𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓
you're not a bad person for the ways you tried to kill your sadness
AS THE TWINS and Damon walked around the streets of New York City, Elena was beginning to feel suspicious of their reasoning behind the sudden trip.
"You dragged me all the way to New York because you were feeling nostalgic?" The older twin inquired, staring between the couple with raised brows.
Damon shook his head. "No, I dragged you to New York because in a matter of three days, you managed to piss off everyone in Mystic Falls. A little more difficult to do in a city of millions."
Elena frowned, defending herself, "I was hungry."
"You were reckless," Damon countered back to the vampire doppelgänger.
Elena rolled her eyes. "I'm not the only one who did something bad. Echo bashed a boy's face into a locker at school."
"But I didn't kill him," the younger twin stated, pouting. Her boyfriend turned to her with raised brows and she simply shrugged.
Damon gave his girlfriend a proud look before turning to Elena. "Look, all that matters is that when I lived here, I fed like crazy and had a blast and went undetected for years."
Elena slowly began to grin. " So...we're just here to have fun?" They stopped walking, forcing Damon to stop and face Elena as she asked, "What's the catch?"
Damon and Echo shared a look before the blue eyed vampire said, "There's no catch. Look, you wanted out, I got you out. You wanted to feed, I brought you to a city-sized, all-you-can-eat buffet. That's the beauty of New York — there's so much life that a little death goes unnoticed."
Elena grinned and looked happy at the thought. "Come on, let's go get some lunch."
AFTER ELENA WENT off on her own, Damon and Echo walked down the side walk when he answered Stefan's call.
Over the phone with his brother Stefan warned him, "Don't worry, Stefan. I got it all under control here." He reached over and gripped Echo's hand. "This little joy ride is actually a cure hunt. That vampire that Katherine sent after Hayley is a friend of mine. He lived in the city. Will gets vampires fake identities, and I'm sure that Katherine's one of his clients." He saw Echo tense up at the bitch's name, and he squeezed her hand in comfort. "Just be a good brother and keep Mystic Falls afloat for me and let me do my thing."
Turning around, they saw Elena approaching them, sporting a new hairstyle that had red streaks in them.
Damon smiled at Elena who was showing off her new hairstyle, swirling around. He then said, "You've got an immortal named Silas to deal with, remember?" before hanging up.
"It suits you, Lena," Echo complimented, telling the truth. Even though her sister had her humanity off, she does seem happy which made Echo happy.
WALKING INTO A dimly lit bar, Damon commented, "Looks about right."
Elena let out a sigh. "I was promised hedonism."
Damon gave her a look. "Well, it's early. Hedonism isn't a big fan of the sunlight."
"Or soap," the brunette retorted making a face as the state of the bar they had walked into.
"Easy, judgy," Damon replied before adding, "Not everybody got a new haircut today." Elena smiles widely, running her hand through her hair as she turned to her sister who gave her a thumbs up. "Give it a couple of hours. This place will be crawling with more punked-out nihilists than you can eat in a decade, trust me."
Elena tilted her head. "How do you know?"
"Because I spent most of the seventies here. The Factory was too clean, CBGB's was too high-profile, but Billy's — Billy's was the underground of the underground." The blue eyed vampire grinned and wrapped his arm around Echo, placing a kiss to her neck.
He went on to explain the story of the time Lexi came to New York on Stefan's behalf to help hime while he was on his binge.
Echo pulled back and turned to her boyfriend. "You got Lexied?"
Before he could answer, Rebekah swooped in and slammed Damon's head down onto the table they're standing at. "Following a lead without me? Poor form, Damon." She looked up and smiled at Echo and Elena who was shocked. "I have to say I'm a little hurt, Damon."
Echo glared at the blonde as she gently grabbed Damon's hand, pulling him away from her. "Don't touch him again."
Rebekah tilted her head and looked the brunette up and down. "What are you gonna do about it, love?"
Not understanding what was happening, Elena asked, "Wait. What the hell are you talking about?"
Rebekah rolled her eyes and huffed. "Damon's following a lead to the cure. I'm following him. Notice your names never came up."
Echo glared and crossed her arms. Yes, they were looking for the cure, but it wasn't going to be for Elena like the blonde thinks. It to shove it down either Klaus' or Katherine's throat, and then make Elena turn her humanity on once she realizes that the person who killed their brother is gone.
But, Elena — thinking that it was for bringing her humanity back — huffed at that. "You're doing what? You both know I don't want it."
Damon rolled his eyes and smirked at the blonde. "How does it feel to be wrong all the time? We brought Elena here to feed. I mean, Mystic Falls isn't exactly Vamp Xanadu right now."
"Right. So you drove seven hours to New York City?" The blonde Original looked between the couple, raising a brow.
Damon nodded. "Yes, and as I was explaining to the wonder twins, before we were so rudely interrupted, that my history in this city has a particular resonance to Elena's current situation." Gesturing to the older twin, he finished, "When I had my humanity off."
The three girls listened as he finished telling them about how Lexie had come trying to turn his emotions back on as a favor to Stefan.
Which was a stupid reason — Echo thought. It's not like Stefan cared enough about Damon back then, or now for that matter.
"Well, she sounds dreadful," Rebekah commented, rolling her eyes.
Damon shrugged. "She had a Mother Teresa complex."
"So let me guess," Elena began, "After many dark nights with Lexi, she convinced you to turn your emotions back on, and that's exactly what you plan to do with me." She hummed and walked around them, towards the stage. "It's definitely going to take a lot more than a few drinks to get ms to turn it on."
"You read the last page of the book first, too?" Damon huffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Many drinks." He turned to his girlfriend who was already reaching out to grip his hand. "I'll treat you."
She gave him a look. "You better."
They walked off towards the bar, leaving Rebekah to walk over to Elena.
THE BAND ON stage was performing while the crowd danced widely. Elena and Rebekah was standing together at a table when Damon and Echo rejoined them with drinks.
"Is this allowed? What would Lexi say?" Elena asked, pursing her lips as she watched both Damon and Echo's body language
Damon handed them drinks, explaining, "Lexi thought the only way I would turn my emotions back on was if I started enjoying my life again."
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Do not tell me she took you to Bon Jovi concerts, too."
They all clinked their drinks together in a toast, and Echo frowned, staring at the blonde in disbelief. "That's the wrong decade." She threw back her shot and laid the glass on the table.
Damon smirked at his girlfriend, knowing that she was his soulmate by just those words. "Lexi was not allowed to feed with Stefan. But I didn't have that problem." He then smiled at Elena. "And neither do you."
He gestured to the dance floor before the vampires walked into the dance floor together. Echo stayed behind, watching them with calculating eyes. Rebekah and Elena seemed to be getting along pretty well, and it didn't sit well with her seeing as the blonde is the reason for Elena's death.
The group of four began dancing closely together. Even though Echo didn't particularly like the blonde, she has had a few shots of alcohol, and needed to act the part so her and Damon can get what they came to New York for.
Suddenly, Elena pulled her jack off, saying, "I'm hungry."
Echo grabbed her sister's jacket as Damon nodded. "Pick."
Elena started looking around and grinned when she spotted a girl off on her own. She began dancing her way over to the girl, and faced her completely before compelling, "don't scream." She sunk her teeth into the girl's neck and fed on her.
Elena pulled away as Rebekah bared her fangs before sinking them into the girl's neck.
Echo looked to Damon and they both nodded before turning around, and leaving, not knowing that Elena was watching the suspiciously.
DAMON AND ECHO was in Will's — Damon's old friend — apartment. There was so many boxes and trash everywhere. It was definitely a packrat.
"So Silas is appearing as Professor Shane. Wouldn't be my first choice," Damon commented as he was on the phone with Stefan.
Echo was rifling trough a box, and sighed heavily. She wished she was back in Mystic Falls, taking Silas down, but at the same time, Elena needs her, and they need the cure.
"Well, it would be if you needed to brainwash Bonnie into committing a massacre," Stefan retorted and Echo rolled her eyes.
"You need me to come home?"
Echo swiveled around to face her boyfriend with raised brows and he gave her a look. He knew she wouldn't leave Elena behind, that's why he didn't say 'us'.
"No, we got it. How's the cure search going?"
"Well... Not great." He put away a file he was looking through. "I mean, it's no massacre in the making, but Rebekah trailed us here. Then in addition to my buddy being a brilliant identity thief, he's also a hoarder."
"That's an understatement," the brunette commented under her breath as she opened up a package that just had old meat in it. She groaned and pushed the box away, covering her nose at the smell. "That is disgusting!"
Stefan lightly chuckled at her. "What are you trying to find?"
"Will had a repeat customer, 5'7" brunette," Damon told his brother, "Said she was a runner."
"Katherine."
"Turns out I was helping her run from me," the blue eyed vampire retorted with a roll of his eyes. "Ironic. Problem is I'm pretty sure that his filing system goes by birthdate, but I can't for the life of me remember Katherine's."
"June 5, 1473."
Echo scrunched her nose up, not liking the way Stefan sounded when he answered. But, then, what did she expect from a stalker.
Damon rifled through more files and made a "aha!" noise when he found it. Echo rushed over to him, biting her lip anxiously. "Well, will you look at that? It's all her former addresses, including a couple from the last two months. I mean, they're mostly P.O. boxes, but, hey, it narrows the search."
Stefan made a noise in the back of his throat. "Well, you're welcome. So you headed back now?"
Damon shook his head. "No. Tomorrow morning. Got to keep up the ruse for the terrible twosome outside." He then hung up as soon as the door opened, which made the couple turn around in surprise.
There stood Elena with raised brows. "What is going on here?" She scrunched her nose up at the mess, much like Echo had done.
Damon glanced at Echo before saying, "Sorry. We needed some quiet. Couldn't hear Stefan over the runaways 2.0."
Elena huffed at that, annoyed with Stefan. "Let me guess. He's worried."
He grinned and wrapped his arm around Echo's waist. "He's having acid flashbacks of me and Lexi in the seventies in New York. I'll tell you about it over a drink. Come on."
AFTER HE TOLD them the story, Echo and Elena looked to one another, amused as they sat at the back of the bar.
Elena leaked back slightly. "You and Lexi? Here on the bar?"
Damon smirked. "On the bar, on the stage, on the roof. It was a very long night."
Elena looked to Echo and rose a brow. "You're not jealous or mad that your man had sex with dozens of women before you?"
Echo took a second before shaking her head. "He's literally almost two hundred years old, who am I to judge him for who he slept with?"
Elena smirked and nodded before grabbing a thing of alcohol. "Come on."
Echo stood up and watched her sister walk off with a confused expression. "Where you going?"
She grinned widely. "To the roof."
The three of them walked up the stairs that lead to the roof, and Damon had to physically push the door open because it had a lock on it.
Elena smiled and breathed in the air, looking up at the night sky with big eyes. "It's beautiful up here."
Echo nodded and walked over to the edge, looking out at the view. She knew Elena only brought them up there to somehow make Echo her jealous and snap. It wasn't going to work because she loves Damon and trusts him.
Elena bounced in her step. "So, tell us more about your time here."
After explaining to them what happened on the rooftop with Lexi, Echo was looking at her boyfriend in a new light. Of course, there was certain things that he had told her over the course of their relationship, but now, she can see how much he has changed, and it made her heart swell.
Elena crossed her arms. "So, you pretended to have feelings for her just to get her off your back?
Damon glanced to the older twin. "I was willing to do whatever it took." Elena rolled her eyes as she understood why Echo was allowing him to talk about Lexi. He saw her look, and continued, "I'm looking out for you because one day, you will flip that switch back on, and all the bad stuff that you did is gonna come rushing back, and it is going to suck."
Echo looked at her twin with a sympathetic look. "We just want to be here for you, Elena."
The older twin clenched her jaw and looked away from them. "So, you're saying that you felt bad for Lexi?l
Damon shrugged. "She became a walking, talking reminder of all the awful things I'd done. I managed to avoid her for decades, and then she just shows up in Mystic Falls to wish my baby bro Happy Birthday, and boom... rush of memories, rush of guilt."
"So you kill her?"
Damon smirked and wiggled the alcohol bottle in the air that he had grabbed from Elena. "Out of sight, out of mind. Every day that you're like this is the day that you might do the one thing that you can't take back."
"Here's what I don't get." Elena pointed at the blue eyed man. "You spent six months trying to get her to fall in love with you just so that you could hurt her. You were spiteful, malicious, borderline evil, and you say that you had your emotions turned off, but those all sound like emotions to me."
He shrugged, glancing at his girlfriend, hoping that she wasn't changing her mind about him. "Maybe they were. Maybe hatred was the first one I got back."
Echo stepped forward, offering her twin a small smile. "That's why we're going to cure you." Damon turned to her in surprise. But, she ignored him. She figured that if they scare her with the cure instead of telling her it was for someone she hated, that it might scare her enough to turn her emotions on. "So, we can get you back. So, we can get my sister back."
Rebekah intervened and broke Damon's neck. "What was that you said about handling things yourself?"
"Hey!" Echo shouted and was going to pull out one of her many daggers, but Elena was in front of her all of sudden.
"You think you can trick me, Echo?" She smirked and gripped the wrist that Echo was holding a dagger in, and bent it backwards, making her scream out in pain. "I have read the Supernatural books more than a dozen times by now, and I know your tricks." She laughed manically and grabbed her face with a fake pout. "Goodbye." Then, she snapped her sister's neck and watched in satisfaction as she tumbled to the ground.
And with that, Elena and Rebekah was gone.
IT WAS A little while later when Damon woke up, and immediately ran towards his girlfriends body. He watched in amazement as her wrist popped in place and her neck before she sat up, gasping for air.
"Are you alright?" He asked her in worry, and she nodded, rubbing her neck as they stood up. "I'm going to kill them." Before she could say anything, his phone rung. He groaned and answered, "Where are you?" He put it on speaker so both of them could listen to Elena.
"The better question would be where are we going?"
Rebekah's voice came through, "Sorry, Damon. I think I broke your radio."
Damon clenched his jaw. "You're in my car?!"
Elena laughed mockingly. "We weren't gonna take the bus. I wish this could have gone differently. I really do, but we'll give Katherine your best."
Echo groaned and threw her hands up in annoyance. "Could this go any worse?"
Damon gave her a look before calling Stefan.
And soon as Stefan answered, he asked. "Damon, what did you do?"
"Let's just say it involves a 5'7" brunette and her blond accomplice." He rubbed the back of his neck and watched at his girlfriend looked up at the sky, taking deep breaths to calm down.
"Please don't tell me this is going where I think it is."
"Wrong fantasy!" Echo chimed in as she walked over to Damon. "Well, unless you're into betrayal and snapped necks."
Damon smirked at his girlfriend before saying, "The lead we had on Katherine, Elena stole. If you're searching for the words to tell me how badly I screwed up, save your breath."
Stefan groaned. "I didn't stop the massacre."
Echo let out a growl and kicked at the ground. "And it just got worse."
"Guess Silas has everything he needs," Damon commented, understanding how much they all screwed up.
"Everything but the cure."
Echo let out a noise that sounded something between angry and annoyed, and kicked the door. "Fuck this! We better find Katherine and shove that damn cure down her throat."
Damon smirked. "Or better yet... just stake her and use the cure on Klaus."
Echo turned to her boyfriend, a malice filled smirk overcoming her features. "I quite like that plan."