09. The Cell

Damon slowly opened his eyes and saw Wes kneeling over him, an injection in hand, "What the hell are you doing to me?" he asked.

"Vervain, to keep you calm" Wes replied.

"Wes? Why am I here?" Damon asked confused.

Wes stood up, "I lost a test subject last night, and you're gonna replace him".

***

"Did you find him?" Aria asked.

"No" Kol replied, "Damon is missing and so is Wes".

"This doesn't make any sense!" Aria yelled, frustrated with the fact she couldn't find Damon anywhere.

"Ri, calm down" Kol said.

"I can't calm down!" Aria yelled, "The locater spell says that Damon is still somewhere in Whitmore,  but where?! We looked everywhere for him Kol!".

"Hey, listen to me" Kol said, cupping Aria's face, "We're going to find Damon, we know his still somewhere in Whitmore, and there's not a lot of places Wes could hide him".

Aria started taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, "I'm scared Kol".

"Relax, I'm here, I promise you I will bring Damon back to you" Kol promised, wiping Aria's tears.

"Aaron" Aria whispered, looking at Kol in realisation, "Wes is Aaron's legal guardian, he has to know where Wes is".

"I'll go talk to him" Kol said.

"I'm coming with you" Aria stated.

"Ri, you've had morning sickness all morning, look at yourself, you're exhausted, you need rest" Kol said.

"No" Aria said, shaking her head, "I can't rest until we find Damon, I'm coming Kol, end of story".

"Ri--".

"No" Aria interrupted, walking towards the door, "We need to go now, the more time we waste, the more time Wes gets to torture Damon".

Kol sighed, he knew there was no point in arguing with Aria, as when it came to Damon she didn't listen to anyone, so he just followed her out, hoping they would get to Damon before Wes turned him into another Jesse.

***

Aria knocked on Aaron's dorm room, with Kol behind her.

"Aaron, hey" Aria greeted.

"Hey" Aaron greeted, "So you heard?".

"Heard what?" Aria asked confused.

"That Jesse's dead" Aaron informed, causing Kol and Aria to exchange a look, "He killed himself last night, campus security came by to tell me".

"I'm so sorry Aaron" Aria said genuinely.

"Yeah" Aaron said, "So whose that?" he asked, pointing to Kol, "The father of your baby?".

"What? No" Aria said quickly, "This is Kol, a friend of mine".

"Right" Aaron said, going into his room, "What's up with this collage? It's supposed to be different, I came here to start fresh, get away from all the crap in my past".

"Understandable" Aria said, while Kol stood their impatiently, "After everything you have gone through, everyone you have lost, it's understandable why you want to start over".

"How do you hit the reset button?" Aaron asked.

"I wouldn't know" Aria replied, "I haven't really pressed it, the problems that I thought I was leaving behind in Mystic Falls, somehow, followed me here, I'm probably the last person you should be getting advice from".

"So if you're not here about Jesse, why are you here?" Aaron asked.

Seeing Aria's hesitation, Kol spoke up, "We're looking for your legal guardian, Wes".

"My boyfriend Damon, the father of my babies, last night he went to speak to Wes" Aria said, "And now it's the morning, and there's no sign of either of them anywhere, and I'm really worried, so I was wondering if you knew where Wes could be? I think him and Damon might be together, and I know right now is probably the worst time, but we were kind of hoping you will help us find Wes".

"Yeah, I think I know a place that we can look" Aaron replied.

"Thank you so much" Aria said.

***

"Just so you know, it didn't end well for the last Augustines" Damon told Wes, who stood outside his cell, observing Damon and writing down notes, "You're inviting bad karma in by holding me here".

"Is that what you told Dr. Whitmore?" Wes asked.

"Dr. Whitmore wasn't much for conversation" Damon replied, remembering the time Joseph Salvatore had handed him over to Dr. Whitmore, who started doing experimenting on him, "I see you Augustine freaks are still at it, eye exams and that sort of thing".

"Jesse was proof that my research goes far beyond that" Wes said, "I trained him to crave vampire blood instead of human blood, now I'm ready to take my research to the next level".

***

Aaron had informed both Aria and Kol that there was two places in which Wes could been in, so while Kol checked one of the places, Aaron and Aria checked the other.

"It doesn't make sense why Jesse would kill himself" Aaron said, walking beside Aria.

"So you believe everything the campus security told you?" Aria asked.

"Why, do you know something else?" Wes asked.

"No" Aria replied, "I just find it weird that both of your friends committed suicide".

"Yeah, I find that weird to" Aaron said, "I mean, Jesse loved it here, he had a huge crush on your friend, and Megan had all these plans for her life".

"Which is why them committing suicide makes literally no sense" Aria said, "Look, I don't know if you know this, but me and my friends had found Megan's body the night she died, she didn't jump off, she was murdered, and your legal guardian Wes, he forged her death certificate".

"You saw her death certificate?" Wes asked.

"Of course I did" Aria replied, "I needed to know why they covered her murder up, Aaron, Wes is part of something much bigger then you or I can even comprehend".

"Let's find him first, I wanna hear his side of the story" Aaron said, Aria nodded in understanding.

***

"Oh" Aria said, as Aaron opened the door to Whitmore house, "When you mentioned Wes doing some research, you didn't mention it was here, at Whitmore House".

"Oh, yeah, this place is like his second home" Aaron informed, entering the house, while Aria was stuck at the threshold, Aaron looked at Aria in confusion, "What are you waiting for? Come in".

Aria looked at Aaron, then slowly placed her foot past the threshold and realised she could now enter, "So, who exactly owns this house?" Aria asked, closing the door behind her.

"Not to sound like a douche, but technically, I do" Aaron replied, making Aria look at him in confusion, "Yeah, it's part of the Whitmore trust that I inherited when my parents died, yeah, don't hold that against me, usually, when people find out my name's Aaron Whitmore--".

"Hold on, your last name is Whitmore?" Aria asked shocked, "Like this collage? So do you own this collage?".

"--that's what they think" Aaron finished.

Suddenly Aria's eyes landed on a group photo, in which she was shocked to see her adoptive father Grayson Gilbert, her biological father Lucas Connor and her mother Amelia Connor.

"These are my parents" Aria whispered shocked.

"Grayson Gilbert and Lucas Connor were one of the best partners Augustine ever had" Wes informed, walking over to Aria, "But it all crumbled when your dad changed sides and chose the vampires and your mother over his science".

"What?" Aria asked confused.

Wes said nothing instead injected Aria with a injection full of vervain and some witchy herbs that will stop her magic.

"What the hell?" Aaron asked, grabbing Aria before she could fall, "She's pregnant Wes!".

"Her kid will be find Aaron" Wes said, grabbing Aria from Aaron, "A miracle baby of two vampires will be an excellent addition to our research".

***

"Come on, Aria, wake up" Damon whispered, he focused his hearing on to Aria's stomach, he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard three perfectly fine heartbeats.

The fear Damon had felt when Wes dragged an unconscious Aria into the cell infront of him, was something Damon never wanted to feel again, this is a place Damon would never want Aria to be, specially not when she's pregnant, he doesn't want her to experience what he had gone through, it also didn't help that Wes had informed Damon that his plan was to experiment on Aria and Damon's babies once they were born, apparently it fascinated him that they were able to go against the rules of nature and have a kid despite being vampires.

Damon's chain of thoughts were broken when Aria left out a groan, and slowly opened her eyes.

"Ria" Damon called out, causing Aria to look towards him, "Hi".

"Damon" Aria whispered, slowly sitting up, she was feeling extremely exhausted, her morning sickness mixed with vervain and witchy herbs made her even more weaker then normal.

"You okay?" Damon asked.

"No" Aria whispered, her hands going towards her stomach.

"They're fine" Damon assured Aria, seeing her worried face, "There heartbeats are perfectly normal".

"Damon, I don't feel so good" Aria whispered, leaning against the wall, all she wanted right now was to be in Damon's arms.

"You're going to be fine Ria" Damon promised, trying to break through the bars.

"Aah!" Aria screamed, placing her hands over her stomach.

"Ria!" Damon yelled in worry, "What happened?".

Aria looked towards Damon, tears in her eyes, "They kicked".

"What?" Damon asked, not sure if he heard Aria correctly.

"One of the babies just kicked" Aria cried.

"Really?" Damon asked, really wishing he could have felt that.

Aria nodded, "Really" she whispered.

"I'm going to get us out of here" Damon promised.

"Damon, what's going on?" Aria asked scared, not for herself but for her kids, "Why are we here?".

"Wes is carrying out the grand Augustine tradition" Damon replied, confusing Aria, "Getting his kicks off vampire torture".

"He told you that?" Aria asked.

"He didn't have to" Damon replied, "I've been here before".

"What?" Aria asked shocked.

"Someone in my family sold me out to the Augustines in 1953" Damon informed, "Every day, this nut job, Dr. Whitmore, tortured us, cut into us, took pieces of our eyes out, pushed us to every limit he could imagine, and he had quite the imagination, he kept me in this very cell, don't think I haven't appreciated the irony".

"How long were you captured for?" Aria asked.

"Five years, give or take" Damon replied.

"I'm surprised you didn't go crazy" Aria said, looking around at the cell she was in, already feeling like she was losing her mind.

"Believe it or not, I made a friend" Damon revealed, "He was a soldier in Europe during World War 2".

"Did one of his family members give him up as well?" Aria asked.

"No" Damon replied, "Dr. Whitmore was working in a battlefield hospital when he discovered Enzo was a vampire, so he drugged him, locked him in a coffin to ship him overseas, he'd been here for ten years by the time I joined the party".

"Don't hate me" Aria whispered, confusing Damon.

"I would never hate you" Damon said.

"I'm scared you will after I tell you this" Aria said, tears in her eyes.

"Ria, I would rather die then hate you" Damon said.

"Even if I tell you that upstairs, there's a group picture, below the picture it said Augustine members, and Damon my parents were in that photo" Aria informed, "Wes said that Grayson Dad and Dad were amazing Augustine partners, but then it all crumbled when my dad chose the vampires and my mother over science".

"There's something else you should know" Damon said.

"What?" Aria asked confused.

"When me and Kol were torturing Wes, we came across a wall that said exiled members, I'm guessing of Augustine" Damon replied, "The wall had your parent's photos on it".

"Exiled members" Aria whispered, "So my parents were exiled from Augustine?".

"I don't know" Damon replied, "Wes captured me before I could get the answers out of him".

"I don't know what any of this means, but if my parents were part of this sick operation, then I'm really sorry Damon, I--".

"Hey" Damon whispered, his heart hurting seeing Aria cry, "It's not your fault, and I don't think your parents tortured vampires Ria".

"And if they did?" Aria asked, wiping her tears.

"Then I will still love you the same" Damon replied, "Nothing in this world is going to stop me from loving you Ria, not even death".

"Don't say that" Aria said, holding on the the cell bars, "Don't talk about death, not here".

"I am so, so sorry I got you caught up in this" Damon said.

"This isn't your fault" Aria whispered, "Just promise me, our babies will be okay, Damon if anything happens to you or my kids I don't think I will be able to take it".

"We're going to be okay Ria" Damon assured, "All of us are going to be okay, I'm going to get all of us out of here, I promise".

"I believe in you" Aria whispered.

***

"Damon, all these years in here, how did you survive?" Aria asked, her eyes closing due to her exhaustion, but she wanted to keep hearing Damon's voice.

"Enzo's friendship kept me alive" Damon replied, "He gave me a reason to hang onto my humanity, even when I thought I'd be a prisoner forever".

"Kol, Caroline, Rebekah, someone's going to figure this out" Aria whispered, "Someone's going to find us".

"Points for optimism" Damon said, worried for Aria.

"Aah!" Aria yelled, feeling another kick.

"It's okay Ria" Damon assured, really want to touch Aria, but couldn't as she was infront of him and not beside him.

"I don't remember reading that when a baby kicks you, it's supposed to hurt this much" Aria said.

"That's cause it's not" Damon said worried, "I think the vervain and the random witchy herbs in your body is effecting our babies, which in turn is effecting you, you need a doctor, preferably whose not Wes".

"It's not going to be long" Aria whispered, looking down at her stomach, "It's going to be okay, just hold on baby Salvatores, please just hold on", Aria looked towards Damon, "You escaped once, how did you do it? Maybe we can do that again".

"They let us out of the basement once a year" Damon informed, "Every New Year's Eve, the Augustine people had a little cocktail party with a vampire buffet on the side, we were weak from vervain injections, half-starved from living on a glass of blood a day, chained up like animals, this whole annual shindig is where Dr. Whitmore got to show all of his Augustine friend what he'd found in his research, he let his guests drink from us, to demonstrate the healing power of vampire blood, but on the plus side, that's how Enzo came up with his plan, of giving me his daily rations".

"Did it work?" Aria asked, trying not to wince from the pain she was feeling.

"More or less" Damon replied, who knew Aria was trying to hide her pain.

"So how did you get out?" Aria asked.

"Doesn't matter, Ria" Damon replied, "I got strong, I got out, wasn't pretty, all you need to know".

***

"Wes is going to come back down Damon" Aria said, "And both of us are going to be Augustine's new experiments, tell me how you got out, otherwise I will be giving birth to our babies in here".

"You don't wanna know, Ria" Damon snapped.

"Of course I want to know Damon" Aria snapped back, "If you're worried about me judging you, then take that out of your mind, I will never judge you Damon, you know that, I love you and these sick people tortured you for five years, they deserve whatever you did to them".

"All right" Damon whispered, "All right, the Augustine's next party was in 1958, I've been drinking Enzo's rations for an entire year, I mean, he kept a few drops here and there so he wouldn't desiccate, and as he starved himself I got stronger from all the extra blood, just like he said I would, Enzo trusted me with his life, the fire was getting out of control, I would've burned or they would have captured me, there's no way I would've ever gotten another chance to escape, so I chose to save myself, I knew if I was gonna save myself I had to stop caring about Enzo, so I turned off my emotions, after that, everything was fine", Damon sighed, "Everything was fine".

Aria looked at Damon's face, it was obvious to her that till this day, Damon felt guilty about Enzo's death, everything wasn't fine.

***

"What the hell is this place?" Aaron asked, entering the basement.

"Aaron?" Aria whispered, ignoring her pain and slowly stand up.

"Great, mini-Wes" Damon mumbled.

"I had no idea what Wes was doing, I didn't even know there was a basement down here" Aaron said.

"Aaron, please" Aria pleaded, struggling to stand, "Please help us".

Aaron looked at Aria in slight concern, "What's happening to you?".

"She's pregnant you idiot" Damon snapped, "Whatever herbs Wes injected her with is causing her pain, she needs to get out of here".

Aaron turned to Aria, "I will help you, just tell me the truth", pulling out a gun, worrying both Aria and Damon.

"Aaron" Aria warned, slightly stumbling backwards, her hands over her stomach.

"When you met me at Megan's memorial, you asked me a bunch of questions" Wes said, trying to load the gun with wooden bullets, but failing miserably.

"Slick hands, cowboy" Damon commented.

"Yeah well, I've never used a gun before, and I've never killed anyone, either, unlike you" Aaron snapped, looking at Aria.

"What?" Aria asked confused.

"Wes said a vampire killed Megan" Aaron replied, pointing his gun at Aria.

"And you thought it was Aria?" Damon asked, trying to distract Aaron from Aria.

"No" Aria replied, "When Megan called me, she was inside the house, me and my friends, we were outside because we couldn't get in as we weren't invited in".

"Wes also said that a vampire killed my parents" Aaron snapped, "Maybe that was you too".

"No Aaron, I was a child back then" Aria snapped.

"Why else would you be so interested in me?" Aaron asked, slowly losing his calm.

"Calm down" Damon warned.

"Why else would you pretend to be my friend?" Aaron asked.

"I was never pretending Aaron" Aria replied.

"You're a vampire" Aaron stated.

"Not the one that killed your parents" Damon said, "That was all me".

"What did you just say?" Aaron asked, as he and Aria looked at Damon in shock, "Start talking" he said, pointing his gun towards Damon.

"He's lying" Aria snapped, "He's trying to save me".

"I'm not lying Ria" Damon said, "In 1958, after the fire, Enzo was dead, so I had to take all my revenge plans solo, I decided I was going to kill every member of the Whitmore family, except one person, I decided I will let that one person grow up, and start a family, and then I'll start killing Whitmores again, and I'll take out the generation after that leaving only one person to carry on the name, and then I'll take out the generation after that, and so on, and that's exactly what I did".

"How many Whitmores have you killed?" Aaron asked.

"Since 1958?" Damon asked, "I lost count".

"When was the last one?" Aaron asked, but Damon stayed quiet.

"Damon, he asked you something" Aria said.

"A few months ago" Damon informed, avoiding eye contact with Aria, he was scared she was now looking at him differently, "Her name was Sara, had to go all the way to Charleston to find her, it was a weekend trip, you didn't know Ria".

"It was when me, Caroline and Rebekah were on our road trip" Aria realised.

"Told you it wasn't pretty" Damon said, finally looking Aria, only to see her back facing him, she was processing everything.

Suddenly, Aaron shot Damon, shocking Aria, "Damon!" Aria yelled.

***

Damon slowly woke up and groaned in pain when he realised Aaron had shot him in the head, "Guess I had that coming" he said, taking the bullet out of his head, "Aria" he called out, but got no response in return, confusing him, "Aria?", he looked at the cell infront of him and to his shock it was empty, no sign of Aria anywhere.

"Aria!?, Aria?!" Damon yelled, extremely worried as to where Aria was gone.

***

Aria woke up, and realised she was tied to a experiment bed, while someone near her was humming a song.

"What the hell" Aria whispered, trying to get out but failing.

"Ah" someone beside Aria said, "Welcome, I'm 12144, my name is Enzo".

Aria looked at Enzo in shock, realising the guy Damon had thought was dead, has actually been alive this whole time.

***

Presenting 5x09 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Wes capturing not only Damon but also Aria?

Thoughts on Aria and Damon's talks in the cells?

Thoughts on Damon telling Aria about Enzo?

Thoughts on Aria meeting Enzo?