Cursed Blood and Bound Fates
Chapter 17
Renfri pulled into the parking lot of the Mystic Falls Hospital and locked the car, leaving Ash to wait in the back seat with a cup of water and a treat. She ran inside and saw Bonnie talking with Matt in a waiting area. She hurried over, ignoring the witch and only looking at the blonde.
"Is she okay, what happened?" she asked immediately.
"Not good, we were driving then Tyler heard this weird noise and he got this migraine or something. He lost control of the car. I…I thought that Caroline was fine. The paramedics were checking out Tyler 'cause he was unconscious, but when we turned back, she was on the ground and not responding."
"Oh god," Bonnie murmured, cringing at the floor. Ren couldn't help but glare at the girl, it was yet another consequence of her choice to betray them.
She turned back to Matt, "Are you okay? You're not hurt?"
He shook his head, "Nah, I'm fine, just worried about Caroline. Her mom sent Tyler home too, something happened to his dad, I guess. I'm not sure what though."
Ren swallowed the lump in her throat, "Did you, uh, hear about that fire downtown? In Elena's dad's old office? It turns out that Tyler's dad got caught up in it somehow…he died."
Bonnie's eyes snapped to hers in shock but was ignored. Ren sat down on Matt's other side to wait with them for news. She sent a quick text to Stefan and Damon to alert them to the situation. Stefan said he was at Elena's house dealing with another situation there and would see her later to fill her in, also urging her to get checked out while she was there, and Damon responded saying he was already on his way since Liz had contacted him. Ren told Matt she would be back and headed to the reception desk to check herself in.
She didn't have to wait long, it wasn't a busy night beyond the fire and the car accident, and she was seen to quickly. They gave her some oxygen just in case to increase her levels to a healthy point and told her she was lucky to not be worse off. They suggested drinking warm tea with honey or sucking on cough drops if her throat felt dry, and of course to come back right away if she had a hard time breathing. As she checked out and returned to where her friends were before, she found that Matt had gone off somewhere and Elena was walking up to Bonnie and saw her too.
"Bonnie, Ren, how's Caroline?" she asked right away. The girls, though at odds, glanced at each other to determine who would tell her, and Bonnie took on the burden. She stood and took a step closer while Ren stared at the floor.
"Elena, she's weak…they don't know if she's going to make it," the witch told her gently, reaching out to hug her as the news sent Elena into a state of shock.
"What?" the brunette mumbled, mindlessly resting her arms over her friend's shoulders as she processed the information. "Is there something that you can do? Like a spell?"
"She doesn't know how, do you?"
Ren looked up to see her older uncle approach the trio with a bit of hesitancy at first before he settled into his usual confident stride. She furrowed her brows at that but mentally shrugged it off in favor of the matter at hand.
Bonnie stepped back from Elena as she frowned and looked away in annoyance, "No, I don't."
"No, you don't," he repeated, "because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that—"
"Yeah, well, I can take down a vampire. That spell was pretty easy to learn," she retorted snottily.
"Are you fucking serious right now?" Ren interjected angrily, "he is not the problem here, so give it a rest with the judgemental witch shit right now."
Damon jumped in again, turning to her and Elena this time, "I can give Caroline some blood—"
Elena shook her head before he was even done, "No, no way, no—"
"Just enough to heal her, she'll be safe in the hospital, it'll be out of her system in a day. She'll be better, Elena."
The brunette waved her hand at him, "No, it's too risky, I can't agree to that."
"Then too bad it's not just your opinion that matters here," Ren snapped, frustrated with Elena not understanding the likely critical nature of their friend's condition.
"Do it," Bonnie told Damon forcefully. Elena turned to look at the both of them in surprise as the witch explained, "this is Caroline, we can't let her die." She turned back to Damon, "Do it."
Ren nodded slowly, "Despite the fact that she has no grounds to make any demands from us right now, I have to agree with her. I'd rather risk Caroline becoming a vampire than letting her die when we could have saved her."
Damon looked between the girls then eyed Bonnie, "If I do this, you and me call a truce?"
"No, but you'll do it anyway…for Elena and Ren," she said arrogantly. Damon looked at her for another intense moment while Elena looked at Bonnie, slightly confused at why she had mentioned her as a reason he'd do it. Ren was beginning to think that the girl was dense if she didn't sense that he was having romantic feelings for her by this point. Bonnie turned and walked away from the small group and Damon took the chance to turn back to Elena.
"I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now but we should talk about what happened tonight."
Elena looked stressed at this, "Yeah, one of the tomb vampires got into the house and almost killed John."
"What?" Damon and Ren asked in shock.
"What…when—what are you talking about?" he asked in confusion, "After I left?"
"I thought you went home?" Ren asked him with a raised eyebrow, clearly none of them were on the same page and shit had hit the fan once they'd separated.
"You were there?" Elena asked him.
"Oh, come on, you know I was," he said as if it was obvious.
Ren looked between the two oddly as Elena responded while looking genuinely perplexed.
"When were you at the house?"
"Really?" He asked as if she was playing dumb to annoy him. When she just looked at him, clearly missing something, he added suggestively, "Earlier, on the porch, we were talking…all the cathartic feelings exposed?" When Elena seemed to think hard on it and came up blank, shaking her head, he snapped, "Oh come on, we kissed, Elena, okay?"
Ren and Elena's eyebrows shot up in shock at this revelation. Ren turned to look at her friend for confirmation and did not get it.
Elena just shook her head in exasperation and annoyance, "Okay, I don't have time for this," and started to walk past him.
Damon grabbed her arm, stopping her, and said in a hushed but serious tone, "Hey, if you want to forget it happened, fine, but I can't." Ren looked between the two, wondering what the hell was happening. Damon was so adamant that they had talked, emotionally at that, and even kissed but Elena seemed to have amnesia or was in serious denial. Before the girl could respond, her aunt Jenna walked up and Damon was quick to turn away from her, facing the other way awkwardly.
"Elena, I came as soon as I got your message, how's John?"
Elena looked at her accusingly, "Where have you been?"
Her aunt looked taken aback, "At the fire department, I had to fill out the report," when Elena looked confused she added, "I told you earlier."
Elena just shook her head, "No, you didn't."
Damon slowly turned to look at the arguing pair while Ren watched, feeling completely lost.
"What the fuck is going on?" she muttered, glancing at her uncle to see a dawning realization come over his face…and not a good one.
"Oh…oh, you've got to be kidding me," he groaned, making the two arguing women look at him like he was out of place. Ren just kept her eyes trained on him, waiting for an explanation, but he just looked between Jenna and Elena before he pulled Ren to the side. Jenna and Elena looked at them oddly before going back to their conversation.
"What? What is going on? Let's ignore the fact that you apparently kissed your brother's girlfriend who looks like your ex for now. So why did you think you spoke with Elena earlier when she doesn't?" Ren demanded.
He looked back at Elena then met her hazel eyes intently, making her worried at the seriousness in them, "We've got a problem, a big problem. A doppelgänger sized problem."
She raised her eyebrows while she stared at him, "Doppelgänger sized…" It finally clicked in her mind and the realization washed over her, "You're saying Katherine is back?!" She stared at him, panicked now, "When you spoke with her, what happened?"
"We just talked, and then we kissed. Jenna opened the door and saw us, then told her to come inside…" he trailed off as both of their eyes widened and they whipped around to look for Elena. Jenna was walking away at this point and the girl had turned back to face them, looking seriously stressed and confused. Ren and Damon strode toward her and each grabbed an arm, hurrying her to the exit.
"What? What are you doing?" she asked the two Salvatores.
Damon kept a firm grip on her as they headed down the hall and towards the exit while Ren responded, "It wasn't you he saw earlier at the house, it was Katherine, and Jenna invited her inside."
The brunette let out a shaky breath, "Katherine was at the house? But then, does that mean Katherine attacked John? Jeremy is still there! And Stefan!"
"I know, he texted me earlier that he's there," she replied quickly.
"Which means we need to get there before she can do anything else while pretending to be you," Damon said while hustling Elena into his car. Ren ran for her car as he started his. She slammed the door and started it up, throwing it into reverse while stomping on the gas. She swerved to get around another car in the lot before she sped off to catch up with Damon's Camaro. She stayed right on his tail, practically running a red light in order to not get seperated. Ash barked in the back seat as she swerved sharply to park on the street, leaving him securely in the car as she ran up the lawn just as Damon opened the front door with Elena behind him. They came inside to see Stefan getting up from the floor.
"Stefan?" Elena called as she made her way in, Damon looking around as his brother got up.
"Elena, what happened?" Stefan asked her. Ren stepped forward while looking around warily as the oldest Salvatore answered.
"Katherine happened."
Stefan and Damon did a quick lap around the house and Ren retrieved Ash from the car, not wanting to leave him alone out there in case the evil twin ancestor had thoughts about killing her dog. Elena sat on the arm of the couch while Ren settled herself on the coffee table with Ash sitting between her knees. Not the best manners, perhaps, but she didn't feel comfortable enough to sink back into the cushy sofa but she was also tired from everything that had happened.
"Did she say what she wanted?" Damon asked his brother.
"No," Stefan replied shortly as he paced between the living room and the dining room.
"The woman certainly knows how to make an entrance," Damon commented dryly.
"She said she fooled one of us at least, what does that mean?" Stefan asked. Ren glanced at Damon uncertainly, knowing what he did was not going to go over well.
Damon turned partially towards him, "She pretended to be Elena too when I showed up earlier tonight."
Elena appeared at the bottom of the stairs, "I told Jeremy, I can't lie to him anymore.
"Are you alright?" Stefan asked his girlfriend, walking over to her.
"No, I'm not alright. I thought with the tomb vampires gone things would get better."
"Just our luck. No sooner do we escape a fiery death do we get saddled with your," Ren pointed at both brothers, "vindictive vampire ex playing a deadly version of 'Guess Who?'"
Damon snorted but Stefan shook his head sympathetically at Elena, "I know, we all thought it would get better."
"Katherine was invited in, what are we gonna do?" Elena asked.
Damon shrugged, "Move."
"Very helpful, thank you," the brunette rolled her eyes.
"If Katherine wants you dead there's zero you can do about it. You would be dead, but you're not, so clearly she has other plans," Damon told her.
"So she's here for a reason," Ren stated thoughtfully, "How are we going to find out what for though?"
"And let's not provoke her in the process of finding out, okay?" Stefan added, looking accusingly at his brother.
"Stefan…who's provoking who?" Ren warned him, but he maintained eye contact with his older brother.
"What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?" he asked, intent on knowing. Ren sighed when Damon made a hesitant face, almost mockingly so.
"At the risk of another frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead—"
"Damon, not helping, just say it," his niece insisted, wanting to just get the drama over with.
He glanced at her before spilling, "We…kissed." He gave one of those forced, tight lipped smiles that screams an awkward 'there it is.'
Elena looked skeptical, "And you thought it was me?"
"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan pushed further, clearly angry.
Damon, of course, took the smart ass route and explained, "Well, you know, when two lips pucker and they go—"
Just as Damon made a smooching noise, Stefan sped across the kitchen at him, but Damon was ready and moved around the counter and stood where his brother had been before, next to Elena.
Ren groaned as he taunted, "Don't be so obvious, Stefan." The younger brother started across the floor again until Elena stood between the two, stopping him.
"He kissed Katherine, not me," she turned to look at the elder brother, "I wouldn't do that." Ren internally cringed, knowing that had to hurt her uncle to hear, but he had to take it. Elena isn't the type to cheat, and she was completely in love with Stefan, kissing his brother really wasn't something she'd contemplate, especially since she was so morally inclined. She actually made Damon look down with a hint of shame at this.
"We don't have time for this, guys," she added, looking between the two.
"I don't think Elena's kitchen would survive a round of vampire WWE anyway," Ren remarked dryly.
"Later," Stefan said firmly and Damon nodded as he twisted his lips a bit. Ren spoke up, standing from her seat with a sigh and stepping around Ash, who had laid down on the rug below.
"Actually, I'd prefer you get all the childish fighting out of your systems now so we don't have to worry about it getting in the way later."
Elena shook her head, "No, we have to go see John. She tried to kill him, there has to be a reason why."
"She's Katherine, she loves to play games and you're fooling yourselves if you think you're gonna find out what she's up to before she wants you to know," Damon told them.
Stefan sided with his girlfriend, "Actually, Elena's right, John could know something through Isabel." He turned to her, "Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine, so maybe we can go to the hospital and see if he'll talk."
Ren snorted and crossed her arms, "Yeah, right, 'cause they've both been notoriously reliable people when it comes to dealing with vampires so far. I seriously doubt John would know much since it was probably Katherine that attacked him, it's not like she would leave the job incomplete if he knew too much."
"I've got a better idea," Damon said, "I'm just gonna ignore the bitch."
Elena turned to look at him with concern, "Is that smart?"
"Mmm, that's something to consider though, she could lash out," Ren supplied, pointing at her friend in agreement.
Damon shook his head, "If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it'll lure her out and she'll make a move."
"What if that move is to kill someone? What then?" Ren asked, not liking how reckless Damon was being, especially in the face of getting duped into kissing manipulative ex and causing tension with his brother and Elena.
"We'll make sure nothing happens to the people that count. Then we stake her, rip her head off…something poetic."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Damon and Ren approached the Lockwood Manor together, following the other townspeople attending the mayor's wake. When they came to the entrance, Damon nodded and muttered a bland pleasantry before moving past Tyler and over to a distressed Carol Lockwood arguing with a defensive Liz Forbes in uniform. Ren tipped her head to the side and looked at Tyler, who on the surface seemed fine, if a bit quiet. She knew better, though, now that they'd gotten closer and she learned he kept certain things close to the chest, especially regarding his Dad. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his back and he returned the gesture.
"I'm sorry, Ty, I know this sucks," she said into his shoulder as she squeezed him tight.
"Thanks, Ren," he replied before letting her go while she stepped back and gave him a comforting. "It's just weird, you know?" he continued, "everyone keeps saying how sorry they were and how great a guy he was, but we know it's not true. It just feels so…fake."
Ren nodded, "Yeah, I can see how it'd feel like that. Your dad was…well, he wasn't the best person, but he did care about you and the town, in his own way. I suppose you must feel a bit odd to mourn him and have people express so much sympathy given how he, uh, 'raised' you."
He shrugged with his hands stuffed in his pockets, "Yeah, I feel kind of bad that I…don't feel bad? Or at least, not as much as normal people would, I guess." He shook his head, "Whatever, you don't need to hear all this right now, come on inside and enjoy the food. I'll see you later, okay?"
She nodded and patted his shoulder as she walked past him and inside. She quickly and stealthily made her way up to Tyler's room to drop off the bottle of rum that she'd insisted Damon buy for her to bring. She intended on meeting Tyler later and making them rum and cokes and ordering food to end what would likely be a miserable day for him in a more fun and indulgent way. She peaked over the railing to ensure no one was around before making her way back downstairs and back to the somewhat solemn crowd. She found Damon who was standing with a drink in hand and people watching.
"What did the Lockwood kid say?" he asked, making her turn to him with a raised eyebrow, "anything enlightening?"
It clicked in her head and she looked at him with exasperation, "His abusive Dad just died, I don't think he's taking any time to consider too carefully what caused the accident right now. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's clueless about the supernatural, his parents hadn't read him in on any of the vampire crap as far as I can tell."
Damon hummed as he swirled the amber liquid in the glass, "Probably trying to protect him from the demons of the night or whatever. Did the quarterback say anything about him the other night?"
She looked surprised when she answered, "Uh, yeah, he said that Tyler heard a noise right before he got a migraine. It made him lose control of the car and they crashed." Her eyes found her dark-haired friend still standing at the front door and greeting people as they came in, "I heard a noise too and it made my brain feel like it was on fire until I passed out. It sounds like he might have felt something similar."
Damon nodded and added in a hushed voice, "Mayor Lockwood passed out, was bleeding from the ears, and was unaffected by the vervain, like you. I'd say there's a good chance that if you guys are something supernatural, it's either the same kind or at least something with a similar weakness for a witchy device."
She shrugged and sighed, "I guess, but we really don't know enough to say either way. We know literally nothing else about it, although I'm guessing that whatever Tyler and his dad are might be genetic if it was potentially affecting two generations in the family." She snorted, "Emily's warning about a curse in my veins has been pretty fucking useless so far."
Damon glanced at her, "What if it's genetic for you too?"
She looked back with her eyebrows raised, "Well I wouldn't know how to find out. I think we can rule out whatever I am being from the Salvatore line, you'd know better than me if something was up there, and my mom had a closed adoption so she never found out who her biological parents were. I don't really think there's a way to know at this point." He grunted in annoyance at being stuck but another figure piqued his interest.
"Who's that talking to your buddy?" he asked while nodding at a man who was dressed rather casually for the occasion in comparison to Damon's dress shirt and dark pants and her solid black dress with wedged ankle boots. The man looked like he'd just woken up wandered away from his Miami beach house and happened upon a funeral in southern Virginia. She watched Tyler trade a few tension-filled words with the guy before they shook hands and had a manly hug.
"I'd guess that that's his uncle. His dad has a little brother, Mason, who went off to Florida State University and never moved back, though I haven't been around long enough to have met him, Ty said he hasn't seen him since he was like ten. Looks like he came back for the funeral, although I wouldn't have guessed it by his outfit."
Damon snorted, "Well aren't you miss judgy today? I'll go see if Liz has a little more background on him." She watched him come up next to the sheriff as Mason went to greet Carol. Ren noticed Tyler finally came inside since the mourners approaching had died down. She followed him as he headed for what she knew was a sitting room, but got sidetracked when she noticed Elena standing by a window and looking out at the lawn with a small smirk on her lips.
"Elena? I didn't know you'd gotten here already, how'd it go with John?" she asked as she came up to her.
"Renfri, yeah, we finished up quickly, you know John," she shrugged casually but Ren just furrowed her eyebrows. That was a super vague answer, she thought and paused before opening her mouth, her eyes having drifted up and down her friend.
"What's with the outfit and the hair? You look like Sandy after she decided to change her whole personality for Danny Zuko."
Elena barked out a sharp laugh, surprising her, before she took a step forward and looked at her intensely, her hand brushing Renfri's wrist.
"Ren?"
The redhead blinked and looked at her friend, "Yeah, what is it?"
"Have you seen Stefan? I know he's wandering around somewhere but I lost track of him," the girl asked.
Ren shook her head, "No, not yet." She paused then added with a grin, "Hey, you should come over to the boarding house later, we can have a movie night or something and raid Damon and Stefan's liquor cabinets. You don't have to ring the bell or anything, just come inside when you get there, alright?
Elena smiled, "Yeah, sounds great, I could use a night in."
When Ren remembered that she had been trying to catch up with Tyler she excused herself, "I'm gonna find Tyler, check in on him." She walked off with a wave and Elena gave an easy smile. She made her way down the hall and came upon a little sitting room with a stuffed leather couch in front of a fireplace. She found Tyler, and surprisingly, Jeremy.
"I remember when my Dad died, I had a house full of strangers telling me what a great guy he was. Anyway, I know how hard this all is," Jeremy told the other boy from his spot standing by the large piano.
Tyler kept looking down, a flask in his hand as he sat on the couch, "The difference is, in your case, it was true. My dad was a dick." He looked up and took a gulp from the fancy metal container.
Jeremy looked at him for a second, "Yeah. Yeah, he was." Tyler looked up in surprise for a second, before offering him the flask.
"I found this in his desk," when Jeremy laughed awkwardly, he added, "he won't mind, he's dead." Renfri walked in at this point, swooping in to snatch the little metal bottle away and tipped some of the alcohol into her mouth.
"I'm pretty sure your dad, dead or alive, would mind you stealing from his private alcohol stache. Good thing I don't care much." Tyler and Jeremy looked at her in surprise then smirked as she continued teasingly, "Did I miss the memo for the dead dad's meeting or did you purposely not invite me?"
Tyler shook his head with a dry laugh as she handed the flask to the youngest Gilbert and warned him, "If Elena finds out, I'll throw you both under the bus and swear I wasn't involved, got it?"
Jeremy nodded with a grin as he accepted it from her, "Yeah, sure, why not." Just before he could take a sip, Tyler's uncle entered the room.
"Hey, what's going on here, Tyler?" he asked, and Ren noted that he had at least made the effort to look slightly more presentable by buttoning up his shirt and covering the white wifebeater underneath.
"Nothing," Tyler said a little too quickly, and Jeremy, the dumb teenage boy that he was, was slow on the uptake and was still holding the flask out in the open.
Mason held a hand out and looked at him meaningfully, "You have somewhere to be?" Jeremy grimaced and handed it over, moving to leave without a word. When the man turned to her, she just smiled and sat on the arm of the couch beside Tyler, not so easily intimidated. The corner of his mouth twitched up before he leaned on the edge of the piano and took a swig of his own from the flask before handing it back to his nephew.
Ren smirked along with Tyler, who took another drink as she commented, "So you're the cool uncle, huh?"
He chuckled, "I'm Mason, and I'm just not uptight like the rest of this town," he looked her up and down curiously, "and you are?"
She smiled and held out a hand for him to shake, "Renfri Salvatore, my dad was Daniel, Zach's older brother."
He gave her hand a quck but firm squeeze as his eyes showed a bit of recognition, "Zach's niece, huh? Wait, was?"
She nodded slowly, "My parents passed a little over two years ago, that's when I moved here."
Mason's face dropped a bit, "Wow, sorry to hear it, I remember Daniel as a stand up guy. How's Zach doing, you must have moved in with him, right?"
She glanced at Tyler and he gave her a sympathetic look before she answered, "Zach passed about five months ago. I came home late from a school fundraiser and found him. The sheriff said it was likely a burglary gone wrong and that I was lucky I wasn't home when it happened. They haven't found the guy." Mason looked surprised and tilted his head to the side slowly as he listened, then crossed his arms and sighed.
"Geez, kid, you've been going through it, huh? Who are you with now? You can't be living alone, right?"
She shook her head, "No, I'm not alone, I've got my second cousins. Stefan is my age and Damon's a bit older. He's my legal guardian until I'm eighteen. They're brothers, and they sure fight like it, but they're the family I've got left," she smiled a bit more genuinely at this.
Mason nodded slowly, looking contemplative, "I'm glad you've got someone. I'm sorry you lost so many people so soon, it's not fair for someone so young."
She shrugged, a bit uncomfortable, "But life's not fair, is it?" The two other men nodded solemnly and she stood, "Well, I'll leave the men to bond." She turned to Tyler and he stood to give her a hug. She murmured into his ear, "There's a present in your room, I plan on putting it to good use later today, just let me know when is good for you, yeah?"
He nodded gratefully and gave her a small smile, "Yeah, I will. Thanks for coming, Ren."
She smiled gently, "Of course." She waved as she walked away.
As she passed the doorframe, she heard his uncle comment, "You guys seem like good friends."
"Yeah. We didn't used to be, but we've been close lately."
She smiled to herself as she went in search of her uncles.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Out on the vast lawns of the Lockwood property, by a small pond with a little fountain spout in the center, she found a wounded Stefan sitting on a bench being tended to by Elena. The hole in his abdomen was healing slowly but surely, Elena was mostly just wiping the blood away with a tissue. Stefan grimaced, not at any kind of physical pain, but at his failed attempt to get inside Katherine's head.
He shook his head disappointedly, "I was trying to figure her out. I was playing along and I let her get to me."
"I tried to track her, but she's gone," Damon's voice came up behind them and they turned to look at him as he wrinkled his nose, "Oh, cover up Fabio."
Ren sighed, "She must have been the one I talked to earlier, I thought her hair and outfit were different. I guess how identical the two of you are really doesn't hit you until you see it for yourself." She shrugged, thinking how Katherine had been an exact copy of Elena, just with different style in fashion.
"Yeah, we've got a craaazy ex on the loose," Damon stated and looked at Elena with playful yet provocative eyes, "Better watch out, looks like Katherine's trying to steal your guy."
Stefan shook his head without looking at him, "That's not what's happening."
"Isn't it? I mean, it's only fair since I went after your girl," his brother prodded.
Elena looked up awkwardly, "I'm…gonna go check on Jenna and Jeremy. Let me know when you guys are done." She got up and left in a hurry. Ren let out a long sigh as Damon turned back to his brother with a mischievous spark in his eyes.
"So what's it gonna be, huh?" Stefan turned his head away in exasperation as Damon shifted into a boxing stance, rocking back and forth on his feet playfully, and Ren let out a snort. "Fight to the death? Go ahead and make your threat, stake your claim—"
"I'm not gonna fight you!" Stefan told him, just looking sick of it all.
"Whyyy!?" Damon whined, "I'd fight me."
Renfri barked out a laugh, "Of course you would," she turned to Stefan, "Maybe you should have a bit of a spar, just to get it out of your systems," she joked with a smirk.
Damon wagged a finger at her, "She's got a fair point."
Stefan looked frustrated, "Katherine's gonna try to play us against each other, you do know that, right?"
Damon looked unphased and smirked, "Brother, don't you worry, our bond is unbreakable." Stefan stood suddenly, hands up with fingers pinched together in the most Italian hand gesture ever. He shook them in Damon's face as he spoke, causing Ren to fail at smothering a laugh.
"We need to stay united against her! So yes, as much as I would like to kill you, I'm not gonna fight you."
Damon looked at him, confused and tried poking him one more time as Stefan walked away, "I kissed Elena—"
"Because you feel something for her!" he burst out as he spun back around with an arm out. "Because you actually care," he said at a lower volume, the gentleness of his tone making Damon turn his head away in reflexive denial of the accusation. "And I'm not going to let Katherine come in and destroy that part of you that is finally, after all this time, willing to feel something."
Damon seemed to sober up and Ren could sense the serious turn the conversation had taken, no more joking and brotherly banter left. Stefan turned to look at her as well, eyes softer.
"She'll try to break you," he looked between the two, "She'll try to break us, how we respond to that will define us." Damon looked away awkwardly now that Stefan's tone had taken a righteous turn and leaned towards preachy, though Ren appreciated what he was trying to say.
"It's our choice," Stefan paused until Damon looked at him again with conflicted blue eyes, "so no, I'm not gonna fight you." He stepped back from his brother and looked at his niece, "I'm worried about how Katherine's going to react to Ren, too. We only had our father back then, but now we have more family to protect, she'll see her as a weakness to exploit. If we piss her off she could lash out at her or use her against us somehow." Damon's eyes moved to Ren, his brow furrowing in concern as she tensed, having not really considered that factor.
"Shit, you're right, Stefan," she breathed, "and she already went after Bonnie once today." The nerves were hitting her now that she realized how much danger she could be in. She pressed her lips together tightly with her arms crossed and Stefan rubbed a hand up and down her back, pulling her into a side hug as she stood there worrying.
"We'll do our best to protect you, just make sure you're not alone when you go out, alright?"
She frowned, "Fuck, I feel so weak, always needing to be protected."
Damon shrugged as he threw an arm around her shoulders and started walking them back towards the Lockwood manor, "Hey, you're just human, you can't help being weak."
She looked at him then Stefan with her eyebrows raised, "But I'm not just human, remember? 'Beware the curse that runs through your veins'? We just don't know what I am yet, though I don't feel anything other than human…"
"We'll look into that later once we've dealt with Katherine, she's a more immediate threat," Stefan assured her.
She nodded uncertainly, "Yeah, I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass somehow if we don't look into it sooner rather than later."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Leaves and twigs crunched underfoot as Ren jogged at a steady pace down the trail, Ash running ahead and barking at a squirrel that had scrambled up a tree to escape the larger mammal. She smiled and paused to look back, hands on her hips as she breathed. She was clad in dark teal workout leggings and a black sports bra, her copper hair pulled back in a high ponytail. She watched as Tyler finished tying his shoe and got up from his kneeling position a few yards back. He was in a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of blue basketball shorts. She watched as he caught up to her quickly.
"How much we got left?" she asked as he came up beside her.
He shrugged, "Not far, why?"
She grinned at him, "You wanna race back?"
He matched her grin and got into a starting line pose, "Ready?"
She copied him and paused dramatically, "…GO!"
They shot off at a sprint, Ash barking in excitement and chasing after the two, quickly overtaking them as they headed for the end of the trail that let out onto the manicured back lawn of the Lockwood manor. Ash stood waiting for them, spinning in a circle then planting his front paws on the ground and raising his butt in the air playfully.
The two broke through the edge of the trees, with Tyler a few feet ahead of her.
"Damn it, I'm a varsity track star! I'm supposed to beat you, not the other way around!" she complained while gasping out shallow laughs. She bent over with her hands on her knees as she came to a stop, her chest heaving from pushing herself so hard.
Tyler chuckled breathlessly, "I'm just built different."
She lazily slapped his arm as the Dutch Shepherd barked again, bounding towards them to try to get them to play.
"Ash, give us a minute to breathe first, will ya?" she called out to the energetic dog while Tyler watched in amusement. She dropped to one knee after her breathing eased up a bit, holding her arms out and the dog ran into them. He poked at her with his nose before pulling back and dodging her reaching hands, like a game of tag. He pulled further away, teasing her as she laughed and was forced to stand in an effort to reach him. He barked to encourage her to chase him, then ran, brushing his nose across Tyler's leg as he ran past to get him to join as well. He had the two running and sliding on the grass as the canine ducked and dodged their lunges to make contact. They ended up on their hands and knees and covered in grass stains while laughing, unable to keep up with him. Ren called him over and gave him scratches while Tyler rubbed the dog's side.
"Ah, I needed this," she admitted aloud, letting out a it sigh and allowing herself to enjoy the moment.
"Yeah, me too," the dark-haired boy told her and they sat up once they were able to breath again.
"You want to shower here or go home?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.
She looked up at the sky that had already begun to darken and was now a pinkish purple color as the sun began to sink below the horizon.
"Yeah, I'll shower here if you don't mind. I keep a change of clothes and toiletries in my gym bag just in case," she replied. He got to his feet and held out a hand, pulling her up as well. "Ash, hier," she called and he trotted to catch up as they headed for the door. They walked in and removed their shoes, Tyler fetching an old towel for her to wipe off Ash's paws, knowing that Carol would have a aneurism if they tracked dirt or mud in on her nice floors. The woman was out right now but would be back before long and Ren didn't want to further stress the woman who was dealing with her husband's death and taking on his mayoral duties as well until someone else was elected.
Tyler showed her to one of the guest rooms on the second floor and she left Ash downstairs and tied his leash to one of the porch pillars so he could relax outside a bit longer while she showered. Once she was finished and changed into some black yoga pants and a t-shirt with a dark red hoodie on top, she brought him in and they settled on Tyler's bedroom floor. She sat with her back against the bed and her legs straight out, enjoying the rare bit of carpeting in the house that was his bedroom, everywhere else had cold tiling or hardwood floors with thin, vintage area rugs. Tyler was lying on his stomach on the bed just behind her, eyes skimming the shelves of DVDs on one wall.
"What do you want to watch?" he asked as she poured him a rum and coke. Ren was grateful that she was able to grab the large bottle of soda and glasses from the kitchen before Carol got home, otherwise she might have been questioned on why it was being brought upstairs.
Ren shrugged, holding the glass up above her head for him to grab, "How about Iron Man? Isn't the second one supposed to come out in a few months? I saw the trailer for it, and you gotta love Robert Downey Jr."
He grabbed the glass and took a gulp, "Sounds like a plan."
They spent the next hour and a half slowly getting drunk while watching the movie, not hearing when Mason came up the stairs to check on them. The end credits were running while the two were tipsily debating certain choices that the directors and producers made and neither heard when the door opened a bit and Mason leaned in.
"Hey, what are you guys getting up to in here?"
They froze and spun to look at him, causing Tyler to overbalance and slide off the front end of the bed, making Ren break out into cackling laughter which she failed miserably to stifle.
Mason gave a crooked grin, "Ah, I see, drunk movie night, huh?" The two teenagers looked at him a bit hesitantly, waiting to see if he'd rat them out, but he just shook his head. "It's good that you were able to relax after the day you've had, just take some time to sober up before you head home, Renfri, okay?"
She saluted him with a wide grin, "Will do, thanks Mason!" He cracked a smile and glanced at the dog with silver brindle fur snoozing on the carpet. He backed out and closed the door with a click as Ren scrambled to put in V for Vendetta, which was one of her favorite films. Ren stopped drinking so that she would be good to go once the movie ended but Tyler kept going, though he paced himself and made the drinks weaker. By the time the movie had finished, Ren was hydrated and good to drive. She mumbled goodbye and Tyler waved at her with a lazy grin as he sipped his glass.
"Thanks, Ren," he called quietly and she nodded at him before waking Ash and leading him out to her car in he driveway. She drove back home to the boarding house and parked.
As she got out, she saw a lithe figure striding out the front door. Ren squinted to see who it was and the front yard's lights revealed Elena to be the visitor leaving for the night. Ren nodded in brief acknowledgement and Elena smiled at her with a flirty little wiggle of her fingers, making the redhead quirk an eyebrow. She turned to open the back door for Ash but then froze in place. Ash's nose was pressed to the window and she could just hear him making a low growling noise.
She thought for a second and realized something, Elena's hair had been in big curls and she had been wearing stiletto heels with a tight, dark outfit.
That wasn't Elena…
She spun around but the girl was gone, nowhere in sight and there hadn't been another car besides hers, Stefan's, and Damon's parked outside.
"Shit," she hissed and hurried to let Ash out, grabbing his leash and telling him to stay with her. His growling had stopped but he remained alert as his eyes scanned the treeline and his ears perked while his nose worked to scent the air. She slung the strap of her gym bag over her shoulder as she slammed the door and locked it before running for the front door. She threw open the unlocked door and tossed her bag on the foyer floor. Before she could even call out, she saw Damon standing to one side of the den and just staring at nothing. She dropped her bag and slowly approached him, noting the shattered look in his wide blue eyes.
"Damon?" she called cautiously as he stayed where he was, not moving beyond the lifting of his chest as he breathed a bit shallowly. "What did Katherine do?" His eyes shot up to hers at the woman's name and he looked so lost, so broken.
He said nothing still and just looked at her, so she prodded gently, "Damon, what did she do?…How did she get in?"
He slowly shook his head as his eyes went to the floor again, "She just…confirmed what I'd always feared," he gave a weak, dry chuckle, "I suppose I should have known, should have expected it."
She furrowed her brow uncertainly and took another step closer, "What do you mean?"
His eyes moved up but they stared into nothing, "I just wanted the truth, just once…I told her I'd forget everything she did, even the past century and a half she spent pretending to be dead or in the tomb, if she could honestly say it…but she couldn't."
Renfri's face turned from confused to sympathetic as she realized what he meant, "So she never did love you…."
He slowly shook his head with distant eyes, "It was always Stefan."
Ren's face crumpled, her heart hurting for her uncle who spent his life loving and fighting to get back a woman who never loved him and only used him, and now she broke him. She quickly wrapped her arms around her uncle as he stood stiffly. She squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed her cheek onto his shoulder and said the only thing she could think of.
"I'm so sorry, Uncle Damon. She doesn't deserve you, and you didn't deserve what she did." They stood like that for a few moments until he lifted a hand and patted her head.
"Thanks, Red," he said in a rough, quiet voice. She pulled back to look at his face, though his eyes were trained on the flickering flames in the hearth. As she stepped back, he moved away to sit hunched over on a couch and stare into the fire. She sighed and walked over to the decanters and poured a double shot of bourbon, his favorite, and went to hold it out to him.
As he took it from her, she said stood in quiet thought for a second, "I must have invited her in accidentally somehow, there's no other way for her to have gotten inside the house." She paused and her eyes widened slightly, "At the mayor's wake. When I thought I was talking to Elena I invited her over to hang out. Fuck!" Damon said nothing still as she cursed in her frustration. "Why would I do that? I knew she was likely around and had to be careful, I'd like to think I'm not that stupid," she muttered with her hands on her hips.
She looked up when Damon finally turned his head in her direction, "You were probably compelled." He pointed at her wrist, "An experienced vampire can easily remove a vervain bracelet discreetly if they know it's there. You should start taking a little everyday." She looked down at the bracelet Zach had given her and realized he was right, the only way to ensure she couldn't be compelled was to ingest it. She made a mental note to be especially diligent in growing more vervain in the cellar moving forward and to look online to find someplace that sold it in teabags she could have each morning. It might be less work than trying to grow as much as she ingested and there were plenty of places selling herbal remedies and such things.
Her eyes found Damon looking into the fire again and she put a hand on his shoulder, "Alright, let me know if you need anything, even if it's just silent company. Just…stay around here for tonight, maybe…please." When he didn't respond and just took another large mouthful of bourbon, finishing the glass, she sighed before moving to grab her bag from the floor. She patted her thigh to indicate for Ash, who had stood beside her and watched her exchange with the vampire warily, to follow her as she went upstairs. Ash trotted ahead of her as she paused at the bottom of the stairs to look back worriedly. She silently hoped that he wouldn't completely spiral and do anything rash because of Katherine as she moved to follow her dog up to her room.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The silent halls were disturbed by a figure in the shadows, shoes moving quietly across the linoleum floors and past an empty station where the night shift nurse had stepped out. The figure slowly opened a door before closing it behind her carefully. As the door quietly clicked shut, the girl on the hospital bed shifted before her eyes fluttered open.
"What—" her bleary eyes found the person who had entered, "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night." She wiped her eyes tiredly as she sat up on her elbows in confusion as the visitor stepped up to the side of her bed.
"I have a message for the Salvatores from Katherine: Game on," the visitor reached over and turned off the monitor displaying the girl's vital signs as she spoke.
"What—" the blonde's voice was cut off as the person snatched the pillow from behind her and shoved it over her face. The visitor forced the girl onto her back and kneeled on the edge of bed to gain leverage, ignoring the hands that flailed and slapped and grasped desperately at the arms ruthlessly suffocating the girl until they slowly went slack and the muffled cries stopped. The figure stayed still for another few seconds before lifting the pillow to reveal the blonde girl lying completely still with her hair and arms askew. The visitor tossed the pillow next to the girl before slipping out of the room and back down the dark hallway of the hospital.
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**Thank you for your patience as I am working more lately. Please review, it's much appreciated! :)