elemental • n. m.

40. throwing shade

•THIRD POV•

Back at the bar where Damon had taken Stefan, after breaking him out of vampire detention, the older Salvatore was dancing on a table with two girls.

Stefan was feeding on their waitress' neck, although it appeared that he was merely kissing her from afar.

A woman stops and watches what Stefan is doing. Damon shows up and compels the woman to forget and move along, grabbing her scarf. "Nothing to see here!" The woman nods and starts leaving, "Just run along, okay?"

Damon looks over at his oblivious brother, "Hey, hey ease up! Ease up." He drags Stefan away. "She is giving us her employee discount." He ties a scarf around her neck and compels her, "And now, just run along."

She walks away immediately, as if nothing occurred. They go to the bar and sit down and order drinks where a male bartender is working.

"Two more!" Damon exclaims.

"Alright! Tell me what's up." Stefan rolls his eyes, "What's the point of the jailbreak, hm?"

Damon shrugged, "I thought you could use a hug, Stefan."

Stefan sighed, "Come on, Damon. You know Elena is gonna hate you for letting me out. And we both know that you care about what she thinks..."

Damon ignored his brother hinting at his very real feelings for the brunette that was still in love with him, "Maybe I wanted to remind you what freedom was like, before Klaus took it from you."

Stefan shrugged, "As long as Klaus is alive, I do what he says." He taps lightly on the wooden counter, "What about Aella? She would surely disapprove of all of this." He motions to the bodies strewn about the bar, as other people say about their business oblivious to what was happening.

Damon rolls his blue eyes, "What she doesn't know, won't hurt her. Plus she hasn't even tried to stop us physically yet. On the other hand with Klaus? That's my point, Stefan. You've given up! Now you could sit around and be his little bitch, or you get mad enough and you can do something about it."

Stefan rolls his eyes back, "Damon, he can't be killed. And Aella? There's probably a few good reasons she has yet to unleash her power on us."

"Maybe I can help with that." A voice says from behind them.

He walks closer to the pair, "The Salvatore boys, I presume?"

Stefan gulps, "Mikael."

As soon as he made his identity known, the Original hunter began interrogating the younger Salvatore.

"Is Klaus out of the country?"

"I can't tell you." Stefan would reply.

"Has he spoken to you since he left?"

Stefan shrugged again, "I can't tell you."

Mikael rolled his eyes, trying to change his phrasing to catch his son, "Alright. Can you tell me the last time you spoke to Niklaus?"

Stefan blinked back at him, "I'm compelled to do what he says, and he says to keep my damn mouth shut."

Damon grumbles, "I really hope this game of twenty questions isn't your secret weapon."

Mikael looks over at the vampire that addressed him, "You see, Damon..." he puts his hand on Damon's shoulder, which brings a great amount of discomfort to the former, "I've been a vampire hunter longer than you've been alive. It's why I found you here. It's why I'm gonna find Niklaus."