Chapter 9

No answer. Again. So I left a voicemail.

"Elena, you asked me for a ride today and you're not even here. I'm giving Jeremy one, but where are you? If you're at school, just please call me back." I said hanging up the phone.

"Hey. Anything?" I heard from the stairs of their house. I saw Jeremy coming down with his backpack slung over his shoulder. I shook my head.

"No. She won't return any of my calls." I said putting my phone in my back pocket.

"She's probably stayed at Stefan's last night because Mrs. Lockwood said her car was still in their driveway." He said. I furrowed my brows.

"They got back together?" I asked confused.

"I guess." He said grabbing a bottle of water. I sighed.

"Alright, let's go!" I said opening the door. He followed me as we got to the car. As we drove, Jeremy broke the silence.

"So, how has the whole witch thing been going?"

"Really good actually. If it weren't for Bonnie, it probably would be going terribly. If I had a grimoire, that would be so helpful." I said with a sigh.

"But Bonnie can help you. I know she can. She's awesome ..." He paused. I looked at him.

"... at these things."

"Oh my gosh ..." I said looking back to the road with a smile on my face.

"You like Bonnie!"

"Wh-What? I do not!" I gave him a "really?" look and he sighed.

"Alright, I like her." I squealed with excitement.

"But, she only sees me as Elena's little brother."

"Don't worry. It just takes time." I said reassuring him. He nodded. I pulled into the parking lot and parked my car. We both got out as I locked the doors. We started walking and I saw Bonnie. I looked at Jeremy and he was already looking at her.

"Jeremy and Bonnie sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." He playfully shoved me so I stumbled a bit, but quickly caught my balance.

"I hate you." He said as he laughed.

"Mhm. You'll hate me when penguins fly." I said rolling my eyes. He shook his head and laughed as we walked inside. As I walked to my locker, I saw Stefan down the hall. I closed my locker and walked up to him.

"Hey Stefan." I said crossing my arms. Where's Elena? I know you guys are back together, but if she's gonna sleep over, her phone needs to be on because I've been calling her all morning. "

" What are you talking about? "He asked furrowing his brows.

" You and Elena . Look, I get it. You guys are back together but if she's gonna sleep over- "

" Wait, wait..hold on a minute. We're not back together."

Stefan said cutting me off. I looked at him confused.

"Wait ... she didn't stay at your place last night? "I asked him.

" No, I mean I saw her at the party but that was it. She didn't sleep over. "He clarified.

" Cause her bed hadn't been slept in and Jeremy told me Mrs. Lockwood said that her car was still in the driveway. "Stefan looked at me before thinking.

" Where is she then? "I called Damon and asked him to meet me outside of the school during my free period. We were now talking about Elena's disappearance.

"This has Katherine written all over it." I said as I paced back and forth in front of Damon, who was sitting on one of the benches.

"Katherine's in the tomb. Trust me; I'm the one who shut her in. "He said.

" Did you? "I asked as I stopped in front of him.

"Did I what, Myra?" He asked me standing up.

"Well, I know the hold that Katherine has on you." I pointed out.

"She's in the tomb, period. End of story ..." I sighed and continued to walk back and forth.

"..but she did say something to me right before I shut her in. I thought she was lying." He said. I stopped and looked at him.

"What did she say?" I asked him.

"Elena's in danger." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"What? And you didn't think you should ask her to elaborate?" I asked him starting to raise my voice.

He shushed me because I was being to loud.

"Everything she says is a lie. How am I supposed to know if she's gonna start spouting out the truth?" He defended.

"We have to go talk to her." I told him.

"No, no. Let me tell you how that's gonna go: We're gonna go ask her for help, she's gonna negotiate her release which we're gonna be dumb enough to give her and she's gonna get out and kill us! This is exactly what she wants! " Damon said as he whisper-yelled.

"I don't really care." I said starting to walk towards the front door.

"It's a bad idea, Myra." He yelled. I turned back to him and said two words.

"It's Elena."

"Alright, so how does this work?" Jeremy asked.

Bonnie, Jeremy, and I were in a classroom trying to do a locater spell on Elena.

"We'll use your blood to draw energy for the tracking spell. You're blood related; it'll make the connection stronger." I explained to Jeremy. The door opened and Stefan walked in.

"Alright, Alaric said we've got to clear out of here within ten minutes.

I've got weapons, he stocked me up. "Stefan explained. I nodded.

" Are you ready? "Bonnie asked Jeremy. He nodded. She looked at me and I grabbed a small knife and cut a small slit in his palm. He winced at the pain, but his blood dropped on the map that as below his hand. I put the knife down and took one of Bonnie's hands. We started concentrating on the spell. After we said the words, I opened my eyes to see the blood had moved to Elena's location.

"There. She's there. "I said pointing to the map.

" That's 300 miles away. "Jeremy said in shock.

" No. We need a more exact location than that. "Stefan said." That's as close as we can get.

"I told them." We can map it, aerial view will show us what's around there, help us narrow down the area. " Jeremy suggested.

"Perfect. Call me with whatever you find. "Stefan said as he walked towards the door.

" No, no, I'm coming with you! "Jeremy said causing Stefan to turn around.

" No Jeremy, you're not. "Stefan said .

"No, I'm gonna just sit here. What if she's hurt okay? "Jeremy asked walking past us. Suddenly, I felt something wet coming from my nose. I felt it and looked at my finger to see blood. I looked at Bonnie, who also had blood coming from her nose. My eyes widened before I quickly wiped the blood on my black sleeve. Bonnie did the same before I heard the door open behind us. I turned around to see Damon there.

"Let's go." Damon said to Stefan.

"You're coming with me? "Stefan asked confused.

" It's Elena. "Damon said looking at me. I gave him a smile before they both walked out." Jeremy, bring my car to your house. When we come back with Elena, l'll drive it home.

"Thanks. "I said throwing him my keys and running out the door.

" Wait! "I yelled running after them.

" I'm coming with you guys. "

" No, Myra. "Stefan said shaking his head.

" It's too dangerous. "

" I don't care. I've already made up my mind. I'm going to help you save Elena. Besides, you don't know how many people have her. You could be completely out numbered. If you want to stop me, go ahead and try. "I said as I walked past him. I heard Stefan sigh signaling he was letting me come along.

" Nicely done. "Damon said walking next to me. I smirked before we walked to the parking lot. We got into Damon's car and he started driving.

"I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when we get there. "I said as I got comfortable and closed my eyes.

3rd POV

As Damon drove towards where Bonnie and Myra said Elena was being kept, Stefan broke the silence between himself and his brother.

" Who do you think took her? "Stefan asked.

" Someone from Katherine's past. She said she was running from someone. They got the wrong girl. "Damon said with his eyes on the road.

" Thank you for helping me. "Stefan said.

" Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing? The cliche of it all makes me itch. "Damon said with a disgusted face.

" Oh, come on Damon. We both know that you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with me anyway. "Stefan said looking out the window.

" The elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar. "Damon said with a smirk.

" Well, it doesn't have to be an elephant. Let's talk about it." Stefan said looking at his older brother.

"The only thing I want to talk about is the fact that you love one girl but have feelings for another." Damon said teasing his little brother.

"I don't have feelings for Myra." Stefan said in denial.

"I never said who." Damon said with a smirk.

"That's not true. I love Elena. And the only reason you're in this car is because you love her too." Stefan pointed out.

"Keep it up, Stefan. I can step out of helping as easily as I stepped in." Damon said quite annoyed as he glared at Stefan.

"No, you see that's the beauty of it. You can't." Stefan said.

Damon looked back to the road and thought about it before sighing. When I woke up, we were stopped on the road not to far from the house. We discussed a plan to get Elena back. Right now, we were sneaking into the house. We got in through one of the windows on the second floor, but when I came in through the window, I accidentally knocked down an empty flower vase. The glass shattered, and I looked at the brothers apologetically. I mouthed

"sorry". We started walking quietly in the house. At a certain point, Damon turned around and stopped me from walking.

"I don't know who's down there with Elena. I don't know what they could do to Stef and I or what they could do to you. So I need you to be careful." He said looking at me.

"I will." I said with a sigh. He nodded before speeding away, leaving Stefan and I.

"I'll see you when this is over." I said optimistically. He gave me a smile before speeding off. I walked down the stairs and waited before I heard the signal.

"Up here." I heard Stefan say.

"Down here." That's the signal. I moved from where I was and saw a man holding onto Elena. I shot him in the hand with my stake gun and the next thing I know, I was pressed up against the wall with a hand over my mouth. I looked to see Damon in front of me and a woman with short brown hair to my side. He took his hand off my mouth and put his finger over his mouth to indicate that we have to be quiet. I nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Excuse me. To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't. Do you hear that?" I heard a man say for outside the room. I heard a snapping noise before he continued.

"I repeat, you cannot beat me. So I want the girl, I'm gonna count to three or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"

"I'll come with you, just please don't my friends, they just wanted to help me out." I heard Elena say. No, I'm not letting Elena go with him. I grabbed a vervain grenade and ran out of the room I was in and towards Elena and threw the vervain grenade in the vampire's face. It exploded and his skin burned, but his skin healed immediately. He looked at me confused.

"And just who might you be?" He asked standing up straight. Before he could answer, I concentrated and did the spell that gave him an aneurysm. He fell to the floor and groaned in pain. I started to feel light-headed and started to stumble so I stopped the spell to catch myself before I fell. I felt a liquid coming from my nose. I touched it and saw the blood again, just like from this morning. I started to panic as the vampire stood up, but that was the last thing I remember before everything went black. When I opened my eyes, I was in my bedroom still in the same clothes. I sighed before getting out of my bed. I walked to the living room and saw my dad.

"Hey, dad." I said.

"We have got to stop seeing each other like this." He said getting up and hugging me. I hugged him back and smiled.

"I know." I said with a laugh.

"How was your day?"

"It was good. I spent the day with Jenna, which was nice." I smiled.

"I'm so happy for you! Jenna is awesome. She would be the cool wife who's always nice to her step-kid and buys them stuff whenever." I said with a smile. My dad glared at me.

"I'm joking. I love Jenna. She's great. And I'm happy you both have each other."

"Thanks. It means a lot coming from you." He said with a smile.

"So how about you? Any boys you like?"

"Dad .." I said with an "Are you serious?" look on my face.

"I haven't been with someone since ..." I said as I remembered some terrible memories.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." He said regretting it immediately.

"It's fine. I just don't like talking about it." I said rubbing my arm. My dad sighed.

"How about we watch a movie? For old time's sake?" He asked. I smiled and nodded.

"But first I need to do something. I'll be right back." I said walking to my room. When I got there, I walked to my bag and got my phone out of it. I was about to call Stefan when his name popped up on my screen, signaling an incoming call from him.

"Hey." I said when I answered it.

"Hey. I was just checking in, making sure you're alright." He said.

"Yeah. I'm fine. What happened back there?" I asked him.

"Damon killed that vampire, and Elena's fine." I sighed in relief. I heard him pause.

"Why didn't you tell me about the nose bleeds?"

"Am I supposed to tell you everything that's happening to me?" I asked confused.

"Not everything, but this ... this is important." He said with concern.

"Stefan, I'm alright. It just happens when I use too much magic at a time." I told him.

"When did it start?"

"This morning, after Bonnie and I did the locater spell on Elena." I explained.

"You should've told me."

"Why do you care so much?" I asked him.

"Because I..I ... I care about you." He said.

"I just want to make sure you're safe." My heart fluttered at those words. A smile grew on my face.

"That ... um..that means a lot. Thank you." I told him. I sighed.

"My dad is waiting for me. I should probably go."

"Um ... yeah. You should. I'l ... uh ... talk to you tomorrow."

"Ok. Goodnight Stefan."

"Goodnight Myra." He said before I hung up. I held the phone in my hand and smiled before sighing. He loves Elena. He'll never feel that way about me. I put my phone down and walked back out to the living room.

"Who were you talking too." My dad asked.

"Stefan. He was just checking up on me." I said grabbing a blanket.

"He's a good friend." My dad said. I sighed.

"Yeah, he is."