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Hozier - Work Song
"Boys workin' on empty
Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat."
"WHAT ARE YOU?" Elena breathed out as Stefan stared at her, his face dimly lit in from the lights inside. "What are you?"
"You know," he answered, heartbroken that he wasn't the one to to tell her such news.
"No, I don't," Elena shook her head in denial. It was too hard to believe in something like vampires, but she had to know the truth.
"Yes, you do, or you wouldn't be here," he told her as he watched her eyes build up with tears. The ones that hurt his heart to see.
Elena shook her head in shock. "It's not possible. It can't be," she said angrily.
"Everything you know...," he started and Elena widened her eyes. "And every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?" he asked, knowing that Holden would have told Stefan that it was the right thing to do.
"What are you?"
Stefan hesitated as he stared at her sadly before answering something he was hiding for over a decade. "I'm a vampire," he finally admitted and she breathed in.
"I shouldn't have come," she shook her head and started to back away.
Stefan tried to catch her arm. "No. Please," he said but she started to run away from fear, but Stefan being fast appeared in front of her.
Elena gasped in shock as she saw him standing in front of her. "No. No," she raised her voice with terrified face. "How did you do that?"
"Please don't be afraid of me," he said pleadingly, holding her arms.
"Let me go," she sneered, trying to free herself.
"No. Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand," Stefan said seriously still holding her.
Elena wasn't listening. "Let me go!" she finally pushed him away and started to run towards her car.
"Elena, please."
Stefan watched her quickly get into her car and drive away. He sighed to himself sadly, knowing that he lost her.
HOLDEN GROANED AND FINALLY WOKE UP. He turned his head to a side and saw Zachary's dead body. "No," he said and rushed to him to see that he wasn't responding. "Zach," Holden hissed moving his chin, then clenched his jaw and stood up. It was dark outside, so he knew Damon was free, probably killing people.
He grabbed his phone and dialed Stefan's number. "Hello," the younger brother answered, sadness laced in his tone as he stood outside of Elena's house, guarding her family.
"Zach is dead," Holden sneered, moving upstairs with a furious face to where Stefan was.
"I know," Stefan whispered with glassy eyes.
"Where are you, Stefan?!" Holden shouted angrily as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed two blood bags.
There was a slight pause from the other end. "Elena knows," he answered and Holden paused with a realized face. "She found out about us... And she wants to know everything."
Holden thought about her reaction, which was probably denial and shock, because who wouldn't react in such way if they found out vampires exist. Holden reacted in the same way. "Where the hell is Damon?" he asked then.
"Where do you think he is? He just called me, threatening to kill Elena if we don't find his ring, which Zach hid," Stefan informed with a calm voice causing Holden to roll his eyes.
"Damn it, Stefan!" Holden shouted from the fury of how the things worked out. He then took a breath. "Okay, uh, I'll meet you later," he then hung up and opened up the blood bag before consuming all the substance.
He didn't like the fact that Elena knew, but somehow he wanted to be the one to help Stefan change her mind about them.
IT WAS MORNING ALREADY and Elena was sitting outside of Mystic Grill with a clearly sleepless face as she glanced at Stefan. "You said you would explain everything. That's why I asked you to meet me here. When you Google 'vampire' you get a world of fiction. What's the reality?" she asked quietly.
Stefan leaned forward in his seat and saw that she looked quite uncomfortable. "I can tell you whatever you wanna know," he nodded seriously.
"I know you eat garlic," she began then widened her eyes as Holden approached their table.
"We love garlic," he commented dully taking a seat next to Stefan and glancing at the girl with blank face. "Stefan informed me about you knowing our secret."
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked him in confusion as Elena noticed Holden smile slightly. So far, she always thought of him as the most gentleman out of the Salvatore brothers, but now all she saw was a vampire.
"Helping you," Holden shrugged before looking back at Elena with a soft look. "I'm not gonna hurt you if that's what worries you so much. I don't kill people while feeding." he informed and she didn't say anything back.
"He's right, Elena," Stefan nodded to her with a soft look too and she looked down overwhelmed. She wanted to believe them, to trust them, but they also lied to her.
"Somehow, sunlight's not an issue," she raised her eyes up to look at them and then a waitress walked up to them with three drinks.
"Hi, here are your drinks," she smiled placing the glasses on the table.
"Thank you," Elena said without any emotion or smile so the waitress left the table alone, letting them talk again.
"We have rings that protect us," Stefan than answered and Holden showed her his blue ring with a H on it, indicating his name.
"Crucifixes?" she then asked seriously causing Holden to chuckled under his breath.
"Decorative," Stefan answered with a nod.
"Holy water?" she asked again with a side eye to Holden, who was quite amused by her need to know everything.
"Drinkable," Stefan answered again and she nodded before remembering another thing.
"Mirrors?"
"Myth," Holden was the one to answer and she glanced at him before furrowing her eyebrows.
"You said you don't kill to survive," she said seriously looking at Stefan.
"Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon or Holden. They can be very powerful," Stefan said and Elena looked at Holden.
"So you feed from people?" she asked in anger but that didn't make Holden feel guilty.
"Yes, but I do it responsibly. Do you know when was the last time I killed someone?" he asked her with an attitude and Stefan looked at him with a slight glare to stop.
"And yet you let him get involved with Caroline?" she asked them. Holden and Stefan exchanged a look then looked back at the girl.
"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe me," Stefan answered, stressed about the situation.
"He was hurting her!" Elena raised her voice and Holden sighed. She had every right to be angry, and as much as Holden was strong, Damon somehow always had the upper hand.
Call it a brotherly love, but Holden was never able to truly control Damon. Maybe because he was older, or maybe because Holden loved Damon and thought about him getting redemption. "Listen, Elena, we have this thing called compulsion," Holden leaned forward in his seat and Elena looked at him with a confused face. "You're right, it was wrong of him to feed from her, but also, he was able to take her memory away from remembering that he ever bit her. She didn't know what was happening to her. It's a complicated thing, messes up with your mind."
"But if he wanted to kill her, he would have," Stefan added and Elena looked at him angrily.
"Is that supposed to make it ok?" she asked looking in between the brothers with raised eyebrows.
"No. No, none of this is ok, Elena," Stefan was quick to defend himself and calm her down. "I know that."
Elena calmed down eventually. "Are there any others, aside from you two and Damon?" she asked and Holden thought about 1864. The time vampires were spread like bees in Mystic Falls.
"Not in Mystic Falls," Stefan shook his head.
"Not anymore, at least," Holden added with a thinking face and Elena snapped her head at him.
"Not anymore?"
Holden's eyes went up to meet her confused shook brown eyes. "Once, Mystic Falls was very aware of vampires...," he then glanced at Stefan with a knowing face causing the younger brother to look away, guilty. "And as far as I remember, it ended horribly."
"That's why it's important that you don't tell anyone," Stefan said with his brooding face causing her to look away.
Holden saw hurt in her eyes. "I can't promise that."
"Elena... Give me today. I will answer any questions that you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you wanna do with you know. It'll be your choice," Stefan said and she turned to Holden.
"What he said," Holden shrugged, knowing that if Elena exposed them he'd just leave the town. Even if he grew quite close to it.
Elena, Holden and Stefan were all in her car and the ride to the woods was silent. "Stop here," Stefan said and she stopped the car, a little afraid as to why they had to go to the woods.
"What are we doing here?" she asked as they all got out of the car. Holden saw ruins of his home and walked further as Elena watched him move with untrustworthy look.
"I want to show you something," Stefan said as they stopped in front of her car.
Holden touched the ruins and a look of longing appeared on his face as he remembered how happy they were once before. "In the middle of nowhere?" she asked skeptically.
"You wound us, Elena," Holden commented looking off somewhere and she glanced at him with an annoyed look. "This didn't used to be nowhere. This used to be our home," he answered and Elena widened her eyes.
"It looks--"
"Old?" Stefan asked and she looked at him uneasily. "It's because they are."
"Wait," she paused in shock. "How long have you--"
"I've been 17 years old since 1864," Stefan answered and Holden turned back to them to see Elena's reaction, which was, as expected, shock.
"Oh, my god," she said still not believing in what she was hearing.
"You said you wanted to know," Stefan said honestly. "I'm not gonna hold anything back. Half a century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Holden, Damon and I... We were all born here. The Salvatore brothers, best friends..."
Stefan, Holden and Damon all ran out of the house cheerily, ready to play football. "Wait. Where did you two learn this game?" Stefan asked his brothers in confusion and amusement.
"Camp outside Atlanta. One of the officers picked it up at Harvard," Damon smirked then turned to Holden, who was holding the ball.
"Though he wasn't very good," Holden smirked back. "Catch!" he shouted throwing the ball at Stefan, who caught it with a huge grin.
"Wait a minute," Stefan laughed as Damon and Holden looked at each other with devious looks, planning something. "Wait a minute. What are the rules?" he asked and then his brothers playfully attacked him from both sides, trying to reach for the ball. "What are the rules?"
Then, Katherine exited the house with a smile. "Who needs the rules?" she questioned loudly, wanting them to know about her presence. The three brothers stopped and all looked at her. "Mind if I join you?" she reached Stefan with a playful smirk.
"Uh, well, you could, uh..," Stefan didn't know what to say, so Holden hit Damon's side with a laugh at his lack of knowledge about flirting. "You could get hurt. My brothers like to play rough," he answered and she looked at Holden and Damon.
"Somehow, I think you play rougher," she smiled then snatched the ball out of Stefan and ran off. Stefan stared at her longingly as he watched her run. "Who caught your tongue?" Holden teased with a smirk as he approached his baby brother. "Why are you just standing there? That girl is clearly ready for you to chase her." he advised and Stefan smiled at him.
"Holden's right," Damon nodded his head. "If you don't do it, I will," he then began to run and soon Stefan followed.
Holden rolled his eyes with a laugh then saw Melanie Forbes walking around with maids on her property that was near his.
She looked incredibly stunning that day and he caught himself staring at her. She noticed that and blushed, looking down.
"You knew Katherine in 1864? Damon made it seem like..." Elena began but got cut off by Stefan again.
"Damon was trying to make you think that... I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you, and he wanted to ruin it," Stefan sighed.
"All because you loved the same woman 145 years ago?What about you?" Elena asked causing Holden to look at her in surprise that she was actually interested. "Did you lie to me about not loving her?"
"No," Holden answered honestly and Elena frowned a little. "I was never with Katherine."
"Holden liked another," Stefan informed and Holden looked away with a sad look on his face that Elena noticed. "You were the only sane of us," Stefan told his brother, who didn't respond. "And she wasn't just any girl."
Stefan was chasing Katherine through a garden maze while laughing. The girl reached a statue and they both stopped running. "Ha! I win. What's my prize?" she smirked at him lovingly.
"What would you like it to be?" suddenly Damon questioned from the corner and Stefan turned to see both of his brothers with papers in hands, still wearing the Confederate uniform.
Stefan smiled brightly, seeing his brothers back. "They extended your leaves?" he asked in confusion and happiness. He wanted his brothers home and safe.
"We were simply having too much fun to return to battle," Damon smirked and Katherine smiled at Holden.
"And," Holden spoke up with a grin. "How can we leave you all to Miss Pierce?" he asked teasingly.
"Your commitment to the confederacy is inspiring," Stefan mused and hugged both of his brothers at the same time, who hugged him back.
"Well, this works out wonderfully for me," Katherine smiled innocently and the brothers all pulled away to look at her.
"How's that, miss Pierce?" Damon asked her in amusement.
Katherine shrugged her shoulder with a huge grin. "Now I'll have all of you here to keep me entertained," she told them. Holden saw her brown eyes lit up with mischief.
Katherine was beautiful, that was true. She was much more smarter than other girls, and witty. But Holden was promised to another, and he couldn't be with Katherine, because clearly Stefan and even Damon liked her. "First and foremost, I'll need someone to escort me to the founder's ball," she said.
"With pleasure."
"I would be honored."
Holden looked at his brothers with a confused look at how quick they were. Katherine's eyes darted to Holden, who smiled at her genuinely. "I have a fiancé, Miss Pierce," he said politely and inside Katherine was fuming that she didn't have him under control. "But I can assure you that my brothers are just fine."
"Oh, well," Katherine feigned a deep sigh. "The smart and kind Salvatore brothers both coming to my rescue. How will I ever choose?" she mused and walked away as Holden caught his brothers staring at her with the same loving eyes.
After Stefan told Elena that Katherine chose him instead of Damon, the three were still walking through the ruins of the Salvatore estate. "She could control my mind and Damon's," Stefan explained further.
"She controlled mine... Once," Holden added and Stefan nodded his head. "The more you think about it, the more twisted she is."
"She disliked the fact that you weren't showing any interest in her," Stefan told him and Holden scoffed a little. "Because you had Melanie."
"You were engaged," Elena then said as if she just realized that. Holden just quickened his pace and Elena looked at Stefan, but he just shook his head sadly.
"She compelled each of us to keep the secret from the other. She wanted all of us to be together," Stefan told her and Holden just got more furious with each second Stefan mentioned Katherine. "Forever. Didn't work out that way, but... Holden, Damon and I, looks like we're stuck with each other... Like it or not."
Elena turned to Holden, who was holding Damon's ring in his hand as he just took it out of a ruin. "Is that Damon's ring?" Elena asked but he ignored her and looked at Stefan.
"We need to give him this back," Holden mused dully and Stefan nodded, agreeing.
On the other hand, Elena wasn't on board. "No, don't," Elena argued with wide eyes as she stared at Holden. "Keep it hidden."
"Elena, if we don't give it to him, he'll retaliate in the only way that he knows he can hurt me," Stefan told her sadly.
"And how is that?" she asked dully and Holden smiled a little.
He saw that Stefan was head over heels in love with the girl, who looked just like Katherine, even if she didn't know it.
But this time, Holden wasn't blaming Stefan, because Elena was much more beautiful than Katherine, because she was kind and cheerful and everything a human's supposed to be. "By hurting you," Stefan answered and she looked down.
"The mind control," Elena then said, looking up at Holden, and Stefan frowned, because she just ignored the fact that he cared about her. "You said Katherine used. Do you ever do that to me?"
"No, and Stefan didn't," Holden answered calmly. He was so collected as if it wasn't the first time he had to explain. "Your necklace, it contains a herb called vervain. It protects you from being compelled," he said and she touched it with furrowed eyebrows. "You see, Stefan wanted to protect you from Damon, because we both knew he'd try compulsion. That's all the practically does these days."
"It's not just it," Stefan mused and looked down at Elena. "I also wanted to... Protect you from me. Elena, you should never take that necklace off... Because no matter what happens after today, no matter how you feel about me... You'll know that you were free to make your own choice."
LATER ON, AT NIGHT, Stefan called Holden, telling him that Vicki was in transitioning to become a vampire and she was gone.
He doubted his choice to go and help, but still did it, because he knew that people, who got hurt by Damon, needed to be saved. "Vicki," she said lowly and she turned around.
They were both standing in the cemetery, where Damon killed all of her stoner friends last night. Holden could still smell some blood, but it didn't affect him at all. "I'm starting to remember things, what he is, what he said," she said, her face held overwhelm and anger. "I remember you, what you said. The hospital, the... the rooftop, it's all coming back."
"I know," Holden mused walking closer to her. "What Damon did was wrong, let me help you." he said with suggesting eyes.
Vicki took a step back. "He said that I need to feed. What will happen if I don't?" she asked him curiously.
Holden decided to be straight forward with his answer. "You'll be dead," he said and she widened her eyes. "Hey, Vicki," he mused grabbing her shoulders into his hands. "I'll help you, okay?"
"I don't want this," she shook her head with tears in her eyes and he nodded his head, completely understanding her. He went through the same thing. "If I feed? Will I be better?" she asked but he didn't answer. "Hey, will I be better?!"
"Let me just take you out of here, okay?" he pleaded and she nodded her head, trusting Holden.
Before they could go, a few gunshots rang and Vicki saw it hit Holden. He didn't fall to the ground at first, it just slowed him down because he was strong. "No!" Vicki exclaimed with wide eyes.
Then Holden got shot another two times and fell to the ground in pain. "Ahh, damnit!" he cursed breathing heavily as the bullets inside dug deeper.
He then looked up to see his shooter, Logan Fell. Holden lowered his head down as he saw that Damon was behind him.
He heard Damon bite Logan and the man scream before falling to the ground.
"Holden!" Stefan appeared next to his brother before taking the bullets out of his chest. "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
"Yeah," he mused sitting up. He saw his wounds heal and looked up at Damon with a serious face.
Damon was examining the bullets with a look. "It's wood," he came to a conclusion. "They know. If anyone's gonna kill you, it's gonna be me. My ring," he demanded angrily.
Holden felt a bit thankful for Damon for saving him, so he sighed, got the ring out of his pocket and handed it to Damon, who took it with a smirk and placed his ring on his finger.
"No! No! Vicki!" Stefan then yelled and Holden saw her feeding from Logan. Stefan ran to her and pulled her away.
"I'm sorry," she whispered with a bloody mouth as Holden stood up and glared at Damon.
"Oops," he shrugged and Holden looked back at the new vampire that they had to deal with.
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