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BANKS - Mind Games
"When you show up all empty-handed
The way you say you love me
Like you've just been reprimanded
Cause I know you like mind games."
IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR HOLDEN TO GET HOME. He looked around the empty house and thought about what an idiot he was for almost kissing Elena.
But the weirdest part was that she wanted to kiss him back. It didn't sound like the Elena he knew so far, but maybe she did want to kiss him back, and if she did, he felt happy.
His phone rang and he took it out before seeing that Stefan was calling. "What?" Holden asked calmly as he walked over to his drinks and started pouring himself a glass of bourbon.
"Did you know that John Gilbert got attacked tonight?" Stefan questioned causing Holden to didn't react in any way.
"Well, most of us got attacked tonight," he commented and took a sip of his drink. Stefan sighed and Holden clicked his tongue. "Okay, sorry, by who?"
"I don't know, but whoever was inside was a vampire," Stefan mused and Holden thought of Elena and then widened his eyes in realization.
"Where is Elena now, Stefan?" he asked rushing towards the door and quickly left his house.
Stefan didn't answer at first so Holden rolled his eyes as he walked over to his car. "Hello, didn't you hear me?" Holden snapped. Stefan's jealousy was getting the best of him and Holden didn't like that.
"She's in the hospital. Caroline got into a car accident," he answered and Holden hung up before opening the door to his car. He hesitated to go in, then closed the door and used his vampire speed to appear in the hospital much quicker than it would have taken him with a car.
Holden saw Bonnie talking with Matt inside so he walked over to them. "How's Caroline?" he asked curiously and saw the look on their faces.
"Holden, there's something you should know," Bonnie told him as Matt walked away to buy some coffee. "Matt said that Tyler was driving the car when he heard the noise and got a migraine... You know what that means, right?"
"He was affected by the device," Holden mused and Bonnie nodded her head. "But Tyler isn't a vampire, is he?"
Bonnie shook her head and Elena walked over to them. "Hey..." she greeted Holden calmly and Holden looked down at the girl. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard about the attack," Holden told her quietly and Elena nodded her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than Caroline," Elena whispered sadly and Holden pursed his lips with a frown. Elena then turned to Bonnie. "Is there a spell that you can do?"
"She doesn't know how, do you?" Damon spoke and everyone turned to see him.
Bonnie glared at the older Salvatore. "No I don't."
"No, you don't because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that," he mused with a smirk and Holden rolled his eyes.
"Well, I can take down a vampire, that spell was easy to learn," Bonnie told Damon.
Holden sighed as he looked at the girls. "I can give Caroline some blood," he spoke up and Elena quickly shook her head.
"No, no way," Elena told him and Holden furrowed his eyebrows.
Damon noticed that and smirked at Elena. "Enough to heal her. She will be safe in the hospital and it will be out of her system in a day, she will be better."
"Since when do you care?" Holden questioned bitterly and Elena looked at Damon with raised eyebrows.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Call it a change of heart, I don't care, but I'll do it as well," he smirked at Holden, who shrugged at the girls.
"It's too risky," Elena shook her head again. "I can't agree to that."
"Do it," suddenly Bonnie said with a nod and Elena looked at her with a nervous face. "This is Caroline. We can't let her die. Do it," she nodded at both of them.
"If I do this, you and me, call truce?" he smirked and Bonnie scoffed lowly.
"No," she mused and Damon lost his smile. "But you'll do it anyway. And if you don't, Holden will."
Bonnie then walked away causing Damon to grimace angrily and turn to his brother and Elena. "Fine," he mused then walked away shortly after leaving Holden alone with Elena.
Holden felt quite uncomfortable causing Elena to look at him in confusion. "Are you okay?" she asked softly and he nodded his head.
"I know this is not the time to talk but we need to do this right now," he told her calmly, meaning their almost shared kiss. Because Elena leaned forward too and Holden was still surprised by that.
"Yeah, one of the tomb vampires got into the house and almost killed John," Elena told Holden and he shook his head.
"I know that," he sighed calmly and Elena raised her eyebrow, not understanding of what else they needed to talk about. "I mean before, when I was at your front porch."
Elena's reaction was different from what he had expected. "When were you on my front porch?" she asked him and Holden had no idea what happened to Elena that she didn't remember.
"Tonight," he said weirdly and Elena looked so stunned that he widened his eyes. "You don't remember?"
Elena shook her head and then Jenna approached them. "Elena, I came as soon as I got your message. How is John?" she asked sending a small smile towards Holden, even though she felt suspicious as to why Holden was always around Elena.
"Where have you been?" Elena asked Jenna and she let out a laugh, but it wasn't funny for the Gilbert girl.
"At the fire department, I had to till out a report," Jenna told her confused as to why Elena didn't remember. "I told you earlier."
Elena shook her head with an uneasy face as Holden finally realized the harsh truth. Elena leaning in to kiss him, acting all weird. The real Elena doesn't remember anything. "Oh no," he said in shock and anger and Jenna turned to face him.
He almost kissed Katherine. "What?" Elena asked him and he gave her an uneasy look before walking away.
INSIDE GILBERT HOUSE, STEFAN HEARD DOORS OPENING DOWNSTAIRS SO HE LEFT A SLEEPING JEREMY AND WENT DOWN TO SEE ELENA COMING IN. "Hey! How was Caroline?" he asked her and Elena frowned deeply.
"Not good," Katherine said and embraced him before closing her eyes with a mysterious look. "Just what I needed."
They pulled away and Katherine leaned forward to kiss Stefan, the one she wanted to kiss from the beginning, but Stefan realized it wasn't Elena. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and bared his fangs at her angrily.
He threw her on the couch but Katherine got up without missing a beat. She smirked at Stefan. "Katherine," Stefan sneered.
"At least I fooled one of you," she commented and he rushed over to her before pushing her against the wall. "Feel better?"
Stefan sneered again and pushed her against another wall as someone began to open the door. The Salvatore got distracted by that so Katherine took the opportunity, threw him to the ground and rushed out of the house.
Elena and Holden walked inside to see Stefan standing up with a bewildered face. "Stefan?" the real Elena questioned and he looked around.
"Elena," he said and Holden raised his eyebrow with a stony look.
"Let me guess, Katherine?" Holden asked him and Stefan didn't say anything as Elena widened her eyes.
After calling Damon, he quickly came to the house as the three brothers conversed in the kitchen. "Did she say what she wanted?" Damon asked Stefan with shocked eyes that Katherine was back.
"No," Stefan shook his head and Holden leaned on the kitchen counter. He wondered whether he should've mentioned anything about the evening and how he almost kissed who he thought was Elena.
"Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance," Damon commented rather annoyed so Holden glanced at Stefan.
"She said she fooled one of us, at least," Stefan started and Holden felt guilty that he didn't know it was Katherine from the beginning. Truth to be told, he was never close to Katherine as much as he was close to Elena. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know, Stefan," Damon mused motioning his head towards Holden, who glared at him. "But I'm sure Holdie knows."
Stefan looked at Holden so he sighed. "She pretended to be Elena when I showed up earlier tonight," he admitted and Stefan narrowed his eyes angrily.
Before anyone else could say anything Elena walked in and Stefan immediately walked over to her. "I told Jeremy," she sighed. "I can't lie to her anymore."
"Are you alright?" Stefan asked her gently and Elena frowned at that question.
"No, I'm not alright. I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone things would be better," she told them all with a tired face. Holden glanced at her discreetly.
"I know," Stefan nodded. "We all did." Elena then looked at the other two brothers.
"Katherine was in this house, that means she's been invited in, what are we gonna do?" she asked them and her brown worried eyes met Holden's green ones as they looked at each other.
"Move," Damon's answer reached their ears and everyone looked at him angrily.
"Very thankful, thank you," she snapped and sat down on a chair before sighing again.
Holden thought that Damon's suggestion wasn't the worst since they could do practically nothing about Katherine being invited in. "Katherine wants you dead," Holden told her and Elena's stressful face looked up at him.
"Which means there's zero you can do about it," Damon added with a smirk, and everyone in the room hated his mocking comments.
"Which also means that Elena would've been already dead," Holden said in anger. "Come on, people. You two definitely know her better than me, think! Katherine Pierce doesn't do stuff without planning something. She has other plans."
"Right and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process," Stefan nodded then spoke to Holden, his face hardening. "What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?"
Elena was surprised by that as she looked from Stefan to Holden with a calm face. Holden didn't say anything causing Damon to comment. "To risk another frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead, I think they... kissed..."
"What? No!" Holden snapped at Damon, who just shrugged slightly. Holden sighed then turned back to the couple. "It wasn't like that. We... she leaned forward..."
"And you thought it was me?" Elena asked him with narrowed eyes. Holden avoided her stare as he didn't feel good telling Stefan this.
"So you thought Elena wanted to kiss you?" Stefan questioned getting angry and Holden finally nodded causing Stefan to lose control and rush at him with his super speed but Holden also used vampire speed as well as he stood next to Elena.
"I didn't kiss her, Stefan!" he raised his voice. "Because of you. I knew something was weird about her wanting to kiss me back."
Elena quickly stood up and rushed to Stefan to calm him down. "It wasn't me, Stefan," she told him placing her hand on his chest. The youngest Salvatore looked down at her. "We don't have time for this guy."
Damon saw the hurt look on Holden's face and looked down for a second. "John must know something," Elena told them. "There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him."
"She's Katherine," Damon deadpanned. "She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's been up to before she wants you to know."
"No, actually Elena's right," Stefan nodded. "John could know something through Isobel. Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital and get him to talk."
"I got a better idea," Damon told them and Holden raised his eyebrows.
"And what that would be?" he asked and Damon smirked smugly. Elena rolled her eyes, annoyed by Damon's childish behavior.
"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch," he said then started walking away. "See you."
"Is that smart?" Elena asked looking at him.
Damon stopped walking then turned to face his brothers and Elena. "If Katherine thinks she's being ignored it will lure her out, she'll make a move," he answered and Stefan rolled his eyes.
"Yeah? And then what?"
"Stake her, rip her head off, something Holden will love to do," he shrugged then left the room. "We'll see..."
THE NEXT DAY, HOLDEN WAS GETTING READY FOR THE MAYOR'S FUNERAL SINCE HE GOT KILLED DURING THE FIRE. Something was very sketchy about the Lockwood's getting affected by the device.
He was putting on a formal shirt when Damon walked in with a smirk. "Ready to go?" he asked and Holden laughed. "What? You're my car."
"Since when are we driving together to funerals?" he asked with a laugh and Damon shrugged, not really affected.
"Since we're brothers, and Sheriff Forbes has been bugging me to ask you for help with the supernatural things," Damon commented and Holden mused. "Which is your fault because you decided to stay and tell her that you knew."
"Who cares?" Holden snapped then smirked smugly causing Damon to roll his eyes. "Sheriff Forbes wants my help?"
Damon just nodded so Holden quickly grabbed his jacket and they left for the funeral.
The Lockwood mansion was filled with people, all telling their sorries to Carol and Tyler as Damon and Holden were talking to Liz and Carol herself.
At first, Carol was not on board with talking in front of Holden, but Liz informed her that he knew and wanted to help. "I want to know exactly who's responsible for killing my husband," Carol snapped angrily.
"I'm looking into it but you have to be straight with me. Is there any reason Richard was affected by the vampire device?" Liz asked her, trying to sound calm as never. The brothers exchanged a look.
Carol looked at Liz, insulted. "What are you implying? That he was one of them?"
"No, no," Damon spoke while shaking his head. "No one's implying that."
Holden saw the angered look on Carol's face. "Your deputy screwed up, plain and simple which makes you responsible."
The two women started to fight. "Carol..." Damon told her and Holden saw how good at acting Damon was.
"Your husband is the one who helped John Gilbert execute his idiot plan in the first place," Liz snapped back and Damon looked at her pleadingly.
"Liz..."
"Someone got my husband killed," Carol told Liz angrily so Holden decided to speak up.
"I'm sorry for saying this, and you probably think that I know little about vampires, but Damon told me enough," Holden said as the two women looked at him. "We all lost a great man last night. Everyone is on the edge, but fighting won't solve anything. Just trust each other, and the truth will come out."
Liz smiled at the young man and Damon patted Holden's shoulder. "My brother knows what he's talking about," he commented and Holden looked away, trying not to smile.
Later on, Holden was standing outside, on the porch as he saw Elena standing on the other side of the porch, looking at him with a small smile. Her hair were still curled so he knew it wasn't Elena. "Katherine," he sneered and she smirked darkly.
Holden could still remember that devilish look on Katherine's face and even after all the time he spent with Elena, he couldn't stand Katherine's devious look.
Before he could reach her, Bonnie walked out of the house and reached Katherine, who she thought was Elena. "Oh my god! Damon drives me crazy," Bonnie groaned causing Holden to stop since Katherine glanced at him with a threatening look. "He's walking around like he's some kind of hero for healing Caroline when it's his fault all of this happened in the first place."
"I'm sorry Bonnie," Katherine put her best worried face. "What Damon's done is just awful."
Bonnie then chuckled. "Okay, better. Hateful Damon moment over," she smiled then touched Katherine's arm and immediately sensed that she wasn't her best friend. "I've got to find Tyler and pay my respects. I'll be back."
"Okay," Katherine nodded so Bonnie left and Holden quickly appeared in front of Katherine. "Holden!" she smirked seductively and he clenched his jaw.
There were people around so he couldn't touch her without looking dangerous. "Long time no see, Katherine," he mused darkly and Katherine tried to touch his cheek but he pulled his face away.
"Little birdie told me you like my doppelgänger," Katherine then said, pouting her lips in feign hurt as Holden stared at her hatefully. "Oh, don't be angry. As much as I love your face, I don't want it to go to waste."
"What are you doing here?" he asked her angrily grabbing onto her wrist. Katherine just chuckled and placed her free hand on his chest.
"You are so hot, Holden. Always were," she commented with a teasing look on her face so he let go of her wrist and narrowed his eyes. "So, how does it feel to be in love with... me?"
"I'm not in love with you," Holden told her angrily and Katherine mused with a calm face. "She's nothing like you."
Katherine smiled again and then started acting as Elena. "That hurts, Holden," she told him and Holden had to admit that she was good acting as Elena. Katherine then laughed gleefully. "What were you feeling when I leaned forward to kiss you? I have to admit, I wanted it. Not as much as I wanted it to be Stefan though. Do you know where he is?" she asked curiously.
"Hmm," Holden smirked sarcastically. "Stefan, I see. Still can't forget the boy who never loved you enough?"
Katherine's smile faltered as she saw Elena's car approaching. "Hmm, maybe I should meet Elena--"
Holden grew furious and stared at her. "Touch her, hurt her in any way possible, and I'll end you forever, Katherine," he sneered lowly.
"That's the problem, Holden, you're just like Damon. Not giving up," she commented and he clenched his jaw. He was so ready to rip her heart out. "Stefan is always gonna be her big love, just like he is mine. Hmm... Maybe you should just kidnap Elena. It would leave Stefan to me," she then smirked and walked away.
Holden turned back to see Katherine already inside and when he was about to go in, he saw Elena approaching him. Her hair was straight and he instantly knew it was the girl he fell in love with. "Holden, are you okay?" she asked, sensing the incredulous look on his face.
"Now I am," he answered and Elena frowned slightly. "Elena."
"Holden," she said with a sigh and gave him a pleading look. "We are close, we both know that. Remember when you told me that since when we are able to talk about our feelings? Well, now we can truly do that. Are you okay?"
Holden pursed his lips. "Okay, so I wanted to kiss you. I thought you did too. But I pulled away the last second because I thought of Stefan and how that would affect him. So how do you think I'm doing?"
"You're hurt," she said sadly and Holden laughed looking away. "You're hurt because of..."
"Because of what?" he snapped silently and Elena gave him a knowing look. She wasn't comfortable talking about it out loud. "You think I'm Damon... That I will go off the rail as soon as Katherine hurts me. Well, I'll tell you this the millionth time, Elena. I'm not him."
He then started walking away but stopped as a question popped into his mind. "Why are you so surprised that I'd kiss you?" he asked and Elena didn't say anything back.
"I... I don't know," she shrugged so Holden just nodded his head. Elena had never seen him so weird acting before. And she felt guilty of not answering why she was so surprised that he'd kiss her.
HOLDEN WALKED STRAIGHT PAST ELENA CAUSING HER TO SIGH AND LEAVE. He approached his brothers, who were both next to a bench talking. "So what's it gonna be, huh? Fight to the death?" Damon teased Stefan as he got his fists into a boxing pose and pretended to punch with his fists as Stefan snorted. "Go ahead, make your threats, stake your claim."
Damon then saw Holden and smirked. "Oh, he's here!" he exclaimed and Holden furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"I'm not gonna fight Holden," Stefan sighed so Holden widened his eyes.
"Fight me for what?" he asked angrily and Damon smirked at his younger brothers in amusement.
"Katherine is already playing the both of you, probably throwing me into the mix. I'd fight Holden." Damon told them casually.
Holden rolled his eyes. "Katherine isn't playing me," he snapped then narrowed his eyes to Damon. "It's you, who should be careful about Katherine. We all know you snap the easiest."
Damon scoffed, insulted. "Brother, don't you worry, our bond is unbreakable," he commented and Stefan sighed.
"We all need to stay united against her," he told his older brothers seriously. "So yes, as much as I am annoyed by Holden right now, I'm not gonna fight him."
"He almost kissed Elena," Damon grumbled jokingly and Holden hit Damon's head angrily. "Stating the facts..."
"Well, at least, he didn't," Stefan cleared his throat not looking at Holden. "Katherine will try to break you, Damon, she's gonna try to break Holden, she will try to break me and all of us, and how we respond to that will define us. It's our choice. So no, I'm not gonna fight you, Holden, because you don't want it too," Stefan said everything then walked away as Holden watched his younger brother leave.
DAMON CAME BACK HOME DRUNK AND DISORIENTED AFTER JUST KILLING JEREMY. Stefan was right. He snapped under Katherine's pressure and when she told him that she never loved him, for some reason he went after Elena's little brother.
Damon saw Holden, who was standing in the middle of parlor, his hands curled into fists as he stared at Damon in fury. "Jeremy's alive," Damon rolled his eyes at his brother's dramatics.
Holden then rushed over to Damon and punched him in the face sending him to the wall. "Ugh," Damon groaned with a laugh. "Oh, I knew I'd get some beating from you, but this strong--"
Damon was trying to stand up but Holden threw another punch to his face causing a waterfall of blood to make its way down Damon's nose. "Why did you do it, Damon?!" Holden sneered bringing Damon's face closer to his as he held Damon by his shirt. "After what we talked about... You killed her brother!"
"Who was wearing a Gilbert ring," Damon answered and Holden sneered before throwing Damon across the room. At that point, the older Salvatore wasn't even fighting back. "She told me she didn't love me!"
Holden stopped at those words as he stood above Damon. "All my miserable life I waited for her," he sneered with hurtful eyes. "Only to find out she never loved me. She told me she'd rather chose you than me!"
"So you went to Elena just to make her feel bad because her look alike didn't love you, are you kidding me?!" Holden shouted and walked away while shaking his head. "You do not get to be the victim in this, Damon, because what you did was wrong and impulsive!"
"Holden, trust me, I know you love Elena," Damon commented bringing himself up to his feet. "Soon after you'll feel the same way. It will be messy. So far you didn't know the feeling of being in love with your brothers girl. It kills you inside. Already does."
"I will never go to Elena and kill people she loves just because I can't have her," Holden shook his head and Damon just mused. "Katherine says she doesn't love you, Damon. And even after that statement you let her win. This is what she wants. To bring us down. And you let her."
Holden then left the room as Damon stood there, almost ready to cry.
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