Here we go guys, a new one.
And come on, gimme some feedback :D It would be much appreciated! :)
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel as I wait for Elena to get out of the school. This was not a good time for me to be alone, as my mind would drift back to Jamie every few seconds or so.
I don't know what the hell's going on with me. Never before did a guy affect me this much. I was never properly in love, so it makes sense, but Jamie… Jamie is human. A human being who doesn't even live in the same part of the country as I do. I should just… stay away from him. Even if I don't want to.
I jump up in my seat as Elena slams into the car door, frantically trying to get it open.
"Caroline's in the hospital," she explains as she gets in. "Matt just called; they were in a car accident. She's not doing well." She tells me as she struggles to adjust her seatbelt.
"Are we going to the hospital?" I ask her, ready to turn the car around.
"I need to check on Jeremy first; she's in surgery either way, we won't know anything for some time," she tells me and I nod as I start the car. "Someone took my stuff too." she adds, frowning at me.
"Huh? Your clothes?"
"Yes," She confirms. "I suppose it was a mistake. I mean, it's just clothes."
"Maybe it was a prank?" I offer, unsure if that's what the kids are doing these days. "Look, let's just get you home first, and then we'll go to the hospital to wait for some news, okay?" I ask and when she nods her head, I smile at her before looking back on the road. So much for a quiet night alone.
"I can't believe Bonnie lied to me about that spell." She sighs after a short period of silence.
"Can you blame her?" I ask, earning a frown. "That device works both ways; it harms vampires and it protects humans. We basically asked her to break a device that can help save human lives. I don't blame her for not doing it and I don't think you should. Especially when she helped Stefan." I add.
If it wasn't for Bonnie Bennett, Damon and I would have burned in that basement. Yes, it was a bit of a dick move from her part, making us believe that the device is useless. As bad as that was, I know where she's coming from, why she did it. Besides, she made up for it with saving Damon and myself.
"I guess you have a point," Elena agrees. "I don't know, this is all too much. I just want to check on Jeremy and then on Caroline. I just want all of this to be over."
"Why are you so worried about Jeremy?" I ask her.
"Anna died in that fire," Elena tells me. Oh, vampire girlfriend. She did mention that a couple of times. "I don't know if he knows about it. And if he does, I'm not sure how well he's handling it."
"He's gonna be okay, I reassure her, without anything to support my opinion. "We'll help him."
"We have to," Elena agrees with a sigh. "Turn left here," she tells me just as her phone rings." It's Stefan." She tells me before she answers the call. I zone out, not wanting to listen in.
She points at a house and I park in front of it while she finishes her conversation with Stefan. I wait for her to fish out the keys from her bag; it's a nice house. Quite homey, less gothic than what the Salvatore brothers got going on.
"He's going to meet up with us at the hospital," she tells me. "Let's hurry up, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," I agree. I watch on as she walks into the house and yells out Jeremy's name. I smile at the stupidity of it; it's been a while since I was last stuck on a doorstep.
"Why are you just standing there?" Elena laughs, obviously forgetting about that little vampire minus, just as I did. I smile and I open my mouth to explain what's going on, when both of us hear a noise coming from the house; kitchen, if my hearing is right. I hear movement and my eyes go wide.
"Elena, invite me in, right now!" I order her, just as I see someone moving around. In vampire speed.
"Come in!" She yells, and I waste no time, running inside. I run to the living room, but I miss him. I run after it outside, but the door slams before I get to it. That's when I hear Elena's scream. And smell blood.
"Oh my God!" She yells from the kitchen floor. I either help Elena or I go after the vampire. I run to the kitchen and my mouth drops. I look on as Elena calls an ambulance with shaking hands; John Gilbert's lying on the floor with a stab wound in his gut; his hand is covered in a towel, as Elena tries to keep pressure on both his wound and his hand. His fingers, along with the magical ring, were on a counter.
Smell of blood hits me and I bite my lip, staring down at John as he stares up at me; knowing what I am, knowing that he tried to kill me tonight, and failed miserably. And now I'm just hungry.
"Elena, Jeremy. Check on him." I order her and she runs out of the kitchen and into her brother's room.
I get down on the floor, looking at John, who has nothing but fear in his eyes.
"Oh, how I have a feeling I'm going to regret this!" I sigh before biting down on my hand and slamming it onto John's face as soon as my blood starts running. He's trying to fight it, I can feel it. I wait, unsure of how long he should keep on drinking; how much will be enough for him to heal.
I wait until I hear Elena freaking out.
"You owe me," I warn him before getting up and running up the stairs; it doesn't take me long to realize why Elena was freaking out; she was on the bed, holding her brother. And he was unconscious. "What did he do?" I snap as I push her out of the way and pull Jeremy closer to me; I rest my head on his chest, waiting for the sound. I breathe out a sigh of relief when I hear it. It's faint, but it's there. "He's alive."
"He took pills," Elena tells me, still looking and sounding very frantic. "What's that?" She asks, pointing at the nightstand. I twist my head around to see an empty vial; I grab it before Elena has a chance to, and I see the blood. Only after smelling it I realize that it's vampire blood.
"Vampire blood," I mumble as her eyes go wide. "It didn't work. Go down, wait for the ambulance. And call Stefan. I'll take care of Jeremy but you need to be with John." I order her.
She listens to me and runs downstairs at once. Feeling unsure of my own hearing, I listen to Jeremy's heartbeat once again. It's there. He's still human. He didn't take enough pills; the vampire blood must have cured him. Holding Jeremy's hand in mine, I take my phone and dial Damon's number; voicemail.
"Damon, pick the frickin' phone. It's urgent! Shit's going down." I say and hang up.
If that Anna chick didn't die tonight, I would have killed her myself.
How could she? If she was alive at the same time Damon and Stefan were, that would make her over 150. For all we know, she could be 500! She had more than enough of life. Jeremy? He's a fucking kid! He's 16! When I was 16 I had no idea who the hell I was, or how my life will end up being!
At 16, you don't know who the love of your life is and you sure as hell don't turn into a vampire because of them. He's a stupid teenager and he did what stupid teenagers do. Luckily for him, it didn't work.
It doesn't take him long to wake up; the ambulance didn't even arrive.
"Did it work?" He asks, looking wide eyed.
Um, hello? Had he even laid eyes on me before all of this? He doesn't even know who I am!
"No, it didn't," I snap, possibly too harsh, given that the kid almost died. "And you're lucky."
"I know what you are," he tells me. Should I be surprised? "Anna knew about you. She told me. I know she is dead. That's why I wanted to do it. So it doesn't have to hurt anymore."
"Well, she did tell you a pretty little story," I sigh. God, I would kill that girl! "It doesn't work like that. It's not black and white. I would give everything up to have a chance to be a normal human being. All of us would. Because you still feel pain. It doesn't go away for good. That move, shutting off your emotions? That doesn't work permanently. And trust me, when they come back, they don't come back slowly. It all crashes on you, all at once. You have no idea how lucky you are."
The kid looked at me in wonder. I imagine his vampire girlfriend didn't warn him about this.
"Every time you see us being normal, we're fighting it. Every time we run away from blood, we are fighting it. It does not stop. Not when you are fed, not when you are asleep, not when you are dying. It controls you and you fight it, because acting like a human is the only thing you have left. If you had any idea how difficult it is to do this, you never would have tried to become one of us. You are luckier than most, Jeremy. You'll get a second chance. We didn't get that." I tell him.
"You made that choice? What gives you the right to tell me I'm not allowed to make it?" He asks me.
"I was dying when I turned," I shake my head. Am I really going to share my story with this cocky teen? "I did not have a better option than this one. I turned because if I didn't, I would have died. And no one would be able to take care of my brother because we lost our parents in a car accident. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? How dare you make assumptions? I was practically dead already and you fell in love."
"I didn't know. I… I'm sorry." He mumbles, and I laugh at him.
"Of course you didn't," I shake my head. Maybe I am meant to be a teacher after all? "You should cut your sister some slack. The smartest thing she could have done for you was to keep you out of all of this. She was trying to do that, but you found your own way. Your Uncle almost killed us all, and now he's lying half dead in the kitchen; that's how vampires affect your life," I say, watching as his eyes grow wide. "She only tried to keep her safe. And as an older sister, I can relate to that."
Jeremy stays silent for a while. I imagine this was all a bit too much for him. I didn't exactly choose my words carefully. I wish I had the luxury of doing that… he had to hear the truth. It's not nice and it's not peachy and that's exactly why he needed to know.
"Being a vampire is not all fun and games, Jeremy," I sigh, grabbing his hand. "It has some good sides, but… I'm a vampire. And if a vampire tells you they'd rather be human, you know it's not good. The ambulance is here." I say, and seconds later, he could hear them too.
"Who did this to him?" he asks me. Again, I feel uneasy. A vampire was in their house. He did this.
"I didn't see him. I could have run after him, but I decided to say the life of a man who almost burned me to death tonight. I guess I have issues too."
For all I know, John would have made it, even without my blood to help him. I might have made a huge, huge mistake. I might have the strength I need to kill a vampire but I have never really done it. Honestly, I don't know if I'd be capable of doing it. Even if it would be better for us to have that vampire dead.
I hear commotion downstairs as Stefan and Elena burst into the room. Stefan looks directly at me and with one nod he tells me all I needed to hear.
If I wasn't with Elena, she might have been dead. Indirect or not, I might have just saved her life.
"We have to talk." He tells me and I nod my head, following him downstairs as we leave Elena with Jeremy. The ambulance had already taken John away, but the blood was still there. For a moment, I felt the urge to clean it up; it looked so wrong, to leave it there. But then I remembered whose blood it is.
"Did you see who it was?" Stefan asks me as we walk into the kitchen. Elena rushes to join us.
"No. He was out as soon as Elena invited me in. But whoever it was, he knew about his ring. He wanted to get John's ring out of the way before killing him. I'm guessing it was one of the tomb vampires; maybe one of them was a backup plan, or out of the plan completely. Maybe he wasn't close to the square when the device was set off. But it's only a guess. A guess that's as good as any." I tell him.
"I need to keep an eye on Jeremy," he says and I nod my head. "Elena needs to meet Jenna at the hospital and check on Caroline. I don't like the idea of her going there alone, not now."
"Don't worry about it, I'm going with her," I say and give Elena a small smile she returns, although it doesn't quite meet her eyes. "You're driving, though. I gave John quite a bit of blood." I explain.
"Do you need a blood bag?" Stefan asks. As always, worried I'll drain his girlfriend out.
"Nah, I'll live. If there's a place to find a blood bag, it's the hospital. Let's go." I say, nodding towards the door. This was a long ass night to begin with and I want it over as soon as possible.
I listen on as Elena, Bonnie and Damon are debating whether or not to feed Caroline vampire blood; she was in critical condition.
I understood why Elena was against it, just as I understood why Bonnie was all for it. if they go for it, which they will, they have my blessing; if I could give my blood to John fucking Gilbert, Caroline deserves her chance too.
While Bonnie and Elena were talking, I decide to use my moment; I get up and pull Damon away.
"Where the hell were you?" I ask him. "We needed you. You can't just… disappear into thin air."
"I wasn't in the car with Caroline. How could I have helped?" He asks in wonder.
"I'm not talking about that, Damon!" I whine; he looks even more confused. "I'm talking about the vampire that was in Elena's house and almost killed John."
"A vampire was in Elena's house?" He asks in surprise. I turn to look at Elena, who was approaching us.
"You didn't tell him?" I ask. Seriously? Isn't that an important piece of information.
"I was focused on Caroline." Elena shrugs, giving me her best "I'm sorry" look.
"Wait, what vampire?" Damon interrupts us. "When did this happen? Did it happen after I left?"
"Huh?" "What?" Elena and I ask at the same time. Damon rolls his eyes before narrowing them at Elena.
"Okay, sweetheart, you can't pretend like it didn't happen," he growls at her. "We kissed."
"What?" Elena asks in confusion before sighing. "Damon, I seriously can't do this right now."
"John was almost dead when we walked inside; I think we have bigger issues right now." I tell Damon.
"You were at Elena's house?" Damon asks me. What are we doing, running in circles?!
"Did you not just register everything we've told you?" I ask. I am so close to kicking him in the nuts.
"I didn't see you with Elena." He shakes his head.
"Did the vervain damage your brain?" I snap, finally losing my cool. Elena shoots me a warning look and I take a deep breath to calm myself down. "I just told you, I was with her the whole time."
"She was," Elena confirms, nodding her head. "Stefan's at the house now with Jeremy. Caroline will get better, John will survive; I need to go deal with my suicidal, wannabe vampire brother." She mumbles.
"Oh!" Damon snaps, causing both Elena and I to jump up in surprise. "Oh! You have got to be kidding me!" He growls, stomping his foot like a child in the midst of a tantrum. "We need to get out of here." He tells us, and before either one of us could say anything, he grabs us both by the hand.
He drags us out of the hospital and directly into this car, ignoring our complaints and grunts.
Damon completely ignored the speed limit, but I said nothing, glad that for once he was actually taking something seriously. And it is serious; if I wasn't with her, Elena could have been dead now.
"Why John?" Elena speaks up after a very long and awkward period of silence.
"What do you mean "why John"?" I ask her, turning to look at her in the back seat.
"Why John? I know they wanted to kill the founding families, but everyone else was in the square. It would have been easier to simply kill someone there." She says and I shake my head.
"No, whoever it was, they were not in the square. Every vampire in the vicinity was affected. And we are the only ones who got out of the building. They had to be away. And my guess is that they targeted John because he was the one who started the device. He missed a spot. I am more worried a vampire we don't know being invited into your house."
It had to be one of those from the tomb. Vendetta against the founding families or John. They had to be away while the device was on. They were also invited in the house. And they knew about John's ring.
And then there's Damon and his little tantrum.
He thought he kissed Elena. And he didn't see me with her. He was at the house and we did not see him there. Whoever it was, they got in after Damon got out and said his lovely goodbyes to Elena. Elena.
Oh shit.
"Oh my God," I mumble, snapping my head towards Damon so fast, I might have caused myself a serious neck injury. He looked at me. There was no cockiness there, no "I told you so" looks, no eyebrow moves. He was dead serious. And he confirmed it all. "No. No, no, no. No way!" I shake my head, feeling the panic rise in my chest.
"What is it?" Elena jumps up from the back seat, aware that she has missed something. The panic I felt now turned into anger and I punch the door, like a proper angsty teen that I'm not.
Before I can even try and break this to Elena, Damon makes a sudden turn and parks in front of her house. Wasting no time, both he and I charge into the house, with Elena trying to catch up with us. We get there just in time to see one vampire making an exit and Stefan lying on the floor, fixing his arm.
"Stefan, what happened?" Elena asks, running to him. "Was it the vampire who tried to kill John?"
"I'm afraid it was, yeah." He says, looking in turns to Damon and me.
"Do we know him?" Elena asks.
"It was Katherine." Damon informs her in a somber tone. She looks at each of us, waiting for a loud laugh and a "gotcha" grin, but it didn't happen. It's Katherine. She's back.
Why is she here? Why now? What does she want?
Why didn't she show her face before? Why try to kill John? And what will this mean for our budding love triangle? Will it turn into a rectangle? Or will someone be dead before that happens?
We go over all of these questions for a very, very long time. Between the fact that Katherine fucking Pierce is back and causing havoc, and the tension growing between Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle over here, I was slowly but surely losing my will to live.
With each passing minute, I was sinking into Elena's very comfortable couch, thinking how judging by this rate, I'll never leave Mystic Falls. We literally finished dealing with one problem two hours ago and now what? Now we have a very old, very jealous and very psychotic vampire running around town.
Not to mention that she looks exactly like Elena.
I listened on as Stefan and Damon chased each other in circles. The only thing they needed was a frying pan and a baseball bat, to hit each other over the head, while sporadically shouting Elena's or Katherine's name.
Surprise, surprise: We had no answers.
And we won't have them, until Katherine bothers enough to give them to us. Which she won't. And if by some miracle, she does, it won't be today.
The whole thing ended with a Damon – Stefan stare down because of Damon's kiss with Katherine while he thought she was Elena. Once the stare down was over, Damon elegantly left the building, leaving me, still very much silent, to play a third wheel for a frowning Stefan and a freaked out Elena.
"I have to go after him," Stefan tells us, just minutes after Damon left. "He's not in his right mind. If anyone can get to him, it's Katherine. He can do something stupid."
I hate to do it, I really do. I hate it, but I have to agree. He did stupid things when he thought she was rotting in an underground tomb; what could he do when she's out here, having a blast?
"Better you than me." I sigh, knowing very well that I would probably punch Damon if I go after him.
"Can you stay with Elena?" Stefan asks.
"Yeah, sure," I sigh. "That was the original plan."
"Are you sure?" Stefan asks; I roll my eyes and look at Elena, only to see the same worried look on her.
"Yes. Katherine's been inside. Someone should keep an eye out for Elena and Jeremy. You or me, it doesn't matter. And if I go after Damon, well, I might just kill him. You won't, even if you have more reasons to do it. Go. Do your thing. We'll be fine over here."
My last proper sleepover party must have been in the early 80's. It went down in the typical 80's fashion; we'd swoon over the cast of "Breakfast club" and over-curl our hair. Ah, Judd Nelson… be still my beating heart. I will never get over that bad boy.
I never imagined I'd have a proper sleepover ever again, not at the tender age of 49. Sure, every now and then, Jess and I would kick Theo out of the place, get drunk and watch a movie with some hot guys, but it wasn't like this. I was about 35 years too old for this and yet here I am, lying on Elena's floor, on a makeshift bed. It had to be done. And let's be honest, it's hardly torture.
"Zoe." I hear Elena's voice. "You asleep?" She asks.
"What do you think?" I mumble in the pillow she gave me.
"Nearly dying gives you insomnia?" Elena asks me and I have to hold back my laughter.
"Yeah, it kind of does. How 'bout an angry vampire double?"
"Yup," she confirms, and I could just hear the uneasiness in her voice. "How would you react if it was Cleo?" She asks. For a second, I think she's being sarcastic, but the tone of her voice actually makes her sound curious. I raise myself up and lean on her bed while she rolls over closer to me.
I barely convinced her that I'm fine with sleeping on the floor, and not with her on the gigantic bed; she could roll around in peace; I already knew I won't be getting any sleep tonight.
"I'd lose my shit," I sigh, imagining my own reaction to Cleo. "I'd probably try to stake her then and there. On the other hand, Katherine is a psychotic, jealous gargoyle, and judging by Stefan told me, Cleo was kind of nice," I shrug. "I'm guessing you were lucky not to meet her face to face. That would be a whole different level of freaky."
"Yeah, I wonder how long before that luck runs out." She grunts.
"Look, you're not alone. Whatever it is Katherine came back for, she's not getting it." I reassure her.
"Do you mean whatever or whoever she wants?" Elena asks, once again proving that she's a smart one.
"Does it matter? Are you afraid she'll steal your guy?" I ask her, and when she doesn't respond, I take a deep breath, going back to "shrink Zoe". "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, and I mean it."
"How could I not? I mean, I'm human. She's a vampire. Every minute he's with me, Stefan is struggling. I know we're different people, completely opposite ends of a spectrum, but she's like a meaner, vampire version of me. She wouldn't have to hold back with her, wouldn't he?"
Once upon a time, when Damon joked about the two of them being BFF's, braiding each other's hair and talking boys, Zoe thought he was pushing it a bit too far. Oh, but how right he was.
"You said it all. Look, Elena, Stefan's the hero type of guy. He likes you. And he likes the human aspects of you. If you're worried about him going for Katherine because she's a vampire, you really shouldn't."
"He chose her once."
"Which doesn't mean he'll choose her again. I had sex with Damon about 29 years ago. Will I do it again? I won't. Because some things don't work. He and I wouldn't work because we're friends. Stefan and Katherine wouldn't work because Stefan's a good guy and Katherine's nuts."
"You had sex with Damon?" Elena asks, making me laugh.
"Seriously? That was the part you focus on?" I ask, and this time, she joins in on the laughter.
"You talk about Katherine like you know her, and I know you don't."
"I don't. I've never met her, thank God. But I know women like her. I'm not proud to admit it, but I was a woman like her too. She has some qualities that are impressive, when you think about it. She's persistent. She's smart. And ballsy. I like that. But she's also selfish. Cunning too. And would save her own ass even if that meant putting everyone around her in danger. I know women like that, and at times, I was a woman like that. It's really not something I'm particularly proud of. She stands up for herself. Granted, she takes it a step too far, but she's not a pushover."
"I don't know," Elena sighs, hugging her pillow. "I'm afraid of her, of what she might do."
"There's nothing wrong with being afraid," I tell her, shaking my head." Fear is healthy. I guess you could say that fear makes you want to feel alive. That's the thing. Tonight, when I was in that building? I was sure that I was going to die. I thought "This is it, this is how I go". But I didn't die. And while I have no clue what's in store for me, I know for a fact that I will do all I possibly can to avoid feeling like that again. There's nothing wrong with being afraid of Katherine, Elena. I am afraid of her too."
"You don't show it," Elena smiles at me and I roll my eyes. I'm not so sure about that. "I've known you for only a couple of days, but we spent a lot of time together. And you never showed fear." She tells me.
"I can pretend very well, but that's not a good thing. Sure, it comes in handy, every once and a while, but ultimately, it's not doing me much good."
"At least the person you're scared of doesn't know you're scared of them."
"Well, if they're smart, they could guess," I chuckle. "Look, Elena, there's no need to worry yourself sick. We can't do anything yet. She doesn't have the numbers. We don't even know for sure why she's here for. Let's just wait before we decide that we should worry too much, okay?" I suggest.
"I hope you're right," Elena sighs. "I thought we could have a normal life, finally."
"Honey, you're dating a vampire. I can guarantee you that you will never have a normal life." I tell her. I feel bad when I noticed the look on her face, but I couldn't lie. She knows it too.
"You think I'm an idiot, don't you?" Elena asks me and I look at her in confusion, not knowing where the hell is this coming from. "You think I'm an idiot, for being with Stefan? For being with a vampire?"
"I think you're in love, not an idiot," I smile at her, shaking my head. "It's not safe and you know it. But it's also your choice. Love makes us do stupid, stupid things." I sigh.
"Have you ever been in love?" Elena asks. "With a human, with a vampire?"
"Nope," I sigh; it was hard to ignore the pity in her eyes. "It's easy for me to be so full of shit, when I could fall for a human tomorrow. And I don't know what the hell I would do. I don't have a right to force my opinions on anyone, human or vampire. Love is… love," I shrug, not having a better explanation. "When you're in love, you don't really need reasons. Now, enough," I announce, fixing my makeshift bed. "We have a long ass day tomorrow, and these issues will be here when we wake up."
"You're right," Elena smiles as she lies down. "Sweet dreams." She adds and I almost laugh at the irony.