Echoes

Chapter Ten

Warnings: M - language, violence, adult content, sensitive subject matter

I don't own TVD. I just take the characters for a spin from time to time.
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"No fair!"

Damon's expression frowned back at him from the mirror as he adjusted his tie. Something had stirred up all the kids already this morning. This was going to be a long day for Elena. When she said he only wanted to stay home so he could play in the snow, he'd only been half-joking.

Their crew in the house all day with snow outside was a lot to handle on the best of days. Elena had only just begun to appear to be feeling somewhat human after the worst of the morning sickness had passed. Even now, he wasn't sure if she was really ready to be on her own with all four.

The shouts from downstairs echoed off the hardwood floor in the hallways. If they ever re-decorated the house, they'd have a lot more carpet just to absorb the noise. Footsteps clomped up the stairs. Not Elena. He studied their cadence. Claire. She gave up on the snow awfully quickly.

Now the twins were shouting. Arguing, but with a touch of whine.

He expected them to be excited about the first snow of the season, but there was an edge that set his nerves on alert. Time to intercede. He backed away his dresser. His oldest daughter's footsteps stopped directly outside his doorway before a terse knock sounded on the doorframe.

"Dad!" Claire rapped again. "Dad!"

"I'm right here." Damon opened the door, studying her expression. If Claire had been his brother, he'd have said Stefan was wearing his worried-vampire face.

"Mom says you need to come outside."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Claire jumped back out the door and Damon followed closely at her heels.

Emma, Brayden, and Nathan stood lining the stone porch like spectators at a traffic accident. They watched as their mother leaned over something in the snow.

Elena looked over her shoulder at him and motioned for him to come closer. "Damon." He recognized that voice. That almost-shake. The timbre of fear. His wife hadn't sounded like that in years. Not since...

She pointed at the ground.

Footprints. Not just a single set. Many impressions. Some stepping on top of the others. Whoever was here, they hadn't stayed in one place.

Their unseen watcher was nervous. Unable to keep still.

Or simply unafraid they'd know how long he'd been here.

Damon studied the numerous footprints in the snow at his feet and then turned his attention back to the ones next to the kitchen window. Far too big for any of the children - they were larger than his own tracks. His eyes followed the trail that extended beyond their property line and seemed to lead all the way back to the woods. "Call Ric."

"But Daddy, it's snowing really hard! Uncle Ric can't drive in this." Always the practical one, Nathan looked up at the heavily falling snow with a concerned expression on his face.

Damon caught hold of Elena's arm. "Tell him to bring his bag. He'll come."

Watching the color drain out of her face made his stomach turn. A wreck on the outskirts of town was one thing. It could be written off, excused as a random coincidence. Not this time. Not with what they knew now. Not with the footprints rapidly disappearing beneath the snow.

Now the danger was here.

Elena gave a tense nod and walked back into the house. Even through the layers of her sweater and her heavy coat, he didn't have to watch too closely to see her hands shaking. Damon didn't think it was from the cold.