Chapter 20
12144
Jeremy sat at the back of the Mystic Grill in a booth with a worn, leather journal opened in front of him. His eyes have not moved from the page he was currently reading, his stomach in knots. It was his father’s journal. Jeremy and Elena were clearing out the rest of their parents' belongings so Aunt Jenna could properly move into the master bedroom when they came across the journals. Elena didn’t want anything to do with them, so she handed them to Jeremy.
Now, some time later, he sits and stares at the information he just read. Jeremy was trying to come to grips with the fact that his father was a monster. It was difficult since he remembers the kind-hearted but stern man that raised him. But after reading this, he sees a whole nother side of Grayson Gilbert.
Jeremy looks up in time to catch Matt’s attention, “Hey, Matt? Can I get a bottle from the top shelf?” Matt shakes his head but gets the bottle for Jeremy anyways.
Stefan and Damon walk into the Evans household to hang out with their friends. Damon asked Sirius’ portrait, “Where’s Lei?” Sirius smirked with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “They’re in the dueling room.” Damon nodded his head, he and Stefan headed to the familiar room in the basement. It was heavily warded against any kind of damage, as well as sound. So, neither heard anything until they opened the usually locked door.
Leilani, Charlie, and the Weasley twins were dueling each other. All non-lethal spells. The four of them have been on edge lately and wanted to let off some steam, so dueling it is. Plus, the twins have been working on a spell that can be used in place of the Polyjuice Potion. Fred peeked out from his hiding spot, the new spell at the tip of his tongue and aimed his wand at Charlie. But Charlie was expecting it and threw up a shield. The spell ricocheted off the shield and headed in the direction of the now open door.
Damon saw the neon pink spell heading his way and moved but Stefan wasn’t fast enough. He was hit in the center of the chest with the new spell the twins were working on and was thrown to the floor onto his stomach. Leilani saw this and stopped the dueling to check on her friends. Damon knelt down and turned Stefan over, only to be shocked. Stefan now looked like a woman. He was a She. Once Damon got over the shock he doubled over laughing.
Stefan looked at his laughing brother and said in a feminine voice, “It’s not funny!” Hearing the voice that came out of the genderbent Stefan’s mouth made Damon laugh even harder. Stefan clamped a hand over his…her mouth. Lei was scolding the twins for not having the counter-curse readily available, then she went over to the Salvatores, “Don’t worry. The twins say it’s not permanent.”
Not wanting to say anything else, Stefan nods his/her head. But then Lei had a little bit of bad news, “It will take some time to wear off, so you’re stuck as Stefanie for now.” A calm Damon started laughing again, “Stefanie.” Stefan…er, Stefanie looked so done with everything.
A few hours later, a very drunk Jeremy was walking or more like crawling up the stairs to the Evans home. He didn’t want to go home and deal with his judgmental sister. Lei felt the shift in the wards so she opened the door before he could knock. “Hey, it’s my favorite sibling,” Jeremy slurred. Lei could smell the alcohol on his body from the front door. She stepped out and looked around before pulling out her wand and levitating the intoxicated teenager into the house. Closing the door, Lei called for Pip. When the house elf appeared, “Can you bring me some tea and a sobering potion, please?”
With a kettle of tea and a sobering potion, Lei woke Jeremy. He was handed the potion, and just downed it one gulp thinking it was a shot of liquor. Instantly, Jeremy’s head cleared, and he looked around. Realizing he was with Lei, Jeremy became embarrassed, “I am never drinking that much ever again.” Lei chuckled under her breath. She was concerned about the boy, “Do you want to talk about it?” She handed him a cup of tea while Jeremy got situated.
The Salvatores decided to hang around Lei for a bit longer and heard Lei with Jeremy. They were curious about what upset little Gilbert enough to get that drunk. So, Damon and Stefanie took a seat on the opposite couch in the sitting room. Jeremy was confused about the woman who was sitting next to Damon, “Who are you?” Damon answered, they all could hear the laughter in his voice, “Stefan has become Stefanie, temporarily.”
Jeremy shook his head; he was kind of used to this sort of thing in the Evans’ household. He then started to tell them what happened. “Elena and I were cleaning out the rest of our parents' things so Jenna can have the master bedroom when we found some journals of Grayson’s.” Everyone noted he said “Grayson” and not “father” or “dad”. Jeremy continued, “I was curious about what was in them since that last journal I read talked about vampires.” Jeremy took a deep breath while shaking his head, “I wish I wouldn’t have read them.”
Everyone stayed quiet waiting for Jeremy to speak, “These journals that Grayson wrote described various procedures and experimentations on a vampire. The descriptions were in great detail and they were gruesome. The more I read, the more I am glad Grayson is gone. He was a sick bastard.” Jeremy had tears in his eyes. He couldn’t believe Grayson could do such horrible things then come home to his family like he did nothing wrong. Lei leaned closer to the boy, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jeremy turned to her and spoke through fresh tears, “He didn’t even consider the vampire as a human, never wrote his name down just a number.” He paused before whispering the number, “12144.”
Damon grew pale when he heard little Gilbert whisper a familiar number. He wanted to make sure he heard Jeremy clearly, “What did you say? The number?! What was it?!” Damon’s voice raised in anger with each question as he stood up and was now hovering over Jeremy. Stefanie stood next to Damon to try and calm him, “Damon? What’s going on?”
Damon didn’t want anyone to know about what happened to him in the 1950’s. But it seems circumstances have changed. Damon slowly sat back down and went on to explain. He told the three of them how he would visit their family every so often, just being himself and tormenting them. On one occasion, Joseph Salvatore had spiked Damon’s drink with Vervain, enough to render Damon unconscious. When he woke, Damon was strapped to a metal table with Vervain-soaked restraints. He had learned Joseph had sold him to Augustine. Damon revealed he spent five years imprisoned and experimented on.
During those five years, Damon developed a friendship with the vampire in the cell next to him. At first, they hated each other but being trapped with only each other changed that. Damon went on to explain how the Augustine scientists gave them numbers instead of using their names. Damon’s number was 21051 and his best friend’s was 12144. Hearing that number, Jeremy asked, “Could it be the same vampire?”
Damon kept his eyes on the glass of Firewhiskey in his hand, “I don’t know. It could be but I’m not sure. As far as I know, Enzo died when the place we were being held went up in flames.” Lei was on the edge of her seat, “How did you get out?” Damon had a ghost of a smile thinking about their planned escape but then it faded. “Enzo and I came up with a plan to escape. We would get very small rations of blood once a day. Just enough to keep us from desiccating. The plan was, Enzo would slip me his rations until I was strong enough to get us both out of there. We timed the escape for around the annual holiday ball.
“During this celebration, Enzo and I were on display in cages in the middle of the ballroom for the guests to poke and prod. It was getting close to the time of our escape when a fire broke out on the far side of the ballroom, closest to Enzo. Before I could break out of the cage, it was carted out of the building by people I have never seen before. I thought they were rescuing us but they left Enzo inside and took off. I got out of the cage and killed them but not before I found out they were Augustine’s competitors. I drained them all then ran back for Enzo, but it was too late. I searched through what was left of the burnt building. I found several remains and what was left of a charred cage. I never found Enzo. That was when I flipped my switch.”
“We should check out this ‘Augustine’,” Charlie and the twins were standing in the foyer listening to them. Lei shook her head, “Do you guys ever not snoop?” George scrunched his eyebrows, “Is that rhetorical?” Damon snorts, “I know I’m going to. Whether Enzo is alive or not, these people need to be stopped. The last time I was on the slab, there was talk of finding others besides vampires.” Damon finished his drink then stood up to leave.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s plan this out. You’re not going there without a plan and possibly getting captured again.” Charlie voiced. Lei stood up, “Charlie’s right. Normally I would jump right in but something would go wrong, ending in injuries or someone dying. Jeremy, is there anything in those journals about a location?” “There were two locations Grayson worked out of. One being his clinic here in town and the other is Whitmore House on campus.” Jeremy thought back to all the times he went to Grayson’s clinic. Not knowing several feet below his father’s office was a tortured vampire.
Damon was anxious to get to the bottom of this, “Okay, so let’s make a plan.” They all sat down and figured out where to start. Lei got up from her seat, “I’m going to get my mokeskin. We may need the cloak.” Fred followed, “I’ll get some stuff together. We still have some Peruvian Darkness Powder.” “Good idea,” Lei was getting excited for the rescue mission.
The plan was simple; Get inside Whitmore, look for Enzo, wipe the scientists of their memories, then set Whitmore house on fire. The rescuers consisted of Charlie, Fred, George, Damon, and Lei. Stefanie was to stay with Jeremy and read through the rest of the journals to find out if Grayson listed any names associated with Augustine. The twins grabbed several dung bombs, Peruvian Darkness Powder, and even a portable swamp because why not? However, Lei told them to put the swamp back since she wanted to set the building on fire and the swamp would interfere.
Before they were going to pile into Damon’s car, Lei stopped Damon in the foyer, “Let me see your ring?” Damon suspiciously raised an eyebrow, “Why?” Lei rolled her eyes, “Just let me see it.” The two of them stood in the foyer staring each other down before Damon handed over his ring. Lei walked a little further into the foyer and knelt down to set the ring on the floor. She whispered an incantation while waving her wand. Damon watched her closely. Her voice floated up to him, “Think of a one-word passcode that you can remember no matter what kind of situation you’re in?” Damon thought for a moment, “Home.” Lei tapped her wand against his ring and they watched it glow white then return to normal.
Lei picked it up and handed it back to Damon. He slipped it back on his finger, he could feel the lingering magic and it was comforting. They walked out the door as Damon asked, “What did you do to my ring?” Lei smiled at him, “Emergency Portkey. If you’re ever in a situation where you are trapped, twist your ring until you can grip the stone in a fist and utter the passcode. You and one other will be transported to my foyer. Fair warning, that method of travel can be quite nauseating.” Damon stood frozen with his mouth hung open until Fred yelled out the car window from the back seat, “Oi! Let’s go!”
The drive to Whitmore college was a chaotic one. The twins and Charlie were stuck in the back seat squished against each other. Lei sitting in the passenger seat laughing at them. When they got closer to Whitmore Campus, Lei leaned between the seats, “Why didn’t one of you cast an extension charm?” The three Weasleys stopped irritating each other to stare at Leilani, their cheeks tinting red from not thinking of that. Damon laughed at their expense. He can’t remember the last time he has laughed that much.
By the time they reached the campus it was after midnight. Damon drove around for a bit, part of the campus still seemed familiar to him. He stopped in front of the familiar structure, “They rebuilt it. The Whitmore House looks exactly the same.” Damon drove to a parking spot a little further down the road. They all got out and slowly walked toward the building. Each of them carrying a bag with things they might need for this mission. Damon had a couple of blood bags stuffed in his jacket pockets, along with a small duffel in his car.
The plan was Damon was to bite Lei since she was the “victim”. She was then to run up to the house and get inside. From there Lei would get everyone else inside by using the Imperius. This was mostly Charlie’s plan since Lei and the twins wanted to blow the door off its hinges, but it would cause too much attention. That will be after they get out and set the building on fire.
They stopped in a darkened area near the house. Damon stood in front of Lei, “Show time!” Lei had pulled her up into a messy bun, securing it with her wand, tilted her head so Damon had easier access. The Weasleys had moved into position closest to the house, plus they didn’t want to watch their little sister(practically) get bit by a vampire. George kept an ear on them though, just in case Damon went too far.
“You’re sure? Can’t you just cast an illusion or something?” Damon was nervous. Damon…The Bad Boy with a Devil May Care attitude was nervous. Lei kept her head tilted, “This is easier. I’ll be fine. Plus, it needs to be believable.” Damon sighed, letting his face shift and his fangs drop, he leaned in, and gently as he could, bit into Leilani’s neck just below her ear. He could feel her pulse beating against his lips as he took a couple mouthfuls before reluctantly pulling away. Breathlessly, Damon exclaimed, “Damn. Don’t ever let me do that again. I almost didn’t want to stop.” The wound on Lei’s neck was still bleeding, Damon couldn’t focus on anything else besides her intoxicating blood.
Lei cupped Damon’s face to make him focus on her instead of her blood, “Ready?” Lei put her other hand over the wound to hide the fact it was already healing. Damon stayed silent and nodded. Lei smiled before she bolted towards the door of the house, faking a look of panic as she collided with the door and started to frantically knock, “Help! Someone help me!”
She continued to knock until the door swung open. A man in his late twenties answered, “What’s going on?” He looked at the woman that was pounding on his door and saw her neck was bleeding badly. “Oh my god. What happened?” The man asked Lei. Lei had crocodile tears streaming, “He came out of nowhere and just attacked me. He looked crazed, and then he bit me.” The man had pulled her inside, not even giving a verbal invite but it didn’t matter since Lei was human. “Did you see where he went?” The last living Whitmore asked Lei while looking out the door. Lei had stopped crying, “No. He’s waiting.”
Whitmore turned back to Lei to ask what she meant, meanwhile Lei had pulled her wand from her bun, “Imperio. Invite my friends inside.” Damon, Charlie, and the twins had come up to the door and were waiting to come inside. Whitmore turned to them, “Come on in.” Lei kept her wand trained on Whitmore, “Now, where is 12144?” Whitmore replied with a dazed smile on his face, “His cell on the lower level of the house.” “Take us there. Are there any other people here?” Lei had Whitmore lead their group to the lower levels. Still smiling, “No. It is just me and the prisoner.”
Whitmore unlocked the door to the lab in the lower levels, escorting the group further in, heading for the cells. On the cold hard concrete floor was a severely starved, almost desiccated Lorenzo St John. He had his back facing the cell door. Enzo was too exhausted from his body trying to heal to turn over as he heard several people enter the lab and stand in front of his cell, “Come back for more doctor?” Lei spoke to him, “Actually, we’re here to get you out.”
Enzo slowly and painfully turned around, “I’ve heard that one before.” He was going to keep talking until he saw Damon. The vampires stared at each other with different expressions. Enzo had a look of disbelief shifting into anger for being abandoned. Damon looked shocked, relieved, as well as guilty. He feels guilty for not looking harder for his next friend.
The vampires’ staring contest was broken by Lei, “Stupefy. You three head into the lab and destroy everything. Leave nothing intact, don’t want them salvaging anything.” Fred, George, and Charlie went into the lab and proceeded to smash every vial, shred every file, and vanish any technology until the lab was bare. While they were doing that, Lei turned to Damon, “You feed him. I’ll levitate this guy outside.” Damon never took his eyes off Enzo as he pulled the blood bags from his jacket pocket. But then caught Lei’s wrist before she walked past, he pushed her hair aside to look at his bite mark only to not see it. He was a little disappointed that it was healed. Lei smiled at Damon, “I told you I’d be fine.”
Lei left the two of them in the cell as she took Whitmore outside. She set him down under a tree near the sidewalk. Lei wiped his memory of the last hour, then made sure he stayed unconscious. She turned back to Whitmore house and watched as everyone walked out, Damon was supporting Enzo’s weight. “Alright, Charlie. Light it up,” Lei said. Charlie turned back to the house, “Incendia!” They continued to walk back to Damon’s car as the house went up in flames…again.
Instead of getting in, the twins and Charlie apparated back to the house. They didn’t want to try and squeeze four people in the back seat, even with an extension charm. Lei sat in the passenger seat again. Damon drove while Enzo was in the backseat stretched out. Nobody talked the entire trip back to Mystic Falls. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable though Lei would catch Damon peeking in the rear-view mirror at his sleeping best friend.
Once they got back to Mystic Falls, Damon dropped Lei off at home. He was going to take Enzo to the Boarding House and let him heal before introducing him to the chaos that is the Evans’ household. Damon stopped Lei from getting out of his car, “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lei just pulls up her hair and shows him both sides of her neck, “I’m fine. I’ll see you later. Don’t forget to warn Enzo about Stefanie.” Damon snorted, “Almost forgot.” Lei smiled and kissed Damon on the cheek, “Goodnight Damon.”
Enzo was only pretending to be asleep. He observed his once upon a time best friend and the girl who helped rescue him. Enzo could see Damon held some sort of affection for the girl but she was oblivious to it. Enzo sat up, “She’s a pretty little thing.” He could hear the growl coming from Damon and smirked, “Relax, Damon. So, are you going to tell me what happened that night?” Damon rolled his eyes and proceeded to tell Enzo what happened. From the party where he was taken. Escaping them and getting back to Whitmore, only to find it burnt to the ground. Then finally rescuing him after finding out Enzo was alive, “I swear, Enzo. I thought you were dead.” They had walked into the boarding house by now, “I’m sorry.”
They stayed silent for a moment. Damon walked towards the stairs, “Come on. Let me show you to your room so you can get cleaned up. I’ll bring you some of my clothes. We’ll go shopping later.” Enzo nodded his head, overwhelmed with the fact he is no longer in a cell or strapped to a table. It still feels like a dream.
They stopped at one of the empty bedrooms, “Oh, before I forget. My brother, Stefan, was hit with a spell. He is now a she, it will wear off eventually. But in the meantime, Stefanie will be hiding in the boarding house playing with herself.” An irritated feminine voice yelled out, “I do not.” Both Damon and Enzo laughed. Damon patted Enzo on the shoulder as he went into his own room.
A black SUV cruised down the quiet road leading to the small town of Mystic Falls. A cell phone was ringing in the cupholder, the driver picked it up, “Brother, what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” The male voice on the other end sighed, “Niklaus. There is something we need to discuss.” Niklaus smirked, “Yes, it seems we do. Where do you want to meet?” Niklaus’ smirk dropped when Elijah answered, “I’m currently in Mystic Falls. I will send you the address of where I am residing. We can discuss the true location of our siblings.” Elijah didn’t give Klaus time to reply before ending the call.
The witch in the passenger seat was squirming. He couldn’t sit still. Klaus, now irritated with his brother, asked, “What’s gotten into you?” Maddox gulped, “As we got closer to town, I could feel very strong magic not like mine. It’s almost suffocating.” Klaus smirked once again, thinking to himself, “Definitely need to get my hands on these witches.”
Klaus smiled as he passed the Mystic Falls Welcome sign.