This chapter is based off of The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Episode 1
Chapter 52
4 months later
Vermont
Harry
A lady steps out of her house and calls for her dog. "Is that her?" I ask.
"One of them, yes." Dalia says, "Now go do what I told you to do."
I nod and walk out from the bushes as the lady still calls for her dog. When she sees me I startle her and cause her to jump.
"Sorry, ma'am I didn't mean to scare you," I say forcing a fake American accent.
"Can I help you?" She asks.
"Yeah, my car ran out of gas a couple of miles back. I feel like I've been walking forever yours is the first house I come to so I was just hoping I could use your phone?" I ask.
"Don't you have a cellphone?" She asks.
I smile and pull my phone out of my pocket, "Yeah, it's dead. Look I promise I'm not a serial killer I just want to use your phone."
"Sure," She nods.
"So, I can come in?" I ask. Dalia's rule is that we only kill inside a person's home if we are invited in.
"No, I'll get the phone and I'll bring it out to you." She says.
I sigh in annoyance, "I thought you Vermont folk we supposed to be more trusting."
"Well I'm from Florida." She says.
"Well that explains it," I say and quickly walk over to her. With one arm I grab her from behind and with the other I grab her from the throat.
"Now show me a little hospitality, may I come in?" I ask.
"Y-Yes" She struggles to get out because she's so frightened.
She leads me into the house, Inside the house I hear someone in the kitchen cooking with pans.
"You know I bet you a hundred dollars that dog ran away to a house who has heating." Whoever is in the kitchen says.
I follow the voice, still having the first girl in my grip. When we enter the kitchen the girl who I heard was cooking setting a pan on the stove. When she turns around, she too jumps just like the other girl did.
"What's going on?" The second girl asks. She seemed braver than the other girl.
"Please don't be alarmed. I am where you knew Ester?"
"She was like a second mother to us, why do you need to know?" The second girl asks.
"If you know who Ester is you probably know who Dalia is."
When I say the name Dalia, fear sets into the second girls eyes and she begin to run out of the kitchen and towards the door. Still having ahold of the first girl I walk out of the kitchen and follow the girl who tried to run only to be stopped by Dalia at the door frame of the front door.
"Now if the two of you answer one simple question everything will go smoothly." Dalia says walking into the house she walks to the girl I have by the neck, "Where's your son? I'm told he still lives here?"
"He's almost never here. He's on the road mostly," The girl I'm holding says.
"But always comes back to visit his mother, where is he?" I ask.
"He's most likely at a bar called Southern Comfort, It's on Highway 41." The second girl gives up.
"Thank you, now Harry kill that one quickly," Dalia says looking at the one I'm holding and then looks to the other girl, "And make that one suffer. I'll be in the car."
Dalia walks out of the house and into the night leaving me to deal with to frightened girls. "Let's get started shall we?"
Cat
I lie silently in my bed and just think. The first thing that comes to mind is Harry. It's been months since I saw him and Gemma came to the house and she told us what happened. I look at the side bed table and see the note that Gemma had given me with Harry's handing writing. After starring at it I decide to get up and get ready for the day.
My phone rings while I'm in the middle of doing my makeup. When I see the caller ID I answer it quickly.
"Hi Lela," I say, "What are you doing?"
"I'm busy shopping for your party you're trying to bailout on." Lela says.
"I never said yes to it in the first place." I say.
"Cat, Caleb and Louis erased all of your records of the robberies and ever being in prioson. You are having a party."
"And who's coming? The only people I know here are people from work - who all hate me - and the boys and you and Lauren."
"Whatever, you better be ready for it tonight though," Lela says, "And my uncle thinks he found something,"
"What did he find?" I ask. Lela's uncle is the sheriff of Boston and has offered to help without situation when we told him everything.
"A family murdered in Vermont. It's the third one this week in there." Lela says.
"And it's Dalia?"
"Well Dalia was lasted spotted in Vermont but that was two weeks ago," Lela says, "And Cat even if it has something to do with Dalia, it could be Harry too."
"Just tell your uncle thank you for his help, I'll have Caleb look into it." I say.
"Okay I have to go, I'll see you soon. Wear something pretty please."
"Bye Lela." I say with a smile even though she can't see it.
Once I hang up I continue getting ready before going downstairs to the kitchen. I see Caleb fixing the couch that he has been sleeping on the past couple of nights.
"Let me guess more knew about Dalia?" Caleb asks when he sees me.
"How'd you know?" I ask.
"Well when Lela calls you usually have that look on your face?"
"What look?"
"Never mind," Caleb says.
"Well it could be more of Dalia's victims." I say and pour myself a cup of coffee.
"And you're certain that Harry is still with her?" Caleb asks and I start to pour him a cup of coffee.
"Easy to be certain when the alternative is that he's dead." I say and we don't talk for a while.
"You know you don't have to sleep on the couch, Harry's room is empty." I say breaking the silence.
"No it's fine; the couch will do for how long I stay here, which won't be long."
"You spent the last four months on it Caleb. If you want the room, take it."
"Sleeping in your possibly dead boyfriend's room? I'm fine." Caleb says.
"He's not my boyfriend." I say, "But alright, I got it. And I'm going back to the warehouse to give information to Louis."
Caleb nods and starts to walk off to the bathroom but stops himself. "Cat?"
"Yes?" I ask turning to him.
He walks over to me and places a kiss on my forehead, "Happy birthday."
I half smile, "Thank you."
I punch in the code, which Louis had changed and gave it to me. When I open the door I expect to see one of the boys on the couch but I don't. I walk over to the kitchen and set my car keys and purse on the counter.
"Good morning," Liam says which causes me to turn around but I immediately regret it.
"Liam put some clothes on for God's sake!" I saw turning back around. I hear more footsteps enter the room.
"Here, mate," Louis says and most likely hands Liam a towel, "You know Cat you should really knock what if one of us was indecent?" Louis says walking next to me.
"Can I turn around know?" I ask Louis and he nods.
"Please you heard me you knew I was here." I say.
"Anyways what can we do for you birthday girl?" Liam asks.
"Lela's uncle gave us another location to check." I say.
"You mean another dead end?" Gemma asks and also walks into the kitchen.
I roll my eyes, "We won't know for sure unless we check."
"You're right, Cat" Gemma says her voice was drenched with sarcastic, "This could be the one. After almost four months this could be the one clue that tells that Harry is alive and well and living in Graceland."
"Fine," I say looking down at the note with the address Lela gave me, "I'll go myself." I start to walk towards the door.
But Liam stops me by taking the piece of paper out of my fingertips, "For all we know Dalia still wants you dead. You going and looking for Harry is just a bad idea Cat."
"It's a new lead Liam; we haven't had one in a while."
"Okay Louis and I will check it out. If we find anything we'll call you." He says and then turns to Louis, "Louis get ready for a long road trip."
"Where are we going now?"
"Vermont."
"Oh boy, I can't wait for that." Louis says sarcastically and both him and Liam walk out of the room leaving Gemma and I alone.
I look at Gemma and give her a glare and start to walk out the door again.
"What the hell was that look for?" Gemma asks which stops me.
"Because you're so eager to just give up on your brother, and I'm here working my ass off to find him and you're his god damn sister." I say before leaving the house. I can't put up with her not today; she can't be the one to ruin my birthday, even though it doesn't even feel like my birthday. I just wanted to spend it with Harry.
When I'm in my car I drive to Sammy's house where Lela told me to meet her. When I arrive which wasn't a long drive, Lela's car is parked in the drive way. I walk up to the door and ring the doorbell to be greeted by Sammy opening the door. He invites me in and takes me to the living room where Lela sits on her phone. In the middle of the room is a rack of clothes - mostly dresses.
"Lela what is this?" I ask walking towards the rack.
"Well let's be honest were you really going to dress up for tonight? Or were you just going to wear what your wearing now?" She asks looking at my outfit choice with a disgusted look.
"What's wrong with this?" I ask looking down at my outfit. I was wearing a grey oversized V-neck shirt with leather skinny jeans and black combat boots.
"You're not wearing that to where we are going." She says and walks over to the rack.
"Where exactly are we going then?" I ask.
"Surprise." She says and starts looking through the rack of dresses.
"I figured it out," Sammy says.
"Figured what out?" Lela and I both ask.
"What Lela used to be," Sammy says. I remember when I first introduced Sammy to Lela; it was his mission to figure out what job Lela used to have.
"You were a stylist."
"Well the games over then," Lela says.
"No way, you were a god damn stylist?" I ask.
"Hey just because I basically ran that prison doesn't mean I don't know a pretty dress when I see one." She says which causes both Sam and I to laugh.
"Try this on." She hands me a white laced dress that came up to my mid-thigh. It was pretty. I take it and go to the closest bathroom and put it on. Once it's on I walk out of the bathroom and go show Lela and Sammy.
"Yup that's the one."
"We're not going to try the rest?" I ask.
"Nope, I like this one. We're sticking to this one." Lela says.
"Alright now, tell us what's wrong since we have your outfit taken care of." Sammy says.
"What do you mean?"
"Well usually you're sad - for a reason - but it seems to me, maybe Sammy too, that you're not only sad but you're a tad angry. Why?"
"I feel like I have to fight the boys and Gemma every single time we get a lead on Harry."
"Well maybe they don't want to find him," Sammy says which causes the two of us to be taken back by what he said.
"Sammy what the hell are you talking about?" Lela asks.
"Well think about it, things have been peaceful since Harry has left. The boys are finally calm and to me they seem happier that they don't have all this stress of being killed by someone." Sammy explains.
Liam
Louis phone starts to ring as we pull up to the house that Cat gave us. Louis looks at it and declines it. "Cat?" I ask and when he nods I speak again, "I wish she didn't get her hopes up so much."
"And they're half leads too; I looked into this before we left."
"I don't want to tell her that they're all half leads. But what else am I supposed to do I'm practically living there." Caleb says from the back.
"Still sleeping on the couch then?" I ask.
Caleb nods, "I keep waiting for her to kick Elijah and I out but she doesn't. I mean if anything Elijah and I should be out trying to find Dalia and leave all of you guys out of this."
"I agree with that." Louis says. Louis hasn't exactly forgiven Caleb after Cat had told Louis what Caleb did to his best friend.
The three of us get out of the car and look at the house in front of us. "It's quiet." I say.
"Too quiet." Louis agrees and we walk up to the house. The door is unlocked so we didn't need to worry about kicking it down. There's blood smeared across the walls that lead into the living room. As we walk further into the living room we plug our noses from the disgusting smell. On the couch are two bodies sat on the couch. Only they are sliced but they were put together as if they weren't at all.
"Who in their right mind would do this?" Caleb asks, "The last time I saw something like this, Alex slaughtered Cat's family."
"Harry," Louis said, "Harry would do something like this."
"After when we ran away from you, this became his signature. We called him The Ripper. Because before he slits off the head and the rest of the body parts, he makes two slits in the neck and lets them start to die before he takes off a limb; like he would take off an arm while they bleed out from there neck and ten he cuts off the neck completely; a lot like Jack the Ripper only he does a bit more and didn't kill prostitutes." I say.
"Then when he's done, he feels remorse. It's the damndest thing, and he put then puts the bodies back together." Louis adds. Louis kicks the leg of one of the girls and the head falls off of the body and on to the floor.
"Not creepy at all." Caleb says.
Louis leaves the house and comes back shortly with a tank of gasoline.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Covering their tracks. Clearly they have no interest staying in the dark, but I do." Louis says and starts to pour gasoline all over the room.
"Hang on," Caleb says, "I know these girls."
"How?" I ask.
"They're mom was best friends with Ester."
"Let me guess, they're twins." Louis asks.
"Yup."
"So Harry is with Dalia." I assume.
"Alright let's get rid of this before the cops show up." Louis says and continues pouring water all over the rest of the room. I light a match and we walk out of the burning house.
Harry
Dalia and I walk inside of the bar and head for the bar. Dalia and I sit in between a man.
"Excuse me, are you Ray Stutton by any chance?" I ask the man.
"Yes, do I know you?" He asks and the bartender sets down a beer infront of him.
"Well you see, I've been looking everywhere for you. We started in Florida. I met a young chap there who you used to work with before you moved to Vermont, now he directed me to two lovely young women. And they led me here, to you." Dalia says.
"I think I'll be going." Ray says and starts to get up.
"Not so fast mate. You only just got here," I say and grab his shoulder and force him to sit back down, "Now you really like to stay hidden don't you?"
"What do you want with me?" He asks.
"Well, I think I need to introduce myself first, I'm Dalia Mikaelson, you may have heard of me? And this is my friend, Harry Styles."
"I'm not your friend," I glare at Dalia
"Wait Harry Styles? You're the man that is wanted by the police?" Ray says to me.
"Yes he is but that doesn't matter now. And to answer your question, I'm creating a small army to kill some people that let's just say tried to kill me, and to me you are suitable for what I'm looking for."
Ray begins to look around the bar for some help. "And good luck trying to get someone's help, I put a liquid in everyone's drink causing them to sit still and they are oblivious to what is happening around them." Dalia explains.
"Well what are you going to do to me?"
"Brainwash you just like what I did to him," Dalia says, "Only I feel a bit tired so I'm going to have Harry do it, right here, right now." Dalia takes one of the needles she had in her pocket and injects the liquid into Ray's arm, "Good luck running now. Harry try him up, I'm going to get the equipment." Dalia leaves the bar and shortly comes back after with a laptop and a bag full of serums and needles. She sets up the needles for me as I finish tying up ray to the chair he was sitting in.
In the middle of toturing Ray I over hear a conversation between Dalia and a girl who walked into the bar.
"Dalia you told me to find you if I have any inforamton for you nad I do have some for you. Louis, Liam and Caleb were at the house you two were at last night."
"Well thank you Claudine, keep up the good work." Dalia says. The Claudine girl nods before exiting the bar.
"What serum do you have her under?" I ask Dalia.
"You know I would've thought they would give up now." Dalia says ignoring my question, "They're getting closer and closer, I may have to do something about that."
"No, let me handle it." I say.
"Why should I let you leave?" She asks.
"Because you know I would come back," I say.
"Do I?"
"Well you whipped any feeling I have towards anyone."
"Oh come on, you're not having the slightest bit of fun?" Dalia asks.
"I'll make sure that they don't bother us anymore." I say before walking out of the bar.
Cat
7 hours later
I stand in the mirror with my dress on. In the mirror I see Niall at the door.
"Elijah let me in." Niall says, "I didn't get to say hello to you when you stopped by the warehouse."
"Well I was going to stay for a bit but Gemma pushed me out - but not literally." I say.
"How are you holding up?"
"You know you are literally the first person who has asked me that in months," I say, "But Don't worry I'm not going to lose it. At least not before the cake."
"It's your party you can cry if you want to," Niall says and walks up to me, "I got you something. I know I promised not to buy you anything so don't worry I didn't pay for it."
"You stole it?" I ask.
"No, I found it." Niall says and hands me a very small box.
I open it and see Harry's Grandmother's ring. "I thought Harry took this with him?"
"No it was at the warehouse," Niall says, "I don't know, I just thought you would like to have it, I mean it's probably the only stuff we have of Harry's since someone took it away."
"Yeah thank you Niall," I smile and give him a hug. "Also I have a question for you, do you have any idea where Lela is taking me?"
"She's taking you and Sammy out for drinks and dancing."
"So no cake then," I say, "Are you and the boys coming?"
"No, Lauren called said she was coming down but she'd be late so we decided to wait for her, and we're kind of being hunted so I don't think it's a good idea for us to be out. But Lela told me to come up here and get you down there so you guys can go. Shall we?" Niall offers his arm and I take it.
We walk downstairs and Sammy and Lela are waiting. "Jesus Christ what took you so long?" Lela asks.
"Lela I don't want to go to a club." I say.
"You told her!" Lela says shooting a disappointed look at Niall, "Cat, you're going and you're not going to complain about it okay?"
"Fine, goodbye Niall, I might stop by the warehouse when we're done." I say as I'm being pulled out the door by Lela.
Once we arrive at the bar Lela immediately orders us all shots while Sammy and I find an empty table. I watch as Sammy lays eyes on a gorgeous girl sitting by herself across the room. "Go talk to her."
"No that wouldn't be right." Sammy says.
"Sam, I hate to break it to you but it's been almost a wear since Jo died. I'm sure she would want you to go and find someone else. Now, go talk to her."
Sammy sighs and gets out from the booth to go talk to her. Seconds later Lela comes back with shot glasses. But the way she walked over here, already told me she was drunk.
"How the hell are you already drunk?"
"The bartender was nice." She says and climbs into the booth, "Now drink up! I can't be the only one to get drunk."
I grab one of the shot glasses and drink it down quickly. "Alright finish the rest of those and then join me on the dance floor, I see a cute guy," She says and hurries off into the crowds of people dancing.
I faintly hear my phone ringing over the loud music. I pull out my phone from my purse and see who the caller ID was, which it was Louis.
"Are you having fun?" Louis asks when I hit answer.
"If you mean having fun is sitting at a table alone while your friend is out on the dancefloor dancing with someone she doesn't know and your brother is out flirting with a girl, then yes so much fun." I say, "Are you on your way to pick up Lauren?"
"Yup, her flight just arrived."
"I think I might head to the warehouse and blow this place?"
"It's up to you Cat, if you do I can stop and pick up Lela and Sam since you are going to take the car aren't you?"
"Can you pick them up if it's not too much to ask?"
"Of course Cat, just get to the warehouse safely. I'll see you soon." Louis says before hanging up. I decide just to text Sammy and Lela rather than telling them that I'm leaving them here and that Louis will pick them up soon. I leave the bar and drive back to the warehouse.
Lauren
"Yes mom, I got here safely." I say into the phone, "Okay mom, my rides here I have to go." I lie so I can get my mom's worrying out of my ear. I hang up and wait for Louis to call me and tell me he's here.
I'm in the underground parking lot which is where Louis told me to wait for him. The parking lot was completely empty probably because it was a buildings parking lot that closed five hours ago. Louis told me to go to this place when my plane lands because there aren't any security cameras in here which means there is a very slim chance of him being found.
As I look through my phone every light shuts off in the parking lot which causes me to jump. "Hello?" I ask out into the complete darkness. Instead of getting an answer, someone's head lights from a car ahead turn on, and they were fucking bright too. I close my eyes and put my hand out in front of me so I could try and see past the blinding light.
"Okay not cool my retinas are burning." I say stepping out of the way but when I do the headlight go off and the parking lights turn back on.
I start to turn around and get the hell out of here but I bump into someone. When I look to see who I bump into I see a familiar face. "Oh my god Harry! What are you doing here" The boys have been looking everywhere for you."
Harry doesn't say anything he just stares at me with a angry look on his face. "Harry?"
I feel a sharp pinch in my arm and I look down and see that Harry had stick a needle with some type of liquid in me.
"Harry what the hell is that?" I ask but I start to get week to my knees and begging to fall. Harry stops me from falling, picks me up and the last thing I remember before everything going black is him throwing me over his shoulder.
Louis
I pull up in the parking garage and park the car. When I get out I search the place for Lauren but I don't see her. Which is weird because she texted me telling me she was here.
"Lauren?" I call but I see a bag on the floor. I pick it up when I recognize it was Lauren. I call her name again.
"Louis," I hear hears voice from behind me. I turn towards the voice and Harry stands in front of me.
"It would be nice if you could call or even write you know." I say.
"I need you to stop looking for me, it's causing some problems."
"With who? Dalia? Why are we supposed to care what she thinks?"
"What you're supposed to do is let me go." Harry says.
"Saw your latest artwork in Vermont. Walking a fine line there, my friend. Keep that up and there will be no saving you."
"See the thing is, I don't need any saving. I just want you to let me go." Harry says coldly.
"Nah, I got a birthday girl at home that's not going to let me do that." I say.
Harry nods, "Well then I guess I haven't made my point yet." Harry faces the spiral staircase, "Hey Lauren are you awake now?"
"Lauren?" I say and walk towards the staircase. From the very top of the stairs I see Lauren standing close to the railing.
"Louis? Louis, I can't move. He gave me something and told me not to move." Lauren says.
"No, no, no," I mutter to myself then speak up so Laruen can hear me, "It's okay Lauren, just stay calm."
"What the hell are you doing Harry? This is not cool," I ask facing Harry. I then begin to walk up the stairs but I am pulled back by Harry and thrown against one of the poles that holds up the parking garage which causes me to scream in pain.
"Aw, come on! A little bit cool. Hey, Lauren, you can move now." Harry calls.
"No!" I scream but I'm unable to get up fast from the pain in my back. I didn't move fast enough to catch her. Instead she falls and hits the ground. When I reach her I pull her into my arms.
"I said, let me go." Harry says but I could barely hear him because I was so focused on Lauren. When I turn and look for Harry, he's gone. I then turn back to look at Lauren. I brush he beautiful blonde hair out of the way of her face only to see blood from where she hit her head on the cement.
"No," I say trying to fight back tears.
Harry
I walk back into the bar after driving the errand I had to take care off with Louis and Lauren. Dalia has Ray tied up to the pool table as she stabs darts into his arms each time she asks him a question. Dalia looks up when the door behind me shuts.
"Your back," She says,
"Did you doubt me?"
"Not for a second. I knew you'd pass the test. But I can see you still care for your friends back home, for your old life. Is that going to be a problem?"
"I don't care about anything anymore."
"You put on a good show Harry. I almost believe you. Let's hope, for your friend's sake, they believe you. You never stop caring about family, do you? But, every time you kill, the blood of your victim makes it easier to let go." Dalia says to me and continues to stab Ray with a dart.
Cat
"In Louis room, there should be a couple bottles of beer, can you garb a couple? There should be a box in his closet." Zayn asks and I nod and head to Louis room. I go to his closet and see the box of beer bottles on the floor but something stops me from grabbing it. On Louis door there are all of the notes I gave the boys about Dalia, news articles of killings, and maps with markings on them. It took me a while to figure out what it was but I finally did. It's Dalia. They've been tracking her without me. Why didn't he just tell me?
The door opens wider and Louis walks in, he looks sad but I ignore it for the time being.
"What are you doing here?" He asks me.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep it a secret?" I ask pointing to the closet door.
"Can we not do this right now? I'm having a really bad night."
"All summer, every single time I came to you with a lead, you made me feel like an idiot for having hope."
"You were an idiot. We all were."
"Tell me what you know, Louis." I demand.
"I know you need to get back home and get some sleep, Cat."
"We're supposed to be in this together. Why didn't you tell me that you've been tracking Dalia's victims?"
"Because they're not Dalia's victims, Cat, they're Harry's!" Louis yells.
"What?" I ask.
"All of those leads you got on Dalia about all the killings, they were Harry's killings."
"You're wrong." I say.
"I've seen it happen before! He's flipped the switch, Cat! There's no humanity left inside of him!" Louis yells.
"Louis, stop," I say feeling tears form in my eyes.
"No, you stop, Cat! Stop looking for him! Stop waiting for him to come home! Just stop! Harry is gone and he's not coming back!" Louis yells again. When he says this the tears I was trying to hold in slipped and rolled down my cheeks. Finally I leave his room and leave the warehouse too. I drive back home but the whole time I couldn't stop looking at Harry's ring on my finger.
When I get home and open the door I see Caleb and Elijah packng their things.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Um, we can't stay here anymore." Elijah says.
"What why?"
"We need to go after Dalia so we can get Harry back for you." Caleb says.
I think about telling them just to let it go, and tell them what Louis just told me but instead I just nod.
"Cat you can live on your own you were doing it before. And frankly I am not such of a good role model. You know, I drink too much, I say the wrong things, I encourage bad behavior and I've done a lot of things. If the cops happen to show up at the door it won't be good for you either. You can do better without us invading your life." Caleb says. Before I can say anything the two of them push me aside and leave me alone in the house.
After just standing there for a couple minutes, taking in all that happened tonight, I head upstairs and get ready for bed. I set my phone and purse on the dresser and walk into the bathroom. I change into my pajamas and exit the bathroom. I see my phone vibrating on the dresser and go to pick it up. When I see that it's an unknown number call I debate whether or not to answer it but I do answer it.
"Hello?" I say into the phone but no one answers. I just hear breathing on the other line. The way the person inhales and exhales which reminds me of Harry. I pull the phone away from my ear and look at the number. The first three numbers are the area code for Vermont.
"Harry?" I ask putting the phone back to my ear. A sigh comes from the other end which fully confirms I was speaking with Harry.
"Harry, if this is you, you'll be okay," I say as tears fall from my cheeks.
"Harry, I want you to know that I miss you and," I debate whether or not I should say what I want to say, "And I love you Harry. I don't know if that will make any difference but I love you Harry. Hold on to that, and never let that go."
I hear a sniffle on the other line before the line was cut.