SHOT in the Back

"Damn... I should've thought of that." Elena played along with mock annoyance. Jail hadn't made him any more difficult to read. If anything it had made it easier. She gestured with a hand to a seat in front of her before snapping her fingers to signal Lauren to take a seat.

"Pull up a chair."

"Why'd you get me out of jail, Elena?" Siegrain asked straight away, dropping into the nearest chair, throwing his feet up onto the women's desk without a care in the world. "Better yet, how the hell did you even know I was still alive in the first place, let alone in jail?"

Lena winced when Lila yelled into her phone. "I'm wearing a headset...I'm the only one that can hear you..." She said, rubbing her hears as they quickly approached De Luca territory.

Lauren took the seat, looking bored. She crossed her legs, making room for Siegrain and looking on with hidden interest. She thought she had Elena's thoughts about the man figured out, but she still wanted to see some proof for her theories. On Siegrain's words, she still wouldn't be surprised if Elena had miked her, but she couldn't help but wonder when the woman had done it.

"How did I know you were in jail?" Elena echoced her eyes never faltering from their intense scrutiny of Stefan. Her name pierce really didn't do any justice to her piercing stare. "A girl down at Wolfram and Hart in the records department knows everything. She could probably tell you what your doctors, jurors and nurses looked like."

With a shrug she feigned a yawn. "As to why I got you out, well I figured you should know that Spikey was dead. Plus the powers that be within Marisol really don't like the Karmts brothers."

"I figured that much out for myself when I was fourteen," Siegrain rebuked casually, slouching into the chair slightly, acting bored. "But you didn't need to get me out to tell me Damon was dead - a simple visit would have done the trick. What do you really want, Elena? You want me to come and work for you because you have something big planned and need a man with my skill set, is that it? Or do you really just love fucking with my life that much?"

---

"A headset? You could have mentioned that earlier, Lena!" Lila replied snappishly, though she did bring the volume down to spare the girl anymore shouting. "He isn't going to listen to either of us, is he?"

"You're brother is being a pain in the ass towards the Ching's, if anyone can stop him from harming my soldiers then it is you." Elena answered. She almost believed herself but nonetheless kept her gaze solely on Stefan, still analysing everything he said and did.

"I don't think so..." Lena said with a groan to the older woman. "I hate it when he acts like this!" She said, frustrated over how Ethan was acting. "...I should probably hang up now, I'm going to try and get him to stop."

"Ethan? Now that just sounds weird..." Siegrain said with slight skepticism, but nonetheless, he knew that if Elena was lying to him the best way to work it out was by pushing for more information. Put her on the spot to see how she'd sweat. "What's the brat gotten himself involved in exactly?"

---

"Yeah, good luck with that," Lila muttered before hanging up. Tossing the phone onto the sofa next to her, she groaned, burrying her face in her hands. Where'd he go wrong? Where'd I go...? I really though if any of them had a chance to turn out as a decent human being unlike the rest of us it was Ethan. Thanks for destroying my faith in you buddy... Part of her wanted to cry, she'd never felt more like an utter failure. "Sorry I couldn't keep him on the straight path like I promised, Damon. I really tried, I swear I did,"

"Ethan please, let's just do this quietly, attracting attention to us after an attack like that isn't really going to help us find them any faster!" Lena said, trying to catch the boy's attention.

Elena raised an eyebrow. "He's got your blood and with age comes the knowledge of what his brothers were like. You honestly expected him to turn out anyway?" She asked with a face that was almost incredulous.

"He's allied himself with the De Luca because your Nephew is the son of a former De Luca." Elena explained. "With things getting troublesome again he's starting to become a thorn in our side."

"I'll just take the list and step out for a bit, okay?" Carlotta said, sensing a serious conversation. She walked over to the coat closet and grabbed a light jacket. "The fresh air would be nice anyway."

Myrrh turned his attention away from the child, feeling that he hadn't properly explained their situation. Ah, well. "Anyway, things will probably escalate from here. We've been ordered to up compound defenses... I wouldn't talk to too many strangers. There'll be a lot of...dangerous people walking around now."

By that, he meant mercenaries - the de Lucas' force had dwindled over the four years of peace as Dom tried to ease the way out of crime, but clearly this was no option now. Their ranks were still powerful, yes, but numbers were a strength by themselves.

"Ethan was different from me and Damon, he was whinny, bratty and annoying, sure, but he had a better heart than both me and Damon put together. He at least had a shot, I'm disappointed he wasted it," Siegrain defend his younger brother, eyes narrowing slightly, though he remained relaxed and slouched in his seat. "And since when the fuck have I had a nephew? You're telling me Damon actually knocked a girl up?" Damon had a kid? Shit I really missed a lot in the joint...

"But if Ethan's being a thorn in your side I'm more inclined to leave him be and let him continue to piss you off," he said, jumping back to their previous topic, "but seeing as it's you I guess that'd be cruel of me. I was planning on having a talk with him, anyway, I guess this just gives us another topic for the agenda."

Elena merely sipped her drink some more. "He's still a Karmts... say, are you going to give him a nickname? You were always Stefan... or to some Angel. And then there was good old Spike." The manipulative woman continued, unlike Damon. Mentioning the Caduca Tredicim didn't seem to set Stefan off.

"Yeah, you remember that De Luca compound that Damon led the assault on with the intent to rape the innocence out of pour little Andrea Angelo? Well turns out six years down the line Andrea and Damon fell in love... kinda twisted I know." Elena smirked at this.

"Make's sense though. Taking her innocence and unleashing the demon on her seemed to be just what was needed for him to lose your influence and shot you to the point of near death." His own plan was being used against him and Elena loved it. "It was a highly interesting fight by the way, I almost didn't think he'd win."

"My favourite part was when he shot you in the chest and then watched a burning building start collapsing on you."

Siegrain's face paled at the mention of that girl. That was where it all went wrong. If only he hadn't made Damon do it... then he'd probably still be a deranged mass murder, probably dead, and Damon would be who knows where doing whatever he pleased, maybe he'd have kept the gang going and he didn't even want to think about what might have happened to Ethan.

Sighing, running a hand through his hair he took a moment to collect him. Of all his regrets, that would probably his greatest, it'd haunt him until the the day he finally died - a deserving fate.

"Seeing Damon come at me like that, all the rage that had built up in him, I just couldn't take it." Siegrain murmured, closing his eyes as he rubbed his temples. "I think some part of me just shut down and gave up there and then, my entire reason for living had just imploded in on itself when Damon turned on me. It's probably for the best that he won, even if he ain't here now. I'm grateful that he did what he did."

"Was certainly a very, very good fight." Elena mused her eyes looking back almost nostalgically. She finished her drink before returning to piercing Stefan. "What else do you want to know?"

---

As they got into De Luca territory Ethan pulled the bike to a grinding halt, skidding at least thirty meters before pulling up in a parking space.

"What?" He asked, his irritation evident.

"Who killed Damon?" Siegrain demanded quietly, not opening his eyes, instead trying to focus on the urge not to track down the bastard responsible and beat them to death as soon as he knew who they were.

"Please, can we just do this quietly?" Lena said, a little pissed at the boy himself, but tried to remain calm. "I don't think attracting a lot of attention to ourselves is really going to help us, Ethan."

Ethan whipped his helmet off and scowled at Lena. Quiet wouldn't get them anywhere. They were lucky to even have them as allies. He dropped the helmet onto the bike and pulled out a cigarette from a pack. It tasted foul, but... Damon had done it.

"It's pointless, we'd just get pawned off to some of the grunts." He grunted as he lit the device.

"And you think we'll end up any better, if we make a huge show of it?" Lena asked, still pissed at the boy. "We're more likely to be thrown out of here, then find out where they are!"

"Shut up..." Ethan responded nonchalantly. He inhaled some smoke and blew it at her. He was beginning to get agitated. "You deal with the tech shit and I deal with the other stuff. It's simple."

---

Elena's eyes twinkled with information as she watched the oldest Karmt's brother. If only he knew that he was playing straight into her hands. Lauren would have seen this look many times and if Stefan was as rust as he said he was then he wouldn't see it at all. "It's a fun story. The man your looking for is Mayor Florence Bakura. He poisoned Damon but not after first manipulating him into killing his closest friend."

"That wasn't what took him though. This same man tried to shoot at Andrea Angelo and Lila Summers and Damon threw himself in front of them. Didn't take long and he was dead as a rail road spike."

In her mind she allowed a chuckle at her pun. Not that it showed on her face.

Siegrain didn't reply to Elena's pun, he'd never cared for jokes in bad taste. He just pushed himself out of the chair and headed for the door. But as he reached out for the handle, he paused.

"Funny, don't you think?" he asked, voice quite and serious, turning to look over his shoulder he added; "The man who killed my brother just happens to be the mayor that's been cleaning everything up. This is all to perfect for you, isn't it?

"Make no mistake, Elena, this would usually be the part were I'd make a grand threat, but you know me," he turned away again, pulling his sunglasses out of the inside pocket of his coat, "you know very well how much I'll make you suffer if you get in my way from this point on out. I'm going to kill Bakura, bleed the bastard dry for what he did to my brother, but I'm doing it for my brothers - not for you, and whatever twisted plan you have that might benefit from me killing the bastard can go to hell along with you."

Putting on his glasses he quickly pulled the door open with his other hand. "Form this point on I wash my hands of you. We're done; once and for all." And with his final words said, he closed the door behind him quietly.

Never did get the name of Lila's garage, he realised, already making his way to the gates of the Ching compound. Though I know she's still in the city and she actually owns one, can't be that hard to look her up in the phone book now... That was going to be another pleasant encounter, he was sure of it. Elena was exactly as he expected, almost just as he remember, though she was a little more subtle and better at masking her own twisted amusement than before. If she hadn't changed too much he wondered what Lila would be like. Part him of hoped she'd still be the bouncy and lovable firecracker he remembered from the teen years together - god only knew he couldn't take any more twists today.

That was the final straw for Lena. He had gone too far, with that line. Without any warning, her hand shot out, in an attempt to slap the boy.

"Lauren... please do me a favour and follow Mr Karmts. When he eventually catches you, please inform him that we are on the same side as him." Her face remained impassive as she gently reached for a drink.

"Also remind him that are agenda's will follow the same path and we could get this done a hell of a lot sooner if he accepted our help."

---

Ethan's eyes lit up with humour as the girl tried to slap him. His hand snapped up and he blocked it with ease. The full force of his eyes were focused on the girl now.

"That's a no-no, Princess. I wouldn't be doing that right now." He said to her in an almost patronising fashion.

Lena just glared at the boy, before her other hand shot out, slapping the boy across his face. She had known him for several years, and she had long grown annoyed by the Damon-esque douchebagery the boy kept using. She really hated when he acted like that, and the patronizing stare wasn't helping.