The Salvatore Jewel

Chapter 12

After forgetting to call her father to tell him where she was and that she was with Klaus, despite Jeremy being with them, Ellie was put on house arrest. The only place she was allowed to go to was school and that was it. Now, that school had ended for the summer and her sophomore year had finished, Ellie was stuck in the Salvatore Boardinghouse for two months and a half. The girl groaned in boredom as she watched another episode of NCIS, sitting upside down on the couch. Stefan walked into the living room to find his bored niece in her position and said, holding a big box in his arms, "El, I wouldn't sit like that for long if I were you. You could get a headache from all that blood rushing through your head." Ellie replied, going back to sit normally on the couch, "There's nothing to do around this place. I have read almost every single book, watched almost every single movie and show series, and sketched in my sketch book. I can't even call my friends over!" Stefan chuckled with a smug look and said to his niece, "Who said you couldn't?" Ellie's eyes lit up and she turned to look at her uncle who winked at her, smiling. Stefan walked over to her and whispered, "Just don't tell your dad I said you could. You and I both know how that will end up." Ellie smirked at her uncle and winked back at him, silently saying that she won't. Then, Ellie rushed up the staircase to her room to grab her laptop. Stefan only watched his niece with a smile and shaked his head as he laughed.  Ellie ran back down the staircase, with her laptop in hand, and jumped onto the couch. Stefan watched his niece from the dinning room with amusement in his eyes as she quickly typed into her laptop and logged into Facetime.

After a couple of seconds, her gang of friends answered her video call and greeted her with enthusiasm. Ellie smiled and greeted them back with the same enthusiasm. Caroline's smile fell when she saw Stefan walk behind Ellie with a pile of papers in his hands and said to him through her line, with a glare, "Stefan, you have a lot of explaining to do when I get there! How dare you and Damon keep poor Ellie locked up for a small misunderstanding!" Stefan took a seat next to his niece and placed the papers down on the table to raise his arms up in defense. Ellie sighed and said to Caroline, "Relax, Caroline. Uncle Stefan did what he could to my defense. My dad is just being a stubborn prick." Tyler said from his line, "So, how are things in the jailhouse, El?" Ellie smirked at her uncle, coming up with an idea to get under his skin, and replied, dramatically, "It's awful, Ty. I have nothing to do and Uncle Stefan and Dad are boring me to death." Tyler caught on Ellie's dramatic act and said to Stefan, going along with the act, "Stefan, I'm coming over there and I'm going to stake you and Damon! How dare you?" Stefan was stunned by this sudden attack on him. He raised his arms higher and said, "Hey, don't come at me! It was Damon!" While Stefan's arms were raised, Ellie saw the chance to poke his sides, knowing that he was ticklish. Stefan let out an almost girlish squeal, causing the gang of friends to burst out laughing. Ellie noticed that Jeremy wasn't on the video call, only seeing Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, and Matt. Her smile fell and said, "Wait, where's Jeremy?" The gang of friends soon fell into silence. Matt cleared his throat and said, "Why don't you ask your dad if you can come to the grill? *He realized that his break was over* Hey, guys. I gotta get off, the lunch crowd is piling in. I'll see you later." Everybody said their goodbyes and Matt's video call screen went black, leaving Caroline, Bonnie, and Tyler on the call. Bonnie said to Ellie, from her line, "So, El. Do you know if you're coming to the bonfire tonight? I mean, it is a school event. Surely, Damon will let you come." Ellie scoffed and replied, "The outcome doesn't look like I will go, Bonnie. I'm only allowed to go to school and here for the rest of this month." Caroline's mouth dropped and said, "So, wait. You're grounded?! *Ellie nodded* Oh, poor girl. Bonnie and I are coming over there and we'll get you out of that jailhouse." Caroline directed her attention to Tyler and Stefan and said to them, glaring at them, "You two boys better not say one word to Damon about this." Tyler and Stefan both raised their arms in defense, keeping quite. With that, the video call ended.

Ellie held back a small smile but her smile fell when she heard the door opened and she turned to see her father walk in with Elijah. Damon turned to see his brother and daughter sitting on the couch and noticed that Ellie turned away from watching him with a scowl. He knew that she was mad at him for grounding her but in his eyes, he felt as if he was doing the right thing by keeping her safe. Elijah noticed the exchange between the father-daughter duo and kept his mouth closed. Stefan cleared his throat and said to Damon and Elijah, standing from his spot next to Ellie on the couch, "So, did you guys find anything?" Damon replied, "Only that Katherine made her appearance today. Jeremy told me that Elena left this morning from the house and came back, acting all weird." Stefan raised his eyebrow and said, crossing his arms, "Did she say anything?" Damon nodded and replied, "Jeremy told me that Katherine said that she wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted. He said that she was looking for Ellie and she was going to use her as a sacrifice of some sort." Ellie didn't move from her spot when her father talked about Katherine's plot and her involvement. She was still holding a grudge against her father for grounding her. Having enough of hearing her father talk as if she was a subject, the teenage girl grabbed her laptop and stormed up the staircase, towards her room. Damon winced when he heard his daughter slam her bedroom out of anger and turned to look at his brother. Stefan had also winced, knowing that his niece was not in the mood to deal with her father. Unknown to the two brothers and the Original Vampire, Ellie packed her backpack and snuck out of her bedroom through her balcony.

The teenage girl rushed to the one place she knew she would be safe and the one person she felt she could trust. Ellie ran down into the town, looking back to make sure she wasn't being followed, and ran to Jeremy and Elena's house. Ellie knocked on the the door rapidly and said, hoping that someone would answer, "Jeremy! Elena! Are you guys there?!" The door opened to reveal Jenna, Jeremy and Elena's aunt and guardian. Jenna's eyebrow rose with confusion and said to Ellie, "Ellie? What are you doing here? Does Damon and Stefan know that you're here?" Ellie ignored the older woman's questions and replied, "Are Jeremy or Elena here? Please, I need to talk to them." It didn't take Jenna more than a minute to recognize the fear and worry in the young girl's voice. Jenna said, "Jeremy went to the grill not just awhile ago and Elena was on her way to your house, sweetheart." With that, Ellie raced to the Mystic Grill, leaving Jenna standing at the front porch in concern. Ellie entered the Mystic Grill and frantically looked around for her best friend. She found him standing with Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, and Matt and ran over to them. Caroline turned to see Ellie running to them and said to her, "Ellie, what are you do doing here? Bonnie and I were on our way to get you from your house." Ellie didn't answer and was breathing heavily, with fear written on her face. Jeremy knew that he needed to help calm Ellie, seeing that she was having a panic attack. Jeremy pulled Ellie aside and decided to help her by doing breathing exercises. Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, and Matt watched their two friends with concern. Jeremy said to Ellie, once she had calmed down, "You wanna talk about what's going on, El?" Ellie replied, "Dad and Elijah came by the house this morning and they said that Katherine was going to use me as a sacrifice for something. Dad said that she came to you this morning." Jeremy sighed and looked into his best friend's eyes, seeing the fear and concern in her bright blue eyes. Jeremy placed his hands on Ellie's cheeks and said to her, "Listen to me, El. I promise you that I won't let anything happen to you, okay? Katherine can try all she can to bring us down but it will take more than a crazy woman who is looking for revenge to bring us down. Okay?" Ellie stared into Jeremy's eyes and nodded, knowing that Jeremy kept his word. Jeremy pulled Ellie into his arms, placing his head on top of hers.