Whittling

Chapter 2

Damon's head is still spinning when he walks in to find Matt and Jeremy staring down at the pizza girl, a stake shoved through her chest. Klaus. He's responsible for this and he's reminded Damon what it's all about. This girl didn't matter, just because she was human. Vampires have no business caring about the lives of strangers, innocent or not.

xxx

So here Damon is out in the woods, digging a grave for the pizza girl. Oh well, someone's gotta do it and it might as well be him according to the demanding creatures he left back at the lake house.

Damon's phone rings, the sound is unwelcome, piercing through the calm of the night. It's Elena. Damon hasn't really thought about what he's going to tell her so he goes with the expected line.

"Hope your days going better than mine, gotta say I'm liking the odds."

"Stefan knows about us," and that right there is a perfect example of why Damon is pulling the plug on all this 'feelings' bullshit. He is so over dealing with crap like this. Besides, you know a relationship has become way too complicated when that's how your supposed girlfriend begins a conversation with you.

"Ooo, how'd he take it?" Damon feels crappy for doing this to his little bro, another great reason to ditch Elena.

"How do you think?"

"I'm thinking for the first time all week I'm happy to be at camp nowhere." Despite appearances to the contrary Damon really doesn't enjoy inflicting pain on Stefan.

"How's Jeremy?" Shouldn't the next question have been 'how are you?' But Damon does understand her concern for her little brother.

"That depends on how much you trust me." Elena is not going to like the decision he's made and even though Damon's priorities have changed it doesn't mean he wants to cause more grief for Elena.

"You know that I trust you." That's unlikely to be true and unfortunate for Elena if it is.

"Then I think he's gonna get through this just fine," Damon lies to keep the peace.

"Thanks for looking out for him." That's one way to put it.

"Yeah well I told them if they were good I'd buy them both ice-creams, so...look I gotta go," Damon is so over pandering to Elena's whims, he's going to end this call before he loses all patience with her. All he wants to do is finish burying this chick and get to the business of seeing what Klaus has in store for them.

"Not yet," oh for Christ's sake, can't Elena just shut up for once in her life? "Something happened today, I realised something about you...about us," must be the day for it because Damon's had a revelation of his own, "and you can say that's it the sire bond and you know what maybe, maybe it is but I'm telling you it's the most real thing that I've ever felt in my entire life," well isn't that a kick in the guts for Stefan? "I love you, Damon." And there it is. A couple of hours ago he'd have given anything to hear those words from Elena but now it just seems like too little too late. "I love you." Yep, got it the first time. But damn, as much as he wants to play the heartless bastard here, he can't ignore her words, he still feels he owes her a chance at the cure.

"Look, I'm gonna get this cure for you. And I'm gonna have to do things you're not gonna like..." Maybe Damon will always care about her to a certain extent, but he definitely doesn't want to spend forever with Elena and her hang ups. Finding the cure for her is the best way he can think of the help her and ensure he won't be stuck with her for eternity. Not to mention using the cure on Elena will mean it can't be used against Klaus.

xxx

The air is thick with the scent of spilled blood when they walk into the bar, even Jeremy and Matt must be able to smell it. Klaus is sitting comfortably at the bar, having a drink, completely at ease with the carnage surrounding him.

"I was beginning to worry you boys wouldn't find the place," Klaus says offhandedly.

Matt and Jeremy survey the scene with apparent horror.

"What the hell?" Jeremy says with that sense of morality humans find so appealing.

"Did you kill all these people?" Matt the human questions Klaus the original hybrid. The question strikes Damon as very amusing because of its utter ridiculousness. Matt's tone suggests he can do something about it, which, very clearly, he can't.

"Not exactly," Klaus says with a smirk, "they're in transition." He rises and confronts Jeremy before continuing. "Killing them is your job." Jeremy and Matt share a look and then they both turn on Damon with outrage.

"You said you were gonna convince Klaus to do this another way," Jeremy says, his tone a mixture of accusation and betrayal with a hint of that ever-present expectation that Damon and Stefan are here simply to fix things for the Gilberts thrown in. Matt and Jeremy continue to stare accusingly at Damon. Damon shares a look with Klaus and the way Klaus looks at him is different to the others. It's a curious look, not a demanding one. Klaus isn't asking for anything, he's content to simply see what Damon will do.

"Well I thought about it and then I realised his idea was better," Damon admits, looking at Klaus as he finishes, wanting Klaus to know that he is on his side. It earns Damon a smile from Klaus and that's worth more to him now than keeping the whiny humans happy.