How to Deal
Prologue
"Why do you have to go out on a night like this?"
"Because it's my duty as a member of the council to protect the citizens of Mystic Falls and my family, Delilah." Landon Fell said calmly to his wife for the millionth time. "I'll be fine."
Delilah frowned, pulling her black silk robe on and followed him into the walk-in closet. "Landon, how can you be sure of that? I thought when we had Dacia; you would forget this council nonsense and focus on us." She shot back, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Dacia just started high school and putting your life at risk for this godforsaken town is wrong!"
Landon heaved a sigh and looked over his shoulder at his beautiful wife, seeing things much differently than she did. "If you grew up in Mystic Falls, you would understand why I can't just walk away from the council. Our ancestors carved the pathway for us. There's a lot of history and I can't turn my back on that. I'm sorry, but the Fell Family will not submit to a bunch of bloodsucking demons. And when Dacia turns of age, I will be telling her all about the Fell Family legacy and start her training." He rammed his shoulder into a specific part of the wall and smiled when a secret door flew open, dust flying everywhere.
"Her training?" Delilah blinked, watching as her husband disappeared into the secret room for a few minutes and decided to stay out of it. "What are you talking about? We never discussed any of this! I won't have my daughter's head filled with fairytales that scare her! You tried doing this to Dahna and it didn't work because she simply doesn't believe like her mother. Thank god she got out of this town when she had the chance to pursue an education."
Dahna Fell was their oldest daughter that graduated from high school a few months ago and ended up receiving a four year scholarship to the University of Tennessee. She came home once a month to see her family and called a few times a week to check in, but other than that Dahna had her own life. Delilah was so proud of her while Landon wasn't because he didn't want her leaving Mystic Falls. When he told Dahna all about the secrets of the town and council, she laughed in his face and slapped him on the knee before walking away. Landon never fully forgave her and their relationship had been on the rocks ever since, which was two years ago since Dahna recently celebrated her nineteenth birthday.
Rolling his eyes, Landon stepped out of the closet moments later with a few choice weapons specifically needed for his search. Wooden stakes, an axe, a few guns and a mace bottle full of a special herb called vervain. It temporarily weakened and immobilized the creatures he and the council had hunted for generations.
He didn't want to think about Dahna's betrayal to the family and had to keep his head in the game or else he would end up severely hurt or dead. The way she acted when he told her the secrets of their family was a definite blow and Landon wasn't sure how to recover from it. Before marrying Delilah, Landon sat down with her and revealed everything regarding the council because she was part of it through marriage. Even though she didn't approve of having these dangerous weapons in the house, Delilah agreed to marry him regardless and Landon still didn't understand why to this day.
"She needs to be trained if she's going to carry on the Fell Family tradition unlike Dahna. She's next in line after we're deceased, Delilah. Meredith is only part of it because she didn't want to be left out and is very passionate about killing these monsters." Landon explained, starting to strap on some of the wooden stakes to his holster and slipped his two guns on each side into it, making sure they were securely fastened.
"No." Delilah shook her head defiantly, tears burning in her milk chocolate light brown eyes, not believing the words coming out of her husband's mouth. "You're not training her, end of discussion, Landon."
"Yes I am." Landon argued, not looking up at her as he finished fastening the rest of the weapons to his body, including the mace. "You can't break tradition, Delilah. I know you're not a believer, but our daughter will be. You agreed to all of this when you decided to marry me. Your exact words were 'even though you're crazy, I can't help loving you, so yes let's get married'. Do you remember that?"
Delilah pursed her lips tightly together and planted her hands on her hips, shaking her head. "That was different. Had I know you were going to try turning our DAUGHTERS," She emphasized that word since Landon hardly acknowledged Dahna, which broke her heart. "Into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I definitely would've reconsidered your proposal." She retorted and turned on her heel, heading for the door. "Because I'll be damned if you try to fill Dacia's head with fairytale nonsense the way you tried with Dahna, when she needs to be focused on her studies for college and REAL LIFE. You may want to live in a fantasy world and believe that things like vampires exist, but I don't and neither do our daughters. You cannot force that on her, it's not right and I won't allow it."
"Have you lost your mind, woman?!" Landon exclaimed, fighting back the urge to throttle her with his bare hands and clenched his teeth tightly together. "You honestly believe that everything I've told you are just MYTHS and figments of people's imaginations? There's PROOF they exist! Back in 1864-"
Delilah cut him off immediately. "The Founding Family council gathered a bunch of vampires and burned them in the old Fell Church and left journals behind as proof that vampires do live among us. Blah, blah, freaking BLAH!" She lost count how many times Landon told her that story and flat out refused to listen to it again. "Did it ever occur to you that the ancestors left those journals because they had nothing better to do? If you think about it, there really wasn't much back in that time frame and that's how most of the fairytales and fables that we read today were discovered. An example would be vampires, Landon. Vampires are a myth, they don't exist and you need to wake up before you end up losing your family over this!"
Shocked, Landon stormed over to Delilah and grabbed her upper arm, whipping her around to face him just as tears slid down her face. "Delilah…"
"No Landon, I'm not kidding this time." Delilah broke away from him and wiped her tears away, hating that once again they were fighting over the council. "You have a choice to make because I can't do this anymore. I love you with all of my heart and soul, I truly do, but I can't live like this. You're getting up at all hours of the night because of superstitious nonsense your ancestors left behind over a thousand years ago. You need to wake up and realize what's really important in your life, what really matters. Because right now, your family needs you and you're never there. Look at the relationship you have with Dahna, it's in shambles. And why? Because you're angry with her for rejecting the Fell tradition by becoming part of the council. Because she wanted a life for herself and didn't want to be stuck in this godforsaken town for the rest of her life! Not to mention, you've missed countless functions with Dacia because you were too busy out there searching for things that go bump in the night."
"So, what are you saying?"
Did she really have to spell it out for him? Apparently so. Delilah took both of his hands in hers and pressed them against his chest, more tears falling. "I'm saying that if you walk out that door tonight and leave us here alone again, then our marriage is over. I love you, but you obviously love the council more than me or you would've stopped long ago." They'd been married for sixteen solid years and had two beautiful daughters – Dahna and Dacia.
"So you'd really divorce me over this?" Landon stepped away and pulled his hands out of hers, feeling his heart smashing to pieces. "You knew all about this before you agreed to marry me. It's not fair for you to just toss our marriage away just because you don't like something I do! Dahna made her choice and LAUGHED in my face over something that's extremely important to me! Damn it, I love you, Delilah!" He couldn't believe this was happening, that the love of his life threw an ultimatum at him that involved the possible ending of their sixteen year marriage.
"I love you too, but I can't live like this anymore, Landon. Every time you walk out that door to do your hunting, I constantly worry about you. I'm so afraid that you'll walk out that door and not come back one night." They lived around dangerous woods that had deadly animals in them, especially after sundown, which is what Delilah was really concerned about. "You need to make things right with Dahna before it's too late and you lose her forever. I know you love her no matter what she does, even if you don't want to admit it."
Landon cracked a small smile and closed the distance between them, cupping her face tenderly in his hand. "I'll always come back home to you, Delilah. You don't have to worry about that. We're going to grow old together with grey hair and at least a football team worth of grandkids in our old rickety rocking chairs." He was suddenly realizing just how much of a toll this was taking on his wife and felt extremely guilty, pressing his forehead against hers. "Alright, you win."
"What?" Delilah whispered, pulling back enough to stare into his beautiful green eyes, smiling widely. "You mean…"
"After this last hunt, I'll tell the council that I can no longer do them." Landon laughed when his wife suddenly tackled him, both of them toppling to the floor and felt her kisses rain all over his face. "Since it means that much to you, baby doll, I'll quit. And when Dahna comes home on break in a few weeks, I'll square things with her too and get our relationship back on track. I don't want to lose her, I love her just as much as I love you and Dacia."
Delilah beamed with happiness and finally laid a passionate soul-searing kiss on his lips, not believing he was actually doing this for her. He was going to quit the council and focus on them, which is all Delilah ever wanted. She loved her husband, it hadn't changed in the twenty years they knew each other. They were together for four years before Landon finally proposed, though Delilah hadn't minded him taking that long to ask. The fact Landon was also going to rekindle his relationship with Dahna made Delilah's heart soar to the heavens as well.
"I love you so much, Landon Maurice Fell." Delilah stated proudly, squealing when he rolled them over to where he hovered over her and accepted another heart stopping kiss that left her breathless. "Are you sure you have to go? You can always tell them you quit tonight and stay in with me." Her fingernail ran up and down the length of his t-shirt covered chest, an evil smirk on her lips. "I can make it worth your while."
Landon chuckled, rubbing his nose gently against hers. "As tempting as that sounds, I can't let them down, baby doll." He stood up with her from the floor, nuzzling her neck lovingly as they both melted against each other. "Besides, I need to tell them tonight so they can get the paperwork started and whatnot."
Sighing resignedly, Delilah nodded in understanding and slowly turned around until those emerald eyes locked on her again. "Alright, I understand since this is the last time." That was the biggest weight lifted from her shoulders, though Delilah would still be up most of the night worrying over him like always. "Come home safe to me."
"I will." Landon promised, kissing her one last time and walked out the door, heading downstairs toward the garage.
Delilah ran over to the window and looked out as Landon pulled out of the driveway, both of them blowing kisses simultaneously. It was their special thing they always did, never leaving angry at each other. Delilah felt guilty for tossing that ultimatum at her husband, but didn't regret it.
She meant what she said, he had to choose to either be with his family or the council. Landon couldn't have both and he had chosen right, which Delilah was extremely thankful for. Deciding to keep her mind occupied until he returned, Delilah shut the bedroom light off and headed downstairs to her kitchen to bake something.
Before she knew it, four hours passed and there was still no sign of Landon anywhere. She had baked three dozen cookies and ran out of dough, so she moved onto baking brownies and a cake. No matter how much she baked, Delilah couldn't shake this feeling that something wasn't right. It was going on four AM and she knew Dacia would be getting up in two hours for school, hoping Landon was back by then to have breakfast with them.
After the brownies and cake were finished, Delilah started on breakfast that consisted of pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns and fresh fruit cut up in a large bowl. She was a master at cooking and did most of the functions the council had, which happened quite frequently. She set everything on the table on platters with lids over them so it remained fresh before starting to clean up her mess.
At exactly a quarter to six, Delilah heard the phone ring and snapped her head up from the sink, quickly rushing over to answer it. "Hello?" When she didn't get a response, Delilah swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Landon?"
"Delilah…" A low voice sounded in the phone after what seemed like forever, followed by shuffling of some sort.
It was Luke, Landon's younger brother and partner in crime when it came to hunting. "Luke, what's going on?" Delilah demanded, looking up the stairs and heard the bathroom door shut, knowing Dacia was awake. "Where's Landon?"
"Delilah, you need to get to the hospital. Landon is in bad shape and…"
Before Luke could finish, the line went dead and she was left standing there trembling from head to toe. What did he mean Landon was in bad shape?! Delilah dropped the phone and immediately rushed upstairs to the bedroom to change, tossing on a pair of jeans, long sleeved pink sweater and black boots. She flew out of the bedroom just as the bathroom door opened, stopping at the sight of a sleepy Dacia.
"Mom, what's going on? Where are you going?" Dacia asked tiredly, having stayed up late studying for her big Biology test today.
"I have to run an errand for your father." Delilah lied, deciding there was no point in worrying Dacia until she found out what exactly happened to Landon. "Breakfast is on the table and feel free to take some snacks with you to school. They're in the kitchen wrapped in tinfoil. Are you getting a ride from Miranda again?"
Miranda Sommers-Gilbert was one of Delilah's good friends and Elena Gilbert's mother, who was Dacia's best friend. They had practically been raised together and their friendship went back to when they were babies. Miranda had been the first person to welcome Delilah to Mystic Falls and befriended her. Jenna Sommers, Miranda's younger sister, was a good friend of Dahna's even though they had quite an age difference. It didn't matter because Jenna was just as crazy and carefree as a teenager and they molded really well as friends. They were one of the sweetest families on the planet and Delilah was lucky to have her as a friend just as Dacia was lucky to have Elena and Dahna with Jenna.
"Yeah, Elena wants to go over notes again before our test today. Wish me luck." She shot over her shoulder sarcastically, closing her bedroom door and began getting ready for school.
Delilah didn't bother responding and flew down the stairs out to the garage, firing up her yellow sun fire, peeling out of there as fast as she could. She couldn't help letting a few tears fall down her face and tried making phone calls on the way to the hospital, but nobody was answering. This definitely wasn't good as Delilah punched on the gas harder, breaking speed limits throughout town, but she didn't care. Her husband was in bad shape, according to his little brother, so Delilah had no time to waste and could only pray he was alive.
As soon as Delilah rushed through the emergency room doors, Luke approached her with a huge gauze bandage around his forehead and tears in his eyes. "Delilah…"
"Where is he?" Delilah cut him off, walking past him toward the nurse's station and began crying when Luke stopped her. "Where is he, Luke?"
"Delilah, I-I'm so sorry…" Luke tried to keep his tears at bay, but it was impossible in this situation. "W-We were attacked…and…"
"WHERE HE IS?" Delilah screamed, trembling from head to toe and shook her head when Luke lowered his head, giving her the answer without having to say it. "No-NO! No he can't be! WHERE'S LANDON?"
"He's dead, Delilah."