Tangled Fate

The Dinner Party

April 3, 2010

Stefan watched as the stone he threw out on the lake skipped over and over again, more than it should have if it had been human's throw. His mobile phone pressed to his ear. The green eyed vampire observed Louise inside of the lake house before turning back to the lake.

"Tyler Lockwood ran away from home last night." Damon told him brother happily.

"How do you know?" Stefan raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I heard it from Sheriff Forbes, who heard it from a very distraught Carol Lockwood, thus, ending our werewolf chapter, bringing us to..."

"...killing Elijah." Stefan finished.

"Exactly."

Stefan always seemed to be the brother of reasoning. "Well, it's not going to be easy. He's crafty."

"Well, I've got a crafty little dagger."

"He's an Original." Stefan complained. "We don't know what all that encompasses."

"Oh, trust me, Stefan. I'm gonna dot all my t's. I don't want any surprises."

"Wow," Stefan breathed out, genuinely surprised by his brother's actions. "Damon, tell me you're actually gonna be careful for once?"

He could practically hear the eye roll. "Yes, Stefan, I've become you. How tragic for both of us. Got to run. I've a murder to plan. Busy day."

━ ➶ 𓆉｡˚ ✧ ༉‧₊˚. ━

The first thing that Louise noticed when she woke in the morning was that Damon never came to bed. The light was still on from her adventures into her history text books, other books were scattered over the bedspread, and her arm had a cramp in it from sleeping on it.

Damon never came to bed.

She sat up, stretching her tired muscles and pushed the books farther on the bed. The pain in her heart hurts far worse than her cramped arm.

It was light outside and a quick glance to the clock on the nightstand revealed it to be eight in the morning.

Where was Damon?

She swung her legs off the bed and stood up, rubbing her eyes. She walked out of the room, still rubbing her eyes. As she went around the boarding house, she still didn't locate her boyfriend. She hurried to the living room, looking through the window and frowned when she didn't see his blue camaro in the driveway.

The brunette yawned, finding her mouth dry and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. She pulled a bottle of water out the fridge, unscrewed the cap, and took a massive gulp. The cool water felt good on her dry throat.

As she looked out the window, she thought of Damon. She wondered if he's been out all night. She does vaguely remember hearing the water from the shower run during the night. She's so worried about Damon but knew they are both too stubborn to end this fight. Always before with any fight they had, which were minimal, it would always end with an 'I'm sorry' and myriad of kisses through the night.

But this one was much bigger. It wasn't over John or Vivienne or anything else. It was about their difference of opinion over Louise's life. Her life, the one she was ready, willing, and able to give up in order to protect him and everyone else she loved. As much as she wanted to call a truce, she wouldn't. She believed she was right and wasn't going to give in.

She put the bottle down and started a pot of coffee. Then she moved all of her homework from the bedroom to downstairs on the coffee table in the living room. She pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and sat down in the arm chair.