19. American Gothic

"So Mama Forbes has managed to find from where Katherine had called Elena" Kol told Damon, as they walked back to Damon's car after grabbing gallons of gas.

"Remind me to send her some mini muffins" Damon said, "Do we really need ten gallons of gas or are you making me lug this as punishment?".

"Punishment for forgetting to put fuel in your car" Kol replied, "And we have to fill it up, we still have a hundred miles before we reach Willoughby".

"Yeah, I don't remember that name from the list of places I got in New York" Damon said.

"Right, the useless list that the useless doppelganger tried to steal" Kol said sarcastically.

"It wasn't useless" Damon defended.

"Yes it was" Kol retorted, "It didn't even have the location in which Katherine is actually in, we would have gone on a wild goose chase if the Sheriff didn't track down the number Katherine used to call Elena".

"Screw the muffins, I'll get her champagne" Damon said, filling his car up with the gas he and Kol got from the gas station, "If Katherine is wherever it may be".

"Do you not listen to me?" Kol asked, "I literally just told you she's in Willoughby, just hope we get there before she realises we are close to her and once again decides to disappear, you did destroy Elena's phone right?".

"Yeap, and also flushed her daylight ring down the toilet, so she won't be able to leave the bar until sunset" Damon replied.

"And by that time, we will be long gone" Kol said, "Look at you for once in your life using your brain".

"Shut up" Damon snapped.

Kol chuckled, "Remember Damon, keep your eye on the prize the whole time, find Katherine, get the cure from Katherine, then torture Katherine, and last but not the least--".

"Kill Katherine" Damon finished.

"Would you look at that?" Kol said, "For the first time we both have the same goal".

"That's not true and even you know that" Damon said.

"Do I?" Kol asked, opening the car door, "Now get in Salvatore, we still have a long journey".

"Who would have thought I would be going on a road trip with you?" Damon asked, sitting in the drivers seat, "And that to so we can go kill Katherine Pierce".

"Definitely not me" Kol replied.

***

"Hey, I'm sorry it took so long for me to respond to your messages, I was with Aria" Caroline said, entering the Mikaelson mansion, and looking for Klaus, "Klaus!?".

"Go away" Klaus snapped.

"Where are you?" Caroline asked, walking further in, and finally seeing Klaus sitting on the floor, looking like he was in immense pain, "What happened to you?".

"I need more time, stop hounding me!" Klaus yelled.

"What are you on about?" Caroline asked, "When did I hound you, if anything you've been hounding me, I was with Aria, trying to make her feel better but you just refused to stop phone stalking me!".

"Caroline?" Klaus asked confused, "Is it really you?", Caroline gave Klaus an are you serious look, while Klaus slowly stood from the ground and sat on the chair, "Prove it to me".

"Okay, I don't know if this is some new way of flirting, but it sucks" Caroline said.

"It's Silas" Klaus revealed, "He stabbed me with the white oak stake, there's a piece of it stuck inside me".

"Why would Silas attack you?" Caroline asked confused.

"Well, I was in no question to ask questions" Klaus replied, "Suffice to say, I'm hurt, so you can understand why I called you, I need you to cut the stake out of me".

***

Katherine came out of the diner's restroom, and bumped right into someone.

"Hello, Katherine".

Katherine looked at the person infront of her wide eyed, "Kol" she whispered, "How did you find me?".

"Used your little minion" Kol replied, grabbing Katherine's arm, and taking her with him.

"You found her" Damon realised, glaring at Katherine.

"It wasn't that hard" Kol said, forcing Katherine to sit in one of the booths.

"You're losing your touch, evil one" Damon said.

"What do you two want from me?" Katherine asked, looking between the two vampires in vary.

Kol grabbed a fork and stuck it in Katherine's hand, "You know what we want".

"We are here to kill you" Damon said nonchalantly, "I mean it's only fitting, because of you we lost Aria and Jeremy, so now it's time for you to go".

"But Aria's alive" Katherine snapped.

"But Jeremy isn't" Kol snapped back.

"Then what are you both waiting for?" Katherine asked, glaring at the two vampires, "Kill me".

"Yeah, not that easily" Kol said, "There's going to be a lot of torture before we kill you".

"But before that you're going to take us to the cure" Damon said.

"Not happening" Katherine snapped, causing Kol to grab her arm and twist it.

"You are no longer in charge Katherine" Kol snapped, "You're going to do what we tell you to do or god so help me, you won't realise what hit you".

"The cure is my one chance to win my freedom back from Klaus" Katherine snapped.

"Does stupidity run in the Petrova bloodline?" Damon asked, "Do you really think after killing his best friend's parents, her best friend and then her, Klaus is going to strike a deal with you?".

"Nothing is more important to Klaus then power" Katherine snapped, "Having the cure will give him power over every vampire who wants it, it will give him power over Silas and Damien".

Kol chuckled, "You really don't know my brother, do you?" he asked, "See, if you had succeeded in your little revenge fantasy of getting rid of the whole Connor bloodline, and stopped Aria from returning to us, then maybe, my brother would have chosen power over family, but see, you failed, things are different now, nothing is more important to him then family, if you go to him with the cure, your heart will be across the room before you even realise it".

Katherine looked at Kol, she hesitated for a second, and finally gave in, "Fine" she said, "You both have to follow me".

"Lead the way" Damon said.

***

"Aah!" Klaus yelled in pain, as Caroline tried to take the white oak stake out of his back.

"Sorry" Caroline apologised, "I swear there's nothing in here, are you even sure Silas stabbed you?".

"Would you mean am I sure?" Klaus snapped, "I can feel it Caroline!".

"Klaus there's nothing there" Caroline said, "What if Silas is just messing with you?".

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked confused.

"At the island, both Silas and Damien managed to get into Aria's head, and they made her see her parents" Caroline replied, "What if this is something like that, what if Silas is somehow in your head?".

"Silas isn't in my head Caroline, I can feel the stake near my heart" Klaus said.

Caroline sighed, she pulled out the scissors from Klaus's back, causing him to yell in pain.

"Klaus I need you to look at me" Caroline urged, "Look at me, please", Klaus slowly turned around and faced Caroline, who cupped his face in her hands, "Do you feel this? I need you to focus on my touch, okay? Focus on me", Klaus into Caroline's eyes, and suddenly Caroline smashed her lips on to Klaus.

After a while, Caroline separated herself from Klaus, "Why did you do that?" Klaus asked, slightly confused.

"Are you still in pain?" Caroline asked, avoiding Klaus's question.

"What?" Klaus asked confused.

"Are you still in pain?" Caroline repeated.

"I--", Klaus looked at Caroline in shock, when he realised he was in longer in pain, "No, I'm not in pain anymore".

"See, I told you, Silas was in your head, he never stabbed you with the white oak stake" Caroline said, "And when I kissed you, I distracted you from your pain, making you realise that it was all in your head".

"Thank you" Klaus said, genuinely grateful for the Forbes infront of her.

Caroline gave Klaus a small smile, "You're welcome".

***

"No sudden moves" Damon warned, as Katherine led him and Kol into her house, "No tricks either, no Katherine-ing", Katherine glared at Damon and made her way over to her vault, "Wow, a quilt and a fish aquarium, who the hell are you?".

"A five hundred year old grandma, with a bloody awful taste" Kol said, looking at the house in disgust.

Katherine ignored the two vampires and opened the vault, "It's gone" she said shocked, "The cure, it was in the safe, but it's not there".

Kol speeded over to Katherine, he grabbed her head and slammed it on the wall, "We are not here to play games Katherine".

"Where is it, Auntie Katherine?" Damon asked.

"I swear it was in the safe" Katherine replied.

Kol rolled his eyes, he grabbed the doppelganger by her neck and slammed her to the wall, "I'm running out of patience Katherine, tell us where the cure is?".

"This whole small-town-girl thing, we all know it's an act" Damon said, "It's just so you can hide the cure".

Katherine didn't say anything just smirked, "You both are going to kill me as soon as you find the cure".

"Correct" Kol said.

"So forgive me for trying to stay alive for as long as I can" Katherine said.

"That's it" Kol snapped, about to rip Katherine's heart out but Damon pushed him away.

"Relax" Damon said, "We still need her, let's start looking around", Kol sighed, but nonetheless nodded and started looking around Katherine's house, at the same time trashing it, Damon shook his head at Kol's actions and turned back to Katherine, "So if I was a paranoid, distrustful sociopath, where would I keep my most prized possession?".

Katherine chuckled, "This should be fun".

"Because I'd want it to be close but not on me" Damon said, ignoring Katherine, "Accessible but not obvious, I'd wanna keep it safe but not so safe that it'd be too difficult to grab and run".

As Kol was looking around, his eyes suddenly landed on the empty fish tank in the middle of the room, "Damon, look at this, a treasure chest in a fish tank that has no fish".

"I think we have to check that out" Damon said, dipping his hand into the water, but quickly taking it out when the vervain in the water burned him, "Vervain water, looks like we have a winner".

Damon grabbed the fishing net and tried to take the treasure chest out of the tank, when Katherine suddenly speeded over to him, she tried to dunk him into the water, when Kol grabbed her and instead dunked her head into the water, causing her to scream loudly.

Kol threw Katherine on the floor, while Damon took out the treasure out from tank, opening it, both Kol and Damon saw the cure.

"Bingo" Kol said.

"Great job" Damon told Kol.

"Thank you" Kol said, "Now, time for the fun part".

Damon smirked, both the vampires turned to Katherine, who was still on the floor, recovering from the burns, just as Damon and Kol were about to step towards her, the front door burst opened, and both Damon and Kol were shot with multiple vervain arrows, just as two vervain grenades were thrown towards them, causing both the vampires to fall to the ground in pain.

***

"Damon", the oldest Salvatore heard someone call his name, "Damon, wake up".

Damon groaned and slowly opened his eyes, "Aria?".

"Hey Vampy" Aria said, giving Damon a small smile, "Here, I bought you a blood bag".

Damon slowly sat up, and looked around in confusion, "What the hell happened?".

"I don't know" Aria replied, "Me and Elijah came here to see both you and Kol unconscious".

Damon looked towards Kol, who was near Elijah, drinking a blood bag, "Katherine?".

"Gone" Kol said, anger in his voice, "Along with the bloody cure".

"The cure isn't gone" Aria said, handing Damon a blood bag.

"Ri, Katherine and whoever was helping her took the cure" Kol said.

"No she didn't" Aria assured.

"Ria, what are you on about?" Damon asked confused.

"And what are you two even doing here?" Kol asked his brother and the tribrid.

"Aria was feeling restless in Mystic Falls, so she decided to come to you both, and I bought her here" Elijah replied.

"When we got here, Katherine was gone, so was the cure, but something weird happened right before you both woke up" Aria informed.

"What?" Damon asked.

"I got a call" Aria replied, "From Damien".

"Excuse me?" Kol asked confused.

"Why would he call you?" Damon asked.

"He told me that the cure is still in this town" Aria replied.

"And how do we know his telling the truth?" Damon asked.

"Because he hasn't given us a reason to not trust him" Aria replied.

"I suppose you well wisher didn't happen to give you a address, did he?" Kol asked.

"He actually did" Elijah replied.

"Hurry up and get your strength back, we have a cure to find" Aria said, "The actual cure".

***

Aria walked up the porch of the address Damien had given her, she knocked on the door, and it was opened by a girl.

"Hey I'm--".

"Aria" the girl said, "You're Aria".

Aria looked at the girl infront of her in confusion, "You know me?".

"He told me you were going to come here".

"He?" Aria asked confused.

"Damien" the girl replied, "And I'm supposed to give you this".

The girl handed a small white box to Aria, opening it, Aria saw the cure.

Aria turned to girl and gave her a small smile, "Thank you, you don't know how important this is".

"You're welcome" the girl said.

After giving the stranger one last smile, Aria walked back to the car where the three vampires were waiting for her.

"Got it?" Kol asked.

"Got it" Aria replied, "Elijah, can you keep it, I feel like out of all of us you are the most responsible".

"Of course" Elijah said, taking the cure from Aria.

"Am I the only one who finds it unsettling how helpful Damien is being?" Damon asked.

"No you are not" Kol replied, "Both the brothers have an agenda, there's no way they are helping Aria just because she looks like Adriana".

"I can't speak for Silas, but Damien, I think his helping us, so Silas doesn't reunite with Adriana" Aria said.

"There's something else Ria" Damon said, "I don't know what but I feel like Damien also has a hidden agenda".

"Probably" Aria said, "But right now, all his done is be helpful, so we can't accuse him of anything without proof".

"There's something all three of you are ignoring" Elijah said.

"What?" Kol asked.

"How did Damien get the cure from Katherine?" Elijah asked, "And who attacked Kol and Damon at the house?".

Aria frowned, she realised in her hurry, she completely forgot to ask Damien how he knew where the cure was.

"I don't know" Aria whispered.

"Like I said, there's a lot we don't know about Damien, we need to be careful" Damon said.

"I guess you're right" Aria said, "But can we go home now? I'm tired and I need my bed".

Damon smiled and laced his fingers with Aria's, "Let's get you home then Ria".

***

"Where's Kol and Elijah?" Aria asked Damon, coming out of the diner with her fries.

"They left in Elijah's car" Damon replied, stealing some of Aria's fries.

"Hey!" Aria said, slapping Damon's hand, "And why did they leave?".

"I don't know" Damon admitted, "They had this weird conversation between them, and then they just left, telling me that's it my responsibility to bring you back home, safely".

Aria smiled, and for a moment just stared at Damon, "What?" Damon asked.

"I think I've crossed all  levels of paranoia" Aria admitted, confusing Damon, "Today, I saw both you and Kol laying in that house unresponsive and I swear my heart stopped for a second, which is ironic, since technically I'm already dead, but I thought I lost you two and I've never been so scared".

"Ria--".

"I think there's something wrong with me" Aria whispered.

"There's nothing wrong with you" Damon said, cupping Aria's face in his hands, "You're just a girl whose lost way too much, who doesn't want to lose anymore".

Aria sighed, she didn't say anything just wrapped her arms around Damon, trying not to drop her curly fries, "I missed you" she mumbled into Damon's shirt.

"We've only been apart a day Ria" Damon teased.

Aria broke the hug, "So you didn't miss me?".

Damon smiled and tucked a strand of Aria's hair behind her hair, "I never said that".

Aria smiled and kissed Damon, "Long drive?".

Damon chuckled, he picked Aria up in his arms, causing her to let out a surprise yell, "Anything for you Ria".

Damon walked over to his car, with Aria still in his arms, both unaware of the youngest Salvatore looking at them.

"Stefan" Katherine said, making her way over to Stefan, and taking his attention away from Damon and Aria.

"So?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know how, I don't know when, but somehow Damien managed to get the cure from me" Katherine replied, "The cure that Elijah has is the real one, and the one we have is fake".

"So you're saying I saved you from Kol and Damon for no reason?" Stefan snapped.

"Stefan--".

"Save it" Stefan said, "I have to go back to Mystic Falls and get the cure from Elijah before one of them uses it".

***

Presenting 4x18 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter? Fun fact the ending scene with Damon and Aria wasn't originally in the chapter but then it felt wrong to have a chapter without a Daria moment, so I wrote it last minute 😂

Thoughts on Kol and Damon bonding on the road trip?

Thoughts on Caroline kissing Klaus to distract him from his pain?

Thoughts on Damien telling Aria where to find the cure? Theory on how Damien managed to get the cure from Katherine and why? 🤔

Thoughts on Stefan being the one who saved Katherine from Damon and Kol?