Chapter 14:

Nettie followed Klaus back to the mansion. She wasn't happy at the current moment. Seeing Klaus stand around while things went boom had really hit her for some reason. She felt all icky inside. She wanted to go home and hide under the bed.

A hybrid met them at the front door and he took the hunter, who was still unconscious, from Klaus. "Take him downstairs. I'll be with our little friend shortly."

"You're back quickly." Elijah mused, greeting them by the front door. "Nettie." He nodded to his favorite blonde girl.

"Your brother has a death wish." She told him angrily. "Honestly."

Klaus rolled his eyes, "I can't die, I told you that." He eyed his brother.

"Right. Well... Maybe a break is needed? Nettie we could go down to the training room and spar a little?" He asked her, hoping they would get some alone time. It had been a long while since they had a chance to talk.

Damon threw Leila through the air. She landed hard on the dirt floor, missing a tree by mere inches. "Ouch!" She said, rubbing her butt as she climbed up. "You throw hard!"

"You're a vampire. That couldn't have hurt that much."

"So you're saying if I hit you hard enough that it wouldn't hurt?" She raised her brow, knowing he was lying. Of course it hurt, it would just heal quickly.

"Would you like to test that theory," he teased. "You wouldn't hit me. You wouldn't even try."

"Oh I wouldn't?" She asked him, smirking. She moved as fast as she could towards him, Punching him hard right in the face. His body actually flew backwards, hitting a large white elm tree behind him. He hit the dirt floor with a crash. "Shit! Damon are you alright?" She asked, not realizing how hard she had punched him. She hurried over to the man and got on her knees beside him. "Damon?"

He moved fast, pinning her to the ground roughly. "That. Hurt." He admitted, smirking.

Leila breathed heavily under his weight. "I told you it hurts." Damon stared down at the girl, unable to move.

He hadn't thought of Elena in a long while. Helping her only when he had to. When Leila had been under the water, trapped in that truck he had thought of nothing else. He saved her first. When he thought she had died he couldn't breathe. How could he just be seeing all this now?

"Damon!" She murmured, pushing on him. "Get off!"

He heard her, but he almost didn't want to move away from her. He rolled away and they lay breathing heavily, looking up through the dense canopy of trees. "I think that should be it for the day." He told her, he had to think on all this.

Nettie kicked Elijah hard, pushing him away. She moved back and took a breather, putting her arms up again. They had used her magic enough and now that they felt it was time, Elijah was showing her how to fight. She may not always be able to use magic. At least he seemed to think so.

Nettie was almost positive she was stronger even without the fighting. They had been at this for at least two hours and she was getting tired.

Elijah rushed at her, crossing the room in a blink of an eye. He threw a fist at her, but she caught his hand in her palm. Nettie made to elbow him, but was unsuccessful. Elijah gripped her wrist and pinned her hand over her head. She had sweat dripping from her forehead.. And for some reason it only made her smell stronger then normal.

He had a hard time continuing at the realization of that small but huge fact. She breathed heavily as she watched for what he would do next.

Elijah looked back at the small blondee, unable to think straight. He moved for her neck, running his nose along her pulse line. "Uh.. Elijah?" She muttered awkwardly. But it was like he couldn't hear her at all.

He felt his fangs aching in his gums, willing themselves to grow out over his canine teeth. The small familiar black veins forming under his eyes. It wasn't often he was unable to control himself. But here he was.. A child once again.

"Elijah!" She stammered again.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on keeping himself collected. Nettle always seemed to cloud his better judgement. He looked up at her, taking a breath in. How long would they do this?

He could hear Nettle's heartbeat loud in his ears, and he could do nothing more than brace himself for what was to come. He tightened his grip around Nettie's wrists and brushed his lips against her jawline before pausing only a moment to breathe.

She winced a bit, tightening her muscles. She must have looked like a child not wanting to eat it's broccoli but she couldn't help it. She realized now that she had given him the wrong impression. As his lips made for hers she grew warm, hot even.

Elijah blinked rapidly as a bright light surrounded him. In seconds it was gone, and so was Nettie. She had never done that before..

There was a loud popping sound as her feet touched down on solid ground. She wasn't sure where the hell she had just been, but she knew it felt all icky. She looked around her realizing where she was. But as she turned around she immediately regretted it. "DAMON! EWW OH MY GOD! NO!" She yelled, turning back around. "Eww!"

"Well you just showed up out of thin air! What am I supposed to do? Change in the hallway? Get out!" He yelled at her, pushing her quickly out of his room and into the empty boarding house hallways. "Stay." He ordered, slamming the door behind him.

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know what the hell even just happened!" She yelled at him through the thick wooden door. "How the hell do I ever know!" Everything seemed random to her..

"Uhh, Nettie? What are you doing here?" Leila asked, closing the door to another bedroom down the hall. "And why are you two yelling at each other?"

"Something weird just happened." Nettie told her, walking towards her sister. "I just saw Damon naked!" Leila began to say something but Nettie cut her off, "First I have Elijah trying to eat my face, then POP! Here I am, naked Damon! Yelling, slamming doors." She threw her hands up in exasperation.

Leila stared at Nettie in complete shock for a moment, before saying a word. "Slow down, Nettie! You saw Damon naked?! And Elijah what?!"

"Yes, Leila, sorry I got to see it first! Really, I am." She shuddered. "But yeah, Elijah's mouth was all up in my personal space. I was really super uncomfortable. Then I went poof. Like some kind of cartoon character. The only difference is normally in a kids cartoon you don't see nudity!" She winced. "I think that is what I was trying to avoid in the first damn place."

"So you and Elijah...? Is there something going on there that I totally missed?" Leila rose a brow.

"He's a friend." Nothing more. Eww! "Then we were fighting and he basically tried to lick my mouth! Who does that. Shouldn't you ask first?" She had no idea how these things worked.

"Uh.. Not necessarily Nettie. I mean if he thought there was something there he may have just figured why not go for it." She lead Nettie to her room, and they sat on the bed. "So he was wrong?" She was confused. It was obvious from the start that Elijah was into her. But this was Nettie she was talking about.

"I don't want to kiss him, gross." She reminded her sister, as she lay back on the large four poster bed.

"Gross? Kissing isn't gross." Leila shook her head. "It's supposed to be a good thing."

"Ya well, not for me!" She had never felt the urge to kiss anyone before... "Shouldn't it come along with some sort of feelings? I don't have any feelings towards Elijah Lei." She wrinkled her nose up.

Leila thought back to the little moment she'd shared with Damon in the woods. She'd wanted to kiss him then. And yes, there had definitely been feelings. "It should. Which means, if you didn't feel anything, then you should let him know he's got the wrong idea. You can't just string him along."

"Whose stringing? No one is stringing Leila. He asked me to fight. I was hanging out with that stupid hunter and Klaus." No one was stringing, were they?

"Well, you can't just leave things hanging. He's probably wondering what happened."

"Well he isn't the only one to be fair. I had no idea he was going to do any of that. I was asked to fight not make out."

"She just wants to play kissy face with Klaus." Damon said, finally dressed and standing in the doorway smirking. "You like them mean don't you blondeie?"

She sat up straight in the bed and looked right at him, "Yah well you like them not interested so what's that say about you?"

Leila sighed. Nettie and Damon had such a strange love-hate relationship. One minute they got along, the next they bickered. It was never a dull moment with the two of them. At least not lately.

"You think Klaus even knows you exist other than as a pawn in his stupid army?" Damon said, sneering at her. "You are a bigger idiot then I thought."

"Damon!" Leila snapped, "What the hell has gotten into you?"

He knew what had gotten into him. Once again he liked a person he couldn't have. He destroyed every single good thing in his life. Why not worsen it.

"I don't like Klaus. I don't like Elijah! I like MYSELF!" She screeched, climbing off the bed. She shot a ball of light at him, hitting the doorway a few feet away on purpose. "Don't forget I can kill you dummy." She spat, storming out of the room.

"So she just disappeared?" Rebekah asked, curious as to how the little blonde girl was capable of so many amazing things. Maybe she should befriend the strange creature?

"I shouldn't have been so... Out of control. I may have scared her away for good." He mumbled, sitting in the chair next to her.

Rebekah put a hand on the back of the chair. "Well, brother, I'm sure if it's meant to be, she'll come around sooner or later."

Klaus sat back listening in on their conversation but adding nothing. He felt giddy inside but was it about all this? Or about the hunter in their basement? He wasn't sure yet.

Nettie stood in the woods outside the boarding house, trying her best to pop again like earlier. But the more she tried, the angrier she got with Damon. Why would he say things like that? Based on nothing at all!

"You look like you are going to soil yourself." Damon grinned, jumping up onto a rock nearby to watch her. "You're all squinty."

"Shut up!" She snapped, "I'm trying to go poof!" She really needed a better way to say that. But for now it would have to do. "What do you even want?"

He sighed, "I came to apologize. I realize now that I was being an asshole."

"Leila sent you." She asked. Knowing the answer already.

"She asked me to talk to you, yes. But she didn't ask me to apologize." He lied.

"Since when do you act nice?" Nettie asked, raising a brow. Except when he wanted something.

"Since Leila asked me to," he said, crossing his arms. "She's listening. Just say you forgive me so I can get some rest from your sister's incessant nagging."

"But I don't forgive you." She just didn't forgive most people, ever. That was how she was. "But you can tell her I do. I am sure she will believe you if you lie really well." Nettie knew Leila would know the truth, but she thought it might be funny if he tried to lie. At least for her. "You like her don't you? I heard you were all cry baby broody man when she died on the bridge." She said, deciding to taunt him instead.

Damon narrowed his eyes at Nettie. "She was dead. You wouldn't cry for one of your friends if they were dead in your arms?"

"You two weren't exactly friends though, were you? No.. I think you want to make out with my sister. Gross." She stuck her tongue out. "To bad she isn't Elena huh?" She pressed another one of his buttons, hoping it would make him go away.

"No, she isn't Elena. If she was she would be head over heels for my lame brother." He whined. "Elena and I are just friends."

"Riiiggghhhttt." She rolled her eyes. "Friends. Friends who make googly eyes at each other." She knew they hadn't in a while but it didn't much matter. They had. "But she chose Stefan, so to bad."

Damon shook his head, "You told me to get over it. So I did."

"Just like that."

"Not just like that. It was hard." He sighed.

She could tell he wasn't lying.. And she was sort of beginning to feel bad.. Not something she was used to feeling. But there it was, sympathy or whatever. "You do like her though.. Leila I mean. Just don't fuck it up or else you are going to have to deal with me." He knew what that meant. At least she hoped he did. Because she wasn't lying.

Damon smirked. "I'm 173 years old. I know how to handle women, especially emotional red-heads."

"Do you? I heard some things about a certain doppelganger that may lead me to believe you're lying." Katherine had lead him on for 146 years.

"Katherine was using me. I see that now. I won't screw up again, blondeie." Why was he making promises to her? Did he actually think he might be into Leila?