Chapter 10
Pilgrimage
Many vampires needed to be killed and Jeremy had to be the one to kill them. After Elena received an alarming morning phone call from Bonnie, learning Kol was doing anything to stop anyone from seeking the cure and awakening the immortal Silas. With the unhelpful distraction of Jeremy and Matt playing loud video games, Elena managed to come up with a risky idea that would solve both problems. Jeremy kills Kol, completes the mark and removes the unpredictable Original brother off the board.
It was definitely a risk. Pissing off Klaus and Rebekah was the worst thing they could do. Elena and Jeremy were going to need help. Elena called her boyfriend over first to explain her plan and to hear his advice.
"Do you think Damon will go for this?" Jeremy asked his sister as they were both sitting at the dining table with Matt.
"It's a reckless idea so I think he'll like it." Elena joked as she took a sip from her coffee.
"That's true but I don't know how we're gonna keep the other Originals from killing us all." Matt chipped in. All three of them shared a look before they heard a voice from the entrance.
"The cool vampire is here!" Damon said with a smirk as he entered the kitchen. "Ooh, what's with the faces?" He asked, taking in their anxious expressions. Elena walked up to him from her spot and explained her plan.
"Killing Kol won't be easy, even if he is carrying the white oak stake." Damon started. "And dealing with a furious Klaus is going to be a nightmare."
"Can we desiccate him again?" Jeremy asked, remembering how Bonnie stopped his heart to end Klaus the first time.
"We need to talk to Bonnie about it." Elena replied to the group.
"Rebekah is still a problem." Damon added.
"I have a solution to that. She was daggered before, we just need to find the blade and dagger her again." Elena explained.
"Stefan might know where it is, I saw him with Rebekah this morning." Damon shared.
"Really?" Elena asked with a raised brow and Damon nodded.
"I don't know if he'll answer my call though." he said as he pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and hit Stefan's name in his contacts. The call rang four times and ended with his message box. "Figures." Damon sighed.
"I'll try." Elena offered and pulled her phone out of her back pocket.
"Stefan." She greeted as he answered after the second ring.
"What?" He answered dryly.
"Kol tried to kill Bonnie." She started at the beginning.
"Is she okay?" He asked in a worried voice.
"She's fought him off, but Kol is a problem."
"I can get the dagger from Rebekah." Stefan offered.
"I don't want to dagger Kol, I want Jeremy to kill him."
"You what?" Stefan almost shouted.
"If Jeremy kills Kol, his entire sire line will die with him, giving us the map."
"Klaus and Rebekah will come after us just out of revenge. They may be dysfunctional but they're still family."
"That's why you need to get the dagger and use it in Rebekah." Elena ordered. Stefan's stomach became churned at what she was asking. He didn't want to betray Rebekah again.
"I can't do that." He replied.
"I know you can't, but Matt can." She offered a solution.
"How are you gonna lure in Kol?"
"Don't worry, Damon and I have a plan." She heard Stefan scoff and then he hung up. Stefan couldn't do it, not after spending last night with Rebekah. He already learnt the hard way of what happens when you betray the youngest Original.
Later in the evening, the plan was in place, so Elena called Kol and proposed a truce about Silas and the cure. After Matt left to meet up with Stefan, Kol knocked on the door and Jeremy invited him in before running out the back to Bonnie's house. The Original vampire stepped into the Gilbert house with a sinister smirk. He spotted Damon sitting on the edge of the lounge with Elena tucked up in his side.
"Well, look at this." Kol smiled at them.
"Thanks for coming." Elena said, standing up. "We wanted to talk about Silas." She added and briefly gazed at Damon and she pulled him up to join her.
"Well, let's have a drink." Kol kept his smile.
The three of them walked together into the kitchen and fixed some gin cocktails.
"We want to know why you're so afraid of Silas." Elena began. Kol sat on a stool, studying both of them before he exhaled and explained.
"They say, when Silas rises he will unleash hell on Earth, I happen to like Earth the way it is."
"Why are you so convinced about Silas? How do you know if he even exists?" Damon asked as he watched the Original take a hesitant sip from his gin and tonic.
"I came across a group of witches that worshiped Silas, they said raising him would trigger the end of all time. Being immortal, you see why I'm imposed on time ending."
"So dramatic." Damon commented as he took a sip of his gin, making his face sour at the taste.
"So why would you want to give up your chance to be human again?" Kol asked, narrowing his eyes to Elena.
"My brother is a hunter and I don't want to put him through all that." She explained.
"Is that the only reason?"
"Well, if you're right about Silas, I don't want to risk everyone else just so I can be human again." Elena explained compassionately. Damon felt the conversation was coming to an end already and they needed to stall long enough for Jeremy and Bonnie to show up.
"I can't believe you like gin over whiskey." Damon quipped and Kol let out a scoff in his direction instead of a chuckle.
"American whiskey tastes like gasoline." Kol said as he finished his cocktail and stood up. "I'll take your request for truce under advisement." He said before leaving the house. Elena waited for Kol to be far enough away before saying anything.
"It didn't work. We couldn't stall him enough." Elena said in a defeated voice. Damon pulled her into a hug and whispered.
"He'll be back."
Jeremy returned home without Bonnie just in time for Kol's return.
"I've considered your request for a truce. Request denied!" Kol said darkly. Elena quickly shut the door in his face and readied the trap.
"I'm sorry, I've already been invited in!" Kol yelled as he kicked in the door, causing splinters from the latch to scatter around the entrance. Kol knew Damon was the strongest threat and had to be dealt with first before targeting Jeremy. Kol instantly spotted Damon in a defensive stance, standing in the dining room. Kol blurred straight into him and held a tight grip around his throat, pushing hard him against the wall, causing the plaster the crack. Before Kol had the correct grasp for a neck snap, he cursed loudly as a crossbow bolt hit him in the back, piercing through his shoulder blade. Kol felt a sudden rage and quickly gripped Damon's head and broke his neck, letting his lifeless body fall to the floor. He spun around to see Jeremy reloading the weapon and Elena standing beside him.
"Run, Jeremy!" Elena warned. Jeremy sprinted off, heading upstairs and Elena followed in a blur. Kol didn't hesitate, he removed the bolt and chased after the two Gilbert's with the white oak stake armed in his grip. They both ambushed Kol with another bolt at the top of the stairs, hitting him in the leg. He growled, removed it swiftly and blurred up the stairs. At the second floor landing, he was surprised by a bucket of vervain water, causing his face and body to sizzle. He yelled at the burning pain but managed to strike at Elena with the stake. Elena almost dodged the attack but took the sharp wood in her shoulder. Elena groaned in pain and Jeremy reacted by shooting Kol a few times with the pistol. Kol stumbled back still holding on to Elena, landing against the wooden railing of the staircase, trying to steady himself but the force was enough to break the railing and both vampires fell down to the first floor in a loud crash of bodies and broken wood.
"Elena!" Jeremy yelled. He moved downstairs with panic and found Elena laying down but alive and Kol was already getting to his feet. The Original quickly grabbed Jeremy and threw him over the couch and landed in the center of the sitting area, colliding with the coffee table.
"I can't kill you Jeremy, so I'll settle for cutting your arms off." He said in a shaky breath as his body slowly healed from their attacks. He gave Jeremy a cold look and blurred in front of the hunter but was suddenly struck by a healed Damon. The punch sent Kol across the room and the white oak stake flew out of his grip. Jeremy didn't hesitate and he picked up the weapon he needed. Damon noticed Jeremy and took the opportunity by rushing to Kol and holding his arms back in a vice-like grip. Jeremy lunged forward and sunk the stake into Kol's chest, piercing his heart. The Original screamed in pain and then caught fire. His body staggered around, screaming and burning before collapsing to the floor. Elena regained her strength and got back to her feet in time to see a seething Klaus standing in the doorway, with a single tear coming from his eye as he watched his only younger brother die.
Bonnie escaped her own house in time to find a fuming Klaus threatening her friends. She used her new magic to cripple the oldest hybrid in pain and trapped him in the living room. Leaving a screaming Klaus, the gang then retreated back to the boarding house and waited for the mark to grow.
Jeremy was pacing in front of the fire at the boarding house while the other three sat on the lounge. Elena was holding Damon's hand as their arms were linked together. Damon sipped bourbon and stroked Elena's hand as he watched her younger brother pace back and forth as he kept checking his tattoo.
"What if it didn't work?" Jeremy asked, looking at the gazes on the couch.
"It took a while for Finn's line to die off, remember. It'll work." Bonnie answered.
"What if it doesn't?"
"Where's that Gilbert optimistism?" Damon smirked towards him and he caught Elena smiling at him and she leaned into him more, resting her head on his shoulder.
The comfortable silence was broken when Stefan walked in carrying the headstone. Stefan's gaze went straight to the couple on the couch and had to look down. Elena cuddling like that against Damon was difficult to see.
"Seems like I missed a lot." Stefan murmured, keeping his head down.
"We're just waiting for Jeremy's mark to grow." Elena replied without detaching herself from Damon. Even though Stefan and Caroline wouldn't like seeing it, after her date with Damon last night, she wasn't holding anything back anymore. No guilt and no third party influence was going to change what she wanted or where she wanted to be.
"Got the headstone." Stefan said as he placed the rock on a table.
"Good. Now that we've dealt with Rebekah, all we need is Professor Shane and we'll have everything we need." Elena said as she stood up, letting go of Damon and joined Jeremy by the fire.
"I trapped Klaus at their house, we only have 3 days to find the cure." Bonnie added.
"I didn't dagger Rebekah." Stefan admitted, struggling to look Elena in the eye.
"What? Why not?" Elena asked.
"I didn't have to, she's on our side."
"On our side?" Elena asked in a very confused voice, not understanding Stefan.
"Yeah, she gave me the headstone, she wants the cure just like the rest of us." He defended.
"We just killed Kol, how could we possibly trust her?" Damon asked his brother as he stood up and looked at him suspiciously.
"Rebekah has wanted the cure for centuries, she might have lost her brother but she still wants this." Stefan explained.
"You can't be that stupid brother."
"Rebekah is coming with us, deal with it." Stefan spat out. Elena noticed Damon's posture change and spoke up before the brothers started a heated discussion.
"It'll be fine, we'll bring white oak stake with us." Elena offered as she grabbed Damon's hand to pull him back. Suddenly the room was disrupted by a scream from Jeremy. Everyone turned to the hunter and watched as he ripped his shirt open and the tattoo slowly appeared up his right arm and across his chest, for everyone to finally see it.
"Here we go." Damon said with a hopeful grin. Come early morning, the group would leave for their quest for the cure.
After Bonnie left and Jeremy retreated to a guest room, Damon and Elena returned to his bedroom hand in hand.
"Are you okay?" Damon asked Elena softly, as he remembered the awful wound she took against Kol.
"I'm fine." She replied as she crossed her arms and pulled her sweater over her head and tossed it. "I was worried about you, I thought Kol was going to stake you." She said as she hooked her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his.
"Don't worry about me, I'm not leaving you." He promised and kissed her forehead. Elena smiled and angled her head correctly to kiss him on the lips. She tugged at his shirt and said;
"I need to clean any blood that I missed, will you join me?" She asked playfully as her eyes gestured to Damon's large bathtub. Damon smiled and nodded and they started undressing each other.
Only moments later they were both lying in the hot bubbled water, washing away the blood and relaxing their muscles.
"Are you worried about tomorrow?" Elena asked as she nestled in his lap and pressed her naked back to his firm chest.
"Yeah, a little. We have an Original tagging along and a shady professor that I have no doubt is running his own angle." Damon shared his concerns.
"Stefan's acting weird too." Elena added.
"Yeah." He agreed. "I guess we'll have to watch his back with Rebekah."
"I have a bad feeling about what's coming." Elena said as she twisted her head around to look up at him.
"I can make you feel better." Damon replied with a smirk and she smiled back.
"What are you thinking?" She asked with a wink.
"I want to wash your hair." He said in a whisper against her ear.
"Really?" She gave him an amused look. "I was expecting something hotter." She said seductively as she moved her body over his. Making sure she wiggled her butt in his lap.
"We can do that afterwards." He replied as he brought both his hands up to her damp hair. He squeezed a drop of shampoo and began lathering it through her locks, and messaged her scalp.
"Hmmmm." Elena moaned and closed her eyes at the sensation of his fingers rubbing into her scalp and running down her soapy tresses. The smell of honey wax and lavender filled the room as her hair was completely lathered. Damon slowly began rinsing her brown locks with a cupped hand. Elena giggled at his slow attempt to rinse, so she slid down his body and fully submerged her head under the water. She slowly came back to the surface and Damon was breathless at the sight. Droplets of water and soap suds ran down the skin of her face, shoulders and back. Her hair reconnected and appeared like a chestnut waterfall. She looked like an angel but her dark eyes gave a hint of a naughty devil. She then turned her entire body around and looked up at him with her eyes.
"I got impatient." She said through a smirk before she swirled around in the water and crashed her lips into his, their bare soapy chests rubbing together, causing amazing, soapy friction.
"Baby, there's not enough room in here for what you're thinking." Damon stated against her lips.
"We'll manage. I used to be a cheerleader, remember?" She smiled and kissed him again.
"Oh, I remember." He murmured as he moved his kisses down her neck, tasting the bubbles on her skin.
"Besides, you owe me after leaving our date unfinished last night." She breathed out.
"Unfinished? I thought I was doing the right thing, being a gentleman." He replied innocently before dipping his mouth below the water to kiss her breast.
"A gentleman would've tucked me in after doing other things." She said in a silky seductive tone.
"I'm sorry, I'll never do that again." He vowed as he kissed back up her body.
"Damn right you won't, now hold still." She ordered in a dominant voice. "I'm taking what I'm owed." She didn't care if other people were sleeping in the house tonight. After that amazing date they had, she wanted nothing more than to ride him in the bathtub.
"Elenaa.." Damon groaned as her movements started making waves with the bath water. It felt like the water had boiled over as they made love against the slippery porcelain. They didn't know what challenges they were going to face on this quest but tonight they wanted to be joined in the most intimate way, giving them both an overwhelming state of euphoria.
-Off the coast of Nova Scotia.
"Congratulations, we made it." Shane said to himself smugly.
"That's not helping." Stefan commented.
"You're perfectly capable of tying a knot." Rebekah replied as she kept her eyes on Elena as she walked along the beach.
"You giving Elena the evil eye isn't helping."
"She killed Kol and wanted you to dagger me, she's lucky all I'm giving her is the evil eye."
"You know I can hear you, right?." Elena spoke up without turning to face them.
"You know I don't care, right?" Rebekah called back. Elena suddenly dropped her bags and vamp sped over the Original with the white oak stake pointed at her heart. Rebekah quickly reacted, grabbing Elena and throwing her down in the sand.
"Go ahead, try and kill me, but you might upset Stefan." She said with a slight smirk.
Stefan moved to help Elena up but she refused and got to her feet herself. She walked back over to her bags and tucked the stake away as Damon approached her.
"Someone forgot her team building exercises." He joked.
"I don't trust her."
"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on her." He said very quietly.
"Soon as this is over we won't have to deal with her anymore."
"Human Rebekah. Can't imagine her without fangs." Damon chuckled softly.
"You know, we've never talked about the cure, once we find it. Will you take it?" Elena asked with hopeful eyes under her woolen hat. She knew it was a huge topic in their new relationship and it meant a very serious commitment. She knew Damon would have to give up his vampire side just to be with her. The question terrified her to her core but she needed to know how he felt.
"We got too busy last night to talk." He winked, reminding Elena was the dominant one in the bathtub but she kept staring at him, waiting for an honest answer. "Look, we don't know what's gonna happen. I'm not even sure it exists until I see it, so I don't wanna speculate." He answered and she nodded, understanding his reasoning. Things can't be decided until they have the cure in their hands. Elena smiled and moved inward, stealing a kiss, silently telling him she understood. Damon picked up her bags for her and strapped them to her body, making her smile more. Damon then took her hand with his free one and started their journey.
"C'mon professor, let's get moving." Damon called out to Shane, Bonnie and Jeremy.
The group began their hike up the hills, passing through clearings, long grass, and thick forest.
"Is anyone else feeling creeped out?" Elena spoke up to the group while walking through a subtle path that snaked through an acreage of dead trees.
"Then leave. Out of everyone here your presence is the least necessary." Rebekah chirped up.
"Don't start." Stefan said, trying to keep the peace.
"It's true. Jeremy carries the spell, Bonnie is the only witch that can cast it, you and I have the tombstone for whatever reason, and Shane is the human compass. So Elena has no point." Rebekah stated.
"What about me?" Damon asked.
"You have a nice behind!" Rebekah called out, and Damon smirked and Elena rolled her eyes. She knew the Original hated her but hitting on her boyfriend made her fume underneath, causing her to squeeze their joined hands and he squeezed back to comfort her. Stefan and Rebekah were hiking at the back of the line and they were both watching the hand-holding couple but for different reasons. Rebekah was angry and blamed Elena for the death of Kol, she was still hurt and grieving the loss of her younger brother.
Stefan was staring at their intertwined hands and the pang in his heart only throbbed more. The cure was getting closer, so would a human Elena. Stefan used the little hope he had left to fight the pain and prayed the love of his life would come back to him.
After hours of walking up inclines, and trailing through a forest, it became nightfall.
"Jeremy!" Elena screamed as she blurred towards her brother and saved him from a flying arrow. The mysterious archer was suddenly killed by a rogue ax that flew through the air.
"What happened?" Damon asked as he blurred back to his girlfriend and her brother.
"Someone just saved me." Jeremy answered. Damon looked around the dark forest with his vampire sight, not seeing any moving shadows.
"We're not alone on this island." He murmured.
After Shane told the group the legend of the Silas well and prevented a net trap capturing anyone, they arrived ten minutes later and regrouped at an abandoned cabin and decided to make camp.
"There's a hatchet throwing party crasher hiding in the woods and you want to camp here?" Damon questioned Professor Shane.
"We're safer here than walking in the dark." Shane replied, turning his headlamp towards Damon.
"Let's just keep going. You know, get the cure, get it, get out. Where is it?" Damon asked.
"How stupid do you think I am?" Shane asked defensively.
"Stupid enough to raise an immortal witch, so I'd say incredibly." Damon replied, rolling his eyes.
"I'm shocked you even want the cure, since you've got the most to lose once Elena's human." Shane replied.
Elena overheard and Damon's eyes dropped and he became stunned with silence.
With the sire bond broken, Damon felt more secure in his new relationship with Elena but a small hanging piece of insecurity still remained. Afterall, human Elena chose Stefan and Damon was terrified that was going to happen all over again once she took the cure. If that were to happen, his pain would return tenfold and the immortal loneliness would continue on. He would have to let her go.
Taking off his daylight ring on a sunny day would be the only escape from that kind of pain.
Shane walked off to the cabin as Elena joined Damon.
"Shane doesn't know what he's talking about." She started.
"We'll find out tomorrow." Damon replied, keeping his back to her.
"Damon.." She said softly and used her arms to spin him around to face her. "What are you worried about? I broke the sire bond."
"I know…" He trailed off, not wanting to say his insecurities out loud. Elena took a moment as they gazed into each other and then she realized what he was worried about. The cure.
"You're worried I'll go back to Stefan when I'm human again.." Damon's gaze went back to the ground, silently telling Elena she was absolutely correct. "Damon.." She repeated and grabbed his face with her hands. "Being human won't change how I feel about you." She took a breath. "It will change so many things. Jeremy's not gonna kill me anymore. We're finally gonna get rid of Klaus, Bonnie's mum won't be a vampire and anyone who wants to take this cure is gonna have that option. Rebekah, Caroline, Stefan, you.. If you want it."
"No, I get it. Everything changes tomorrow. It'll be all dragons and unicorns." Damon replied with a fake smirk.
"No, not everything that's what I'm saying. Damon, not my love for you." Elena smiled and pulled him in for a comforting kiss. She then pulled back, brushing her fingers through his dark hair and gave him another smile. "I love you."
"I love you." Damon replied. Damon then pulled her into a warm hug that made them both feel better. Damon was conflicted about the cure for himself. It wasn't that long ago Rose died and he had confessed to a random stranger that he missed being human. but much had changed since then, including himself. He liked who he was now. Being a vampire gave him the strength to protect the town he lived in, along with the people he cared about. He wasn't killing innocents anymore, he was protecting the citizens of Mystic Falls from other supernatural threats. He wouldn't be able to do that if he was human.
If he was being honest with himself, the thought of being a human again would be miserable.
But there was Elena.
Would he take the risk and give up his identity just to be human with her?
He loved her deeply but how could he give himself up to be with her?
Would it even work between them as humans? She chose Stefan.
Would he even work as a human?
Being human again was Stefan's wish, not his.
"What are you thinking about?" Elena asked, looking up at him from his shoulder.
"Nothing." Damon breathed out, not wanting to talk about that yet. "Let's set up camp." He said as he pulled away his arms.
A few moments later the group set up the campsite with many tents and a campfire in the center. Damon and Elena were sitting on a log in front of the fire with Rebekah and Stefan sharing a different log on the opposite side of the campfire. Shane, Bonnie and Jeremy were talking in the door-less cabin.
"A camping trip and no one thought to bring marshmallows." Rebekah spoke up. The word marshmallow made Elena flinch. Remembering the time she was jealous, watching Damon distract Rebekah by flirting with her at the bonfire party. He said he faked the whole thing but the image in her head made her feel a little insecure, so she moved closer to Damon and linked her arm with his, pairing their hands and fingers. Rebekah watched them get closer together with a judgy glare.
"Are you doing that just to hurt Stefan?" Rebekah hissed at Elena's direction. Elena shook her head and scoffed loudly, like she was spitting out something disgusting.
"I'm doing this because he's my boyfriend." Elena defended firmly as she squeezed Damon's hand and gave the Original a cold look.
"Don't start anything." Stefan repeated to Rebekah again.
"I'm not starting anything, the little trollop only broke up with you days ago and then she slept with him." She said, pointing at Damon with her eyes. "Now she's here touching your brother in front of you." Rebekah spilled, first looking at Elena then casting to Stefan. Stefan only stayed silent as he looked up from his furrowed brow and saw Elena holding onto Damon. It hurt to see it but not as much as it did when Elena said boyfriend in a confident voice. Both Elena and Damon wanted to snap at Rebekah's insult but Stefan spoke up first in a shaky voice.
"Boyfriend?" He asked and Elena nodded without hesitation. She looked to her side and saw Damon smiling at her, which she reflected back.
"We got our boyfriend/girlfriend labels on our first date." Damon said proudly without taking his eyes off Elena's face. The campfire was crackling an orange glow which made Elena's olive skin look like a rich honey and her eyes sparkled with tiny stars. Damon couldn't look away from her angelic beauty but they were suddenly both broken out of their stare when Stefan demanded something.
"Show me it's broken." He said with a serious look and both Damon and Elena sighed, they were both getting exhausted with Stefan's denial. Damon kept his gaze with his brother for a moment and then turned to Elena. She gave him a nod, understanding that he wanted to prove the broken bond. Damon looked over to the pile of firewood and smiled.
"Elena, put some wood on the fire." He ordered. Elena's eyes didn't move from Damon's face and she giggled softly at his simple instruction. It wasn't as silly as asking her to throw a stone into a lake but it was still funny.
"No, thank you." She said, clearly for Stefan's benefit. "I'd rather you do it." She chastely kissed him and fell more into his body as he pulled an arm around her. Neither of them noticed Stefan's reaction but they were shocked when they heard him exhale loudly, stand up and storm out of the camp and fade into the woods.
"Stefan!" Rebekah tried calling him back. Damon gave Elena a quick kiss on her cheek before getting to his feet.
"I'll go talk to him." Damon said before following after his brother.
"Be safe." Elena said to him before he left.
"Stefan! Where'd you go brother?" Damon shouted into the dark woods, scanning for movement. He walked past a few large trees before he found Stefan crouched against a large pine with scratches and blood on his knuckles. "There you are, are you punching trees?" Damon said with a humorous opening.
"Leave me alone, Damon." Stefan replied coldly, keeping his focus on the forest floor.
"We're not goading you brother. We're happy, she's happy." He explained.
"That's worse, Damon!" Stefan yelled and vamp-moved into his brother's face, his green eyes dark and jaw clenched.
"How is that worse?" Damon asked without flinching.
"Because it's y…"
"Because it's me." Damon finished. "Because she's happy with me." Damon took a breath before continuing. "Fuck, Stefan! You practically got engorged when you let Elena make her decisions before but now you just can't accept her last one. You have so much denial brother, it's killing you." He let out and Stefan's face twisted into a rage and he swung his fist into a right hook and landed on Damon's jaw, knocking him to the ground.
"You need to...let go of…your denial...it's the only way to…move on." Damon slowly let out through harsh breaths as he took all of Stefan's punches.
"Stop, Stefan!" Rebekah shouted as she dashed herself in front him. Stefan finally stopped, pulling his bloody hands back and looked down at his brother. Damon had a torn lip and dark red bruises on his cheeks and brow. Rebekah pulled Stefan back and Damon slowly got back to his knees in time for Elena to find them.
"What did you do!" Elena yelled as she helped Damon up and locked eyes with Stefan. Nobody answered, there was only the stillness of the night and the subtle sounds of the woods surrounding them. Rebekah walked Stefan back to camp and Elena looked at Damon with a worried expression.
"You okay?" She asked, looking over the blood on his face.
"Yeah. Baby bro hits hard when he's mad." Damon joked as he pushed his jawbone back in place. "Ow!"
"What did you say?" She asked softly as she caressed his jaw.
"I told him that we weren't doing it to hurt him." Damon stopped to spit out some blood and he carried on. "He doesn't like that you're happy with me."
"He'll have to accept it one day because I am happy with you." She smiled. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up." She added and Damon smiled back. They both walked back to camp and found Jeremy and Bonnie sitting together at the fire. Shane, Stefan and the Original were nowhere in sight. "Sit, I'll be back." Elena ordered as she pointed at the log. Damon sat down without a protest and Elena trailed over to their tent to fetch a small first aid bag.
"What happened to you?" Jeremy asked Damon, giving him an amusing look across the log.
"Brother squabble." He answered in a slight smirk. It only took a minute before Elena returned with a large blanket and the kit.
"We're vampires and you brought a first aid kit?" Damon joked with a raised eyebrow. Elena huffed, throwing the blanket on her seat and sat next to him.
"I bought it for Jeremy and Bonnie and it'll work to clean up my boyfriend too." She winked and opened it for a cloth. "Hold still." She demanded, bringing the cloth to his face. She started at his brow, then ran it down to his cheek and ended at his chin, smiling softly as she felt his soft skin beneath the cloth. Both Jeremy and Bonnie watched the two vampires and it seemed strangely intimate, making them feel weird. Bonnie didn't comment but that didn't stop Jeremy.
"Get a room." The hunter said. Elena blushed hard and turned to give her brother an accusing look.
"We have a tent." Damon winked at Jeremy, trying to make him feel uncomfortable.
"Damon!" Elena chided by poking him in the chest, he only chuckled in response. Jeremy shook his head but Damon heard him chuckle too.
"Elena, you don't need to waste an alcohol patch on me, I'm fine. All healed up." Damon said as he caught her shuffling things around in the first aid bag.
"I wanted to wash your skin too."
"Don't worry, we'll sort that out when we get back." He replied and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She smiled warmly and zipped the bag up and dropped it at her feet.
"Did you bring me a blanket too?" Damon asked, noticing the green blanket underneath Elena's bottom.
"No.." She cheekily sang. "I brought it for both of us." She smiled like the Cheshire Cat as she got up and flapped the blanket once before wrapping it around herself and then opened one side for Damon to cuddle in. Elena hummed at the toasty mixture of her boyfriend and the blanket against her body. She looped her free arm around his stomach and rested her head against his chest and then she stared into the flames of the campfire, happy and content. Damon snaked an arm around her shoulders, pressing her body closer to him as the other held the other side of the blanket in her lap. He stared off into the shadowy trees in the distance, so happy to have Elena here by his side.
Bonnie couldn't believe what she was seeing. Damon Salvatore was cuddling under a blanket. The picture in front of her made her want to laugh at first but seeing how happy Elena was made her happy too.
"You guys look cute." Bonnie smiled towards the couple, breaking their bubble. Elena met her eyes with her best friend and reflected the same smile.
"Thank you, Bonnie." Elena said and the witch nodded in response, understanding what it means to have Bonnie's approval.
"I'm gonna turn in before they get more raunchy." Jeremy said as he got to his feet. Elena blushed again and hid her mortified expression under the blanket.
"Night, little Gilbert." Damon said dismissively and Jeremy walked to his tent and zipped it up for the night. "You okay, Bon Bon? You look worried." Damon asked the witch as she sat with her arms around her body.
"I'm alright, I'm just worried about doing the spell with Jeremy."
"We're here to protect you, Bonnie." Elena explained. "Jeremy too." Bonnie nodded.
"Good night you two." Bonnie then smiled and left the couple to themselves.
After a few flawless moments of holding each other, Damon gripped both arms around Elena's waist, lifting her bottom and he pulled her in his lap, making Elena gasp.
"Hmmmmm, nice." She hummed at the new closeness.
"Better?" Damon whispered.
"Very." She smiled and looked up at her boyfriend's face as Damon looked down and kissed her nose.
"Do you know you have the cutest nose I've ever seen." Damon murmured. Elena giggled and her heart throbbed at the compliment but she felt something else too, something she didn't like.
"You say sweet things to me." She said with pink cheeks. "But didn't Katherine have the same nose?" She asked shyly.
"Why would you say that, Elena? I'm only thinking about you right now and you're bringing up the she-devil." He let out, paired with a confused face.
"I don't know, I'm just insecure about it. Every time you compliment my looks, a part of me thinks about you with her because we look exactly alike." She explained while keeping her eyes down from his.
"But you are nothing alike, Elena. You may share looks because of the doppelgänger crap, but it's not all you." He started as he picked her face up by her chin so their eyes could meet. "You are beautiful as the person you are, Elena Gilbert. Your stubbornness, your compassion, that look you give me when you're annoyed." He continued, making her feel better enough to smile. "Your kindness, your strength, and yes, your incredibly hot body too." He finished with a devilish smirk and that eye thing of his.
"Okay, you can't stop now." She said in a giddy voice.
"I will, but promise you won't compare yourself with her again." He said softly as he traced a shape over one of her flushed cheeks.
"I promise." She smiled and then kissed him. "Do you think I should change my hair?" She opted for a different subject after breaking the kiss.
"Do you want to change your hair?" He asked while running his fingers through the dark brown tresses down her back.
"I was thinking about it. It's my senior year and being with you makes me feel more mature." She explained and Damon lightly chuckled.
"I always wondered how many hours it takes you to get your hair this perfectly straight." He joked and she laughed.
"It doesn't take hours." She gave him a fake offended expression and poked his ribs gently.
"Whatever hair you have, you'll always be the most beautiful woman to me." Damon let out in a whisper in her ear, making Elena's heart and body melt like butter in a hot pan. A scorching flame of desire rose up inside her, making her feel hot, so she captured his lips again for a kiss with tongue. She wanted to make him feel as good as she did right now. Elena pushed her tongue through his lips and hungrily explored his mouth, making her arousal build up.
"We should probably stop, I can hear my brother and Barbie Klaus coming towards us." He mumbled against her wet and eager lips.
"I don't want to stop." She responded breathlessly against his lips and slightly jerked her hips into his, making both of them gasp. Damon couldn't say no to this version of Elena.
Stefan walked back into the camp wanting to apologize but found his ex-girlfriend making out with his brother in his lap, under a wrapped blanket. He looked away instantly, not wanting the rage to resurface, so he fled to his tent.
"Take it somewhere else." Rebekah snarked when she found the same thing Stefan did in the camp, but both Damon and Elena ignored her and didn't part. Rebekah scoffed hard and left them alone. She disappeared into Stefan's tent and settled on eavesdropping on them instead of watching. Damon and Elena were too deep in love to even realize the stuff happening with Stefan and the Original.
While still kissing, Damon slowly unlaced the scarf from Elena's neck, exposing the hot skin of her neck and he trailed wet kisses downwards, making her gasp. He stopped at her pulse point and sucked in a love bite, making Elena's fire of desire burn hotter than the campfire next to them. She wanted more skin on skin.
"Tent?" Damon asked breathlessly as he kept kissing her neck.
"Not enough time." Elena said in a seductive whisper as she began clawing at Damon's shirt and pants.
"Out here? Anyone could see us." Damon warned.
"The blanket covers us." She smiled hotly and nibbled at his neck while her hands unclipped his belt.
"You're a daring minx." He smiled as he unzipped her jacket with one hand and brushed it up under her sweater and shirt, touching her hot skin on her tummy and grazing up to her bra. Elena started panting at the amazing touches and it only hurried her along, by freeing Damon from his briefs. He let out a muffled groan into Elena's shoulder as she wrapped a hand around him.
"Elena…" He said breathlessly.
"I need you inside me right now." She whispered with lustful eyes. Not waiting anymore, Elena lifted herself up quick enough to pull her cotton pants down. She nestled back into his lap and pushed her panties aside, begging for him. They pushed their lips together at the same time she sank down on him and they whimpered and moaned against each other's lips. Elena almost felt herself climaxing at first contact so she waited a moment before she began rocking her hips.
"Damon…my god." She whimpered again, trying to stay as quiet as possible. As she kept moving, she felt her hair heat up like crazy. She then realized she was still wearing her woolen cap. She broke out of the blanket for a moment to remove the hat and the cold night air gushed between, slightly cooling down their sizzling skin. Elena giggled a little at the thought of flashing her half-naked body to the empty campsite. She quickly recovered the blanket around them and continued the incredible thrusting.
"You feel so good inside me.." Elena confessed shyly against his ear, her dirty words creating a shiver inside of him that made his erection harder and his thrusts more perfect. Elena's eyes rolled back in her head as she tilted her head backwards, taking in the blissful magic.
"God, I love you..I love…you so much." Damon blurted out as he watched Elena move up and down on his length. She bought her eyes back down his and she swooned at his words and beautiful eyes.
"Ohh..I love…you..too. So muchhh." She let out between suppressed moans. After feverishly moments of kissing, nibbling, lightly biting and skin tingling touches, their sexual ecstasy rose up and came crashing down together. They both tried their best to muffle their climaxes by pressing their mouths into each other. Their sex-haze came down as did their heart rates and they quickly dressed and retreated to their tent to sleep while spooning.
"I can't believe you were so adventurous to do that." Damon whispered to her as held her from behind, their hands joined over her stomach and their love blanket laid over them.
"I wanted you and I didn't care for anyone else to stop us." She admitted.
"It was very sexy.." He let out a groan and pressed his hips into hers.
"Stop, we can't do it again." She protested with a giggle and a soft elbow jab.
"Goodnight, sweetness." He said as he kissed her cheek. Elena blushed at the pet name and replied.
"Goodnight, babe." She grinned and Damon hugged her tighter. They both fell asleep listening to their breathing and the subtle sounds of the woodlands surrounding them.
"I'm pretty sure they're having sex outside right now." Rebekah murmured, but Stefan ignored her. He just wanted to move on to the next day.
The next morning on the island, the group woke up to find Jeremy missing. "Jeremy!" Elena called out.
"His gear is still here." Shane said, pulling Jeremy's bag from his tent.
"Let's split up to find him." Damon advised.
"I can stay and do a locator spell." Bonnie offered and Elena nodded.
"Okay, I'll stay here, make sure she's safe." Shane said.
"Fine, Stefan and I will head towards the beach." Rebekah chipped in and started walking away.
"We'll go further up the hill to check." Elena said, grabbing Damon's hand and they moved toward the inclined earth.
"You ready?" Damon asked.
"For what?" Elena gave him a quizzical look.
"This!" He said loudly as he grabbed Elena in a bridal style hold and vamp sped up the hill. He could hear her laughing. He could listen to that laugh forever, so innocent and angelic. Damon came to a stop as he reached a straight cliff of white and gray jagged rocks and put Elena down on her boots.
"You're so much faster than me." Elena let out, taking in their vantage point.
"Older vampires move quicker." He winked at her and then looked at the island below.
"Where could he be?" Elena asked.
"I don't know." Damon shifted his focus to where they came from and saw little puffs of smoke. "What the f.."
"Damon, is that smoke?"
"Yeah, I think Shane is up to something. I'll go have a look and check on Bonnie, you keep looking for Jeremy." He said and she nodded. Before Damon blurred off he captured Elena for a kiss. "I don't want you running around by yourself. I know you won't like it, but can you meet up with Stefan and Rebekah on the beach?"
"I'd rather stay with you." She said softly, gazing into his sun-kissed irises.
"I know, baby but I need to make sure Professor Shadypants hasn't taken Bonnie." He explained "You team up and find Jeremy. Be careful, okay?" He added and kissed her on the forehead.
"Promise you'll be careful too." She replied and kissed him back.
"Promise." He smiled and then blurred away, back to the camp and Elena blurred down the hill heading towards the beach.
Damon was close to camp when he suddenly stopped to see something moving.
"Who's there, Bennett witch? Baby hunter? Hatchet man?" Damon said as he moved slowly like a predator hunting helpless prey. He was surprised by a whooshing sound and then a sharp pain collided into his back, breaking through muscle and scraping bone. He looked backwards and found an arrow deeply embedded in his shoulder.
"Ahh!" He groaned as he reached back to pull out the foreign object. As soon as he pulled it out he was tackled by a mysterious man. They both struggled, trying to overpower the other, which confused Damon for a moment until he timely spotted the hunter's mark on the man's wrist.
"You're one of the Five!" Damon then lessened his grip, not wanting to have the hunter's curse again. The hunter took an advantage and swung around and caught Damon in a headlock, snapping his neck and bringing darkness.
Elena slowed down as she got to unfamiliar foliage, checking for primitive traps. "Aren't you supposed to be with your lover boy in the other direction?" She heard Rebekah's distinctive voice beside her.
"He went to check on Bonnie, we think Shane is up to something." Elena explained.
"Still doesn't explain why you're here."
"Damon didn't want me to search the island alone."
"What? He's afraid you'll get caught in a net and become a damsel." Rebekah smirked.
"At least I have someone that always puts me first." Elena said smugly, making sure it hurt. Rebekah was about to snap back something but they were suddenly interrupted by Stefan emerging from behind a tree.
"Elena?" He said softly, surprised to see her here. She's been practically attached to Damon since landing here on the island.
"Damon's checking on Bonnie and he told me to team up with you two." She explained again.
"I thought the sire bond was broken." He replied. Elena almost felt like vomiting at his words. Was Stefan still keeping his eggs in the sire bond basket?
"Sire bond…what? I broke that days ago, Stefan. We showed you!" She didn't mean to yell the last part but that's how it came out. "It was my choice, he just didn't want me searching the island alone." She said with frustration.
"Fine, let's move." Stefan said abruptly. The three began walking through the trees heading towards the rock-littered beach.
"Jeremy!" Elena yelled.
"Try yelling louder, draw more attention to us." Rebekah commented dryly.
"I'm sorry, and how are you helping?" Elena countered.
"By having sex in the middle of the campsite, keeping everyone awake. Oh wait, that was you." Rebekah replied with a judgmental look. Elena turned to her with widened eyes and a slight blush. "Yeah. If you thought you were being quiet enough, it didn't work. I wanted to sow my ears shut." Rebekah then gestured to Stefan. "Stefan covered his ears with his pillow." The realization made Elena feel embarrassed but she wasn't ashamed. With every day and night she spent with Damon since confessing her feelings, it has been amazing, and no one was going to make her feel bad about it.
"Can you not talk about it, Rebekah." Stefan jumped in, not wanting his mind to conjure up images of them having sex next time a campfire.
"C'mon Stefan, you were so upset you didn't even want to get naked with me again." Rebekah confessed and waited for Elena's predicted reaction. Stefan stopped in his tracks and looked back at both women. Rebekah had a wide smirk and Elena had wide eyes and the color in her face was drained. Elena wasn't jealous, upset or angry, all she felt was shock. It was only days ago that Rebekah was mercilessly torturing Stefan in the high school library, but now they're sharing a tent?
Elena knew they had a past relationship in the 20's, so it made some sense but she thought she knew Stefan and didn't think he would be into a rebound relationship or whatever they were doing.
"Elena." Stefan said, almost sounding like a panicked voice. He wanted to explain.
"It's fine, Stefan." Elena replied, looking straight at him.
"It is?" Rebekah chimed with disbelief. "You're not jealous?" Elena quickly turned to the Original vampire and smiled.
"Why would I be jealous? I have a boyfriend that I love. You heard it last night, right?" She said confidently. "I'm going to check on him right now and see if Bonnie's had luck with the spell." Elena smiled widely and then whooshed back to camp.
Rebekah's prediction was completely off.
She continued to the beach with a sullen Stefan trailing behind her. They trudged through thick woodlands and high grass and then spotted the beach below them.
"Are you alright?" Rebekah asked Stefan. His mood hadn't changed since last night.
"Why do you keep making Elena say stuff like that around me? Are you doing it on purpose?" He wondered.
"Of course not Stefan, why would you ask that?"
"Using Elena to hurt me has been your theme for the last few days." He recalled.
"That was revenge, Stefan. It's not about that anymore."
"Then what's it about, huh?" He snapped.
"You said human Elena would come back to you, I'm only poking at those feelings to see if they're there." She admitted.
"Clearly they aren't right now, so you can stop."
"Look, Stefan.." Rebekah started but was interrupted as she hit a tripwire and a sharpened spear pierced through the air. Stefan swiftly reacted and pushed Rebekah out of the way and pressed her into a tree.
"Thanks. Are you not pulling back on the off chance Elena's watching us through the trees?" She asked, breathlessly.
"No."
Elena returned to the camp with ease and found it completely abandoned. No Shane, no Bonnie and no Damon. She yelled for brother again and then for her boyfriend. There was nothing but silence. Her heart filled with dread and panic as she worried that Shane had taken Bonnie and something happened to Damon. Elena circled around the woods that surrounded the campsite, yelling all their names, but she found nothing. Until she came to a part of the woods that had disturbed earth and freshly broken twigs, clearly signs of a struggle. With more panic, she sped back towards the beach, seeking Stefan and Rebekah. She found the pair searching along the shore.
"They're all gone!" Elena beseeched. Both Stefan and Rebekah shared a worried face and followed then Elena back to the camp.
Damon woke from the darkness with a subtle aching neck and itchy skin as he found himself tied tightly to a tree. His neck, chest and legs were roped, making it difficult to breath and move. His hands were clasped together behind his back with vervain soaked rope, making his wrists burn.
"Ah, you're awake." Damon heard a rough male voice in front of him that was heavy with an Irish accent.
"Eh, who the hell are you?" Damon groaned as he tried to wiggle underneath the restraints.
"A hunter, but you knew that already, because you saw this." The stranger said as he approached Damon and exposed his tattooed hand and arm. "My name is Galen Vaugh, and I need you to start talking." He added and then stabbed Damon in the neck with a sharp, narrow stick. "I've been killing vampires my entire life and the mark didn't reveal itself to me, until three days ago it completed for no apparent reason."
"You think I know about mystic tattoos? I don't even believe the cure is real." Damon stated as he squirmed again the wood in his throat.
"It's real. It's the only way to kill Silas." Galen explained as he looped around the tree and cut the ropes around Damon's neck and legs. "You're gonna take me to your witch, so I can be the one to kill him." He then untied the longer rope around Damon's torso and created a lasso to keep Damon under control as they began to slowly shuffling, heading for the tomb.
Taking the word of the hunter, Damon believed the cure was real but was told there was only one dose. He felt slightly disappointed that not everyone would get it, but he had a drive to get it for Elena.
He would do anything to make sure he got it for her.
"Do you think Shane took them?" Stefan asked Elena.
"Bonnie, yes. But he must have had help to take Jeremy and Damon too." Rebekah panicked and quickly dashed into her tent, looking for the headstone but it was gone. She then moved back out and caught Elena in a grasp.
"Where is it?" She accused loudly.
"Where is what?" Elena choked out beneath the Original vampire's strength.
"Stop, Rebekah!" Stefan demanded, trying to remove her hands off Elena.
"It's gone. The tombstone is gone! You're always betraying me and here you are doing it again!" Rebekah claimed through a shrill voice.
"It wasn't me!" Elena choked back and she freed herself from her hands. "I've been running around all day."
"It's not us Rebekah." Stefan insisted. "Do you think I would risk it? My last 146 years have been ruled by the pain of being a vampire." Stefan stopped to look at Elena, making sure she was hearing everything. "And this cure ends that, it ends the guilt and the suffering. Do you really think I jeopardize that?" He finished.
"Fine, but that doesn't mean I trust her." Rebekah said.
"You don't have a choice, it's just us three. Shane probably has Bonnie, Jeremy is missing and we don't know what happened to Damon." Elena explained but her voice came to a choke as she said her boyfriend's name.
"We need to find the tomb." Stefan stated.
"How? We don't know how to find it." Rebekah replied.
"If Caroline can find the sword, we can send the pictures of the mark to her and decipher the map." Elena explained.
"Klaus won't give up the sword, not even for Caroline. He's terrified that we're gonna use the cure against him." Rebekah explained back.
"We have to try." Stefan said before they all whooshed back to the beach to get a signal on a cellphone. After a long conversation over the phone, Caroline with Tyler's help found the sword and tried to decode the map. With unexpected help from Klaus, Rebekah learned that there was only one cure and she was conflicted on sharing that news with the others. She badly wanted to be human again but she also wanted to ease Stefan's pain. As the three of them made their journey to Silas's location, Rebekah decided to tell Stefan.
After paying the witch for his service, using the magical headstone as payment, Shane, Bonnie and Jeremy repelled themselves down the well and landed into an enormous cavern.
"Here!" Shane pointed. "This is the spot." He brushed away loose stone and uncovered a circle carved into the stony foundation. Bonnie and Jeremy reluctantly moved into the circle but they readied themselves for the spell. Jeremy removed his shirt, exposing the mark to Bonnie and she gulped as she took in his body in the harsh lighting.
"Breath, Bonnie. Pull the spell into your body, feel the energy." Shane guided her. Bonnie closed her eyes and focused. A strange air started flowing through the cavern and the ground began to shake. The tattoo started to recede and stones of all sizes began falling from the space above them.
"Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled through the floating rock dust that filled the room.
"Jeremy.." Bonnie coughed as she got back to her feet, checking herself for injuries. Jeremy spotted her next to a giant hole in the ground that descended into an open darkness. Shane was trapped and injured and the tomb entrance was open.
"Get down the well!" Galen shoved Damon. He stumbled on the edge of the well and spat back at the Irish hunter. Damon groaned as he tried to get to his feet but Galen gave him a swift kick to the stomach and Damon fell backwards and plummeted down the well, hitting the stone walls on the way before landing hard on his back. He could feel many different bones broken and out of place. He screamed in agony and managed to roll to his side. Through blurry eyes and floating dirt, he spotted a seated Shane trapped underneath a pillar shaped rock.
"Damon, I need your help." Shane begged, seeing the vampire slowly crawling across the chamber. Damon couldn't reply, everything was still hurting and he was healing slowly. They both suddenly heard a loud footfall and spotted that Galen had repelled down and landed on his feet.
"Get up, vampire!" Galen shouted and picked up Damon by his arm. "We have an immortal to kill."
"We?" Damon let out through a harsh breath.
Elena, Stefan and Rebekah made it to the high cliff overlooking a small lake and just across the water was the entrance to the mine that led to the well.
"Elena, you go first, we'll be right behind you." Stefan said. Elena didn't hesitate, she leapt into the air and fell straight down for over a mile before landing on her feet at the bottom. She continued on, whooshing around the lake and made it to the well.
Before Stefan jumped to follow, Rebekah stopped him with an arm. "There's something you should know about the cure.."
"What?" Stefan asked. Many worse case scenarios rushed through his mind.
"There's only one cure." Stefan scoffed and then sighed.
"So much for having hope.." He said with a defeated expression as he peered over the lake.
"One of us will be human again."
"Yeah, but now we are all going to fight each other over it." Stefan expected.
"Not really. I want it for myself, Damon will want it for Elena, so will Jeremy. But you…" She paused. "Despite your suffering, you'd still give it to Elena, wouldn't you?" Stefan stayed silent because he knew she was right. Rebekah said sorry before quickly snapping Stefan's neck and dashing off.
Elena landed on her feet in the main chamber and found an unconscious Shane. She left him and quickly walked over and descended down the dark tunnel, listening for the others. She came to a smaller chamber and heard somebody scuffling around her. She turned around trying to spot the presence with her. She heard footsteps behind her and spun around again and came face to face with her clone.
"No!" Elena mumbled angrily before she was tackled roughly to the ground.
"How are we the ones that made it this far?" Bonnie asked Jeremy as they walked down the narrow tunnel that fed into the tomb.
"I'm happy we're both here together." Jeremy said, looking back at her.
"Me too." She smiled. They continued to walk until they came to the final room containing the tomb of Silas. Jeremy stepped up to the altar and spotted the tiny box in the statue's hands.
"That's the cure?! How is that supposed to cure every vampire on Earth?"
"I don't think it is, Jere." Both of them tried to dislodge the cure but it wouldn't move. Bonnie groaned in frustration. "It's like trying to bend stone." She stepped back. "I know what we have to do."
"What?" Jeremy asked.
"There's only one way we're getting the cure. We have to wake him up." Bonnie explained in a shaky voice.
"There has to be a different way." Jeremy said as he kept pulling at the box.
"Jeremy, it's no use…." Bonnie stopped and let out a loud exhale as she felt a sharp pain in her back. Her legs turned to rubber and she collapsed to the floor.
"Don't listen to the witch, boy." Galen said firmly as he pulled the knife out of Bonnie and threw a weak Damon down next to her.
"Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled and rushed over to her. Galen stepped up to the altar and cut open his own arm with the same knife.
"What are you doing?" Jeremy asked the other hunter.
"I'm gonna raise Silas, then I'm gonna kill him." He replied confidently. Jeremy ran back to Silas and fought against Galen. They punched and grabbed at each other until Galen got to the upper hand by twisting Jeremy's arm and throwing him to the hard floor. In an unexpected blur, Damon appeared behind Galen and went for a snap neck move.
"The hunter's curse!" Jeremy shouted from his bloodied face. Damon rolled his eyes and scoffed loudly, remembering what that was like to live through that. Instead he threw Galen into the tunnel wall hard, knocking him out completely. Damon reached down a hand and helped Jeremy to his feet.
"Took a beating, huh?" Damon quipped but Jeremy couldn't smile or laugh.
"Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled again.
"Don't worry, she's fine. I slipped her some of my blood." Damon reassured the younger Gilbert. Jeremy nodded but still knelt down to the witch to check. Bonnie found the strength to sit up.
"So this is the famous Silas." Damon said, looking over the stone slab and the desiccated body. "He's seen better days." He joked to himself. Damon's eyes then found the tiny box wrapped in the stony fingers. "The cure, I assume."
"Yeah, Bonnie said we have to feed him our blood if we want to take it." Jeremy explained as he stood beside the vampire.
"Doesn't look like much of a cure." Damon observed. Galen was telling the truth, only one dose.
"It's not." Bonnie mumbled from the ground.
Damon twisted his lip at the realization. Only one cure.
"It makes sense." He said as he tugged at the box. "The cure was made for Silas, so you only need one."
Jeremy was about to ask what they were going to do but their focus was taken by Elena entering the tomb.
Stefan recovered quickly and made it to the main chamber fast but was shocked to find a bloody and almost unconscious Elena leaning against the chamber wall. "Elena!" The sound of her name being called bought her back. "What happened?"
"She's here!" Elena exclaimed with fear in her voice.
"Who?"
"Elena!" Damon called out as he saw her. They both met in the middle of the room and crashed into a hug. The hug felt different than normal but Damon shrugged it off, they were right next to the cure after all.
"Are you okay?" Damon asked, brushing her shoulders.
"I'm fine, I was worried about you." She admitted convincedly.
"Same, I was taken by Shrek over there." Damon explained as he gestured his thumb over to the unconscious hunter. Elena broke from the hug and walked up to Silas with Damon behind her.
"Is that the cure?" She asked, pointing at the tiny box.
"Yeah. We need to wake him up if we want it though." Jeremy chimed in.
"So we need to feed him, right?" She asked, facing Damon.
"Guess so." He let out in a sigh. "Will it be worth it?" He asked the group, setting eyes on everyone. Jeremy and a recovering Bonnie only shrugged. Elena turned to Damon and hugged him again, snaking her arms around his waist this time.
"How did you find us? I thou…." Damon stopped speaking suddenly and let out a sharp choking sound. He felt an intense pain in the center of his chest, the same place that feels warm when he's with Elena or thinking about Elena. She pulled back slowly and Damon looked down to see a stake sticking out of his chest. He looked up with watery eyes and realized it's not the girl he loves.
The first hug was a warning.
There was no warm feeling.
"Katherine..?" He said in a strained voice.
"Damon." She smirked as she let go of the stake and he fell back onto the stone floor, kicking up the ancient dust. "I'm sorry." She whispered as she watched him fall onto his back.
"Damon!" Jeremy yelled and Bonnie gasped. Jeremy then sprinted over to the staked vampire. "Katherine!"
"Been too long, little Gilbert" She said darkly and grabbed him. She pulled him over to the altar but was suddenly surprised by a sharp pain in her shoulder. Katherine dropped Jeremy, turned around and found Galen holding a weapon.
"You shouldn't have done that!" Katherine smiled evilly and blurred to Galen and sank her fangs into his neck, pulled him to Silas and fed the hunter to the immortal. The box containing the cure loosened as Silas shifted slightly and Katherine snatched it away before whooshing out of the cave and back to the surface with her treasure, trying not to care who she killed to get it.
"Jeremy.." Damon coughed out from the floor.
"Damon.." Jeremy replied and knelt down next to him. Jeremy could see the skin on Damon's neck slowly turning gray and his veins were popping out. "You're not dying Damon!" The grayness reached up to his face and slowly crept along his chin and cheeks.
"I don't want to.. I need t…..Tell your sister, I lov…." Damon's voice faded out, his eyes closed and his breathing stopped. The veins and gray color had completely taken him, as did the blackness of death.
"Why would Katherine want the cure?" Elena asked, as she moved through the tunnel.
"I don't know, but we should hurry. If she gets her hands on it, we'll never see it again." Stefan beseeched. They entered the final chamber and found Jeremy and Bonnie sitting on their knees next to a body. Elena first spotted the leather jacket dressed on the still body and her eyes widened and a sharp pain shot straight to her heart.
"Damon!" She screamed and dashed to Jeremy's side, looking over his body. She saw his gray and veiny skin over his face and there was a stake protruding from his chest.
She felt as if her entire world had just ended.
"No! No, no, no, no!" Elena spilled through a choked voice as she fell to her knees and pulled Damon's head into her lap. Stefan walked up slowly to the group and his own eyes traveled down to his dead brother.
"Damon.." He murmured in a sad voice. He wanted to look away but he couldn't, swallowing his shock for a moment he noticed the other body near the altar. "What happened?" He asked as he turned to Jeremy and Bonnie.
"It was Katherine.." Jeremy answered. "She killed him and ran off with the cure."
A new rage boiled up inside Stefan and he blurred out of the tomb without a sound. He moved quickly down the passages looking for the 500 year old vampire, all he could think about was getting his hands on Katherine. After scouring the main cave and finding nothing, he jumped up the well to search the outside but was stopped when he bumped into the blonde Original.
"Where are you going?" Rebekah asked as she adjusted herself and looked at Stefan's furious face.
"Katherine is here, she killed my brother!" He yelled.
"The doppelgänger was here?" She asked. Stefan only shook his head and blurred out of the mine, leaving her stunned.
"Wait, Damon's dead?" She mumbled to herself.
"You can't do this to me, Damon!" Elena pleaded as she held his upper body over her lap, just like she did when she bought his humanity back. "You promised.." She mumbled through a broken voice and brewing tears. Elena looked up and around the cave, looking for an answer. She wasn't accepting this. Damon would not be dead, not now, not ever. "Bonnie, help him..please." She begged her friend that was crouched down beside her, holding her shoulders. Bonnie's eyes glistened with empathy as she stared at Elena's red cheeks and watery eyelashes.
"I don't know if I can, Elena.." Bonnie explained. She had no idea if she could bring back a dead vampire with expression and the unstable magic was bad enough, she didn't want to make this situation worse.
"You have too!" Elena shouted through a shaky sob.
"Elena.." Jeremy said softly as he reached across and touched his sister's hand, trying to comfort and calm her down.
"No, Jere. He's not dead!" Elena snapped. She looked down at her boyfriend's face, she caressed his cheekbones and then ran her fingers through his raven hair, brushing out the dirt. She closed her eyes and shook her head to fight the tears that wanted to trickle out. She felt a lump in her throat and her heart was pumping an agonizing pain through her chest, making it impossible to breathe. She tightened her grip around him and was determined not to let go until he was smiling back at her again. Jeremy gave Bonnie a look and tilted his head to the exit, gesturing to the witch to follow him.
"What are we going to do?" Jeremy asked Bonnie as they were out of Elena's sight but not her earshot. "She won't survive this.."
"We need to get them home." Bonnie replied. Jeremy nodded and turned to go back but was distracted by another vampire that appeared behind Bonnie.
"Stefan's gone." Rebekah shared as she looked over the witch and the hunter. "Where's Elena?" She asked as she stepped beside them.
"In there, she won't leave him." Jeremy answered with a sad expression on his face. Seeing his sister so broken, he wanted to break down too but he had to remain strong for her. Rebekah shifted past them and made it to the final space. She took in the appearance of the tomb. Elena was in the middle of the room, holding a gray-skinned and immobile Damon, at the back of the cave was a dead body at the bottom of a stone altar that held a stone slab. Rebekah saw the person-shaped rock lying on the slab and assumed it was Silas. Elena didn't even notice the Original walked past her to get there. Rebekah's heart dropped when she couldn't see the cure anywhere. Stefan was telling the truth.
The cure was gone.
Jeremy and Bonnie reentered the tomb and found Rebekah standing over Elena.
"Elena.." Rebekah said softly. Things between her and Elena were complicated and not friendly at all, but in this moment, she felt nothing but sorrow for the crying Elena. She crouched down and repeated her name again.
"Don't touch him!" Elena snapped angrily, giving her a cold look.
"He's gone, Elena." Bonnie sighed as she crouched down near her friend again. Elena didn't snap this time, she only ignored her friend and kept crying. Her eyes started to feel puffy as the salty tears burned them and trickled down her cheeks. She couldn't even wipe them away fast enough before fresh ones would fall, so she stopped trying.
Stefan gave up searching. If there was a one guarantee in life, Katherine was long gone, as was the only cure. His focus faltered and fell back to the image of his dead brother. His only family and the person he couldn't live without, was gone. A wave of pain washed through him and he fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the soft dirt. He yelled out a cry and then fought hard to hold back a cascade of tears. He tunneled his fingers through the dirt and clenched them, squeezing the earth in his palm, making white-knuckled fists. This pain was consuming. He needed a single focus, a powerful distraction. Katherine. He wanted to kill Katherine, but he needed to do something else first. He slowly got to his feet, cleaned his palms on his clothes and traveled back to the tomb.
He walked into the tomb and found the group huddled around a weeping Elena. The only sound that echoed off the stone walls was Elena's shallow breathing, her sniffles and the short cries that passed her trembling lips. It was heartbreaking to hear.
Stefan swallowed hard, knowing it wasn't going to be easy to pry her away from Damon. He walked up to them and met eyes with Bonnie, then Jeremy and settled on Rebekah. They all silently agreed what to do.
"No!" Elena screamed. "Let me go, Stefan!" She wailed and swatted at his arms as he pulled Elena up to her feet and away from Damon's body. She fought hard with all her strength but Stefan was too strong. "Let go of me! I need him!" She begged.
"Elena, stop!" He countered. "We need to get out of here."
"No, no, no. I won't leave him!" She sobbed.
"I'm not either." Stefan replied. "We'll bring him home with us." Stefan exclaimed and gave Rebekah the same look as before. She nodded back to him and then reached down to pick up the body.
"No! Don't you touch him!" Elena screamed in a rage and lunged forward with her fangs exposed. Stefan almost lost his grip on Elena's arms as she suddenly spurred forward towards Rebekah.
"I'll take him to the boats." She explained, giving Elena a soft expression before lifting Damon up and carrying him in her arms. She walked out of the cave, through the channel and made it to the central chamber. She could hear Elena screaming protests for her to come back but she kept moving. She jumped up the well and landed in the upper level without dropping him. Rebekah felt sorry for Stefan at that moment because she could still hear Elena's cries. Arriving back home wasn't going to be easy for anyone. Elena lost the man she loved and Stefan lost his brother and everyone in their group would be affected by these two suffering the pain and grief. As Rebekah blurred her way back to the boats she decided she would stick around and help Stefan cope. He was her first priority, the cure can be a close second.
With the help of Bonnie and Jeremy, Stefan managed to drag Elena into the main chamber where they found a pale and unconscious Shane in the place they left him.
"Is Silas going to stay asleep?" Jeremy asked Bonnie as he looked back.
"I don't know. He only fed on one person, maybe it wasn't enough." Bonnie theorized.
"Let's just get out of here." Stefan ordered as he walked beside a catatonic Elena.
They all hiked back to the boats, leaving Shane and Silas in the cavern. When they approached the boats, they saw Rebekah standing on the beach and Damon's body was lying in the boat with a light blanket wrapped loosely around him. Elena broke out of her sullen and empty state and ran over to the boat and climbed beside Damon. Stefan moved over too, looking over his brother, staring at the piece of wood still sticking out of his body. He reached forward and gripped the stake.
"Don't!" Elena shouted but Stefan yanked the weapon away, exposing the wound, making Elena cry more. He threw the stake across the beach and then adjusted the blanket to cover the wound from their eyes.
"Let's take him home." He said and then boarded the boat. Jeremy and Bonnie followed along. It wasn't just Caroline that was going to greet them when they got back to Mystic Falls. It was going to be something worse. Worse than an angry Klaus.
It was going to be grief.
Heightened grief.
"Thank you, Atticus." A deep rough voice rumbled through the cavern. A tall dark figure walked up to the professor and crouched down beside him.
"Silas.." Shane croaked out as he was barely able to stay awake. "You...said you could.. bring back my.. wife." He continued through coughs.
"That is true." Silas tilted his head and stared at the helpless human. "But you won't be alive to see her."
"No!" Shane yelled as loud as he could but it came out in a blood spurting cough. Silas leaned closer and his first smile in two thousand years curved the bottom half of his face. Shane's vision was blurry but he was overcome with fear when saw the immortal's face.
"You..don't have a.. face.." Shane said in a shaky voice.
"No." Silas said in a dark tone and then lunged forward at the professor's throat and sunk his four fangs into the flesh. He emptied Shane of his blood and stood up. He could feel the power return slowly but he was nowhere strong enough for his psychic powers to work. He needed blood, a lot more blood.