Chapter Fifty-Three: Over the Love

'Cause it's a feeling that you get, when the afternoon is set,
On a bridge into the city.
And I don't wanna see what I've seen,
To undo what has been done.
Turn off all the lights, let the morning come.
Now there's green light in my eyes, and my lover on my mind.
And I'll sing from the piano, tear my yellow dress and,
Cry and cry and cry over the love of you
'Cause you're a hard soul to save with an ocean in the way,
But I'll get around it, I'll get around it

~Florence + the Machine

Nilin sat in the kitchen, on top of the counter with her back leaning on the side of the fridge. Her hair was damp from the shower she had just taken and she was in a clean pair of sweatpants and a sweater. She had her knees pulled up to her chest, resting her chin on the tops of them. It was getting hard to keep her eyes open.

She wanted to go to bed, but Elena didn't want Nilin out of her sight just yet. They were all worried about her and not afraid to be obvious about it. It was completely understandable, but Nilin was drained and in need of a good crying session. She couldn't do that at the moment, so she held it in. Quietly, Nilly just listened as the others talked, all sitting around the kitchen island with cups of coffee in front of them.

It was a solemn conversation. At first no one mentioned what happened merely an hour ago, they all danced around it asking if they would like creamer in their mug or not. It bothered Nilin because she needed to talk about this— she felt compelled to defend herself and her actions— but, at the same time, she couldn't bring it up.

Finally, Elena asked the question that they were all thinking. "So, what? That's it?" she wondered. "No more John, no more tomb vampires, no more Finch?" she asked, looking around. When she put it that way, Nilin almost felt hopeful.

"Well yeah, but now we have Katherine in town," Stefan reminded them, and the hopefulness vanished. For a moment, Nilin had forgotten about her demonic look-a-like that was running around the streets of Mystic Falls.

"What does this chick want anyway?" Mags asked as she took a sip of her coffee. Nilin knew she took her coffee black when she was stressed out. Instead of listening to the question, Nilly was trying to figure out how Mags could drink it like that.

"That's something we haven't figured out yet," Stefan answered her. He didn't care for the taste coffee, Nilly had made the two of them tea instead.

"I still can't believe Finch did what he did," Elena murmured, casting a quick glance at Nilly. "He had us all completely fooled," she shook her head. Nilin knew Elena took her coffee super sweet, four teaspoons of sugar and a crap ton of vanilla creamer.

"He was smart," Magnolia shrugged. "He played us and we let him. Goes to show you how easy it is for people to wedge themselves underneath your skin," she paused for a moment. "Shit, what am I going to tell Rider. He's going to be heartbroken," she mumbled to herself.

Finally she needed to say something. "He knew exactly what to do to get me to fall into his hands," Nilin spoke up. She was looking out through the window over the sink. It was night time, dark and still. "It was his goal from the start and no one suspected a thing, not until it was too late."

"He had everyone fooled, Nilin. Not just you," Stefan said. "You said it yourself, he knew everything about you. It was his job to manipulate you," he explained to her.

She shook her head, feeling the build up of tears. "I know, I just feel so dumb. He had the ability to turn me against all of you. He helped tear my relationship with Damon apart," she whispered. "He knew that by doing that he was leaving me alone and hopeless and then he just swooped in," she said, her voice getting louder, angrier. "Like was supposed to be some demented knight in shining armor or something."

The guilt was crushing Nilin. Damon had tried to tell her, Magnolia had tried to tell her, and all she did was yell at them and push them away. The lights above them flickered, causing everyone's eyes to shoot to her. Nilin let out a deep breath and they returned to normal. "Sorry," she muttered.

"It's okay, Nilin." Elena spoke. "You cared about him, you had feelings for him and he went and did something awful."

"Those feelings weren't real," she snapped. "He manipulated all of it. None of it was real, Elena," she told them. She needed to clarify that, for herself more than anyone else. She was trying her best to wrap her head around this. At the end of it all though, it was just one more person who took Nilin's trust and disappeared with it before she even knew what hit her.

"Nilin, no don't say that," Elena tried, but Nilly had already hopped off the counter. Elena looked just as tired as Nilin felt, but still she was standing tall. That was much more than what Nilin could do.

"I just need to go to bed," she told her. "Can I go upstairs now?" she asked, looking to her sister. Elena just nodded, leaning into Stefan a little. "Thank you guys, for everything you did today. I'll be better in the morning," Nilly promised as she said good night to the three of them and then went up to her room.

It felt like there were way more stairs to climb than normally. She took them slowly and finally made it to the quiet second floor. She closed the bedroom door behind her, leaning her head on it. Then she slid to the floor, tears sliding down her face and dripping off her chin. It all burst through the moment the door latched.

She felt dirty, used, like there weren't enough scolding showers to make her feel clean again. Finch had turned around and played her like a love sick idiot. He pulled out the most vulnerable parts of her and exploited them for his own use.

It was all in order to get her back to the Otherside. This was all for some stupid divination. It pissed her off and shook Nilin to the core at the same time. Ever time she closed her eyes she felt herself being thrown over the edge of the bridge again. The same bridge her aunt and uncle died on. Finch knew what he was doing. He was able to lure her there, playing the boy who cried vampire.

It made her sick to her stomach. Nilin clutched her gut, curling up in a ball against the bedroom door. She was nauseous and her head pounded. Her mind drifted back to what Finch had warned her about. She would get worse. Nilin didn't understand what that meant. She wrote off these symptoms as sleepless nights and stressful days, nothing more, nothing less. But could there be more to it?

Eventually, her mind turned itself off. Nilly made it to her bed some how. She crawled under her covers and waited for her heavy eyes to close.


"I'm going to give that spiritual doctor lady a call in the morning, Dr. Rowan I think her name was?" Magnolia said, leaning back on the stool. "Maybe she can give us some more insight on what the hell happened tonight."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Elena said, rubbing the back of her neck. "What Finch was saying, that Nilin's going to become sick, I don't get it. She'd been fine all this time, do you think he was bluffing?" she wondered.

"Do we have any idea of knowing at this point?" Mags asked.

"There has to be something, somewhere." Stefan said. "Until then we'll just keep an eye on her."

"God, I hope she's okay," Elena mumbled. She dropped her head into her hands, brushing her hair back. She suddenly felt like she had aged ninety years, the night had been grueling. It had dug up way too many old memories and the feelings tied with them. The Wikery Bridge had come seconds away fro claiming another Gilbert.

"Me too," Mags was agreeing as she leaned her forearms on the counter. "There's just too much shit going on. Like this Katherine popping up, what happened with that?"

"She terrorized people at the Mayor's memorial. She's been posing as Nilin and me, going around doing god knows what." Elena told her. When it was said out loud, their entire situation sounded like madness.

"The only thing I go from her was that she was back to rekindle the flame between her and I… and her and Damon," Stefan explained. "Which is ridiculous, I told her to, more or less, shove it up her ass and she stabbed me, so that was the end of that conversation."

"I know where you stand with Katherine," Mags said looking to Stefan. "You hate her guts, but Damon, on the other hand, I'm worried there."

"She's already trying to pin Damon and Stefan against each other," Elena told Magnolia. "It's working a little."

"Now that she's in town she's going to push him over the deep end," Stefan said. "And I can tell you from experience, that is not a good thing."

"So we get Nilin to keep him grounded," Elena suggested. This was the last thing they needed. Having a potentially unstable Damon and Nilin at the same time could lead to bad things.

"That's only possible if Katherine hasn't gotten to him already." Stefan said. "Damon thought he kissed Nilin. That means he still feels something for her."

"And that means he actually and genuinely cares," Elena said, taking a sip of coffee.

"And I'm not gonna let Katherine come in here and destroy that part of him that is finally, after all of this time, willing to feel something," Stefan explained. "She's going to try to break him, she's going to try to break us and how we respond to that will define us," he said.

"Then we better prepare for all hell to break lose," Mags sighed. "… part two," she added.

"Let's just hope we get one night without fires or someone getting throw over a bridge or people's finger's being chopped off," Elena said, leaning back onto Stefan.

Mags ran her fingers through her choppy hair. "I still can't believe Finch was working with Katherine," she shook her head.

"That's Katherine for you," Stefan said. "She get's others to do her dirty work for her, while she pulls the strings behind the scenes. With him gone though, she's bound to show her face soon."

"She's clever, I'll give her that," Magnolia said, then she looked to him. "So, Stef. What'd you say to Katherine that was enough to get yourself skewed?" she wondered.

A grin came over Stefan's face as he shook his head. "I basically called her a lying, selfish, manipulative bitch that she's always been. And threatened to hunt her down and rip her heart out if she didn't leave town."

Mags let out a low whistle, causing Elena to laugh. "Damn, that would do it."

"Yeah, it clearly didn't get the point across though," he said, resting his chin on the top of Elena's head.

"Well, hopefully she get's it soon," Mags wished. "I've had enough action to last a life time."

"I think we all have," Elena sighed. As she looked around, it was easy to see that the night took a toll on everyone. "Thank you, for what you did tonight, Mags," Elena told her softly.

Magnolia just smiled. "All in a days work," she sighed. "Let's just hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon."


The boarding house was empty. Damon had left Stefan to take Nilin home, he was still over there leaving Damon the house. He wanted to be with Nilin to make sure she was okay but he decided against it. The line between them was practically nonexistent and he wanted to avoid crossing it. She needed to be alone now and so did he.

That left Damon to walk through the silent boarding house and into living room to pour him self a drink. He pulled out a glass tumbler and filled it quickly with bourbon. Some sloshed over the side, spilling onto the wood. Damon ignored it, this drink was greatly needed. As he lifted the glass to his lips, a smirk slowly spread across his lips.

He set the glass back down. "Very brave of you to come here," he said, turning to see Katherine there sitting on the couch, long legs crossed.

"I wanted to say goodbye," she said, standing up.

"Leaving already, with your tail between your legs?" he wondered. "What happen, the plan with your little bird toy didn't work out so you run to the hills?"

Katherine grinned. "I knew that wasn't going to work from the start. I planned for it to fail," she explained. "But, no. I know where I'm not wanted."

"Don't pout. It's not attractive on a woman your age." Damon advised. He had been waiting for this, he knew she'd show up again at some point. Of course it's when he was tried and irritated. Katherine did always have perfect timing.

Katherine just scoffed. "Ouch. I know I broke your heart but that's no reason to be mean to me."

"You need to have a heart for it to break," Damon told her. It made him uneasy that she was so close. He was on alert and he didn't know it that was a good or bad thing.

She just laughed, uncrossing her legs and standing up. "Poor Damon, stuck at a crossroads. You don't know what to do with yourself now that the kid is out of the picture. You're welcome," she smirked, parading towards him.

"Right, because you knew we'd get rid of him," Damon scoffed. He was a masochist. He wanted to egg her on when he should be throwing her out of her.

"Like I said before, I planned on it," she said, letting the words roll off her tongue.

"What else did you plan on?" he asked, watching her carefully.

"Why nothing, Damon," she said with such false innocence it made him sick. "I don't understand why you all assume the worst of me," she pouted, tracing a finger across his chest as she walked around him.

"Because you're a colossal bitch, Katherine," he sneered, grabbing her wrist.

"Oh? Did I struck a nerve?" she smiled, pressing her body against him.

He just shook his head, dropping her wrist and turning to leave with a drink in hand. Katherine appeared in the door way though. He knew she would. "What, no goodbye kiss?" she asked.

"Why don't I kill you instead?" he offered. Then he eyed her, watching the way she moved. "What are you doing here?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "Nostalgia, curiosity, et. cetera."

"I'm better at the enigmatic one-liners, Katherine. What are you up to?" he repeated, taking a threatening step towards her.

"Trust me, Damon," Katherine purred, matching his move with one of her own. "When I'm up to something, you'll know it." Her word games were so tiring. It shoved Damon to the edge. Yet here he still stood.

"You tried to get Nilin killed tonight, why?" he pushed.

"Oh, don't tell me you're actually pining over that girl. I thought she was just a replacement toy until the real thing came back," she questioned, closing the distance between them with her swaying hips.

"Don't flatter yourself, Katherine," he said, gritting his teeth in attempt to maintain his blasé disposition.

She smiled a little, seeing right through him. "Come on, Damon. Kiss me—or kill me," Katherine dared. "Which will it be? Because we both know that you're only capable of one."

She inched closer to him, her lips a breath away from his. Damon smirked at her attempt, then he turned and walked away from her. Of course, Katherine didn't appreciate that. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back on the hardwood floors.

He tired to get up, but Katherine pushed him back down, her body hovering over his. She stroked the side of his face. "My sweet, innocent Damon," she sighed.

Damon gritted his teeth. Using his strength, he flipped them. Looming over her, he wrapped a hand around his neck. She just smirked at him, running her hands up his shirt. Damon hesitated for a moment, contracting his hand.

He hated her, he wanted nothing more than for her to suffer. But for some reason he couldn't do it. He shot forward, capturing her lips in a rough kiss. His lips traveled down to her neck.

"That's more like it," purred happily.