Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❝collateral damage❞
"WHERE'S THE MOONSTONE?"
Damon huffs a laugh, turning around to face the two werewolves he's got tied up with wolfsbane soaked ropes. "It's hysterical that you're wasting your last few breaths to ask me stupid questions."
He shifts, looking at Jules who's got a glare on her face as she looks at him, still uselessly pulling against the ropes around her wrists and ankles.
"What's in this?" He lifts up her shotgun he'd taken, smirking at her. "Is there buckshot in this? Was that your next shot?"
He pulls the trigger quickly and aims it at her knee, watching how she struggles against her binds. "What was the goal here, sweetheart? Get the moonstone from me, kill me, then break the curse yourself?"
Jules doesn't answer and he presses the barrel of the gun against her jean-clad knee, pushing the metal into her skin. "I hate to break it to you, but you are playing a very integral part in my plans and I can't have you messing it up now."
Jules' brows twitch, but before she can say anything, Elijah's voice rings through the room. "Looking for this?"
Damon shifts his gaze to Elijah, and then to where Rose stands beside him with a look of slight fear and disgust on her face at the sight of the werewolves. The moonstone in Elijah's hand gleams off the light and Damon sighs, taking a slight step back from Jules. "It's about time you showed up, my house smells like rotting dog."
"Hey–" Damon cuts Jules off by lifting the shotgun barrel up between her eyes, giving her a warning look.
"No speaking," He smiles sarcastically at her glare and turns back to Elijah and Rose. "What have you been doing?"
"Trying to concoct a plan for Rose's splendid idea." Elijah smirks and walks over to Jules, moonstone in hand as he stands in front of the werewolf. He glances at Damon briefly. "Is this the werewolf girl you were talking about?"
Damon nods.
"She'll be perfect for the ritual. Klaus will be delighted."
Jules's eyes widen with fear and she tries to sit up, but loses balance from the way her hands are tied behind her back. "What? What are you talking about?" Her eyes go to Rose, and they widen even more at the sight of the healthy vampire she bit. "How are you alive?"
"You're not the only one with connections, wolfie."Damon scoffs, and beckons Rose over. He stands between Rose and Elijah, shotgun still pointed at her head. "What do you think we should do with her?"
"Well we can't let her go, she'll just run and tell everyone about this." Rose glares down at the werewolf that almost killed her and reminds herself that she's still alive, somehow standing between a vampire that spent 500 years trying to kill her, and another vampire that saved her life after a week of knowing one another. Somehow she feels safer than she ever has.
Elijah shifts slightly, sliding the moonstone in his pocket. "I'll take care of these two while you find something to do with her." He turns around and approaches the two werewolves bound to the chairs, and punches his hands into their chests, pulling their hearts out in one swift action.
Jules gasps and tears well up in her eyes. Damon rolls his eyes and hands the shotgun to Rose. He leans down and throws Jules haphazardly over his shoulder, ignoring her struggle. "I've got a nice, cozy little cell in the basement I can put her in for now. We'll just have to keep people out of it."
Elijah nods as he breaks the ropes around the werewolf bodies, planning to burn the bodies somewhere nearby.
"Rose, you come with me. If she struggles at all, I want you to shoot her, alright? And Ric's going to wake up soon, so we've got to deal with that at some point."
Elijah sighs exasperatedly and steps over the temporarily dead human. "Just bleed him dry and compel him."
Damon hesitates, his eyes darting to Alaric's still body on the floor. No matter how much he actually enjoys Alaric's company, there's no way he'll join them or keep quiet about his alliance. He knows the only other choice is to kill him, and Damon doesn't quite have that in him yet. With a short nod, Elijah drags Alaric off elsewhere, most likely to start the long process of ridding his system of vervain.
Damon gestures to Rose and turns towards the basement. "Let's go." Rose nods, and tightens her grip on the shotgun as she follows Damon.
｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡
Damon holds his phone between his shoulder and ear, slowly pushing the chairs he tied the werewolves to back where they belonged. "So he planned to kill her all along,"
Bonnie lets out a stressed sigh on the other line. "Yeah. The sacrifice is part of Elijah's plan."
"Got it. Loud and clear." He ends the phone call with Bonnie quickly and frowns at the blood stain on his carpet.
He walks from the living room down the hallway, stopping in the doorway of an unused bedroom. His eyes immediately land on the Original vampire standing before Alaric, who's tied up and bleeding in an old wooden chair.
Alaric looks over to Damon and he widens his eyes in surprise. "Damon, go!"
The vampire ignores him, instead walking over to stand at Elijah's side. Damon lets out a long sigh, ignoring the warning look that Elijah gives him. "Can he be compelled?" Damon doesn't take his eyes off Ric, watching closely as the realization sets in, and betrayal floods in right after it.
Elijah nods in response. "Yes."
"Where's Rose?" Damon shifts, stepping closer to Alaric.
"I sent her away. The blood was too strong for her to stand."
Damon nods silently, and bends down slightly before Ric. "You went home after the party and started grading papers, and you fell asleep instead of going to get Jenna."
Alaric's pupils dilated and the compulsion set in, and Damon stepped backwards with a frustrated sigh. He untied Ric's ankles and wrists and helped him stand up. Damon grabbed his arm before he turned and left, making the human face him again confusedly. "Damon? What am I doing here?"
"You aren't. You never saw me tonight. Go home and clean up, and go to bed."
He lets Alaric go, leaving the house in silence as the compulsion takes over his actions. Damon waits another minute before he turns to Elijah. "Bonnie got ahold of Luka. She knows you're planning to go through with the sacrifice. She's already told Stefan."
Elijah sighs into the tense room. "Your friend will be fine. You did the right thing, Damon."
"I don't want to hear it right now, Elijah, alright? I just compelled the one person I can stand in this town because I'm planning on killing his girlfriend's niece. Just," Damon holds out a hand, a frown twisted on his face. "Spare me the lecture."
Elijah nods, taking his slight outburst in stride. He can't be upset at how Damon's acting, it's not like he was having the easiest go of it at the moment. "Do I need to take care of the Bennett witch?"
Damon stops in the doorway. "No. Not yet."
｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡
author's note; the foreshadowing in this book is my favorite thing to write
