Next day.
I walked to Damon's car and saw him kissing Elena. Elena was going to come with us, you know, because she was having dreams of my boyfriends too. As if i didn't have enough problems.
Me "alright. knock it off, you two"
Damon groaned annoyed and looked at me.
Then he eyed me "you okay?"
I nodded lying.
Damon looked at my hand and raised his eyebrows "Stefan's daylight?"
I looked at it and nodded"yeah, Silas gave it to me last night"
Damon's face turned serious "did he hurt you?"
I shook my head "no"
Damon breathed out relieved.
My phone rang.
I took it out and answered "yeah?"
Liz "we found something"
I looked at Damon and Elena who eavesdropped.
Mystic Falls. Woods.
We walked to the safe that was on the ground. It was the safe where Stefan was locked in.
Liz "We didn't find anything in the quarry, but a deputy found this a few miles away. Didn't open it. If Stefan's been in there for three months...chances are he's hungry."
Damon lifted the top of the safe open.
I breathed out relieved when i saw a bloody corpse inside "oh, thank god"
Liz gave me a look.
Elena " Oh, my God. That's not Stefan."
Damon " Well, you were right. He was hungry. I bet he still is."
Then he looked around.
Night.
I was standing in Stefan's bedroom looking at the pictures he had of us in the shelf.
Suddenly i heard a voice behind me "you okay?"
I turned to him and saw Damon leaning against the door frame.
I shook my head.
Damon "wanna tell me?"
Me "I cheated on him"
Damon shook his head "you didn't. Silas was in your head"
I bit my lip looking down.
Damon "princess"
me "this whole summer long i had this strange feeling inside of me. I was happy with a guy i thought was the love of my life"
Damon "you couldn't know"
I felt tears coming up in my eyes and looked Stefan's daylight ring on my finger "He could be dead by now"
Damon shook his head and put his hands on my cheek "hey, hey, hey, don't even dare think about it. hey, we are going to find him we will find him. "
I looked at him with tears in my eyes.
Damon "come here"
He hugged me and i hugged him back.
Next day. Morning.
I woke up gasping "What the hell?"
I speeded out of bed and into Damon's bedroom. Elena was awake too. i walked inside and sat down next to Damon who was still lying down.
Me "I had a dream about Stefan"
Elena nodded "Me too"
awkward
Damon sat up " Oh."
Elena "It was more than just a pit in my stomach this time, though."
I nodded" It was real. It was like I was there with him."
Damon looked at her "I know I said it didn't bother me that you have some psychic connection to your ex-boyfriend, but I don't need a play-by-play, Elena."
I rolled my eyes driving my hand through my hair.
Damon sighed "Fine. Tell me. I'm sure whatever's in my imagination is ten times worse than what's going on in your subconscious."
Elena " It was just so vivid. I saw Stefan walking out of this bar."
Me "a bar with a red awning and this broken neon sign, and he was screaming in pain."
Damon " Well, should I go check in the attic, see if there's a crystal ball? Maybe you can conjure up an address."
I hit his shoulder.
Suddenly we heard "Route 29. Joe's bar."
We looked at the person. Katherine stood in the doorframe.
Kat "I think I had the exact same dream."
Damon groaned and buried his face in his pillow.
---
I was playing with Stefan's daylight ring on my finger when Damon walked inside.
Damon "So I've found 9 bars along Route 29, and none of them are called "Joe's"."
Me " I had a feeling that there was something wrong all summer, and I ignored it. Stefan was in a safe and killed whoever it was that found him...It might be just a dream but it's the only lead we have"
Damon shook his head "Don't worry. I'm open-minded."
Kat walked inside "Shotgun."
We all looked at her.
Kat "What? I get carsick in the back seat. Another charming, human side effect you stuck me with."
she looked at me.
I looked at Damon annoyed "Please tell me that she's not coming"
Damon "Trust me, I have no interest in Katherine's well-being, but for some reason, Silas wants her real bad, and if Silas wants her, I want her more."
Me " Can't we just stash her in the cellar? Or maybe a deep, dark well with a pair of water wings? Or how about we put her back into the tomb"
Katherine "Do you really think that I wanna take a road trip with you, my own sister who turned me into a human? Just remember, Damon wouldn't have to play bodyguard if you hadn't shoved that cure down my throat."
Me "i wouldn't have shoved it down your throat if you didn't try to kill me, sister"
She put a hand on her hip " I will admit, though, I take great pleasure knowing that you wasted your one shot at a human life on me."
Damon put his hands on my shoulder to hold me back "All right, play nice, or I'm gonna revisit the deep dark well idea."
Kat " I wanna find Stefan just as much as you do, and not just because I don't wanna be a pawn that you can trade off for his life. I care about him—I always have. And since we've been having the same dream...makes me think you care about him just as much."
Damon " Okay, train's leaving the station. Choo-choo!"
In the car.
Damon was driving his car with me in the passenger seat and Elena and Kat in the back. Damon didn't want me to sit in the back next to Kat because he thought that i would choke her the second she annoyed me. Truth.
Damon " You sure you know what you're looking for? Last bar had a red awning and a neon sign."
Elena and i " I'll know when I see it."
Kat popped her head out between the front seats " Me, too."
Damon rolled his eyes " Didn't ask you."
Kat " I'm just trying to make conversation. Anything to drown out the sound of eggshells breaking. So, Elena, I couldn't help but overhear. You've been dreaming about Stefan all summer? That must be really stressful on a new relationship, especially when you're having those kinds of dreams lying in bed next to his brother."
Elena "They weren't dreams. It was just a bad feeling, like something wasn't right with him."
Kat" Oh, no, yeah, sure. I totally get it. There's still a connection between you two. Maybe deep down you know that he was your one true love and breaking up with him was a big mistake."
Elena rolled her eyes.
Kat "a shame that he's with Adelaide. Hey, Adelaide, what do you think about Elena and me having dreams about your boyfriend? "
I shrugged "i don't care"
Kat chuckled "of course you do. Does it bother you that you had sex with Silas? how was he, by the way?"
I looked at her"how about i hand you over. Then you can ask him yourself"
Then i looked at Damon "now stop the car so we can leave her in the middle of nowhere"
Damon "sounds tempting but Ignore her. As soon as the vervain's out of her system, we'll compel her and we'll put her on mute."
Kat " Or maybe Stefan's been trying to reach out to you all summer, but you've been too distracted with Silas to help him so he reached out to the person that he trusts—me."
I turned in my seat to look at her " dare to see that again?"
Then I showed her my fangs and she leaned back into the seat.
Kat shook her head " Nah. You're probably right. You, Elena and I had the exact same dream in the exact same night. Why would that mean something?"
---
Damon pulled his car into the parking lot at Joe's pBar. We got out of the car except for Kat. She was sleeping.
Elena "Are we really just gonna leave her in the car?"
Damon " The only time she shuts up is when she's sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb our peace and quiet."
Me "Hallelujah "
I looked at the entrance and at the sign.
Damon "I thought you said this was the one."
I nodded "It is. It looks exactly like it did in the dream. Isn't that a little freaky?"
Damon " Yeah. It's a lot of freaky. Let's go see if Stefan's inside."
We walked inside and saw a girl behind the bar " Can I get you something?"
She had something around her neck.
Damon leaned against the bar and compelled her "Yeah, sure. Why don't you tell me what happened to your neck, Jo?"
Jo " Some sicko attacked me, bit me, told me to run, so I did, and when I looked back, he was on fire."
I looked at Damon "The sun must have come up. He doesn't have his daylight ring."
Damon to jo "And then what happened?"
Jo "Some woman shoved him into a truck, drove away."
Me " Did you know that woman?"
Jo shook her head " No. She was driving Cam Peterson's truck. He lives about ten miles down that dirt road out back. Here. you two Look like you could use one of these."
She poured Damon and me shots.
Damon smiled " Hmm. I could. Thank you."
I gulped my down but started to cough.
Damon did the same.
I coughed out " Vervain!"
Elena looked at Jo"What did you do?"
Someone walked into the room.
woman "I told her to pour him a drink or I'd kill her."
My eyes widened at her.
Elena "Who the hell are you?"