Jewel POV
I woke up in the morning to silence, complete and utter. I changed into some denim shorts that went to mid-thigh and a cream spaghetti strap halter top. I made a quick breakfast before opening the window and blinking into the sunlight. It was a bright day, and warm. Summertime, a slight breeze, hmmm… I decided on a native species of hawk, something fast that wouldn't be thought about by anyone. I made sure no one was around and leapt from the ledge as a bird.
Flying is indescribable. The wind fluttered on my wings and swept across my body, ruffling my feathers and caressing my skin. It was warm today, too, leaving me happy and content.
I landed on the porch again, smiling. I knocked on the door which was immediately yanked open. Damon grinned at me before walking by briskly. I turned and followed. "You okay Damon?" I asked. He nodded.
He gestured to the car, so I climbed into the passenger seat. "So how's our darling Katherine?" he asked nonchalantly.
"She's fine. Hunting," I said with a wrinkle of my nose.
"I take it you don't approve?" he asked with an ironic grin plastered on his face. I shook my head.
"It sucks, but it's not like she's got another option. Wait, I worded that wrong. Stinks. It stinks," I said, realizing that the word 'sucks' sounded really insensitive. He laughed.
"Well, she could always do what I do. Or she could go Stefan's way, but I doubt that'll ever happen," he mused.
"What does Stefan do?" I asked, curious why Katherine would never try it.
"He eats animals," he said with a glint of humor in his eye. I gasped.
"Does he kill them? Like, deer and bunnies? Why?" I cried. He looked at me for a moment, confused and a little astounded.
"Yeah, he kills them. But it's better than killing humans right?" I shook my head.
"Not exactly from my view. Besides, Katherine doesn't kill people much anymore. Just drink and seduce them. What do you do?" I asked, hoping for something new.
"I drink blood bags," he said. I raised an eyebrow.
"From hospitals? That's… really decent of you Damon. I'm impressed," I said. He looked at me like I was nuts.
"You're impressed? By what? How is it more decent than eating animals?" he muttered.
"I can be any animal I want Damon. Would you be happy if someone ate, I dunno, Caroline? I think not. It would appear savage and unjustified, right? That's how it is to me. And it is really decent. You don't kill anyone. You don't even really hurt anyone," I said, finally ending my tirade. He smiled at me.
"Thanks. We're here," he said, parking the car and climbing out. We were parked in front of a huge forested area. I grinned.
"Yay!" I said as I climbed out of the car. He looked at me.
"Yay?"
I nodded. "Yay. It means 'Hooray' or something along those lines," I said as he rolled his eyes.
"I know what it means. I'm questioning its use here. We just arrived at abandoned woods," he said. I nodded emphatically. He shook his head and grinned.
I followed him into the woods. "Should I be a deer or something? I'm kinda new to this whole stakeout thing," I said with a grin.
"Firstly, it's not a stake out it's a patrol. Secondly, you don't have to be a deer," he said with another shake of his head.
"What are we watching for again?" I asked looking at the trees.
"Signs of werewolves," he said sniffing the air.
"Why don't you just ask?"
"Ask who?"
"The animals," I said. Of course it was obvious.
"Um, because most people can't," he reminded me.
"Oh. Right. Hand on a sec," I said. I grabbed the lowest branch of a tree and pulled myself up. I gained my balance and jumped to a higher branch on the tree next to it, quickly doing a back flip so that I landed lightly on a branch with a bird's nest. "Excuse me, ma'am, I don't mean to bother you, but have you seen some wolves around lately? Or humans that changed into wolves, anything like that," I asked a chickadee.
Anyone else would have heard chirping, but I quickly deciphered the tweets into words. "Thank you, ma'am. Good luck with your eggs!" I said, beginning to climb down. Landing on the final branch, Damon offered me his hand, which I gladly accepted before stepping down. He didn't let go, and neither did I.
"So, there were humans that turned into wolves here two nights ago. They went that way, but she thinks they were pretty harmless," I reported.
"That would have been the night of the attack, and werewolves are never harmless," he muttered, almost to himself.
"Why not? Why can't you guys just get along? I mean, Caroline and Tyler seem pretty close, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, but not when Tyler's a wolf. When they're wolves, they want to kill us," he said.
"So befriend them when they're not wolves!" I argued as we walked through the woods. He laughed.
"You have some pretty weird ways of surviving. Do you want me dead?" he asked, looking me in the eye.
"Of course not!"
"Then I can't befriend the werewolves," he said. I pouted a little, but didn't argue.
"Here, I'll be right back," I said, reluctantly letting go of his hand to fly up, as a sparrow, into a tree. I looked around and noticed some smoke from a campfire drifting up through a patch of treeless area. I flew down, landing as a human. "There's a campfire about a mile to the East," I said. He nodded thoughtfully.
"Do you trust me?" he asked. I nodded uncertainly. Suddenly I was in his arms speeding through the woods. We were there in only a few moments, but it still frightened me.
"You jerk! Why didn't you warn me?" I cried, desperately clutching his dark T-shirt.
"Sorry. You ready to come down now?" he grinned.
"Stop enjoying my terror. And give me a sec," I said, still trying to get a hold of my surroundings. I slowly eased my feet onto the ground, a little dizzy.
"Easy there. Jeez, if I'd have known you were going to freak out like this I wouldn't have done it," he mumbled.
"You shouldn't have done it anyway," I hissed unsteadily. He sighed.
"Do you need me to carry you?" he asked. I frowned.
"I can walk," I said uncertainly. I began slowly alongside him until we reached the edge of the campsite.
"Stay here," he muttered. He went to investigate the campsite before coming back. "It's just some humans. I think we should go back. Um, it would be a lot faster if I carried you…" I frowned but nodded.
He gently picked me up and I closed my eyes until we stopped. "I officially hate that," I muttered.
"I thought you could be a cheetah or something," he said as I climbed down and into the car. I shook my head.
"Why would I be a cheetah?" I asked. He shrugged.
"So, I've got goodish news. Stefan says you two can move in if Katherine behaves," he said watching me from the corner of his eye.
I laughed. "Has he met Katherine? I'll ask her if she ever gets home. She'll probably say yes, she hates that hotel so much," I laughed again and he joined in.
He dropped me off at the hotel and I walked up into my room to find Katherine. "So, how was the date with Damon?" she teased. I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop the blush that rose to my cheeks. "Oh my god, you're holding out on me! Spill, spill, spill!" I frowned.
"First you have to promise to do me a favor," I said. She frowned but nodded. "Okay, so it wasn't really a date, but I definitely like him. I think he likes me too. He held my hand," I said and she squealed. "And I've got more good news. We're moving in with the Salvatores," the look on her face was like Christmas had come early "But, and this is where that favor comes in, you have to swear to behave. I mean it, K, promise," I said.
She nodded. "Anything to get out of this wretched inn," she moaned.
I laughed. "I'll call Damon. What's his number?" I smiled as she recited it to me. I held the phone to my ear and my heart sped up just a little as he answered.
"What do you want Katherine?" he asked, apparently not realizing that I occasionally used her phone.
"It's me actually. Katherine has agreed to the designated terms. Tell Stefan that we both say thank you. And thank you for the offer. Really. I mean, I think Katherine might have perished if she wasn't in the lap of luxury within a few days!" I laughed as Katherine spun around and glared. "And of course she sends her love," I continued laughing as her expression got even more pissed.
"I'll bet she really hates you right now," said Damon, amusement dripping from his words.
"Oh yeah. Wanna say hi to Damon Katherine? No? Okay, then. Careful with that knife, darlin', those things are dangerous," I laughed again, Damon joining me.
"So can you move in by tonight? Stefan is going to be busy tomorrow, and I think he'd rather see Katherine come in than just take our word for it that she'll behave," he said.
"Yeah, Katherine's packing now. I've never seen her so productive. Maybe I should starve her of frivolous non-necessities more often," I said. Damon agreed before hanging up to tell Stefan.
As we pulled up to the house, Stefan and Damon came to meet us. "Katherine, what do we say when people let us move in with them? No? Fine. Katherine, what do we say when people let us move in with them and your best friend has your favorite silk blouse inches from the mud puddle over there?" I taunted. She was going to thank them herself if it was the last thing I did.
She glared at me, and then issued a reluctant thank you to both the boys. I laughed at her apparent discomfort until another glare silenced me. I grabbed my suitcase and one of hers before starting up the steps. "Do you need some help with that?" asked Damon.
"I'm good, thanks," I said, but he took Katherine's anyway.
"Anyone who can make Katherine that uncomfortable deserves some help," he said with a grin. "Besides, you don't know which room you'll be staying in," he pointed out. I followed him upstairs. He showed me several rooms as we passed, winding our way further into the labyrinth that was his house. He pointed out his room and Stefan's room and I did my best to remember which was where. "And here we are. This will be Katherine's room, and right next door, is yours," he said, opening the door with a lot of grandeur.
I smiled. "Let me guess; you picked it," he frowned.
"Why? Don't you like it?"
"Yes, but it's very… Damon. I'm more of a small-town girl myself," I said walking in and setting my suitcase down. Damon came in and tried to set the other one down beside it but I shook my head. "No, that's Katherine's,"
"You only have one suitcase?" he asked before being interrupted by Katherine's entrance.
"Believe me, I tried to get her to go shopping, but she's so stubborn!" she moaned.
"That might be because everything you wanted me to buy was no less than five hundred dollars, K," I muttered.
"But it was all so stylish!"
"K, those shoes were, and I kid you not, two thousand dollars. For shoes. Katherine, I don't know about you, but I can spread two thousand dollars pretty damn far on other things, like food, shelter, and charity," I argued.
"They looked super good on you," she said, grabbing her suitcase and dragging it out.
"Well, I was with you up to charity…" Damon began before Elena rushed in.
"Hey! So you're moving in, and so is Katherine?" she said, apparently just catching up on things.
"Yep, but don't worry. She promised to behave," I said but Elena looked at me uncertainly. I grinned. "Didn't you Katherine?" I yelled. She was immediately in front of us, of course.
"As long as I don't have to go back to that awful hotel hell, I'll be happy to be reasonably good. Happy?" she said, turning to me. I grinned.
"Thank you, K," I said. Turning back to Elena as Katherine went to unpack I smiled kindly. "See? All's good. Promise," I said, relieved to see her nod unsurely.
"Did you just call Katherine, Katherine Pierce, 'K'?" asked Stefan coming in with a look of shock on his face.
"Yeah, so?" I asked grabbing my suitcase and tossing it on the bed. He shook his head.
"Nothing. C'mon Elena," he said taking her hand and leading her away.
"Well, well. What do we have here? A very lonely girl in desperate need for a night on the town!" cried Katherine. I sighed.
"For the last time, no. I am not going shopping with you!" I yelled. She pouted.
"What if Damon comes along? That way, you'll know you're crazy to pass up such adorable items!" she said happily. I rolled my eyes.
"I doubt Damon wants to sit and watch me try on outfits that cost more than most humans earn in a month," I muttered, sitting on the plush bed. The room was huge, decorated in cream colors, and really pretty. The walls were cream, which offset the walnut flooring nicely. There was a white shag rug on the floor, beneath a mahogany bed with white sheets and a big fluffy cream duvet.
"Well maybe you should let Damon decide. Damon?" she called before I could do anything.
"Yeah?"
"Jewel and I want you to help us shop," she lied. I glared.
"That's not entirely true, actually. You'd be completely miserable," I informed him. He grinned.
"I'll come. I'm completely bored here anyway," he said glancing at Katherine who was grinning. "Are you seriously always like this around her?" he asked her.
"What can I say? She has that affect on some people," she smirked at him and he rolled his eyes.
"I'll be downstairs," he called, already on his way down the hall.
"C'mon! I can't believe you're going shopping!" cried Katherine, already dragging me down the steps.