Heliophobia (Teen Wolf/Vampire Diaries) [2]

18-I Go Vacationing Inside a Tomb

Stale air engulfs me.

I feel Damon's presence looming behind me, pressing me further into the darkness. The stone walls seem to grow narrower, and I place a hand on each wall to steady me as I walk. The tunnel curves, steeping downwards, and I almost trip on a loose stone.

I mumble curses at Damon under my breath.

"I can hear you." Damon says, and I can feel him rolling his eyes at me.

"Screw you." I say out loud.

Damon laughs lightly. "Careful, I wouldn't talk so loud."

The air rushes past me before I can answer, and I shudder. A noise reaches my ears and the hair on my arms stand up. I shudder again and wrap my arms around myself as the noise floods the tunnel again.

"What is that?" I whisper.

"They can sense you." Damon says.

I swallow nervously, tightening my grip on myself. I hear the whispers again and shrink back. I feel Damon's chest against my back and I freeze. After a second I clear my throat and start forward again.

"Are you satisfied?" I finally ask.

I can feel Damon's hesitation, and after a moment he replies. "With what?"

"With how you treat people, especially your brother."

He shrugs. "They don't care about me, why should I care about them? And Stefan...well, Stefan had this a long time coming."

He sounds bitter, and I wonder how long he's been brewing this hatred for his brother. Has he been carrying this around with him for 145 years?

"What's so special about Katherine anyways?" I change the subject.

I can sense Damon's shift in mood in the darkness. For a split second, he lets his tough demeanor down, and I let myself believe that I feel real human emotion from him.

"Everything." Is his answer.

"Cryptic." I say shortly, stopping as the tunnel ends. In front of us are two different corridors, both dark and uninviting. "How big is this tomb?" I complain.

"Big enough." Damon comes to stand next to me, and I look over at him. My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and I can make out a glimmer of emotion on Damon's face. Excitement, anxiety, fear, hope. He lifts his head as if he's sniffing the air—which, he probably is—before nodding to the left. "This way."

"How did you know where I lived, anyway?" I have no idea why I'm making conversation with a vampire who probably—no, definitely—wants to kill me, but it feels slightly comforting in the darkness that's suppressing me.

"You ask a lot of questions." Damon grabs my arm as I slip, almost tumbling to the ground. He steadies me and I push his arm off. "It wasn't hard. I followed Elena's scent."

I roll my eyes. "You sound like a dog." He doesn't answer, and suddenly, another thought hits me. "The pizza guy."

"What?" Damon says, his voice reflecting his bored attitude.

"Matt Daehler. The pizza delivery kid. When he left, he dropped something."

"His camera." Damon says, guiding me as the tunnel curves again.

"You compelled him." I say, putting the pieces together. Matt's nervousness, his cryptic questions, not turning around when he dropped his camera, and most of all, the sorry he gave me when Damon attacked. "You compelled him to get one of us out of the house."