Imagination is the key (stefan, Damon love triangle)

Chapter Eighty-Two

The sun shone brightly in the sky, not a cloud in sight as we sprawled across the field. Jeremy was leaning up against the trunk of a tree, eyes closed, a single headphone hanging from his ear.
"You better not be falling asleep on us, Jer," I joked, chucking a dead leaf at him. It fell short by a few centimetres but his eyes opened and he smiled.
"Don't worry, I'm awake, listening to your boring-assed conversation," he said.
"It is pretty boring, isn't it?" The third person spoke confidently.
I rolled my eyes. "You're supposed to be on my side, Kol."
"Says who?"
"Me. And usually what I say goes."
"Or, that's what she likes to think. Best to humour her." Jeremy snorted. He reached inside the bag at his side and tossed me something. Quickly I reached up and snatched it before it could hit me in the face. "Hey!" I snapped, throwing the apple back. His reflexes weren't as quick as mine and it slammed into his shoulder.
"Ow!" He clutched the sore area and glared at me.
"Sorry, you started it."
"Yeah, yeah . . ." he muttered, twisting around and rotating his shoulder.
"Look can we do something else?" I asked, yawning with a stretch. My arms lifted up over my head. "You two have been dragging me down here for the past three days, and i'm bored. There's nothing to do - at all."
"Well we can't go to my room, Jamie doesn't leave."
I groaned. "Have you seriously not forgotten that yet?"
"No, and I won't."
It's been four days since sleeping with Jamie and having Jeremy catch me. I've been trying to make it up to him, telling him I was sorry, but nothing I did seemed to get him to completely forgive me. He really was hurt that I had gone against my promise. And having Kol there didn't help. I was introduced to him the same morning that Jeremy found Jamie and I. That made for one hell of an awkward greeting. Kol and Jeremy seemed close, more so than he did with any of his room mates. All of which I was now avoiding. It seems Jamie doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut about what happened.
"We can head to the batting cages. We haven't had a game in ages," Kol said. He got up off the ground and dusted off grass from his ass. "I need to head back to mine to grab my bat and everything, but i'll meet you two there?"
Jeremy nodded, "Yeah, sounds good."

"We need to stop by my room," Jeremy informed, tugging me down a corridor. I pulled to a halt.
"I don't think so. I'll just meet you at the batting cages. You go to your room get what you need and leave me out of it."
"You really are avoiding Jamie, aren't you?"
"Yeah, well . . ."
"You need to get over it."
"You need to get over it!" I retorted. "You keep holding it against me, what happened to forgive and forget?"
"I'm working on it, I could just be ignoring you. And let you suffer alone."
"Wow," I rolled my eyes. "Aren't you kind to me, brother."
"Just c'mon," He whined. "You need to change anyway, you really going to play in a dress?"
"I don't have any other pants with me." Jeremy wasn't going to leave me alone, nor was he going to let me out of facing his friends, so I let him tow me to his room.
"What's up with this new look of yours anyway?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I needed a change."
"You hate dresses."
"Now I hate trousers."
"Is this about-" he broke off as we stopped outside his room. He lowered his voice and looked around. "What happened with Klaus?"
"Why would that have anything to do with it?"
"Lillie, i'm trying to get you too talk to me."
"About something I don't want to talk about," i said. "Can we just get this over and done with." I pushed open the door and walked in. The room fell silent, the three guys Jeremy shared a room with froze and stopped what they were doing. Jamie sat on his bed, a tennis ball in one hand and a soda in the other.
"Lillie - hey!"
"Hi," I said bluntly. "What did you need Jeremy?" he walked around me and grabbed a bag off the end of his bed and then dropped to his knees and lifted up his covers, peering beneath his bed. He grabbed a wooden bat. "This."
"You going to the batting cages with Kol again, man?" The one unknown guy spoke. He was short and kinda fat - i'm not going to tiptoe around it. Definitely the least attractive of them all.
"Yeah, going to teach Lillie how to do it."
"Oh, har har," I quipped sarcastically. "I'm better than you, and you know it."
"Since when?" He laughed.
"Since I got stronger."
"You don't look very strong," Dom commented.
"She's much stronger than she looks," said Jamie. "Trust me on that."
My cheeks flared, embarrassed. "Jeremy, Kol's waiting for us."
"Hey guys," The fat one spoke up. "What do you two think about going to play a little baseball?"
I glared at Jeremy. This was his fault if we didn't need to stop by this fucking room they wouldn't be thinking about stalking us. "We're leaving," I coldly announced. "C'mon Jer."

"I hate you," I said as we got to the batting cages. "You did that on purpose."
He grinned, "only a little. But don't worry Lil's they won't come down here; they never do."
"Oh really? So that's not them there?" I looked over Jeremy's shoulder to see Jamie's familiar mess of hair walking alongside his two friends, straight for us. Jeremy turned to look and groaned.
"They don't normally come down here." He corrected. "Ignore them."
"Kind off hard when they're heading straight for us."
"Jeremy!" We turned at the sound of his name being called because it was definitely not one of the guys. Jeremy dropped his bat and grinned widely.
"Elena!" He waved. "It seems our other sister has arrived now."
"What?" I whined. "That's not fair. What's she doing here? You better go over and say hi." Although my steps faltered when Damon appeared beside her. My throat was dry and my dead heart sped up. Jeremy didn't care and practically pranced over to Elena, embracing her.
I slowly approached his side and stopped silently.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, still smiling.
Elena's happy smile dropped and she looked apologetic. "We kind of need you to do us a favour."
"You came all this way for a favour?" I finally spoke.
Elena and Damon looked at me. "I didn't know you were going to be staying up here this long."
"It's not even been a week," I said.
"And Stefan didn't specify a time."
"That's not my problem."
"We needed you back at home."
"And I needed to get out. You look well enough, can't have needed me too badly. Hi, Damon." I tried to be polite, I didn't want to be mean and hurt him anymore but it was hard to even look him in the eye after seeing the pain that had been there just the other night.
"Lillie," was all he said. He turned to Jeremy. "I need you to contact some dead person for me."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because i asked nicely, and I don't like doing it for a second time."
"Jeremy, man, you playin' or what?" I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. This is what happens when I fuck up, my life literally take every chance it can get to fuck me over. Enter the ex-boyfriend, welcome the hook-up.
"Nah, you go ahead, Dom. I've got something to do."
I could still hear their footsteps getting closer and closer and with each step my heart sped up. Damon can't know what I did. It would ruin everything, more than I had already done that is.
Jamie stopped between Jeremy and I and Dom and the fatty crowded around.
"Pleasant group of friends you've made, Jeremy," Damon observed with a slight sneer.
Dom extended his hand. "I'm Dom."
Elena took it when she realised that Damon wasn't going too. "Elena, Jeremy's eldest sister."
"You have a hot family," Dom commented, throwing a flirty wink Elena way.
"Not now, Dom." Jeremy jabbed his sharp elbow into his ribs hard. "Stop talking."
"What?" Dom asked innocently. "Jamie got her, I want the other sister."
My breath hitched and both Elena and Damon looked at me.
"If he gets to fuck a Gilbert, maybe both are an easy lay."
I rounded on him, furious. "Hey! What the hell is your problem?! Don't you know when to shut your fucking mouth."
"I meant no harm," Dom tried to say.
"Bullshit." I snapped. "Go away."
Dom glared at us all, shook his head and huffed. "You lot are nothing special. Let's go, guys." He turned on his heels and stormed off, fatty waddling behind him. Jamie however stayed behind.
"Lillie, can we talk for a minute?"
"No," I said, emotionlessly. "I have nothing to say to you."
"Look, I don't want to talk in front of whoever these people are."
"I'm her sister," Elena said, she pointed at a furious Damon. "Her boyfriend-"
Jamie's entire face paled.
"Ex." I countered.
"I can see the relation between you and Katherine more and more as time goes on," Damon's words were piercing and hurtful. I hadn't let myself dwell on the fact that Katherine was actually my sister and when I was Lillian we had had a very close relationship. I've tried to ignore it because I don't want to consider that past life as one of mine - i'm a different person now. I'm Lillie. But having Damon compare me to someone so psychotic and sluttish hurt, more than it would have had I not had my memories.
"Damon-" I tried to say but he didn't let me say anything.
"I should have expected something like this. You break up with me over nothing and then disappear-"
"Break up with you over nothing?" I snapped incredulously. "You call what happened nothing? I almost killed that woman, Damon - I almost killed her because of you. Because you don't like things that are different, because you think Stefan and I need fixing. That's why I broke up with you Damon. I may be a vampire but I refuse to live like a monster."
"What- what the hell are you talking about!?"
Damon snarled, angrily in Jamie's direction. For a moment, it was just Damon and I arguing; i'd forgotten that we had an audience, someone who wasn't in the know.
"What does he know?" Damon growled at Jeremy and I.
"Nothing," Jeremy replied.
"Good." Damon flashed in front of a pale Jamie. He stumbled backwards at Damon's sudden close appearance. Damon grabbed his neck in his hands.
I took a step forward. "Don't. Don't kill him."
Jamie's eyes glazed over with tears and he was shaking. "What do you want?"
"I wanted to get my girl back," Damon said. "Hoped to surprise her and change her mind. It's extremely disappointing and degrading to find that she's been rolling around in the sheet with someone like you."
"Damon! Stop it."
"What's stopping me from killing you right now?" He questioned low and threateningly.
"Me," I hissed. "That's jeremy's friend."
"He seems a hell of a lot more like yours."
"Please," my voice dropped, pleadingly.
"Well, well, well, look what we've got here."
I let out a sigh as Kol came swaggering into view, an aluminum bat balanced against one shoulder. "Kol, now's really not a good time. Maybe we could do this another time- tomorrow maybe?"
He continued toward us, eyes flickering between us all, with a wide smirk. "Nah, actually, this is perfect. I was wondering when you'd turn up."
I frowned, confused. "Huh?"
A hand suddenly grabbed me, pulled me away. Damon stood front of me,protectively, hands holding me back. I peered around his shoulder at Kol.
"What are you doing here?" Damon demanded.
"Just hanging with my good buddy Jeremy. What are you doing here, Damon? Didn't think you'd leave poor old Mystic Falls."
"You two know each other?" I questioned.
Elena looked at me. "Are you on Vervain, Lillie?"
I shook my head. "No, it hurts too much."
"Great," Damon muttered. "You've been compelled."
"Wait-" My eyes widened. "He's an original?"
"Yep, the younger brother."
"How many times have you compelled me?" I directed to Kol.
He shrugged, " a couple." He looked at Damon. "I can't let you take Jeremy. Not with my life being at risk and everything."
I wanted to question what the hell was going on, but it seemed that everyone was kind of confused about something. I kept my lips sealed and stayed hidden behind Damon. I was the only person here that could be compelled and that didn't sit right with me. I felt exposed and weak knowing that he held something over me the others were free of. I've tried to take vervain before but it hurt too much, burned as if I was swallowing acid. I don't deal well with pain - and it's not like I could wear it either. So i'm screwed.
"We're taking Jeremy," Damon said. "You're not going to stop us."
Kol chuckled. "Oh, I think I am." He swung his bat faster than I could blink and Damon crumpled to the floor, groaning.
"Elena, Jeremy get behind me!" I stood in front of them protectively. Panic fueled my actions. I wasn't ready to face off against an original, I can barely handle humans. Kol bought the bat down again, slamming into Damon's back. "You know, you remind me of a less dashing version of myself." Kol circled him, bat held tightly and ready. "You've got my wit, determination - i'm just older and-" slam, the bat hit Damon under the jaw. "-stronger, obviously. But don't worry Darling, your death won't hurt."
My eyes widened as Kol slide a wooden stake from the back of his pants. "Goodbye, Damon."
"No!" I shouted, throwing myself forward without thinking, at Kol.
"Lillie," Damon groaned, painfully. "Stop. Go - run."
That wasn't an option for me. I wasn't going to leave him here, I was not going to let him die. I grabbed Kol's wrist and snapped it to the left. The stake fell from his grip, cluttered to the floor and rolled away. With all the strength I could muster, i grabbed his shirt and threw him across the path. "Don't touch him!"
Kol slammed up against the side of a building, bricks crumbled under the horrible impact and he dropped to the ground on his stomach. I rushed to Damon's side and wrapped one of his arms around my shoulder as he got to his feet with a sharp grunt. "Ouch."
"We need to go," I said. "Now. Where did you park?"
I hooked my other arm around Damon's waist and helped him across the quad, whilst he pointed out where his car was. "At least it's close," I commented, trying to lighten the moment.

Elena was driving, she and I both refused to let Damon at the wheel after taking a beating from Kol like that. He was fine now and more than happy to be complaining loudly.
"What was that back there?" I asked. "What's going on?"
"We killed Finn," Damon informed. "But it would seem that his entire bloodline died along with him."
"What do you mean 'entire bloodline?'"
"Every vampire he turned and every vampire they turned and so on - they all died when he did."
"So? Stop killing the originals! I think that's a simple solution."
"Not an option," Damon said. "Klaus needs to die but we need to make sure none of us come from his line first."
I leaned between the two front seats. "And how do you plan on doing that? Who do you want Jeremy to contact?"
Damon's phone rang and he answered, leaning as far from me as the door would allow. I turned to Elena. "Are you going to answer me?"
"Uh, guys," Elena and I turned to look at Jeremy and his face was extremely pale. "We forgot something."
"What?"
"Jamie. We left him there."
"I don't remember seeing him when we left."
"It doesn't matter, he knows too much, he needs to be taken care of."
"On it," Damon said. "We'll quickly swing by your room. I'll deal with him."
"I think I should do it," I said, quietly.
"Nope, not going to happen."
"You'll kill him, Damon and that is not something I'm willing to risk." The car pulled into a parking space in front of Jeremy's dorm block. And in a flash Damon was out the car, walking up the sidewalk. I reached to open the door to follow but Elena locked them.
"What are you doing?" I hissed.
"Damon's got it under control, Lillie. Trust him."
"But I don't!"
"I do. Now, sit there quietly and wait for him to get back."
I huffed and slouched in my seat, sulking. "If Jamie dies, his death will be on you."
"Damon won't kill him, Lillie. You asked him not too."

It didn't take long for Damon to get back, in fact he he got in the car extremely fast, locked the door and ordered Elena to drive.
The car was silent. None of us saying anything. Until, thankfully, Elena broke it and asked the question surely bothering all of us. "What happened?"
I watched carefully, and noticed Damon stretching his fingers. I couldn't ignore the red marring his hands either. "You hurt him, didn't you?"
"No," he said, sternly. "It wasn't me. But Jamie's dead. Kol got there first."
"W-what?" How was I supposed to react to something like that? I liked Jamie, sure, he was a nice-ish guy and he must have done something right because I slept with him but I didn't know him long or even that well. Am I supposed to be sad? Mourn?
"-Lillie," I jumped at my name and looked at Jeremy. "Are you alright?"
"Ye-ah," My voice cracked and I cleared my throat. "Yeah, i'm fine. Let's just get out of here and figure out what we're going to do next. I'm sorry, though, Jer, about your friend."
"Me too," He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"You want me to reach who?" Jeremy asked. We'd stopped at a run down looking motel, something to hide in whilst we went over everything and tried to arrange some form of plan. I sat, crossed legged on one of the double beds. Elena was hesitantly perched on the edge of the other bed, opposite Jeremy who sat at the table. Damon was stood, tall and stiff by the door, arms crossed over his chest, staring expectantly at Jeremy.
"Rose," Damon said for a third time. "Her name is Rose."
"Look, I don't know if I'd be able to see her. I never even met her, I don't know what she looks like or anything."
"Well, she's about this tall," Damon raised his hand to just below his shoulder. "Short hair, incredibly hot." His eyes were fixated on me as he spoke.
"You're pathetic," I snapped.
"Why? Because I find more people than just you attractive? Sorry to burst your bubble, Lillie, but you're not the only woman in the world."
"Don't worry Damon, there was no bubble to burst, your words mean nothing - so did everything else you gave me. I guess that's why I found it so easy to move on."
He pushed off the wall, angrily. "I was stupid to believe anything you said to me."
"No, I was the stupid one Damon. To think that after everything that has happened, I could be enough how I was. I didn't want you to change, I've told you that before, so why did I need to? Why couldn't you accept me?"
"It wasn't about you - It was about Stefan."
"But he was able to control himself Damon. I wasn't. I felt weak and powerless and it was you that made me feel like that. You made me feel like I couldn't be fixed, like I had no control over what I did, my instincts will always overrule me. I don't want to live like that. I never have."
"We don't have time for this," Elena snapped, suddenly. "We didn't come out here to argue."
"We didn't come out here to find her shacking it up with someone either."
"We aren't together anymore Damon! I did nothing wrong. This is no different than you hooking up with Andie when I was missing."
"Rose says you're both being childish," that caught all our attention. Damon and I both turned to Jeremy. "you need to grow up."
"She's here?" Elena asked. She looked around but obviously couldn't see anything.
"She's standing right beside you."
"This is creepy," I commented. "Can you see all dead people if you wanted too?"
"I have to have connection with them to be able to reach them."
"How did you find Rose?"
"I've got you all here, you're my connection. You've met her before, you knew her, I just used that to open my mind a little bit more."
"Great," Damon said, "now ask her who turned her."
"She can hear you," Jeremy said. "and she said you're a dick."
He scoffed a short laugh, "yeah, doubt that. "
"She doesn't know which original she's connected too, but she was turned by someone called Mary Porter."
"Scary Mary?" Damon asked, disbelievingly.
I sighed, "You know her, I presume."
"We had a thing here and there."
"Great. You sure did get around Damon. Most females vamps we've come across, you've apparently fucked."
"What else was there to do to pass the time?" he asked, rhetorically.
"Get a hobby," I said, bitterly.
"I had one."
"You're a pig."
"No more so than you."
"Wow, you sure know how to get to a woman heart."
"You have a heart? Well look at that, I can still be surprised."
I snarled at him, itching to slap him, but Jeremy moved to stand between us. "I know where she is." He informed. "It's not too far from here, if we leave now we'll get there before dark."
"I'm not getting in a car with him." I crossed my arms stubbornly over my chest.
"Are you seriously doing this now?" Elena demanded. "We're in a little bit of trouble and you think being petty is going to help."
"I'm not being petty. I'm just not going anywhere with him."
"Fine," he said, "stay here then. If Kol turns up, give him our best will you."
"Screw you, Damon," I hissed.
He pulled the door open to the crappy motel and smirked over his shoulder. "You already have, Lils."

"-I hate him; I actually hate him. He does nothing but get under every nerve I have and then he acts like it's my fault when I lash out. So I slept with someone else – so what? That happens and it's not like I cheated on him; we weren't even together! God! I hate him. And you know what else has pissed me off – you not noticing I've been gone. I haven't been in Mystic Falls for days and I've got not one call from you. Bitch. But seriously call me when you get this because I've been abandoned in this shitty motel and I think it might be haunted-" The door swung open and a scream ripped from deep in my throat.
"Geez! Quiet down!" Damon's hand covered my mouth and I froze. My eyes narrowed and I swiped my tongue over his palm. He cocked a brow and didn't pull away. "You think that phases me?"
My response came out muffled. He pulled back. "What was that?"
"Asshole."
"I came back to get you, we're going back to Mystic Falls, you coming or not?"
I ended the call with Hollee's voicemail. "Yes, just get me out of here. I want to go home."
"Stop being such a baby."
"Sorry it's an automatic reaction around immature people. I like to try and make them feel better."
"Just get in the car, Lillie. I will leave you behind."
"Whatever you say, Damon. Just take me home."