MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

Promised Land

CHAPTER 30: PROMISED LAND

The Salvatore Boarding House

With her luck, Natalie wasn't surprised at what happened. She had finally felt at home with Stefan again, the feeling she had searched after for weeks and then it was all taken away. She had just gone to pack up the car to get back home, and then he was gone, and so was Elena. 

There was only one possible explanation, as it was basically impossible for the two to want to run away with one another after what happened the moments before they disappeared. The travelers had gotten to them, which basically promised all vampires' doom. 

Luckily, she wasn't alone when it came to wanting to find the two. But she didn't know that Damon had gotten some stuff to happen without her there, and so when she walked down the stairs and found him with an old guy chained up. 

"Well, isn't this a kinky situation," she snickered at her own words, a smirk gracing her face. 

"Very funny," the raven-haired vampire in front of her replied dryly, obviously not finding her jokes as amusing as she found them herself. But, hey, if nobody else thinks you're not funny, you gotta think it enough for everybody else. 

She strutted towards the two men, finding the older (looking) man to look at her with pleading eyes. Unfortunately, Natalie wasn't feeling charitable enough to grant freedom. "So, why is this poor, old man here?"

"Well, unfortunately, Mr. Sikes here is occupied by some low-life traveler. I saw him and his buddies chanting in the town's square last week," he answered before looking at Mr. Sikes with a glare. "I also know that Markos and your traveler comrades are planning some big, flashy spell to undo some super-boring, ancient, witch curse. And where that sucks for us; it just happens to undo all witch magic, i.e. kill, me and my sexy little friend here."

"Thank you," she smiled at him before turning to their captive. "So, basically you're gonna tell us where Markos is keeping the doppelgangers, if you know, which, let's be honest, you probably do."

"Yep. Sorry. You're going to have to speak up," Damon said. It would almost seem like he had neglected to remember that he had the man gagged, rendering him unable to speak. "Hmmm. Nope. Didn't quite catch that either."

He then reached out for the closest object he could reach, quickly pushing it to the traveler's leg, piercing his skin. He didn't notice Natalie's cringe, because she was a bit more bark than bite sometimes. "I think he's trying to say something."

Natalie decided that she didn't want to see anymore of Damon's sadistic ways and ripped the piece of cloth Damon had stuck in his mouth out, and he responded, although not the way they would have hoped. "It doesn't matter where Markos is. Nothing you do can stop him now."

Although she felt a bit disgouraged at his words, there was no way she was going to show it. She plastered a fake smile on her face, trying to seem as confident as possible. "Oh, don't you underestimate the power of two assholes on a mission."

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Perhaps he should have been able to underestimate the power of two assholes on a mission, seeing as they weren't the ones to find Stefan and Elena. They had broken themselves out and decided that it was time to call their respective brother and sister/significant other. 

"Seriously? Collect calls are still a thing?" Damon asked, not being able to keep himself from saying something at least a little bit sarcastic. 

Natalie couldn't help but notice the way she stopped breathing for a moment as Stefan started to speak. "Yeah, well, you know what could have saved you the cost of this phone call? You finding us. How long have we been gone?"