Chapter 24

I was not sure where I was at first. I was not willing to open my eyes, it felt as though the light piercing through whatever it was – window, door, open sky – was going to hurt my eyes when I open them. I tried to move my fingers and I felt something soft underneath. Then, I proceeded to wiggle my toes, it brushed against something cosy. I turned my face to my right, where I knew the light would not fall directly on my face when my open my eyes. Slowly at first and then blinking to clear my view – I opened my eyes.

I instantly recognized the setting of the room I was in. I was in my bedroom, lying on my bed, the curtains to the huge window on my left were open. I groaned inwardly, "Should I draw the curtains?" the voice startled me, I turned my face to the left where the voice came from. It was Kaleb, I nodded and get got up from my bay window and drew the curtains, sitting back where he was. "Kaleb" my voice was horse – I cleared my throat but it did not do any good.

"Yes, I am here" he got up from the bay window and made his way over to my bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed, facing me. "Where is everyone?" I had to ask, "Sleeping – it was my turn to keep a watch on you" he smiled, "How long have I been out?" my horse voice was not helping, "10 hours" his smile disappeared. "You saved me" I remembered how he pulled me out of the car, the memory was so vivid. Kaleb did not say anything, he kept looking at me with adoration in his eyes but at the same time with unfathomable expressions. Was I hurt? I could not feel anything wrong with me.

"Am I hurt?" I had to ask and Kaleb chuckled, "You were" he said, and in 10 hours I am alright? "I gave you my blood" oh. "Your parents were furious, that is why I am keeping an eye on you, so that is passes through your system and then you are free" he said without a slightest hint of guilt for feeding me his blood, or fear that mom and dad were furious. "Why are you not afraid of mom and dad?" I mumbled, hoping to find the reason behind his cool composure.

"I was there when I pulled you out of the car, I saw – I heard you fading away, that is when your parents called, Olivia must have told them, and told them what had happened and that I was going to take care of you" he started, playing with a strand of my hair and looking in my eyes, it made my heart flutter. "They were furious of course, but I knew I could not get you to the hospital in time" his eyes dropped, so did his smile.

"I did it, without a second thought" he looked in my eyes, "I am not afraid of doing the right thing. I told you I was never going to let anything happen to you, I had to keep my word" he smiled, though I knew it was a fake smile. "Then why are you so upset?" I asked him, unable to figure out a reason for his reaction. "If anything happens to you before my blood passes through your system –" he did not complete his sentence. "I will turn into a vampire" I mumbled, and he nodded.

I propped myself up with the support of my elbows, Kaleb straightened up and then I sat up completely. "Is it so bad to be a vampire?" I shrugged, "Your parents don't want that for you" he said, "I am not talking about my parents, or my brother or anyone; I am asking you, if it is as bad as I have been told to be a vampire?" I asked him. For a moment there was silence, "No, it is quite opposite of that" he shook his head. "Stop feeling guilty about it, you saved my life" I cupped his cheeks.

He entangled the fingers of his left hand in my hair and his eyes spoke a thousand words of love and affection. "I love you and I cannot imagine losing you" he said, "I know" I replied as I filled the distance between our lips to give him a soft peck on his lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his hands around my waist. Closing my eyes, I felt as though I was holding everything in my embrace. Kaleb kissed the top of my head again and again but none of us spoke a word.

I don't know after how long we let go of each other, "I should wake up your parents, they ordered me to wake them up as soon as you were up" Kaleb said. "I will wake them up" I told Kaleb as I dangled my feet off the bed. "I will come with you" he got up from the bed too. "I am not going to slip and die" I rolled my eyes and Kaleb narrowed his eyes at me, annoyed at my joke, clearly. "Geez – Sorry" I mumbled, but he looked away. I made a mental note to not joke about this – with anyone. If Kaleb had this reaction to my joke, I cannot even begin to imagine how mom and dad would react.

We walked across the hallway to mom and dad's bedroom. The door was as usually closed. I knocked on the door and waited patiently, Kaleb waited beside me. When there was no response, I knocked again and louder this time. "They are coming" Kaleb whispered, of course, he could hear what was going on the other side of the door. The door was yanked open and I saw dad standing in the doorway.

Mom was standing just a few steps behind him. "Lily" dad breathed as he let go of the door and embraced me in a bear hug. I could feel how upset he was. "You are okay" he chanted, more to himself than to anyone else. I wrapped my arms around his torso, I was not sure how to assure him that I was perfectly fine. Mom joined us too, wrapping her arm around me as dad and I wrapped our arms around her. Mom kissed my forehead and then hugged me close.

Dad let go of us as mom wrapped both her arms around me and I did the same. "You scared us" she said, "I am fine, Kaleb saved me" I told her. "Yes, he did" she agreed, she agreed?! My eyes widened at her words. We dropped our hands and mom gave me another kiss on my forehead before she walked up to Kaleb. "Thank you" she said, I could not see her expressions but Kaleb's expressions were much the same as mine – surprised. "I am sorry for all that we said yesterday" she continued, "I can understand, she is your daughter" Kaleb shook his head.

"Thank you" dad straightened out his hand in front of Kaleb. Okay! Was I dreaming? Kaleb considered dad's hand for a second before he shook his hand. I could not contain my smile, I covered my mouth with my hands as I looked at mom and dad somewhat accepting Kaleb. It was progress, and I could not believe it. This must be a dream because there was no way mom and dad was going to accept Kaleb.

"We should wake Stefan up too" dad said and mom nodded as dad made his way to Stefan's room. The rest of us waited in the hallway and the next minute, I saw Stefan rush out of his room and towards me.

He wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped my arms around his torso. "You are never doing that again to us" he ordered as he held me at an arms' length before embracing me in a hug again. "I am so sorry" I apologized to everyone, "I did not know, I was not cautious enough" I accepted my mistake.

"You didn't know" mom comforted me, Stefan and I dropped our hands but he stood close to me. "They are smarter than we thought, we have to give them that" dad raised his brows, "Yes, but that is more trouble for us" mom shook her head. "I will ask Klaus if he knows any way for us to identify between the real and the pagan version of ourselves" Kaleb said and everyone nodded.

"And we find the leader" dad added, "Kill the leader—" Kaleb started, "Kill all" Stefan completed his sentence.

That morning was filled with visitors. Olivia, Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Enzo came over as soon as they got the news that I was awake. Kaleb had left once they arrived to get some information on Pagans from Uncle Klaus.

Olivia and I were in my room when she explained me everything. "It came to me as Emma when we were at the Grill and it said that she has lost her phone and she needs to let her mom know, so I gave her my phone" Olivia started, "She went outside but when she did not come back for a long time, I went out too and there I saw her – only it was not her – it was me, I used whatever spell I knew to knock her out and get my phone back to call you" Olivia said, "It was too late, you had already taken the bait. I am so sorry" Olivia completed, she obviously felt guilty for something she had not done.

"It is not your fault" I took her hands in mine, "You did not know, no one knew, we were not cautious enough" I comforted her, "Had it not been for you, I would have been their bait right there" I told her. It was true, at least she warned me and I could warn Kaleb. "We are working on getting you out of this mess" Olivia told me.

"Thank you so much" I could not express in words how grateful I was for everyone. Here they were, risking their lives for me and all I did was add another problem to their pile by walking right in the trap. All I could think was if there was a way to stop all this without anyone losing their lives even if it meant that I had to die. There must be some loophole in this scenario, there is always a loophole. I would give anything for this to stop without anyone dying because of or for me.

"You don't have to thank us, we are not going to let you be a human sacrifice for some voodoo magic" Olivia rolled her eyes at the end, making me chuckle. "I am serious, and once I get my hands on that son of a – well, I am going to kill him or her or whatever it is" I knew she was angry but rather than making her look fierce, her anger only made her look like a child throwing fits. Maybe it was because of the fact that I saw her as someone who could do no harm.

"How is Scott?" I asked her, partially trying to distract her and partially to distract myself. "He is fine" she shrugged, Olivia had recently introduced her to the supernatural world, with his father's permission. I was not sure if he was just putting on a brave face or if he had accepted it. "Sometimes he freaks out but he knows that we are all on the same side" Olivia told me, "I would be scared if he did not freak out" I shook my head, "When I told him about me, he reacted in such a way that I had to make sure he understood me" Olivia made me chuckle. "How did you make him believe you?" I asked out of curiosity, "I showed him a little trick" Olivia shrugged as if it was no big deal. "What little trick?" I asked her curiously.

"Initially I thought of levitating the leaves, but since we were out in the open, he might had attributed it to the wind" Olivia started, "Then I thought of levitating him but that would have been too much" I agreed with Olivia, that would have been more than too much. "I created fire around myself and then I walked out of it, dying it out as I stepped out" Olivia said as if that was something easy to grasp. "Olivia!" I exclaimed, "What? I was trying to be creative" she defended herself. "I am not sure why he did not freak out" I admitted, I would have, I probably would have run in a different direction.

"He did, after a while, at first he thought I was going to burn myself when I stepped out of the fire" she told me. That seems like a normal reaction, I am glad that Scott doesn't think that we are a bunch of freaks that he is hanging out with.

Olivia and I spent the rest of day inside with our families. I was anxiously waiting for Kaleb to return. As the time ticked by and Kaleb did not return, my mind started imaging all the worst-case scenarios. I had to remind myself that Kaleb was an old and strong vampire and that it was not that easy to kill him. He was impossible to be weakened by simple or weak magic and hard to be weakened by vervain.

No matter how hard I tried to comfort myself, I could not settle down. I just wanted him here and that was all. I wanted to know that he was alright.

A/N: Hey Readers,

I am sorry I have not updated the story since a long time due to a fatal car accident that has taken place in my university, it has my complete attention and hence I could not update. Please, be patient, and pray for the families who have lost their loved ones and those struggling for their lives.

I will be back with another chapter very soon. I am sorry for all the delay, I request you all to please bear with me.

Thank You!

-JT