The Newest Salvatore

Chapter 21

Elena was feeling frustrated. Her plan to reveal the supernatural world to Ottilie in a bid to scare her out of the Salvatores' lives forever was so far, not working. The little girl was still very much living in the mansion, tiptoeing around when Elena was there, avoiding her at all costs. Not that Elena minded. She despised the child and the fact that she had stolen the brothers' full attention from her.

Luckily for Elena, she still had one more trick up her sleeve, which she planned to put into action that weekend.

It was Saturday night, and Elena, Damon and Stefan were in the kitchen, all helping to make pizzas for their evening meal. Damon had been teasing Ottilie, telling her that he and Stefan made the best pizza because of the recipe that had been handed down to them from their Italian predecessors, and Ottilie was extremely excited to try it.

Elena was cutting up pizza toppings ready for them to decorate their pizzas with. Here we go, she thought, initiating her plan.

"Damon," she said, in her sweetest voice that signalled she wanted something from him. He huffed, turning towards her. "Could you go and find my bag and bring me the pot of seasoning that I've put in it? It's so good on pizzas. And Ottilie, could you go to the other room and bring me another onion?"

Damon shrugged and sped off, searching for a bag that Elena knew he wouldn't find, followed shortly by Ottilie. Taking a deep breath, she picked up a knife, and checking that Stefan wasn't watching, she plunged the knife she was holding deep into her arm, gasping in pain and sliding to the floor. She heard Stefan rush over to her, taking her gently in his arms, just as he used to. He looked around, checking that Ottilie was not in the room before quickly biting into his wrist and holding it to Elena's mouth

Just then, both Elena and Stefan heard a little gasp of horror. Ottilie had walked into the kitchen to find her Uncle and Elena, both seated on the floor, with blood dripping from Elena's arm, and from around her mouth where Stefan's wrist was. The little girl took a trembling step back away from them, backing accidently into Damon who was staring grimly at the scene in front of him.

"Otti..." he started, his mind whirling as he tried to think of a way to explain this to a child. The little girl stepped away from him and ran past him towards the front door of the house, knowing that she had to escape to safety.

Stefan left Elena, now healed, in the kitchen and followed Damon as they both ran over to her. She held up her hands and both brothers were suddenly frozen, unable to move. They could hear her shuddering breath as she panicked, terrified of the two men who she'd loved the most. Giving them one last, heartbroken look, she ran from the house.

It was at least 10 minutes before the immobilising spell wore off, and not once did Elena come to check if they'd managed to calm Ottilie. She was too busy cleaning her blood from the kitchen, thrilled that her plan had worked.

Ottilie ran towards the woods as fast as she could, remembering wryly how she had once before run towards the woods with no idea where she was going or what she'd do. Her mind was racing in time with her legs as she tried to think what had happened, what Damon and Stefan were. It was raining hard and she was soaked through in seconds, the water seeping through her clothes.

The brothers, once released from the little witch's spell, made straight for the front door, calling out for her. Damon was fuming, shouting at his brother, "What the hell do you think you were doing?"

Stefan yelled back, "Elena was dying, I had to do something!"

They ran straight into the rain, looking and listening for any signs of Ottilie, and shared panic-stricken looks when they found none. "I'll take the main road," instructed Damon, "You look in the woods. She can't have gotten too far in the few minutes we couldn't move. Call me if you find anything." His brother nodded grimly and sped off, searching for the little girl he now called his niece.

Stefan headed into the woods, calling frantically for Ottilie. He couldn't even imagine the terror, heartbreak and pain she must be feeling right now, having witnessed what to her would be such an unnatural event. He was kicking himself for not being more careful, but Elena was injured, and he had to heal her. The rain was even heavier now, and he could see his breath in the air as he exhaled.

He focused in on his hearing, trying to find any trace of a human heartbeat to track, but found nothing. She must be further away than we expected, he thought, grimacing at the idea that she'd been running as fast as she could for so long, and what that might mean for her heart condition.

He ran further into the forest, noting how the ground became uneven, and tree roots made for uncertain footholds. He stopped again, once more listening for any sign of life, turning quickly towards it as he picked up the sound of a human heart. It was beating furiously and unevenly, and he started to panic again as he sped towards the source of the sound.

He found her curled up into a ball on the ground, her light blue dress clinging to her skin, soaked through. Her lips were tinged with blue, whether from the cold or from her difficulty getting air in, he couldn't say, but he rolled her quickly onto her back and tilted her head back so that she could breathe easier.

Sucking in a ragged breath, he realised that his fingers were coated with blood, and he quickly checked her over for injuries, finding a long, deep scratch across her side, and an open wound on her head. He felt for his phone and called Damon.

"I've found her, Damon. In the woods. Meet me in the house, I'll bring her now." He heard his brother give a sigh of relief.

"Is she okay?" Damon asked, before his blood ran cold on hearing his brother's answer.

"No."

Stefan gathered the little girl into his arms, grimacing at the sound of her laboured breathing and racing heart. He sped as carefully as he could back to the house, anxious to get her warm and her injuries treated.

Damon was already in the front room placing a stack of towels on the floor, next to the rug in front of the fire. On seeing Stefan arrive, he sped over to him and grabbed Ottilie from him, cradling her to his own chest. He set her gently down on the rug in front of the fire, and started checking her pulse and breathing.

"She's having one of her attacks, isn't she," he said quietly, feeling her heart flutter under the palm of his hand. Stefan just nodded and left for the kitchen to get the first aid kit and some warm water to clean away Ottilie's blood.

He headed back to Damon and Ottilie and asked, "Where's Elena?"

Damon shrugged, and replied bitterly, "Gone. I suppose she didn't want to see the aftermath of her stupidity."

Stefan frowned at his brother. "This isn't her fault," he argued, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle.

Damon ignored his brother's comment. "I brought down some of Ottilie's pyjamas. Help me change her out of these wet clothes."

The brothers quickly put Ottilie into her pyjama top and bottoms, and hissed as they saw the long cut across her ribs. Damon gently cleaned and bandaged it whilst Stefan worked on the cut on her head, cleaning away the blood and using steristrips to hold the wound together. All the while, both brothers kept a careful ear on Ottilie's heartbeat and breathing which, in a few minutes, was back to normal.

Ottilie started to stir, and Damon felt his heartbreak watching his little girl grimace in pain as she came round and started to feel the full extent of her injuries. Her eyelids fluttered open and she stared up at Damon and Stefan with such fear in her green eyes that Damon felt tears well up in his own.

"Otti..." he began, before he was interrupted by a tiny, forlorn little voice.

"Please, don't hurt me," she whispered, trembling as the looked at her.

And Damon felt his heart break all over again.