Savior | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 7

"About eighty miles," said Stefan. "Who do you think too her?"

"Maybe Katherine has an evil twin sister," said Maddy.

"I hope it's her fraternal twin," said Damon. "I don't know. Just someone from Katherine's past, whoever she was running from. They got the wrong girl."

Maddy raised a brow. "That's a difficult mistake to make. Any vampire would know that Elena is human. Mortals might mistake her for Katherine, but vampires, especially ancient vampires like the ones we might be dealing with... they'd know better. Which means they might have wanted Elena, not Katherine. It could be a trap for us. Someone could already know that we have Katherine in the tomb."

"At least we're stocked up on weapons," murmured Stefan. "Hey... thank you for helping me. I know you don't like Elena, Mads. And Damon—"

"Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing?" he said. "The cliche of it all makes me itch."

"You always were prone to rashes when we were kids," said Maddy solemnly, nudging Damon's shoulder. He reached his hand back and pinched her to get her to let go.

"Come on, Damon," said Stefan. "We all know that you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with me anyway."

Damon huffed. "The elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar."

"Well, it doesn't have to be an elephant. Let's talk about it."

"Yes, you probably should talk about it," Maddy suggested. "Bottling it up has never been anyone's strong suit."

"Just get it out," Stefan goaded. "I mean, are you in this car because you want to help your little brother save the girl that he loves? Or is it because you love her too? Hmm? I mean come on, express yourself. I happen to like road trip bonding."

Damon was getting irritated. "Keep it up, Stefan. I can step out of helping as easily as I stepped in."

"No, you see, that's the beauty of it. You can't. Especially because then Maddy would be the one driving."

Damon groaned as Maddy high-fived Stefan.

"We're getting close," said Stefan, after another short while of driving. "Jeremy said there's an access road just past mile marker six."

Maddy opened a blood bag she'd put in the back seat, and reached around to put it on Damon's chest, raising the straw and shoving it into his mouth. He grunted appreciatively, and Stefan looked back at her as she opened one for herself and started to drink.

"If you want some, just ask," said Damon.

"I want some," said Stefan.

"Aw, that's so sweet," said Damon. "You're gonna be all big and strong and save your girl, but don't worry, Lils and I've got your back. It'll be fine."

"I'm not joking," said Stefan. "I've been drinking a little every day. I'm slowly increasing my intake and building up my strength."

Maddy raised a brow, handing him her blood bag and letting him finish it. "And Elena's alright with that? Last I heard she was pissy about it."

Stefan sighed before admitting, "I've been drinking hers."

"Hmm, how romantic," said Damon. "Since we're road trip bonding, remember the days when all you lived for was blood? You were the guy who ripped someone apart just for the fun of it."

"Hey," said Maddy in a warning tone. "We don't bring those days up unless he wants to talk about it. You don't shove someone's past in their face, those memories are traumatic for him."