Small Town, Big Secrets (A Vampire Diaries Seasons 1 and 2 Fanfiction)

Chapter 9: Vervained and Chained

'We did it for your own good, Lilliana,' Damon said, leaning against the bars, watching me. I spat on the ground. 

'Go to hell, Damon Salvatore,' I replied, glaring at him, putting emphasis on his last name. I looked up at him. 'I want to see Stefan.' He shrugged. 

'Fine.' He walked away, and a few moments later, I heard Stefan's voice, and then a creak as the door opened. He pulled up a wooden chair and sat in front of me. 

'Enjoy your little weekend away with Elena?' I said, mocking him. 

'I didn't mean for things to go this way,' he said quietly, seeming guilty about it. 

'Of course you didn't. No one means for things to go this way.' I coughed, my lungs burning from the vervain in my body. 'But they did. And you betrayed me by letting this happen. So tell me, Stefan... how should I exact my vengeance?' I looked up at him, my eyes bloodshot and angry, bright with fury. 'Maybe when I get out of these chains, I should chop Damon's head right off his shoulders... and then give it to Elena as a little gift on her next birthday. She might like a reminder of the vampire that she holds a candle to.' Stefan looked up, glaring at me. 

'That was uncalled for.' 

'Oh, you poor thing. You didn't know? As if.' 

'That's not true.' 

'Check again. If you've missed the longing looks that her and Damon have been giving each other since the Miss Mystic Falls dance, let alone since they first met each other, you're either blind or just plain naive to think that she'll settle. You're an idiot, Stefan. Or maybe - when I get out of this place, I'll kidnap Elena, and take her to Klaus in Elijah's stead. Bet you didn't know that either. Klaus and I are old buddies, from way back. 'Bout a hundred years back, if I'm not mistaken. I know I can bargain with the big, bad, elusive Klaus to have mercy on Elijah, pardon him for his sins... begin again.'

'How do you know him?' 

'I'm not telling you that. The only thing I know... is that the two of you will come to blows over her someday. You can love two people, but when the two people can't share the one evenly, it becomes a problem. A problem that has to be eliminated, and will only be eliminated by the death of the Petrova doppelganger.'

'Why threaten an innocent human?' 

'Oh, she's far from innocent. All of us, in one way or another, have sacrificed something for that girl. I sacrificed my quiet life for her. To help her. To be a mediator between you and Damon. I knew he had a thing for her from the moment he laid eyes on her. He was obsessed with her, and it only is growing worse with time. All that's left for that poor girl to do... choose which Salvatore she wants more. My money's on Damon. That certain bad boy flair - she can't resist that.' Stefan stormed up and grabbed my throat forcefully, vampire fangs coming out, his face changing. I let out a dark chuckle. 'This show of force isn't scaring me.' He let go and stepped back. 

'Slowly, painfully dying under lack of blood will scare you, eventually,' he said, stepping to the door and shutting it. 

'No, it doesn't!' I called out to him. 

'What is she doing here?' Elena demanded of Stefan and Damon, gesturing to Katherine Pierce (aka. Katerina Petrova), who had become their new house guest for the foreseeable future, at least until they could kill Klaus. Meanwhile, Elijah was still daggered and his girlfriend, Lilliana, was vervained and chained downstairs in the dungeons. 

'When we killed Elijah,' Damon explained, 'it broke the compulsion and freed the bitch from the tomb.' 

'How's that possible?' Stefan asked, confused. 

'He's an Original,' Katherine said bluntly, stroking a feather. 'They have all sorts of special skills.' 

'I don't want you here,' Elena said. 'Get her out of here.' 

'You need me, Elena. You all do,' Katherine replied pointedly. 

'Like hell,' Stefan spoke, not having a bar of it. 

'We all want the same thing... Klaus dead. Yet here you all are, running around like chickens with their heads cut off.' Elena stepped forward with an angry look in her eyes. 

'I don't need your help and I don't want it.' 

'And that's incredibly stupid of you. You know where Klaus is? When he's coming, what he looks like?' 

'If you know something, say it or get out,' Damon snapped, also quite annoyed with the doppelganger. 

'Fine,' she replied, with a hint of sass in her voice. 'Then I'll just go to the Grill and have some lunch... maybe Aunt Jenna's free for a bite.' She looked around, her face turning to slight confusion. 'Where's your little pet, Stefan... the Original's bitch?' 

'She's not my pet,' Stefan replied, rolling his eyes at Katherine's sass. 

'Loaded up on vervain and chained downstairs,' Damon chimed in. 'With what happened to Elijah, she's unpredictable.' She hummed, letting out a small smile. 

'Good. I always hated her.'  

A couple of hours later... 

Damon walked into his bedroom to see Elena leaning against the wall. He sighed in exasperation. 

'Ugh. Look. Klaus had to think she was dead. Your reaction had to be real.' She nodded. 

'I understand why you did what you did. Klaus was fooled, and Bonnie's alive.' Damon lifted his glass in a toast. 

'Here's to duplicity.' 

'But let's get one thing straight,' Elena said, walking towards Damon. 'Bonnie will not die for me; I will not let that happen.' 

'We need to kill Klaus, Elena. Real Klaus. Who will probably be coming to pay you a visit soon now that he knows that Bonnie is dead. She's the only one who can do it.' 

'We'll find another way.' 

'I hope so.' She leaned against the bedpost, brushing back some hair from her face. 

'Look, I shouldn't have hit you.' 

'Apology accepted.' She turned to leave the room, but then he spoke. 'Let me be clear about something: if it comes down to you and the witch again, I will gladly let Bonnie die. I will always choose you.' She said nothing to this comment, instead simply replying, 

'Goodnight, Damon.' 

'Goodnight.' She turned around and left the room. Walking into the hallway, she took a left turn down the hall and made her way to the dungeons below. She first moved into Lilliana's cell and shook her awake. The vampire glared at Elena angrily. 

'What the hell do you want?' She undid the chains and Lilliana nearly collapsed, but then she pulled the vampire to her feet and walked her slowly to the cell where Elijah was being kept. When the doppelganger opened the door to reveal Elijah, she let Lilliana go, and the vampire rushed over, and stumbled, finally falling at his feet and cradling his face, then looked up at the human. 'Why did you bring me here?' she said in a deep rasp, as her voice was rather disused from the lack of blood. Elena simply knelt, and readied herself to pull out the dagger from Elijah's chest. She sharply pulled it out, and sat back, with the dagger in her hand, Lilliana across from her and the dead Original vampire in between them, just simply waiting.