If only | Damon Salvatore

027. BREAK OUR TRUST, PAY THE PRICE

Chapter twenty seven

"Break our trust, pay the price."

The next morning, Beatrix woke up on the hardwood floor right next to her balcony door, a throw blanket draped warmly over her shoulders. The bright morning sun was already streaming through the glass pane. She stood up, wrapping the blanket tightly around herself, and walked over to unlock her bedroom door.

As she stepped out onto the landing and headed down the staircase, the sharp voice of her grandmother echoed from below. "No, no... put it on the ceiling."

Beatrix furrowed her brows, descending the remaining steps. She found Winnifred standing in the living room doorway with a heavy grimoire open in her hands, while her mother was busy maneuvering a wooden ladder into the center of the room. Both of them were dressed head-to-toe in solemn, solid black.

"What exactly is going on here?" Beatrix asked, pausing at the bottom of the stairs.

Winnifred let out a heavy sigh, turning her sharp gaze toward her. "Good, you're awake. Go back upstairs and get dressed. Preferably in something black."

"Why?" Beatrix asked.

Her mother, climbing a few rungs up the ladder, dipped a brush into a jar of dark fluid and began painting a precise, ancient symbol directly onto the plaster ceiling. "Because we are planning a localized hex to get back at Mason Lockwood for betraying this coven."

Beatrix didn't hesitate. She gave a firm nod. "I'll be right back down." She turned on her heel and ran back up the stairs to change.

A short while later, Beatrix was walking back down the steps when a loud, firm knock rattled the front door. Furrowing her brows, she crossed the foyer and swung it open, only to find Damon Salvatore and Jeremy Gilbert standing on the porch.

"Well... this is incredibly weird," she told them flatly, blocking the entryway.

"You're telling me," Damon muttered, brushing past her shoulder to step inside. "I was actually planning on coming here first, by the way." He stopped in the hallway, his brows furrowing deeply as he caught sight of Cassandra and Winnifred at work on the ceiling. "Speaking of weird..."

Beatrix ignored him, raising her brows at Jeremy instead. "And you're here because?"

"Tyler has to kill someone to activate his curse," Jeremy shared quickly, his voice low and urgent. "He's not actually a werewolf yet."

Beatrix looked at him, completely unphased. "Yeah, we already know that, Jeremy." She reached out, prepared to shut the heavy door right in his face.

"But Mason Lockwood is, and he's looking for a moonstone—a special rock connected to the werewolf legend. That's why he's here," Jeremy explained.

At the mention of the moonstone, Beatrix's grandmother piqued, backing up to peer through the doorway. "A moonstone? Does he know where it is?"

"No, but I do," Jeremy told her.

Beatrix's grandmother smirked. "Good." She walked into the living room and threw a book onto the table, pointing out the symbol for it to Beatrix's mother.

Beatrix opened the front door, ushering Jeremy inside.

"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing? His sister is not going to like this! I mean, what does she have to say about this little discovery?" Damon interjected, watching as Jeremy looked past him toward Beatrix.

Damon smirked. "Ooh, you haven't told her, have you?"

"Elena doesn't want me getting involved in all of this," Jeremy admitted.