A couple days later, I got a call from a random number so I answered it, only to find out it was Stefan. "I need your help."
"Figures. How did you get my number?"
"Caroline gave it to me." Maybe I should change it. "It's my brother Damon, he's been bitten by Tyler and it's killing him. Is there anything you know about a cure for a werewolf bite?" He asked me and I had to stop and process for a second, thinking that maybe I'd misheard him.
"So you're asking me to help you save your brother who I had to set on fire because he tried to attack me, twice, whilst you're the guy who actually did attack me and almost ripped my throat out, yet you're here asking me for favours. What kind of fantasy land are you living in? Why the hell would I even consider helping the both of you?" I demanded as I shook my head in disbelief. The nerve of this guy, I can't even begin to comprehend how he figured that I would just drop everything and help him.
"Please, Damon is dying."
"And that's supposed to bother me how?"
"Look, I'm sorry he attacked you and that I almost killed you, but I really need your help. Can you cure him?" Stefan begged me sombrely, making me sigh heavily as I began to waver slightly. "Please. He's my brother. I can't lose him like this." Damn it, fine.
"I'm not sure if I can help, but I guess I can try." I finally said, agreeing to at the very least take a look at him. "As far as I'm aware, my people never tried to heal a vampire before, but at the very least I might be able to slow the process and give you guys more time. Where is he?" Telling me that he was at the house, I drove myself over there where Stefan was already waiting at the door for me, giving me an uncertain nod and struggled to figure out what to say.
"Thank you for doing this."
"No promises, Stefan, this might not even work and I have a feeling it's not going to." Cutting him off before he could get his hopes up too high, I stalked inside the house. "So tell me what happened with the ritual. Did Elena survive?"
"Yeah, yeah she's okay. Elijah gave her this ring that the witches made to save the doppelganger's life, and it worked though Klaus killed her Aunt Jenna after turning her into a vampire." Faltering slightly at the last part, I had Stefan tell me exactly what had happened so that I could understand what exactly went down. He started from the beginning, including the part where Damon had force fed Elena his blood in order to turn her into a vampire after she died because he didn't believe the ring would work. Personally I felt insulted that he didn't trust my magic, and here I was going to try and save him. You're way too soft, Ophelia.
"So Elena's a vampire now?"
"No. Whatever that ring did, it worked. She came back human and didn't make the transition to vampire even after Klaus killed her. She's fine." Well, I'm glad the ring worked for her and even kept her from becoming a vampire. Guess I really was a hero. Stefan brought me down to the same basement cell where they had been keeping Elijah, opening the door to reveal Damon on the ground coughing up blood. The moment the door was open, he tried to rush out but I pushed him back with magic, pinning him on the ground as he grunted and writhed in pain.
"That looks nasty." I frowned as I saw the infectious looking wound on his right arm, the venom of the werewolf bite spreading. With a flick of my wrist I knocked Damon out so that I could get a closer look at the injury and try some healing magic. With one hand resting on his arm and the other over his heart, I channelled my magic into him, trying to neutralise the venom and heal the wound but my magic wouldn't work. It was like it purposefully refused to help, making me frown further before I closed my eyes and searched for the answer.
My mind drifted, being given a vision which allowed me to learn the answer from one of my ancestors as I connected to them. "I can't heal him." I finally spoke, letting go and standing back up as I faced Stefan. "My magic won't be of any use here, I'm sorry. You guys exist outside the laws of nature, whilst my magic is centred within it. There's nothing I can do." Stefan breathed heavily, looking utterly devastated having placed a great deal of his hope on a miracle cure.
"Is there nothing else you can think of? Even if you could just give him some more time, we might be able to think of something else." I arched an eyebrow at him.
"I'm already doing you a huge favour by trying, and I told you my magic can't help him. You guys are literally unnatural beings, my ancestors call you abominations of perverse magic, I can't heal him. The magic I use to heal and nurture things only affect the living and that which exists within the natural world. I'm afraid you're going to have to find your miracle cure elsewhere." Twitching slightly in anger, Stefan tensed at me as he glowered.
"You don't have to be a jerk about it."
"What, you expect me to be polite when both of you tried to kill me? I think you're overestimating yourself here Stefan. You may be cute, but that doesn't get you a free pass with me." Taking a slow breath to keep myself calm, I lifted my chin proudly as I met Stefan's glare fearlessly. "If you want to save your brother, I suggest you take it up with Klaus."
"Klaus?" Now confused, I rolled my eyes as I stepped closer to Stefan, further proving that I wasn't afraid of him anymore. I had no reason to be. Since I now had magic, there was literally nothing he could do to me anymore.
"Yes, Klaus. He's a vampire, right? But he's also a werewolf. If his vampire side is unaffected by his werewolf side, then it stands to reason that he's somehow immune to werewolf venom and he's also one of the oldest vampires around. Perhaps you should ask him about it, he may know a cure. If nothing else, talk to Bonnie. Maybe her magic will work on him." Lifting my hand, I pressed a finger against Stefan's chest, driving the point home as I looked at him evenly with a low, threatening tone. "Don't ask for anymore favours. You owe me for almost killing me, both you and your brother. I won't be this nice ever again."
Then I left him, brushing past him in order to leave him and his brother behind. I really did not like those two. All of them seemed to be almost constant caught up in some life or death struggle and I wanted to stay as far away from it all as possible. As soon as I graduate, I'm getting my folks and moving away from here. Mystic Falls can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. The only other person in this entire town that I was worried about, was Matt. I wanted to stay and make sure that he at least was okay, though I was beginning to figure out that he was actually more clued in on what was going on since I'd been noticing how weird he was acting around Caroline, and today when I saw him, he was now being funny with me.
He was shifty and nervous, like he knew something, glancing at me almost constantly and barely engaging with me when I tried to talk to him, so I just gave up. "Okay what's the deal? Are you mad at me or something?"
"What? No, everything's fine."
"Don't try lying to me Mattie, you're a worse liar than I am. Come on tell me, what's wrong?" Not letting go until he came clean, Matt finally admitted that he knew about the vampires in town, and that Caroline had told him that I was some kind of witch like Bonnie, which made him nervous to be around me. "Oh, so you know everything? That's great, means I don't have to tread on eggshells around you." It was somewhat of a relief but at the same time, I was a little irritated that Caroline had told Matt about me. That was my secret, she had no right to go telling everyone about it, and if she knew then that meant Elena must have told her too. God, can nobody keep something private around here? "I'm not going to hurt you Matt, I'm still the same me. Just with a touch of magic these days."
"I can't really say I get what it is you're supposed to be, I just didn't see it coming." Matt admitted as he took a break from work for a few minutes, finally actually turning to face me so we could talk properly, taking a seat at an empty table for a moment. "So you can do magic?"
"Yeah, a little like Bonnie but my magic source is different from hers. It's hard to explain, just think of it as the both of us being plugs in two different power outlets." I explained to him as I leaned against the table. "Are you okay? This must have been a real shock for you, finding out about Caroline and everyone else. Who else knows?"
"Pretty much all the founding families, the sheriff is in on it too. I couldn't take all the acting anymore, pretending not to know and being with Caroline…it was too much." Understanding his struggle, I gave Matt a sympathetic smile.
"It's going to be okay, Matt, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Turns out, being a druid is actually pretty badass and it's a real terrible idea to mess with me, so if anyone tries anything then you can just send them my way or give me a call. I'll straighten them out for you." I promised him and he managed a weak smile.
"Why would you do that for me? I mean, I know we're friends, but I heard you wouldn't even help Elena when she was going to be sacrificed in a ritual. Why protect me and not her?"
"Because Elena and I aren't friends, and I've known you the longest since I first came to this town. You've been a good friend to me these past couple of months and I feel like we've bonded again, and I don't want to lose that." I said to him, flinching slightly as I thought hard on why it was I was picky with people. "You know, I don't really let myself care about people outside my immediate circle of family. I figure the less people I care about, the less likely I'm going to get hurt by them if they die or they leave. I already lost one family, I don't want to lose anyone else, so not getting involved with dangerous stuff like this is just my way of protecting myself."
"Sounds kinda lonely, Lia. You can't go your entire life without letting yourself care about people." Matt said to me gently, sliding his hand across the table in order to touch mine, gracing his fingers against my own. "It's okay to let people in, you know."
"Maybe." I hummed softly, deep in thought as I observed Matt holding my hand over the table. "But right now, I'm not ready. I've already told Klaus that you're off limits, and if he wants to stay on my good side, he won't do anything to hurt you." Knowing that I needed to get going, I turned my hand over in order to squeeze his hand with an encouraging smile. "I'm sorry about you and Caroline. For what it's worth, I don't think all vampires are completely soulless. I think some of them actually do somehow hold onto their humanity. They just need a chance to prove it."
"Yeah, I think you might be right." He agreed pensively, so I patted him firmly on the shoulder before leaving, stepping outside into the bright sunlight and hoping that this was the last of it, and soon Klaus would leave and everything would go back to normal so I could just graduate and get the hell out of this town before anything else could sweep in and threaten to destroy everything.