"Where's Elena?!" Damon yelled as soon as he broke through the door of the mystic grill. Before anyone had a chance to answer, I'd tacked him from behind and we both toppled over a table. Plates and glass shattered as we fell to the ground. Startled gasps filled the air but we didn't even stop to look at who was surrounding us.
Damon flipped me over and straddled me as he held me down by the throat. "You'll regret that!" Damon warned.
Anger filled me as I let out an animalistic growl, it was almost as if Dee was taking over as I switched our position. "No, I won't." I smirked unsure if we were talking about tacking him or Stefan.
Damon's eyes filled with rage as he leant upwards to get closer to my ear. "Now seems like the perfect time to tell you I shared blood with Elena in the bathroom of this very establishment." He whispered, punctuating each word, so not even another vampire would hear.
Damon tensed even more as I tightened my hand around his neck, cutting off any further words and drawing back my fist I punched him straight in the face drawing blood. Just as I was about to do it again someone grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me up before throwing me face first against a pillar.
Pain radiated through my body as blood tricked down my forehead. I pushed the dizzying thoughts from my head as I slowly pulled myself to my feet. Stefan and demon were a blur as they moved around the room, throwing punches left, right and centre.
Rushing forward once again, I sucker punched Damon before grabbing Stefan by the scruff of his collar and delivering a rib-breaking kick that sent him hurdling backwards and smashing into a table. While Damon was disorientated I grasped him by the back of the neck before bringing his head down hard on my raised knee.
I was hit from behind which sent me stumbling forward and tripping over Damon. Whirling around I glowered up at Stefan who was holding the broken remains of a chair. Damon and I jumped to our feet but before anyone of us had time to attack we were each grabbed from behind. Damon by Tyler, now decked out in his suit. Stefan by Caroline and me by Klaus. "Calm down, love." He said softly in my ear.
Damon, Stefan and I all seemed to react at the same time; throwing our heads back we connected with our prevalent before elbowing them in the ribs and twisting out of there holds. "Don't touch me!" I hissed in outrage before pushing him away from me to face back to Stefan and Damon.
We circled each other predatory style, then almost simultaneously we glanced down to see one of the broken chairs had left ready-made stakes in the middle of us.
We all dived and wrestled for the stakes before jumping back to our feet, standing in defensive poses ready to strike.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Caroline screeched. When we stayed silent still watching each other, I thought Caroline was going to burst a blood vessel. "One of you better explain right now!"
The anger was dissipating but I was still tense as Stefan and I looked at Damon watching for him to spill. "…Nothing." He bit out after an edgy moment.
Stefan visibly relaxed but I was the first to drop the stake, which they quickly followed suit in. "Are you kidding me?!" Caroline yelled. "That was not nothing!"
"Not to mention you pretty much just exposed yourself to all these very scared people." Klaus added in, watching me.
That's when I noticed about 15 people ranging in age huddled up close to wall, seemingly terrified. "Then kill them." I shrugged.
"Dani." Tyler stated in a warning.
Blinking rapidly, I tried to calm myself down. Dee was standing in the corner looking smug so I quickly bit down on my lip to stop from talking. "Compel them." I backtracked.
"On it." Tyler nodded then glanced at Klaus. "You might as well make yourself useful."
"Fine." Caroline snapped. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine but you're going to go straight to the boarding house, get cleaned up and go straight to the church." That's when I realised we each had varying amounts of blood splattering our face and clothes. "And if anyone of you comes to that church with even a hair out of place you'll have me to deal with, got that?
"Yes." Stefan answered while Damon and I nodded.
Pushing past them both, I stormed out of the grill but sadly they followed and dropped in to step beside me.
"Careful." Dee warned gesturing ahead to a guy making his way over to us. He had short dark brown hair sticking up all over the place like he'd run his hand through it all day. He stood at just over 6 feet tall and had chestnut coloured eyes. The almost black leather jacket paired with his plain white tee, dark wash jeans and biker boots made him look predatory and if the look in his eyes was any indication he was certainly dangerous.
"Hey." He spoke as he blocked our path. "You know Halloweens a few weeks away right?" He joked giving us the once over from the rips in our clothes to the dried blood.
"Oh, we're well aware." Damon smirked.
We tried to move around him but he just blocked us again. "There's actually a reason why I stopped you." He admitted.
"Then spit it out." I snapped, the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
"I'm looking for a Danielle Gilbert, you don't happen to know her do you?"
Alarm bells were blaring, so quickly before Stefan or Damon could answer I said. "Never heard of her."
The weird glint in his eye told me he thought otherwise but he stayed calm as he looked between Stefan and Damon. "What about you two?"
"Last I heard, she left town." Stefan supplied thinking on his feet.
"Yeah, she's been gone for a good few weeks now. Heading south I think." Damon added.
"Really?" He smirked. "That's funny."
"Why?" I questioned, curiosity getting the better of me.
"Because she's expecting me." He answered.
"I highly doubt that considering she's not here to greet you." I snarked.
He merely chuckled in response. "Well you all have a good day."
"You never told us your name." Damon stated.
"You don't need to know it." The stranger smirked before seemingly disappearing off down the side walk.
"Do you want to explain to us what the hell that was about?" Damon inquired, anger still evident in his voice.
"Who was that and why is he looking for you?" Stefan asked.
"With both your history's can you answer me one question?" Without waiting for them to answer I continued. "Is it ever good when someone you don't know comes looking for you?" When they both shook their heads I nodded. "Exactly."
Stefan, Damon and I hadn't said a word to each other yet. We just made our way back to the boarding house in silence only exchanging narrowed looks.
Changing out of my dirty clothes, I put on a simple but elegant black dress and paired it with 6 inch black heels. Walking down the stairs I grabbed a matching black clutch off the side and snatched up my car keys. "Are you two coming?" I questioned, not bothering to raise my voice knowing they could hear me.
"Not with you I'm not." Damon stated as he appeared dressed impeccably in a black suit. "I'll let you two lovers be alone." He spat out.
"We're not lovers." Stefan defended, dressed must the same as Damon.
"No we are not." I agreed. "And neither are we, so we're all going to play nice, get in the car and I'm going to drive us to the church."
Disappearing from the house I ran to the garage and drove my car, a four seater Aventador GT in white, out on to the gravel and waited for them to get in the car. "I'm driving myself." Damon specified.
"I'd rather walk." Stefan said.
"Okay, so this is how this is going to go." I explained. "Caroline made the unfortunate threat that we'll be dealing with her if something should happen to one of us. So if you don't get in the car I can't promise that I won't run you over" I said looking at Stefan and then at Damon "and run you off the road. Then one of you two can explain to Elena, Bonnie, Tyler and Sheriff Forbes why Caroline's dead. Because make no mistake if she yells at me I will more than likely kill her." Then smiling sweetly I asked. "So what's it going to be?"
Shoulder past Damon Stefan slid into the back seat while Damon, glaring all the while, clambered into the front seat. "Great, we're playing happy families in a car you stole." Stefan sniped.
"I didn't steal it." I argued.
"Compelled then." He corrected.
"I bought it actually." I smirked. "With real money and everything."
Damon snorted. "Oh yeah, with what money?"
"When I was with Kol painting everything red, I compelled this rich guy to write me into his will and then I told him to commit suicide." Pulling a face I continued. "I'll admit it's not my most defining moment, but I got a good few million out of it."
"Ugh, why can't you be that Dani again?" Dee complained, sitting beside Stefan but draping herself over the car Damon was sat on. "That Dani was fun."
"That Dani was evil." I replied then froze.
But luckily Damon laughed while Stefan grimaced. "You're telling me."
"Oooh, that was close." Dee chuckled. "How long before you completely screw up and they really think you've lost it."
I tensed but otherwise ignored it. "Just when I think I know you, you start talking." Damon said.
"You'll probably never know the real me, Damon." I admitted. "I don't even know me." I whispered more quietly.
Damon chose to ignore that part though. "Don't I know it?" He snarled. "Certainly never thought you'd seduce my brother after only just breaking off our engagement."
"I didn't seduce him." I reiterated.
"Well, I certainly didn't seduce you!" Stefan shouted.
"Oh please." I spat, pulling in to the church. "The only person seducing someone in this scenario is Damon seducing Elena."
"What?!" Stefan growled, reaching forward and grabbing Damon's hair before slamming his head on to the dash board.
"Elena's been struggling with the blood so Damon here thought he'd feed her his own." I explained.
Damon fought back against Stefan and added in with a bitter smirk. "'Whatever you need help with, Damon will always help' your words Dani."
"I didn't mean that!" I yelled.
Before anyone of us could start up the arguing again, Stefan lent forward grabbed a hold of the wheel and twisted hard. The car swerved to the side and we all flew forward as the car crashed into the wall.
"That could've ended better. Although it was pretty funny." Dee laughed.
Stepping out of the car I moved slowly around to the front to access the damage. The anger was already bubbling below the surface but as soon as I saw the dents and scratches on the paintwork it boiled over. "You!" I hissed out, clenching my fists as I whirled around to face Stefan.
"Ooops." He responded, not in the least bit sorry.
My eyes turned amber as my fangs pierced through my gums. I was milliseconds away from pouncing when a firm hand clamped down on my shoulder. "Don't." Tyler said softly in to my ear. "Don't let her win."
"All of you get inside the church now!" Caroline ordered. "And if you ruin this, I won't be the only one you'll have to deal with."
Without another word Stefan stormed off with Caroline not too far behind. "You okay?" Tyler asked spinning me around to face me.
"No." I answered, calming down considerably. "Would you please park my car? If I get back behind the wheel I'm going to start driving and I'm not gonna want to stop."
"Done." He smiled. "You've got about half an hour before the service starts."
"Thank you, and try not to destroy it anymore."
Damon was stood a few feet away watching me intently but before I could snap at him my phone rang. I winced at the contact when I pulled it from my clutch. Hurt, anger and guilt seeped into my tone as I answered. "Elena." I greeted.
"Dani!" Elena cried into the phone. "I need your help."
"Where are you? What happened?" I questioned panicked.
"In the church bathroom. Please hurry the blood everywhere. It's all over me." She sobbed down the line.
"Who did you kill Elena?" I inquired dread filling every pore.
"No one. It's me, I'm throwing up blood." She wept.
"Lock the door and stay there, I'll be there in a minute." I told her before hanging up.
"She rejected the animal blood." Damon explained, moving to stand in front of me. "That's why I fed her my blood because she didn't want to drink from the vein."
"You think she rejected your blood as well?"
"Maybe." He shrugged.
I nodded. "Go to the house and pick up a change of clothes for her, bring a blood bag as well. Please hurry Damon." Any issues forgotten I rushed off in to the church and Damon ran off in the opposite direction.
On my way inside I ran into Jeremy. "Hey Jer." I greeted.
"Hey Dani, Elena." He smiled as I froze. "Did you change your clothes?" I stared open mouthed at Dee.
She tilted her head to the side and observed him in curious fascination before answering with a simple "No."
"That's strange, I swear you were wearing something different earlier. Anyway I need to go meet Matt so I'll see you'd later okay."
"He can see you!" I shouted, probably a bit too loud from the looks I received.
Dee shrugged as we moved through the church towards the toilets. "Makes sense. After all, he can see dead people and I'm dead. I'll have to start hiding when he's around." She mused. "Although, it does mean I have someone else to mess with now."
"Leave Jeremy alone!" I hissed just as we came to the toilet. I turned the knob to the bathroom just to find it locked. "It's occupied." Elena croaked out, barely audible.
"It's me, Elena." I heard the lock click so I quickly opened the door and entered before shutting and locking the door behind me. The sight before me would make even the strongest of stomachs queasy. It was like a massacre had taken place. Blood coated nearly every surface – the walls, the mirror, the floor, the toilet and even Elena was drenched in blood.
"I can't keep it down." Elena cried, tears running free. "Not animal, not vampire, nothing! I'm dying aren't i?"
"No." I replied sternly. "You're not dying. You're going to be fine."
"Do you promise?" She whispered.
"Yes. Now the first thing we need to do is clean this up." Elena and I got to work attempting to clean the "crime scene" but halfway through it someone tried to come in.
"Damon's here." Elena smiled but as she attempted to move towards the door I put my arm out to block her.
"That's not Damon."
"How do you know?" She inquired curiously.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. How did I know? I couldn't explain it. I just knew. "I just do." I answered. "He's just walking into the church." Another thing I knew but couldn't explain. It's almost as if I could sense him. "Who is it?" I called out loudly.
"It's Connor." Dee explained, looking around undisguised glee. "You should just leave her to die." She grinned. "It's inevitable and at least this way there's no one standing in the way of Damon and Stefan belonging to us."
"Danielle is that you?" Connor questioned.
"Hurry up and clean this. I'll distract him." I said quietly to Elena and opening the door a tiny bit and sliding out. Connor tried to peer around me but the door quickly shut and locked behind me. "Hey." I greeted. "Sorry about that. My sister and I had an argument and I kinda threw a drink all over her."
"In the bathroom." He asked suspiciously.
"No, upstairs but I felt bad afterwards so decided to help her clean up." I smiled. "She shouldn't be long, we were just waiting for Damon to bring a change of clothes over."
"You again." Damon stated as he rounded the corner and came into view. "Stalking small town funerals?"
"Connor this is Damon, Damon Connor." I introduced.
"Don't care." Damon responded just as Elena opened the bathroom door.
"Thank God." She breathed out as she took the clothes bag from Damon, being careful to keep her bloody dress out of view. "Sorry." She apologised to Connor with a weak smile. "I spilt coffee all over my dress." Then she disappeared back into the bathroom.
Connor locked eyes with me then, distrust clearly shown in them. "Thought you said you threw it at her."
"Meet the polite twin." I smirked.
He nodded his head once and moved forward until he was in front of Damon and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."
I shook my head slightly behind Connor but thankfully Damon understood. He glanced at Connors outstretched hand and smiled. "Likewise." He replied, but the tone he used clearly implied it wasn't. "Sorry, I'm a germaphobe. I don't shake hands."
Connor didn't seem to believe him. He leant back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, looking intimidating. "So what brings you to Mystic Falls?" Damon inquired. "Bobble salesman?"
Connor laughed. "No, I'm in environmental clean-up." I chuckled at that, causing Damon to glance up at me in confusion.
"That's a very good profession." I smirked. "Shame it doesn't pay much though."
Connor laughed again and smiled at me. "Well, I heard you had a pollution problem; I wanted to do anything I could to help. You see, jobs aren't always about the money, some about conscience. Mine is clean, can you say the same?"
"Not even slightly." I stated just as the bathroom door opened again and Elena stepped out in a black dress with a bag slung over her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry that took so long." Elena apologised, sliding closer to Damon than I liked, and Dee too if the look on her face was anything to go by."
"No problem." He reassured.
"Well, enjoy your stay." Damon said. "We love visitors and the scenery is to die for." Then he gasped dramatically and covered him mouth. "Funeral pun. Too soon. Sorry. Let's go Dani."
Mine. That was the word that sprang into my brain as Elena grabbed Damon's hand and started to lead him back up the stairs, but I quickly shook it from my head. "Danielle, I really think we should get together soon. To talk."
"About our pollution problem?" I smirked and he nodded. "Why don't I find you after the memorial? We can talk then."
"That'd be great."
"See you then." I said before quickly exiting the church. Elena passed me and smiled weakly as she headed back into the church. My eyes immediately went past her and locked onto Stefan and Damon who were stood talking. Neither of them looked happy.
"Are we fighting again?" I asked as I joined them. "
"No." Stefan growled out.
"I honestly don't mind." I smiled sweetly. "Because I really want to break your face for scratching my car." Then I looked at Damon. "And I just want you to hurt."
"Then we're on the same page." Damon grit out.
"We're not doing this now. The ceremony's about to start." Stefan snarled before whirling around and heading towards the church.
Damon and I followed closely behind. As we walked in Damon dipped his hand in the holy water and blessed himself. "I don't know why that always makes me smile." He laughed with a giant grin on his face.
"You're an idiot." I stated as we found the bench Stefan was sat on. Damon pushed in next to him, much to Stefan's chagrin, and I slid in on the end.
"Did you have to sit here?" Stefan asked.
"Yes." I responded.
"We need the family bonding time." Damon smirked.
Before Stefan could retort Carol Lockwood took to the podium and everyone quieted down. "Before we begin the mass I'd like to open the floor for anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the town council." That's a big fat no. "I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April?" She waited a moment but April didn't stand up. "April?" She tried again. "Are you still here honey?"
"You can't really blame her for bowing out, can you?" I whispered.
"It must be hard on her." Stefan agreed.
"I know. Her dad was a dick." I said quietly.
After a few minutes Carol just chose to continue on. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about pastor young?" Everyone took a moment to look around at one another before Elena timidly stood up. "Come on up Elena." Carol smiled reassuringly.
"Oh, this is not going to end well." Damon grimaced.
"Just get ready to block the doors." I said.
"Why?" Stefan inquired.
"Because if she's anything like one of us, she's going to go crazy and try to kill everyone in here." I explained causing both of them to tense and straighten in their seats, ready to spring in to action if needed.
"She really doesn't look good." Damon commented. Her face was pale and her shoulders were slumped. She was suffering. That's the only way to describe it.
"Maybe you should have told me she was rejecting all food sources." Stefan retorted.
"Jealously beneath you, brother."
"Oh, bite me." Stefan snapped.
Elena took the stand and wrung her hands uneasily in front of her. "When I spoke to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak." She let out a small smile. "Guess I'm kind of nervous too… The worst day of loving someone is the day you lose them…"
That's when the smell hit. The exquisite, delicious, mouth-watering taste of blood. The think pungent filled the air as Elena seems to falter slightly. She lost all bearings as her hands gripped the podium turning them white.
"Blood." We heard Tyler whisper.
"Nobody move." Damon ordered. "Don't turn around, it's a trap."
Elena's breathing picked up as she looked up towards the stands. "I erm. I erm…" Sweat started to trickle down her forehead and I knew within seconds she was going to snap.
"Let her." Dee commanded, her eyes like steel as she leaned forward, sat beside Stefan. "Let the games begin."
I listened for a millisecond before jumping out of my seat and heading towards the Alter, Stefan following behind me. I grabbed her arm gently and passed her over to Stefan who led her back to her seat with Matt and Jeremy. "Sorry." I apologise. "Elena's always felt emotions a lot harder than the rest of us. When someone she knows dies, it always hits her as if she was really close to them. And although my sisters the one who's better with words, I would like to say a few things about Pastor Young."
I tapped my nails against the wood on the podium as I glanced around trying to find something to say about him.
"Pastor Young." I stated as I stared out at all the people sitting in front of me as I stood tall up on the podium. "What can I say about pastor Young?... Well, he's dead, otherwise he's going to get a nasty shock when he wakes up. But that is more down to the fact that his legs would be 100 feet away." I froze as there were startled gasps around the room. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, that sounded an awful lot better in my head."
"Oh now that is funny!" Dee laughed from beside me. I bit my lip to keep from retorting. "Let's see how much worse this can get. With a little persuasion from me of course".
"Shut up!" I hissed but so quiet no human would have been able to hear, I just hoped no one else was listening in.
I slowly took in a deep breath before I released it and smiled out at the congregation once again. "Pastor Young." I started again. "Pastor Young was a very… nice man." Lie.
"He was always kind to me." Lie. "Especially when my parents died." Surprisingly not a lie. "I remember he always used to do awesome barbeques…" I froze again and bit my lips to stop the small laugh that wanted to bubble out. "No. Pun. Intended." I said slowly out in to the shocked, speechless faces.
"Ermm… he was always…"
"On fire. Explosive. Hazardous. He had a short fuse. Was just like a bomb. In fact grenade, grenade sounds better." Dee chuckled.
While trying to shake Dee from my thoughts I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Well done."
This time I couldn't stop it and the laughter tumbled out even as the low murmurings and exclamations hit my ears. As I quickly as I could manage I covered my mouth with my hand and turned to where Dee was doubled over laughing. "I hate you." I whispered harshly. "Oh how I hate you."
"I sincerely apologise." I said apologetically to the pews as I watched Stefan and Damon exchange a few looks before turning back to me. "Again, no pun was intended."
The smell of blood was still thick in the air and just one look at Elena could tell that she finding it difficult to cope. I glanced up the upper story of the church where Connor was perched with his rifle perched on the wall in front of him. Trained firmly on me.
"Third time lucky eh?" Dee smirked. "Let's see what'll it'll take for Connor to shoot huh? At least Elena seems to be enjoying herself." I glanced over at Elena to see her face buried in Matt's neck. Didn't take a genius to figure out what she was doing. "You have to admit it'd kind of funny. Between you and Elena you've each had you're fair share of guys today."
Rage filled me as I gritted my teeth and my eyes narrowed. I could barely see over the black cloud that seemed to be settling over me, I clenched my fists tightly and pressed my lips in to a tight line at the spasm-ing pains that were shooting through my body.
"Pastor Young tried to kill you." Dee growled. "And you're standing up here as if you were friends. Why don't you just do what we all know you want to and tell the truth? Ruin this memorial and make the pain stop. Not only was he going to kill you but he was going to kill everyone you've ever cared about."
"You know it's funny." I bit out and immediately the pain stopped and I could relax for a few seconds. "I'm standing up here as if I actually care about him; when in truth I couldn't give a flying shit." I smirked at the sharp inhales and tears that this was met with. "When in truth Pastor Young was a dick. And we all know this is true. I mean, the man sent his daughter away to boarding school because he couldn't be arsed with her, you can't really blame her for bailing. She probably only came to make sure he was really dead. I mean, a man of God that is so devoted to loving people but that couldn't even care about his own daughter. Now, what sort of man does that make him?" I questioned before smiling a thousand kilowatt grin. "To conclude, he was… explosive." This time it wasn't whispering it was talking as pretty much everyone in church took turns to slate me. "And that time, the pun was completely intended." Sweet satisfaction filled me and for the first time since I died, I actually felt good.
Just as Stefan and Damon stood up to come and drag me from the stage a pair of arms wrapped around me and I was engulfed my Tyler's musky scent. "Never a dull day, Dani." He said softly into my ear. "But please calm down before you wolf out and out us all."
"You do realise Connors got a gun trained on me right? Now it's probably on you. Do you have a death wish?"
"Someone had to stop you from creating an angry mob." He chuckled. "I'll distract him while you deal with him."
"Okay." I smiled as I stepped back from Tyler. Stefan and Damon watched my every move as I stepped off the Alter and moved to the back of the church.
"I'd like to say some words about Pastor Young." Tyler greeted. "Although, how I'll top Dani's I don't really know." He joked pulling a few surprised chuckles from the audience. I jumped the steps two at a time before coming to the top where April was tied up, slouched against the wall bleeding all over the place while Connor was kneeling down with his gun resting on the banister.
"What are you doing?" I questioned startling him. He stood up and whirled around to face me.
He glanced at April before locking eyes with me. "Quite a show you put on down there."
"What are you doing?" I repeated.
"Back in first grade" Tyler spoke as his voice seemed to echo around the church "I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports."
"It was necessary." He stated at he gestured to April. "I needed to draw out the vampires. And it worked." I got ready to lunge but he only smiled and gestured down to Tyler. "He's one of them."
"I didn't care about much that didn't affect me." Tyler continued.
"So what? You're going to shoot him in a crowd full of people?" I asked.
"They'll get over it." He said simply.
"But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team" Tyler said.
"You can't do that." I stated.
"A community," Tyler added. "Of giving yourself up"
"You can't stop me." Connor said before turning around and pulling the trigger. The sound was deafening as people started screaming.
I rushed forward and grabbed Connor. "But I can kill you!" I snarled, my eyes amber and fangs showing. "You missed the most dangerous one of us all. Me." I smirked as I wrapped my hands around his throat and tightened until he was gasping and flailing around for air. "You really shouldn't have shot Tyler." I growled. "He's one of the ones left that I actually like."
"Then join him and die!" He hissed just as the gun went off. I loosened my grip and he dropped to his feet as the stake like bullet pierced through my chest narrowly missing my heart. The pain was sharp but before I could recover and react he'd pushed me backwards and sent me flailing through the air before landing hard on my back.
"DANI!" Damon yelled out and then he was kneeling beside me.
Then Stefan was on my other side. "Are you okay?"
I pushed them both aside as I sat up. "I'm fine." I grit out. "But he's dead."
"Good." Damon said before standing and running outside.
"Damon don't!" Stefan shouted out after him but he was already gone. I pulled out the bullet before standing up on my feet. "Dani, don't go after him. Just wait awhile, okay?"
Glancing behind me at Tyler, he was sitting up so realising he was fine I focused on Stefan. "Sorry Stef." I said but then I was running after Damon.
When I came around to the side of the building Damon was lying on his back with Connor straddling him with a stake raised above his head. Just as he brought it down I vamp sped over to him gripped him by his shoulders and threw him against his SUV. I grabbed Damon's hand and yanked him to his feet just as Stefan ran over to us.
We turned as a unit to face Connor but he was already in the driver's seat with the engine running. "We can't." Stefan warned as he gestured to the people crowded around outside the church. Damn witnesses.
I wanted so badly to rip him apart but Stefan placed a restraining hand on my shoulder. "The way you acted outside the church, I thought you hated each other." Connor said.
"We're allowed to hate each other, doesn't mean we still don't have each other's back." I snapped.
"We're like the three musketeers." Damon added trying to hide his wince.
"We'll always save each other, no matter what." Stefan finished.
"And congratulations you just signed your own death certificate." I smirked.
"You've just made yours more permanent." He retorted before peeling out of the parking spot and speeding down the street and out of sight.
Damon's legs gave out under him then and he fell to the floor. "Damn, that hurts." He grimaced. Stefan reached out a hand to help him up but when Damon grasped his hand Stefan punched him instead. "Ow! What the hell was that for?"
"You know what." Stefan answered cryptically before slowly strolling away.
"Have fun digging the bullets out." I grinned before sauntering off.
I arrived at the school around the same time as Damon did, but whereas Damon had taken his car I'd run needing the air. "What are we doing here?" He asked.
"Hell if I know." I replied.
"I don't either." Bonnie added. "Ask Stefan."
"Stefan what are we doing here?" Damon inquired.
Elena, Stefan, Matt, Caroline and Jeremy were all sat around on the wooden picnic benches, but the reason why was still a mystery.
Stefan handed out white lanterns as he answered. "We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier."
"Are you serious?" I questioned in annoyance. "I thought we were going to track down Connor, you know – something important."
"This is important Dani. We need to start healing. We've all lost so much, especially recently. We think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke of it, we know how we feel but we supress it until it all bubbles to the surface and we do something stupid like yell at people in a church." He looked pointedly at me then, God only knows why. "What we really need to let ourselves do, is grieve."
"So you're lighting lanterns?" Damon smiled as if Stefan were a moron, which I had to agree with.
"Yeah we need to do this." Stefan stated.
"No, what we need to do is find out who this hunter is and about the death of the council, We have more to do than this."
"Not tonight we don't." Stefan said as he held out his lantern. "This is for my Uncle Zach, my friend Lexi, and for Alaric." Then he lit it and watched it rise up in to the sky.
Matt took the lighter then. "For Vicky."
Caroline followed. "This is for my dad and Tyler's dad."
"Tyler's dad was a giant dick, like we really want him to rest in peace." I butted in.
Pointed looks were sent my way but no one said anything, instead Jeremy went next. "This is for our parents, for Vicky, Anna, Jenna and Alaric."
He held it out to Damon but Damon merely shook his head. "No way, I'm not doing that."
I doubled over laughing as Dee started cursing about how stupid this was. I looked to where she was standing but glanced away when Jeremy watched me stare in confusion. "I want to go next." I said joyfully as I snatched a lantern and Jeremy handed me the lighter. I lit my lantern before I spoke and held it gently in my hands. "This is for the deputy I shot trying to save Stefan and Damon, to Chase the ex-boyfriend I brutally murdered, to Jenna who I helplessly watched die at the hands of the person I kind of fell in love with, to Keisha who Stefan ripped apart while I hid upstairs," Their faces all dropped as my words continued but I couldn't bring myself to care "to my Uncle Daddy John who I hated but was strangely always there for me and actually gave his life so I could stay human,, to Trinity the vampire who I barely knew but yet jumped in front of stake for me to all the countless faceless and let's not forget nameless people I've massacred since becoming a vampire and finally to Alaric the man who wanted nothing more than to join Jenna in death but I selfishly turned him into a vampire for him to turn around and try to kill me." Then I let the lantern go but the silence was almost deafening as everyone stared wide-eyed at me. "Thanks Stefan. I feel so much better." I let the distain drip from my voice as I locked eyes with him. I shook my head in disbelief. "You know Stefan you're supposed to be the smart brother and here you're showing how dumb you really are. The only reason you're doing this crappy thing is because of Elena. Because she can't get over the fact she's dead." I locked eyes with Elena then. "But you need to get over it. People die Elena, that's life. Our whole family has dissolved around us and it's only going to get smaller. It's unfair and sad and it hurts." I could feel my eyes starting to water but I didn't let that stop me. "It hurts so much sometimes it cripples us but you know what you do, you get up and you carry on. Or you die. So get over it Elena! You're dead! Live with, embrace it or die. It's your choice. Just hurry up and make it already, don't drag the rest of us down with you." I didn't wait for a response just disappeared from their sight to the sound of Dee cheering.
"What am I doing Rick?" I questioned taking a drink from the bottle of scotch I had clutched tightly in my hand; I'd already gone through one and the world was slowly starting to go fuzzy. "I'm ruining everything around me." I whispered as I stared down at Alaric's tombstone. "I broke Damon's heart, caused Stefan to hate me, I'm a walking talking time bomb. Just waiting to explode. Why'd she have to bring me back, Rick? Or better yet, why couldn't she bring you back instead? And I know what you're going to say "because I was a psychotic killer who killed you", well then you'd fit right in cause I'm not feeling very saintly right now."
Drinking down more of the bottle, i let out a choked sound. "I wish Bonnie had just let me die. At least I'd still be slightly sane, now I'm just full blown crazy." I tipped the bottle till some of it slipped down and soaked up in to the ground. "Drinks on me, Rick." Biting my lip to try and stop the waterworks that had sprung on me I whispered. "I miss you."
Standing up on shaky legs I let out a ragged breath, just as Damon stepped out from the shadows. "Sorry, i'll go and come back later." He said, just as he went to turn back around I stopped him.
"No, don't worry about it. I was just leaving anyway."
It seemed uncomfortably silent as we passed by each other and I couldn't leave it like that. "I'm sorry." I blurted out turning to face him. "About the Stefan thing. I wish there was a way I could explain why it happened but honestly… I don't know. I'm not myself at the moment."
"Don't even think of telling him." Dee warned, a malicious glint in her eye as she sent a sharp joint of pain through my body that I barely managed to mask.
"But I can't explain why." I continued. "Because it hurts. But please, just know I'd never do anything to hurt you on purpose. If you believe anything, believe that." Then I was gone back into the night.
I must have been walking for about an hour before I felt a presence with me. "Danielle Gilbert. You're a very hard woman to track down."
I turned in confusion to see the guy from outside the grill, the one precisely looking for me. "Do yourself a favour and leave now before I kill you." I advised.
"That's sweet." He laughed. "But you couldn't kill me if you tried. And anyway you're the one who wanted me here not the other way round."
"I don't have a clue who you are." I stated. "And I certainly didn't ask you to come here."
"You do actually. We spoke on the phone." He smirked. "I'm the witch that owed Elijah but now owes you."
I let out a bitter chuckle as realisation dawned. Shaking my head in astonishment I said "Well congratulations, this is your lucky day. You're too late, meaning Rick the guy I wanted you to save is dead. Consider yourself debt free."
"It doesn't work that. I owe you whether you like it or not, otherwise it'll come back to bite me in the ass. So I Nathan Fox, am your new best friend. We'll be seeing a lot of each other in the days to come."
"Ugh! I hate witches." Turning away from Nathan I looked over at Dee. "Such self-righteous assholes, always playing by the rules. But we don't need, so kill him."
Turning around to do just that I was relieved to see he'd already gone, seemingly disappeared into thin air. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" I asked, defeat clear in my voice.
"Because it's so fun to mess with you." She laughed.
"JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" I screamed throwing the bottle until it smashed against a tree.
"Dani?" I froze at the sound of the voice.
Dee had vanished and it was clear why. "Jeremy."
"Are you okay?" I didn't bother to answer him, we both knew I wasn't. "I get it, you know. I've been through this."
"What are you talking about?" I questioned in confusion.
"Seeing things that no one else can see. Talking to things that no one else can. I saw you at the church and then at the school. You saw something didn't you? You can see ghosts."
I laughed, I couldn't help it. Jeremy was a lot more observant than I gave him credit for. "I wish I saw ghost Jer. It's be easier than this."
"Then what do you see?" He inquired stepping closer until we were inches apart.
"You know how the eyes are the mirror to the soul?" He nodded. "That's what I see. My eyes. My mirror. My soul… And it's dark. It's evil. And it's true. I'm not good Jer, I don't think I ever was and this just proves it. Because I see myself. My real self. And I hate it, but I don't know why I still hide behind this mask because it'd be easier just to stop."
"I don't understand what you're saying." He said softly, his hands coming up to grip my upper arms soothingly.
"I'm saying that Rick killed me, that Bonnie brought me back, but that she didn't bring me all the way back. I'm still half dead. And I see-" But I was cut off abruptly as Dee made her killer entrance.
"Me. She sees me." As Jeremy's jaw dropped open and he took a step back to turn more towards her she smirked. "Hello brother."
Please review, sorry for the long wait, hope you're all still hanging in there.
Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
Sophie