CHAPTER FOUR: the devil inside

∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

NICHOLAS BECK HAD BROUGHT A PET CARRIER, HAPPILY CARRYING ALONG THE DOG. Who he had named Xena.

"Oh, come on, Lor," Nick spoke, smiling when Enzo made a face at the nickname.

"What is it, Las?" Enzo replied.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Nicholas sighed, making Enzo laugh. Nicholas smiled widely when he did, enjoying the sound. "But, look at this cute, little collar is!"

"Did you forget that we have plans?" Enzo asked, even if he was smiling, arms wrapping around Nicholas's waist.

"But,  Xena," Nicholas gestured to the puppy that was biting at Enzo's pant leg.  Enzo had tried to tell the dog that she wasn't allowed to do that, but Nicholas lifted her up, talking in a small voice that Enzo was always grumpy.  Now, the puppy continued to eat at shoes and pant legs.

Nicholas said it didn't matter as they could just either comple the works to give it clothes to then for free, or sped into the store and steal the clothes.

Also, Nicholas slept on the couch with Xena when Enzo said that she couldn't sleep on the bed.

Enzo had waited an hour before he picked up Nicholas and moved him to the bed. Nicholas kept Xena in his arms.
∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave her alone?" Nicholas asked Enzo.

Enzo sighed. "Yes, Love. Especially with how much food and water you've left for her," Enzo looks to the corner of the room, where bowls much bigger than the dog were. They weee for a larger, bigger breed of dogs. Or at least, older then the size that Xena was currently.

∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

They had gone to the Whitore College, following Aaron Whittmore to his dorm room. Aaron went to close the door behind him, only for Enzo to catch the door.  Aaron quickly turned around, confused about the two who had just barged into his room.

"Aaron Whittmore. Just the man we've been looking for," Enzo says.

"Enzo," Aaron says, horrified. "Nick."
∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

Both Enzo and Nicholas sat on the Salvatore couch, Nicholas threw his head back onto Enzo's lap, legs thrown over the other side of the couch. The door opened, Damon walking in. "Enzo. Nick."

"Hello Damon," Enzo lifts his glass.

Nicholas lifted his head, giving Damon a sarcastic smile. "It's lovely to see you again." Then he swung his legs around to place his feet against the floor, pulling himself up to sit up-right.

Enzo and him stood up. "We have a bit of business to attend to," Enzo told the Raven-haired vampire.

Damon lifted up his hand, pointing to the corner of his mouth. "Missed a spot." Damon looked at the duffel bag.
∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

Enzo had pulled Nicholas over to the fire, throwing an arm around him and pulling him into his side closely. "Ooh! I love a good fire. Oh! That's ironic, isn't it, you know, since you left us to burn alive in one?" Enzo turned to Damon.

"Didn't we already do this?" Damon asked. "You tried to make me feel guilty, I saved both your lives, we're even."

"You left us to be tortured," Nicholas says.

"What's on the bag?" Damon asked.

At that Nicholas grinned wildly. "More like who."

"Ah. I love your smile," Enzo smiled back at Nicholas, pulling him to place a kiss against his check.

Damon cleared his throat, loudly.

"Ah. Since we last spoke," Enzo spoke to Damon. "I've done a bit of soul-searching, had a trip to the barber, brought a place with Nicholas-"

"He got me a dog!" Nicholas cheered.

Damon, despite himself, smiled back at him. Before he recalled that the two had broken into his place. And there was a duffle bag, that apparently held a person.

"got Nicholas a dog," Enzo adds. "and did a little research, which revealed to me that you killed almost every member of the Whittmore family in the years since you're escape, leaving just one alive each time to carry on the family name," Enzo says before Nicholas picks up where he left off.

"producing a whole new generation of victims for you to slaughter exactly as you said you'd do back when the three of us were cellmates."

"Well, you know me," Damon says. "I like to keep my promises."

"And it's occurred to us that perhaps we wrote you off too quickly," Enzo speaks.

"That the Damon Salvatore we knew, is alive and not being controlled by the very brother he complained about every single day in that living hell," Nicholas extended his arms out to his sides. "and for him, we have a present."

Enzo unzips the bag, showing the unconscious Aaron Whittmore.

"You brought me Aaron Whittmore..." Damon lists for a moment. "alive."

"He's the last of the Whitmore Clan," Enzo says. "You remember this vervain wristwatch?" He lifted up Aaron's arm. "Dr.Whitmore never took it off, even when he was rooting around in our chest cavities. Fitting Aaron should die wearing it, too. So...do you want to kill him or shall we?" Enzo gestured to himself and Nicholas.

∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

"As much as I've enjoyed your quality bourbon, I feel confident out next drink will taste better with the sound of young Aaron's dying screams ringing in our ears and the knowledge that your final act of revenge will have brought all three of us closure and a new beginning," Enzo ranted.

"I'm just curious." Damon speaks. "Do you ask all of your friends to prove their loyalty by killing someone over drinks?"

"No. And not just because we don't have any friends," Nicholas says. "But, because his grandfather slit our eyes open with a scalpel. You've taken our everyone else's in the Whittmore family. We thought you'd want this."

"Would you believe he's a friend of a friend?" Damon asked back.

"No, because that would force me to believe that you've gone soft when the three of us know that your first impulse when we presented him to you was to rip out his throat." Enzo went back to sitting on the couch pulling Nicholas with him.

"Surely our old friend's still in there someplace. End this for the three of us."

Damon's cellphone rings, of course, he answered it. "Really bad timing, blondie. I'm dealing with a blast from the past."

"The deal with a quickly and get your ass over to Tyler's. Elena's here." The female voice says.

"Looks like he's coming around," Enzo announced.

Aaron stood up from the couch.

"Time to make your decision Damon. Do you want to kill him, or shall we?" Nicholas asked.

Damon snapped Enzo's neck. Nicholas broke Damon's leg with one kick to his leg, in a defense action. He had normally only done it to one of the people in Augustine. He'd been drugged in vervain to the lint he thought he'd die in that alone, even though with how long they used it to torture him, he had built up a certain level of tolerance to it.

Damon snapped his neck.
∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

Enzo laid in the road. They had tracked Aaron's car as they took note of his license plate before.

"Just because we are killing him together doesn't mean I forgive you for killing Enzo and I back at your house," Nicholas told Damon.

Aaron's car stopped a foot away from Enzo, quickly stopping and getting out of the car. "Hey. You all right?" He carefully stepped closer. "You all right, man?"

Enzo sat up straight, thank bed to Aaron. Aaron immediately stepped back.

"Never better," Enzo says as he gets up. Aaron continued to step back. "We've been waiting for you."

Both Damon and Nicholas appear next to Aaron's car.

"Damon's teaching us a little game. Nicholas allowed me to go first. See, Damon assured me you'd be on this road heading out of town." Enzo says.

"You said that you were gonna let me go," Aaron says confused.

"I did. I tried." Damon replied.

"Does Elena know that you're here?"

"She's the reason I'm here. No. Scratch that. I'm the reason I'm here."

"What do you want, Damon?"

"I want the same thing you want, Aaron. Go back in time, fix the past, get someone back I've lost."

Nicholas sighed.

"Everyone that I lost is because of you," Aaron tells the Raven-haired vampire. "You know who murdered my entire family? You!"

"Justifiably," Enzo adds.

"Neither way, I did it. I tore them apart, I liked the sounds they made because I realized they deserved it like you."

Aaron shakes his head. "Elena was too good for you."

Nicholas groaned. "Can we get on to Killian him already?"

"Patients, Love," Enzo smiled at Nicholas.

"I used to think that. Yeah. That I had to be better to deserve her love and she had to be worse to accept mine. I'd lie in the middle of the road, looking up at the stars, having conversations with people like you, trying to convince myself that killing then was a bad instinct and that sparing their lives was the right thing to do." Damon says, walking closer to Aaron.

Aaron stepped closer to Damon. "So, what'd you do? Did you kill them?"

"He's not that bright, huh?" Nicholas asked.

"It doesn't matter. The long is I was conflicted. Right now in this very, very moment, I am crystal clear," Damon looks back at Enzo and Nicholas. "See, Elena thinks I'm a monster. You know what? She's right." Damon vamped out, fangs coming down as veins appeared under his eyes. He grabbed Aaron, tightly before quickly drinking him dry.

"Now that's the Damon Salvatore I remembered," Enzo smiled.

Damon smiled back, bloody teeth and lips.

∙∙·▫▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ 𝚃𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫ₒₒ▫ᵒᴼᵒ▫▫·∙∙

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