When you finally have a decent computer again and FIinally get all your stuff moved over.
I'm excited
time to write again.
Still with me?
Sept. 4/17
I want your ugly
I want your disease
I want your everything
As long as it's free
I want your love
Love-love-love
I want your love
I want your drama
The touch of your hand
I want your leather studded kiss in the sand
I want your love
Love-love-love, I want your love
You know that I want you
And you know that I need you
I want it bad
Your bad romance
I want your love and
I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
I want your love and
All your lovers revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
... ... ...
The next day, they were at Damon's house and Kenzie was sitting there, watching the brothers argue over Elena. Stefan wanted to take her out to the woods and get her used to animal blood right away, whereas Damon was sure it wouldn't work and she needed fresh human blood. Stefan was adamant that they could do it his way, afraid that Elena wouldn't be able to handle hurting anyone.
"You better hope she's not a fan of Bambi." Damon snapped, driving the blade of the knife he was holding into the table. "She needs human blood Stefan, from the vein."
"Oh come on, you know what happens." Stefan argued. "You name me a vampire who didn't kill at least one person when they were new."
Damon pointed at her and Kenzie looked between him and Stefan, her eyes wide as she shook her head.
"You've killed?" Damon asked in disbelief.
Kenzie nodded, trying to be nonchalant about, not wanting the brothers to know how much it still bugged her. "Katherine was teaching me control. We were out at a bar and these two guys were trying to get us drunk. She wanted to teach me to drink and compel them to leave 'cause I was adamant about not killing people. But it was my first time and I didn't stop in time but to be fair, the guy was going to rape me."
Damon stood up, slamming his hands down on the table. "Why didn't you tell me this?"
She shrugged. "There's still a lot to share about my summer learning the ropes. I'm sure you'll learn it all eventually."
"What the hell was Katherine thinking?" Damon muttered.
"See?" Stefan pointed out. "Kenzie has better control than any vampire I know and she still struggled at the beginning. If Elena hurts someone, she will crumble. How much pain do you think she can take before she shuts off her humanity switch?"
"It happens to the best of us at least once."
"Sitting right here." Kenzie reminded them. "Never shut off mine."
"I still think you're broken." Damon scowled before turning back to his brother. "She can't control the blood lust if she's never experienced it. It's like giving a kid a calculator before they know Math."
"Damon." Kenzie tried to soothe. "Why not let Stefan try it his way. If it makes you happy I'll pretend I don't know how to be a vampire and you can show me how you do it, kay?"
"Don't patronize me." He scowled.
She giggled. "I'm good at that. Elena's here by the way."
She appeared moments later, sensing the tension in the room as she looked at everyone. "What's going on?"
"Just Damon being Damon." Kenzie replied.
Elena nodded as if that explained it all. "He's still not on board with the animal plan, huh?"
"I say rip off the proverbial band aid and let it bleed. You're a vampire, be a vampire, Elena." Damon told her.
"You ready to go?" Stefan asked her, grabbing his backpack.
Elena nodded, following after him.
"Vampires eat people." Damon yelled after them. "It's part of the natural food pyramid."
"Technically I don't think Vampires are on the food pyramid seeing as they shouldn't exist." Kenzie reminded him. "So let them go and we'll have our own fun."
"What kind of fun?" Damon asked, turning his attention back to the little redhead and ignoring Stefan and Elena who walked out of the room.
"Any kind we want. We have the whole house to ourselves."
He smirked as he stepped closer to her. "I can think of a few things."
"I have a feeling you have exactly one thing on your mind." She sent him a smoldering look as she walked backwards out of the room and took off at vampire speed. "Catch me if you can."
She laughed as she ran through the house, her laugh quickly turning to shrieks when he caught her, then moans as he carried her to his room and had his way with her.
It was much later when she finally stirred and announced that she was hungry. He rolled his eyes but disappeared briefly, returning with blood bags for them both.
"So tell me more about your summer." He urged her when they were done eating.
She shrugged, finding the ends of her hair suddenly interesting as she played with her curls. "Katherine found me outside of your room and she realized I was in transition, I begged her to kill me. Instead, she gave me a drink, saying it would calm me down. I was too out of it to realize it was blood until after I drank it. She begged me to give her one month and at the end, if I wanted to die, she would stake me herself."
"So you chose to live."
She let out a soft snort. "Nope, I told her I wanted to die but she decided she was having too much fun, you know how she is. So we went to Disney World and compelled ourselves to the front of the lines."
"Pretty tame for Katherine." Damon replied with a snort.
"Yeah, but it was my choice."
"And how many people have you killed?"
"That guy, the one who wanted to rape me, just him. She wanted to teach me control and I went too far. You're right, it happens. Maybe if I had someone that wasn't Katherine there to watch me, it wouldn't have happened. After that, I started stealing from hospitals and taught myself how to control it. I would drink from the blood bags, than go out and drink from humans. I was already full from the blood bags so it was easier for me to pull back, compel them, and carry on with life. There were some close calls, but I didn't kill anyone else that way, much to Katherine's dismay."
"You, went out and taught yourself that? All by yourself?"
She nodded. "Is that not normal?"
Damon let out another snort, shaking his head in disbelief. "Not in the least."
"Katherine always told me I had amazing control. I guess when they say everything about you is magnified, they weren't kidding."
"Your first kill is never easy, how did you handle it? Better yet, how did you survive months with Katherine and still have your humanity intact?"
Kenzie laughed, thinking about her mentor trying so many different ways to get her to switch it off. "She tried. I've even tried. I can't find that switch in me."
"Impossible."
"It's true. I thought I was broken for the longest time. It was Mads who told me that it's there but I care so much about staying in control, it's so important to me that I've buried it so deep."
"Doesn't it get to you?" he wondered. "When I was turned, there were so many emotions, I couldn't handle it. I had to turn it off just to survive."
"It's intense." She agreed. "Sometimes, I wanted nothing more than to just not feel anymore and those were the times I tried so hard to flip the switch but there was nothing. It sucked sometimes."
"Ah yes, my girl, the broken vampire."
She laughed as she sat up reaching for some clothes.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I want a milkshake."
"Or you could stay in bed."
"No, I want a milkshake." Came her petulant reply
Damon rolled his eyes and she responded with a grin.
"Race you there." She took off on him, running for The Grill.
His jaw dropped in disbelief but unable to let her win, grabbed some clothes and raced after her.
Kenzie stopped in the forest across the Grill and waited for Damon to catch up, which he did moments later.
"I didn't know you were so fast." He replied with a scowl.
"I was a runner." She reminded him, walking out of the trees and across the street. "Or maybe you're just slowing down in your old age."
"You're really asking for it." He muttered, opening the door for her.
"Ohhh, I hope there's spanking involved." She replied, her eyes glittering with amusement as she sat down at the bar, motioning the bartender over. It was the one that Rebekah had compelled for her so she ordered alcohol for them both and a milkshake for herself as well. He came back with their drinks and she motioned for him to leave the bottle as she slid the whiskey in front of Damon.
"Now,." She began after he took his first drink. "What's got your panties in a bunch. Don't think I haven't noticed you were slightly distracted."
His scowl returned. "We need to keep a low profile right now. With Elena trying this, it's not going to be long before we're stuck cleaning up one of her messes."
Kenziee shrugged. "I beg to differ. She has a pretty good support system. I think as long as a vampire is with her at all times, we can keep her in control."
"Trust me, Red. I've seen this situation far too much."
Instead of replying, Kenzie nudged him motioning to the other side and he glanced over to see Liz there.
"That seats taken."
She didn't reply, instead dropping a newspaper in front of him and Kenzie leaned over to read the headline
FAULTY GASLINE LEADS TO TRAGIC EXPLOSION AT YOUNG FARM.
"Really?" Damon asked in disbelief after he read it out loud.
"Better than 'Town Council Blown Up and Police Have No Suspects.'" Liz replied, looking down at the paper. "Unless the perpetrator is right next to me."
"Red, you have something to confess?' Damon asked with a smirk. "Because you know me, I always take credit for killing people."
"It's true." Kenzie agreed. "Besides, it wasn't him."
Liz shot her a disbelieving look before looking at Damon again.
"Stop looking at me. If I was going to kill people I wouldn't blow them up, I'd have a dinner party."
Kenzie let out a snort of amusement and the Sheriff focused on her again.
"This should terrify you. You know what their- their kind is capable of."
The redhead straightened up, her tone turning icy. "Their kind? You mean like your daughter? Remember Sheriff, I'm not the topic of conversation here and my life choices are none of your concern."
Liz seemed a little taken aback by her tone but chose not to push it. "The explosion was sparked from inside. It wasn't an accident."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Damon smirked. "The councils dead Liz. I see it as a win."
"I've known some of the council since I was a kid. They were my friends." She argued.
"Well your friends tried to kill your daughter." He reminded her, looking to the side and seeing someone approaching them. "Who's the new guy?"
"Excuse me, Sheriff?" the man that approached them asked.
Kenzie looked at him, trying to figure out if she had seen him before. His whole demeanor screamed dangerous, predator, hunter and Kenzie couldn't help but think he was going to be a problem.
"Hi." The man continued. "I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute. It's about the explosion at the Young Farm."
"I'm sorry, Mister-"
"Connor Jordan." He replied, holding out his hand for her to shake.
"Are you with the insurance company?" Liz asked.
"No, I'm more of an independent contractor. Can we speak in private?"
He glanced at the other two, instantly writing them off before he led her away and Kenzie turned to Damon who was staring after them.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busybody, guy." He grumbled, turning back to his drink.
"I don't trust him." Kenzie announced.
"Good." He replied. "Neither do I. Independent, my ass."
"He's going to be a problem."
"Until then, we need to inform Stefan of our other new problem." He pulled his phone out, dialing his brother. They had a brief conversation before he hung up and poured himself another drink.
"The Council blowing themselves up is a problem?" She asked.
"It is when it brings around other people like Mr. Busybody."
"You're losing your touch." She teased him, looking up at her Dad who had just walked in. "Don't leave without me, I'm going to go sit with my dad for a while. I've been neglecting him."
"Fine. I"ll be here, getting drunk."
She rolled her eyes, leaning over to kiss his cheek before going over to sit with her dad who had just sat down at a table on the other side.
"Hi Daddy." She greeted him, kissing him on the cheek before taking a seat across from him. "What brings you here?"
He smiled at her, handing her a menu. "It was kind of lonely at the house. Thought I'd come get a bite to eat. I haven't seen you or Jill lately."
Kenzie looked down, not wanting to remember the awful end Jill had come to, thanks to evil Alaric. "Jill had to leave, Dad. She wanted to tell you goodbye."
"That's too bad. I enjoyed watching some of those MTV shows with her."
She groaned. "Not you too. Those are awful."
The waitress arrived to take their order and Kenzie ordered some fries and another Milkshake. She waited until the waitress was well out of hearing distance before speaking again. "Sorry I haven't been around. I've been busy with Damon."
"Oh? You worked things out with him? That's good. I know it upset you a lot when you guys were fighting."
Kenzie glanced up to see Damon looking at them with a smirk and if it was possible, she would be blushing. She chose to stick her tongue out at him instead but he didn't see it as Elena came up beside him to talk to him. She rolled her eyes instead before turning back to her Dad.
"Yeah things are okay right now. Is everything okay? Nothing unusual going on?"
"Nope. Same old boring routine for your dear old dad. How's cheerleading?"
"Good. We have Regionals coming up. Should be fun."
"You going to take them to state again?"
She grinned. "Maybe Nationals even."
"Of course. No ones better than my little girl."
Her grin grew even wider and she pushed away the guilt at not having spent enough time with her Father. She had all the time in the world but her Dad wouldn't be here forever and she secretly vowed to spend more time with him. She glanced over at Damon, wondering if she should tell him she was hanging out with her Dad for the rest of the night but he was pulling Elena towards the bathroom. Her eyes briefly narrowed, wondering what they were up to, but their food arrived at that moment and she chose to focus on her Dad instead, smiling and grabbing the ketchup for her fries.
… … …
Kenzie stared at the mirror as she straightened her hair with a small frown. She was wasting time and she knew it. She was just so tired of going to funerals. Granted she didn't know any of these council members, nor did she particularly care that they were dead as they were trying to hurt people she cared about. But Stefan had called her to tell her that they all needed to be there to keep up pretenses. Tyler had been hurt by a new player in town and Kenzie wasn't the least bit surprised to discover it was that Connor Jordan guy. Could she call it or what?
She promised Stefan she would be there and had immediately called Damon but after one ring, he had sent her to voicemail and after many unanswered text, she couldn't help but think he was avoiding her and that it had something to do with him dragging Elena off. Her "cousin" was now a vampire but she still wasn't filled with the warm fuzzies for her and didn't know if she ever would be. She didn't trust Elena around Damon and now everyone involved was a vampire and god only knew what that meant. She knew she had to put some trust in Damon but they were still too fragile, it would take time. His obsession with Elena being a vampire now, didn't help.
Kenzie shook herself out of her stupor, finishing up her hair and touching up her eyeliner. She put on her knee length black dress and black suede pumps, giving herself one more look over before going downstairs. She paused on the last step, hearing a car in her driveway and went outside to see Stefan waiting there.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you because I wasn't looking forward to the walk but what are you doing here?"
Stefan shrugged, holding the door open for her. "Damon texted me, told me he got hung up and asked me to bring you to the church."
She raised an eyebrow. "He can text you but heaven forbid he take the time to text me. Where's Elena?"
"At the church setting up. Are you okay?"
She shrugged. "I don't want to go today Stefan. I hate funerals with a fiery passion. I've been to far too many for being only 19. Well, kind of 19, you know what I mean. I mean, I know we all have, it's just, I promised to never go to another one after my mom and Mads. That almost destroyed me, I don't want to be destroyed."
Stefan laid a hand on her arm. "I know these are tough but we'll get through this like we always do, together."
She smiled at him, wanting to change the subject. "So what happened to Tyler?"
"Some guy named Connor showed up at his house. When he shook his hand, his glove must've been full of vervain and he shot Tyler right away. If it had been one of us, I think it would've killed us. I got the bullets out of Tyler. I just finished showing them to Bonnie. There were etchings on them but she says they're not magical."
"Can't we just kill him?" She asked with a small pout.
"No." Stefan cried, "not until we find out why he's here and who sent him here."
"But then we can?"
"I feel like my brother will take care of that." He muttered as they pulled into the church parking lot.
She sighed "I'll see if I can hold him back long enough. I'll go inside and grab us some seats."
He nodded and she walked inside, seeing the church was already full. She waved at Tyler and Caroline, taking a seat a few pews up. She smiled at Jeremy who turned around and spotted her and gave her a small wave. She turned back to see Stefan standing beside Caroline asking what Tyler was doing there considering there was a hunter on the loose. She waved to show where she was sitting and Stefan gave a small nod, moving to sit beside her.
"You're angry." She noted the moment he sat down.
Up front, Mayor Lockwood began speaking, so Stefan leaned over to her, telling her not worry about it, he would catch her up later. She gave him a suspicious look but said nothing, instead turning to listen to Mayor Lockwood.
"Who's April?" She whispered to Stefan as the Mayor called the girl up to the front.
"Pastor Young's daughter. She was in boarding school." Stefan replied, looking around with everyone else to see where April was but she didn't appear.
"Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory of Pastor Young?" The Mayor asked.
It was silent in the church until Elena stood up and made her way to the front.
"Whoa." Kenzie whispered. "She looks like death."
"Not funny." Stefan muttered as the door to the church opened and they both turned to see Damon step inside, stopping to dip his fingers in holy water and doing the cross on himself.
"I don't know why but that always makes me smile." He said with a smirk, moving to sit beside Kenzie.
"Where have you been?" She quietly asked.
"Busy. Elena doesn't look so good."
"Maybe you should've told me she was rejecting all food sources." Stefan muttered.
Kenzie sent him a sharp look before turning to look at Damon on her other side. "Wait. She's rejecting, Stefan had no clue but you did, Damon?"
"Don't tell me you two are jealous." An exasperated Damon said.
"Oh bite me." The other two replied, turning to face the front and listen to Elena's speech.
"When I talked to April earlier, she was was nervous about coming up here to speak and I'm up here and I'm kind of nervous too." She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
Kenzie's head dropped to her chest, her hands clenching into fists as she tried not to think of Mads. Damon leaned over to take her hand, unclenching her fist and giving it a small squeeze. She looked up at him to give him a grateful smile, stopping when she heard the first drop as though there was something leaking from the ceiling. It took only a moment for the scent of blood to hit her and she went to turn around but was stopped by Damon tugging on her hand, forcing her to face forward again.
"Nobody move." Damon whispered to all the vampires in the room. "Don't turn around, it's a trap."
Elena began to falter, trying to ignore the blood and Kenzie nudged Stefan. "Someone needs to go up there and save her."
He nodded, rushing to the front and pulling Elena into his arms, whispering that he got her and leading her off the stage and back to the pews where Matt and Jeremy were sitting. The pastor stepped forward telling them to open their book to a hymn and sing together as they stood.
"What do we do?" Kenzie asked Damon as everyone began to sing.
"Play along. Do not turn around, do nothing to draw attention to yourselves." Damon whispered for the benefit of everyone.
"What about Elena?" Kenzie asked. "She looks ready to fall apart."
"That's Stefan's problem."
Despite all the singing going on, Kenzie could hear Stefan let out a small noise of derision before trying to calm Elena down and again wondered what she had missed.
"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked.
"She's hungry." Stefan replied. "She hasn't fed."
"Then get her out of here."
"We can't, there's somebody watching us."
"I'm gonna go rip his head off now." Damon told them all.
"You do that Damon, and you risk exposing all of us." Stefan calmly replied.
"I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off."
"You're staying here." Kenzie hissed, gripping his hand tighter. "I'm not going along with another one of your stupid half-cocked plans. Your plans suck."
She heard Caroline giggle. "Tell Kenzie she's not wrong."
"Stefan, I'm losing it." Elena cried.
"You have ten seconds before I go old fashioned on the new guy." Damon informed them.
"Don't do it, Damon. Please." Stefan pleaded.
"3 2 1, bye." He responded turning to move.
"No." Kenzie snapped, yanking him back with a glare.
"You don't get to tell me what to do, little Red."
"I'll fight you every step of the way.|" She promised.
"Wait, Elena, feed from me." Matt said, causing all vampires to turn to him. "It's okay. Everyone will think she's upset, feed from me."
They watched as Elena subtly drank from Matt, stopping after only a small sip. She pulled away and back into Stefan's arm, telling him she could still smell the blood and was sure it was April who was in trouble.
"Excuse me." Tyler called cutting off the singing as he took over the microphone.
"What is he doing?" Kenzie murmured.
"I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
Everyone sat down and Kenzie shot Damon a look of confusion.
"Giving us a distraction." Damon muttered. "I'm gone the moment it happens."
"What happens?" She asked.
A shot sounded, Tyler went down and people began to scream. Before she even knew what happened, Damon took off with the crowd that was currently trying to exit and she quickly lost him.
"Stefan, Damon took off. I'm going after him." She spoke quietly, knowing he could hear her.
"I"ll be right behind you." He replied and Kenzie hoped that no one picked up that he was replying to her.
Kenzie ran outside, seeing Damon run around a corner and followed after him in time to see him rip the door off of Connor's truck and yank him out. Connor barely hit the ground when he pulled out a gun and began shooting. Kenzie gasped and ran towards them as Damon knocked the gun out of his hand but Connor flipped them so he was on top and pulled out a stake, going in for the kill. Moving into vampire speed, Kenzie rushed Connor, tackling him to the ground just as Stefan called out Damon's name and not wanting to be recognized, Kenzie continued moving, hiding around the corner as Connor hopped in his truck and took off. Stefan appeared above his brother as Kenzie stepped out from behind the corner and walked towards them, looking as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Damon reached out a hand and Stefan grasped it, pulling him up slightly before punching him in the face and sending him back to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Kenzie screeched, falling to her knees beside Damon to check on his wounds.
"What the hell was that for?" Damon gasped as Kenzie held him still to dig the bullets out of him.
"You know what." Stefan replied.
"I don't." Kenzie replied, sending the younger brother a quick glare before reaching her fingers in to pull out the bullets. It was burning her fingers so she could only imagine what it was doing to his insides. She let out a small hiss as she pulled one out and started on the next one.
"What do you know about the act of sharing blood between vampires, Kenz?" Stefan asked.
"Come on, Brother. Don't do this." Damon warned him.
The redhead's fingers froze with the second bullet halfway out of her boyfriend. "I know it's a very intimate and personal thing to do." She whispered, glancing at Damon before turning to look up at Stefan, her fingers letting go of the bullet. She didn't want to ask who but she had a feeling she already knew.
"Elena?" She quietly asked, looking at Stefan.
He looked away from her, not wanting to see the broken look on her face. His brother was a complete idiot and he wondered why Damon had to go ruin everything good in his life.
"Of course." Kenzie answered her own question, turning back to Damon..
"Red, come on, it's not like that." Damon tried to placate her.
"Right." She reached for the bullet again but instead of pulling it out, she pushed it back in, ignoring his cry of pain. "Get them out yourself, you bastard."
She stood up, wiping the blood off on her dress and walked away from him back towards the parking lot.
"Kenz?" Stefan cautiously called.
"When did you find out?" She asked.
"Right after we got here."
"Katherine told me all about it." She explained. She stopped in the parking lot, turning to face him, her face void of any emotion. "Keep them both away from me Stefan. I'm not responsible for what I do right now."
Not waiting for an answer, she turned and walked away, leaving him alone in the parking lot.
… … …
You didn't show last night.
Kenzie made a face at her phone and contemplated whether she should answer the message or not when another one appeared.
I get not wanting to be around certain people. Please make sure you go to school today, we need to not raise suspicions.
She sighed but typed back a message to Stefan saying she would be there only because she had regionals next week, therefore she had to be there for practice. She hoped they made it to Nationals, then maybe she could get the hell out of Mystic Falls again for a while. She briefly toyed with the idea of compelling her whole squad to be flawless to ensure that would happen but then dismissed it. Her competitive nature would never allow that to happen.
With a sigh, Kenzie grabbed her bag and left for school, just wanting to get through the day, go to practice and go home, without something stupid and supernatural happening. It wasn't too much to ask for, right?
Who was she kidding? Something was going to happen to screw her day over. It always did.
She walked into history class, sliding into her seat in front of Stefan, sending him a small smile and ignoring Elena as she turned to face the front. The new vampire called her name but Kenzie ignored her as Rebekah walked into the classroom, calling out a good morning to everyone as she handed out papers. Kenzie's eyes narrowed, realizing that it was first period and her day was already going to be screwed over, she could feel it.
"So I'm throwing a little anti-curfew party at my new house." Rebekah announced. "Starting fifth period, going to whenever, spread the word." She walked over to the three at the back, dropping one onto Kenzie's desk. "I hope you can make it, Kenz. You're more than welcome too Elena, if you want to bury the hatchet."
Elena glared at her. "It's a pretty enormous hatchet."
"Well, I'm feeling generous."
Kenzie let out a small smort.
"New house, hey?" Elena noted, looking at the flyer. "Did Klaus finally kick you out?
"Oh my god." Kenzie groaned.
"He didn't kick me out." Rebekah snapped. "I left."
"So you left the only person on earth that actually likes you?" Elena's tone was nasty and Kenzie glanced to the side to see the hurt flash across Rebekah's face.
"Well your boyfriend liked me once. Actually a lot more than once." Rebekah reminded her.
"Why are you still in town Rebekah?" Stefan wondered. "Don't you have anywhere else to go?"
"Actually History's my favourite class. Actually, where is Mr. Saltzman-" She looked behind her, pretending to be confused before it hit her. "OH that's right. I killed him."
"Holy hell, will you all just shut up?" Kenzie snapped as Elena grabbed a pencil and threw it at Rebekah.
Kenzie stood up as the blonde caught it and threw back at the new vampire, hitting her in the shoulder. The redhead pushed Rebekah back with a sneer before stepping forward and getting in her face. "You're over 1000 years old, start acting like it, you petty bitch."
The hurt look returned to Rebekah's face but Kenzie's sneer remained in place, glaring at the blonde until she finally turned and left and when Kenzie went to check on Elena against her better judgement, both her and Stefan were gone, the bloodied pencil left on the desk.
"I'm going home." She muttered. "I shouldn't have left home."
"Kenz?" Stefan poked his head back in the door and she moved towards him. "Check on Elena? I have to go deal with the Hunter. He's here."
She didn't get a chance to protest as he disappeared and she sighed, resigning herself to having to go help the new vampire.
"You shouldn't be here." Elena was crying as she neared the bathroom. "This is my school, my life and I'm not going to let you ruin it."
"This is my school now, my life." An accented voice replied. "Maybe you're the one that shouldn't be here. And I couldn't help but overhear that there's a vampire hunter roaming the hallways."
Kenzie sighed, recognizing Rebekah and smelling the blood. She didn't know who was in there with them but there was a chance she would have to do some saving.
"How inconvenient for you." Rebekah finished.
She heard Elena growl as she looked around to make sure she was alone before pushing open the door to the bathroom. Rebekah turned around in surprise, guilt flashing across her face as she spied Kenzie in the doorway.
"Take your compelled minion and get the fuck out of here." The redhead ordered, hands on her hips as she glared at the original.
"Kenzie I-"
"Get the fuck out." She reiterated. "I'm 100% done with your bullshit. In case both of you haven't figured it out. I'm the head cheerleader which makes me the head bitch in charge, which makes this my school. Now grow the fuck up and get out of here." She glared until the blonde left, leaving her alone with a vamped out Elena.
"I don't think it's safe to be around me." Elena warned her.
"Whatever." Kenzie muttered, stepping forward to grab some paper towel so she could wipe the blood off Elena's face.
"Why are you helping me?" Elena asked.
"Because Stefan asked." She replied.
The brunette burst into tears. "Kenzie, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was such a big deal, I didn't even know you knew. I was just so desperate to keep blood down. I wasn't keeping anything down and he said I needed something from the vein."
A knock sounded at the door. "IS everything okay?" Stefan called.
"Yes." Kenzie replied. "We'll be out in a few."
"Meet me at the picnic tables." Stefan told them.
"Kenzie." Elena whimpered.
The redhead rolled her eyes as she finished wiping up the blood. "Just forget it, okay? We should go meet Stefan."
Elena opened her mouth to say more but Kenzie turned on her heel and walked out, not caring if Elena followed or not.
"Kenzie." Someone called her name and she turned to see some girls from the squad walking towards her.
"What?" The redhead asked.
"Look, we want to go to the party at Rebekah's."
"And I want a million dollars, so what? You can go after practice."
"Isn't Rebekah still part of the squad, even if she was on sick leave? She's holding the party, why can't we all just go and let loose."
Her phone rang and she motioned for the girls to hold on as she answered.
"What?" She said by way of greeting.
"I need your help." Damon replied.
"Call someone else."
" There is no one else. I'm texting you the address. If you don't want me in pieces, you might want to show up."
The line went dead and Kenzie hung up with a scowl, turning back to the girls. "Fine, go to the stupid party but if we don't place at Regionals, I'm holding you accountable." She spun on her heel, right into Elena.
"What's wrong?" the brunette asked.
"I have to go help a friend. Go meet Stefan, tell him I'll call him later."
She left the school, heading down the road and into the woods the moment she was out of sight everyone. She looked at the text Damon sent her and took off with the directions he provided, all the while wondering why she was bothering. But that was the million dollar question, and if she knew the answer to that, maybe she would actually have the million dollars she told the squad she wanted.
Slowing down outside of a motorhome, she looked around, trying to see exactly where Damon was hiding. She heard a small noise of pain from inside and opened the door to see Damon standing there, an arrow through his left shoulder and one through his right thigh.
"Come in." He whispered. "Close the door."
"Where are we and what stupid mess did you get yourself into this time?" She asked.
"It's the Hunter's place and he rigged it all up nice and lovely for me. I try to pull it out, I go boom. I need you to get the arrow out of me."
"I feel you called the last person who would want to help you right now." She muttered.
"IF you didn't want to help, you wouldn't be here."
"Why did you let Elena feed from you?" She asked.
|Can we talk about this later? Like maybe once we're far away from here?"
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "No."
"It doesn't always have to mean something." He snapped. "She was on edge, she wasn't keeping anything down, I helped. That's all, I swear."
Kenzie moved behind him, instructing him to hold the arrow from the front so she could break off the tip to pull it out.
"Have you ever thought of not putting yourself into these stupid situations that you know I might possibly kill you for?"
He let out a soft snort. "Not really, no."
"You're a fucking idiot." She let out a small grunt as she broke the tip of the arrow off, leaving him to yank it out as she moved to the one on the leg, repeating the process and yanking it out for him. He grabbed a few of the papers off the table and stuffed them into his jacket as the redhead stood up and moved in front of her.
"Now-" He began but didn't get to finish as she kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying out the door and to the ground. She followed at vampire speed, picking him up and slamming him into the nearest tree.
"Gotta say, you being able to be all mean and controlling now is kind of a turn on." He murmured.
"Shut up and listen to me." She hissed. "You want you and I to work, then start using your god damn brain, Damon. I will not let you fuck me around while you help out poor, little Elena, who is suffering oh so much-" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and he couldn't help but smirk at her. "-and think that I will keep forgiving you. And if you keep doing stupid shit with her, I will not be responsible for my actions and I have a feeling if I kill her, it will start an all out war and I will be on the losing end but I swear to god, I will take you down with me. Got it?"
He raised an eyebrow before slowly nodding and she released him, going to turn away when he grabbed her and pulled her back into him. She pushed him away with a scowl.
"I'm not done being mad. Go fuck yourself." Before he could reply, she took off, leaving him alone in the woods.
… … …
Kenzie arrived at the party, wondering why the hell she was even there and trying to tell herself it was to avoid Damon, in case he showed up at her place wanting to talk.
"You came."
She spun around to see Stefan there, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. She held he hand out for one and he gave it to her with a small eye roll.
"This was for Elena."
"She owes me." She gave a nonchalant shrug. "Where is our little newbie anyway?"
"She went into the kitchen to talk to April. Why don't you go check on her while I go find more alcohol?"
She pulled a face but went into the kitchen anyways, only to see it looked empty and the garbage disposal on but as she walked towards it, she could hear someone gasping in a dark corner of the kitchen.
"Elena?" She softly called.
"My ring." The new vampire gasped, pointing to the sink.
Kenzie walked towards it and turned it off, reaching into the sink to pull the ring out. She wiped it off before walking over to Elena and handing it to her.
"Rebekah?"
The brunette nodded as she slipped her ring on with a sigh of relief.
"Do me a favour and stay away from her Elena. She's going to keep baiting you."
"I'm not going to let her stupid scare tactics work on me." She snapped.
"Good, don't. but what I'm saying is let me deal with her."
"Unless you have a white oak stake…." Elena trailed off and Kenzie narrowed her eyes, walking back to the island and Elena's bag that was sitting there.
"You're not going to be able to kill her on your own. You're a newbie, she will kick your ass. Not to mention, all the vampires from her line you will kill, possibly your line if you want to take the chance. Trust me Elena, leave her to me."
"She will never stop." Elena cried.
"Leave her to me." She reached into Elena's bag and pulled out what she was looking for, the white oak stake. She turned on her heel and tossed it to Stefan who had just entered and was looking between the two. "You deal with her." She told Stefan, picking up her bottle of whiskey and leaving the two to talk it out.
She walked through the house, looking for the Original vampire but couldn't find her and went outside where Rebekah was standing, glaring down at Elena who had just finished doing a keg stand.
"You already killed her, have you ever thought about not being a bitch?" Kenzie asked.
"Why are you even standing up for her? You hate that bitch as well."
"I feel like we've had this conversation before."
"Because you know I'm right." The blonde snapped.
Kenzie shrugged. "I hate a lot of people, that doesn't mean I want them dead."
"And what about me, Kenzie? Would you want m e dead?"
The redhead rolled her eyes. "Now you're just fishing, Beks. If I don't want Elena dead, why would I want you dead?"
"Because, as you've said before, I'm a sociopathic bitch who keeps ruining our friendship."
This time, she sighed. "Do you actually care about our friendship?"
"Of course I do." Rebekah cried. "You were my friend,not because I compelled you or because you were scared into it but because you wanted to be."
"Then why are you so intent on fucking it up? That's what I don't get. Stop killing people, or hurting them, or baiting them. I know you're not human, but try acting like a decent human being. You'll probably get a lot further. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" A confused Rebekah wondered.
"Cheerleading practice. We have regionals in a few days. I'm sure you'll catch on fairly quickly."
Kenzie sent her a wink before she left the house. A part of her knew she should just give up on Rebekah but for some reason she couldn't quite fathom, a part of her still held on. If she wasn't going to give up on Damon just yet, then perhaps it was only fair she didn't give up on Rebekah.
A part of her wondered when she had gotten so nice.
Gross.
Her phone rang and she answered it against her better judgement.
"What?"
"Someone's in a great mood."
She could practically hear Damon's smirk on the other end and resisted the urge to hang up on him.
"Pretty sure I said I was still mad at you."
"well, I figured you'd want to come kill the hunter with me. I have this awesome plan-"
"Not interested." She replied, this time giving in to the urge and hanging up on him.
… … …
Kenzie reached out, grabbing whomever was hovering above her around the neck. She opened her eyes to see Stefan above her and she quickly let him go, sitting up with a sheepish shrug.
"That was…. Pretty impressive." He told her, rubbing his neck.
"It's from hanging out with Katherine and always having to be on guard. Usually I stop myself from doing that since I've been back here, but honestly, I thought you were Damon."
"My brother's an idiot." Stefan muttered.
Kenzie laughed. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, Stefan, but what brings you here?"
"I wanted to talk to you about something. Remember when you promised to help me with the whole drinking blood thing."
She tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. "Of course. Are you struggling right now?"
Stefan shook his head, sitting down on her bed. "When people become vampires, they change."
She gave a small smile. "I don't know how much I've changed."
"True." He conceded, looking down at his hands "But that may have to do with the ability to control yourself so well. But others do and right now, Elena is changing and I want her to be able to enjoy it, without all the guilt and shame I went through. And there was a moment today when she did. And when I'm with her, every bone in my body tells me to join her, to enjoy it but I know that if I do, even a little, I risk becoming him." He looked up, meeting her eyes. "The Ripper. I love her and I don't want to hold her back."
Kenzie nodded in understanding. "You need my help in staying you."
"You helped me a lot when I was trying to regain my humanity again, more than Damon ever has. Your methods are a little… different. So I thought, you're just so good at it. There's never been another vampire like you, Kenz. Your control is impeccable."
She reached over and grasped his hand, giving it a small squeeze. "Anytime you need me, Stefan, I'm here. Come to me and I'll always help you. I won't let you lose control."
He gave her a small smile. "Thank you Kenzie."
"Have more faith in yourself. I know you're scared about being a Ripper but to have more control over yourself, you need to have more faith in yourself."
"It's not that easy." He admitted.
She smiled at him. "That's why you'll always have me."
… … …