An Elemental Difference - FIRE - Book 2 (Stefan Salvatore)

Chapter 19 - Speechless

LOCKWOOD PROPERTY

Katherine smiled at the handsome man she'd met in the bar, his eyes unfocused from her compulsion. "I want you to jump down into the well and get me the object hidden in the water. You will ignore any pain until you've found what I need and have sent it up to me."

The man, Justin, she'd remembered he introduced himself as, seemed to frown at the order, his brain knew that a fall down a well that size would hurt him. However, the compulsion overcame logic, and he turned to the well, watching without emotion as the woman, smaller than his little sister, broke the lock easily with her bare hands, and threw off the cover without musing one piece of her luscious locks.

Climbing the well, he jumped, and the crack of his leg-breaking reached Katherine, and she recoiled at the sound, "I bet that hurt like a bitch."

Yet Justin searched, the pain forgotten due to her compulsion. He felt nothing when the first snake that dared breach the surface bit him. He just searched. He found a square object when the fourth and fifth snake bit him, and his leg began breaking more under the pressure of his weight. "I found something."

Katherine looked down, grimacing at the blood staining the water, "Put it in the bucket."

He did without question, and Katherine pulled the bucket up, quick and easy. She ignored Justin's screams as his compulsion ended as he completed her assignment. Katherine simply ignored his shrieks of pain and help as she broke the small lock and opened the box with a joy she hadn't felt in a long time. However, that joy lasted only seconds as she saw the object that sat within the cushioned box, not the moonstone. Slowly picking up the object, her hands shaking with fury, Katherine saw clearly it was some tacky junk.

Justin's screams breached her fury, and she turned to well, screaming with venom, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He didn't, and Katherine threw down the junk with the box into the well with all her might hoping to hit the feeble human. When his screams stopped, she was somewhat content, though her body still shook with outrage.

"Round one to you, Mason." Katherine snarled into the dark forest. "But there'll only be one more round, and that'll go to me."

Without a thought for Justin, Katherine walked away, plans already forming within her unhinged mind.

SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE

Damon scowled as he heard the knocks echoing through the house. Guests didn't visit him, so why the hell was no one answering the door?! To Damon's surprise, the knocking stopped just as he approached it and began opening up; his scowl deepened when he caught the fresh smell of desperation and pushed the door from opening any further.

"I thought I told you to leave," He glared at Jeremy, who looked surprised at Damon's sudden appearance. "But you won't because you're a Gilbert, and you just can't help yourself. Wow. Your search for life's purpose is as obvious as it is tragic."

Jeremy held his tongue, hating how much Damon's words hit a little too close to home, "You going to let me in or not?"

Intrigued by the teen's appearance and the box he held under one arm, Damon stepped back and sarcastically welcomed the teen in with a flourish of his arm. "Mi casa es su casa, or whatever bullshit means I don't have to open the door to your incessant knocking."

Jeremy set the box on the table and turned to the vampire, "I found something else in Isobel's research."

Damon's eyes locked on the box, "What's in the box?" He smirked, "It's not a head, is it?" Jeremy looked confused, and Damon was taken aback for a moment, "Brad Pitt? Morgan Freeman? One of the most iconic lines in movie history?" Still, the boy was confused, and Damon waved off his ignorance, "Forget it. Obviously, you have shit taste in movies if you've never seen Se7en or even heard of it."