Love Takes Hostages - Chapter Ten
“You know Anna?”
Jeremy nodded.
“And she told you about vampires?”
“I sort of figured it out on my own,” Jeremy said, sounding far too pleased with himself. “But she confirmed it for me.”
“And she told you about Katherine?” Stefan asked, which sounded very unlikely, but he didn’t actually know Anna that well.
“Well.” Jeremy hesitated. “Yes, she did but…the first time I learned about her, it was from Elena’s diary.”
“You read Elena’s diary?” Stefan asked.
He nodded.
The back of his neck itched as Stefan contemplated what Elena had put in her diary, if she mentioned the extent of her relationship with them both. Or if she wrote about his and Damon’s relationship. He’ll worry about that later.
“Fucking perfect,” Damon snarled, turning away from him so he didn’t see the enraged expression on his face.
“Damon-”
“We’re going to have to tell Elena the compulsion was worthless-”
“Damon!”
“You are not compelling me again!” Jeremy shouted.
“I take it she wrote that in her diary,” Damon said.
“Yeah.” Jeremy gritted his teeth, his face contorted in a fury that matched his. “And don’t think for a second I’m going to let you, or Stefan, or Elena compel me again.”
“Oh, leave Elena out of this,” Damon said.
“She had no right to that!”
“She was trying to protect you,” Damon hissed as he spun around to glare at Jeremy, stalking towards him. “You were a wreck after Vicki and Elena took pity on you. I would have done the same.”
“Yeah, because if you do something, then clearly, it’s alright.”
“Guys, we don’t have time for this,” Stefan shouted, getting in between them. “We have to find Katherine and save Elena and do it now.”
“Excuse me?”
John Gilbert stood in the kitchen doorway. From the way he was looking at them, it was clear he heard the last few bits of the conversation, if not more.
“Fuck, this day cannot get any worse,” Damon growled.
“Damon,” John said softly, his eyes cold as he advanced on them. “Why does Elena need saving?”
“Uncle John,” Jeremy said. “It’s cool. We’re gonna go save Elena.”
“Um, we?” Stefan asked. “You’re not coming, Jeremy.”
“And I repeat.” John’s voice was clipped, a blunt edge to his words. “Why does Elena need saving?”
He focused on Damon then, eyes narrowing and flashing dangerously. “Where is Elena?”
“Katherine took her-” Stefan began and out of nowhere, John promptly drew a gun on Damon, standing close enough so the muzzle of the gun might as well be pressed against Damon’s chest, right against his heart.
“This is your fault,” he said.
“Dude,” Jeremy protested.
“Right.” Damon rolled his eyes. “Because I’m actually Katherine in disguise, which I suppose means I fucked myself a while ago-”
“Katherine only took her because of her connection to you,” John explained, never once looking away from Damon. “If you’ve left her alone, she never would have come for her.”
Stefan chose to ignore John’s words-much as it painfully resonated with him-and focused on the gun he had trained on Damon. He wasn’t that far from John and with his speed, Stefan could easily snatch the gun out of John’s hands. He just had to hope it wouldn’t go off and hit Jeremy instead-
“Stefan, you come any closer and your brother gets a wooden bullet to the heart.”
Stefan stopped in his tracks, holding his hands up in peace. “You aren’t going to shoot Damon,” he said.
“Oh, I’m not? Thank you for this valuable insight to me.”
“If you could kill him so easily, you would have done so by now. You’ve been alone with him enough times.”
“That was only for as long as we were working together, to get the Gilbert device. And before he-you both-put Elena in danger.”
Stefan winced, the words hitting him like a blow, primarily because it was true. He couldn’t ignore that.
“We don’t have time for this!” he snapped. “We need to save Elena. Now. We can fight amongst ourselves later.”
John glanced at him-finally taking his eyes away from Damon-and nodded, lowering his gun.
Damon smiled, sharp and hard and angry. “Yeah, Johnny boy. We can fight later. Like, Isobel, we can fight about her later, and for now, we’ll settle for you telling us how she’s involved with this.”
“What does Isobel have to do with this?” John’s glare got even colder.
“You tell me,” Damon said softly, glancing at Stefan.
“Isobel wanted the Gilbert device-” Stefan began as the pieces began to fall together.
“-which she was getting for you-” Damon continued.
“-but it turned out to be a cover for her real purpose-”
“What the fuck are you guys even talking about?” Jeremy interrupted. Stefan had forgotten about him.
“John and Damon were looking for the Gilbert device together,” he explained.
“And Isobel, that’s Elena’s birth mom, right?”
“Yep,” Damon said, staring straight at John the entire time, lips curled up belligerently, “And Isobel is in contact with Katherine…and with you, right John?”
John was quiet, fingers twitching on the gun. His expression didn’t change, eyes pensive and deep in thought and-
“You didn’t know she was talking to Katherine, did you?” Stefan realized.
Damon smirked. “Maybe you should call her, John.”
John immediately pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number. “How do you know all this?” He asked.
“Isobel met with Elena,” Stefan said. “It didn’t go well.”
“Isobel met with Elena?” John asked, arching an eyebrow, the phone held up to his ear. “She didn’t tell me that. And Elena never brought it up.”
“No, of course she didn’t,” Damon said dryly, twisting his face into a sneer. “Why would she, when you go around constantly acting like a judgy little prick?”
“Right, because dating two undead brothers, I’m supposed to be perfectly okay with that.”
Stefan noticed Jeremy shifting on his feet, awkward and deliberately looking away from John.
“No one’s answering!” John growled, roughly shoving the phone back in his pocket.
“She’s working with Katherine,” Stefan said.
“She wouldn’t do that to her own daughter,” John said, glaring at Stefan, absolute certainty in his words.
Damon laughed, the sound like broken glass. “Looks like Elena’s not the only one who harbors affections for the undead.”
This was taking too long. Every minute they wasted was another minute Katherine had Elena, every minute ticking away her life.
“Why did you two want the Gilbert device?” he asked
“What the hell is the Gilbert device?” Jeremy interrupted, actually going to stand in between John and Damon.
Stefan fought off a growl. “Jeremy, we don’t have time to explain everything to-”
“It’s a weapon against vampires,” John said slowly. “And only vampires.”
Stefan nodded. “We can use it against Katherine and get Elena out.”
“Isobel told me that Damon destroyed it,” John said, looking Damon straight in the eyes, unflinching.
“He didn’t,” Stefan said. “He has it.”
“Stefan,” Damon hissed. “What the hell-”
“Damon, we don’t have time for this!” he screamed, flinging his arms out. “I don’t care about your rivalry or whatever this shit is, we are saving Elena-”
“And we will,” Damon reassured him, the anger momentarily fading away into something gentle before he turned back to glare at John, “But we won’t use the Gilbert device.”
“We can stop Katherine with the device, Damon,” John said. “Her and whatever other vampires she has working for her.”
“No,” Damon said firmly. “I don’t trust you.”
“You don’t think I’ll go rescue Elena?”
“Oh, I have every confidence you’ll save Elena. But that device will make me and my brother vulnerable. What’s to say you won’t save Elena and kill us? I know how desperately you want us out of the picture.”
John set his lips in a grim, smug smile. “That’s a chance you’ll have to take.”
“No, it’s a chance I’m not taking-”
“You’re going to risk Elena’s life on that?”
“Damon,” Stefan protested. “This is ridiculous, just let John have the Gilbert device and we’ll go find Elena-”
“I didn’t live this long by being stupid,” he sneered, his focus on John rather than Stefan. “We’ll find another way. We don’t need the device to save Elena.”
He turned back to Jeremy, who was the picture of hopeless confusion. “Call Anna. Tell her we’re going to go kill Katherine and she should bring anyone who wants in on the job.”
“Wait, you know Anna?” John asked, but Jeremy ignored him, going to find his cell phone.
“Stefan, you call Bonnie, she can track Elena down. And I’ll call…I don’t know, Alaric maybe, he has weapons and he’s good in a fight.”
Stefan sighed-he didn’t like this, any of this. It didn’t matter how well organized Damon appeared to be, it didn’t stop the low, rolling feeling in his gut, working its way through his insides, the agitated itch of his spine.
“Fine,” he agreed with a sigh.
John never stopped glaring at Damon. He wasn’t even smug anymore, he was downright murderous. Damon returned it with a hard smile. Stefan wondered if he would have to interfere to keep them from killing each other.
“If she dies,” John whispered. “Her blood will be on your hands. And I’ll come after you both for sure.”
Stefan knew a promise when he heard it.
*****
When Katherine came back, it was with two people following her, two compelled humans as far as Elena could tell from the glassy look in their eyes. One was a blond teenager-and she was vaguely familiar from the school hallways, but Elena couldn’t remember her name-and the other was a middle-age man, graying hair and wearing a suit, somewhere in his forties.
Elena was immediately on guard, her heart rate spiking up involuntarily, hyperaware of her surroundings and her own vulnerability. She didn’t know what Katherine was planning on doing and the uncertainty set Elena even more on edge.
“What is this, Katherine?” Isobel asked, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She seemed thoroughly unimpressed and bored-Elena and Isobel hadn’t spoken to each other since breakfast.
“Just a game,” Katherine said, and the dread in Elena grew stronger.
“Hi, Elena, how are you? Did you sleep well?”
“Fuck you.”
Katherine laughed, wide and bright and genuinely amused, it almost made Elena want to laugh as well.
“Good to hear that,” she said.
She pulled up a chair, its back facing Elena as Katherine straddled it. She completely ignored the two compelled people in the room.
“Your family’s nice,” Katherine said and Elena’s insides went cold. She couldn’t think of anything to say, not quite frozen in fear but her mind going through terrifying possibilities.
“Especially your aunt,” she went on, twirling her fingers in her own hair. “Dumb as a post, though.”
“You stay away from them,” Elena said, thankful that her voice wasn’t shaking.
“You’re in really no position to make demands,” Katherine replied cheerily. “And Jeremy is a sweetheart,” Katherine purred, eyes closing shut as did so. “I really like him.”
“Stay away from my brother!”
“I will,” she said. “As long as you play along.”
“Go to hell,” Elena spat.
“Otherwise,” Katherine went on as if she hadn’t heard. “I’ll be forced to go find your brother and…entertain myself and Jeremy promises to be very entertaining. Imagine the look on his face when he thinks his big sister is trying to seduce him.”
She felt sick. Terror was icy in her veins, the cold starting to travel up to her throat and her spine. Elena was not shaking. She held herself together, even if she had to clench her fists and coil her entire body.
“What do you want?” She was very proud that she sounded composed, and not scared out of her wits.
“You keep asking that,” she said, cocking her head as she stared at Elena. “I don’t think you’ll get an answer you’ll like.”
“You want them back, don’t you?” Elena asked.
Katherine cocked her head to the side. “No, actually, I don’t. Not for long anyway. I imagine I’ll get bored with them eventually and I never liked being tied down.”
“Then why are you here?” Elena gaped. “Why are you doing this?”
Katherine was silent for a long time, her face almost pensive. “Because Elena, they’re mine. They have my mark on them and you’ll never wash that off.”
“No,” Elena shook her head. “You don’t own them, you don’t claim them, or-”
“Do you think they’re yours?” Katherine asked with a curious glance. “Do you want to claim them?”
Elena glared and Katherine grinned widely.
“You’re more like me than I thought,” she said. “You don’t like it when others try to steal what’s yours.”
“I haven’t stolen anything from you,” Elena said heatedly. “Though, no, I don’t like you coming to town and tormenting Stefan and Damon.”
Katherine stood up abruptly, shoving the chair violently away, colliding with the wall and shelves next to Elena. She gasped and jumped, scooting back away from the chair with irrational fear.
Katherine laughed again, giggling at her. “God, your heartbeat, Elena, it’s so loud. So fast. You have no idea what a tease it is to hear that.”
Elena didn’t say anything-there was really nothing she could say.
“Now,” Katherine continued. “How attached are you to your family?”
“What the fuck kind of question is that?”
“Because, these two,” Katherine ignored her, pointing to the two compelled people she’d brought in. “Are father and daughter. He absolutely dotes on her, but she’s mad at him right now-you can’t really tell right now, but it’s true.”
“What-”
“She doesn’t have a mother either-you know what that’s like, right?” Katherine’s words were sharp-literally, they felt like they were cutting into Elena’s skin, bit by bit.
“What do you want?” She demanded.
“I mean, you have Isobel here, sure,” Katherine rolled her eyes. “But she doesn’t care about you. You wouldn’t be here if she did.”
“And there’s John, but he hardly counts,” she shrugged, walking over to the two people, both of them still staring blankly at nothing.
“The point is, there are two people here. Who do I kill?”
It took a moment for Elena to comprehend what Katherine was asking. “Excuse me?”
“I could kill the daughter, rob the man of his child and possibly destroy his life. Or, do I make her an orphan, Elena?” Katherine smiled. For a second, Elena was struck by her much she looked like her, like she was watching herself do these things and that just made this all even more sickening. “Do I make her like you?”
Elena took a deep, shuddering breath, her dread mixing in with horror, pumping hot and alive through her.
“You’re insane,” Elena muttered, shaking her head in horrified protest.
“No, I’m very sane, I believe. I am fully and completely aware of what I’m doing.”
“You’re just going to kill them?”
“Well, only one of them. But I’ll go find Jeremy if you don’t pick.”
You can’t do that, Elena wanted to cry but she knew it would fall on deaf ears. “What do you want?”
The joy faded out of Katherine’s face, leaving her cold and soulless.
“I want you to make a choice, Elena,” she said plainly. “Who do I kill? Do I orphan the girl, or does he lose a child?”
“But why?” she demanded. “What’s the point?”
“You need to grow up,” she said, voice clipped. “That’s why.”
“I thought you wanted Stefan and Damon-”
“The Salvatores come later, Elena,” she explained, waving her hand around. “This is just…foreplay. I’m getting to know you, you may say.”
She put a hand on both their heads. “Now, make a choice, Elena, or I get myself a new plaything in the form of your brother.”
“I-no, I-I can’t.” She couldn’t chose, she couldn’t be responsible for their deaths. She just couldn’t, her insides were squirming and her mind rebelled at the thought and-
“Fair enough,” Katherine said, heading to the exit. “I’ll say hi for you.”
“The man, okay! The man!” Elena shouted desperately, her eyes tearing up.
The words came on instinct, the first thing that popped into her head, no forethought. She couldn’t bring herself to seriously consider the decision, to actually pick who lives and who dies. That just made it worse, really. She had condemned a man to death on random.
“Hmm,” she murmured, giving Elena an appraising look. “Interesting.”
Katherine grabbed the man by the throat-and Elena thought she’d just snap his neck and be done with it, quick and painless. But Katherine stared the man down and Elena saw a flash of life appear in his eyes, fear widening them. He gave a terrified scream, abandoning pride in the face of fear, before Katherine drove her fangs into his neck. There was an odd tearing noise that sounded like flesh being chewed, blood spurting out and the man kept screaming and kicking, punching and clawing at Katherine’s back and pulling at her hair weakly.
It didn’t take long. Less than a minute and then his struggles slowed, growing weaker until Katherine stopped and dropped his body on the floor like it was nothing.
The room was utterly silent then, but Elena could still hear him screaming, ringing in her ears, the sound forever embedded in her mind.
Then Katherine snapped the girl’s neck.
Elena shrieked. “You said you would only kill one!”
“No, I said I’d kill the one you pick. I never said I wouldn’t kill the other after.”
Elena gaped at her-and part of her felt ridiculous for doing so, because she knew Katherine was a monster, this should not be surprising-but she couldn’t stop the horror she felt at the sight, the shock and revulsion growing in her.
Katherine took a look at her horror-struck fast and burst into laughter. “Elena, you should just be happy Jeremy is safe, for now. It would be so easy.”
Before she left, she muttered something to Isobel, and then kicked the body of the man towards Elena.
Elena couldn’t her eyes off the bodies-the man was bloody, a pool of his blood spreading towards Elena. His empty eyes were staring at her, or so it seemed. Elena scooted backwards, trying to get far away from them as possible. She could get up and move elsewhere-she wasn’t bound or tied up-but she couldn’t move. She could barely breathe.
She felt her food coming back up and Elena didn’t want to, felt utterly humiliated by it, but she turned her head to the side and puked all over the floor.
*****
“You know, when I said call anyone who wants in on the kill, I was expecting more takers,” Damon said crankily.
Anna shrugged, not quite glaring at Damon, but there was nothing friendly in her stare. “Harper is the only one I trust. Everyone else betrayed my mom.”
“Anna!” Jeremy came in and enveloped her into a tight hug. “Thank you for coming,” he said.
Her features softened into something tender. Anna held on to Jeremy, a tiny smile on her face. She almost looked like a genuine teenager, young and pretty.
Oh, Damon noted as he looked back and forth between them. “So,” he said, grinning smugly. “Are all Gilberts turned-on by vampires, or is it just this generation?”
“Shut up, Damon,” they both said in unison.
“I’m just saying. Elena, you, even John here seems to still carry a torch for Isobel.”
At which point, John came into the room, raised an eyebrow at how close Anna and Jeremy were standing and sighed loudly.
“Really, Jeremy? Really?”
“John, not now,” Stefan hissed as he walked by.
“Uncle John, it’s okay-”
John didn’t acknowledge Stefan, but held up a hand to silence Jeremy. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Anna spared another unfriendly glance at John, her eyes narrowed in distaste, before she turned back to Jeremy. “I need you to invite Harper in.”
“No,” John said. “Absolutely not, he can wait outside.”
“Jeremy,” Anna said softly. “It’s okay, Harper won’t hurt us.”
“It’s cool man, come in,” Jeremy agreed, nodding.
“Jeremy!” John scolded, rolling his eyes in disgust.
Damon smirked at John, advancing towards him with a gleeful expression.
“So, John, how does it feel to have both young Gilberts head-over-heels in love with vampires?”
John stared at him, shaking his head. “Elena has been kidnapped and you’re wasting your time trying to irritate me?”
“Why not? So are you.” Damon smirked.
John gave Damon this look then-it’s somehow different than any other expression John had ever shown him, not anger or smugness or disgust, which all came with John’s amusement at tormenting him. It’s something dry and contemptuous and utterly cold.
“What could she possibly see in you?” he asked.
For one split second, Damon was starkly reminded of his father. He saw red-it was only for a moment, but Damon wanted to kill John right where he stood.
He didn’t like the implication that he was wasting time-they were waiting for Bonnie to arrive and perform her locator spell-and that he didn’t care about Elena. John knew nothing of their relationship, nothing of the way all three of them were bonded and tied together, how well they fit into one another. He knew nothing of the complicated relationship between him and Stefan, or the delicate way they both cherished Elena, or the heartbreaking way Elena cared for them both. John treated it like it was worthless.
Damon had never given a shit what anyone else thought of him, but this bothered him. Like John was trying to stick his filthy fingers in where they didn’t belong and wreck what belonged to Damon, this precious romance for three of theirs and only theirs.
Damon wanted John to attack him, so he’d finally have a reason to murder the guy, fucking finally. The only reason he didn’t was because Jeremy was standing right here and he was sure Elena would protest at murdering him in front of Jeremy. There was also the matter of John’s usefulness in this rescue mission. But after that, all bets were off. Maybe he could kill John on the rescue mission-claim he got caught in the crossfire.
Of course, there was still that matter of all the material John had on them-Elena had tried but she hadn’t been able to find all of it-and how it would be mailed to the Council in the event of his death-but Damon was on the council. He could just…intercept it in time.
There were so many things he could say to John, so many reason and explanations he could give-but he didn’t deserve any of them.
Damon stuck with his usual smirk, chuckling. “Well, have you seen me?”
“I understand Stefan’s appeal,” John said, more to himself than Damon, as if he were speaking his thoughts out loud. “Girls tend to fall for the tortured, brooding soul act. But you…what could she possibly see in a monster like you?”
Damon tilted his head back, lacing his fingers behind his head. He was going to enjoy this.
“Even given thought to the idea that maybe Elena finds monsters appealing? That I’m her walk on the dark side? That maybe, she might be curious about what it’s like to be-”
“Hope,” Stefan interrupted and the two of them turned to face him.
Stefan just had to go ruin it-and Damon was so enjoying the growing anger in John’s face, loved doing anything to shake his above-it-all view and ruin that mask of smug neutrality.
“What?” John asked.
“Elena is a good person. She likes to see the best of people, no matter what.” Stefan glanced at Damon, his gaze calm and neutral, and it made Damon’s shoulders itch. “She looks at Damon and sees hope for him.”
Damon gave a casual shrug, deliberately brushing off whatever Stefan-and by proxy, Elena-thought or said about him.
“You’d like to think so,” Damon replied, because they were both wrong-even if the thought of it made him uncomfortable and edgy.
“I do.” Stefan nodded. He wasn’t smiling, his face schooled in a perfect blank expression but his eyes were soft and pensive and Damon didn’t want to think about it.
John was silent as well, no longer glaring at Damon but staring at Stefan curiously, like he’d done something unexpected.
“Elena has a good heart,” John said cautiously. “Don’t ruin it.”
Bonnie arrived right then, and after yelling furiously at them-mostly at Damon, really-for Elena getting kidnapped, she started getting to work on the locator spell, demanding Elena’s hairbrush from Jeremy.
“Must be nice to have a witch on your side,” John grumbled as he called Isobel again, for the third or fourth time now.
“Envy’s not a good look on you, John,” Damon said, but John didn’t seem to be paying attention-he seemed to be angry at his phone.
“Guys,” Alaric said, who was still adjusting to all these people. “What exactly is the plan?”
“We find Elena, storm in, get her, get out, kill anyone who stands in our way,” Damon said.
“That’s it? Wow, that doesn’t have potential to fail at all.”
“Do you have anything better?” Damon snipped.
“It’s a horrible plan,” Alaric said.
“I agree,” John said. “You don’t think Katherine has people following her? People guarding her? You don’t think Katherine would kill her before you got close?”
“That’s why there’s so many of us. We have us, Anna and Harper, Bonnie, Alaric and you. And Bonnie can set fires with her mind. And I’m sure irritating people to death is one of your skills.”
“As it’s yours, I believe,” John muttered.
“No, he’s right,” Anna said. “And Katherine does have vampire minions. I’m not sure how many stayed with her afterwards, how many left and how many you’ve killed so far, but if you’re not going to use the Gilbert device, we’re going to need a diversion.”
“We would need a distraction,” Stefan jumped in. “Something to keep Katherine-or any of her people-from attacking Elena and killing her.”
“Well, I’m hoping a sudden siege would be enough to distract her-maybe a few well-placed fires-Stefan, you still have your flamethrower?”
“No, Damon,” John shook his head. “We need to distract Katherine herself, directly.”
“Well, then how?”
“The Gilbert device, Damon-”
“And I told you, we aren’t using it.”
“Damon,” Jeremy said, gritting his teeth. “If you have something that could help, use it.”
“We use it, and John will kill Stefan and I. And probably your girlfriend and Harper.”
Jeremy glared and walked off to find Bonnie, exasperated.
“How’s the spell coming?” Damon asked Stefan, pulling him aside.
Stefan gave a weary nod. “It’s coming.”
His brother was frayed at the edges, worry marring his youthful face. Damon could smell the desperation on him.
“Hey,” Damon said, taking Stefan’s face in his hand, meeting his brother’s anxious eyes-and he didn’t care if anyone was watching, if anyone else thought the act was too intimate, especially for him. “We’ll get her back. I promise, little brother.”
Damon knew they’d get her back. They would. One way or another.
*****
Katherine watched her.
Elena didn’t know how long it was since Katherine killed two people just to fuck with her and Elena threw up her breakfast. Eventually, Isobel got some other vampire to clean up her vomit and the bodies. After that-god knew how long-Katherine came back, sat in a chair and just watched her.
Elena had stopped shaking by then. She was still scared, in the back of her mind, but she felt too tired to truly show it. Or not tired, but drained-like the events of last night and this morning had exhausted her capacity to feel frightened. Like, all Elena could do now was settle in this complacency while she tried to figure out how to escape.
Escape was difficult. When Katherine wasn’t around, Isobel was here. When Isobel wasn’t around, it was some other vampires Elena had never seen in her life. She was more scared of them than Isobel; at least she had a vague idea on how to deal with Isobel.
She couldn’t make a run for it-everyone here was faster than her. She couldn’t fight back; they were all so much stronger. And she didn’t have a weapon and she couldn’t make an effective weapon out of anything here except the chairs, maybe. But that would require breaking the chair legs off and there was no way Elena was capable of that.
She didn’t really want to think on the fact that she didn’t have many options here. She just didn’t.
Katherine was watching her. Elena stared back, but she was careful not to meet her eyes.
“Tell me about the Salvatores.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Katherine said, a cruel smile on her face Elena would never be able to imitate.
Elena was silent for a long time, merely glaring at Katherine. “They hate you,” she said coldly.
“So I hear,” Katherine replied and she was conversational about it, casual. “And yet, the first women they both fall for looks just like me. I wonder what that could possibly mean.”
Elena gritted her teeth, her insides swimming uncomfortably. It’s a question that’s long plagued her, ever since she found that picture of Katherine Stefan kept. She didn’t want to be the replacement girlfriend, didn’t want to be in their bed with them thinking solely of Katherine, but she knew the truth.
“You’re right,” Elena said, “I suppose it means they want a better version of you.” Elena couldn’t resist grinning cheekily at that, and wondered if maybe Damon would approve.
Katherine didn’t say anything, her eyes cold before she burst into laughter. It was eerie, the way she laughed-or rather, not her laughter but the fact her eyes were dead, even as she grinned and smiled. “You think you’re so special to them.”
“I know I am.”
“That’s cocky of you.”
And there was Katherine’s first mistake-thinking she could make Elena doubt Stefan and Damon’s love. Because she couldn’t. She knew how deeply Stefan felt for her, how utterly attached he was. And Damon treated her with a gentleness he saved for no one, even as he refused to back down, hide from her, or sugarcoat anything.
“They prefer me to you,” Elena sneered. “They’d take me over you a thousand times over.”
Katherine made a tsking noise, smiling at Elena. “I only had them for about a month, but you can’t imagine the things I did with them. I’ve taken bits and pieces of them no one will ever see. You’ll never be able to have that.”
Katherine did have pieces of Stefan and Damon that Elena never would-poisoned pieces, things she took and ripped away and ruined. Things Elena didn’t want, things Elena wanted to fix and put back together. She had a vague suspicion of what Katherine was talking and it made her smile, small and secret, all to herself.
“Maybe you do,” she said. “But I have them in the same bed. At the same time. Together. Without compulsion. Did you ever manage that?”
Elena couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth, that she was saying this, out loud, when she had tried so hard to swallow them down and not dwell on it before. It didn’t feel the slightest bit shameful anymore-or rather, shame didn’t matter here. It felt like it was hers. And even Katherine couldn’t touch it.
“Did you ever manage to get them to fuck all on their own? To bring them together like that without compulsion, or coercion? Cause I sure did.”
It gave Elena a slight giddy feeling, the reaction that caused. Katherine went very still, head cocked to the side, her mouth set in a silent snarl. Her hands were at her side, clenched together like she wanted to hurt something.
In the background, Isobel’s eyes went a little wide, the first real emotion to show itself vividly on her face-she wasn’t expecting what Elena had said about them, was not expecting that shock.
Elena liked it. Liked pissing off Katherine, liked that in this way, Elena was the superior one. She liked shocking Isobel, showing her that there was more to Elena than she ever would know and ever could touch.
Elena smirked at Katherine.
In retaliation, Katherine leapt out of the chair and moving so quickly Elena didn’t even notice, drew her nails across Elena’s face.
She screeched, mostly out of surprise-the pain wasn’t much, but it stung-bringing a hand to her cheek. Four shallow but bleeding wounds covered her left cheek.
Elena glanced up at Katherine, tears welling up in her eyes from the sudden pain but glaring viciously all the same.
Katherine stood up above her, lording over her with her hands on her hips, her smile harsh and callous. “You’re more interesting that I thought,” she said. There was approval in her voice and face, smiling down at Elena like she’d finally done something worthwhile.
“Fuck you,” Elena snarled.
Faster than humanly possible, Katherine grabbed her by the throat and shoved her roughly against the shelves, which dug painfully into Elena’s back. Elena couldn’t even make a noise, Katherine was squeezing so tight. Her feet dangled off the ground, legs kicking back and forth but not connecting with anything.
Katherine leaned in close until she was breathing against Elena’s cheek, still smiling but gleeful now, obscenely happy. She loosened her grip just enough so Elena could make some noise. Katherine then dragged her tongue down the bleeding wounds, eyes sliding shut and moaning slightly. A wave of revulsion hit Elena and she whimpered loudly. She wanted to turn away, get her off, make her stop but Katherine wouldn’t.
There was something sickeningly wrong about her double feeding on her, even if she was just lapping at Elena’s cheek. And there was nothing more dehumanizing than be treated as a plaything, as food, rather than a person.
Katherine pulled away, looking Elena’s straight in the eyes, refusing to let Elena look away. Her smile was bloody, teeth stained red. “I’m going to break you, Elena. Rip you apart, tear you to pieces and put you back together any way I wish. You don’t deserve that face, but maybe I’ll make you worthy of it.”
Elena would be lying if she said the implication didn’t terrify her.
Katherine shrugged, utterly causal. “Or not. I could change my mind. I get bored so easily.”
“Go to hell,” Elena said, and spat at Katherine. It was a completely suicidal, stupid thing to do, one that Elena knew she’d regret, but the only thing she was thinking about how much she hated Katherine, seeing nothing but red in front of her.
The smile faded, dropping off her face, her eyes closed. She gritted her teeth. Elena saw the veins flare out around her eyes and when she opened them, they were a dark, almost black, shade of red.
Katherine squeezed Elena’s throat harder. She raised Elena high above her, her fingers tight and constricting. Elena couldn’t breathe. She tried to claw frantically at Katherine’s hands, nothing. She tried to tear at Katherine’s arms, and nothing. Elena started kicking then, and her feet actually connected with Katherine’s stomach but still nothing, no reaction.
Katherine broke into a bland smile. She loosened her grip at last and Elena broke out into desperate gasps, trying to catch her breath.
Katherine roughly pulled Elena towards her, until there was barely any space separating them, Katherine breathing on her. Katherine’s breath smelled like Elena’s blood. She ran a hand through Elena’s hair, twining her fingers in the strands before she caressed Elena’s face. Her touch was sweet and gentle, and Elena flinched and shuddered, trying to inch away on instinct but there was nowhere to go.
There was nowhere to run.
“Let me promise you something, sweetheart,” she said, her eyes beaming as she said the words. “You aren’t going to make it out of here alive.”
Elena watched wide-eyed, wishing she could squash down the pure naked fear in her as Katherine licked the sharp points of her fangs.
Elena thought she was going to feed on her again and do a proper job of it this time-maybe even kill her this time and she was about to die. She lunged, clawing her fingers and aiming her hands towards Katherine’s eyes, because she was going to die and she didn’t want it to end like this.
Elena opened her mouth in a scream-somewhere between terror and rage-and Katherine tore into her own wrist and shoved the bleeding wound into Elena’s mouth.
Elena tried to close her mouth and keep the blood from flowing, but she just wound up closing her mouth over Katherine’s wrist and all she could taste was metallic blood in her mouth. Elena tried to stop, to close her mouth or simply not swallow but Katherine shoved her wrist in so forcefully, until there was so much blood all the way down Elena’s throat, until Elena was choking on it.
Finally, she tore her wrist away. Elena gasped and whined as she did so, utterly humiliated, tears of shame filling her eyes.
Katherine laughed at, a dark and rich sound, looking down on her.
She was going to die. Elena was going to die, Katherine was going to kill her now and turn her, and-
Elena stood up as fast as she could, not sticking around for the killing blow and tried to run past Katherine, not even thinking about how impossible escape would be.
Katherine shoved her back easily. She shoved her down on the ground and held her arms over her head, still smiling at her.
“You’re not going to leave here,” she said. For a second, Elena thought she was compelling her, but she didn’t feel any compulsion to stay, just fear and anger and pain. “I told you, you’re not getting out of here alive,” Katherine said, like it was an irrefutable fact, eyes gleaming, smug.
“If you leave, it’s because I say you can. If you sleep, it’s because I say you can. If you go take a piss, it’s because I say you can. Everything you do depends on me.”
Elena’s heart was pounding madly in her chest-she could feel fear pumping through her. She was trying so hard not to scream, or whimper, or anything stupid like that, but all she wanted to do was cry and go home.
She wanted Stefan to hold her and Damon to make her laugh, and Bonnie to smile at her, and Jeremy to steal her food while she tried to eat dinner, and Caroline to talk with her about boys and make-up. She wanted her home.
Katherine flashed a smile and walked away after that, leaving Isobel and some other vampires to guard Elena. There was blood on her mouth and chin and shirt. Elena gagged, trying to vomit it out of her system but nothing came up. It didn’t matter how much Elena tried to wipe it away, it had already dried, caked to her. It was already too late.
She glanced at Isobel, who was watching Katherine walk away with narrowed eyes. She turned back to Elena, her gaze like steel but her mouth was trembling, like she wanted to say something.
Elena glared at her on principle and resisted the urge to curl up into a ball and sob.
*****
Bonnie had gotten Elena’s location. It was some upscale home on foreclosure on the outskirts of town. Damon felt a surge of anticipation hit him when she finally got it, not quite excitement and not quite worry but a sense of finality that yes, they’re going to do this, storm the castle, save Elena, and bring her home.
Then John’s cell phone rang. Everyone in the room went still, staring at John.
“Isobel?” he asked.
Damon could hear her voice over the phone, calm as she explained to him to where Elena was and that he needed to come get her, as soon as possible.
Damon snatched the phone away from John before he even noticed.
“What the fuck have you done to her?” he hissed into the phone, ignoring John’s protests.
“Hi, Damon.”
“If Elena doesn’t make it through this, Isobel, I’m going to tear you limb from limb. And then I’ll rip off that pendant, drag you out to the sun and watch you burn. Do you understand me?”
“Still melodramatic as ever, I see,” Isobel said dryly on the phone.
“Do you understand me?” He let a snarl fill his voice, a real one, animal and angry.
“Yes,” she sighed. “Do you want to know how many vampires there are, or are you just going to irritate me?”
Damon paused for a moment, thought about hanging up just to piss her off but-no, he couldn’t pull his usual games right now. “How many?”
“There are eight of them, besides Katherine and me. Two in the foyer, two in the living room, two down in the basement to watch over Elena and two more upstairs. They’re all canon fodder, though. Katherine is the one to watch for.”
Isobel explained the floor plan, the layout of the house and the best method of attack: the back door. Damon grabbed a pen and started taking notes.
“I’m going to try to lure her away from Elena, to a different area. You have the best chances of getting to her if Katherine is far away from her.”
“Fine,” he agreed.
“When you get here, I’ll take out the two vampires guarding her and get Elena out of the basement. I’ll try to get out of the house as well, but one of you damn well better be there to get her out, I don’t know if I’ll last that far away.”
“Why don’t you just grab Elena and get out of there now?” he asked.
“Because I’m no match against Katherine. I wouldn’t make it out and if she knew Elena mattered to me, Katherine will kill her just to spite me. Or kill me and Elena will be left alone in there. I need more than just me for this.”
“Well, we have the fucking cavalry,” Damon growled.
Isobel ignored him. “Give me the signal when you come in.”
“What’s the signal?”
“Hopefully, a clusterfuck going on upstairs.”
Damon chuckled. “Fine, but-Hey!”
Stefan grabbed the phone out of his hand, completely ignoring him.
“Why are you helping us?” he breathed, Stefan’s voice anxious and weary, so close to wit’s end.
Isobel paused before she spoke, taking a breath. “This is getting out of hand,” she said. She lost the snappy, dry tone she had with Damon. There was something like genuine concern in her, or as much concern she was capable of.
“Katherine said she wouldn’t go too far if Elena just gave her you two, but-Elena’s not giving in and…I don’t think she’s going to survive the night. Get here fast.”
Stefan nodded as if Isobel could actually see him.
“How is she?” he asked, tiny and small, and it reminded Damon so much when they were kids growing up and Stefan needed Damon to protect him, even as Stefan was protecting him the best way he could.
Isobel hesitated. “She’s putting on a brave face,” Isobel said gently. “She’s trying so hard to be brave, but she’s scared out of her wits. Hurry.”
She hung up then.
“What’s going on?” Bonnie asked immediately. Damon opened his mouth to make some obnoxious comment about Bonnie’s lack of listening skills before he remembered not everyone in the room had his enhanced hearing.
He filled them all in on Isobel’s info and her plan.
“Can we trust her?” Alaric asked, his voice wavering and it took a moment for Damon to remember oh yeah, that’s his wife.
John nodded and took his cell phone back. “But just for good measure, I’m calling the Council.”
“Excuse me?” Damon asked.
“Oh shut up, Damon,” John growled at him, directing a harsh glare in his direction as he dialed. “We need as much back-up as we can get. We are getting the Council in on this, even if it’s just Liz and her deputies, I believe some are clued in.”
“They’re not part of this,” Damon said.
“My niece has been kidnapped,” John hissed and Damon wondered how much he really wanted to say daughter. “And I’m on the Council. That makes them part of this. They can go in through the front while we go in through the back.”
Damon sighed loudly and threw up his hands. “Fine, they can come.” Even if that fucked up his plans a bit-it’ll be a bit difficult to kill John in the midst of the crossfire if a Founder’s Council’s member noticed.
But there was no way Damon was going to regulate himself. He was in there to save Elena first and he’ll rip off however many vampire heads off in order to do so. Including Katherine.
“Are you sure you can trust her?” Stefan asked. “I’m pretty sure she helped kidnap Elena in the first place, and if this goes bad-”
“Isobel would protect Elena,” John said, like it was absolute fact.
“You sure?”
“She’s basically the only thing we agree on.”
“Protecting Elena?”
“Getting her away from you.”
Stefan didn’t quite flinch away, but Damon could tell he wanted to, the words cutting deeper than they normally would.
It was really just another reason to rip out John’s throat.
“Guys,” Anna said. “We need to get going. Now.”
Chapter Eleven // Back to Masterpost