction button in your head?" She shook her head. "You can't do this anymore, Damon. Not in this town."
"Why not? It's nothing I haven't done before. Why is it suddenly so important for everyone to keep me in check?"
"They shouldn't." Louise snapped. "No one should keep you in check. You should have enough self-control to do that yourself." She looked at her boyfriend with pitiful, yet furious eyes. "Damon, this isn't you." She took a step forward. "More importantly, this can't be you."
"What? A monster? Sorry to disappoint you, Louise, but last time I checked, I was still a vampire!" he snapped. On instinct, she stepped closer, noting the way he countered the move with another step backward. Suddenly, suspicious, she lifted her chin and met his gave, unflinchingly. "But I get why someone like you would be attracted to one."
"Someone like me?" she repeated, crossing her arms protectively across her chest "What's that suppose to-"
"Everyone that you've ever loved has died on you," Damon snapped, desperately trying to remember how it felt not to care "And I can't. No matter the supernatural bullshit that you dragged me into, I'll always be here. It's probably what made you stick around after you found out the truth about Stefan and I. A literal eternity with a vampire sounds pretty appealing, even though it's my nature to prey on humans." Pausing for effect, he added. "You're suppose to fear me, Louise, not fuck me."
Louise's jaw dropped in shock and it took her a long moment to find her voice. "Wow." She shook her head. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I'm not acting like anything." he said dispassionately, lifting his shoulders in a maddening and dismissive shrug that set her nerves on edge.
"Why are you saying all these things?"
"I'm saying these things because they're true." Damon insisted, backing away. "It's time you faced reality and quit living in the fairy-tale where I'm some kind of white knight instead of a vampire."
"I know what you're trying to do." Louise say, noting that she'd hit the nail on the head when she'd thought about the way Damon knew how to push her buttons. He's been pushing her on purpose so that she'd do what she always had in the past and walk away in a huff.
Walk away...and never come back.
"I'm just telling the truth."
"No, you're lying." she argued, crossing her arms as she stared at him appraisingly. "You're just trying to upset me."
"Now why would I do that?" Damon demanded, his hard, cold gaze slicing through her. Her confidence wavered in light of that gaze, fuelling her resolve to get to the truth.
"I don't know. So, I'd save you from having to grow a pair and leave me, maybe?" Louise said, her brain racing a mile a minute as she tried to piece things together. "What happened? Did Caroline get to you, too? You can't tell me that you just decided somewhere between this morning and now that you're tired of me."
Damon shook her head before saying evasively. "Not Caroline."
"Then who?" Louise demanded. He had been hanging out with Alaric this afternoon. "Ric?" she murmured, her stomach turning at the implied betrayal. It had to have been him. Rushing to his side, she demanded. "Oh, my god, what did he say to you, Damon-"
"Noth-"
"Don't lie to me," she cried, tears burning behind her eyes. "We were fine this morning - better than fine. So, tell me the truth. What the hell did Ric say to you?"
Cursing under his breath, Damon closed his eyes briefly and rubbed his hand over his face. When he opened them again his entire demeanour had changed. Pin and anguish radiated from his intense, blue gaze, breaking her heart as it searched her face. Lifting his hand, his fingers hovered near her cheek for a moment before he dropped it back to his side and turned away. "Nothing I didn't already know." he muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, following close on his heels and ducking around him. He brushed her away as she reached for him, but she insisted, taking his face between her hands and forcing him to look at her. "Damon, talk to me."
"Louise..." he murmured, gazing at her helplessly. "What the hell are you doing with me?"
"I love you." she replied, frowning at him in confusion.
"You shouldn't." he said, his gaze flitting all over her face, as if he were memorising her features. "Klaus is long gone. You've been happy and now you've got a chance to get the hell out of Mystic Falls and put all of this doppelganger bullshit behind you. You can be human, live a human life."
"Why do you think I've been happy?" she questioned, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs as the gravity of the situation weighed her down. "It's because of you, Damon. I'm happy because I'm with you."
"But I'll destroy you." he insisted with such earnestness that it made her heart break. "My life, my world...me. It'll ruin everything good in you...everything that I love about you."
Tears coursed down her cheeks as she argued. "No, you won't." she insisted, shaking her head for emphasis. "Damon...if it weren't for you coming into my life when you did, I'd be dead. This doppelganger bullshit isn't something that I can escape. No matter what Ric said."
"But Klaus-"
"Forget about Klaus!" Louise cried, dropping her hands to his shoulders and shaking him a little. "God, how can you be so short-sighted? Not everything is your fault."
"I think everyone who's ever met me would beg to differ." he quipped, trying - and failing - to laugh.
"Shut up." she muttered, her voice breaking with emotion. Louise didn't find it funny. She didn't find any of this funny. In that moment she hated Alaric - hated everyone who'd ever said or done anything to make Damon doubt his place in her life and how impossible it would be for her to continue without him. "It doesn't matter that Klaus is gone for now. It's not over, Damon. It's never going to be over. I'm never going to live a normal, human life."
"You could." he argued. "I'm the last link, Louise. Without me-"
"Without you, there's still Elena, Caroline and Bonnie. And Tyler." Louise pointed out. "And my brother who can see ghosts. And me." she added, reminding him of the irrefutable truth. "I'm always going to be the doppelganger. Until the day I die or turn, I'm going to be different, a target because we don't know who else out there might want my blood for their magic spells or whatever."
"I'll protect you, Louise." he promised, a look of horror crossing his features as if he were appalled that she could even think that he'd abandon her completely. "I'll always protect you, but you don't have to be with me for me to do that. You can fall in love with a human, get married, raise a family. You don't need me-"
"Yes, I do." she cried, tears falling down her cheeks unchecked now. "I need you, Damon. And I want you. Just you. It's always going to be you."
Damon blinked at those words, his expression clearing slightly. His mouth hitched upwards. "Okay." Something in his voice - something that sounded a lot like acceptance - made her heart roar.
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, already trying to forget how real the past few minutes had been, how incredibly close she'd come to losing him.
Slowly, Damon returned the embrace, his hands moving over her reverently as if he were memorising every curve. For a long moment they stood like that, limbs entangled and pressed against each other so tightly that if Louse hadn't known better she would have sworn that she cold hear his heart pounding against his ribs.
"I need you to promise me something." she said, pulling away to look at him in the eyes. "Promise me that no matter what happens, we don't let anyone come between us. If we fall apart," she paused, swallowing the bitter taste the words left in her mouth before pressing ahead. "If we fall apart...it won't be because your idiot best friend thinks he needs to look out for my best interests." she finished, raising a brow as she ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.
"Right." Damon said, his gaze dropping to her mouth a second before he claimed her lips.
September 4, 2010
Vivienne had found herself across town standing in front of the boarding house. She lightly tapped on the door with her knuckles. Her entire demeanour changed completely when Damon pulled the door open. Her eyes loosed their seductive tilt and widened slightly. Her arm cross in front of her, rubbing her arm. She seemed to hesitate slightly before speaking.
"Can I come in?" Her voice was too sickly sweet, too overtly coy and he winced. That was nothing like Louise.
Even Damon wouldn't admit it out loud but Vivienne had become extraordinarily good at impersonating Louise. If it hadn't become such an inconvenience in his day to day life then he would almost say he as impressed.
"Losing your touch there, Viv." She tensed in anger at his comment. He noticed the fact she was even wearing Louise's clothes. He titled his head slightly as he wondered if she stole them from her own doppelganger...or she went all out and brought her own Louise style wardrobe. "What do you want?"
Vivienne shrug lightly. "I'm just a girl with a twin looking for another partner in crime." She wiggled her eyebrows slightly. "Feel like hitting the road? Getting the hell out of dodge?"
"Why not?" Damon shrugged. "Walls are starting to close in on me around here."
She looked up at him with cat like eyes and a slick smile. "Is that a yes? I'll drive."
"Where are we going?"
"Away from here. That's all I'm going to give you for right now. But believe me." She grinned as she held up Elena's necklace in her hand, the necklace that Katherine had stolen from Bonnie while pretending to be Elena. Vivienne chuckled. "It's good."
AN: Thank you for reading. Please comment, favourite and follow if you are interested in hearing more of Louise and Damon's story! I would to hear from everyone.