The Apprentice (The Originals/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Thirty-Five

 Annette woke up the next morning to the feel the sun in her eyes. She moaned. "How is it morning already?"

 "Hold on." Mikael got up and closed the curtains, and then she felt him slide back into bed next to her.

 "What time is it?" she asked, turning over to look at him. 

 He shrugged. "Probably late by now. We don't have anything important to get to today. Caroline and her friends are so wrapped up in their, they probably forgot we're even here."

 "Isn't it a little difficult to forget you have houseguests?"

 "When you're going on secret missions involving Damon Salvatore and Sybil, I suppose it must be. But that just means that we have plenty of time to ourselves."

 They smiled and kissed, wrapping their arms around each other.

 "Oh, lovebirds!" they heard. "I can hear you up there. Why don't you come down and join us?"

 "Is that-" Annette began to ask.

 Mikael sighed. "Sybil. Why would Caroline let her into the house? All she does is cause trouble."

 "Well, I guess we're going to find out."

~~~~~~

 "Ah, here you are," Sybil said as Annette and Mikael came into the living room. "I was just explaining to Caroline and Bonnie what's happened to Damon."

 Damon was sitting in a chair, staring absently across the room, not seeming to be looking at anything at all.

 "What's wrong with him?" Annette asked.

 "His humanity turned back on," Sybil explained, "And he's suffering all the more for it. He's overcome with guilt, and has retreated far into his mind." She looked at Mikael. "You have a psychic ability. You can see what's going on in his mind." She smiled. "Oh, come on. Auntie Sybil won't hurt you."

 Mikael cautiously stepped forward, towards the chair where Damon sat.

 "Try to reach out to him," Sybil said. "Close your eyes and concentrate."

 Mikael closed his eyes and held Damon by the shoulder. After a few seconds, he gasped and opened them again.

 "What do you see?" Sybil asked him.

 "I-I saw Damon. It was dark, and there...there was fire everywhere. His mind is...a sort of hell."

 "Exactly," said Sybil. "That's where he thinks he belongs."

 "But how can we change his mind?" Caroline asked.

 "Well, I would suggest going into his mind and finding out. You and Bonnie are his friends. Perhaps you can get through to him."

 "I think we should leave them to it," Annette said to Mikael.

 Mikael nodded. "Yes. He'll be fine."

~~~~~~ 

 "So, because of this psychic ability," Annette said, "You were able to look into Damon's subconscious and see the mental hell he's going through?"
 
 "That seems to be the gist of it," Mikael answered, stepping over a few tree branches. He sighed. "Psychic. Strange, isn't it? It's been weeks since Seline kidnapped me, and I still can't understand it. I must be a lot more stupid than I originally thought if I never realized just what I had in me." 

 "That's not entirely true," Annette pointed out. "You knew something wasn't right."

 "Yes, but I thought I was mad."

 "But you're not stupid, Mikael. You just didn't know. There is a difference, you know."

 "How do you know there's a difference?" he asked.

 "Because I said there is."

 Mikael stopped walking. Without any kind of warning, he pulled Annette into his arms and kissed her.

 "What was that for?" she asked. "Not that I'm complaining."

 "Because I love you, and I don't say it often enough."

 "Well, you've certainly mentioned it enough times. And besides, if you say too often, it's not special, is it?"

 Mikael smiled at her. But his smile began to fade as he looked around them.

 "What is it?" Annette asked.

 "I don't know. I just...I have the feeling something's wrong."

 From back in town, they could hear the sound of a bell ringing. Mikael let out a cry of pain and put his hands to his head.

 "That bell," he groaned.

 "That's what the tuning fork did," Annette said. "Come on."

 They began to walk in the opposite direction of the sound, but didn't help much.

 "I can still feel it," Mikael said. "Whatever it is, it has something to do with Sybil and Seline."

 Annette counted the number of rings. It stopped at elven strikes.

 "Not twelve," she muttered. "Why eleven?"

 "Someone must have stopped it," Mikael said. He stood up straight. "I'm all right. I have no idea what that was."

 "That was most definitely a bell," Annette said. "And a dangerous one at that." They kept walking in the same direction. "Let's just keep going. I do not want to know what's going on, not in the least."

 After a few moments, Mikael said, "You know, I thought I overheard something about a bell when I was roommates with Caroline. That must have been it. And who knows what that was all about."

~~~~~~

 Annette opened the door to the hospital room. Stefan was lying in the bed, still awake.

 "Didn't expect a visit from you," he said. "I thought you and Mikael left Mystic Falls."

 "We did, but not the whole state of Virginia. Word can get around." Annette pulled over the stool and sat down. "I know you killed Enzo St. John, Bonnie Bennett's boyfriend? I think I met. Dark hair, nice smile, roguish sort of charm about him?"

 Stefan nodded. "Yeah. That was Enzo. Bonnie-"

 "Gave you this cure. Caroline and Matt filled me in. Stefan, I'm sorry this all happened to you."

 He shook his head. "Don't be. I deserve it. I've done so many horrible things in my life that I feel like this must be karma."

 Annette shrugged. "Well, it's your life, not mine. You would know. But you do have your humanity back, correct?"

 "I'm human again, so I would think so."

 "Then that's a start. You have the rest of your human life to make amends, whatever amends you're able to make. For now, I think you'd better rest up. I was told you got shot."

 "Yeah." He sighed. "Mortal wounds. Forgot what that's like. Mikael didn't come along with you?"

 "He's probably waiting for me outside. He can be very protective. And I don't think he's very fond of you."

 "Well. Not a lot of people are. Now that I'm human again, I'm obviously in a lot more danger. "

 "And you can't become a vampire again?" Annette asked.

 "Pretty sure I can't. It's a risk I can't take. So, I'm stuck like this, alone in the world."

 "Caroline still loves you."

 "Right. That. I broke up with Caroline. She deserves better than me."

 "You know, you shouldn't keep beating yourself up about it," Annette said. "It happened, and you can't change that now. You have to move on with your new human life."

 "You know, you probably could have been some kind of therapist," Stefan said.

 "Really? I wanted to be an actress once. Mikael and went to California in 1929, and I became enamored with Hollywood."

 Stefan whistled. "Hollywood. That's pretty big."

 "I know. Well, I'll probably be around if you need help with anything." Annette got up. "Good luck, Stefan. By the way, I never actually ended our newfound friendship, and neither did you."

 Stefan smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."