I was woken up early in the morning by Damon. It was especially since I wasn't working and planned on sleeping in. Even though Anna was working, I was pretty sure that she also didn't want to be woken up that early.
"What the fuck, Damon?" Anna asked. That was what I was gonna say. The two of us really had a lot in common. "It's 6:00 in the morning."
"Well, we need to get going because I know where Stefan is." Damon remarked. How did he know where Stefan was?
"Where is he?" I asked hopefully.
"Windy City." Damon answered.
"He's in Chicago?" I responded. I wanted to make sure that we were on the same page. I still couldn't help but wonder how he managed to figure that out. I also wondered how he was sure that Stefan would stay long enough for us to get there.
"Well I can't go because I have to work." Anna explained. We were supposed to be scheduled to always work together, but the manager screwed that one up. The vervain that the sheriff put in the coffee meant that there would be no compelling her way out of it. "I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be training the new waitress today."
"Hurry up and get ready." Damon ordered. "I want to be gone within the hour."
Obviously, I didn't have a lot of time. I rushed into the shower and got dressed before I went out to Damon's car. I couldn't help but wonder when he had been to Chicago. I figured that it might be a good idea to tie my hair up so it wouldn't blow everywhere, even though I wasn't if that was actually true. I didn't understand why we had to drive there. It would have been a lot easier just to fly there. Even if Damon was on the no-fly list for some reason, he could compel his way off of it.
I decided that one thing that I needed to do was plan my speech to Stefan. I really hoped that I would actually get to see him. It was going to have to be a hell of a speech to convince him to come back. I was a little bit concerned about the fact that I was a werewolf now. I had no explanation how that was possible because there was no history of lycanthropy on either side of my family, and I was pretty sure that Isobel wouldn't be able to be turned into a vampire if she had come from a werewolf bloodline.
"So have ever been to Chicago before?" Damon asked. I couldn't help but notice that he was driving way over the speed limit. I supposed that would get us there faster, but it also left a lot of room for things to go wrong. Perhaps he did because he knew that I had accelerated healing now. "Why are you still wearing that?"
"I like it." I responded. "It's nice."
"You can't even be compelled anymore since you are a werewolf somehow." He pointed out. We would have to figure out how that happened, but we would probably have to at least wait for Bonnie to get back first.
"It was a gift and I want to wear it." I argued before he reached into the back. The truth was that I was just so used to wearing it that it became second nature to put it on. I then saw what Damon had grabbed. It appeared to be Stefan's diary.
"You need to read this." Damon instructed. "It'll tell you like Stefan was like last time he was in Chi-town."
"I'm not gonna read his diary." I stated. That was pretty personal and I didn't want to invade his privacy like that, even if he was a little bit evil right now.
"This is not the Stefan that you know." Damon pointed out.
"I've seen Stefan at his darkest." I told him.
"That was in no way his darkest." Damon said as he grabbed the book and began to read. "3/12/1922, I black out most days, I woke up in strangers' blood with women I don't remember. I'm shocked, Stefan's not a virgin."
"Pay attention to the road." I ordered as I snatched the book. I took it and began to read. I supposed if it prevented us from crashing, I would read it.
"We should play Punch Buggy." He suggested. I wished that I had brought some headphones with me. I even had the chance to do so, but for some reason, I thought that I wouldn't need them.
Once we got to Chicago, we pulled into an old apartment building. It looked like it had been there for a while. It almost looked like it was falling apart. If I were in charge of the city, I would definitely upgrade it, but it looked like people were still living there. They could probably upgrade it in phases like paying some of the people who lived to stay in a hotel for a week or something. I was pretty sure that they would appreciate upgraded apartments.
"Why are we in this dump?" I asked. It looked like it had been there for a while. Maybe it was cheap but I was pretty sure that cities were supposed to have acceptable forms of cheap housing.
"This is where Stefan used to live in the 20s." He explained as we got out of the car. It looked like it would be low-quality even by 1920s standards. Not to mention, he could have a mansion somewhere.
"If Stefan could live anywhere in Chicago, why the hell would he choose this dump?" I asked as I looked around the inside. We headed up a few floors before finding stopping on one. From the inside, I couldn't really see the appeal either. The shade also didn't look that good, but that wouldn't even matter because I knew that he had had his ring since he became a vampire.
"There used to be an all-girls school near here." Damon explained. Did that mean what I thought it meant? "It eventually closed down due to attendance issues. Let's just say that you weren't the first schoolgirl he had eyes for."
It looked like it did. So Stefan had killed several girls in the 20s. It was a little bit unnerving, but I was also with Damon who had killed a lot of people. I knew that Stefan had killed people in his past, and I had forgiven him for that. Even though he was doing it again, I knew that it wasn't something that he was choosing to do. Klaus was making him do it.
"If you're trying to get me to go back home by scaring me, it won't work." I declared. There also wouldn't be a point of bringing me all the way to Chicago if he didn't want me to stay.
Damon just took the doorknob and ripped it off. I supposed that was one way to get into the room. I wasn't sure why he couldn't just compel the key out of the front desk. I was also surprised that they didn't rent the room out to someone else. Even though it really didn't look that good, it still looked like a place that someone could live in. We walked inside and the interior didn't seem to be all that great either. Maybe it was because no one lived in it in 90 years. Had Stefan compelled people to never rent it out or something? It didn't seem like a place that he would really want to come back to. I was glad that his taste had seemed to evolve since then because I probably wouldn't want to spend the night in a place like that.
"Here we are: Ripper Stefan's home." He announced. I wasn't sure why he was saying it like that considering that I knew where we were. I also really wished that Anna was there with me. I wasn't quite used to the time difference, so I would figure out when the right time to call her would be since I couldn't do it until she was done with work. Maybe I could just text her to call me when she was done.
"I'm pretty sure that he hasn't been here." I remarked. It didn't look like anyone had been there recently. Most of the stuff looked like it hadn't been touched in several years and it was also old enough to have been there since the 20s.
"There's more." Damon instructed. I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of liquor around. I could definitely go for some of it. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to get drunk before seeing him, but I might want to talk a bottle or two for the road. Damon pulled back a bookcase to reveal a secret compartment. It was a compartment that was filled with…more booze. It made sense in the 20s.
"He had his alcohol, so what?" I asked. I didn't know why he thought I would consider that a big deal. "It was the 20s and I bet everyone was doing it."
"Look closer." He suggested. I looked at one of the walls and saw that it was a list of names. At first I didn't know what it meant, but then I saw Giuseppe Salvatore, Thomas Fell, and Honoria Fell and I gasped. It appeared to be a list of all of the people that he had killed from when he became a vampire up until he left. Did he keep similar lists in other places that he lived?
"Are these all of his victims?" I questioned. There had to be at least a hundred people on it. I then took a moment to get over my shock. "Well, what did you do in the 20s? I'm sure that you probably have your own list of victims."
"I was around, but I didn't like to write them down." He answered. "Chicago's a big city and I was able to enjoy a few Daisy Buchanans of my own."
"You know that story was set in New York, don't you?" I asked. Stefan told me that it was his favorite book, even though I didn't really get it. It seemed like everyone was just terrible and also Fitzgerald seemed to not like the idea of women driving for some reason.
"I don't know why. Chicago had much better jazz." Damon replied. "You know a lot of people came from New Orleans."
"Yes, the Great Migration, I'm not an idiot." I replied.
"Actually, you're probably one of the only people your age that knows anything about that." He pointed out. I didn't know how true it was. "The education system really does suck these days."
I couldn't help but wonder how he really knew anything about the education system? Had he posed as a substitute teacher in order to get victims or something? I then got this strange image of him wearing glasses.
"Where are you going?" I asked as I noticed that he was heading for the door.
"I'm going to Stefan's old hangout." He stated. I thought that where we were was his old hangout. Did he have a different hangout or something that I wasn't aware of?
"You're not going without me." I countered.
"You need to stay here and try to come up with an actual plan." He instructed. Why did he think that I would be able to come up with a plan considering that I didn't even have any idea where Stefan would be? The only thing that I could do would trying to figure out what I was going to say to him. "I'll do my best not to get killed before I come back."
I began to look around the apartment there weren't any books that I could read and I wasn't getting any coverage on my phone. I did have Stefan's diary and several bottles of alcohol. I had to figure which one I was going to use first. I was pretty thirsty, so I decided to pour myself a glass of scotch. I then got on top of the bed. I wanted to make sure that I didn't fall asleep because for all I knew, there were bedbugs and I did not want those kinds of marks on my perfect skin. I was really starting to think like a girl now. It had been over a year and I couldn't change back, so I supposed that it wasn't too weird. Also, I was pretty sure that the marks would heal, but I didn't want to be bitten by them in the first place.
Once I was done with my glass, I decided that I should try to read the diary to see if I could find out how Stefan managed to get out of his no humanity funk. What I found was that he was found a few years earlier by Lexi. The two of them apparently had a system. It was a good thing that he still had his humanity because she wasn't an option anymore. I looked through the pages and they went up by years. I was kind of surprised that he had that much space, but it seemed like he wasn't writing every day. I couldn't help but wonder if his writing was shreds of humanity that were trying to come back, but the no-humanity part kept taking over again. It seemed to be a process that would take decades to undo. There had to be a better way to do things than that. I mean Stefan still cared enough to call me and he also saved Damon's life. I would just have to find it.
I then heard footsteps, and I was pretty sure that there were voices. After a second, I realized that the voices were of Stefan and Klaus. My hearing seemed to be a lot better than it was before. I had to find a place to hide. How could I have such bad luck? I was at least lucky I had finished my drink. I decided to hide behind the bookcase, hoping that it would be safe.
"Do you feel that?" Klaus asked. "Someone's been here."
"It's been deserted for decades." Stefan pointed out. I had to do my best not to make a single sound. I was even trying not to breathe too much because I didn't want them to hear that. "I bet people break in all of the time. I had to do my best to control my heartbeat because I did not want them to know that I was there. "So why exactly did you see a reason to bring me here?"
"Your friend, Liam Grant, I wondered why you asked for his name." Klaus remarked. I looked at the wall and noticed that Liam Grant was on it. I did wonder why Klaus thought it was important to bring him up though.
"Then you told me. You kill them and then you write the name down to relive it over and over again."
I couldn't be sure if that was the reason. It could have been a guilt thing. Klaus then came and moved the bookcase and I quickly moved. I hoped that he wouldn't see or hear me. I was also trying my best to control my heartbeat but I didn't know how good at that I was.
"Do you believe me now?" Klaus asked. "Come. Take a look."
Stefan walked in and looked at me. I just put my finger in front of my lips. I was quivering in fear. This was not how I wanted to see Stefan for the first time in months.
"Look what I found." Stefan said. I was fucked. I was fucked. I was about to die. Unexpectedly, Stefan grabbed a bottle instead. "1918, single malt."
"My favorite. Let's go find someone to pair it with." Klaus replied before the two of them left. I still couldn't believe it. I was pretty sure that I almost had a heart attack. I was at least very close to wetting myself. I texted Damon to let him know that they were around and then headed to the bathroom. I was still surprised and relieved that Klaus hadn't noticed me.
I decided to grab a vervain needle in case they came back. I wasn't sure if it would even be any use against Klaus. I waited for a good hour, and I couldn't help but wonder what was taking Damon so long. It was probably too late for him to have gotten stuck in traffic. I probably should have texted Anna about it. I was kind of too afraid to talk to anyone on the phone, because I was scared of being discovered. I heard the door opening and readied myself to attack, but luckily, it was just him. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"What took you so long?" I asked him angrily. "I texted you an hour ago."
He then threw a bag at me. I had to think fast but I managed to catch it. It looked like a bag that you would keep a fancy dress in. The only question was why would Damon give me a nice dress to wear. Were we going somewhere that I needed to wear one?
"Put this on." He commanded. I was very confused.
"Did you not get the part about Stefan and Klaus being here?" I asked him in annoyance. I opened the bag to see was a black velvet dress with a V-neck with long sleeves, something that would make Alannah Myles proud. It looked pretty nice, but I still didn't understand why I needed it.
"No, I had an hour to realize what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, so I'm going to take you out somewhere nice." He explained. I couldn't help but wonder how much this dress cost, even though I had doubts that Damon had even paid for it. Also how did he know my size? "It's also the place that I'm pretty sure that Stefan will be. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I declared. "I think."
"Good now get dressed." He repeated.
"Where is he going to be?" I asked as I went to the bathroom and began to get undressed. I had to trust that he wouldn't look.
"He'll be at this bar with Klaus. I'll distract our hybrid friend so you can get a chance to talk to him." He explained. I wondered if I would be able to get a drink from the bar. I would probably at least need another one before I went out.
"Okay." I replied as I finished slipping the dress on. I wasn't sure how he expected me to come up with a better plan than that. Like I said, I really didn't know my way around Chicago. I would just have to trust his judgment, even if it might not be a good idea.
"But you'll have about five minutes before Klaus decides to kill me, so I need to know that you will be able to do this." He added.
"I can do this." I responded. "I don't suppose that you have any shoes that I can wear with this, do you?"
"No." He replied. It would probably be better for me not to be wearing heels anyway, since I still wasn't very good at them.
Damon went inside and I waited outside for him to bring Stefan out. I supposed that I shouldn't go in, not only because I was a minor, but mainly because Klaus was inside and I still didn't want to be seen by him. I seriously hoped that I would be able to convince him to come back with us. I was once again without a speech. I probably should have been doing that while I was waiting for him. It looked like I would just have to wing it.
Damon came out and threw him against a car. Someone was going to be upset about the dent he left. Then again, I didn't really care about someone else's car. If it was my car, I would be upset but I didn't know the person who owned it and with Klaus around, there was no guarantee that they would even survive the night.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Stefan asked. I had a few seconds to try to think of something to convince him. It probably wouldn't the best idea to tell him about me being a werewolf.
"What's wrong with you?" The older brother countered. I was pretty sure that we knew what was wrong with him. He was under Klaus's servitude. "First you kill my girlfriend and then you save my life. Are you good or bad? Pick one because you can't be both."
"Klaus almost saw Mary." Stefan remarked. He knew that. I wasn't sure why he thought that I wouldn't tell Damon that. "You need to get her out of here."
"Mary's not going to leave until she's got you checked into vampire rehab." Damon pointed out. "She's too stubborn to do otherwise."
"She's the reason that Klaus can't make hybrids." Stefan argued. Was that really true? Also why was it a bad thing that I was being stubborn about saving Stefan? "She was supposed to die in the ritual and Klaus's witch is going to find that out any minute. You need to tell her to leave now."
"Tell her yourself." Damon replied. I knew that was my cue. I stepped out. I looked him in the eye.
"So, how are you?" I asked awkwardly. Yeah, I wasn't quite sure what to say to him.
"You shouldn't be here." He stated.
"I'm pretty sure that I've lost track of the number of times that you've told me that." I declared. I had a tendency to go to places that I wasn't supposed to be. I was pretty sure that he already knew that.
"What do you want?" He asked. I wasn't sure why because he knew what I was going to say. "Damon won't be able to distract Klaus long."
"I want you to come home." I told him before I gave him a hug. I prepared to stab him with the needle, but he pushed my hand away, causing me to lose it in the process.
"I don't want to come home." He stated. It was probably more because he couldn't without Klaus finding out about it.
"Are you seriously just going to give up?" I questioned. "I thought that you were a fighter. Please come with me."
"You're stupid if you think that things will be how they used to." He replied.
"I know that things will be different, but they will get better eventually." I offered with a weak smile. I didn't even know if the two of us would get back together, but I still wanted him to come back.
"We can't fix this." He argued. "You need to go home and move on."
"Lexi fixed you before." I countered. "She found you in the 20s and made you better."
"That took 30 years." He remarked. There had to be a faster way to do things with it. I had managed to fix him before in a little over a week. The way that I saw it, it would probably only take me a month tops to do so and there was also the possibility that Bonnie would be able to speed things up. "I'm not letting you waste your life for me."
"I'm not giving up on you." I declared adamantly.
"You're going to have to because I never want to see you again." He said. I took my hand and slapped him, hoping that it would knock some sense into him, but it didn't. I supposed if I got nothing else, I got some closure.
From there, I had Damon take me home. This might have been closure, but it didn't feel good.