Make sure you visit the DeGrassi Saviors website to vote in the couplings tournaments. We are on the final showdown for all four couples, the winning two will be featured in an upcoming story!
Also, on my page of the DeGrassi Saviors site you can vote on the story that will replace Swirling Storm Inside. Four stories to choose from:
1) We've Got to Learn with these Ghosts ~ a future fic inspired by the television show Cold Case.
2) Undercover as the Lover ~ a Clallas FWB story.
3) I Love You More than the Sins of My Youth ~ A Jay/Clare slow burn.
4) In No Particular City ~ Greatly inspired by the show Dawson's Creek it intertwines many DeGrassi storylines and Dawson's Creek story lines including an Owen/Clare/Drew love triangle. I'll leave the poll up until I post the last chapter of SSI, so get those votes in now!
Finally, please see my profile page on this site. There have been some changes made to the upcoming stories list. You'll see that One Shots are virtually gone. As I'm no longer posting one shots regularly they were just hanging out there which seemed pointless. Many of my one shots never stayed one shots and many of them were three chapters already or got more chapters.
So, I went through the list and got rid of ones I didn't think I'd ever write for whatever reason. If, based on the plots, I already thought the one shot would be a two or three shot I simply moved it to the short stories list. I extended the plots if necessary and now it will be a short story and I'm going through those at a pretty decent pace. If I really wanted to write the one shot I added more to the plots to make it a short story.
That's all the announcements, please enjoy the chapter!
Ch. 5 First Night in Mystic Falls
(CLARE)
"You wouldn't be imposing on anyone; Stefan and I don't do much and it's better than spending Christmas alone isn't it? Plus that way I would know you were safe, and you get to spend more time with me," Damon asserts with a cocky grin.
I still feel as though I'd be imposing, but he has a point. At least, if I go with them I won't be alone in my home, and Klaus can come in now. Plus, Christmas with Damon and Stefan sounds better than being here alone and depressed. Also, better than alone and vulnerable to Klaus.
"Okay, I'll return with you and spend the holidays, better than being here alone or at the mercy of Klaus," I reply getting my pajama top back on.
"Good," Damon smiles, "let's go in so you can get some sleep."
He puts his hand at the small of my back and we walk to the door that leads to the house. I barely have it open before Klaus appears in the doorway. His eyebrows are arched, his eyes narrowed, his mouth set in a thin angry line as he glowers at Damon.
"Trying to keep me from her so you can sleep with her yourself Salvatore?" Klaus accuses, his tone is outraged, but he's not yelling.
"That's not at all what happened Klaus. I came out to the garage to get away, to think. Damon was sleeping down here, and he heard me. We were talking, I kissed him and i…"
I can't even finish before Klaus punches Damon! I gasp as Damon goes flying back and hits Mom's car. It was not a normal punch, it was a punch of incredible force sending the other vampire flying back. Reminiscent of a punch from an old western, and if I wasn't so surprised and scared right now I'd find that amusing.
Damon is back on his feet in a micro second, punching Klaus just as hard and sending him into the wall. Klaus hits the shelves sending camping equipment, luggage and other things careening on him, and the ground. His arm is cut, but I watch it heal before my eyes. I want them to stop, but I'm too shocked to say or do anything right now. The calamity of everything falling to the ground woke up Alaric. He comes through the door to see the two vampires fighting and making a mess of my garage.
"Both of you stop," Alaric demands. They don't listen, but Alaric being in here and telling them to stop knocks me out of my shock.
"STOP FIGHTING," I yell at them. It works, they both stop and look at me. "You're acting like children and ruining my garage. It appears even a hundred years isn't enough for boys to mature," I huff with annoyance before retrieving my suitcase that is now on the ground. "I'm going to go pack, and don't either of you even think about coming into my room," I tell the two vampires in the firmest, angriest voice I can, then look at Alaric. "Do you have something that can hurt them?"
"I do," he nods.
"Good, come with me please and stand guard, at the moment I don't trust either of them."
Alaric follows me into the house, before we go upstairs he grabs one of his bags from the living room. He was sleeping in the chair but didn't wake when I came downstairs earlier. He follows me upstairs and into my room, I close the door once we're in motioning for him to sit on the bed. I put the suitcase next to him, opening it before turning towards my closet.
"Decided to go with your friend for the holidays?" Alaric asks as I start getting clothes from my closet.
"No, Damon invited me to Mystic Falls for the holidays. It sounded good until the two started fighting. It's still better than being here alone. Anyway, if I stay here I'm afraid Klaus will stay here with me."
"Yeah, he probably would," Alaric nods.
"Can I ask how you got involved in all this? Clearly you know who and what they are, you seem to be protective of Jeremy and Elena, are you related?"
"Not exactly," Alaric grins.
While I pack he explains to me about Isobel, Jennaand how he came to live with Elena and Jeremy as a guardian. I'm done packing when he's done telling his story. After hearing it I've decided that any involvement with vampires is complicated.
"You want to go back to sleep?" Alaric asks when I zip up my suitcase and set it on the floor.
"No, I'm pretty sure I won't be sleeping tonight."
"Then, you want to talk about what happened between you and Damon to make Klaus that angry?"
"I was talking with Damon; asking about vampires, why he compelled me to forget vampires, why Klaus won't leave me alone, why Damon cares, and then I kissed him. I have no idea why, it just happened, I wanted to kiss him, I did. Then we were making love, I wasn't really thinking about it in the moment, I probably should have, but it's too late now. When Damon was picking up my pajamas from where he'd tossed them around the garage he said I should come back to Mystic Falls for the holidays. After a moment of consideration, and insistence from him that I wouldn't be imposing, I said I would. When we were going to come back inside Klaus was at the door, and they began fighting."
"Well, this should make the holiday's more interesting," Alaric remarks.
"For all of us," I nod. "If you're tired you can go back downstairs, I'm pretty sure they won't come up here."
"No, I'm not tired either, but we have a couple hours before sunrise. Maybe you should get dressed and put on some coffee. Damon and Stefan drove all the way here, I'm sure they'll drive back."
I take my suitcase downstairs, but don't see either Klaus or Damon, which has me a little worried. At least, until I see the light still on in the garage and I hear them out there. I walk to the doorway and see them in there cleaning up the mess they made earlier. As soon as they see me or maybe sense me, I'm not really sure, they stop and look at me.
"I'd say thanks for cleaning up, but the only reason there was a mess is because you two were fighting. I'm going to get dressed and put on some coffee, as I'm clearly not going to sleep tonight. We can leave when the others wake up," I tell them.
"Why not just wake them now?" Klaus inquires.
"No, let them sleep," I reply turning and running up the stairs.
I lock my door when I'm back in my bedroom, though I'm sure it won't really keep Klaus or Damon out. I get dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and sweater, I put socks and slippers on for now, I'll put my boots on before we go. I go into the washroom, locking the door again, although this time it's to keep out the other humans. I brush my hair, put on deodorant, stare at myself in the mirror a few minutes as I wonder what I'm doing, and finally return downstairs.
Someone put on coffee, but I only see Damon and Alaric, Klaus is mysteriously missing. Not sure that I want to know where he is I get some coffee and sit on the sofa. Alaric and Damon both seem to be drinking coffee, and the only place to sit is next to Damon.
"I'm a bit afraid to ask, but where's Klaus?" I inquire after a few moments of silence and still no sign of Klaus.
"In our fight we cracked the windshield of your mother's car. Klaus went to have it repaired," Damon informs me.
"It's four in the morning, nothing is open," I comment. Neither Damon nor Alaric reply or even look at me. However, thinking of the things Klaus has previously acquired or done. Knowing he can compel people to do whatever he wants, I decide if he wants something done he'll find a way. "Never mind, I don't want to know how he's going to do it," I shake my head and drink my coffee.
Damon is sitting quietly, sipping his coffee and reading an old issue of DeGrassi Daily. I decide he must be bored. If he took any damage in the fight with Klaus it doesn't show. Alaric is on his phone, I can't see what he's doing from here, but I grab my phone from my bag before sitting down again to have something to do. I'm on my second cup of coffee by the time Klaus returns. He pulls the car into the garage before coming inside.
"Your mother's car is good as new, she'll never know," Klaus grins with pride. I smile back, but it's an uneasy smile. I'm not sure if he's proud that he forced someone up before dawn to fix the car. Or that he had it fixed when it wouldn't have needed fixing if he hadn't fought so violently with Damon.
"Thanks," I reply.
Klaus starts to sit next to me, not there's room, but then he notices my suitcase by the door and goes to it. "Did you decide to go with Adam after all?"
"No, she's coming home with us for the holidays. Before you even think about having her stay with you she already agreed to stay at our place," Damon informs him with a hard set, adamant tone.
"Wouldn't you rather stay with me?" Klaus asks. He comes over and kneels before me. Now I feel trapped between two vampiric lovers. Klaus takes my hand and Damon moves closer to me.
While I'm wondering how to reply, and trying to remember how to breathe, the stairs creak and we all look over. Stefan appears, looks at Klaus, me and Damon before shaking his head.
"Give the girls some air, she does need to breathe," Stefan reprimands. At least, they both listen and move away from me a bit. "What's with the bag?" Stefan asks while he gets some coffee.
"Damon invited me to spend the holidays in Mystic Falls, if it won't be imposing?" I respond adding the last part timidly. I realize when I accepted I wasn't thinking what Stefan might feel or think.
"She'll be staying with us," Damon informs his brother. I guess that's why he wasn't worried about what Stefan would think in the first place.
"It won't be an imposition at all, we have plenty of room," Stefan smiles.
"We should probably figure out how to split up amongst the two cars to drive back," Alaric speaks up.
"Clare rides with me," Klaus and Damon say at the same time.
"I'd say you two should drive back together, but you might kill each other before reaching Mystic Falls. Elena and I will drive back with Klaus," Stefan decides. Damon looks pleased, Klaus does not, but he doesn't argue. By the look in his eye I'm not sure if this good or bad. "I think I'll go wake Elena, so we can get on the road," Stefan remarks pouring another cup of coffee to take to Elena.
"I'll wake Jeremy," Alaric comments as he stands. Stefan has already vanished up the stairs.
Alaric walks up the stairs at human speed, now I'm left with my vampiric lovers again. Both are looking at me with desire, to bite me or kiss me I'm not entirely sure.
"I'm going to clean up a little and get the house ready for it to be empty," I remark as I stand up.
"You should stay with me Clare," Klaus asserts as he takes my coffee mug from my hand and puts it in the sink.
"Alone with you? She'd never survive," Damon counters.
"You think I want to harm her? You think I would kill her?" Klaus growls back.
"You nearly did once already," Damon points out in a voice that sort of hisses.
"If you two don't stop then Elena will arrange for her to stay with Bonnie," Stefan says as he comes down the stairs again. Amazingly, both vampires go silent. "Where would you like to stay Clare?" Stefan asks.
"Well," I pause looking at my two vampire lovers and then back at Stefan quickly, "I don't know anyone else in Mystic Falls. And, I only met Elena, Jeremy and Ric yesterday. And, Damon did invite me, furthermore you'll be there," I state but look at Stefan hopefully. He nods to say he will be. "So, I'd like to stay with you, at least for now."
"You can always come to our house to get away," Jeremy yawns as he appears at the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm sure you'll be at our place quite a bit anyway," Alaric says.
"Yeah, and I'll take you out to show you around, introduce you to my friends," Elena smiles.
"You'll spend time with me, won't you Lover?" Klaus asks. He made his voice soft and smooth as pure silk. He's moved in front of me, taking my hands in his and looking at me adoringly, as though I were the most exquisitely gorgeous thing to ever come into his sight. Which is exactly how I feel just now. Damon is watching us, his jaw is hard, but I can't help how Klaus is making me feel, and what my body does when it's near him.
"Yes," I can barely whisper. My legs are starting to shake, memories of my time with Klaus flooding over me.
Klaus grins at Damon with satisfaction. Klaus steps away from me and I have to lean on the counter because my legs are quivering.
(DAMON)
"I'll carry her into the house," I tell Stefan.
We just arrived home, the drive wasn't bad, but Clare slept most of the way. Which wasn't surprising as she hadn't slept all night. At first, she'd been a little afraid of how fast I was driving. After she seemed assured I was capable of driving at very high speeds and not killing us she let herself succumb to sleep. Having slept all night Jeremy didn't sleep until the last couple hours of the drive. By that point Clare had been using his arm as a pillow for a while, and Jeremy was using her head as a pillow. It was almost cute.
"I'll wake her up, you get the bags into the house," Stefan replies.
When we'd dropped Jeremy and Alaric at home, and Klaus had dropped Elena at home, Stefan got back in my car. Klaus had begrudgingly gone home, and only because Clare was asleep.
"Fine," I sigh pretending to give in. Then open the back door and lean over Clare waking her with a gentle kiss. "We're home," I tell her when her eyes shoot open.
"Guess I was tired, I missed most of the drive," she yawns.
"You didn't miss much. Come, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping," I tell her holding my hand out to her.
She unbuckles and takes my hand to get out of the car. Her body must be stiff as she stretches when she's out of the car. She yawns and then blinks at the sight of the house.
"Nice house," she remarks.
"We grew up here," Stefan informs her as he gets the bags from the trunk. I bring her inside and she looks around the living room.
"I'll give you a full tour later, bedrooms are upstairs," I tell her leading her to the stairs. "That's Stefan's bedroom, that's mine, and this will be yours."
"This is a big room," she comments looking around the space.
"And, all yours for as long as you're here. There's an attached washroom and just remember I'm right next door," I grin as she takes her hand back.
"And," Stefan says with a stern voice from the doorway, "Damon will be a good host and will not come in this room again without your permission."
"Yes, yes of course," I nod.
"We'll let you freshen up," Stefan says putting Clare's suitcase in her room. The he grabs my arm and pulls me out of her room. "I thought we were only keeping Klaus away from her, now you're fighting with him for her," Stefan says with a scolding tone. We go into my room, he's set my suitcase in here.
"I have kept him away from her," I shrug as I begin unpacking. I move fast and finish unpacking in a few seconds. Stefan goes downstairs, so I follow him.
"By sleeping with her?"
"I didn't plan to have sex with her, she kissed me, it just happened. She couldn't resist my charms."
"And Klaus knows you slept with her, now he's angry and the two of you are fighting."
"Yes, but she's staying here and away from him," I point out.
"She's not staying here forever Damon. She has a life back in Toronto, a family there."
"I know, so does Klaus, but he hasn't left her alone. As long as I think he's a threat I'll protect her."
"You c…" Stefan begins, but stops talking as soon as we hear Clare's door open upstairs.
"Ready for a tour?" I ask Clare meeting her at the bottom of the stairs. She nods, so I put my hand at her back and begin showing her around. The living room, sitting room, parlor, it's an old house," I comment as we go through the downstairs. I hear Stefan's phone ringing as we enter the kitchen. "The kitchen, we mostly use it for coffee and blood storage, it functions though. Guess we'll have to go grocery shopping for you."
"I'm not drinking blood, and I don't think I can survive off coffee the whole time. Actually, I'm hungry now, I haven't eaten all day," she replies.
"Elena just called, she thought we should go to the Grill, Clare can meet some other people and get something to eat. Plus they don't have much food at the house and no one feels like cooking," Stefan announces.
"That sounds good, food would be nice. And, meeting people too I suppose," Clare comments.
"Well, that's most of the house anyway, except the study which I can show you later. And the basement, but you don't need to see that," I tell her.
Clare grabs her coat, Stefan and I put on coats to appear human, and we go back out to the car. Elena, Jeremy and Alaric are meeting us there so, Stefan drives us straight to the grill. We take off our coats and I put my arm around Clare, guiding her to the table where the Gilberts sit. Stefan sits on the other side of Elena, Jeremy is already on one side of her. Clare slides in next to Alaric and I sit next to her.
"Everything's good here," Elena tells Clare.
"Hey guys, can I get you something to drink?" Matt asks walking over with notepad in hand.
"Oh Matt, this is Clare Edwards, visiting from Toronto," Elena tells him.
"It's nice to meet you. Toronto, that's pretty far, visiting family for the holidays" Matt asks.
"No, her family abandoned her for the holiday's, she's staying with us while," I answer for her.
"It's nice to meet you too," Clare smiles.
We order drinks, Matt writes them down and walks off. Clare looks at the menu and Elena starts telling her about the things that happen around Mystic Falls during the holidays. Matt returns a few minutes later and the humans order food.
"…and of course, the Lockwood Christmas ball. It's oh…Tyler, Caroline," Elena calls to them breaking off her own sentence.
"Hi Elena, hi Everyone," Caroline smiles cheerfully while Tyler simply nods.
"This is Clare Edwards, she's visiting from Toronto for the holidays. This is one of my very best friends Caroline Forbes, and this Tyler Lockwood. Tyler, I was just telling Clare about the Christmas ball," Elena says.
"It's the event of the year, or so my mom keeps saying," Tyler replies rolling his eyes.
"It's great, there's good food and the whole house and all the grounds are decorated," Caroline grins.
"It's formal, you'll need a dress," Elena comments.
"Ooh, shopping trip!" Caroline squeals excitedly.
I hear Clare's pulse quickening, and her breath sucking in slightly. She wasn't prepared for a shopping excursion.
"I'll pay for the dress," I whisper to her. Only Stefan and Caroline would have also heard me, and maybe Tyler.
"We can go tomorrow, I'll call Bonnie, I'm sure she'll come with us," Elena grins.
"Yay, I love shopping," Caroline smiles.
"C'mon let's eat, well I'll eat you drink," Tyler remarks tugging Caroline away and waving to us.
We stay at The Grill for about an hour, Elena introducing Clare to various people, the humans eat, I drink, Stefan has coffee. When they're done eating Stefan opts to go home with Elena to spend some time with her, he says he'll run home later, so I drive Clare and I back to the house.
"Elena's friends are nice, not many of them seem to be very fond of you," Clare comments when we come in the house.
"No, not really, I've pissed a few of them off before. It's in my nature," I shrug.
"Now you're lying, from what I've seen you're noble, protective and sweet," Clare replies.
"You're different, you only met me when Klaus tried to kill you and I saved you."
"You keep saving me; from Klaus, from spending the holidays alone, buying a dress I can't afford. I think Elena's friends have the wrong impression of you. Ric seems to know you better than them, Stefan of course and Elena," she says. I can't help but smile, just a little, with one corner of my mouth. "I'm going to take a shower," she tells me. She goes upstairs quickly, I hear her bedroom door close and a moment later the shower turn on.
I pour myself a drink and sit on the sofa, relaxing for about half a second before I hear the door open. It's not Stefan, but it is another a vampire, I grab a stake we keep handy and listen. I hear someone approaching from behind, I turn ready to stake, but he catches my arm and pushes me to the floor.
"You didn't really think you'd be able to stake me Salvatore," Klaus smiles.
"Why are you sneaking in?" I question kicking him off of me and sending him into the coffee table.
"I came to see Clare of course. Sounds like she's in the shower, I'll just go up and join her," he smiles. He starts to run up the stairs, and I run grabbing him and tossing him back.
"No, you won't," I growl readying the stake again.
"You think you can stop me?" Klaus snarls back. He runs forward and punches me, sending me flying back into the bookshelf.
Chapter 6 is up and picks up from right here.
