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lauren3210Chapter 3 of my Snow Queen AU, for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dutchess_sandra!
Word count: 3500+ (this part)
Spoilers/warnings: Completely AU.
Rating: T+ (for now)
When Damon goes missing, his family assume he has run away, as he doesn't get along with his father. Elena is not convinced, and so she goes searching, first at the old well close to their special garden. A raven is there, and Elena talks to it, and is convinced that it's telling her that Damon has been kidnapped. She goes to see her friend Bonnie, whose grandmother used to tell stories of witchcraft. She asks her to try a spell to find Damon, but Bonnie is jealous of the friendship that Elena shares with him, and tries to keep her there with her instead. The raven appears again, distracting Bonnie so that Elena can escape, and she runs to her other friend's house, Caroline. There, she meets Caroline's new Boyfriend, who reminds her of Damon.
Saturday morning dawns bright and cold, but Elena misses the quiet beauty of it. Too upset over her fight with Damon, she'd come home that night and crawled into bed, ignoring her mother's calls for dinner and her father's gentle taps against her bedroom door. She'd spent the entire night with her phone clenched tightly in her fist, waiting for a call or a text that would explain Damon's sudden behaviour. Neither had come, and Elena had finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep as dawn had approached.
The next day, Elena had felt sluggish with exhaustion and sick with worry, and she had arrived at school late but determined to find Damon and make him explain himself to her. But their shared English classroom had felt empty without him there, and Elena had spent the rest of the school day alternating between looking out of the windows for a flash of his distinctive car and waiting beside their adjoining lockers for him to show up. She imagined their reunion over and over again; he would smile and apologise, explain that he'd had an argument with his father and that he was stressed, and then he would stroke her hair and kiss her until she forgave him. But Damon never showed.
After school Elena had gone straight home and crawled back into bed, caving at last and sending Damon a text. She'd fallen asleep again with the phone clutched to her chest, and when she'd awoken the sky had been bright with a new day and her phone stayed silent. The next two days passed in the same way, Elena looking for Damon but finding nobody there, calling him only to be directed straight to voicemail, texts remaining unanswered. She avoided Caroline and Bonnie in the hallways, their concerned expressions only tightening the ball of worry that was lodged in her chest. She side-stepped questions from her mother about when Damon was going to be coming around for dinner again, ignored the worried looks her father gave her when he thought she wasn't looking. She would stay up late into the night, writing her thoughts down in her diary and checking her phone every few minutes, worry quickly turning into desperation as the lack of replies remained the same.
Elena woke gasping, Damon's name on her lips as the image she'd been dreaming faded slowly from her mind. Something about Damon, and weather so cold Elena could feel it burning into her skin... She tried to grab for it, but the dream turned into wisps and disappeared. She swung her legs out of bed and looked around; her room was a mess from spending so much time holed up, pacing from window seat to door, picking random things up and then listlessly dropping them back down haphazardly. Nodding to herself, she made a decision. She would clean up, get dressed, and then go and seek out Damon and talk to him. He couldn't hide from her forever.
The tight ball of tension didn't ease as she went around her room, gathering up dirty clothes for a wash load and replacing books back on their shelves. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
She quickly showered and dried her hair, pulling out her warmest long sleeved top to go with her jeans. The sudden cold snap seemed to be easing from what she could see out of the window, but still, the snow had yet to melt and ice still hung from the eaves. Pulling on her boots, she ran downstairs, calling to her mother that she would be out all day. She jumped into her car and turned the heater on full blast, steeling herself as she drove to Damon's house. If he was hiding from her for whatever reason, then she would find him and make him talk.
She parked on the gravel driveway and sat in the car for a moment, looking over at the perpetually open garage door. Guiseppe's car was there, shiny and pristine as usual, which was not a good sign. However, Damon's pale blue vintage Camaro was there too, which meant that at least Damon hadn't gone far. She got out and walked up to the heavy oak door, taking a deep breath before lifting the knocker. Hopefully, Damon would answer the door and they could talk without Elena having to run into his father.
Luck was not on her side. Elena tried to keep her face pleasant and open as the door swung inwards to reveal Guiseppe standing there, the frown on his brow so intense she could barely make out his beady little eyes. It was no secret between them that Elena disliked the man; she thought him a cruel, dismissive person and an even worse father. In fact, Elena was fairly certain that hardly anybody in town liked Mr Salvatore; she often saw her mother's pinched expression whenever his name was mentioned before it smoothed back out. Mystic Falls was one of those places that held town events for absolutely everything, and yet, Elena had yet to notice Guiseppe make an appearance at a single one. She knew it was one of the reasons why Damon always felt so out of place when he accompanied her; he felt that people around them just assumed he was the same as his father.
"What do you want?" Guiseppe's voice was cold and distant, his gaze directed just beyond her shoulder, as though he could barely force himself to look up at all.
Elena aimed for careful politeness. "Hi Mr Salvatore, I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could speak to Damon, please?"
The old man almost smiled at that. "He's not here."
Elena held out a palm to stop the door from being closed on her face and set her jaw. "He must be here somewhere, his car is in the garage."
"That car is mine, I just let him borrow it." Guiseppe sneered at her, opening the door wider again and looking right at her for the first time. "He knew better than to take it with him, he knows I would have reported it as theft."
"Take it with him? Where has he gone?"
Guiseppe shrugged, unconcerned. "Don't know, don't care. He's eighteen now so he's no longer my concern." He peered down at her, his need to admonish her at war with finding amusement at her distress behind his eyes. "Just be grateful he didn't land on your doorstep, try to eat your family out of house and home and give nothing back in return."
Elena rocked back on her heels but didn't step back; she needed to know more. "When did he leave?"
"A few days ago."
"A few days?" Elena heard her voice rising and tried to regain control. "And you haven't reported him missing?"
"What for?" An unconcerned snort. "I told you, he's an adult now, and it's about time he decided to look after himself instead of leeching off of me." And with that, Guiseppe gave her one last nasty smile and shut the door in her face.
Elena stood on the ornate front porch of the Salvatore house, unable to quite work out what had just happened. She knew there was no love lost between Damon and his father, but for Guiseppe to just write off his son's disappearance as running away without even trying to look for him first? That was just... horrible. Elena made her way back down the steps, her feet taking her automatically across the wet lawn as she wondered where she could begin her search. Because Damon had to be close by; no matter what the state of their relationship had been in recently, he would never just up and leave without at least saying goodbye to her face to face first. She knew Damon, knew him better than she knew herself - he just wouldn't leave town without her.
Elena looked up, not surprised to find herself in their garden, and she sat down on the little stone bench, cold seeping through her jeans. The frost was starting to thaw; ice water ran off the dark leaves of the rose bushes and onto the hardened soil. The sound of piles of melting snow falling from branches echoed to her through the woods, birds chirping as the hopped from bough to bough after the silence of the snow. Elena sighed as she looked down at the bedraggled rose bushes, hacked off stems sticking up forlornly. Something must have happened to Damon before their argument, he'd never spoken to her like that before. So what could have happened?
A loud caw sounded next to her and she jumped up, startled out of her thoughts. She turned around to find a black crow perched on the end of the bench, head tilted to one side as it looked at her with a piercing eye. The bird seemed to study her for a long moment, before hopping along the bench, closer and closer, until his beak was level with her knees.
"Well, you're a bit cocky, aren't you," Elena mumbled to herself as she stared down at the crow, which was currently hopping from one leg to the other, as though it had some place else to be. "Don't let me keep you," she said, a note of faint hysteria creeping into her voice before she jumped back at a loud cry from the bird's mouth. For a split second she could have sworn the thing was scowling at her.
Damon's been taken.
The errant thought flashed through her brain without warning and Elena gasped out loud as a feeling of certainty travelled though her, settling in her stomach like a lead ball. She had to tell someone... But who would believe her? It wasn't like she had any proof to take to the police - and that was even if they would believe her over Mr Salvatore's insistence that his son had simply left - and her parents, although they would listen to her, they would still think she was just overreacting to a lovers' fight and be reluctant to do anything officially. And if Elena was right - and she knew she was, she could feel it deep down to her soul - then all of that would take far too much time. She needed someone who could help her now. Staring blankly at the sea of torn up roses in front of her, Elena thought desperately about who she could get to help her. Her first option would have been Damon, he was always around when she needed him, always had been,. Then she thought of her other friends, but what could Caroline or Bonnie do -
Bonnie.
Elena's eyes widened as she thought of her friend. Then she flashed her gaze back up to the crow, who was still standing in the same spot, eyeing her beadily.
"Bonnie," she said out loud, decisive and determined. "Bonnie can help me." She turned and strode off back over the lawn towards her car.
The crow watched as the girl quickly walked away, a relieved glint in its obsidian eye making him seem glad that he had managed to get through to her. At the sound of her car moving, it lifted up into the air and soared above her as though following. After a short time, it banked suddenly, seeming to fly as the, well, as the crow flies, straight to the rooftop of a home that is known among the animals for housing a witch.
Elena let out a breath she hadn't realised she's been holding as she saw Bonnie's car parked outside her house. Standing on the porch, she tried to calm her nerves and forced herself not to keep knocking on the door. But still, Elena couldn't help herself as the door opened to reveal her friend and she threw herself at the shorter girl, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.
"I need your help."
"Oh my God what's, what's happened?" Bonnie stuttered, hugging Elena back instinctively. She pulled her friend in and shut the door behind them, guiding Elena into the living room. "Tell me what's going on."
"Damon's been kidnapped," Elena blurted out, wincing when she caught the look of amused surprise on Bonnie's face. She rushed to explain. "He went missing a few days ago, you know he's not been in school, and Guiseppe said he's just left but he hasn't, Bonnie, he wouldn't leave without telling me." She knew she was babbling but she couldn't help herself; it was as if having a friendly face in front of her had suddenly reminded her of the sinking sense of dread she had felt since her argument with Damon had caused a dam to break and she was helpless against the flow. "Please believe me Bonnie, someone kidnapped him and we need to find him. Someone took him."
Bonnie watched as Elena took deep breaths to try and calm herself down with an eyebrow raised. She had never been Damon's biggest fan, even less so since Elena had finally agreed to start dating him. And now, she couldn't help but think that this was a good thing, for Damon to have left town, for Elena's sake. Caroline may occasionally tell Bonnie that it was because she was jealous that Damon took the position of best friend from her back in seventh grade, Bonnie knew it was more than that. The whole Salvatore family was just... wrong. Her Grams had shown her an old family history book once, a diary of one of their ancestors who had been a maid for the Salvatores. The book detailed all of the weird things that had occurred back in 1864, strange animal attacks and whispers of vampires that had all seemed to have centred around the Salvatore family. Her Grams swears she feels a psychic shudder whenever she sees Guiseppe, and Bonnie was sure she felt the same way about Damon.
Elena sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, sitting up straighter when she saw Bonnie's disapproving look. "Listen, please just put whatever issue you have with Damon away for a bit and just be my best friend? Please?"
Bonnie blew air through her pursed lips, before rolling her eyes and nodding. "Okay, say I actually care where Damon is, and that I believe you when you say you think he's been kidnapped. What do you need me to do?"
"I want you to do a spell to find him." Elena stated, clear and too loud in the suddenly silent room. "Come on, Bonnie," she went on, as Bonnie opened her mouth to deny, "I know your Grams has been showing you magic, I've seen you floating pencils at school."
Bonnie stared at her. "Elena," she breathed out finally, before closing her eyes in defeat. "It's... it's not that simple. I've only been practising the really easy stuff and a locator spell... That's, that's not easy."
Elena put her hand on her friend's shoulder, smiling at her in a brief moment of happiness that her friend could do something like this. But then reality closed back in around her. "What about you Grams? She's more powerful, right?"
Bonnie stared at her. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"
Elena nodded firmly. "I'm going to find him, Bonnie. He'd do the same for me, and he'd never stop until he found me."
Bonnie frowned at her for a moment before seeming to come to a decision and smoothing a hand over her face. "Okay, fine. Let's just... let's just have a cup of tea first, and then I'll call Grams, okay?"
"Bonnie, tea isn't going to help anything."
"It'll help me." Bonnie stood up and backed towards the kitchen, her hands held out to Elena. "It calms me down and to be honest, you've kind of freaked me out a little." She disappeared around the corner and Elena was left fidgeting in her seat, waiting. A few minutes later and Bonnie was back with two mugs, holding one out for Elena. "It'll help you calm down too," she said with a nervous smile.
Elena frowned slightly at her friend's slightly weird behaviour but accepted the drink, breathing in the smell of wild berries. "Herbal tea?"
Bonnie nodded a little quickly. "My Grams makes them herself, try it, it's really relaxing."
Elena sighed and lifted the cup to her lips, feeling the warmth of the liquid seep down to her bones. She yawned almost immediately, then turned to Bonnie. "Now we call Grams, right?"
"Right," Bonnie almost whispered, picking up her phone and flipping it round and round in her hand.
Elena had another mouthful of the tea and then yawned again, her eyelids closing involuntarily. She sluggishly blinked them open and saw Bonnie standing blurry in front of her and tried to open her mouth to ask what was happening, but the world went black around her. The last thing she felt was the feel of Bonnie carefully removing the mug from her hand.
Tap-tap-tap!
Elena's eyes snapped open at the sound, Bonnie's living room slowly coming into focus as she blinked sleepily. Tap-tap-tap! Her gaze darted around and then widened as it fell on the window. Another crow sat on the windowsill outside, tapping its beak against the glass as if to get her attention. It stopped as they seemed to make eye contact, and the bird stood still, looking back at her, its head tilted at just the same angle as the one in her garden had.
Elena opened her mouth to call for Bonnie, to ask what had happened, when a hushed voice reached her ears.
"I know Grams, but what was I supposed to do? What if he's gone running off to another country or somewhere and she decides to follow him? I don't know, I think I made it strong enough, but she only had a few sips, she must have been tired already-" Elena sat up as silently as she could surprise and hurt and angry at what she was hearing. "How long until you get here? No, I know, Grams, but it's better for her if she just forgets him and moves on. I mean, he's a Salvatore-"
Damon's name being said like it was a dirty word finally shocked Elena out of her frozen state, and she launched herself up off the couch, her hands clenched tight into fists at her sides. She took a step forward but then stopped, sudden worry making her sink her teeth into her bottom lip. Bonnie was a witch, she had finally confirmed it after all these months of just laughing it off as her crazy grandmother's idea of a joke. She could be able to do something to make her stay. She already had done something to try and make her stay. What if she wouldn't let her leave until her much more powerful grandmother showed up? Elena couldn't take that chance.
Elena jumped as a fluttering of wings on the other side of the room made her glance up. There, sitting on the open window pane, was the crow. She stared as it hopped over onto the windowsill, looking off into the kitchen, where Elena could still hear Bonnie whispering into the phone. The bird looked at Elena for a moment, then raised itself up into the air and flew into the kitchen, followed quickly by Bonnie's loud shriek.
Run!
A voice inside her head suddenly shouted at her to run, and she didn't question it. Leaving her coat and bag on the floor where she had dropped them, she ran to the front door and yanked it open. It was only once she had run down the path and smacked into the side of her car that she realised she had left her keys in her bag. She whirled around to go back, but Bonnie was already careening out onto the porch.
"Elena, wait! I can explain!"
The two girls stared at each other until a car turning into the street jarred Elena back into action and she ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could. The street was dark and she kept close to the bushes lining the sidewalk, even though a part of her knew that she was being a little bit too paranoid. But Bonnie was her best friend, and the hurt cascading through her chest made her breath catch in her throat with every step.
She kept running until she found herself on Caroline's doorstep, not even realising until after she'd knocked where she even was, her thoughts too jumbled with images of Damon, wherever he was. She heard Caroline's feet as she made her way down the hall, and Elena felt a moment of panic as she wondered what Caroline would say. If Bonnie didn't believe her, then Caroline certainly wouldn't; she had always scoffed at Bonnie's stories about witchcraft during sleepovers.
"Hey, Elena!" Caroline smiled as she pulled open the door, then immediately frowned. "What's up? You look like you've been crying."
"Um, nothing," Elena mumbled, not wanting to say anything to turn Caroline against her. "Can I just... can I just come in for a bit? It's freezing out here."
Caroline's eyes widened as she took in her friend's clothes. "Oh my God, what are you doing without a coat on? Get in here before you die of hypothermia!" She whipped out a hand and grabbed Elena's arm, pulling her over the threshold and shutting the door behind them. She led Elena into the living room, gesturing with her hand in front of them.
"Elena, meet Stefan! Stefan, this is my best friend Elena!"
Elena jerked her head up to see a boy sitting on one of the couches, looking up at her with interest. He stood up and held out a hand to her, which she shook automatically. He had spiky dark blond hair and hazel eyes and looked absolutely nothing like Damon at all, and yet when he smiled, and the left corner of his mouth rose slightly higher than his right, suddenly all she could think about was Damon. She needed to find him.
"Caroline," she said, turning to face her friend seriously. "I need your help."
dutchess_sandra!Word count: 3500+ (this part)
Spoilers/warnings: Completely AU.
Rating: T+ (for now)
Act 3: The search.
When Damon goes missing, his family assume he has run away, as he doesn't get along with his father. Elena is not convinced, and so she goes searching, first at the old well close to their special garden. A raven is there, and Elena talks to it, and is convinced that it's telling her that Damon has been kidnapped. She goes to see her friend Bonnie, whose grandmother used to tell stories of witchcraft. She asks her to try a spell to find Damon, but Bonnie is jealous of the friendship that Elena shares with him, and tries to keep her there with her instead. The raven appears again, distracting Bonnie so that Elena can escape, and she runs to her other friend's house, Caroline. There, she meets Caroline's new Boyfriend, who reminds her of Damon.
Saturday morning dawns bright and cold, but Elena misses the quiet beauty of it. Too upset over her fight with Damon, she'd come home that night and crawled into bed, ignoring her mother's calls for dinner and her father's gentle taps against her bedroom door. She'd spent the entire night with her phone clenched tightly in her fist, waiting for a call or a text that would explain Damon's sudden behaviour. Neither had come, and Elena had finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep as dawn had approached.
The next day, Elena had felt sluggish with exhaustion and sick with worry, and she had arrived at school late but determined to find Damon and make him explain himself to her. But their shared English classroom had felt empty without him there, and Elena had spent the rest of the school day alternating between looking out of the windows for a flash of his distinctive car and waiting beside their adjoining lockers for him to show up. She imagined their reunion over and over again; he would smile and apologise, explain that he'd had an argument with his father and that he was stressed, and then he would stroke her hair and kiss her until she forgave him. But Damon never showed.
After school Elena had gone straight home and crawled back into bed, caving at last and sending Damon a text. She'd fallen asleep again with the phone clutched to her chest, and when she'd awoken the sky had been bright with a new day and her phone stayed silent. The next two days passed in the same way, Elena looking for Damon but finding nobody there, calling him only to be directed straight to voicemail, texts remaining unanswered. She avoided Caroline and Bonnie in the hallways, their concerned expressions only tightening the ball of worry that was lodged in her chest. She side-stepped questions from her mother about when Damon was going to be coming around for dinner again, ignored the worried looks her father gave her when he thought she wasn't looking. She would stay up late into the night, writing her thoughts down in her diary and checking her phone every few minutes, worry quickly turning into desperation as the lack of replies remained the same.
Elena woke gasping, Damon's name on her lips as the image she'd been dreaming faded slowly from her mind. Something about Damon, and weather so cold Elena could feel it burning into her skin... She tried to grab for it, but the dream turned into wisps and disappeared. She swung her legs out of bed and looked around; her room was a mess from spending so much time holed up, pacing from window seat to door, picking random things up and then listlessly dropping them back down haphazardly. Nodding to herself, she made a decision. She would clean up, get dressed, and then go and seek out Damon and talk to him. He couldn't hide from her forever.
The tight ball of tension didn't ease as she went around her room, gathering up dirty clothes for a wash load and replacing books back on their shelves. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
She quickly showered and dried her hair, pulling out her warmest long sleeved top to go with her jeans. The sudden cold snap seemed to be easing from what she could see out of the window, but still, the snow had yet to melt and ice still hung from the eaves. Pulling on her boots, she ran downstairs, calling to her mother that she would be out all day. She jumped into her car and turned the heater on full blast, steeling herself as she drove to Damon's house. If he was hiding from her for whatever reason, then she would find him and make him talk.
She parked on the gravel driveway and sat in the car for a moment, looking over at the perpetually open garage door. Guiseppe's car was there, shiny and pristine as usual, which was not a good sign. However, Damon's pale blue vintage Camaro was there too, which meant that at least Damon hadn't gone far. She got out and walked up to the heavy oak door, taking a deep breath before lifting the knocker. Hopefully, Damon would answer the door and they could talk without Elena having to run into his father.
Luck was not on her side. Elena tried to keep her face pleasant and open as the door swung inwards to reveal Guiseppe standing there, the frown on his brow so intense she could barely make out his beady little eyes. It was no secret between them that Elena disliked the man; she thought him a cruel, dismissive person and an even worse father. In fact, Elena was fairly certain that hardly anybody in town liked Mr Salvatore; she often saw her mother's pinched expression whenever his name was mentioned before it smoothed back out. Mystic Falls was one of those places that held town events for absolutely everything, and yet, Elena had yet to notice Guiseppe make an appearance at a single one. She knew it was one of the reasons why Damon always felt so out of place when he accompanied her; he felt that people around them just assumed he was the same as his father.
"What do you want?" Guiseppe's voice was cold and distant, his gaze directed just beyond her shoulder, as though he could barely force himself to look up at all.
Elena aimed for careful politeness. "Hi Mr Salvatore, I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could speak to Damon, please?"
The old man almost smiled at that. "He's not here."
Elena held out a palm to stop the door from being closed on her face and set her jaw. "He must be here somewhere, his car is in the garage."
"That car is mine, I just let him borrow it." Guiseppe sneered at her, opening the door wider again and looking right at her for the first time. "He knew better than to take it with him, he knows I would have reported it as theft."
"Take it with him? Where has he gone?"
Guiseppe shrugged, unconcerned. "Don't know, don't care. He's eighteen now so he's no longer my concern." He peered down at her, his need to admonish her at war with finding amusement at her distress behind his eyes. "Just be grateful he didn't land on your doorstep, try to eat your family out of house and home and give nothing back in return."
Elena rocked back on her heels but didn't step back; she needed to know more. "When did he leave?"
"A few days ago."
"A few days?" Elena heard her voice rising and tried to regain control. "And you haven't reported him missing?"
"What for?" An unconcerned snort. "I told you, he's an adult now, and it's about time he decided to look after himself instead of leeching off of me." And with that, Guiseppe gave her one last nasty smile and shut the door in her face.
***
Elena stood on the ornate front porch of the Salvatore house, unable to quite work out what had just happened. She knew there was no love lost between Damon and his father, but for Guiseppe to just write off his son's disappearance as running away without even trying to look for him first? That was just... horrible. Elena made her way back down the steps, her feet taking her automatically across the wet lawn as she wondered where she could begin her search. Because Damon had to be close by; no matter what the state of their relationship had been in recently, he would never just up and leave without at least saying goodbye to her face to face first. She knew Damon, knew him better than she knew herself - he just wouldn't leave town without her.
Elena looked up, not surprised to find herself in their garden, and she sat down on the little stone bench, cold seeping through her jeans. The frost was starting to thaw; ice water ran off the dark leaves of the rose bushes and onto the hardened soil. The sound of piles of melting snow falling from branches echoed to her through the woods, birds chirping as the hopped from bough to bough after the silence of the snow. Elena sighed as she looked down at the bedraggled rose bushes, hacked off stems sticking up forlornly. Something must have happened to Damon before their argument, he'd never spoken to her like that before. So what could have happened?
A loud caw sounded next to her and she jumped up, startled out of her thoughts. She turned around to find a black crow perched on the end of the bench, head tilted to one side as it looked at her with a piercing eye. The bird seemed to study her for a long moment, before hopping along the bench, closer and closer, until his beak was level with her knees.
"Well, you're a bit cocky, aren't you," Elena mumbled to herself as she stared down at the crow, which was currently hopping from one leg to the other, as though it had some place else to be. "Don't let me keep you," she said, a note of faint hysteria creeping into her voice before she jumped back at a loud cry from the bird's mouth. For a split second she could have sworn the thing was scowling at her.
Damon's been taken.
The errant thought flashed through her brain without warning and Elena gasped out loud as a feeling of certainty travelled though her, settling in her stomach like a lead ball. She had to tell someone... But who would believe her? It wasn't like she had any proof to take to the police - and that was even if they would believe her over Mr Salvatore's insistence that his son had simply left - and her parents, although they would listen to her, they would still think she was just overreacting to a lovers' fight and be reluctant to do anything officially. And if Elena was right - and she knew she was, she could feel it deep down to her soul - then all of that would take far too much time. She needed someone who could help her now. Staring blankly at the sea of torn up roses in front of her, Elena thought desperately about who she could get to help her. Her first option would have been Damon, he was always around when she needed him, always had been,. Then she thought of her other friends, but what could Caroline or Bonnie do -
Bonnie.
Elena's eyes widened as she thought of her friend. Then she flashed her gaze back up to the crow, who was still standing in the same spot, eyeing her beadily.
"Bonnie," she said out loud, decisive and determined. "Bonnie can help me." She turned and strode off back over the lawn towards her car.
***
The crow watched as the girl quickly walked away, a relieved glint in its obsidian eye making him seem glad that he had managed to get through to her. At the sound of her car moving, it lifted up into the air and soared above her as though following. After a short time, it banked suddenly, seeming to fly as the, well, as the crow flies, straight to the rooftop of a home that is known among the animals for housing a witch.
***
Elena let out a breath she hadn't realised she's been holding as she saw Bonnie's car parked outside her house. Standing on the porch, she tried to calm her nerves and forced herself not to keep knocking on the door. But still, Elena couldn't help herself as the door opened to reveal her friend and she threw herself at the shorter girl, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.
"I need your help."
"Oh my God what's, what's happened?" Bonnie stuttered, hugging Elena back instinctively. She pulled her friend in and shut the door behind them, guiding Elena into the living room. "Tell me what's going on."
"Damon's been kidnapped," Elena blurted out, wincing when she caught the look of amused surprise on Bonnie's face. She rushed to explain. "He went missing a few days ago, you know he's not been in school, and Guiseppe said he's just left but he hasn't, Bonnie, he wouldn't leave without telling me." She knew she was babbling but she couldn't help herself; it was as if having a friendly face in front of her had suddenly reminded her of the sinking sense of dread she had felt since her argument with Damon had caused a dam to break and she was helpless against the flow. "Please believe me Bonnie, someone kidnapped him and we need to find him. Someone took him."
Bonnie watched as Elena took deep breaths to try and calm herself down with an eyebrow raised. She had never been Damon's biggest fan, even less so since Elena had finally agreed to start dating him. And now, she couldn't help but think that this was a good thing, for Damon to have left town, for Elena's sake. Caroline may occasionally tell Bonnie that it was because she was jealous that Damon took the position of best friend from her back in seventh grade, Bonnie knew it was more than that. The whole Salvatore family was just... wrong. Her Grams had shown her an old family history book once, a diary of one of their ancestors who had been a maid for the Salvatores. The book detailed all of the weird things that had occurred back in 1864, strange animal attacks and whispers of vampires that had all seemed to have centred around the Salvatore family. Her Grams swears she feels a psychic shudder whenever she sees Guiseppe, and Bonnie was sure she felt the same way about Damon.
Elena sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, sitting up straighter when she saw Bonnie's disapproving look. "Listen, please just put whatever issue you have with Damon away for a bit and just be my best friend? Please?"
Bonnie blew air through her pursed lips, before rolling her eyes and nodding. "Okay, say I actually care where Damon is, and that I believe you when you say you think he's been kidnapped. What do you need me to do?"
"I want you to do a spell to find him." Elena stated, clear and too loud in the suddenly silent room. "Come on, Bonnie," she went on, as Bonnie opened her mouth to deny, "I know your Grams has been showing you magic, I've seen you floating pencils at school."
Bonnie stared at her. "Elena," she breathed out finally, before closing her eyes in defeat. "It's... it's not that simple. I've only been practising the really easy stuff and a locator spell... That's, that's not easy."
Elena put her hand on her friend's shoulder, smiling at her in a brief moment of happiness that her friend could do something like this. But then reality closed back in around her. "What about you Grams? She's more powerful, right?"
Bonnie stared at her. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"
Elena nodded firmly. "I'm going to find him, Bonnie. He'd do the same for me, and he'd never stop until he found me."
Bonnie frowned at her for a moment before seeming to come to a decision and smoothing a hand over her face. "Okay, fine. Let's just... let's just have a cup of tea first, and then I'll call Grams, okay?"
"Bonnie, tea isn't going to help anything."
"It'll help me." Bonnie stood up and backed towards the kitchen, her hands held out to Elena. "It calms me down and to be honest, you've kind of freaked me out a little." She disappeared around the corner and Elena was left fidgeting in her seat, waiting. A few minutes later and Bonnie was back with two mugs, holding one out for Elena. "It'll help you calm down too," she said with a nervous smile.
Elena frowned slightly at her friend's slightly weird behaviour but accepted the drink, breathing in the smell of wild berries. "Herbal tea?"
Bonnie nodded a little quickly. "My Grams makes them herself, try it, it's really relaxing."
Elena sighed and lifted the cup to her lips, feeling the warmth of the liquid seep down to her bones. She yawned almost immediately, then turned to Bonnie. "Now we call Grams, right?"
"Right," Bonnie almost whispered, picking up her phone and flipping it round and round in her hand.
Elena had another mouthful of the tea and then yawned again, her eyelids closing involuntarily. She sluggishly blinked them open and saw Bonnie standing blurry in front of her and tried to open her mouth to ask what was happening, but the world went black around her. The last thing she felt was the feel of Bonnie carefully removing the mug from her hand.
***
Tap-tap-tap!
Elena's eyes snapped open at the sound, Bonnie's living room slowly coming into focus as she blinked sleepily. Tap-tap-tap! Her gaze darted around and then widened as it fell on the window. Another crow sat on the windowsill outside, tapping its beak against the glass as if to get her attention. It stopped as they seemed to make eye contact, and the bird stood still, looking back at her, its head tilted at just the same angle as the one in her garden had.
Elena opened her mouth to call for Bonnie, to ask what had happened, when a hushed voice reached her ears.
"I know Grams, but what was I supposed to do? What if he's gone running off to another country or somewhere and she decides to follow him? I don't know, I think I made it strong enough, but she only had a few sips, she must have been tired already-" Elena sat up as silently as she could surprise and hurt and angry at what she was hearing. "How long until you get here? No, I know, Grams, but it's better for her if she just forgets him and moves on. I mean, he's a Salvatore-"
Damon's name being said like it was a dirty word finally shocked Elena out of her frozen state, and she launched herself up off the couch, her hands clenched tight into fists at her sides. She took a step forward but then stopped, sudden worry making her sink her teeth into her bottom lip. Bonnie was a witch, she had finally confirmed it after all these months of just laughing it off as her crazy grandmother's idea of a joke. She could be able to do something to make her stay. She already had done something to try and make her stay. What if she wouldn't let her leave until her much more powerful grandmother showed up? Elena couldn't take that chance.
Elena jumped as a fluttering of wings on the other side of the room made her glance up. There, sitting on the open window pane, was the crow. She stared as it hopped over onto the windowsill, looking off into the kitchen, where Elena could still hear Bonnie whispering into the phone. The bird looked at Elena for a moment, then raised itself up into the air and flew into the kitchen, followed quickly by Bonnie's loud shriek.
Run!
A voice inside her head suddenly shouted at her to run, and she didn't question it. Leaving her coat and bag on the floor where she had dropped them, she ran to the front door and yanked it open. It was only once she had run down the path and smacked into the side of her car that she realised she had left her keys in her bag. She whirled around to go back, but Bonnie was already careening out onto the porch.
"Elena, wait! I can explain!"
The two girls stared at each other until a car turning into the street jarred Elena back into action and she ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could. The street was dark and she kept close to the bushes lining the sidewalk, even though a part of her knew that she was being a little bit too paranoid. But Bonnie was her best friend, and the hurt cascading through her chest made her breath catch in her throat with every step.
She kept running until she found herself on Caroline's doorstep, not even realising until after she'd knocked where she even was, her thoughts too jumbled with images of Damon, wherever he was. She heard Caroline's feet as she made her way down the hall, and Elena felt a moment of panic as she wondered what Caroline would say. If Bonnie didn't believe her, then Caroline certainly wouldn't; she had always scoffed at Bonnie's stories about witchcraft during sleepovers.
"Hey, Elena!" Caroline smiled as she pulled open the door, then immediately frowned. "What's up? You look like you've been crying."
"Um, nothing," Elena mumbled, not wanting to say anything to turn Caroline against her. "Can I just... can I just come in for a bit? It's freezing out here."
Caroline's eyes widened as she took in her friend's clothes. "Oh my God, what are you doing without a coat on? Get in here before you die of hypothermia!" She whipped out a hand and grabbed Elena's arm, pulling her over the threshold and shutting the door behind them. She led Elena into the living room, gesturing with her hand in front of them.
"Elena, meet Stefan! Stefan, this is my best friend Elena!"
Elena jerked her head up to see a boy sitting on one of the couches, looking up at her with interest. He stood up and held out a hand to her, which she shook automatically. He had spiky dark blond hair and hazel eyes and looked absolutely nothing like Damon at all, and yet when he smiled, and the left corner of his mouth rose slightly higher than his right, suddenly all she could think about was Damon. She needed to find him.
"Caroline," she said, turning to face her friend seriously. "I need your help."
