A/N: Hi there! :D Yes, this is a new chapter, so please enjoy (and sorry for the very long delay)!
Renzi waited in the car outside of the Gilbert's house meanwhile Elena went to check on Jeremy, needing to make sure her brother was okay before going to the hospital to see Caroline.
The redhead leaned her head against the glass pane of Elena's car and sighed, tired from one of the wildest days of her life and worried about Caroline, who'd suffered an internal hemorrhage from the car accident she, along with Matt and Tyler, were in.
On top of everything, her gown had been stolen as well as Elena's. It was a minimal inconvenience compared to all the worse things that happened tonight, but the dress was the only thing she had to remember her mother by. And now it was gone.
Renzi allowed herself a moment longer to wallow in her sadness, before Elena's screams were heard from inside the house, and she bolted out of the car in alarm.
"Oh my god!" Renzi gasped as she stepped into the small foyer and turned to the kitchen, where John Gilbert lay on a puddle of his own blood on the floor. "Elena, are you okay? What happened?"
"I-I'm okay," the brunette nodded as she knelt beside her biological father and wrapped a towel cloth around his hand with the chopped off fingers. "I just- he needs an ambulance! Renzi, please, call the ambulance!"
She listened to Elena, running over to the living room to grab the phone and dialed 9-1-1. Her voice remained surprisingly calm as she gave them the house's address.
"Paramedics are on their way." She stepped back in the kitchen and in hopes to calm Elena, she offered, "I could give him some of my blood, to heal him."
Elena looked up at her with a rising gratitude in her eyes that was quickly diminished by John's outright refusal through gritted teeth, "No! No, I'd rather d-die."
The Gilbert girl huffed in disapproval but tended to John's injury as Renzi sighed and understandably stepped away from the man.
"Oh my God…" Elena's dark-brown eyes filled with horror, frantically cleaning the blood on her hands off on her jeans before bolting up the stairs in a cry. "Jer! Jeremy!"
Renzi couldn't do anything but stand in the middle of the kitchen, an unsettling feeling anchoring in the pit of her stomach when she caught sight of the large kitchen knife on the kitchen counter, covered in a pool of John's blood.
"Ka...Kath.." John's good hand reached for Renzi's arm as he struggled for breath. "Behind you…"
The redhead quickly understood the man's warning and whirled around with the bloodied knife in hand to look into the living room.
"Elena...?" She stalked into the open space, glancing up the stairs where it had become eerily quiet.
"Over here." A shiver ran down the length of her spine and chilled her breath with a gasp, hearing the front door slam shut behind her. The taunting echoes of the girl's voice drummed in her heart as she ran to the door and pulled it wide open.
"Hey, it's okay, we're here to help." Renzi met the soft blue eyes of the first responder who stood in front of her and lowered the knife.
"Yeah, um… He's over here," she nodded apologetically and let them in. Lingering by the door for another second, the knotted fear in her chest loosened with a little relief when her eyes met Stefan's as he hurried up the front porch steps.
"What happened?" Stefan hugged Elena as they all met in Jeremy's room.
"I'm okay," the brunette sighed though her worries continued as she broke the embrace and motioned over to her brother, who had just woken up with the half-empty bottle of pills still clutched in his hand. "He said that Anna gave him her blood and then he took these pills and now. . . I mean he looks fine but then again so do you. So, I just. . ." She ran her fingers through her hair and forced a breath out, "I don't know."
Stefan looked at her and nodded before standing over Jeremy at the foot of his bed, a firm hand on the boy's face as he searched his dazed eyes.
"I'm fine! Okay?" Jeremy jerked his head back from Stefan's grip and shot Elena an annoyed look, "I feel exactly the same."
Elena shook her head at his words, furious of what he'd done but the fear of loosing her brother was stronger and it held that anger back. "Should I call a paramedic up here? What should I do?"
"No, no," Stefan reassured, "he's fine."
Disappointment dropped down on Jeremy as he questioned, "So you mean I'm not a vampire? Damn it!"
"Don't say that Jeremy-" Elena's eyes met his with a deep concern, "Jeremy, why would you want that?"
He looked up to Elena with a furrowed brow, explaining as he stood up from the edge of his bed, "Did you hear about Anna? What happened to her tonight?" His sister only looked back at him with confusion and he clenched his jaw before saying, "She's dead."
Both Renzi and Elena stared at him in shock at the news while Stefan pulled him away from Elena. "Jeremy, Jeremy. Come here, sit down." Against his will, Jeremy sat down on his bed again and glared defiantly at Stefan. "I am very sorry about Anna, but it's very important that you listen to me right now. With every passing moment, Anna's blood is leaving your system. If you try to kill yourself right now, you could really die." The boy refused to listen, so he slapped him lightly on his cheek to gain his attention. "Hey! Do you understand me?!"
"Stefan..." Elena reached for him as his frustration grew but stepped back when Jeremy sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, I understand."
"Good." Stefan examined him one final time before letting go.
"What about the pills that he took?"
"He didn't take enough to die so Anna's blood actually healed him of that."
Renzi jumped slightly at the sudden, loud knock at the door behind her and turned around to face the policeman. "Miss Gilbert?" He looked into the room and Elena nodded, "I'll be right there."
The redhead crossed her arms over her chest, holding onto her upper arms in a self-embrace as the unsettling feeling still lingered inside. Seeing the policeman go back into the small hallway, she wished for this godforsaken day to end already.
"You need to be at the hospital," said Stefan.
"But-" Elena glanced at her brother, still worried and not wanting to leave his side.
"No, no, no," Stefan took her hand in his reassuringly, "I'll stay here with Jeremy."
"Me too," Renzi spoke up. "I could use a break, if that's okay?"
"Yeah," Elena turned to her with a soft smile, "yeah, of course. I'll let you know how Caroline's doing."
"Please," Renzi let out before Jeremy shook his head with an annoyed expression.
"Look, I don't need a babysitter," he looked between Stefan and Elena.
Elena turned to him as sternly as she could, "Yes, you do."
Renzi's bouncy curls were completely gone as she gently brushed through her damp hair. Having taken a much needed shower, she dressed in a pair of olive-green sweatpants and white t-shirt from her luggage, before occupying her busy mind with the art of unpacking. Even though she only asked for one night, Elena convinced her to stay a few weeks and after everything that had happened, Renzi was grateful for the inviting warmth that welcomed her in the Gilberts' guest room.
Clipping her hair back from her face, she ignored the deep-rooted unnerving feeling that this night had brought on her heart and folded the last of her jeans into the pale yellow dresser which matched the neatly tucked sheets of her new bed.
Letting out a deep breath, she finally pushed all the drawers closed and turned her head to the front of the room at the light knocking on the door.
"Hey, I made some tea," Stefan walked in with a gray mug in his hand.
Renzi thanked him with a smile as she took the drink, making herself comfortable as she sat down on her bed. The scent of chamomile filled her nose, wisps of steam warmed her cheeks as she gently blew on the hot tea before sipping small amounts at a time.
"How's Caroline doing?" She asked while Stefan sat on the edge of the bed beside her.
"Elena called," he explained softly. "Said she's not doing so well but, um..."
"Stefan," she put the tea down on her nightstand and tried to meet his fallen gaze, "what is it?"
He let out a deep breath, staring back at her with a comforting nod, "Damon's going to feed her some of his blood. Caroline will be okay, don't worry."
"Damon?" Renzi repeated, making sure she heard right.
"Yeah, he's at the hospital with them. Sheriff Forbes called him; apparently the Gilbert Device affected Mayor Lockwood as well. He was burned with the rest of the tomb vampires."
She leaned back a bit, both surprised and confused at the news, "But he wasn't a vampire...?"
"No," Stefan replied as her statement came out more of a question. "No, he wasn't."
"Oh my god, poor Tyler and Mrs. Lockwood," she thought aloud and reached for her tea again.
He smiled fondly at her sincerity. "You really mean that, don't you?"
"I do." Renzi nodded, gulping down some more tea before licking the warmth off her bottom lip as she turned to look at him. "No matter what, I choose to believe family is family, and I wouldn't wish the pain of losing someone like that on anyone. Not even my worst enemy."
She had a point. Stefan thought back to Damon and the fear that overwhelmed him knowing that he had been captured to burn with the others tonight. He still felt the flames of the fire hot on his skin as his body acted on instinct and fought to save him. Even after almost a century and a half of being at odds with one another, they were brothers, family, and whether they wanted it or not- truth was they needed each other. And now Stefan realized Renzi understood that, even if they themselves didn't... And he loved her so much more for it.
"Hey, are you alright?" Renzi nudged him softly on his shoulder with her own. A small, amused smile making its way to her lips as she watched him blink away the serious and pensive look on his face with a slight shake of his head.
"I'm good, it's nothing." He heard the front door close and light footsteps make their way into the living room, then. "That must be Elena," he stood up and she followed behind him to meet the girl downstairs.
"Hey," Stefan walked over to Elena as she closed the door behind her and shot him a tired smile. "How did everything go?"
"Not good," the brunette made her way into the living room and sighed deeply with outstretched arms. Knowing exactly what she needed, Stefan wrapped her in a tight hug as she rested her head on his shoulder comfortably, "Just what I needed."
"Wait, is Caroline going to be okay?" Renzi spoke up from behind her. "Could Damon heal her?" Standing in front of her with only an embracing Elena as a divide between them, Stefan spared Renzi a glance, sharing her concern as he gently pulled away from the hug.
Elena looked up at him, a nerve ticking on her face for a slight second before she turned to face the redhead and explained, "Not yet. He wasn't really keen on the idea but hopefully he'll change his mind. Otherwise, there's no hope for Care."
It was the way she said her name, void of any warmth of affection as she referred to her childhood best friend, and it finally clicked for him. Elena's stolen stuff, John getting attacked, and the obvious disdain for Renzi she was trying so hard to hide...
She stepped towards him again, seeking his comforting touch as she feigned her expression sorrow and exhausted. Stefan's jaw clenched, trying not to feel sick to his stomach while his fury boiled inside him and his face transformed menacingly. "Katherine," he bared his fangs at her.
The dark-haired girl blinked, her innocent human façade vanishing in an instant with a proud smirk on her lips to replace it, "You were always a lot harder to fool than you're brother."
Katherine sped behind Renzi before she could charge at her, wood piercing through her skin and bursting a ripple of pain in her back. Renzi stood still, mouth opened in a silent gasp as Katherine's weapon dug into her lung and brushed against her heart, and watched as fear quickly overcame Stefan. But Katherine wouldn't kill her, not like this. Not after she had gone through all that trouble to turn her back in 1864, not after threatening Isobel and John not to hurt her. No, it didn't make sense if she were to kill her now. Renzi tried calming herself down as her heart beat rampant in the vampire's deadly hold, the wooden weapon dug into her flesh agonizingly slow while a warm and steady trickle of blood slithered down her back.
"Although, it does hurt me, Stefan," Katherine wrapped her free arm tighter around Renzi's throat, the smile dropping from her face as she turned to him with pouting lips, "that you aren't enjoying my surprise as well as Damon did."
Stefan furrowed his brow deep in confusion, but refused to get distracted and held up his hands slowly in defeat with his face transformed back to normal, "Let her go, Katherine."
"Only because you ask so nicely," Katherine moved her arm away from Renzi. "Don't worry, we're not done with you yet," she whispered in Renzi's ear and let her go, but not before breaking the kitchen spoon and having some of its handle splintered inside the wound.
Instead of going after Katherine as she sped out of the house, Stefan rushed over to Renzi. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her up as she finally succumbed to the pain and her legs gave out with a cry.
"I- I can't- can't breath," she let the tears fall as her body began to shiver from the waves of burning pain all still burrowed against her heart.
"It's okay, Flor, it's okay," Stefan shushed softly, brushing strands of her hair back from her face as she began to break into a sweat. "There's still some splinters stuck inside you but I'm gonna get them out. You'll be okay. Come on," he continued to guide her arms slowly around his shoulders as she winced at the movement. Sweeping a hand under her knees and never letting go of her waist, he carried her up and walked them to the brightly lit kitchen where he sat her down on one of the kitchen island's stools.
Renzi clenched her jaw tight almost grinding her teeth at the pain, one particular splinter stuck so close to her heart she dared not even speak, while Stefan grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the back length of her shirt open. There were a few pieces of wood that protruded enough for him to use his fingers and plucked them out. He placed them on the countertop and for the great relief of those pieces finally pulled from her skin brought, she thought they'd be bigger. Especially the one that had scraped her heart, it turned out to be as small and thin as a very long toothpick.
"I'll have to dig deeper for the others," said Stefan before he grabbed a damp hand towel to clean some of the drying blood on her back.
"Please be quick," she nodded and tried not to scream again as she felt the pair of clamping scissors probe the wound further in between her shoulders.
"Almost there..." Stefan pulled the last two chipped pieces out and uttered sorry when she winced painfully as the scissors pricked a bit of blood out of her.
"I'm all better again," she managed a small smile and took a deep breathe in and out, relieved that the wound had finally healed. "Thank you, Stefan," she turned her head to look back at him still cleaning the remaining blood on her back.
"I should've realize it was her sooner," he said with his gaze down at his hands, wiping away her blood on them. "None of this would've happened if I had," he continued as he gathered all the mess and trashed it before turning to face her, "I'm sorry, Renzi."
She shook her head and reached her hand out to hold his hand. The sleeve of her cut shirt easily slipping off her shoulder at the movement, revealing more of her chest but she paid no mind to embarrassment as she met his eyes, "This isn't your fault... It's Katherine's."
"Yeah," he let out, hesitant, before she squeezed his hand a little tighter and he tried again. "Yeah, you're right," it was genuine this time, watching as Renzi pulled her hand back and broke their fixed stare to awkwardly adjust the torn shirt to cover herself. Realizing her effort were useless, he cleared his throat and put space between them as he said, "I'll get you something else to put on."
Now was the perfect time for her cheeks to burn as she couldn't help her embarrassed chuckle, "Thanks."
"Stefan?" Elena's voice was heard from the living room, concerned as both Damon and she noticed blood on the wood tile floor that hadn't been there before.
"Hey, it's okay, we're okay," Stefan walked towards her when she turned to the kitchen and saw Renzi with her bloody shirt ripped opened, sparing time enough for a quick embrace.
"Oh my god- what happened?" She shook her head in confusion, following as he stepped into the living room for a second and grabbed a throw blanket before walking back to the kitchen.
Renzi stood up from her seat and hurried over to Stefan, taking the blanket he draped safely over her shoulders and wrapping herself with it as her eyes caught Damon's.
"Katherine happened," Damon asserted while Elena took Renzi upstairs to change shirts and check on Jeremy.
Moments later, Renzi joined Stefan and Damon in the kitchen and pulled out a chair from the little dinner table on the corner to sit on.
"Woman certainly knows how to make and entrance," she heard Damon grumble under his breath before he looked at her. "How are you feeling? Do you need some blood? I packed a few from the hospital, there in the car-"
"No," she shook her head at his concern, almost endearing if it were possible, but she didn't need it, "I'm fine."
"She's not gonna hurt you again," standing right in front of her, Renzi drew in a breath in surprise when Damon reached out and cupped her cheek. Dumbfounded as the tender touch of his fingers caressed the side of her face, stopping below the tip of her chin to lift her gaze. Her unblinking eyes locked on his as they communicated an intimacy which she had never received. Not in a hundred years, and especially not from him, as he said only to her, "I won't let her."
The unsettling silence in the room upon Stefan's halted back-and-forth pacing swayed her senses, leaning away from Damon and shifting in her seat as her attention landed on Stefan ahead.
"Katherine said 'I didn't enjoy my surprise like you did.' What does that mean, Damon?" He glanced between Renzi and him, crossing his arms over his chest expectantly.
She clasped her hands together in her lap and brushed off the rising beat of her heart, waiting for Damon's answer. Her disconcerting demeanor clearly throwing him off guard as he blinked at her in confusion, though she agreed with his brother that it was him who needed to explain himself.
"She pretended to be Elena, too, when she showed up earlier tonight." His back was still to Stefan, shooting Renzi a knowing smile.
What exactly has gotten into him? Renzi thought with a frown as she made no sense of Damon's strange behavior. She opened her mouth to ask him this but Elena entered the kitchen with a sigh, "I told Jeremy. I can't lie to him anymore."
Stefan walked over to her side, "Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not alright," Elena shook her head, honest, "I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone things would get better."
"We all did," Renzi sighed as Damon stepped aside to let Elena sit with her at the round table.
"Katherine was in this house, that means she's been invited in. What are we gonna do?"
"Move," Damon deadpanned. As if that would solve all their problems.
Renzi shared Elena's annoyed look and couldn't help but snap, "Damon, be serious for a moment, will you?"
"I am." He narrowed his eyes at the redhead's unwarranted hostility and pointedly reminded both girls, "Katherine wants you dead; there's zero you can do about it; you would be dead but you're not. So clearly she has other plans."
"Right," Stefan held his brother's attention with a glare, "and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process. What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?"
"Are you going to tell him, or should I?" Damon looked down at Renzi.
She stared back at him, her mind addled by his ambiguity ever since he came back from the hospital, while an uneasiness stirred in her stomach at the insinuating glint of his eyes.
Taking her silence as a response, he stepped closer to her side and he smirked at his brother, "Renzi and I... kissed."
Renzi's eyes widened beside him, her mind going blank as she was left speechless.
"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan asked what she couldn't, glowering daggers at Damon before he searched for a true answer in her eyes. But they were just as shocked as his while Damon went on with his taunting.
"Well, you know, when two lips pucker and they go... " his smirk grew bigger, enjoying himself to the fullest as he animatedly smooched his lips together and demonstrated.
Renzi ignored Elena's eyes on her, more surprised to see Stefan's features burn with an anger which he couldn't control, and finally found it in herself to react as he sped towards Damon.
"Wait-" She abandoned her seat in a blink of an eye and stood between the brothers, a hand on Stefan's chest as she shifted to her side and held Damon back with a look, "It wasn't me..." Blue eyes stared down at her, appalled by her words, and she glanced at Stefan. He seemed more composed than his brother so she let her hand off him and turned to Damon with a shake of her head, "I didn't kiss you, Damon."
"It's okay, Renz, you don't have to pretend. Stefan's cool with it." He let out a low chuckle and directed at him, "Right, Stef?"
"No, listen," Renzi turned to Stefan, certain about it although Damon was making her go mad, "I did not kiss Damon!" She didn't understand why Damon was saying all of this, or why she felt so defensive about it, but she just needed Stefan to believe her. "It wasn't me- It couldn't have been me, I was with Elena all night."
"Yeah, we were together the whole time," Elena confirmed, stepping away from her chair to stand next to Stefan.
Renzi nodded at her, a bit self-conscious when she caught Elena's apprehensive look in her doe eyes. The girl didn't mean to express it, but her body language betrayed her as she wrapped her arm possessively around Stefan's waist while he brought her in close.
"So, what does this mean?" She turned to Damon as he scoffed in frustration, "There's another doppelganger running around with your face?"
"I don't know." Renzi ran a hand through her hair and couldn't offer anything more than a shrug and a deep breath, "Perhaps... I-I mean, is that even possible?"
Elena pulled away from Stefan and tried to give her unnerved friend some hope as she moved closer to Renzi. "John could know something. There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him," she figured.
"She's Katherine." Damon leaned against the kitchen's entry wall, crossing his arms over his chest with a derisive smile, "She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's been up to before she wants you to know."
"No, Elena's right," Renzi mediated as she finally pieced together something that could help. "When Isobel had me, she mentioned something about Katherine coming for me; John seemed to know about it, too. And tonight," she looked at Stefan, "before Katherine left, she said to me: 'we're not done with you, yet'..."
"She knows who this other girl is," he concluded.
"The might be working together."
"It's okay," Stefan reassured her as her eyes gave way to worry of the possibility. "John must know something through Isobel. Your mother," he turned to Elena, "she was in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital and get him to talk."
"I've got a better idea," Damon spoke up.
"Which is?"
"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch." Renzi rolled her eyes at his snark, although she saw it coming. "See you."
"I-Is that smart?" Elena called after him as he turned to leave.
Damon stopped and faced them one last time, "If Katherine thinks she's been ignored it will lure her out, she'll make a move."
"Yeah?" Stefan scoffed and raised an eyebrow at his brother, "And then what?"
Damon shrugged, contemplating as he retreated out of the kitchen and into the living room, "Stake her, rip her head off... Something poetic. We'll see."
It was well into the morning hours of the night when Renzi gave up sleep in its entirety. Every time she closed her eyes, attempting to doze off, a hundred thoughts crossed her mind instead.
Lifting the sheets off her, she stood from her bed and grabbed her art journal from the nightstand. With a soft, knitted blanket draped over her shoulders and the warm light of the lamp on the writing desk, Renzi sat on the cushioned chair and let her mind wander. Pencil in right hand, a loving caress from firm fingers on a shy face came to life on paper as she encountered questions she couldn't answer.
Her focus tonight solely on male hands, their long fingers, clipped nails, strong knuckles. Gentle in their touch at first while she skimmed the surface of her emotions. For a moment, she had seen the old Damon tonight, felt it in the way he looked at her, and it scared her- It hurt her- Because she knew it wasn't her Damon, not anymore. Her Damon now was not gentle and warm. Her Damon now was brisk and piercing...
It wasn't working.
Renzi stopped her sketch and crossed the display of affection with harsh lines, scratching the memory to concentrate on a new one.
She let her heart take control of her art as she turned the page and delved into what truly plagued her mind tonight. The feeling wasn't sweet and chaste, it was defensive and furious. Bloodied hands drawn with a roughness in which they gripped the tender skin of the other's frail waist. Because deep down she desired something forbidden, something that could only go as far as these sketches of his hands on her journal.
Because it wasn't the doting look she received as Damon believed they kissed. It was the rage in Stefan's eyes as he believed it so that made her feel something. That very something which left her all the more alone in Elena's spare guest room, knowing that she would have to live without it as he slept accompanied and she didn't.
Review Responses will be answered through PM this time, but as always,
I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D
Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!