Midnight Rising

Giving In

It's humid, the water hanging in the air making my skin itch. Miniscule bugs flit around my head, dipping in close to try and find sweat that doesn't exist. This is not how I wanted to spend my afternoon. Why would Ric even entertain Elena's idea to come up here? He could have said no. I mean for Christ sake, he's an adult. The least Alaric could have done is call me. I'm used to being the bad guy. I would have been more than willing to crush Elena's dreams.

Approaching the two I can see Elena standing on a rock overlooking a lake. Ric has his back up against a tree, shaking his head at something the girl has just said. Coming up behind Elena, I give her a shove, sending her tumbling towards the lake surface. Elena hits the water, sending a balloon up around her, the substance sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. 

Elena surfaces soon after, dark hair plastered to her face. She gasps, flailing her arms about as she searches for the person who pushed her in. Once Elena's eyes lock with mine her surprise turns to disdain, "Damon! How are you even here?"

"Little birdy told me," I answer back with a nonchalant shrug.

Elena's angered gaze shifts from me to Alaric, "You sold me out."

"Wasn't me," Ric answers back, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender. "I'm glad he's here though. Going into a mountain range full of werewolves? At least now we have back up." Alaric looks away from Elena, dropping his words to a whisper. "Did she call?"

I give him a nod, still annoyed at him for not being the one to let me in on Elena's scheme, "Yeah. She figured it was safe cause we already knew where they were." Turning my attention back to Elena, I point to the ground next to me. I'm not playing games. "Get out of the water, Elena."

"If I get out of the water, you're gonna make me go home," Elena protests, crossing her arms over her chest.

Wow, at least now she's using her head, "Yeah, because I'm not an idiot like you."

"Right now you're both acting like idiots," Ric inputs. I chose to ignore him. He doesn't get to have a say. He's the idiot for letting Elena come out here. Not only did he let her come, but he also followed her. Some guardian he is. 

"You gave up on him, Damon."

"I didn't give up on him, Elena. I face reality. Now, get out of the water."

Elena shakes her head, "No!"

"What is your big plan, Elena? Huh?" Walking down to the water's edge, I wade in up to my ankles; water soaking through my socks, weighing down the ends of my jeans. "You gonna walk into a campsite full of werewolves –" I'm now waist-deep, shirt clinging to my abdomen " – roast marshmallows, and wait for Stefan to stop by?"

Elena moves away from me, using her arms to propel herself backward, "My plan is to find him and help him. Damon, this is the closest that we've been to him since he left. I'm not going home."

"Klaus thinks you died when he broke the curse. That makes you safe," I answer back, trying to talk some sense into her. "This, this is not safe." As I gesture around to the trees a flock of birds takes off, letting out an ominous cry. "Do you want to know who's helping him right now?" 

Elena stares back at me, chewing at her bottom lip. She knows and it's killing her inside. The same black madness that's taken over me is taking over Stefan's girlfriend. Somewhere in the depth of her mind, she knows. Elena is trying to get to Stefan not before he loses himself to Klaus but before he loses himself to my finance. 

"Diana is helping him. She's good at it. She'll bring him back. But if she sees you walk into that camp you're going to have bigger problems than Klaus." 

"I'm not leaving before we find him."

"It's a full moon tonight, Elena."

"Then we'll find him before then," she offers back, refusing to break my stare. I'm beginning to understand why Alaric gave in to her demands. Arguing with Elena is like yelling at a brick wall. Once the girl gets something in her mind she's not going to let it go. That's the Gilbert in her. The whole family is hardheaded. Elena's stubbornness is going to get her killed. "Damon, please."

It's her broken plea, the crack of her voice that gets me. She has to see for herself. Even if Stefan is in the middle of ripping into some helpless girl's neck, Elena needs to witness the downfall before she'll believe it. She needs to see for herself before she'll give him over completely to Diana. "Okay. Okay, but we are out of here before the moon is full and I'm werewolf bait."

"I promise."

"Unless you want to relive that whole deathbed kissy thing." I jest with a wiggle of my eyebrows.

Elena doesn't find this funny, pursing her lips as she narrows her eyes at me, "I said I promise."

"Fine," rolling my eyes, I retreat from the water. I can hear Elena moving behind me.