Imagination is the key (stefan, Damon love triangle)

Chapter Eight Four.

My head throbbed, ached something awful as I blearily blinked. I was still in the creepy crypt from last night. My hands found the back of my head and rubbed over the sore spot, not finding anything out of place. "Ugh," I groaned, wobbling as I got to my feet. "Bitch." My eyes snapped over to where Alaric had been just before, but as I dreaded - he was gone. So was Bonnie. I dialled the first number that came to mind.
"Lillie? Where are you?"
I groaned again. "Stefan I think we have a problem."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm at the crypt still, can you come and pick me up?" I heard rustling on the other end of the phone for a moment and then the jingle of keys.
"On my way."

Stefan arrived quickly. He found me sat on a concrete bench outside the crypt, massaging the back of my head. Shouldn't that pain have gone now, what with being a vampire and such?
"Are you alright?" He crouched down in front of me and pressed his hands to the tops of my knees.
I looked down at him through my fingers and sighed. "No, Bonnie attacked me last night -She's done something to Ric. He's gone."
He looked behind him at the empty tomb and the rubbed his hands up and down my legs. "It's alright, we'll find out what happened. How long ago did this happen?"
"I don't know," I moaned into my hands. "She knocked me out. I don't even know what time it is."
"Didn't you check your phone?"
"It doesn't have the right time. We need to find him Stefan - we need to find Ric."
"And we will. He can't have gotten far, and we're still not positive that he's even alive."
I stared at him incredulously. "Why else would Bonnie have to knock me out? She has to have turned him, it's the only thing that makes sense."
"Why? What would Bonnie get out of turning him?"
"I don't know, Stefan!" I exclaimed. "I don't know."
"Okay, Okay, just calm down," he forced me to look at him. "We will find him. Trust me."
I was exhausted. I haven't done anything strenuous but I felt like I could just collapse and sleep for a very long time. I sighed heavily and fell forward. Stefan caught me and held me upright for just a moment as I then reached forward and wrapped my arms around him. He fell backwards out of his crouch and sat there on the ground with me curled up in his arms. It felt nice to be held by someone I trusted. It was selfish, considering the problem we've currently got with Alaric and Bonnie, but I needed this. I need the comfort of a friend. The warm hold of someone I know who cares. I rested my head on his shoulder and nudged my way closer into the warmth of his neck. "Why does bad stuff keep happening?"
A hand rubbed soothing circles on my back and the other combed through my hair. "I don't know," he said quietly, "but it just means there has to come something good eventually."
"It's taking a while to get here."

Stefan drove me home. Told me to get something to eat and to rest, he'll deal with Alaric and Bonnie. So that's what I did. For the first time in a very long time, I let someone tell me what to do and did it without arguing. I didn't see the point. I didn't want to get involved with Bonnie if she still hated me and I'm still not sure what to say to Ric if we see him. Do I congratulate him on being alive? Tell him he made the right choice? Pat him on the back? Or just ask him what the fuck happened. I shook my head and lent back on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. Life is really fucking up and I wish it wasn't. I really wish that I could rewind time to before my parent's car crash – life was simpler then. Easy. There were no vampires, werewolves, prissy hybrids – life was normal. I want normal again.
Then my phone rang beside me. I rolled onto my side with a groan and answered it. "What?"
"Lillie!"
I sat up straight. "Ric?"
He breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank god. I need your help, it's Elena. She asked me to meet her at the school but I can't find her. I heard a scream."
I was already tugging my shoes back on before he'd even finished talking. "I'm on my way."


The school was dark and quiet – and I was resenting the fact that Elena was forcing me to be here when I didn't need to be. What kind of trouble has she gotten herself into now? "Elena? Ric?" I called out. My voice echoed of the walls but I got no response from either of them. I quickly dialled Elena, hoping Ric would still have her phone. But as soon as the call transferred through, I could hear the ringing at the other end of the corridor. I slowly crept toward it and then just ahead, Ric's head poked out of one of the doors. I let out a sigh of relief and quickly hung up the phone. "Geez, Ric! What the hell?! I've been looking for you."
He smiled and tilted his head to the side. "Took you long enough."
"Sorry, I had to walk," I replied. "have you found Elena yet?"
Something in his expression changed -darkened, and he nodded. "She was never lost. She's just in here – we were both waiting for you." He stepped back and waved an arm in. I looked from him to the open door. His words from before suddenly flashing through my mind, 'I won't be the same'. "You first," I said.
"Why? Nervous?"
"Cautious," I corrected. "I'll follow you."
"Suit yourself." He walked on through the door with ease and confidence. And with an uneasy survey of the empty hallway, I followed him inside too.
"Now!" said Ric, loudly. I jumped from the sudden burst of noise and snapped my head around, eyes landing immediately on my sister. She was tied to one of the many chairs with thin ropes, duct tape securely covering her mouth.
"What is this?" I demanded. Ric's face displayed childish innocence as he shrugged and perched himself a seat on the edge of his old desk.
"I thought we could use a bit of bonding time. What do you say? Wanna get to know the new me?"
"Let Elena go," I said.
"Happily," he replied. "First, I want you to do something for me - Sit. Right there." He pointed to the positioned chair beside my sister and I looked to her. Scanned her for any kind of injury, any sign to show she was hurt in any kind of way. She wasn't, or not as far as I could tell. Slowly I sat down, my eyes not drifting from Ric's.
"Now let her go."
He tutted and picked something up beside him. "You need to stop being so gullible, Lillie. Stop believing everything people tell you." He waved a freshly sharpened stake around as he spoke and I gulped. Every single bad scenario flashing through my mind – this isn't going to end well. He pushed off the desk and moved to stand at Elena's far side. "You're going to listen to everything that I have to say, if not. . ." The tip of the stake pressed against Elena's cheek, puncturing the skin, a fresh trail of blood began to form and he dragged it downwards. Elena cried out in pain and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Stop!" I shouted. "I get it! Just stop."
He did.
He put the stake on the desk and used the sleeve of his shirt to not-so-gently wipe away the blood around Elena's wound. "Good, I'm glad that we're on the same page right now. Sorry I had to do this to you Elena, but she needed to know what could happen." He ripped the tape from her mouth but quickly covered it with his own hand to prevent her sharp cry from getting heard. I watched, silently and warily as he began to untie her binds, releasing her and then moved back to stand in the middle of us.
"What are you doing?" I questioned. "Why're you doing this?"
"You don't even know what I'm doing yet - what I'm planning. I'm trying to help you Lillie, and you need it. You especially need all the help you can get."
"I doubt I'd want the help you're offering anyway. Thanks though." I said sarcastically.
Elena shot me a disbelieving look – one that said 'shut up!'
"That's the thing though; you don't get a choice. I have to help you as your legal guardian, it's my job. My duty.
"I think you gave that up when you died."
"But I'm back now and I'm stronger and more importantly, improved. I'm no longer a sad, lonely drunk and your Aunt Jenna would want me to help you. She's hate me if I didn't."
"And what do you have in mind uncle Ric?"
A burning lava shot of pain washed over me and I screamed. The stake was buried deep in the fleshy part of my leg. Alaric's hand wrapped around the end. With a swift yank, he snapped the larger part off, leaving the first third in my leg. My white jeans now bathed in a constant stream of blood. And with every second the wound remained open the more it spread. "Ugh!" I grunted with a lurch forward.
"That's gotta hurt," Ric said. "Soaked in Vervain too, lasting affects I've found."
My teeth sank into my bottom lip, desperate to conceal the pain. To hold in my hurting cries.
"What is the point?" I said, through gritted teeth. "Hurting us."
He shook his head with a disapproving tut. "I only want to hurt you. Elena is, unfortunately, just collateral damage. Although, looking at it from a human side of things, she's just as guilty as the vampires. Sympathising with your kind, loving you – Some would say that's worse than being the monster." With each word that Ric said, a horribly sinister smirk found its way to his face. And Elena shrunk in on herself, looking up at someone she used to trust and love.
"Ester really did create the perfect killing machine," I stated. "She's turned you into a monster Ric. This isn't the real you."
"This is exactly who I am; who I should be," Ric said with such an adamant force, that it had my eyes watering. I wonder if this is what people saw when I was without humanity. My face, my voice, but the words said are so alien. They're wrapped in tones that are frighteningly threatening. His appearance alone was comforting and everything in me just wanted to smile and express how relieved I am that he's alive. He didn't leave us. But it's not him. "And I'm just getting started."

Hours later and my clothes had gotten to the point of no recovery. The blood that stained the material was beginning to dry and crust around my wounds. The wounds that had been inflicted by a dozen vervain soaked stakes. My body was unable to heal itself with the poison still buried deep in my skin, traveling through my blood. I hated what was being forced on Elena. I hated what was being done to me but I knew that if he didn't kill me, I'd heal. Elena would always remember having to witness this. It was just showing her how weak she was. She couldn't save me; she couldn't even help.
Ric left the room, muttering about needing to grab something.
"Elena," I groaned. "You need to get out of here."
"What about you?"
"Don't think about me. Get out. Get help."
She got to her feet and stumbled over to me. She reached out for one of the many stakes in my leg and pulled. I screamed. I tried my hardest not too, but the pain was too overwhelming.
She reached for another but I quickly grabbed her hands. "Stop." I said. "You need to leave. If you stay and help me, neither of us are going to get out of here. Do you understand? Go and get-" I broke off and swallowed back the burning tears. "Get Damon. Please."
She stayed frozen, crouched down, just staring at me. "I-"
"Please!" I couldn't hold the tears back anymore.
She touched my face, carefully. "Okay – okay, hang on. I'll be as fast as I can. I promise I'll be back soon."
I watched her disappear out the door, each step she took away from me filled me with a burning dread. What if she doesn't get to them in time? I don't want to die.

Ric came back not a moment after Elena left and he simple glanced at her empty seat with total disinterest. "That's a shame. She's missing out."
"How much longer are you going to torture me?"
One of his brows rose and he grinned. "Until I kill you."
My bottom lip trembled. "Why?"
"Because you're a vampire, Lillie. I'm saving you from yourself." He said. "I'm doing what everyone else has failed at; what I had originally failed at. Ester awoke something inside of me, it's now my duty is to cleanse the world of the wrongs she created all those years ago."
"But I'm not like them. You know this. I don't want to kill people."
"But you have," he said. "You've killed a lot of people."
I shook my head. "That was different. I had my-"
"They're still dead," he interrupted. "They're families still had to mourn and bury the bodies you left behind."
My gaze dropped in shame. He was right. I took life, perhaps I deserve to have mine taken from me as well. "I'm sorry," I whispered, brokenly. "I never meant to hurt anyone."
Cold fingers brushed against my cheek and I looked at up Ric. "I know you didn't, but that doesn't change what you did. You deserve this. You all do."
"Please," I said, thickly through my tears. "I don't want to die."
"Neither did they."
"I'm sorry." I wasn't oblivious to the new stake in his hand and I could feel it, like a shift in the air. This wasn't about how much pain he could cause me; this was the final step. This was to end everything I was.
"You understand that this is something I have to do, Lillie. Something even your parents would have agreed on."
As pathetic as it was, I nodded. My heavy head hung low and I couldn't look at him anymore. I couldn't look at the stake – I was going to die. No one was going to make it on time to save me. Everything that I have done, every bad thing I've said seemed to find its way into my mind all at once. Every regret I had. My heart ached. It broke with the thought of never seeing Damon again, shattered at the thought of our last interaction. He hated me.
"This is to save you, Lillie. This is to free-" His fingers tightened around the weapon and in the next second, he swung his arm forward with a blinding speed. "-your soul."
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited. I didn't want to look Alaric in the eye when he ended my life. I don't want him to have to live with having to see my fear.
Nothing happened though.
Slowly I peeled one eye open, and I have never felt such a heavy wave of relief before in my life than I did when I made eye contact with Damon. He towered over Ric and had a strong hold on his arm. Straining as he held him back, only several millimetres from my chest. It rose and fell in deep heavy huffs as my body reacted.
"Get off me," Ric gritted out of clenched teeth.
The stake inched closer. Damon was struggling to hold it away from me. Ric seemed to be stronger and I was scared for both myself and Damon. I couldn't move. Any sudden movement could be the final push Ric would need to end me. I strained my arms, trying my hardest to fight against the burning pain and break free from the vervain-soaked ropes.
"Ric," strained Damon. "Please, don't make me do this."
A smirk tickled Ric's lips and suddenly he whirled around, pinning Damon to the chalkboard, stake raised high. A new target in range. I watched helplessly as Damon gasped for breath and struggled to keep the stake from piercing his skin. I wriggled in my binds, yanking the rope.
My vision started to filter out detail the longer I exerted myself and forced myself to work past my body's capabilities. I was still losing too much blood. I was in too much pain. I wasn't going to get anywhere. Ric was far too thorough securing me down.
"Shh," breath fanned against my ear. "Stop struggling. I'll get you out of here."
"Stefan. . ." I almost sobbed. His hands moved to my own and began, despite the burning it caused, to undo the ropes. Smoke wafted around his hands where they touched the poisoned ropes. But they fell away a moment later and I could have passed out just from the relieving swell in my stomach as my wrists began to, un-naturally slowly, heal themselves.
Stefan crouched down in front of me. My body sagged forward, and I would have, had I not been staked to the chair, falling even further. My mind kept shouting at me to sit up and check on Damon- to help him. But no matter how much I tried to will myself to sit up, to do something. I couldn't.
"Stefan. . ." I trailed off. Numbness encased my body in a secure blanket of promising recovery.
"You're going to be okay," he soothed.
"Damon. . . " I mumbled. "Help... him."
"It's okay, Klaus is on it." His fingers nudged the tip of one of the stakes. I shot forward hissing, smacking my head off Stefan's in the process. He pushed me back, firmly and apologised. "Stay still, I need to get these out of you."
"Okay," I whimpered. I gripped Stefan's shoulders weakly. And I finally managed to get a clear look over his shoulder. Klaus and Damon held Ric to the ground, and he thrashed around beneath them.
"This is going to hurt," Stefan warned gently. He grabbed the thick end of the stake buried deep in my thigh and wretched it out.
I screamed. I tried not to, but it just tore its way out.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. But he didn't stop there and give me time to recover. Instead he went straight to work removing everything else.
I cried silently as the pain intensified each time he pulled something out, but it was quickly followed but a tight, cooling relief as the familiar feeling of my skin knitting itself back together overwhelmed me.
"That's the last one," Stefan said.
"Then get her out of here," Damon said. "Elena should be out in the carpark with Caroline."
"What about you?"
"I've got it, mate." Klaus said. "But don't think I won't be calling up a favour for this."
Stefan wrapped my arm around his neck and hauled me to my feet. I could just about keep them supporting me. "I don't know how far I can get, Stefan. I'm hungry and I hurt too much."
"Put your weight on me. I'll support you."
I looked back over my shoulder as Stefan lead me out the room. A part of me ached at leaving Damon alone with not only Ric but Klaus too. He was unpredictable and not to be trusted at all. Damon better make it back to me alive.

Elena was waiting by Caroline's car, just as Damon said she would be. She was chewing on her thumbnail as she watched one of the entrances.
"What's happening Caroline?" Elena demanded. "Damon said they'd all be out by now"
Caroline frowned. "I can't hear them all. I-I don't know what's happening, Elena. Maybe I should go in. They might need my help."
"We've got it covered, Caroline," Stefan announced our arrival.
Elena spun on her heels and threw her arms around me. "Thank god."
I returned the hug loosely. "Damon needs help."
"I need to get you out of here," Stefan said.
"I don't care. He needs help. Caroline can drive us."
"Damon won't-" A force knocked Stefan down.
"What was that?"
"Caroline," Stefan groaned. "get them out of here now."
"What about you?" She asked.
"Go!"
Caroline grabbed my arm and began to tug me away with Elena. I limped as fast as I could to keep up with her but I just couldn't. I was healing too slowly.
"We can't leave him Caroline." I tried to pull out of her grip.
"He said too."
"I don't care."
Stefan groaned again behind us and I fought harder.
"And where do you think you three are going?" Klaus asked, appearing in front of us. Caroline skidded to a halt, pulling Elena and I with her.
"Where's Damon?" I demanded.
"Inside," he said. "dealing with Ric."
"You just left him there!"
"He's doing alright." He turned to Elena. "It's you that I'm here for. It seems my mother's meddling has made it so I need to run once again to survive. But I'm not going anywhere with you."
Klaus' eyes glowed, shone a bright yellow and then he lunged. His hands grabbed at Caroline and tore her out of my hold. He was fast, faster than we were, faster than we could be.
"Sto-" Caroline's plea was interrupted by the distinct sound of bone breaking. Her body crumpled to the floor. I shared a panicked look with Elena. I knew that I needed to get her out of here, away from Klaus. But everything seemed to be in slow motion, I reached for her and my fingertips just grazed hers before there was a painful pressure around my throat and I knew that there was no time for me to do anything else for Elena. I sucked at being a vampire and a sister.
And then my neck was snapped too.