Ring… Ring… Ring… The sound of her phone going off was the last thing that Evangeline Valcourt – or as she preferred Lena unless you wanted your ass kicked – wanted to hear right now, but the damn thing was so loud and incessant that it woke up Lena from her drunken slumber. Lena couldn't help but briefly wonder who on earth was calling her at this godforsaken time? It was late and Lena had no real interest in talking to anyone at this particular hour of the night. The only thing that Lena had planned for the foreseeable future was catching up on some much needed sleep. Ignoring the ringing phone, Lena immediately turned over in bed as she had no interest in answering her phone as right now as she was sleeping, which meant she was currently unavailable until she saw fit to get up out of bed, which wouldn't be for the next few hours. As far as Lena recalled it had been pretty late when she had went to bed and to her going to bed meant to things; sex or sleep and she generally didn't like to be disturbed when doing either. Unlike most vampires Lena actually slept in the small hours because she was a rare kind of vampire, one of few that were capable of walking in the daylight without being harmed so she spent her days outside doing whatever she please and her nights sleeping compared to most vampires who spent their time cooped up inside until night fell and they were allowed to go outside. As the phone continued to ring Lena pulled her pillow from under her and placed it on top of her head in an attempt to block out the incessant noise as eventually the phone would have to stop ringing. People who knew Lena, knew that she liked her sleep and being disturbed was not something she liked. Waking Lena up was like prodding a grizzly bear, it was just not something you did unless you had a death wish. So Lena was confused as to who would be stupid enough to be calling her at such an insane hour as she didn't hand out her number to just anyone, very few people had her phone number and those people were the people she trusted and naturally they knew better than to call her at such a bad time. Lena was content in ignoring her phone and letting it ring, however the occupant next to her bed wasn't having any of that and was persistently poking Lena to get her attention.
"Babe… Your phone won't stop ringing."
Kieron or Keith? Lena couldn't honestly remember his name, all she knew about the man laying next to her in bed was that she had met him in some dingy dive bar, he was very nice to look, shamelessly flirted with her and had brought her several drinks tonight but regardless of that Lena was going to hit him if he kept bothering her. Maybe even take a bit out of him to shut him up if he didn't stop.
"I-Ignore it, they'll get the message eventually or they'll die trying…" Lena tiredly murmured and moments later the phone stopped ringing to Lena's relief and she removed the pillow from over her head and placed it back in it's rightful place. However much to her displeasure the phone started ringing again and she couldn't help but snarl in annoyance as she just wanted to be left alone and allowed to sleep given how old she was. The old needed their sleep and despite her youthful appearance Lena was very old, she was over five hundred years old. But that didn't stop whoever was calling her at this moment, clearly whoever was calling her had a very severe death wish if they insisted on calling at this godforsaken hour.
"Phone's ringing…"
Realizing whoever was calling her wouldn't stop until they got their wish and spoke to her, Lena ever so reluctantly turned over in bed and leaned over Warren or William, whatever his name was and without opening her eyes she felt for her phone on the bedside table. Once she had found it, Lena placed it against her ear.
"What do you want?" Lena snarled down the small compact piece of technology that was currently in her hand after accepting the call, she was not happy about being forced to get up and answer the phone and she was going to give them a piece of her mind over it. There was a familiar, arrogant and not to mention very cocky laugh at the end of the phone and Lena immediately groaned. She should have known that it was going to be him as he was the only one stupid enough to call her whilst she was sleeping and know that he would probably get away with it with his life most likely still intact. Lena was going to ring his neck the next time she saw him because he of all people knew how much she appreciated her sleep given how much time they had spent with each other over the last century. Some days Lena Valcourt loved Damon Salvatore, some days she hated and there were times where she wished that she had never met him and right now was one of those moments.
"Leni, is that any way to greet your best friend?"
Leni. Only two people in the entire world were allowed to call her than and one of them just happened to be her evil bastard of a best friend. Lena had never hated Damon Salvatore until now and was very much regretting being his friend as it seemed to bring her more trouble than good being associated with Damon. There had better be a good reason for him calling her in the middle of the night or rather the early hours of the morning because if Damon had just called because he was drunk and wanted to have a little chat that Lena was definitely going to snap his neck for a couple of hours next time she their paths crossed.
"Damon Salvatore you aren't my best friend, you're just a pain in the ass which I tolerate because you have a nice face to look at and you're awfully entertaining at times despite your hideous personality so you had better have a good reason for calling me at…" Lena began with a tired yawn as she looked over at her alarm clock and just seeing the time made her groan in dismay. "3:07 in the morning, Jesus Damon… Could you have not waited like three or four more hours to call? I would have been more than happy to have a pointless conversation with you then…"
"I need your help."
Lena scoffed, that was a good one. The charming and devilishly handsome Damon Salvatore needed her help? Did he think that she was stupid? Probably not as he knew to call her rather than bang on her front door at 3am. There was no way Damon needed her help, he just wanted something from her although she had no idea what it be except maybe scotch. Or it could be something more sinister, Damon could have pissed someone off and he needed her help to lay low for a while. Either one of them could be the case given Lena's past with Damon. But generally Damon didn't ask for help, it wasn't his style. "So why does that involve you waking me up at this godforsaken hour? You could have called me at more reasonable hour, you of all people know that I like my sleep."
"Fine you got me, I'm not calling about me. It's Stefan." Damon replied and Lena got a bad feeling in the pit her stomach as Damon mentioned his younger brother Stefan, as the Salvatore brothers didn't exactly get alone with each other. From what Lena knew, they hadn't seen each other in fifteen years and there was a good reason for that as half the time they fought like cats and dogs, coming close to killing each other on several occasions. Their estrangement went back to when the two of them had become vampires and over the years it hadn't eased up in the slightest. It was all over some stupid girl as these things tended to be. Lena had gone out of her way to avoid getting pulled into the vortex that was the Salvatore family drama. However, more often than not despite her best efforts Lena ended up getting sucked in and then spat out.
"Stefan? What's happened? Is he okay?" Lena demanded as she sat up in bed, no longer feeling drunk or tired at the mention of Damon's brother who was a good friend of hers, they had met through Damon and she was rather fond of the younger Salvatore as he was a sweetheart. A far cry from his devilish older brother, so If Stefan was in trouble then Lena wanted to know about it.
"You know same old stuff, he's in love and back in Mystic Falls and he's off the wagon again." Damon said in a rather cheerful yet irritated manner. Stefan was perhaps the kindest vampire Lena had ever met and it was hard to believe that he and Damon were related but his personality did not go well with the fact that he was a ripper and a pretty nasty work from what Lena had seen. Stefan had an infamous reputation as a ripper but what stopped him from being a cold hearted and ruthless ripper all the time was the guilt he carried with him over his actions. Stefan was the most compassionate person Lena knew, she wouldn't have believed that the sweet Stefan she knew was a ripper if she hadn't seen it for himself. Stefan's compassion and sense of goodness was his saving grace and downfall. It was what saved Stefan every time he started drinking human blood again. He struggled a lot with containing his thirst for human blood so much that Stefan tended to stick to animal blood, until he slipped and fell off the wagon. It had been a while since Stefan had fallen off the wagon but Lena didn't understand why Damon was calling her of all people about this.
"Okay, I now understand the 3am phone call… But why are you calling me? Lexi is the only who usually takes care of Stefan when he gets like this although why Lexi should, is beyond me given that Stefan is your baby brother." Lena questioned before the realization sunk in, Lexi was an acquaintance of hers through Stefan and Lexi hated Damon with a burning passion. It probably explained why Damon was calling her about it. "So you need me to call Lexi? That's why you've called, of course…"
"Lexi's dead. I killed her on Stefan's birthday, did I forget to tell you that that last time I called?" Damon stated in such a casual manner and Lena was pretty sure she could hear some amusement in his voice, like he was actually proud of himself. Lena would have hung up there and then if it wasn't for the fact that Stefan was in trouble. Sometimes Lena couldn't believe the stuff that Damon did and the fact that he had no sense of remorse about it all. Maybe he had flipped the switch again, turned off emotions for a while whilst he went on a bender but he probably wouldn't have called Lena if that was the case. It was never easy with Damon, always so damn complicated and times like these made Lena wonder why the two of them were friends at all.
"I'm pretty sure I would have remembered you telling me something of that magnitude and I'm surprised that your still alive after doing something that heinous to your brother. I can't believe that Stefan let you live after that because I know I wouldn't have but then again I don't have to deal with you as my brother as my one has been dead for five hundred years now… But back to my original point, what do you want from me? If you don't need me to call your brother's dead best friend who is dead dead this time thanks to you, then what's with the 3am call…"
"I need you to come to Mystic Falls and help me take care of Stefan–" Damon began and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Lena was so tempted to put the phone down if she wasn't certain that Damon would just keep calling her out.
"Hell no!" Lena immediately blurted out, she wasn't sure whether or not she should be surprised that Damon had the nerve to ask her to come to his hometown. Probably not as Damon was one of the most ballsy people that Lena knew, with his view on life being that the only bad ideas in life are the ones that are never tried. That had gotten the two of them into trouble more times then Lena wanted to remember. It was part of the reason why Lena loved Damon but after all time he should have known better, Damon should have known even before asking that she would say no to this. "You know I love Stefan to pieces and I would do anything for him, I really would after the things he has done for me over the years but I can't do this. This is the one thing I cannot do Damon, I don't do small towns as they are too quiet not to mention there's nothing to do in them especially Mystic Falls. Vampires and that town of yours don't go well, I don't do well in them or do you not remember what happened last time? We both agreed that we would never go back there after what happened back in 94!"
"Leni, Leni, Leni… You're going to want to come back to Mystic Falls, believe me. Not only will you be helping Stefan get back on the wagon but you'll get to see me again and it's been a while since we last saw each other and don't tell me you haven't missed me." Damon said, clearly attempting to turn on the charm in an attempt to convince the very stubborn French woman to do something, which she was adamant about not doing.
"Now I know I'm right in turning you down, I always knew that there was something seriously wrong with you Damon but I never knew you had actually lost your damn mind!" Lena quipped in amusement; she was no longer tired and she had to admit that she was rather enjoying herself. It strange that one phone call from Damon could make Lena feel more alive than she had in weeks. It reminded Lena that her and Damon should really talk more often, the two of them used to have such fun in the good old days. Not all of it was so bad, most of it really good although there had been some very close calls over the years, mostly due to Damon having this bothersome knack of pissing off most people he came across.
"Leni, would I ever steer you wrong?" Damon questioned and Lena couldn't help but snicker down the phone. That was another good question, in all her five hundred and thirty nine years as a vampire Lena had never gotten in as much trouble until she had met Damon. Well there had been someone else before Damon but he didn't get Lena into trouble, he was just trouble himself. Lena wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not about the whole trouble thing with Damon. It did however make eternal damnation quite interesting.
"Certainly or does Paris 1975 ring a bell or Miami in 2001 sound familiar in the slightest? Those are just the ones I can recall off the top of my head from our most recent escapades. If I'm being honest so early in the morning, then I would have to say to you Damon, I couldn't trust you as far as I could throw you." Lena admitted with a small giggle.
"C'mon Leni it's not like you've got anything better to do…"
Lena looked over to where Kieron or Keith was sleeping, for once Damon did have a point. She really didn't have anything better to do at the moment other than killing the human which she no longer did and now she was intrigued about why Damon said she'd want to come back to Mystic Falls there had to be a reason behind that comment, so she'd entertain him and come to Mystic Falls until she got bored and decided to move on.
"Fine… I'm leaving now."
"You bringing the champagne?"
"Why ask stupid questions? I'm French so of course I'm bringing champagne! I raised on the finest things on life and I have not stopped in my ways since becoming a vampire as you very well know Mr. Salvatore." Lena said insulted that Damon would ever think such a matter although she did stop in her step as she climbed out of bed. "You do have scotch, right?"
"Leni of course I have scotch, this is me we're talking about." Damon retorted in a shocked manner and Lena had to admit that he had a point. The only thing Damon could ever be relied on for was his willingness to kill and always having scotch.
"À bientôt!" Lena quipped before ending the call and chucking her phone back on the bed before looking around the room. First thing first; find the champagne, then pack all whilst deciding whether or not to use the human as a quick snack before she left. Sounded easy enough but then again as Lena had to remind herself, she was going back to Mystic Falls and that apparent small and mundane quiet little town in Virginia wasn't always quite what it seemed. Lena was going to have to pack for every possible scenario given that she was dealing with a small town with quite the bloody history not to mention the Salvatore brothers.