Chapter Fourteen
Alexandra
"Yeah Caroline is making Elena and I help make the float in the parade. She didn't even go with the right escort. Why should Stefan get up there with her?" I tell Damon through the phone.
"The torture that woman is going to put you through. Oh by the way you left, well rather I stole out of your bag, a very lacy piece of clothing. I thought you might want it back."
I decide to be bold. I'll just take them back next time I'm over there. "Keep 'em. No use trying to take them back from you. You'd make me fall into bed with you and then your blankets and sheets will get all wrinkley and nobody wants wrinkley sheets."
"I'd spare the wrinkley sheets."
"Thanks Damon. I'll just stick with kissing you for now. Oh and Elena wanted me to ask how Stefan is doing."
"He's terrible."
"Oh my goodness, why? What's wrong?"
"He's just back to boring, straight-laced, off the junk. You both have successfully cured him of anything that was interesting about his personality." I chuckle.
"I'm glad to hear he's better. But don't forget who helped us." I smile.
"I hate myself. Hey, did Uncle John happen to mention anything to you about my field trip with the teacher?" Damon asked, with lots of curiosity in his voice.
"Nope, not that I know of. But that could be because 'Lena and I are avoiding him. Why? What's he been up to?"
"I have no idea. But I would love it if you and your twin would find out for me. I'll even bring back that lacy piece of clothing you left."
"You mean you stole out of my bag." I sigh. "I guess I'll try, but I've gotta go, duty calls with the Mystic Queen. I'm late."
"Have fun with her. I know I did."
"You're a terrible person, Damon." I hang up and wander downstairs with Elena behind me. "Let's go to school, 'Lena. It's got to be more interesting than this house."
"Do we need anymore interesting in our lives?" She asks.
"Yes and no. We need more interesting friends, not well that stuff." She smirks and we climb into the car, Elena driving.
Around noon, Alaric rushed up to Elena and I, worried, as we were entering the cafeteria. He looks very concerned and we ask about it.
"Come with me. We need to talk. All of us." All?
We follow him to his empty classroom where we see Stefan waiting. He's got the same grim expression on his face. Elena wants to ask and opens her mouth to do so but Stefan shakes his head. Her mouth snaps shut and she pushes me to sit down next to her in the desk. Alaric tells us what went down last night.
We all wait very silently, nervous and anxious.
The door opens and in walks Damon with a smirk on his face.
Elena turns to me. "What's Damon doing here?" Elena whispers.
"As if I know," I respond.
"Damon, thanks for coming," Alaric says.
"Sorry I'm late, my dog ate my... uh nevermind," he trails off when he sees all of our faces. How anxious Elena and I are, how concerned Stefan is, and how annoyed yet slightly frightened Alaric is. Damon looks to me specifically. "What's with all the furrowed brows?" He stays standing in front of Ric.
"I saw Isobel last night," Alaric says, slight hesitation in his voice. My mood immediately darkens even more and it's evident on my face as Damon tenses.
"Isobel is here? In town?" Alaric nods. Damon starts to walk around the classroom, trying to understand the situation as he spits question after question at Alaric. "Did you ask her about uncle John? Are they working together?"
"No."
"What about the invention?" He asks Alaric, walking up to him.
"Didn't ask."
"Did she know about the tomb vampires?" He's closer.
"I don't know."
"Did words completely escape you?" Damon asks, very close to Ric now and irritated that he didn't know anything.
"No I was a little too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions."
"Damon, he was shocked," Elena tells him. "Cut him some slack." He backs off.
"What did she want?" Damon asks, wandering back over between Elena and I.
Alaric doesn't speak up. Neither does Elena or Stefan.
"She wants to see us, Damon." I look up at Damon. He's confused and concerned. Immediately going on the defense for Elena and I.
"Alaric is supposed to arrange a meeting," Stefan says.
"We don't know why or what she wants," Elena finishes.
"You don't have to see her if you two don't want to," Damon says softly, trying to show comfort.
"We don't really have a choice," Elena tells him.
"Damon, she's threatening to go on a killing spree," Ric tells Damon.
"Oh." Damon gets a look of realization at the words Elena said. "I take it that's not okay with you guys?" I shake my head.
"I don't want to meet her Elena. Do I have to? Do you think she would still go on a killing spree if I didn't go? I know you would regret it but I'm trying to keep myself and my sanity protected. I'll try to kill her if I see her," I say, finally.
"Yet she's a vampire and older than you."
"That's why we have the Salvatores in our corner, Elena. Come on. Don't make me do this."
"Too bad. If I have to do this, then you do too."
"I'm going to complain all the way up to the meeting. I don't care what you have to say about it."
"You've got to be kidding me," Damon mubbles. I kick his shin and look up at him.
"I'm skipping the rest of the day. Have a good day everyone," I say and I get up and walk out of the classroom.
"Wait," I hear Elena say. I ignore her and go to the car and I grab my jacket and walk home.
When I get home, I grab my diary, luckily no one is home and I walk back towards school but make a left instead of straight and I head to the graveyard. I wander to the back of the graveyard close to the edge and I sit facing my parents' graves.
"Hey mom, dad. I love you." I pause. "So I know that Elena and I are adopted. We figured it out a couple months back, but I'm sure you knew since you guys look over us all the time. So you'll also know that before I found out, I was in Georgia with a guy after I got into an accident. Well you'll also know that he's a vampire along with Elena's boyfriend, Stefan. I promise they are complete gentlemen and would do anything to protect us. But they're vampires and I know you don't like vampires. Yeah, I saw your stash in the cabin when we were little. I'm sorry.
"If you're looking for a, 'I'm going to break up with him' don't hold your breath. We aren't dating but I'm thinking about it. I know what you're going to say, he killed your birthmother and turned her into a vampire, I know that. I was mad. I got over it. He didn't know. Besides, she's back and wants to talk to Elena and I. I don't want to but we all know how much Elena would regret it if she didn't go. Sorry, but I don't want to go and no one and nothing can force me to do it.
"I don't want to care that she'd kill half the town but being related to Elena, I do care. I'm sorry mom, dad." I pause again, lowering my voice because it's been raising. "What do I do?" I close my eyes and lean my head back to rest on the headstone behind me.
"You go to meet her," I hear Stefan say. I open my eyes and watch him walk up to me from behind. He sits to my left and I look at him.
"And why do you say that?"
"Because I'll be there, and Damon will be outside with Alaric. Elena will be with you. It's a tough thing for the both of you. You don't want to regret not meeting your mother even if she is an evil woman. She loves you deep down."
"I don't love her. Like Damon said a while back when we visited Trudie, she left me, she sucks."
"She may, but meet her. Please? For your sister?"
"I really despise the woman."
"Please?" I sigh, letting my head fall forward.
"Stefan, you really have perfected the art of persuasion in your billion years on earth, haven't you?"
"I'm not quite that old." I chuckle briefly.
"Fine. I'll go with Elena and see her. I won't complain like I said I would." He grins and wraps an arm around my shoulders giving me a hug. "When is it?"
"Tomorrow morning the day before you start the construction on the float." I nod and we go back to my house so he can see Elena and I'm sure Damon is already there.
Later on that night, I walk out of the bathroom and Damon is sitting on my bed. It's become such a normal occurence that I don't even jump when I see him there. I lay down next to him and turn toward him.
"Distract me, please?"
"What do you want to do?"
"Not talk." He smirks and he leans over toward me. He captures my lips with his and I press mine to his and my body curves toward his. His hand goes straight to my waist as he pulls me toward him. His tongue touches my lips and I get butterflies again. I comply and we battle. It's very distracting just like I wanted.
He rolls us so he's on top of me. He entwines our fingers above my head as we continue to kiss. We aren't naked but I can still feel his arousal and I flex my hips and he groans against my mouth. I smirk.
He lifts his mouth off of mine and murmmers, "Jenna," and is gone before the knock on my door.
"Dinner," she says through the door.
"Okay," I shout as if I'm in the bathroom. I hope she ordered pizza or something instead of cooking, herself. Well Alaric is apart of the family now, he can cook us food.
I get up and start to walk to the door to go downstairs for dinner but Damon pushes me back against the wall and kisses me again. I wrap my arms around his neck and his are around my waist. I want to continue so badly but its just not going to happen.
Pulling away, I say, "Not right now. As much as I want to, Jenna will start to wonder." He sighs and I pull him back for another kiss and then leave.
"Can you hear me?" Elena asks, as we sit down at the table. I look at Stefan from across the room and he nods. "Thanks for coming. We're nervous." Stefan smiles and nods. "I'm happy you're here. I love you." He mouths back I love you and Elena smiles. Then our view of Stefan is cut off by Isobel as she sits down across from us.
"Hello Elena. Alexandra." We nod in acknoledgement. "You look just like them, it's eerie."
"So you've met Katherine and Charlotte?" Elena asks.
"They found me after I turned. Genetic curiosity I suppose. They would be fasinated by you two."
"Is that how can you walk in the day?" Elean asks about the necklace.
"Katherine helped me attain it."
"Who is our father?"
"Not important. He was a teenage waste of space."
"A name would be nice."
"It would, wouldn't it." I'm quiet through their entire conversation till about the end when she brings up the invention after Elena asks why she wanted to meet us.
"Because I'm curious about the both of you. But the actual reason is I want what your uncle wants. Johnathan Gilbert's invention."
"How do you know him?" Elena asks.
"I used to spend a lot of time here when I was younger. John has had a crush for years. He's the first one to tell me about vampires."
"What made you want to become one?"
"It's a very long list of reasons, Elena. All of which you both have thought about." Elena shakes her head. "Elena, that was your first lie. It's inevitable. You're going to old and Stefan isn't. The same goes for you Alexandra. Or how he likes to call you, Allie."
"Don't you ever call me that again," I finally speak up. "We don't have what you're looking for." I get up and I'm about to start walking when she grabs me wrist and digs her finger nails into my flesh.
"Sit down. And tell your boyfriend to walk away," she tells Elena. I sit. "I want the invention."
"I don't have it," I spit at her.
"I know that. But Damon does. And you're going to get it for me."
"He's not going to give it to me."
"The blood with be on your hands then." She gets up as do I. "It was nice meeting you girls." And she left. I waited two seconds and I hear the door swing open again and I walk toward it. I push past Damon in search of Isobel. I walk out to the park in front of the building and I look around, angry, tears rolling down my cheeks from my anger.
"Allie," I hear Damon call. I turn to face him and he slows when he sees me. He walks over to me and embraces me. I wrap my arms around his waist like I usually do. "It's going to be okay. Don't worry. She'll get what's coming to her. I tighten my hold on him.
Damon takes me back to my house for the day to help me calm down and so I can explain what happened. But when he leaves, it's just Elena and I and we sit on the couch just worn out from all the tears we've shed. It's been hard and we go to bed shortly after nine.
There's a knock on the door the next morning and we get up from the couch to answer it. We open the door and Bonnie is standing there looking sad.
"Hi," We say.
"Hi, I couldn't sleep last night. I saw that you two were obviously upset about something and I didn't even go over to find out what was wrong. It's not me. That can't be us. You're my friends. If you need me, I'm here and I'm sorry I couldn't show you that yesterday."
"We met our birthmother," Elena tells her.
"Oh, was, are you two okay?" We shake our heads, tears spilling out from my eyes as she embraces us.
Later that day we head over to school to help with the float for Caroline. Bonnie does tell us before I go and help Matt with construction that the device Damon has is a weapon against vampires. She's been going through her grimoire and found that.
It rattled me to the point of being blind to what was going on around me and I was working on tightening a screw while Matt held up the boat watching me that he didn't even notice the man who jumped onto the float and crushed my forearm.
I screamed out and all of the football players came to pull the float off of me but it didn't work and Stefan was there immediately and lifted the float off of me and I was crying hysterically. Stefan was at my side and same with Elena. Matt and Tyler were there. I felt someone pick me up and I was holding my arm so it wouldn't rock and I was put into a car and off we went.
I ended up in the hospital and with a cast around my arm and I was on medication but it wasn't strong enough to dull the pain. It was still there. Then I heard loud footsteps and the door opens quickly and in comes Damon. He's so worried and I smile at him. He looks at my arm and is quick.
"What the hell happened?" He asks, angry.
"Someone jumped on the float that I was tightening a screw under and my arm was crushed."
"How's the pain medication?"
"Terrible." He looks around and finds no one but Elena and Stefan in my room and he bites into his wrist. Where is Jeremy?
"Damon, no," Elena says.
"Allie."
"Damon, stop," Stefan says.
"Guys, I want the pain to go away, do you want to see me suffer?" I took his wrist and I had very little, just enough to take the pain away and quicken the healing pace and I felt a warmth radiate throughout my forearm. "Thank you."
"Of course."
"I'm ready to get out of here. I'm going to have Jenna sign me out."
"She already did. That's how I figured out where you were." I smile and reach out to hold his hand.
"Al' can I talk with you for a minute?" Elena asks. She looks at the boys in the room. "Alone?" Stefan leaves after a lingering touch to Elena's waist. Damon is a little more hesitant.
"Damon, it's okay. You don't have to stay with me all the time. I promise I'll be fine in here with my sister." I squeeze his hand for good measure. He sighs.
"I'll be back at the boarding house. I'm sure Stefan will bring the two of you there." I nod. He leaves with a departing smirk on his lips.
"What's going on?"
"I went to see Bonnie after you left to help Matt with what he needed. The device that Isobel is looking for is a weapon." A solmn look crosses her face.
"Against what?" I ask worried.
"Vampires." I gasp. "Damon and Stefan already know. What I needed to tell you alone is, Isobel also confronted me at the school after I talked with Bonnie and then Jeremy. I was on my way to find you. Isobel is the one who caused your accident. She was going for Matt, not you. But you got under there first." I feel a tear slip down my face. "Jeremy was also taken. By Isobel." My eyes go wide and more tears shed. "Hey, you're okay now. We'll get him back." Elena gathers me in her arms. I nod.
Stefan and Bonnie walk into the room a few minutes later. Stefan stands next to a pacing Elena while Bonnie sits on the bed next to my legs.
"Where's the device?" Bonnie asks.
"Damon has it," I say.
"He's going to be difficult to reason with," Stefan says.
"Then we'll go to him. Alexandra can talk to him," Elena says.
"Why are you volunteering me, Elena? He's not just gonna hand it over. Especially if it's harmful to vampires." Elena sighs, but cuts it short as she gets an idea.
"What if it's not?" Elena, Stefan, and I all make eye contact before looking towards Bonnie.
An hour later, I was at the boarding house with Damon and Elena and Stefan and Bonnie. I asked Damon for the device a few minutes after we got there.
"Absolutely not," he says.
"Will you at least hear me out?" I'm leaning against the table behind the couch and he shakes his head.
"I'm not giving the device to Isobel so she can give it to John who in turn is going to kill me. I like being a living dead person."
"But it'll be useless. Bonnie can take it's power away."
"I don't trust her."
"I can remove the original spell," Bonnie speaks up.
"John and Isobel will never know," I tell him.
"No, I'll get Jeremy my own way."
"Really?" Stefan asks. "And just how are you going to do that? Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk through the door."
Damon takes it into consideration. He turns to Bonnie. "Are you sure you're even up for this? I mean no offence, you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."
"I've been practicing."
"It's not piano lessons, honey."
"What's your favorite book?"
"What?"
"Name a book, any book." Damon is confused but plays along. She's going to show off.
"Name a book, how about 'Call of the Wild' Jack London," he tells her. She narrows her eyes and consentrates. Soon the shimmying book flies out from its spot on the shelf and before it hits Damon, he reaches up and catches it. "Jack London. Great parlour trick."
"We're doing this Damon." Elena points out. "We're doing it our way. Now give the device to Alexandra." He doesn't. "We're wasting time."
"I don't trust you," Damon tells Bonnie. "I tried to kill you."
"You're right, you can't trust me."
"But you can trust me, Damon," I tell him. "Please?" I hold out my hand for him. He obliges. I look as he places the device in my hand and wraps my fingers around it. When I lift my head and my eyes meet his, this entire interaction gets very intimate. "Thank you Damon."
"Don't make me regret this."
I shake my head. "I won't."
We wander over to Bonnie who is setting up to do the spell and I place the device in the middle of the table as we all watch her do the spell. The flames in the fire place and burning the candles in front of her, rise and dance as the lights dim dramatically.
"Done."
"Great, now what?" Damon asks.
"Now we give it to Isobel," I tell him.
Elena and I wait in the square for Isobel that night. She startles us by asking where the device is.
"Where's our brother?"
"This isn't a negotiation. Where is the invention?"
"Where is my brother?"
"Do you really think that I came alone?" Her minions come out from behind us.
"Do you really think that we came alone?" Stefan and Damon came out from behind her.
"For God sakes. Call home."
"What?"
"Call home and ask to speak to your brother Jeremy."
Elena gets her phone out and we both listen as Jeremy answers. "Hello?"
"Jeremy, are you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah yeah I'm fine, Uncle John hit his head. It was an accident."
"We're all laughing," Jenna says probably in all seriousness.
"But yeah I'm okay."
"We'll be home soon, alright?"
"Yeah," he agrees.
"You were never gonna hurt him."
"No, I was going to kill him. Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me. I don't have any."
"But you took a risk with Damon. How did you know that he was gonna give it to me?" I ask.
"Because he's in love with you." I pause and don't look back at Damon. I give her the device.
"Thank you," I say.
"For what?"
"For being such a monumental disappointment. It keeps the memory of our real mother perfectly intact."
"Goodbye, Alexandra, Elena. As long as you both have a Salvatore on your arm, you're doomed. Katherine and Charlotte were smart. They got out. But we all know that you're not Katherine and Charlotte." I walk away, upset and I just want to climb into bed. I find Damon and wrap my arms around his waist. I sigh, content on being in his arms where all the pain is taken from me.
Later in the night, I jolt awake from movement in my bed. I look over and it's Damon climbing into my bed. I calm down and move to rest my head on his shoulder.
"Damon, what Isobel said back there, was it true?"
"We will save that for another time. You need to sleep."
"Damon," I scold. "Please?"
"Let me ask you a question, what do you think is the answer to that question?"
"I think the answer is yes, it is true." I sit up and cross my legs, letting the duvet hang over my shoulders as I look at him. "I think it is very likely that you do because it's the same for me." I crawl onto his lap and I bend down. "Damon, it's the same." I push my hair out of the way and he sits up. I sit back and he captures my lips in his.
"Yes. The answer to your question is yes."