Nine | The Man In The Mansion
The wind suddenly got taken out of my lungs. My eyes opened as I coughed and groaned at the injury. I had fallen off my bed. I untangled myself from the sheets and pushed myself up, rubbing my back to relieve the slight pain the floor had caused.
I glanced over to the clock to see it was now morning. I sighed as I made my way over to the chest of drawers to grab an outfit for the day. I smiled at the thought of last night. After all these years, Damon was still in love with me.
After changing, I headed into Damon's room. Nobody was there. So I looked into Stefan's. Nobody. I furrowed my brows in confusion and made my way downstairs.
"Damon? Stefan?" I stopped in the middle of the empty living room, I couldn't hear a sound other than myself, "Anyone?"
I sighed and pulled my phone from my back pocket. I dialled Damon's number. It rang a few times before he answered.
"Hey. Where are you?" I immediately asked, holding the phone between my ear and shoulder whilst I put on my shoes.
"Was just about to call." He told me, "On my way to the school. Stefan needs to talk to us, meet me there."
"Why -- " He hung up before I could even ask. I groaned and slid my phone back into my pocket. I put on my leather jacket and grabbed an apple before I headed for the door.
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I arrived at the school and examined the outdoor areas, where a lot of teens seemed to be on their lunch break. I eventually spotted Stefan and Damon near the basketball court. I strode over to the pair, throwing the apple core I was holding into a bin.
"Hey, what's happening?" I asked, curious.
"Elena's disappeared. Jeremy said her bed wasn't slept in and her car is still parked in the Lockwood's driveway." Stefan told me. I looked at him confused, "This has Katherine written all over it."
"No, Katherine's in the tomb." I told him, "Trust me. I'm the one who shut her in."
"Did you?" Stefan asked.
"Of course I did." I frowned at him for not having faith in me, "Anything to get rid of that bitch."
Damon looked as though he wanted to say something but was hesitant. It seemed he decided to say it anyway, "She did say something right before we shut her in. I thought she was lying."
"What did she say?" Stefan asked his brother.
"Elena's in danger." Damon said.
I didn't think a frown could form on someones face so fast but Stefan proved me wrong, "What? And you didn't think you should ask her to elaborate?"
"Everything she says is a lie. How am I supposed to know if she's gonna start spouting out the truth?" Damon questioned. I let them argue whilst I surveyed the area around us to make sure nobody was listening. The teens didn't seem interested.
"We have to go talk to her." Stefan stated.
"No, no." Damon frowned, "Let me tell you how thats gonna go: We're gonna go ask her for help, she's gonna negotiate her release, which we're gonna be dumb enough to give her and she's gonna get out and kill us. This is exactly what she wants."
Stefan still continued to frown, "I don't really care."
"It's a bad idea, Stefan." Damon told him.
"It's Elena."
And with that, he made his exit and Damon started to follow him. I groaned at the two because I agreed about Elena but talking to Katherine was a no go. As I turned to make my way to the school my face hit harshly against into someone's chest. I moved back and gave my nose a rub.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." A voice said. I looked up to see big blue eyes and blonde hair.
"Entirely my fault. Sorry." I told them, beginning to walk away from him.
"I haven't seen you here before, are you new?" He asked.
I came to a halt. This was not what I wanted to do, talk to a teenage stranger and get them involved in my screwed up life. Alas, I turned to face him, "Oh. No. I don't go to school. Or college."
"Taking a gap year?" He questioned. More like gap century.
"Yeah, something like that." I replied with a nod. He smiled at me, I didn't want to be rude so I smiled back.
"I'm Matt. Matt Donovan." So this was the Matt that Caroline was hung over? I'm not entirely surprised, he was kinda cute.
"I'm Cassie." I told him before I had to push him away from the conversation, "Look, I, uh, I need to go. Sorry. See you around, Matt Donovan."
I awkwardly turned away to go find Stefan and Damon. A minute or so later I found Damon standing in one of the school hallways alone, listening in on something. I stopped next to him, crossing my arms, "What are you up to?"
"Listening to Bonnie do a locator spell on Elena." He whispered. I listened in too.
"I'm coming with you." Jeremy said.
"No, Jeremy, you're not." Stefan told him.
"No, I'm not gonna just sit here. What if she's hurt? Or worse? What if she's -- "
"She's not." Stefan fought back, "You two go back to your house just in case. I'll call you the minute I find her."
"Well, you can't do this alone." Jeremy stated.
Damon spun round to stand in the classroom doorway, making himself known, "He's not. Let's go."
"You're coming with me?" Stefan asked his brother, seeming wary. I moved into the space next to Damon, making myself visible to them too.
"It's Elena." I repeated in the tone he had used earlier. Stefan just stared at me causing me to raise my eyebrows at him, "Come on, we need to go."
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We were driving in Damon's car. Alaric had kindly given us a bag full of his weapons to use. I was sitting in the back of the vehicle with the bag beside me whilst Damon and Stefan were in the front having a conversation.
"Alaric sure likes his weapons." Damon stated. He glanced at Stefan, who was holding a small container with a mystery liquid inside. He looked back at the road, "What the hell is that?"
"I don't know, it's a vervain bomb or a grenade launcher or something like that." Stefan replied, staring at it as though he was trying to figure it out.
"Weird." Damon replied.
"Don't go blowing us up, Stef." I half joked as I somewhat anxiously ran my hand through my hair. He turned and carefully handed me the bottle. I gently placed it back into the bag.
Stefan faced the front again, "Who do you think took her?"
"Someone from Katherine's past." Damon proposed, "She said she was running from someone. They got the wrong girl."
They started talking about road trip bonding or something, I wasn't paying much attention to them anymore. I was just thinking about every word Damon had said to me about loving me and how he never loved Katherine.
I wondered if it was actually true or not because he seemed to have something with Elena. I could see he cared deeply for this girl, for whatever reason he had.
"You alright back there, Cassie?" A voice asked, ripping me from my thoughts. I tilted my head up to see Damon staring at me in the mirror.
I pushed a false smile on my face, "Yeah."
As I grabbed a bloodbag from beside me and ripped open the top I could see Damon still glancing at me through the mirror, "Want some?"
He gave me a small nod and I handed the bag to Damon. He happily drank some. My eyes drifted to Stefan for a moment, noticing him staring at the blood as though he wanted it.
"You know, if you want some all you have to do is ask, Stefan." Damon told him.
"I've actually been drinking some every day, to build up a tolerance." Stefan replied.
"Does Elena know about this?" Damon questioned.
"Actually, I've been drinking from her." Stefan stated.
"Oh, how romantic." I jokingly smirked and grabbed the bag back from Damon.
About twenty minutes later, Damon stopped in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. We climbed out of the car and I handed Stefan the bag of weapons. He threw the strap over his shoulder.
"The house should be just beyond those trees." Damon pointed as we started walking but he stopped us, "Wait, I got a lot more experience than you do with those sorts of things."
"What is your point?" Stefan asked.
Damon furrowed his brows, "My point is, whoever has Elena is probably who was after Katherine in 1864 and before that."
"And?" I raised my eyebrow.
"And it puts them at five-hundred years old and strong." Damon stated, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah, I'm certain I want to do it." Stefan replied.
"Me too." I nodded. Elena was my friend and obviously Stefan loved her, so I had to keep her safe.
"Because if we go in that house, we may not come back out." Damon warned.
Stefan lightly shrugged, "Alright, then I won't come out."
Damon sighed at his brother as we carried on walking, "So noble, Stefan."
▂▂▂▂
After wandering through the woods, we made our way inside a huge abandoned house. Stefan and Damon had made a plan to distract whoever had taken Elena whilst I grabbed her. I was standing behind a doorway, waiting for any sign.
I could hear Stefan and Damon moving around the house at vamp speed. I peered around the doorway to see a man throw Elena into a womans arms. I couldn't see his face.
"Rose?" The man said.
"I don't know who it is." The woman, I assume Rose, told him. I could sense her fear from where I was standing.
"Up here." Stefan called from up the stairs. The man vamp ran to the top of the stairs.
"Down here." Damon called.
The man slowly made his way back down the stairs and Stefan quickly shot a stake into the mans hand. When he glanced down to look at his new wound, I vamp ran and grabbed Elena from the woman, taking her back upstairs. I pressed her against a wall, pressing my hand firmly over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
I pushed my finger against my lips signalling for her to remain quiet. She calmed down slightly when she realised it was me.
I removed my hand and handed Elena the vervain grenade. She glanced down to it and I gave her a look as if to say use it. I didn't say anything but I knew she understood.
"Excuse me. To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't. Do you hear that?" The man said, in his somewhat european accent. I heard him breaking something apart, "I repeat, you cannot beat me. So I want the girl, I'm gonna count to three or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"
Elena ran to the opening of the stairs with her arms folded over her chest, hiding the grenade under her armpit, "I'll come with you, just please don't hurt my friends, they just wanted to help me."
He vamp ran halfway up the stairs, "What game are you playing with me?"
She pulled the pin from the vervain grenade and threw it in his face. It exploded making his skin instantly burn but he healed immediately. I frowned in confusion as he started heading towards Elena, in no pain.
Stefan suddenly ran out from the other side and shot him with the compressed air weapon. It didn't seem to effect him at all. Stefan threw the weapon and vamp ran at the man, grabbing him. They pair of them tumbled down the stairs.
The man got up immediately, but Stefan weakly remained on the floor. The man angrily stormed towards the younger Salvatore. Damon appeared out a doorway and grabbed a huge coat rack to use as a stake.
Damon roughly pushed the stake through the mans heart and pinned him against the door. The man began to desiccate, his body turning grey and veiny, his head becoming heavy. Rose ran off. Damon went to follow her but Elena stopped him.
"Just let her go." Elena said, running down the stairs. She ran into Stefan's arms.
"Hey come here. Are you hurt? Are you okay?" Stefan asked her, holding her tightly in his arms as though he was afraid to let her go.
I made my way down the stairs, seeing Elena staring at Damon, her mouth moving. Damon responded with a mouthed 'you're welcome'. I could feel my heart begin to ache at the interaction, because it was obvious they were lying to everyone and to themselves.
They made out they hated each other when infact, they cared.
"Uh... let's get out of here." I exhaled.
As we made our way back to Mystic Falls, Elena told us what Rose had told her about the curse. Apparently because she's a Petrova doppelgänger, she's the key to breaking the curse.
The moonstone binds the curse and the sacrifice is what breaks it. The blood of the doppelgänger is what breaks it which meant in order to break the curse, Elena had to die.
"We are not gonna let that happen, Elena." I reassured her, "Katherine's in the tomb, that man is dead. You'll be safe."
▂▂▂▂
Back at the boarding house, I finished off getting dressed into pyjamas after my shower and grabbed the book from Duke from my bedroom. I climbed into Damon's bed, pushing my back against the headboard. I was about to read it but got distracted by Damon and Stefan's voices downstairs.
"Thanks. Listen, um, what Rose told Elena about the curse -- "
Damon interupted Stefan, "I know, we'll keep her safe."
"You know, the only way we're gonna be able to do that is if we're not fighting each other." Stefan told him.
Damon sighed, "Yes, Stefan, I've heard it all before."
It was silent for a moment before Stefan spoke, "I'm sorry."
"About what?" Damon asked him.
"For being the guy who made you turn one-hundred and forty-five years ago." Stefan replied. This caused my head to bow. I rarely let myself think about the day we had turned, it was excruciating.
"Enough, Stef, it's late." Damon stated, "Don't need to rehash that."
"You know what? I've never said it out loud. I guess I just need to say it and you need to hear it. I'm sorry. What I did was selfish. I didn't want to be alone. I guess I just needed my brother."
I exhaled a sad sigh. I really hoped they would stop fighting and become close again, like they used to be. 1863 was a lot less complicated and so much more fun. I heard Damon coming upstairs so I shoved the book into a drawer beside me.
He entered the room, "Hey."
"Hi." I gave him a smile.
I watched as he got undressed down to his boxers and climbed into bed beside me. He pulled me close to his body.
I couldn't relax at all though. Not with the thought of him and Elena. Suddenly I heard a female voice downstairs. My eyes flickered up at Damon, wondering if he heard it too. I pressed my finger against my lips to make sure he remained silent.
"Trevor was my best friend." The woman spoke, "For five hundred years I had lived with one person and he's gone and I don't want to run anymore because I don't have anywhere else to run to."
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't help you." Stefan told her.
"I don't need your help but I think you need mine." She stated, "Elijah may be dead but this isn't over."
I'm guessing the man Damon had killed was Elijah.
"What do you mean "it's not over"?" Stefan curiously asked.
"It isn't over. The Originals, they'll come for her. They have to. They're doing it for him." She told him. Damon and I exchanged worried glances.
"For who?" Stefan asked.
"Klaus." She told him.
Damon stared at me with a frown, "Who the hell is Klaus?"
"I have no idea. Don't worry, we will protect Elena at all costs." I said. At her name, my thoughts wandered back to earlier when the two of them had mouthed something to one another, "Anyway, what was that earlier after you killed that guy?"
"What was what?" He questioned, confused.
I decided to let it go. After all, if I had learnt anything from the past, I shouldn't assume things. I shook my head with a polite smile, "Doesn't matter. Let's try to rest."