A/N : To tell you all the truth, I wasn't sure that I was going to continue this fic. But a lot of you have been asking for an update. And I've been too frustrated at the recent developments on TVD this season, I can't even write romantic Delena. So here we go...
CHAPTER THREE – Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Stefan walked inside the only bar in the most secluded part of Salem, Illinois, called Pub 13. He let his eyes roam around the establishment. Music was loudly blaring from the jukebox.
"The boy with the thorn in his side,
Behind the hatred there lies,
A murderous desire for love..."
The place was almost empty, except for two people playing pool, and receptionist who's hand was now placed firmly on his chest.
"We're closed," the receptionist informed him, her eyes blank.
Stefan checked his watch. It wasn't even 9 o'clock in the evening. He looked behind them, and pointed at the two men playing pool. "They're inside," he said to her.
"We're closed," the woman repeated in a monotone voice.
Stefan looked at the receptionist's name tag. "Listen...Karen," he said in a hushed tone. "I need to go inside."
"We're closed," Karen told him again.
"Karen!" a voice called in his familiar British accent. "It's alright, Doll. You may let him in."
Karen stepped out of Stefan's way and began to walk back to her podium, when Stefan grabbed her arm and made her look into his eyes.
"Go home. You'll remember none of this when you wake up tomorrow," Stefan compelled her. The woman nodded her head, repeated what he said, and then turned towards the door and left to pub.
"Enzo," Stefan nodded his head towards the vampire.
"Little Salvatore," Enzo greeted in return.
Stefan turned his attention to the other vampire inside the pub. The man currently angling a shot with his cue on the pool table. "Brother..." he whispered, before he tried to approach him.
Damon merely ignored him, as he continued with his shot. Enzo's hand blocked Stefan, stopping him from getting near Damon. "Queue starts behind me, Mate," Enzo said with an annoying grin. "We're in the middle of a game. You need to wait your turn."
Stefan stared at the hand that Enzo placed on his chest, and then glared at Damon's friend. He gave him a smirk, and then, without warning, grabbed both sides of his head and snapped his neck. Enzo's body crumpled unconsciously to the floor.
Damon briefly met his brother's eyes, before going back to his pool game. "That was rude."
"He deserved it," Stefan replied, staying frozen in place, not wanting to alarm Damon.
"I doubt that," Damon said, giving his trademark smirk. "After all, he was the only one who succeeded in finding a way to bring back someone you gave up on so easily." He stood up straight to face Stefan. "Well? Let's get on with this, shall we? Bring the others out...let's have a party."
"I don't kno-" Stefan to to answer.
"Oh, come on, Brother," Damon interrupted him. "Don't insult my intelligence by lying to me," he scoffed. "We both know you can't take me all by yourself. You can come out now, Alaric."
Alaric stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the Salvatore brothers, giving Damon a nod as a greeting.
Damon merely shook his head and took a sip of his bourbon. "That just leaves us with the one who manipulated you into coming here," he retorted. "Enter Elena."
Elena stepped out from behind Ric, and nervously approached Damon, who held out his hand abruptly to halt her.
"Don't even..." Damon warned her. He shook his head. "I must say, the Blunder twins are getting real good at this," he growled. "Next time you see them, tell them I said that any time I have the opportunity in the future to screw them over, count on getting screwed," he said in a menacing tone.
"Damon," Elena whispered his name.
Damon ignored her, and turned his attention back to Stefan. "So...how is the best goddamn mechanic of Savannah? I appreciate all the work you did fixing the Camaro, but you can't keep her. She's mine...you can't have her." he told Stefan.
"Come home with us, and she's yours," Stefan replied.
"This isn't a negotiation, Brother," Damon warned him. "I want my Baby back. And I will have her."
Stefan took the keys out of his pocket and waved them in front of Damon's face, before snatching them back, and returning them to his pocket. "Like I said...you can have her when you come home with us."
"You're coming home too?" Damon gasped with feigned shock. "You done being Dean's bitch yet?" he asked mockingly. "Speaking of bitch...you still shacking up with that hot wildcat-"
"Leave Ivy out of this!" Stefan snapped.
Damon hold his hand up in mock surrender. He shifted his gaze to Elena, and then back to Stefan. "She doesn't know," he deduced. "Oops...my bad. Sorry, Elena. Looks like you are shit out of luck. Little brother's moved on from you."
"Good for him. He's allowed to be happy. We all are. I thought we've made peace with this," Elena pleaded to Damon with her eyes.
"Oh, that's right...you still have that boy toy! That bastard you met from the hospital," Damon recalled. "Let's face it, Elena. Fake bad boy-wannabe is NOT going to do it from you. You won't be satisfied unless you have a Salvatore in both arms...both wrapped around your fingers," he chuckled derisively. "Oh, well...have fun slumming it!"
Elena shook her head in frustration, her nails biting her palms as she clenched her fists. "No, Damon...listen to me! What I had with Liam...it was never real!" She squeezed her eye shut, and the tears started to fall. "You died..."
"Yes, I did," Damon nodded. "And you honored my memory by placing everything that reminded you of me inside a box, and them putting them away. And if that wasn't enough, you had my 'best friend' compel you you to erase your so-called love from your mind," he said in an angry whisper.
"You weren't there!" Elena yelled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I was drowning in pain, Damon. I couldn't spend all of eternity like that!"
"So you say," Damon scoffed.
"Are you seriously telling me that if the situation was reversed, that you wouldn't have done the same thing?" Elena asked him.
Damon stepped closer to her until they were toe to to, staring deeply into her eyes. "No, I wouldn't," he replied, without breaking his gaze. "I'll tell you what I would have done though. I would have scoured the earth to find a way to bring you back," he told her, his voice quivering with anger. "Because I never give up. Not on you. I always fight. I always choose you," he reminded her.
Elena tried and failed to contain a sob. "Then don't give up on us now!" she begged. "Fight for us. Please, Damon...choose to forgive me!" She let out another sob, and placed her hands to cup his face. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry!"
Damon gently shoved her hands away. "Problem is...I don't believe you," he said, shaking his head. "And I'm tired, Elena. I can't keep fighting for us, when I'm the only one doing the fighting."
"Damon, please..." Elena pleaded, starting to sob hysterically.
Damon huffed softly. "If it had happened to him," he said, tilting his head over to Stefan. "...you wouldn't have second thoughts of finding a way to bring him back. You wouldn't have accepted his death so easily. You wouldn't have just give up on him."
Elena tried to approach closer to him one more time. "I love you, Damon," her declaration filled with such honest emotions.
"Bullshit," Damon spat, glowering menacingly at her. "You don't know what it means to love."
"That's enough, Damon!" Alaric warned him, while Stefan pulled Elena safely into her arms. She tried to struggle, but Stefan wouldn't let her go.
Damon glared at his brother and Elena, before he turned his attention back to Alaric. "Oh...he speaks," he said to him mockingly. "How have you been, Brutus...I mean, Buddy?"
"I didn't betray you," Ric denied vehemently.
"Of course, you didn't," Damon scoffed. "Everything you did was because of your honest intentions," he continued, staring at Ric in the eye. "The honest and honorable teacher and guardian...the one everyone look ups to," he retorted. "How's Merideth 2.0? You should go back and be with her. You never know...she might find a hot pediatrician, get married and move to Alaska, while you're out here wasting you time on me. Find yourself a new drinking buddy. We're all replaceable to you anyway, right?"
Alaric sighed loudly, shaking his head. "Damon, listen to me-"
"What? You think you can compel me like you did Elena?" Damon asked incredulously. "Your tricks won't work on me, Ric."
"No tricks, Damon," Ric denied. "I just want you to understand that I did what I had to do to make Elena's pain stop."
"And you did a damn good job" Damon told him. "BRA-fucking-VO, Buddy!" he added, as he did a mock slow clap. Without warning, he took his pool cue, and stabbed him in the gut. "Please accept my sincerest gratitude, pal..." he whispered in his ear, before Ric fell to the floor clutching his stomach.
"Damon!" Elena screamed. "Stop this!"
Damn ignored her, and bent over to get look into Ric's eyes. "Go home, Ric. Be a father-figure to Scrappy Doo, the Quarterback, and the little Hunter that could. I'm not in the mood to be saved." He turned to walk away.
"That's it?" Stefan's voice stopped him. "You're just going to walk away? You won't even listen to our side of the story?" he asked, as he helped pull the cue out of Ric's gut.
"I know what I need to know," Damon replied.
"You obviously know a lot, Damon..." Stefan scoffed. "How is that even possible?"
"Funny you should ask that, Stef..." Damon replied. "There's this blonde vampire who goes to Bonnie's memorial every damn day. And every damn day, she feels the need to relay the daily happenings in all of your lives," he informed them.
"Caroline..." Stefan muttered under his breath.
"Yep," Damon confirmed. "Yet another person disappointed by you." He made another attempt to walk away.
"And what about Bonnie?" Elena asked, trying to stall him. "What happened to Bonnie? Is she here?
"Do you see her anywhere in here?" Damon asked her. Elena shook her head no. "Then she must not be here!"
"Damon..." Elena tied to get him to talk some more.
Damon was in front of her in a flash. "Go home, Little Girl. There's nothing for you here."
All of a sudden, Damon felt himself being slammed up against the wall. "You leave me no choice, Buddy," Ric growl, as he tried to stick him with a vervain dart.
Then without warning, Ric, Stefan and Elena collectively screamed in pain. All three of them fell to the floor, clutching their heads, Damon the only one left standing. Another person stepped out from the shadows...a woman with long, dark hair and mocha-colored skin. Stefan recognized her from the Masquerade...a former friend of Katherine's.
"Lucy..."Stefan muttered her name under his breath.
"Good to see you again, Stefan," Lucy said, before amping up her power, making sue that no one got up from the ground. "I wish it was under different circumstances."
Damon fix his appearance, before standing beside Lucy. "Nice work."
"Let's just get out of here," Lucy told him.
Damon held up his index finger. "Just one more thing..." he said to her. He leaned over Stefan and reached into his pocket, taking his car keys. "I'm just getting back what's rightfully mine, Brother," he goaded Stefan with a smirk.
Damon walked towards his still-unconscious comrade. He bent over, lifted up Enzo's body, and slung him over his shoulders. He then turned to Lucy and nodded. "NOW, we can get out of here," he told her. Together, they all walked out the pub, leaving Ric, Stefan and Elena inside, almost unconscious and in a lot of pain.
Once they were out of the pub and reached the parking lot, Damon immediately looked around for his car. He didn't have to look very far to see where it was located. He noticed his 1969 Camaro convertible parked nearby.
"Hello, Baby..." Damon greeted his car with a smile. He turned to Lucy and asked. "You know one of the things I love most about this car?" Lucy shook her head. "She has a huge trunk space," he said to her, before opening the trunk, and shoving Enzo's body inside. Once he was done with that, he opened the passenger door for Lucy. "Get in," he ordered. Lucy nodded and obeyed without protest. Damon got in the driver's seat, and drove away.
They drove in silence for a while, Damon in deep thought. Finally, he sighed and turned to Lucy. "I thought you said you did a cloaking spell on us, to counter their locator spell? How is it that they still found us?" he growled.
"I didn't count on them using Stefan's blood to track you down," Lucy answered. "You two being blood brothers makes a more powerful tracking spell."
"Well...FIX IT!" Damon ordered her.
"I am!" Lucy snapped back. "Keep driving. I'm using a more powerful shrouding spell to cover our tacks," she told him, before she closed her eyes and started chanting.
Damon drove for hours, until they reached a town called Pontiac. He found the nearest bed and breakfast in town, The Three Roses. He compelled the owner to give them three rooms. He took Enzo's body out of the trunk, and carried him into his room. Once the other vampire was all settled in bed, Damon turned to Lucy.
"Did you get everything we'll need back in Salem?" he asked her.
"Yes," Lucy replied, as she took out a black pouch from her purse. "It's all right here.
"Good," Damon said. "Go get some rest," he told the witch. "We'll be out of here at first light." Lucy nodded in understanding, before turning away from him and entering her room.
Damon waited a few minutes, then retired to his room and locked the door. Inside, he went to the bathroom to wash his face before he went to bed. He stared int o the mirror, only the reflection wasn't his.
It had been months since it first happened, and he had grown accustomed to seeing her face, instead of his own reflection, whenever he looks at himself in the mirror. It used to freak him out, but not anymore.
"That wasn't nice," she chastised him.
"I'm not nice," Damon reminded her.
"Seriously, Damon...that was way too harsh," she scolded him.
"Yeah, that's just the kind of guy I am...I'm harsh," Damon pointed out. "And if you don't like it, then you can just find another host body for you to possess. Oh, no wait...you CAN'T! So why don't you just spare me the lectures?" he scowled at her.
"But, Damon-" she protested.
"But, Damon...nothing!" Damon interrupted her. "I don't wanna hear it."
"You didn't have to push them away!" she yelled at him. "You didn't have to hurt them!"
"I'm doing all this to save your ass...when what I really want to do is drop you on it!" Damon snapped at her.
"Damon-" she tried to argue.
"Shut up, BONNIE!"
~END OF CHAPTER THREE~
A/N :
*Whaaat? Bonnie's inside Damon's body? Talk about a bonding experience!
*The song playing in the jukebox inside the pub is called "Boy With The Thorn In His Side" by British alternative rock band, The Smiths.
*Any publicly recognizable people or locale do NOT belong to me.
*Be kind...REVIEW! Many thanks to all my readers.