𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒
she conquered her demons and wore her scars like wings
ECHO WAS NOT taking Alaric's death nor Elena's vampirism easy. It didn't help that Klaus ended up not being dead. So, she was heavily blaming herself for both things happening, so here she was, aggressively punching and kicking a punching bag that Damon had set up in his room for her.
At the thought of him, he walked into the room with a coffee and a bag of food that she had made him get her.
"Here's the food you ordered, little warrior," he said as he sat the stuff down on the nightstand, a smile on his features.
"Thanks, babe," she told him as she pulled off her gloves, giving him a much needed kiss. She squealed as he pulled her into him by her shirt.
"You're beautiful when you are all hot and bothered," he murmured against her lips, and he tilted his head, and started kissing on her neck. She let out an audible moan, and he grinned, sliding his left hand down her body, all the way to her ass which he groped, and then picked her up on vamp-speed. "I love you," he told her before kissing her on her lips.
"I love you too, blue eyes, but I should eat that food before it gets cold." She then hopped off of him, sending him a smirk. "Thank you for this, by the way."
Damon watched her carefully as she peaked into the bag of feed and sipped from her coffee. "How are you?" He asked her in concern after a moment. He pretty much knows her routine by now; when she works out without a much of a break, he knows she's having a inner turmoil.
She didn't respond at first and picked up a handful of fries, stuffing them in her mouth. Once she chewed and swallowed that, she turned to him with a sigh. "I'm fine."
Damon sighed. "I know that a lie."
Echo clenched her jaw before biting her lip. "I've lost both of my fathers now. I lost my real father when I came into this world, and now I lost Alaric." She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm just sick and tired of losing people."
Damon walked over to her and brushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "I'm tired of it, too."
She looked up at him through her eyelashes, tears building up in her brown eyes. Her bottom lip started to quiver and he pulled her into him, cradling her against his body as she started crying.
"I'm just so glad that I have amazing people like you in my life," Echo mumbled as she sniffled, tilting her head up at him. "I love you."
He kissed her forehead. "I love you, too."
LATER ON THAT morning, both Damon and Echo were sitting at the bar. Damon was drinking, and Echo was eating, again.
Suddenly, Sheriff Forbes walked up next to Damon and pulled out a stool, but he stopped her immediately. "That seat's taken."
She sighed but didn't sat anything as she stayed standing, and threw down a newspaper in front of him.
He picked the paper and read the headline aloud. "Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young farm.'" He threw the paper down with an unamused expression. "Really?"
"Better than 'Town Council blown up. Police have no suspects.' Unless the perpetrator is right next to me," Liz states as she looked up at Damon, accusing him.
He took a swig of his drink before answering, "Well, don't look at me. I always take credit for killing people." Liz continued to stare at him, so he sat down his drink with a clank. "Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz. If I was going to kill twelve people, I wouldn't blow them up, I'd have a dinner party."
"The explosion was sparked from inside. This wasn't an accident," she informed him, still not backing down from her initial thought.
"If it was sparked from the inside, then that means one of the twelve from the explosion must have set it off," Echo informed the sheriff with an eye roll as she leaned over the counter to get a better look at the older woman. "Shouldn't the sheriff know stuff like that by now?"
"Caroline told me who you really are, maybe you did it," Liz said as she narrowed her eyes at Echo who she thought she had known.
Echo scoffed. "You clearly have not read the books about me and my life. And for your information, I don't kill humans." She took a big bite out of her burger and then said, with a mouth full, "Plus, Vampires have to be invited in. Meaning it couldn't have been Damon."
"Well, then that means I don't have any suspects and the case remains unsolved," Liz pointed out, stressing about it more than she should.
"You say that like it's a bad thing,"Damon commented and sipped his new drink which the bartender just filled. "The Council's dead, Liz. I see that as a win," he continued with a shrug.
"I've known some of the Council since I was a kid. They were my friends," Liz pointed out with a glare. She was both sad and offended by the whole situation.
"Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter," Damon informed her with a huff and then saw a colored man approaching them. "Who's the new guy?"
"Excuse me, Sheriff," the man said as he walked up to them, ignoring Echo and Damon, all his attention on Liz. "Hi, um, I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute about the explosion at the Young farm."
"Rude," Echo mumbled and Damon grinned at her.
"I'm sorry, Mr..?" Liz trailed off, unsure as to who he was.
"Oh, Connor Jordan," he introduced himself and held his black gloved hand out to her.
She took his hand and shook it. "Are you with the insurance investigators?"
Connor pulled his hand back before responding, "No, no, I'm more of an independent contractor." Then he looked at Damon and Echo who sent sarcastic waves to him. "Can we speak in private?"
Damon looked at Liz and shrugged. "Sure."
"Thanks," Liz said to Damon as she walked away with Connor.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busybody Guy," the vampire grumbled to himself, causing a laugh to escape Echo's lips. He smiled at the sound and fiddled with his now empty glass.
Suddenly, Elena approached them with an angry expression. "Did you do it?" She began to sit down, but he stopped her immediately.
"That seat's taken."
Age looked at him in confusion. "But there's no one here."
"Well, I'm just going to pretend like there's someone there, because the alternative is just too damn depressing," he grumbled, and Echo clenched her jaw, trying to not cry again.
Elena sighed and stayed standing, looking directly at Damon. Did you set off the explosion that killed the Town Council?"
Damon slammed his glass down in annoyance. "Am I wearing my "I Blew Up The Council" t-shirt, why does everybody keep asking me that?"
Echo leaned forward. "He didn't do it, Lena. Plus, he's been with my ever since the accident." Elena nodded and then bit her lip, fiddling with her fingers. "What's wrong?"
Elena hesitated for a second before saying, "I can't keep any of the animal blood down."
"Well, there's a shock," Damon remarked sarcastically. He groaned as Echo jammed her fingers into his side.
"I think I need your help," the older Gilbert twin said as she looked between them.
Damon sighed heavily. "Of course you do. Pick your meal." Damon then pointed to a person who was sitting off to the side, "You've got Asian fusion." He pointed somewhere else, "Mexican. What about some good old American comfort food?"
Echo sighed as she turned to her twin sister. "Just drink a little from me, okay?" Elena opened her mouth, ready to protest, but she quickly said, "I think that you're throwing it up simply because you don't like how everything changes all of a sudden. Just take in a few deep breaths, clear your mind, and drink some of my blood. Everything will be okay."
Elena did as told, took in a few deep breaths and calmed herself down before nodding. "I still don't want to drink from you, though."
"No choice," Echo said with a smirk and grabbed her sister's hand, dragging her to the bathroom.
"No lesbian sex when I'm not around!" Damon called after them and both twins have him middle finger as they continued to walk away from him.
LATER THAT DAY, it was time for a funeral for one of the council members.
Elena and Echo walked into the main room of the church for the funeral and sat down next to Matt and Jeremy. Matt turned to the older Gilbert twin and said, "April was looking for you. She wanted help with her speech."
Elena then looked around determinedly, "Where is she?"
Matt shrugged. "I don't know."
Stefan walked into the church and stopped next to Tyler and Caroline in confusion. "What are you doing here, Tyler?"
The hybrid looked up at him with a stern facial expression. "Being sensitive to the community's loss."
"With a hunter out to get you?" He questioned incredulously, his brows furrowed.
"I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be," Tyler snapped in aggravation.
"Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass," Caroline added, her tone harsh and her blue eyes in slits. Echo turned around to face her with a smirk and a thumbs up. "See, even O is on my side."
Stefan walked away, moving down a row, which was a row behind Elena, and sat down. Echo sent a satisfied smirk his way. He wasn't happy with the fact that Elena wasn't going to follow his diet anymore.
Mayor Lockwood stood up at the podium, in preparation to start the memorial. "Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?" She called out for the girl, but no one responded, so everyone looked around. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"
No one got up for a moment but then, Elena stood up with a determined look. After she had drank some blood from Echo, she looks so much healthier and more alive than she looked when Stefan was forcing her animal blood.
"Come on up, Elena," Carol encouraged kindly, so Elena proceeded to walk up to the podium.
Damon then entered the church, and Echo turned to him with a fond smile as he dipped his hands in a bowl of holy water and touched his forehead, chest, and shoulders in the formation of a cross. He smirked to himself and chuckled. "Don't know why that always makes me smile."
"Because you're an idiot," Echo retorted as he took the spot beside her. He grinned and kissed her cheek, causing got her to smile brightly up at him.
They all put their attention back to the front just as Elena reached the podium, looking around the room with her big doe eyes. "When I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too." She gripped the sides of the podium and breathed in, thinking about Alaric which had her emotional. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
At that, Elena's eyes met Echo's who quickly bit her lip, her mind going back to Alaric. She hadn't spent as much time with him as she wanted, so not only was she missing his presence, but she felt guilty that she didn't hang out with him the way she wanted to.
Suddenly, Elena froze because she smelled and heard blood dripping from somewhere. Stefan, Tyler, Damon, and Caroline all smelled it too and froze.
Caroline turned to Tyler "Do you smell that?"
He nodded slowly and made sure not to give away his discomfort. "Blood."
Elena started to breathe heavily from the temptation so, Damon spoke to all the vampires via supernatural hearing. "Nobody move. Don't turn around, it's a trap."
Echo clenched her jaw as she realized the hunter was nearby, trying to draw out the vampires.
The blood then began seeping through a balcony and started to drip into the holy water.
Elena was still standing at the podium, trying to fight the urge for blood. "I um..." She breathed in and out, and closed her eyes. She then clenched her jaw and stood tall, fighting the urge, knowing she can do this. "I just want to say that he was a very nice person and deserves to be here with his daughter." She was then quick to leave the podium, and back to her place beside Echo who grabbed her hand for comfort.
Then the priest walked over to the podium and took her spot. "Please turn to page forty two in your hymn book. Let us join together in a song," he ordered, causing everyone in the room to stand up and begin to sing.
Elena gripper Echo's hand tightly. "The little bit of blood you gave me didn't satisfy me, and now there's blood in here and... it's so strong."
Elena leaned on Stefan when they finally got back to their seats. "The blood. Stefan, the blood, I can smell it. There's so much."
Matt looked over at them. "Get her out of here if she's having trouble," he snarked which made Echo want to beat him with his own leg.
Stefan leaned forward. "We can't. There's somebody watching us."
"I'm gonna go rip his head off now," Damon sneered viciously.
"I'm with you on that," Echo said, grabbing her boyfriend's hand.
"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us," Stefan explained sternly which made the couple roll their eyes at him.
"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off." The older brother pointed out with a sarcastic smile.
"I'm trying to fight the urge, but I can't," Elena shakily said, interrupting their argument.
"You have ten seconds before I go find that asshat and beat him to death with a great big bag of dicks!" Echo snapped which made all of them turn to her with amused expressions. "What?" She mumbled, frowning. "I got that from Gabriel."
"The Angel?" Caroline asked with a chuckle.
Echo nodded. "Yeah..."
"I love you, but you're weird," Caroline told her which made even Elena chuckle.
On the other side of Caroline, Tyler quickly stood up and walked up the aisle to the podium.
"The blood. I can still smell it. It's got to be April. We have to help her," Elena said frantically and tried to leave, but Echo stopped her.
"Elena, we can't risk it," the younger twin stated, shaking her head. "We have to make sure he doesn't know what you are."
Suddenly, Tyler spoke from the podium causing them to all turn to look at him, "Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
"What do we do?" Caroline asked them in confusion, but no one answered her.
Everyone sat back down, so Tyler continue, "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of..."
Suddenly, Connor shot Tyler from the back, causing him to spin and fall to the floor. Everybody started to scream, ducking into the aisles, and rushing out of the church.
Before Echo could say or do anything, Damon camp-does out of the church, and she sighed, running over to help Caroline with Tyler.
Caroline made her way towards Tyler as Carol rushed toward his side at the same time. "Oh my God," she commented in shock while Echo and Elena walked up on the stage, looking around the huge room.
Caroline kneeled down next to Tyler and ripped the stake out of his chest.
Then, Tyler started coughing before snarling, "I'm gonna kill that bastard."
Stefan rushed onto the stage and stood next to Elena. "Damon's way ahead of you. Stay here, I have to help him," he commented and started to leave, but Elena grabbed his arm stopping him.
"What about April?" She asked in concern, her eyebrows furrowed.
"I got it. Go," Stefan assured and then left the church.
"I have to call an ambulance," Carol commented and began to panic.
Caroline shook her head and looked at her. "No, he's fine."
"The whole town just watched you get shot," Carol snapped at his son, "I'm calling an ambulance." Then she stood up and left.
Echo grabbed Caroline's hand and said, "I'm going after Damon. You good here?" When the blonde nodded, she was quick to run outside. She growled out when she saw Stefan punch Damon harshly. "Hey, assbutt!" She took off one of her heels and chucked it at Stefan, it embedded itself in his hand as he tried to block it. "Don't touch my boyfriend!"
"He shouldn't have went after him!" Stefan snapped as he pulled the heel out of his hand.
"Who cares?!" Echo shouted before storming over to them, and flogged him in the mouth. "Stop trying to control everyone, asshole." Ah shoved him aside and held out her hand to Damon who grabbed it with a smirk on his features.
"You know you're hot when you are angry?" He asked as he wiggled his brows up and down at her. She chuckled before slapping him harshly on the back of the head. "Ow!" He whined, grabbing his head. "What was that for?"
Echo glared at him. "For not letting me help take Connor down."
Damon sighed. "We need to try and keep everyone on the down-low, especially our good fighters. We need you and the others just in case something goes side ways."
Echo nodded, impressed. "You're right."
Damon grinned. "Hell yeah, I am."
She rolled her eyes and picked up her heel that Stefan had thrown down before he quickly left them. "Let's go, hot stuff."