The whole morning, Jules and Brady spent their time cleaning up the torn apart and bloody limbs. Both did so with a somber face, many unspoken emotions hanging in the air. The two of them would take occasional glances at each other, having a silent conversation through their eyes.
Soon after, another man walked up, his body language clearly showing that he was anxious. He began slightly pacing and fumbling with his fingers. Once the bodies were all piled up and began burning, Brady and Jules walked over to him.
"Go ahead. Tell her." Brady said, the female werewolf looking between the two, confusion written all over her face.
"Let me just preface this with a big disclaimer that screams 'I should have known better.'"
"What is it Stevie?" Jules asked.
"When Brady told me what that Tyler kid said about Mason being here for the moonstone, something clicked. There was this moment back in Florida when I suspected Mason was up to something because he was banging that hot vampire chick Kathy and he didn't want anyone to know."
"All right, just get to the point Stevie." Jules interrupted him, slightly throwing her arms up in frustration.
"That is the point Jules. It's the sun and moon curse. Mason was asking me all kinds of questions about it, if it could be broken, and when that evil man-witch showed up last night, double-click, which is vampires. Moonstone. They're putting everything in place to break the curse." Stevie finished, out of breath.
The couple looked at each other, both wondering what their next move should be.
"We can't let them do that." Brady spoke up. "Even if we have to kill every last vampire in this town."
*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*
Rory jolted awake from her nightmare. The whole night she had been in and out of the same terror of being tortured over and over again, the sound of hers and Caroline's screams mixing together. When she fully came to the senses of her surroundings, she could feel the beads of sweat on her forehead, and a pair of arms tightly around her.
When she looked up, she saw Stefan sleeping with her. Rory tried her best to wiggle herself out of his grip without waking him up, but ultimately, he woke up as well.
"Rory?" Stefan said, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. When he realized his arms were around her, he quickly released them. "You- uh, you kept thrashing around last night, and I figured you would sleep better with me there. Tha- that worked when you were younger. Sorry." He said sheepishly.
Rory's heart swelled at his words. Those simple words had such an impact on her. She began to think that her brother actually did care for her. Of course, it was going to take her some time to get used to it, since she went a while without doing so, but those words that her brother just told her was enough.
"How do you feel?" Stefan asked, standing up and rubbing the back of his neck as if he were nervous.
"Physically? I feel fine. Mentally? Torn up." She told him honestly. And it was the truth. The blood he had given her, rid her of all the damage done to her skin, not even a scar was visible. But the mental trauma was still there. She could almost feel the knife being twisted about in her thigh along with the laughter of the werewolf doing it.
"Rory. I am so sorry you had to go through that. I got there as fast as I could, but I wish that I knew sooner so you didn't have to go through that."
His sister nodded her head in understanding before speaking up, "Do you know where Rose is? I think I could probably make her a daylight ring for her later today. I am so excited to see her reaction to the sun." Stefan smiled at the smile that was on her voice, that she always wore just talking about something that made her happy.
"Are you sure you want to do that right now? We could wait a couple more days for you to get your energy back. Especially after last night."
Rory just shook her head. She wanted Rose to be able to see the sun as soon as possible. "Do you have an extra ring I could use?" She asked him, in which Stefan nodded and then walked over to a coffee table, and opened it up and pulled out a dainty silver ring with a green stone resting atop.
"Perfect!" She said with a smile before running up and grabbing the ring, and then began running upstairs to her room. "I'll be back in ten minutes!"
Once she made it to her room, she opened up all of her curtains so there was fresh sun bathing into every corner of the room. Placing the ring in the middle of her bed, and then situating herself right in front of it, she pulled out her grimoire and looked for the exact spell she needed.
Rory closed her eyes and placed her hand over the ring, palm down, and then began the incantation.
"Luce ambulare patiar anulum."
"Luce ambulare patiar anulum."
"Luce ambulare patiar anulum."
Opening her eyes, she couldn't really tell if there was a difference in the ring, she kinda just had to hope for the best. Looking through her book one last time to see if she missed anything, she began playing with the ring on her own fingers.
When everything was in its place, a smile grew on her face once again as she held a tight grasp onto the ring as she stood up and ran downstairs. When she got to the bottom, she only saw Stefan sitting there with a book in his hand.
"Where's Rose?" Rory asked him.
He used his finger to point to one of the guest rooms they had on the first floor, "She's th-" Before he could even finish, Rory was already on her way into the room. She ran inside and jumped onto the bed where Rose, was too, reading a book.
"Rose! I finished the ring! Oh come on! Let's try it out!"
Rose looked at the girl's enthusiasm, the same levels of excitement growing in herself too as she hadn't felt the sun since she was turned. Getting out of bed, Rose took the ring out of Rory's hand and placed it on the pointer finger of her right hand, admiring it.
Rory grabbed her arm and began dragging her out. "Let's first open up the curtains just a little bit to text it out." Closing her eyes, Rose prepared herself for the burning on her hand, but when the little witch pulled back the fabric, all she could feel was a comforting warmth. Opening one eye at a time, Rose was trying to comprehend the situation. A smile bloomed on her face, and this time, it was the older vampire who grabbed the other's arm and dragged her outside.
Immediately as they got outside, the most joyous of laughter erupted from Rose. Tears began to form at her eyes, as she ran in the middle of the grass, with her arms out, closing her eyes once again, as she basked in its rays for the first time in centuries.
Rory watched from the side, a smile on her face.
Opening one eye, and then the other, Rose made her way back to the Salvatore and then brought her in the tightest hug she had every experienced. But, either way, she returned the hug with just as much force as she could muster. Rose then began peppering the top of her head, and forehead with small kisses.
"Aurora *kiss* Salvatore *kiss* I *kiss* owe *kiss* you *kiss* you *kiss* everything."
When the vampire pulled away, she put one last kiss on Rory's forehead before she pulled away and began running around, and enjoying the sun to its best ability.
When Rory walked back inside, her mood was immediately 10x better. The smile on her face could not be torn off. Stefan was in the living room, he returned to his book, but when he heard someone walk inside, he looked back to see his happy sister.
"How did it go?" He asked her.
"Amazing!" She said with a smile, before running into the kitchen.
She smiled at me, Stefan thought.
When Rory got into the kitchen, she saw a random woman standing while talking to Damon. Trying her best not to get brought into a conversation that isn't needed, she carefully and quietly walked towards to cupboard to grab a glass, making sure she couldn't see them. If I can't see them, they can't see me, right? No.
"Hello, you must be Rory, right?"
Rory turned around to see the lady looking at her with a smile, which Rory half heartedly returned.
"That would be me." She responded.
"Andie Star, nice to meet you." Andie said, putting her hand out for the Rory to shake, which she did.
"The news lady?" She asked, with a skeptical look in her eyes.
"That would be me." Andie repeated with a little laugh. She then looked at her watch and then let out a sigh. "Well, I should be headed out for work, but it was great meeting you!"
Before Rory could even respond, Andie left their house, leaving Rory standing there with an empty glass in one hand, looking like an idiot in the middle of the kitchen. Shaking her head, she proceeded to fill up her glass with water.
Leaning on the counter, drinking the water, Stefan came in murmuring words under his breath.
"Fucking Elena always-" Stefan looked up and realized that Rory was still in the room, and his face immediately got red. His sister just had on an amused expression, and then raised her glass as if they were having a toast, "You and me both brother."
Stefan smiled at her antics before the smile dropped remembering what he had to do. "Ugh no, Elena wants to leave Mystic Falls for a day or something, and no one else wants to go with her. So guess who's on Elena duty? Me." Stefan really was over Elena. To the point he really didn't even want to spend time with her. He would rather spend it with his sister. Right when Rory opened her mouth to speak, Stefan already knew she was going to volunteer to go with him as well. "No, Rory. I want you to stay here so you can enjoy time with Rose. It will be better for you."
Rory tried to protest, but he declined every single time, wanting her to have a good day, especially since what happened the day before. Reluctantly nodding her head, Stefan smiled, satisfied with the response, before slowly walking to his room to pack a bag for a day he was not excited for, even in the slightest.
The witch walked over to the window to see if Rose was still out there, and a smile grew on her face when she saw the vampire laying on the ground, her eyes closed, absorbing every bit she could. Not wanting to bother her, Rory walked into the living room, and began to fill out a crossword puzzle that was on their newspaper.
Not long after, Damon and Alaric came walking in. Looking up, she saw Ric running to her, and immediately brought her into a hug.
"Hey, kid, I hear what happened yesterday, I'm so sorry." He whispered, holding her tight against him.
"It's okay, Ric, I'm all better now!" She told him with a smile as he broke away, causing him to smile back at her, before turning his attention back to Damon.
"So John Gilbert gave me this to kill Elijah." Damon said, causing Rory to perk up, knowing that she wasn't going to have him kill Elijah. But, she also knew that Elijah was capable of taking care of himself. "Said you have to dip the dagger in the remains of an old white ash tree that dates back to the originals, if there's any truth in that."
"So you think it's a setup?" Ric asks, holding the dagger, while taking occasional glances at Rory to see if she was actually okay.
"It could be. Guy's a weasel. Wouldn't put anything past him. What are you up to today, Mr. Saltzman?"
"Well, Jenna and I were supposed to go to her family's lake house, but somehow, we both got roped into doing this historical society thing at the Lockwood's."
"Where Elijah's the guest of honor?" Damon asked.
"Tell me you're not going to kill him at the tea party." Ric sighed out, already knowing the answer.
"No. That would be stupid." Damon sarcastically replies. "I want to know his endgame before I kill him, but I do think it's time Elijah and I have officially met."
After that, the three of them got ready to go to the historical society event. Two with a plan to kill one of the oldest vampires known to man, and the third planning just to see him. Rory hadn't seen him in a while, and she wanted to know how he has been.
*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*
At the Gilbert household, Stefan Salvatore knocks on the door, his shoulders slumped and his posture terrible. Very clearly showing he would rather be absolutely anywhere else. When the door opened, he internally groaned when he saw the one and only Elena.
"Hello Stefan." She greeted with a smile.
"Hi Elena." He grumbles, walking into the house, already regretting his decision to do this.
"Let's go before John shows up and pretends to be a concerted father."
Stefan just nods his head and grabs her stuff to bring it into the car, but then turns around when Elena stops walking and pulls out her phone.
"Oh my god please tell me there's nothing wrong," Stefan says throwing his head back slightly in frustration. Elena just shakes her head and smiles at him, walking past, leaving him to walk out after her with a grimace on his face.
The two go into the car, and drove their way to the lake house. The drive was quite awkward to say the least. Stefan contemplated multiple times on jumping out the car window while driving just to escape the situation.
But, once they finally reached the cabin, they got out, and brought their bags in with them.
"You all right?" Stefan asks at least trying his best to sound concerned, but it came out more of a monotone voice.
"I'm good." She nods. "I just haven't been back here since- since before. I've always loved it here. I want it to stay that way."
Elena walks in the door as Stefan stays outside. "I'm all good, you don't have to wait." She tells him. He just stands there with his eyebrows raised, not saying a word. Elena continued to just stare at him, when realization his her. "Oh, come in." She invites him in. As he did, he just walked past her, not wanting to spend any more time around her than he has to.
*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*
When Rory, Damon, and Alaric pulled up to the Lockwood mansion, Damon immediately gets out, on a mission to finally meet Elijah. Rory thought it was stupid to think that he could either outsmart or out-strength the man, but she let Damon be an idiot, for all that she cared.
Ric came over to walk right next to Rory as they entered.
"If you need to leave at all, just say the word, and I will bring you home. Okay, kiddo?" He said after greeting Carol Lockwood at the entrance.
"Okay, Ric. But I promise you, I will be fine." It wasn't too much of a lie, Rory just had problems with getting too close to sharp objects.
When they walked in, they were bombarded with a crowd of dressed up, rich, white, old people. Scrunching her nose up in disgust, Rory tried to find the nearest couch to get away from everyone. As she did so, she saw the one person that she wanted to see.
Elijah Mikaelson.
Right as she saw him, a smile grew on her face, and she stood on her tiptoes, slightly jumping to see over the crowd, and waved to him. It took him a couple seconds, but when he saw the small girl, a real, genuine, smile grew on his face, and he waved back to her.
Satisfied, Rory made it to where she planned on going. Far away from everyone else.
Elijah proceeded to begin a conversation with Carol, talking about the history he wanted to know, and what he did know, pretending as if he didn't actually live through it himself. After a while of talking, they were interrupted.
"Damon!" She greeted, causing Elijah to look and see the raven-haired Salvatore. Elijah already knew he had a strong hatred for the man, knowing how he treated Rory. "Elijah. I want you to meet Damon Salvatore. His family is one of Mystic Falls' founding families." Carol said.
"Mm-hmm." Damon agreed, a smirk plastered on his face, the two vampires proceeding to have a stare down. "Such a pleasure to meet you."
"No. Pleasure's mine." Elijah counteracted, the two then having a very awkward handshake, Carol just watching the two in fascination, drinking her tea.
After a while of conversing, Mrs. Lockwood took off, leaving behind Elijah and Damon. The two going into a separate room, Elijah looking over one more time at Rory, to see if she was okay, before disappearing behind the doors.
"What's Damon doing with Elijah?" John Gilbert asks Alaric once he saw what happened.
"How would I know?" Alaric said to him.
"Because you're his little helper."
"If you say so, John.
"Does Jenna know about your extracurricular activities?" John challenged. "Maybe it's time we tell her? I mean, she can't stay in the dark forever."
"You're a dick." Ric bluntly states.
"I don't think you should sleepover anymore. It's inappropriate with children in the house, and that ring that Isobel gave you, that's mine. I'm gonna want that back." John then looks Ric up and down, and then leaves him standing there.
-
"What can I do for you Damon?" Elijah asks once they get into the room.
"I was hoping we could have a word."
"Where's Elena?" The original asks him.
"Safe with Stefan. They're laying low, you know. Bit of a werewolf problem. They took my sister and blondie."
Elijah jerked his head towards Damon when he mentioned Rory. "You're sister was taken? Why the hell did you let them do that?"
Damon just rolled his eyes, "It's not like I knew it was going to happen. But besides the point, why exactly are you here?"
"Why don't you just stay focused on keeping Elena safe and leave the rest to me." Elijah turned around, headed for the door, when Damon ran over, and blocked the door. "Not good enough," he says before getting grabbed by the throat and pushed up against a wall.
"You young vampires, so arrogant. How dare you come in here and challenge me?"
"You can't kill me, man." Damon choked out, his face getting red. "It's not part of the deal."
"Silence," Elijah said before grabbing a pencil and then shoving it into Damon's throat. "That's for your sister. I'm an original, show a little respect." He pulled out a white handkerchief and handed it to Damon who began cleaning the blood off of his throat. "The moment you cease to be of use to me, you're dead, so you should do as I say. Keep Elena safe, and be a better person."
Elijah stood up, and left the room, checking one more time to see where Rory was, and when he did, he saw her talking to an old man with much enthusiasm, causing him to smile a little bit to himself before leaving.
After a while, Ric walked over and grabbed Rory, and the three of them headed back to her house. When they got inside, they sat together in the living room, Rose having left elsewhere, Rory assuming spending her day in the sun.
"Today was a bust." Damon said, taking a drink out of his glass.
"Yeah. How's the throat?" Alaric asked him.
"What happened to your throat?" Rory questioned.
Damon looked over at his sister, "Elijah rammed a pencil into it."
Rory choked on her water, slapping a hand over her mouth to cover up the laughter. "I'm sorry, he shoved a pencil into your throat? That's kinda funny."
"Ha ha very funny." Damon said sarcastically.
"Yeah, Elijah's one scary dude." The teacher added in. Rory just shrugged her shoulders, not thinking that he was really that scary. "But, he has nice hair. Want another one?" Ric asked, indicating towards the bourbon.
"He's going to be hard to kill." Damon sighed out, looking at the ceiling.
"Yeah. I'd think twice before I'd trust that dagger and some ashes to do the job. You're gonna need more info."
"I'm out of sources."
"What's up with you and Andie?" Rory asked, trying to steer away from the topic of killing Elijah.
"Ooh. She's got spunk, huh? Mainly a distraction, don't really care for Elena much at the moment."
"What about Rose?" Rory suggested slyly.
Damon just looked at her, "What do you mean- I mean I haven't really thought of her like that." Rory just shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, god. I got to go." Ric said, looking at his phone. "I got to pick Jenna up. Don't worry, I'll- uh- show myself out." Rory smiled and waved to him as he began to walk out. She then stood up, wanting to go to her room, and not around her brother, when a crash echoed through the house.
The siblings looked at each other, before slowly walking over to where it came from. When they reached to the hallway, they turned and saw Ric with a wooden stake impaling his stomach. Rory gasped and quickly ran over to him.
"Ri- Ric? Are you okay? He- hey, stay with me." She told him as he fell to the floor, onto her lap. Rory was about to do something when someone jumped down from the ceiling, and began fighting with Damon, ultimately breaking his neck.
Rory watched with wide eyes, scooting backwards when the man began walking closer. "Pl- please don't d- do this." She pleaded, her voice cracking. "I- I don't wa- want to h- hurt again." The man looked at her with a sympathetic face.
Before everything went black, once again.
*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*
When Rory opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Alaric dead on the ground. Looking at him closer, she scanned his body, looking at the wounds, and then let out a sigh of relief when she saw the ring on his finger. The next thing she noticed was her hands were bound to the arms of a chair.
Getting flashbacks from not even twenty-four hours previous, Rory's shoulders went slack, and then it felt as if she couldn't breathe. She began suddenly aware of the blood that was pounding in her ears, and her heart thudding roughly against her chest. Her vision was slowly becoming disfigured from a mixture of tears and stress, as her hands shook and her feet tingle in the converse she was wearing. Rory's hands balled up into fists so aggressively, her nails dug into her palms, creating bloody crescents in their wake.
Turning her head, she caught sight of Damon who was unconscious with blood coming out of his neck. In a wave of every emotion imaginable, it was beginning to feel as if someone was stepping on her chest, blocking any way for her to breathe. Her mouth became dry, and her vocal cords somehow stopped working.
As another man walked up, the panic inside of Rory began to increase like a cluster of spark plugs in her abdomen. She continued to try and breathe, but her chest was raising up and down way too quickly to allow any air inside.
Tears continued to build up as her arms began to tremble further when the man became to take hindered steps towards her.
"P- please." Rory tried to beg, but it came out of her mouth as a mere whisper. All she could think about was how much she wanted to die in that moment. The man pushed a strand of hair out of her face, causing her to whimper, and then walked over to Damon as he woke up.
"Hello, sunshine." Stevie greeted him. "I saw this movie once, some torture porn flick. Anyway, they had this collar device that was really cool, so I modified it, some with some wooden nails, and when I pull..." He grabbed onto the chains that were connected around Damon's neck, and then pulled, causing the vampire to groan, and a strangled cry escaping Rory's lips.
Just then, more people continued to pile in, causing Rory's breaths to become more and more labored, if that were even possible. She couldn't even comprehend the conversations that were taking place. All she could, see, touch, and hear, was her own fear.
A man Rory didn't know, walked up to her, with a smirk plastered on his face. More tears coming out of her eyes, as her sobs were muffled from her mouth being closed, she shook her head as fast as she could, trying to move backwards, but only being stopped by the back of the chair.
"Do you know where the moonstone is, sunshine?" He asked, pulling out a knife, causing Rory to shake her head even more. Not satisfied with the answer, his smirk turned into a frown as he plunged the knife into the side of her arm, causing more painful yells to come out of Rory, biting on her tongue so hard, that she could taste the copper taste in her mouth.
-
After thirty minutes of painful suffering and torture, Rory sat on the chair, staring at the ground with a blank face. She now has new marks on her face, and down her arms. At one point, she became a more of a shell without an inhabitant, blocking out every noise possible, the only thing she could feel was the pain.
"You looking for this?" A new voice came out from the other side of the room. Rory could barely even hear it, so she continued staring at the ground, her eyelids starting to feel heavy.
Damon looked over and saw Elijah standing against a pillar, with the moonstone in one hand, and his other in his pocket. He slowly walked over, but then once Elijah saw a bloodied and mangled Rory in the corner, tied to a chair, he sped around, and ripped out the hearts of everyone in the room, Jules running away in the process.
Once everyone was gone, he quickly made his way over to Rory, and untied her, having her to fall limp in his arms.
Elijah bit into his wrists, and then brought it up to her mouth as Stefan once did. Rory began to drink the blood from his wrist, as Elijah cradled her head, stroking her hair, and placing a kiss on top of her head.
"It's okay." He whispered to her, not even aware if she could hear him.
Damon sat still in the chair, watching the two of them in confusion, wondering why the hell a murdering psycho vampire was actually caring.
Elijah continued to rock back and forth, with Rory in his lap, until he was sure she fell asleep, and every wound was healed. After he picked her up, and placed her on the couch, putting a blanket over her, he turned to Damon and ripped the chains off.
"You realize, this is the third time I've saved your life now." Elijah told him, before turning around, placing one more kiss on Rory's forehead, and then leaving. Damon watching him as he did so.
After picking up the chairs, and torture devices, Damon said goodbye to Alaric who rose back from the dead, he stared at his sister.
From one glance, someone wouldn't guess the stuff that the bubbly girl would have gone through the stuff she had.
"I'm sorry." Damon whispered to her, as a single tear fell down his cheek, unaware that she was awake, staring at the pillow in front of her. Once she knew he was gone, she rolled over onto her back, and stared at the ceiling above her.
Every emotion drained out of her, all she could do was,
Stare at the ceiling, her face blank and emotions gone.
╱╲❀╱╲╱╲❀╱╲╱╲❀╱╲
a/n:
episode 2x14
hello! i hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
anyways, thank you all so much for 20k! it makes me feel really proud of myself knowing that you guys actually enjoy reading this as much as i enjoy writing it.
if you couldn't tell, rory was having a bit of a panic attack. i haver never experienced one myself, but i hope i did it justice. because i know how serious having panic attacks is, and how real they truly are.
have a wonderful day!
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