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Sleeping At Last - Already Gone
"I didn't want us to burn out, I
I didn't come here to hurt you, now I can't stop."
A SMALL FIRE WAS SPREADING QUICKLY IN THE BOWL THAT HOLDEN PLACED ON THE TABLE. Melanie's picture burned inside, getting rid of something he thought would never pass, and it wouldn't. But he just tried to move on further with his life.
Everything with Elena was still weird and Holden decided to talk to her. But before that he had to ruin Melanie's picture, just to get rid of his past life. "Holden," Stefan walked into his brother's room, looking for Elena, who had disappeared suddenly. Stefan paused when he saw the burning picture. "What are you doing?"
"Getting rid of what held me back for 145 years," he mused watching the picture turn into ashes, something that oddly enough felt good and releasing.
Stefan knew some of it had to do with Elena, but behind that he felt proud of his brother finally moving on, even if it was his girlfriend. "Oh, I just thought Elena was here... She came to talk to you so I thought she might still be here," Stefan said, a small frown appearing on his face as Holden knew it didn't mean anything good.
"She did come, and then left the room," Holden told his baby brother before raising his eyebrow. "Maybe she's with Damon, or wait? They hate each other, so I don't know."
Stefan felt surprised by such sarcastic snap before he left the room. Holden sighed as he thought of Ella. It was still fresh. Her death, and what hurt the most was that he spent so much time avoiding her, making her feel like he did love her, when in reality he was playing her, just like Damon played Andie, maybe even worse.
When the picture of his beloved one turned into ashes, Holden poured some water into the bowl before leaving his room. He found Damon and Stefan, who had his phone in his hand, in the parlor. "What happened?" Holden asked weirdly while descending the stairs.
Damon just rolled his eyes. "You might want to check your hearing abilities, Holdie. Elena is gone with Elijah," when he said those words Holden immediately looked at Stefan.
"What do you mean gone?"
"She took the dagger out and they left. We don't know where," Stefan answered with a brooding face. "She just hung up on me."
Damon just groaned lowly. He didn't like Elena undaggering Elijah, who was dangerous to everyone. "Your girlfriend's lost it," he snapped at Stefan, who glared back at him.
"If anyone can get him to help us kill Klaus, it's her," Stefan explained, trying to think of where Elena and Elijah could be.
Holden had something else in mind. He just wanted to search the town and find Elena, dagger Elijah once again, even if it meant his death. "Bonnie's the way to kill Klaus. He thinks she's dead. We have a chance with her," Holden heard Damon say angrily.
"She'll kill herself in the process," Stefan argued sternly because now Elena knew about Bonnie's plan to kill Klaus. "Elena's looking for another way."
"Her way is not gonna be good enough. Do you know what it'll mean?" Holden questioned his brothers, who both looked at an unstable sounding Holden. He was the first one to tell them that he would do thing by Elena, but now - he sounded like another person. "That Elena will sacrifice herself in exchange of our well being, which I won't let. We have to find her until Elijah decides to bring her to Klaus."
Damon nodded in agreement and started going but Stefan blocked his older brother's path to leave. "No, you two need to back off," he said causing Damon to widen his eyes and Holden to clench his jaw.
"What?!" Damon raised his voice with a snap.
"Look, I don't like this anymore than you two do. But we need to trust her. We gotta just let her do her thing," Stefan sighed as Holden backed away slowly before nodding his head.
Damon, on the other hand, was really mad at Elena for freeing their prisoner like that. "Do you agree with this?" he asked Holden, who didn't agree but didn't say anything bad. He didn't want to ruin his relationship even more when it came to Elena. And Stefan was right after all.
Elena did have a good way of making people talk and agree to her terms. Damon then just scoffed and walked back into the house as Stefan gave Holden a curt nod.
THE THREE BROTHERS STAYED IN THEIR HOUSE. It was quiet until Stefan's phone rang and he answered it. "Hello?" he said while glancing at his brothers, who both held annoyed faces.
"Hey, Stefan. It's Jenna," Elena's aunts voice rang through the phone as Holden furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Jenna, hey," Stefan mused shooting yet another glance to his brothers.
"Where's Elena?" Jenna asked curiously as she was back from her campus. "And Jeremy? No one's answering their phones."
Stefan stood up from his seat and sighed. "Ah, Elena's not here at the moment. Is, uh, is everything okay?" he questioned the aunt of his girlfriend.
"She left me all those weird messages telling me to stay away from Ric," Jenna explained weirdly as she had no idea that Ric wasn't actually Ric. "What's going on?"
Holden motioned for Stefan to say something as Stefan had paused for a while. "Uh... It's really hard to explain over the phone, but, um, she was hoping that you could stay on campus for a little while longer."
"Oh, that's kinda hard to do from my kitchen," Jenna explained and Holden's eyes snapped back to Stefan, who, himself seemed to be shocked by that.
"Wait, you're home?"
Damon just rolled his eyes once again as he sipped his bourbon. "Yeah. What's going on? Where's Elena? I'm supposed to meet Ric at the Grill for lunch, to talk," she explained everything as Holden just shook his head.
"Jenna, listen to me carefully," Stefan began as he talked quickly, nervous about Klaus seeing Jenna. "Whatever you do, do not meet Alaric at the Grill. I'm going to come over right now and I'll explain everything."
Stefan then hung up the phone and looked at Damon. "Wow, I'd like to lend you a hand, but you wouldn't want me doing anything stupid," he commented with a smirk.
"Let's just go," Holden shook his head at Damon before motioning for Stefan to follow. The younger brother just nodded as the two left to see Jenna.
AFTER HEARING A DOORBELL, JENNA OPENED THE DOOR. She saw Stefan and Holden standing there. They both walked in without asking. "Hey, Jenna. Thank you so much for not going to the Grill," Stefan smiled at Jenna as Holden stared somewhere.
"Um, Stefan..."
"I can explain—" Stefan didn't listen to Holden, who stared at Klaus/Alaric, who stood in the living room with a smirk.
Stefan finally noticed Holden's look and saw the man standing there. After that, they all went to kitchen as Stefan and Holden made sure to stand near Jenna, so Klaus, who was chopping some food with a big knife, wouldn't try anything with Jenna.
The three of them were looking at Klaus. "You know, I find chopping... calming," Klaus started as Jenna raised her eyebrow at her boyfriend's weird behavior. "The feel of the blade in the hand, maybe."
"I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what the hell's going on," Jenna snapped as she glanced at the Salvatore brothers, both standing on her sides.
Klaus saw the annoyed faces of Holden and Stefan before smirking once again. "Well, would you like to tell her, Stefan? Or maybe you, Holdie? Or should I?" he questioned playfully.
"Tell me what?"
"Do you believe in vampires, Jenna?" he asked then laughed seeing her reaction. "Well, who does, right? But believe it or not, they do have a place in our history. And as a history teacher, I find them fascinating."
"Why are we talking about this?" Jenna asked in irritation as Stefan exchanged a look with Holden.
Klaus noticed that and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Well, you've been angry with me for keeping secrets, and this is one of my secrets. I'm obsessed with vampires. There. I said it." he then laughed once again.
Jenna had her mouth slightly open as she couldn't understand the behavior of Alaric, the man she loved. "Are you joking?"
"Not at all," he smiled then turned to the brooding brothers, an older looking male and the younger one. Klaus always thought of them being much more look alike than with Damon, but all the three of them had their differences. And Klaus knew Holden loved Elena, if not Elena too. "What about you two? Are you fans of vampires?"
"Not really," Holden gave Klaus a strained and ironic smile leaving Klaus to chuckle in amusement.
"In literature," Stefan answered back as Klaus nodded his head. "Bram Stoker. It's dense, but I appreciate it."
"Hmm," Klaus mused before looking back at Jenna. "Did you know that vampires are the oldest creatures of the night? Except for werewolves, of course."
"Werewolves," Jenna stated with wide eyes. "Werewolves. Now I know you're joking," she tried to laugh but it came out as a nervous laughter, also leaving the brothers even more protective.
Klaus smirked. "You know, I've read that there's an Aztec curse on both species that keeps werewolves slaves to the Moon and vampires bound by the Sun. Isn't that right, Holden?" he questioned seeing the angry look on his face. "You know, they say these creatures would do anything to have this curse broken and that they wouldn't care who they had to kill to do it."
When he finished, Holden saw the alarmed look on Jenna's face and glared at Alaric murderously.
AFTER DINNER WAS READY, THE FOUR OF THEM SAT TO EAT. Klaus, as Holden learned, couldn't stop talking. "Oh, I know this all sounds crazy, but... vampires are real. Would you care for some more wine?" he asked getting up to get Jenna a bottle of wine.
"Get out," Jenna mused quietly as Holden nodded to Stefan. Klaus looked down at her in confusion, and even insult.
"Excuse me?"
"I don't know what it is you're trying to do or why you're saying these things, but..." she paused holding a sad and hurt face.
"Jenna..." Klaus trailed off with a smirk and she just grimaced.
"I said get out!" Jenna yelled as the brothers both got up from their seats, glaring at Alaric, who wasn't actually Alaric.
"You heard her," Stefan sneered so Klaus just shook his head, telling them that he wouldn't go anywhere.
Jenna just pursed her lips as she raised up as well. "Fine! I'll go," she shouted as Klaus grabbed a kitchen knife off the counter. Jenna took a step back as she stared at him in shock.
"You're not going anywhere," Klaus lost his smile and Holden was done keeping his identity from Jenna hidden. He couldn't let Klaus hurt anyone he cared about.
So, using his vampire speed, Holden grabbed Klaus and pushed him against the wall before adding pressure on his neck. "Holden!" Jenna just yelled with wide eyes as Stefan grabbed her arm to stop her from going anywhere near them.
"Stefan, get her outta here!" Holden yelled, adding even more pressure on Klaus's neck that belonged to Alaric. Holden was trying not to murder Alaric, because the man didn't have any power against what Klaus did to him.
"You can't kill me, Holden," Klaus managed to say as Holden just sneered loudly, trying to control himself from snapping his neck.
"You wanna bet, huh?!" Holden said loudly banging Alaric's/ Klaus' head into the wall, leaving Klaus fuming.
"Stefan, tell Holden to back down!" Jenna yelled, petrified of what she had witnessed seconds ago. The way Holden moved was incredible and frightening at the same time.
"I may not have a witch protecting me today, but if you kill this body, what's to stop me from choosing Jenna as my next one?" Klaus taunted Holden, whose eyes turned all vampire like, because of the energy he was using against Klaus.
"Jenna, let's go," Holden heard Stefan tell her as Jenna couldn't move. Holden just turned to face them with his vampire face as Jenna teared up slightly, completely shocked and bewildered.
Stefan just grabbed her and they left as Holden turned back to Klaus, losing his vampire face. "Kill me," he taunted once again. "Just remind Elena how easy it will be for me to get my revenge if she tries to stop me from breaking this curse," he mused so Holden just punched him in the face before releasing his neck.
Klaus fell to the floor so Holden kicked him in the guts. He breathed out heavily as he saw Klaus not move but breathe. Holden just sneered, knowing that he changed Jenna's whole world, before leaving the Gilbert house.
HOLDEN WAITED OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY SINCE ELENA CAME BACK TO TALK TO JENNA. Of course, Jenna was in a total state of immobility since Stefan told her a lot of things. Holden felt guilty and responsible, because if not his outburst, Jenna wouldn't know about the world of vampires.
Elena then closed the door as she walked out to
find Holden there. She frowned slightly, seeing his mood. She didn't blame him for revealing everything to Jenna, since he was just trying to protect her. "Is she okay?" Holden asked her.
"She's in shock," Elena sighed deeply as she stopped in front of Holden, who just nodded his head.
"Elena, I'm..." he sighed, his voice breaking as he looked down. Elena just took his hand in hers and he looked at her. "I'm really sorry. I didn't think-"
"It's okay," she smiled while squeezing his hand. Letting it go, Elena didn't want to tell
Holden the next thing. "Anyways... I have to go."
"No," Holden just shook his head causing for her to sigh slightly. "You're not going anywhere."
"Holden, I promised Elijah that I would return," Elena mused with a pleading face as he just shook his head, not listening to her. "I can't break any more promises. Just listen to me."
"Let her go," Stefan spoke from behind so Holden turned to look at his younger brother, who had his arms crossed over his chest. Elena smiled to her boyfriend before wanting to walk over to him, but Holden just grabbed her arm.
Elena snapped her head at Holden in surprise as he held a dark and mysteriously dangerous face, something she hadn't seen. "I'm going back to Elijah, you like it or not," Elena snapped as Damon and Andie approached them from outside.
"No, you're not," Damon said in annoyance as Stefan was too focused on how Holden held Elena's arm.
"Holden, easy," Andie spoke as she noticed how Elena struggled to release herself from Holden's strong grip. She felt hurt by his need to protect her. Elena didn't want to be the damsel anymore, she wanted to take control into her own hands.
"Stay out of this, Andie," Damon snapped to his so called girlfriend before glaring at Holden himself. He was losing Elena like that, and as much as Damon hated to admit, he kinda liked the idea of Holden and Elena. In his own twisted way.
"Let her go," Stefan repeated lowly as Holden stared at Elena's wide brown eyes, full of anger. He finally released her and Elena retrieved her hand with fury on her face. She just walked past everyone quickly, trying not to see her cry, and quickly abandoned the house.
Holden just stormed upstairs leaving Andie, Stefan and Damon alone. "Andie, go to my room," Damon ordered so she just nodded and started climbing up the stairs as well. "Hate to say it to you, but history's repeating itself, brother. Just with another brother."
"It's much worse now," Stefan whispered as he hated the idea of fighting with his once really close brother. They both loved Holden since he was like a bridge, always bringing Stefan and Damon closer. But that bridge was breaking because of a girl.
"This needs to be solved," Damon advised with a shrug, though inside he cared a lot. "Go talk to him."
"And what will I say?" Stefan asked angrily as he raised his hands in the air, trying not to punch Holden in the face for grabbing Elena like that.
Damon just tilted his head to a side and pursed his lips. "It's up to you to decide," he just said and left as Stefan thought of a good way to make peace with his brother.
HOLDEN WAS IN HIS ROOM, LOOKING THROUGH HIS WINDOW TO THE DARKNESS. Stefan slowly opened the door and walked inside causing Holden to look down slightly, trying to figure out if it was Damon or Stefan.
Either way, he couldn't bare to see any of them. "Holden, I just..." Stefan said as he stood in the middle of Holden's room, trying to find right words. "I'm sorry I told Damon about Izzie, I'm sorry about not helping you find Ella."
"I don't care," Holden said lowly as Stefan stared at his brother angrily. "You say sorry so much, Stefan, and yet-" Holden paused as he turned back around to look at Stefan. "I don't believe in any of it. Ella was just a distraction."
"Hmm, so you wouldn't go after who you really love?" Stefan lost it this time too as Holden narrowed his eyes and left the room to go down into the library. He used vampire speed just to avoid any conflict with Stefan, which was really tempting.
Stefan didn't go without a fight too as he appeared in front of Holden, who pushed him away slightly. "I say you better step away," Holden threatened as Stefan just mused.
"You're losing control once again, Holden, and I will not let you make sure Elena is safe while you're unstable!" Stefan shouted as Holden just laughed dryly.
"At least she'll be alive! You're making her go out with Elijah and make another deal, which will soon result into her death!" he shouted angrily backing away from Stefan. "And you call yourself her boyfriend!"
Holden didn't react as Stefan's fist made contact with his jaw, causing for it to break and Holden to take a step back. He just placed the jaw back into its place and charged at Stefan before pushing him into a bookshelf.
Stefan flew there and it broke down. The youngest Salvatore sneered and they attacked each other before Damon intertwined, breaking them apart. "Stop!" he held back Holden, who stared at Stefan furiously. "Stop it, you idiots!" Damon shouted and Holden finally saw Elena standing in the hallway with wide eyes as Elijah stood behind her, looking at the three brothers.
Damon then pushed Holden away slightly, thus letting him go like that, and turned to Stefan while shaking his head. "You let him in?" Holden asked Elena as he could feel dried blood on his nose.
Elena was too shocked to speak. She had never seen Holden and Stefan be at each other's throats like that, and it was all because of her. "Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal," she finally said as Holden gaped at her.
"Really?" Damon questioned sarcastically and Elena nodded her head.
"The three of you will come to no harm at my hands," Elijah spoke up as Holden just looked away. "I only ask for one thing in return."
"What?" Damon asked dully.
"An apology," Elijah answered calmly leaving Damon confused. Stefan just walked closer to his girlfriend and Elijah before nodding his head.
"I'm sorry for the part that I played in your death," Stefan told Elijah. "I was protecting Elena. I will always protect Elena."
Elijah then looked at Damon. "I understand."
"As much as I hate this, fine," Damon nodded as he rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said and a small smile appeared on Elijah's lips.
All eyes then went on Holden, who stood there with hateful eyes. Elena took a step further, trying to bring some mind to him. "The sacrifice is going to happen, Holden. Bonnie will be able to kill Klaus without hurting herself and Elijah knows how to save my life. I told you I'd find another way. And I did," Elena explained as softly as possible.
"And what way is that?" Holden asked turning to look at the Original, who didn't say anything.
"It's true what Elena says," Elijah just mused so Holden just looked at Elena with sorrowful eyes.
"Do you hear yourself right now?" he asked lowly as she looked away, once again trying not feel even more hurt. "This is not gonna end well, Elena. You're not gonna make it out alive! Am I the only one who cares in here?!" he looked around the people he called family.
Sighing, Holden just shook his head. "No, I won't agree to this, and you know my reason why," he then turned on his heel to leave and quickly abandoned the place, without any trace of where he went.
"It's all my fault," Stefan said quietly as Elena just stood there, looking lost and completely broken. "He'll accept this, sooner or later. It's Holden we are talking about."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Damon frowned slightly as Elena looked at them. "How many years did he not see us after turning? 50? 60?"
"He'll come around," Stefan snapped loudly, hoping that he would. Holden was stubborn but eventually he always came back to his normal self.
Elijah gave them all a pointed look as he put it all into one word. "Perhaps."
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