I was hoping to get this up earlier, but I was working all weekend and I just didn't have time to type it up. Anyway, I am already halfway through the next chapter. I will have it up by Wednesday. It will be about the council attack and the Salvatore brother's dying and resurrecting.
Anyway, enjoy :)
Katherine said nothing. She simply turned and ran. She was quickly out of sight. Elena sighed. Thank God for small blessings. Elijah's compulsion would keep Katherine out of her hair and help keep her own presence from changing this evening's events. Elena quickly walked back to her horse, untied him, and began riding back to the Salvatore mansion.
As she rode up to the stables, she saw Damon standing in front of them. She stopped her horse next to him. She swung her leg over the horses back and gracefully slid to the ground. She adjusted her skirts, refusing to meet Damon's eyes, "I know, riding bareback is not exactly an acceptable past time for a lady. And I should have asked before taking out one of your horses. I just needed to go out for a while."
"Your riding skills are really quite impressive." Elena looked up at him, startled. He offered his arm with a smile, "And as long as you return the horse, I don't mind. Actually I don't mind either way, but my father might. All of the horses belong to him. Except the black at the back. That one is mine."
They began walking back to the house, arms linked. "And what bothers your father is of no consequence to you?"
His smile faltered and then returned, wider than before, "On the contrary, I support and appreciate anything that bothers my father."
Elena turned her head away from him to conceal her smile. She wasn't supposed to know anything about his family situation so she should be surprised, not amused. At that moment, the front door opened and Stefan and Katherine emerged. Stefan was laughing at something she had said. He looked up, and Elena knew he had seen them but he quickly looked away without acknowledging them. He grabbed Katherine's hand and said something to her. She laughed in return and took a step closer to him. Stefan brushed a lock of hair from her face, looking in her eyes and smiling.
Elena felt anger course through her. She hated seeing Stefan treat Katherine like... well, like he treated her. But as she watched him pick her up and spin her around, both of them laughing, she had to admit that she was wrong, it wasn't the same. If anything, Stefan seemed happier, more carefree with Katherine. He seemed... closer to Katherine somehow then he was to her. And was it any wonder? Their initial attraction was what first brought them together, but mutual guilt (his over Damon, hers over her parents) brought them closer. Since then, they have looked to each other for support through one disaster after another until that was all that was left. No laughter, no frivolity.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts and looked up at Damon. The pain on his face made her even more angry. Katherine wasn't worth it. At that moment, they reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the house. Stefan's eyes met Damon's and he smirked. Elena gasped. He was doing it on purpose. He was parading his relationship with Katherine in front of Damon, trying to make him hurt. Glancing up at Damon again, she saw that he was not surprised at Stefan's behavior. Elena came to a stop. Damon looked down at her questioningly. Under her breath, she said, "You know he is doing it on purpose. You know she loves watching you two fight over her. Yet, you remain devoted. You let them play with you!"
Damon dropped her arm and his mouth fell open in shock. "How do you..."
He was cut off by Katherine, who was coming down the stairs with Stefan, "Come on, it is time to leave. We don't want to be late." She swept by them both, head high.
Elena turned to follow her. She really shouldn't have said anything. Especially after her mistake with Stefan's name.
Damon grabbed a hold of her arm, his grip firm but gentle. She glanced up at him, then back down at the ground. She had to come up with a somewhat believable explanation and fast. "It was obvious at dinner how much you adore her. She seemed to invite such feelings instead of being uncomfortable. Yet, she also s eems to wish for Stefan's courtship. And I saw Stefan look up at us across the lawn. You see, I was pledged to someone back home. I found him in the arms of another girl. The look on your face reminded me of how that felt and it made me angry. If I have misread the situation here, I apologize. Either way, I am sorry I let my anger get the best of me." Some of that was true. She had just found her boyfriend in someone else's arms, even if it was in a different time. And she was definitely sorry for her outburst.
Damon looked skeptical, but he nodded. They walked down the stairs and got in the carriage. As the horses began moving forward, all Elena could think as she looked across to Katherine and Stefan was that this may be the most awkward moment of her life. Suddenly she felt Damon's fingers squeezing her own, their hands hidden beneath the folds of her skirts. Glancing up at him, she realized he was telling her that regardless of the reasons for her outburst, it was okay. It was all going to be okay.
Staring into his eyes, knowing he was going to die before the night was through, she felt sorrow rise. It was not going to be okay, but she couldn't warn him. Couldn't save him from death, from years of loving Katherine for nothing, years of pain and sorrow. She squeezed his hand back and vowed that even if she couldn't stop what was going to happen, she would try to make it easier. Someone had to help Damon. If no one else would step up to the plate, she would have to do.