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❝flair for dramatics❞
DAMON LOOKS AT THE FLAT TABLE TOP EMPTILY, HIS TALL FRAME RELAXED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COFFEE SHOP. He's not nervous, really, despite knowing the consequences he could face. If anything he's excited, filled with a happy anticipation at the company that Mystic Falls is just in the beginnings of meeting.
"Hello, Damon."
The familiar voice comes from above him, and Damon looks up at the suited man with a smirk, gesturing for him to sit down at the table across from him. He does so with a narrowed gaze, clearly waiting for Damon to say or do something, but he doesn't. He sips his coffee quietly and observes the man who was just grey and veiny and technically dead yesterday.
"I think the coat rack was a bit much, don't you?"
Damon shrugs, his smirk widening in amusement. "I don't know, I thought it was a nice touch. Don't you Mikaelsons have a love for the dramatics?"
Elijah concedes with a nod and flags a waitress over, ordering himself a cup of tea. "So you're protecting the doppelgänger in this new century, are you?"
Damon rolled his eyes. "Hardly. I called you here, didn't I?"
"I suppose that is true." Elijah observed him, adjusting his cufflinks as he looked the younger vampire over. "You're willing to jeopardize your relationship with your brother to give Elena over to Klaus?"
Damon's smirk fell and his face turned somber. "If he hates me, so be it. I'm saving him in the long run. Elena is trouble, and whatever Klaus is doing with her is a hell of a lot better than her existence acting as a beacon of all things terrible."
"And has she shown any Katherine-like traits?" Elijah asks, sipping his tea politely as he watches Damon's hostile behavior. It was clear enough by his words he didn't like Elena, but his body language said so much more. He despised her, if it was anything to go by. "It seems to me, Damon, that you resent Elena for reasons other than protecting your brother."
Damon leaned forward on the table, a sneer pulling at his lips. "Of course I do, Elijah. She's a physical reminder of every part of my life that I want to forget. Why on earth would I like Elena? Because she's not Katherine? News flash; she's exactly like her!"
He slams his hand down on the table, drawing a few eyes their way, but Elijah doesn't flinch at all. In fact, his amusement at Damon's ire has turned into something different, something knowing. An all-knowing sympathy that Damon hates.
"I don't care how you do it, just get Klaus here and get Elena out." Damon stands and yanks his coat off the back of the chair, storming out of the cafe with a glare on his face that makes people take wary steps around him. He's feeling murderous, and it's one of the times he's grateful he can do such a thing and get away with it.
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"Tell everyone I wasn't feeling well and I went home from school." Elena grunted as she carried the heavy bag against her leg, struggling somewhat with the weight of it as Caroline trailed behind her with an uneasy frown.
"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this, I'm a terrible liar." She looks at the back of Elena's head with a look that is silently hopeful she can convince her way out of this.
Elena ignores her, though, continuing their walk towards the tomb. "Keep Stefan busy, I don't want him knowing what I'm up to."
Caroline shrugs her shoulders dubiously. "I'm even worse at duplicity, and you know this!"
"You managed to keep me occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit." Elena deadpanned.
"Yeah, 'cause she threatened me. Not that I'm saying you should use that as a tactic it's–" Caroline cuts herself off with a stressed sigh. "Stefan's gonna see right through me."
"Caroline," Elena turns around, looking at Caroline with a frustrated glare. "As my friend, do you promise, or not?"
Caroline sighs in defeat. "You had to break out the girlfriend code. Fine, I promise."
Elena gives her a slight smile, relieved at her complicity. She turns, Caroline following her towards the closed stone door shutting the tomb full of vampires off from the world.
"Why don't you want Stefan to know?"
Elena shrugs like it's obvious. "Because he'd never be okay with me doing this."
Caroline frowns, feeling uneasy at the thought of lying to Stefan. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Elena sighs, exasperated with Caroline's questioning. "She's the only one who knows the truth about Klaus, the only one who can tell me how to stop him."
Caroline looks at Elena incredulously. "But you're asking from the truth from someone who's never been honest a day in her life. Are you sure about this?"
Of course, she didn't much care for Katherine after the vampire literally killed her, but after everything Damon had told her she didn't think it was right for Elena to go behind everyone's backs and do this. She knew Elena knew about Rosemary, so she had to know that Katherine was the reason she died, right? Caroline wasn't sure which was worse, though– Elena knowing and still going to Katherine for help, or not knowing and going behind her boyfriend's back to his crazy ex.
"Yes. I can't just sit back and wait. I have to know, Caroline."
Caroline just sighed and walked over to the tomb door, pulling it off of the opening and resting it against the wall. She stepped back, Elena taking a hesitant step forward despite knowing there was a barrier preventing Katherine from getting out. "Katherine?"
Elena sighed at the silence that followed, and she turned and looked at Caroline from over her shoulder. "I'll be okay from here."
Caroline gave her a silent look of disbeilef, but her and Elena both startled when a quiet shuffling was heard from inside the tomb. Caroline's eyes widened when she saw the bare feet limping in the dirt, before the dim light shone on the doppelgänger. It was obvious that she was desiccating, and Caroline felt a sick satisfaction inside her at the thought of Katherine dying a painful death. It was the least she deserved for everything she'd done in her lifetime.
"Hello, Elena. You come to watch me wither away?" Her hoarse voice filled the tense silence and Caroline clenched her fist at her side, making the older vampire's eyes dart to her with a glare. "Goodbye, Caroline."
"As long as I stay on this side of the door she can't hurt me." At Caroline's hesitant and protective glare, Elena sighed pleadingly. "Please."
Caroline turned away, walking out of the tomb with a roll of her eyes. She grumbled to herself as she trudged back through the woods, tree branches snapping easily underneath her angry steps.
She stopped right outside the treeline, glancing back behind her determinedly. She dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed a number she'd yet to use since receiving. "Technically," She muttered to herself, walking to her car. "She said don't tell Stefan."
