Disclaimer: I only own my OCs
A/N: I loved writing this one, which is probably a bad thing haha But I got to explore a lot of things and I've been too kind to Alexa recently!
XXX
I hated storms. Have I ever mentioned that?
They're loud and wet and dark and annoying. Sleeping through one was virtually impossible.
A loud, very loud, annoyingly loud, clap of thunder woke me from my nice lovely dream. Luke was in it. And that's all I'm telling you…
Anyways, I woke with a start. I pressed a hand to my chest. My heart was racing. And before you say anything, it was because of the storm. I was jumpy at the best of times but storms just always got to me.
I glared up at the ceiling as another clap of thunder echoed around the room. Green eyes narrowed as I saw that Luke was still asleep.
The lucky little shit.
Why does he get to be asleep while I have to be awake? Stupid storm. Stupid boyfriends.
I twisted my body in his arms and looked up at him. Placing my arms on his chest and my hands on his cheeks, I lifted myself up and rested my forehead against his.
I slowly laid down on top of him and sighed. Luke began to stir; I think my sigh woke him up. But then again, considering that I sighed on his face, I would be worried if it didn't disturb him.
"Alexa, what are you doing?" my boyfriend murmured sleepily.
"The storm woke me up," I explained softly, stroking his cheek. "Go back to sleep."
Luke squinted at me, "You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure, you silly goose, I'm just getting comfortable," I smiled down at him, fondly. "Go back to sleep."
"Ok."
Seconds later, the adorable darling was back in the land of nod. I shook my head fondly before shifting so that my head was resting on his chest. The sound of Luke's heartbeat slowly relaxed me.
I loved moments like this. Moments where I could just lay in my boyfriend's arms and listen to his heartbeat. Just lay there and relax. Life had gotten so… complicated. With vampires, vampire hunting parents, dead parents, twins in love with vampires, Damon. A lot of Damon. Stupid crushes on Damon.
I didn't like it. I wanted things to go back the way they were.
A quiet knock on my door startled me from my thoughts. When it isn't thunder, it's the damn door. I quickly slid out of Luke's arms, while being careful not to disturb the darling, and darted over to the door. The even with the carpet, the stupid floor was cold, which is why I was doing a crunchy nut and skipping.
For all of you who are wondering, a crunchy nut is a cray cray crazy person. Jazz created the term and it just sort of stuck. It wasn't a phrase that I used often. But sometimes it just needed adding. No, I am not a crunchy nut. I am a crunchy nut cluster. There's a difference.
Anyway, let's rapidly move on before you think that I am certifiable.
I skipped over to the door and quietly pulled it open. Elena was behind the door. Ah, so she was the evil person who disturbed me from my comfortable time.
Nasty twinnie.
But at least it wasn't Jenna. She would pop a vein if she realised that I had snuck Luke in for the night. Even with the blackmail material that I had gained last night. Since the storm hadn't woken her up, I guessed that my aunt had overindulged and was dead to the world.
Just as my sister was about to speak, I put my finger over my lips, the universal sign for shush, and moved myself into the hallway. I quietly closed the door and turned to face my darling twin.
"Yessum?"
"Since it is safe to assume that you know about the storm," she started, wincing at another clap of thunder.
"Yeah, stupid storm woke me up," I muttered bitterly at the resulting flash of lightening.
My sweet twin patted me on the shoulder before continuing, "I need your help making sure that all the windows are locked."
I shrugged, "Yeah, sure, I'll help."
"Thanks Alexa."
"No probs."
"Jeremy's checking the windows upstairs; we're doing the downstairs windows."
"Snazzle."
"Snazzle?" Elena questioned; eyebrows raised as we made our way downstairs.
I shrugged, "I have no idea where that came from."
"Oh Alexa, I'm not surprised."
"I'm assuming that Jenna made it home and is just dead to the world?"
Ellie laughed softly, "Yeah I checked in on her and she is snoring like mad."
Lol. My aunt was always a snorer once she had had a few drinks. It was hilarious. Especially when she tried to hook up when sloshed.
We checked all of the windows downstairs, making sure they were all locked tight. Ellie's window had blown open, waking her up, otherwise it never would have occurred to any of us to check them all.
When we got back upstairs, I said a soft goodnight to my sister as she went to go check that Jeremy had done all of the windows up here. I was back in my boyfriend's warm arms within half an hour. Much to my immense satisfaction.
XXX
Guess what I found out when I woke up this morning?
The tomb vampires were no longer in the tomb.
That's right. The so-called tomb vampires are alive, awake, whatever you wanna call it, are living somewhere in Mystic Falls and are not in the tomb. As you could probably tell, I was not amused.
Stefan had told Elena. Elena then told me and Luke when we woke up. At first I thought that she was 'joking. Because, y know, Elena does have a rather bad taste in jokes. When I realised that she was actually being serious, well, let's just say that there was a helluva a lot of ranting and angry glarey faces.
After getting changed, I was wearing Luke's old hoodie and a pair of jeans; we made our way to the Salvatore Boarding House.
I had considered not letting Luke come with us, but he was a vampire hunter, and a damn good one at that. Well, I had been told that he was a damn good one; I hadn't actually seen him in vampire killing action. But either way, he was another person who could help with the situation.
When I saw Damon again, I was immediately reminded of the odd feeling of jealousy that I had felt the night before. Ugh. Stupid crush. Stupid emotions.
Vampires had the right idea, being able to turn them off and all that. I did not just say that. Oh sweet Lord. I've lost. I've officially lost it.
Let's please rapidly move on. Before your opinion of me plummets even more.
Anyways, Damon was boarding up a window in the library. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it had been smashed when the vampires had attacked the night before. It's the only reasonable, possible explanation.
Unless, of course, Damon had an angry drunk moment and smashed it himself. Which was also possible and reasonable.
Elena, Stefan, Luke and I just stood there, watching him work. Like the lazy people we are. Elena was standing next to her vampire bunny eating boyfriend while I was standing in my vampire hunting boyfriend's arms.
The others had been rambling on about something for a while, but I was too distracted by the vervain bracelet that I had given Luke a while ago. I don't know why I was so focused on it. Maybe because it was something to think about other than the boring serious conversation the others were talking about. Besides, it wasn't like I was only one who was distracted. Luke was distracted too. He was distracted by the awesomeness of his girlfriend.
"So," Damon said, actually managing to catch my attention, as he sat down on one of the chairs. "I say we go to Pearl's, bust down the door, and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night."
Well, that sounds like a very Damoney plan. Violent, thoughtless and more likely to succeed in getting us all killed. Though I have to admit, it was the sort of plan that I would come up with, the lazy person that I am.
"Yeah, and then what?" Stefan countered with a roll of the eyes. Ooh, its bunny eating vampire brother versus human eating vampire brother. Wonder who will win this round? Hmmm, note to self, find tally chart of Salvatore brother battles. Can't remember who's actually winning out of the two of them. "We turn to the rest of the house of angry older vampires and say, 'Oops, sorry'?"
I sniggered at the power of the snark in that sentence.
"Burn."
Damon shot me a withering glare which had Luke tightening his protective hold on me. I stuck my tongue out at the out-snarked vampire, confident in the fact that I was safe in my vampire killing boyfriend's arms. Not that Damon would hurt me, but he would retaliate and that never ended well for anyone.
"I can't believe you made a deal with her," Elena commented, disapproval clear in her voice. And believe me; I've heard that tone many a time. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I have heard that tone every single day of my life. Ok, that may be going a bit too far, every two days of my life since we could talk.
But anyway, there is something that I may have forgotten to mention. Damon made a deal with the leader of the tomb vampires, some woman called, now what was it, Ruby?
Emerald?
Gold?
Pearl?
Yes, it was Pearl.
Damon made a deal with Pearl, the leader of the tomb vampires. No idea as to what the deal actually involved. But I'm sure that Elena will find out and tell me, like the wonderful twin she is. Especially since Damon was being particularly tight-lipped recently. Ever since the news of our birth mom came out. My little fit of jealousy last night probably didn't help.
"Believe it, twin. He's an idiot like that," I smirked, looking for a reaction.
Damon pointed at me, "You, shush." He turned to look at Elena, "It wasn't exactly a deal; it was more like a helpful exchange of information. And it's not like I had a choice. She's…. scary."
"Aww, is poor widdle Damon scared of the nasty lady vampire?" I cooed mockingly. "Poor widdle Damon."
If looks could kill Damon's glare would have had me dead and buried in the ground. Lol. He hated it when I beat him.
"Besides, she's gonna help me get Katherine back," the nasty vampire smirked in my sister's face.
It would be related to Katherine, wouldn't it? The stupid cow would be involved in some way. Ugh, how I detested that woman…. Vampire….. whatever. She broke Damon's heart and still managed to have some kind of hold over him. I'm telling you; the sex must have been amazing for him to still be obsessed with her all these years later.
"Of course she damn well is," I groaned as me and Elena shared looks of anger and despair. "Is she telling the truth or just manipulating you so she doesn't get killed?"
Damon's eyes flashed over and I saw the uncertainty in his gaze. He probably didn't even know the answer to that question. But chasing after Katherine was something that he had done for so long, it was probably second nature to him. And I couldn't blame him for that.
"Damon gets what he wants, as usual," Elena snarked viciously. "No matter who gets hurt in the process."
Ouch. That was just mean, Elena. And uncalled for too. Honestly, I needed to have words with this girl.
"You don't have to be snarky about it," Damon frowned, crossing his arms.
"You don't have to be snarky about it," I mouthed mockingly, pulling a face at the vampire. I was trying to engage him in some kind of banter, to draw him away from my sister's harsh words.
Elena scoffed, "We woke up this morning to learn that all of the vampires have been released from the tomb. So we've earnt snarky."
I mean, she was kinda right. It was not good news to be waking up to. Especially since we had tried so hard to stop them from being released. A small part of me couldn't help but think that it was my fault. Like I was the one who insisted that they lower the seal in order to get Damon out. So it was only logical that it was my fault that they got out.
"How long are you going to blame me for turning your birth mother into a vampire?" Damon asked, sighing in aggravation.
"She's not blaming you," I told him, frowning and resting my arms on Luke's. He knew how I felt about it, that I didn't blame him, like at all. Even if he didn't believe it. But I didn't blame him and I would keep telling him that for as long as I needed to.
"I've just accepted the fact that you're a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities," I think Elena just killed everyone with the epicness of that comeback.
"Oh damn," I couldn't stop myself from whispering as the room fell silent for a moment. That was a mixture of savage and beautiful. Like don't get me wrong, it wasn't true. Damon had redeeming qualities, even if my idiot twin refused to see it at times. But it was such an epic comeback.
"Ouch," Damon gasped in mock-pain as we all stared at my sister.
"This isn't being very productive," Stefan interrupted the epic put down of Damon by Elena.
Well at least someone spoke up. I mean, I would have but my twin wouldn't have listened to me. She would have just made a comment about my friendship with Damon and how it clouded my judgement. It was a card that she pulled before and I hated it. my friendship with Damon just meant that I could see another side to him.
"We're gonna figure out a way to deal with Pearl and the vampires, yeah?" Stefan said, speaking more to his awkward brother than the rest of us.
Damon glanced at me before walking out of the room.
Oh dear. That didn't go down well at all. Honestly it could have gone so much better. All they had to do was let me lead the conversation but noooo, that was something they wouldn't allowed. The dumb-dumbs.
Stefan gave Elena a look as she stepped forward into his arms.
"I'm sorry, he just makes me so cranky," she groaned into his chest.
"I know, he makes everybody cranky," Stefan soothed her, sharing a look with Luke.
"Come on babe," my boyfriend whispered in my ear. "Let's get out of here."
I glanced over to see Elena and Stefan lost in each other's presence before looking back at Luke and nodding.
The blonde captured my hand in his and used it to pull me from the room.
XXX
Luke drove us to my house and parked the car outside the building.
A quick glance and a few seconds later, I was straddling his lap. Luke's hands rested on my hips as mine tangled themselves in his beautiful blonde hair.
Lips crashed together. Hearts raced. Tongues danced.
When air became an issue, we reluctantly pulled apart.
"Never leave me," I gasped, resting my forehead against his.
"Never ever," he promised.
I smiled softly at him before leaning forward for a gentler kiss.
It was then that Luke's phone decided to vibrate and interrupt our lovely little moment.
XXX
Luke's POV
It was a text from my Dad. He always seemed to know when Alexa and I were getting it on. I swear that he has some sort of cock-block dial. Stupid man.
'Come back home immediately. We have a nest of vampires that we need to kill.'
I sighed and texted back, 'Understood, Dad, coming home now.'
I have to leave my beautiful girlfriend to go and kill vampires. Typical. Just typical. But now that I think about it, this whole situation was quite vampire befriending girl is going out with the vampire killing boy.
Huh.
Oh well, me and Alexa never followed the rules anyway.
Speaking of my dear Alexandria, I looked back at the beautiful girl sitting on my lap. Her green eyes were wide with curiosity. It was a tamer version of her puppy dog eyes. One which meant that she wanted to know what was going on.
As immune as I am to her puppy dog eyes, I always seemed to answer her questions when she gave me this look. Maybe it's the deceitfully innocent look that she puts on her face.
"It's from my Dad," I explained with a shrug.
I knew that Alexa and my parents didn't get along anymore. Apparently, my dear parents didn't approve of the way Alexa always tried to get me to do the exact opposite of what they wanted me to do. She had a talent for that. But the weird thing was, they always used to like her, adore her even. They said that she was a like another daughter to them.
Understanding dawned on her face. It was always quite amusing to her expression when she understood something. Her eyes would go extra wide, her delectable mouth would form an 'oh' shape and she titled her head to the side. The best thing, though, was the fact that she was completely oblivious to it all.
But then again, this is Alexa that we are talking about, so that's nothing new.
"What does he want?" Alexa asked.
"Nosey," I smirked at her. Haha, that's guaranteed to get under her skin.
Her eyes narrowed and she growled, "Answer the damn question, smart ass."
Oh how I loved insulting her. She always had the most amusing reactions to my teasing.
I don't think that she has actually realised that the only reason that I kept teasing her was because of her reactions. But then again, that's probably because she isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the showroom.
Bless her.
But, as always, the fun must end and real life must carry on.
"He needs me to go back home," I told her apologetically.
"That's alright love," she smiled, patting my chest. "Besides, I have sleep that I need to catch up on."
I laughed. That's the girl that I love alright, always thinking about her sleep. Not that I could blame her. She did struggle with falling asleep quite often. And even then, she had a tendency to have an interrupted sleep, just waking up at random moments. So I couldn't blame her for taking any opportunity she could to catchup on some sleep. Especially when I was the reason for her staying up.
"Keep you up at night, do I?" I smirked at her, gently and suggestively running my hands across her hips.
My beautiful girlfriend blushed deeply and muttered, "Shut it."
I gave her a firm kiss on the lips before ordering, "Out the car, missy, I have a parent to report to."
"Yes sir," Alexa saluted before giving me one last kiss and hopping out of the car. I watched as she walked quickly up the path and disappeared in the house, giving me a final wave. It was cold out, especially for her, so she definitely would have wanted to get inside quickly.
I so desperately wanted to tell her that I loved her. Because I did. So much. But I knew that Alexa had a small fear of intimacy, even if she wouldn't admit it. It was though she thought saying the word would ruin things between us, which was crazy. They had never been so amazing. Any time I went to say the 'l' word, she panicked and found a way to stop me, usually by kissing. I knew that she loved me too, it was clear to see, which was probably why I didn't push the subject. But it was hard. I wanted to tell her.
XXX
Sometimes I really hated my parents.
I don't know what made them become vampire hunters, but I wish that they hadn't forced me and Jazz into becoming them. Once you get into the business of killing vampires, it's extremely hard to get out of it. Almost impossible. We didn't know of anyone who got out and stayed out.
Jazz had always wanted to be a mom. It was her dream to meet the perfect man, have a few kids and get a good job. A doctor, I believe, is what she wanted to be when she was younger. Or was it a vet? Oh, nevermind, it's not like she can do that anymore. She feels as though her dream is unobtainable now.
Me? Well, I wanted to marry the girl of my dreams, have three kids, (hopefully all of them getting her beautiful green eyes) and become a teacher. A math teacher to be precise. I loved math. It was always my strongest subject at school. There were rules to the subject and once you got the hang of it, you were sorted.
The moment that I walked the front door, I was pushed straight back out again by my pissed off little sister. One glance into her blazing blue eyes had me backpedalling out of her way.
"No time to rest," she growled out angrily. "We have to leave now as that we can eliminate the vampires before it becomes dark and they get the advantage."
It was immediately obvious that she was parroting something that Dad had told her. Not only would she never allow those words and phrases escape her mouth, it just wasn't her style of speaking. For one, there were no insults or swear words. That's a big giveaway.
Well, at least it would be the vampires who bore the brunt of her anger and not me, for once. The problem with being a big brother is being the punch bag when something frustrated the younger sister. Well, when I put it like that, it sounds worse. We normally train when Jazz gets angry. So all of her anger goes into her hits, and I got a lot of painful hits.
My sister had a fearsome temper. And a hard fist.
But anyway, I digress.
I quickly climbed in the back of my parent's car before helping my sister in. It was something that we did. We never bother using both doors. One would climb in and then help the other sibling it. It was one of our quirks.
"Thanks," she smiled, trying to get a grip on her anger.
"Any idea as to where this nest is?" I asked, making an attempt to be casual.
I really hoped that it wasn't the Salvatore's. Despite the fact that I hated them, well, I hated Damon, Stefan was actually alright, Alexa genuinely cared about them. And she would be gutted if anything happened to them. Not only was Stefan the love of Elena's life, Alexa was really good friends with Damon. Despite what Elena and Stefan wanted. But she was stubborn. And Damon had done something to earn her loyalty and friendship. I hated seeing them together but I couldn't say anything. Not only did I refuse to be that kind of boyfriend, but I couldn't take one of her friends away from Alexa.
"Uh, the Gibbons house."
I barely refrained from sighing in relief. Unfortunately, some of my relief must have shown on my face as Jazz gave me a weird look. Just as she was about to ask me some awkward question, mom and dad got into the car.
Thank god.
Or, as Alexa would say, thank the Almighty Teddy Bear. I honestly didn't know where she got some of that stuff from. But I knew that she had a habit of storing crazy shit in order to win bets later on. And she hated losing a bet.
"Right, so here's the plan of action," my dad started.
Oh joy. Here comes the boring bit.
I always hated the planning part. It was supposed to be the whole family making a good, sensible plan that won't get us all torn apart and drained of blood. But instead, it was just a mom and dad debating session. Whenever me or Jazz came up with suggestions, we were either shushed or our idea was completely and utterly ignored.
"Heather, you'll take the front door," dad started.
"I'll knock on the door and use the classic 'car broke down, need to use your phone' excuse," she said with a nod.
"It'll be even more convincing coming from a beautiful woman like you," dad smiled at mom.
"Aw, thank you Eric, darling," she smiled back.
Jazz and I made gagging noises, interrupting them from their lovey dovey moment. Only Alexa and I were allowed to be sickening.
"Now, I'll take the back door. Jazz, Luke, I want you two to cover the basement door. Understand?"
"Yes father," we chorused like good little children.
"Quick question though," I said. "How many vampires are there?"
I thought that that was a very good question. No one had told me how many vampires there were. And it was a rather important piece of information. One that I needed to know before we started anything.
"Uh, only about 5 or 6," was the reply.
Right, 5 or 6, well, that shouldn't be too hard. Especially with the element of surprise on our side.
XXX
During the rest of the drive to the Gibbons house, I spent my time either watching the scenery pass by or fiddling with the bracelet Alexa gave me. Wait; let me correct that, the vervain bracelet.
Soon, before I could prepare myself properly, we were there.
In a mechanical sort of way, we all got out of the car and got our gear out of the boot. Dad made his way round to the backdoor while mom hung back. She was to give us 15 minutes to get into position before she played her part.
"Good luck, my children," she mouthed to me and Jazz before we too left.
As we slowly and oh so quietly made out way down to the basement door, I studied Jazz carefully. She hadn't been sleeping. That much was obvious. I had heard her throw up a few times but she always denied it. It wasn't like my sister to get ill. She was lucky in that she rarely got ill and man, that made me so jealous.
"Are you alright?" I mouthed to her as we waited by the door.
We had to wait for mom to create a distraction before we made our move. So the distraction of checking in on my sister helped me as it stopped me from counting down the minutes.
"Luke, please don't freak out, but I have to tell someone," she mouthed back, a worried expression on her face.
"You're my baby sister, you can tell me anything," I reassured her, grabbing her hand and giving it a quick squeeze.
She took a deep breath, "I'm pregnant."
I froze in shock.
Jazz was pregnant?
My sister was pregnant?
My baby sister was pregnant?
"Who's the father?"
Who had dared to get my baby sister pregnant? I'll kill him.
She smiled fondly, "One-night stand. Or rather, a drunken one-night stand."
Before I could say anything else, the 15-minute mark hit.
It was time.
I nodded to Jazz and she picked the lock.
I kissed the bracelet.
I love you Alexa, see you soon.
The door opened.
We entered.
XXX
Alexa's POV
I shivered as I climbed out of the cold. Luke's hoodie was not enough to keep me warm. So I bolted up the pathway, seeking the warmth of the house. As I opened the front door, I remembered to wave goodbye to Luke, who was clearly waiting for me to go inside before leaving. The sweet little dear. I heard the car drive off as I closed the door behind me.
"Helllloooo?" I called as I walked in? "Ellie? Jerrie? Auntie J-J?"
No one answered.
Huh.
Guess I'm all alone. Well, that meant only one thing; it was time for chocolate. I could only properly indulge when my family were out. Otherwise I would get lectures. And Jeremy would try and find out where my hiding spots were. The little shit.
Looking sneakily around the area, I snuck over to the cupboard where all the tins were kept. No one really went into this cupboard, we just kept it for school food donations or if I was out for an extended period. I always insisted on proper cooking and not cheating. Reaching over the tins, I grabbed the first piece of chocolate that I felt and pulled it out of the cupboard.
This was my secret chocolatey hidey place. No one knew that my chocolate was here. It used to be somewhere else, can't quite remember where that was now, but then Jeremy and Luke teamed up together to find it.
Stupid boys.
But anyways, they found it and I was forced to find a new hiding place. Or all of my lovely chocolate babies would be eaten. I made my way into the sofa and curled up under a blanket. I enjoyed each bite and savoured it on my tongue. God I loved chocolate. It was just heavenly and after the day I had had, it was much needed.
I was so involved in my chocolate happy time, that I didn't notice Elena come home.
"Having fun?" she smirked down at me from where she stood behind the sofa.
I beamed up at her, "Lots and lots and lots and lots."
"Of course you are."
"Oh shush you," I deadpanned with the roll of the eyes.
Elena laughed at me before sitting down next to me on the sofa. I grumbled but allowed her to pull the blanket over her legs.
I coughed awkwardly, "So, twin, I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but why are you home?"
"Stefan needs to go hunting and I didn't want to spend any time with Damon the self-serving psychopath."
"You're so mean to him," I pouted, wondering if now was the best time to be having this conversation.
Ellie rolled her eyes, "He's kinda deserved it. What with everything he's done."
"Yeah, I get that, but he is trying to be better," I protested, going against my instinct that this was not a good idea. And he did just find out that the woman he's loved for the past 145 years just abandoned him." I paused before sighing. "And he's been really good to me."
"Alexa," Ellie sighed before hesitating. "Have you ever wondered why he's so nice to you?"
"If you're trying to bring up the fact that I do kinda look like Katherine, then let me stop you there," I snorted, really should have expected her to bring up that. "Cos you're identical to her and he's nicer to me than he is to you."
"That is weird," my sister mused.
"Maybe Katherine breaking his heart reinforced the fact that he needs to move on?" I suggested with a shrug. "And the fact that I don't look exactly like her helps with that? Nah that's stupid. Either way, I'm glad he's my friend."
"Is it just friends though?" my sister asked shrewdly. And oh shit, she's noticed. That's not good, like at all.
"Where's that remote? I'm sure there's an early NFL match on today."
I desperately looked for the TV remote while my sister watched me knowingly.
XXX
My sister had let me off the hook and hadn't asked any more knowing questions. So I was nice and let her find something to put on TV. I would have watched the football game if it meant avoiding questions that I really didn't want to think about the answers to. Like I knew that I had a crush on Damon, even if I was trying to kill it. But I didn't need anyone else to find out about it.
I chilled on my phone, catching up with Bonnie and annoying Tyler. My new favourite hobby was texting him quotes from shows, movies and even songs. And if he didn't know where they were from, then he had to do whatever forfeit I thought of when we next met. It was even better because Tyler hated to lose. Like he was such a bad loser lol. Which made this even more fun.
Elena had disappeared up to her room after realising that there was nothing good on TV. No idea what she was up to, but it meant that I could sneak another cheeky chocolate bar. I put my feet up on the coffee table and enjoyed the sound of the rain outside. I loved the rain when I didn't have to go out in it.
My phone started buzzing beside me and I sighed, so much for my quiet afternoon. I grabbed it and saw Damon's name flashing on the screen. I was hoping that he just wanted to chat but I knew, deep down, that vampire drama was once again rearing its ugly head.
"Hey Damon," I answered the call as I tucked the blanket over one arm. "What's up?"
"Is Stefan here?" he asked without preamble. There was a very faint hint of worry in his voice that had me tensing. Oh damn.
"Uh, not that I know of but let me check with Elena," I stood up and walked over to the bottom of the stairs. I pressed my phone to my shoulder and shouted up, "Oi Elena! Are you hiding Stefan in your bedroom?"
"No!" Ellie's head quickly followed her shout as she peered down the stairs.
"Well, shit," I sighed as I raised the phone back to my ear. "You may want to get over here."
Damon didn't reply. Instead, there was a knock on the door. I quickly ran over and opened it as my twin walked down the stairs. Damon stood on the doorstep, wet from the rain, and I quickly invited him in.
The vampire glanced between us, a worried look on his face, as Elena leant against the banister. It took a lot to make Damon worried and I could feel my stomach sinking. This was not going to be good.
My twin must have shared my thoughts as she cautiously asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Stefan went out into the woods to hunt and didn't come back," Damon explained, frowning. There was a hint of panic hidden behind his worried expression. "I can't get him on his phone."
Inappropriate response, but aww bless him. He's worried about his little brother. And that was closely followed by an oh shit. This was definitely not good.
"I figured he was here with you."
Elena looked worried.
Uh oh.
A worried Elena is a scary Elena.
"Ellie, I'm sure he's fine," I attempted to reassure her, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder.
My twin quickly got her phone out of her pocket and dialled the bunny eater's number. I rubbed her arm in an attempt to sooth her as Damon watched with worried eyes.
"It's going straight to voice-mail," she said, slowly lowering her phone. "Where could he be?"
Elena and I gazed up at Damon, worry clear in our expressions.
"You're not going to like what I'm thinking," Damon spoke slowly.
Well, that's ominous.
XXX
Damon made me and Elena wait in the car. I hated waiting in the car. Not only is it incredibly boring and you feel like a small child, but it just makes the worrying even worse. You don't know what's going on. And I hated not knowing what's going on. I just wanted to help. I hated feeling so powerless.
"Don't worry, Ellie, Damon will save him, he'll get him back," I tried to reassure her. I put a hand on her shoulder from where I sat on the backseat and gave it a squeeze. I tried to focus on looking after her, instead of thinking about what could be happening up at the house. It had taken Damon quite some time to track it down, having on clues from his conversations with Pearl to lead him here.
"You really think that?" she asked, turning around to look at me. She sounded so young. I hated seeing my sister like this. Absolutely hated it. I was supposed to look after her and her happiness. What a great job I've done so far.
"Sure, it's Dameydoodle, he can do anything."
"Dameydoodle?"
"I needed a nickname for him," I shrugged, trying to keep my sister occupied. "You know, for when I needed to win a bet. Luke and Jazz helped me come up with it."
"Figures."
We were gazing out of the window in the direction that the old Gibbons house was. As far as I was aware, Mrs Gibbons lived on her own up there. Imagine that, living on your own all the way out here. I'd hate it. It would be so lonely. And boring.
I need to be around people. I don't like being on my own. I was a touchy-feely, people person. It helped too, it was reassuring, being able to touch them. I was able to confirm that they were okay. Like with Damon and all the shit he got himself into, it was reassuring being able to touch him. Even if it was a friendly punch to the shoulder.
"Damon," Ellie said suddenly. I quickly focused my gaze and saw our vampire quickly walking towards the car.
Elena got out of the car and put up her umbrella. I just climbed out of the side closest to Damon, uncaring about the rain. If I got wet then it wasn't the end of the world. I joined my sister at Damon's side, resisting the urge to roll my eyes as she covered me with her umbrella.
"What happened?" my twin asked worriedly, frantically looking around, looking for Stefan.
"Is her in there with them?" I added my question to the mix. I needed to support my twin, after all. Twins have to stick together. Especially with shit like this.
Plus, Stefan was a like another brother to me. I cared about him. And I didn't like it when people that I cared about got hurt. It made Angry Alexa make an appearance. And no one likes it when Angry Alexa makes an appearance.
"They have him, I can't get in," Damon explained, his wet hair dripping down his face. And bless him, did he sound upset. Despite how they may act towards each other, they were still brothers. And they loved each other. Like all siblings should.
"Why not?" The worry in my sister's voice was just killing me. I hated it when she felt that worried. Detested it. I just wish that there was something that I could do to make it all better for her and get Stefan back. Cos she should not be suffering like that. It wasn't fair, like at all.
"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in," the vampire explained as I tilted the umbrella so that it covered him too.
Well, that's problematic. I really can't see any way around that. Nope, I can't think of a way around that problem. Unless we killed her. And we couldn't do that.
"I can get in," Elena declared, her gaze fixed in the direction of the house.
Whoa.
Hold the phone.
Elena.
Get a grip.
There was no way in hell, heaven or earth that you are going in that house on your own. Either I went with her or she didn't go. Those were the only two options.
"We can get in," I corrected her firmly, giving her 'a look'. There, that's much better. Now she'll have me to protect her.
Oh damn, we're screwed.
No, it's fine. As long as Elena was okay, it was fine.
"You're not going in there," Damon said fiercely, looking between us with a stern look. "Neither of you."
Well bleugh.
You can't stop me, Mr Salvatore. I'd like to see you try. Oh, wait, you're a vampire. You'll beat me hands down.
Damn, I forgot about that.
Elena pushed forward, trying to push her away past the vampire. Damon pushed back and stopped her from moving. How the umbrella stayed over their heads, I'll never know.
"I'm going!"
"You're not going in there," Damon calmly told her, his gaze fixed on her worried eyes. I, however, ducked out from under the umbrella and tried to sneak past the vampire while has was distracted by my twin.
Unfortunately, I failed.
A hand reached out and grabbed my arm before pulling me against a firm chest. I couldn't help but think that my coat would just get his shirt wet, well even wetter than it already was. I mouthed an apology to my twin. Even if she had failed sneaking past Damon, then I could have at least succeeded.
"Neither of you are going in there."
Even I knew to obey that command. The tone of his voice curbed even my rebellious thoughts. It was the worry hidden beneath. He was worried for his brother and I couldn't add to that worry. It wouldn't be fair of me to do that to him.
"Why are the doing this? What do they want with him?" my dear Ellie asked tearfully. I stepped forward and slipped my arms around her. I rested her head on my shoulder and rubbed, hopefully, soothing circles on her back. My sister buried her cold nose in my neck as I gazed up at Damon.
"Revenge, they want revenge," Damon explained softly. I could feel my heart breaking. Oh my dear sweet twin. You didn't deserve this. Damon didn't deserve it either. It was his younger brother in there and he couldn't do anything to help. If that was me and Jeremy, I would be going spare. Siblings were supposed to protect their idiot younger ones.
"We've got to do something, Damon," I said imploringly as I felt Ellie shift her head to look up at him too.
"I know," the vampire sighed, running a hand through his wet hair.
"We can't let them hurt him," Elena practically begged, her voice thick with unshed tears.
"We have to get him out of that damned house," I agreed as I squeezed my twin closer. My heart went out to all three of them. To Elena, to Damon and to Stefan. It wasn't fair on any of them. They didn't deserve this. And it was all my fault. I made Bonnie and Sheila lower the seal. It was my fault that the vampires got out. If I hadn't had interfered then Stefan wouldn't be in there. Then my sister's heart wouldn't be breaking. Then Damon wouldn't be suffering like this.
A wet hand cupped the side of my face, jolting me from my thoughts. I fought back the tears I could feel forming and look up to see ice blue eyes staring intently into my own.
"I know, believe me, I know. But I don't know how to get him out."
I closed my eyes and leaned into the hand on my cheek.
XXX
"I can't do this on my own," Damon muttered as he drove the car away from the Gibbons house.
"Who is there that can help us?" I asked from where I was on the backseat next to my twin sister. I had texted Luke to see if he and Jazz could help. But there was no answer from either of them. Which worried me. They didn't got MIA for any reason. But I couldn't think about them for the time being. I had to focus on helping Damon save Stefan.
"There isn't anyone..." Damon trailed off. "Oh, but there is."
"Damon? Who the hell are you talking about?" I asked as the vampire suddenly increased speed, doing a U-turn in the road.
"Oh, you'll find out soon, Alexa, you'll find out very soon."
Now why did I not like the sound of that?
XXX
School?
Why were we at school? It wasn't even a school day, so why would Damon bring us here. I mean, school was stupid. Stupid school. Everything about school was stupid. Well, everything except for...
Oh Damon.
You clever, clever vampire. We were very lucky that we could find backup at school. Backup in the form of Alaric Saltzman, vampire hunting extraordinaire. Or at least, that's what Stefan and Luke told me.
Damon's amazing plan was to surprise Mr Saltzman and then force him into helping us.
Great plan, isn't it?
Sense the sarcasm.
Elena and I were standing behind a corner while Damon waited for Ric in the corridor. I was silently arguing with my sister. She didn't think that we needed Ric's help. She could get Damon in the house and help save Stefan. I told her that she was a grade A idiot. Not only did we need Mr Saltzman's help, my sister was not going anywhere near that house on her own. She either went with me or I was handcuffing her to the car.
"Well, don't you look... alive?" we heard Damon say to Ric when he walked down the corridor.
I could just imagine that inferable smirk on his face as he said that. He had an obsession with annoying Mr Saltzman. But now was not the time. We needed him to agree to help us. Annoying him would not get that agreement.
"You can't hurt me," Rick countered, breathing in sharply as he was surprised by the vampire.
Damon clearly didn't like that as he smirked, "Oh, I can hurt you, all right."
"Aaannndddd, that's our cue to intervene," I muttered to Elena before sighing. Yes, before the violence started and Ric got hurt. I liked Ric; I didn't want him to get hurt. Not only was a nice person and a sort-of friend of Luke's, he was an awesome history teacher. The best history teacher that I have ever ever had. And Jenna liked him. Jenna had been through some shit with her love life, I wanted to keep Ric alive for her sake.
Elena nodded and walked around the corner, a determined look on her face. Cue dramatic entrance music.
"Mr Saltzman, we need your help," my twin said before glancing over at me.
I then chose to make my amazingly cool entrance. It was, of course, so much cooler than Elena's. And that really shouldn't be my focus right now. Damnit.
"Ric, please."
Haha! Take that Elena, I'm allowed to call him Rick.
XXX
I let Elena do all of the explaining as I sat on one of the tables in front of Alaric's desk. My darling twin was much better at that sort of stuff than I was. Apparently, I had an annoying tendency to exaggerate and blow things out of portion. Oh, and I frequently went off on tangents and rambled on about unimportant things.
None of that was true, of course. I was amazing at telling people what happened. So why don't we just ignore what Elena, Jeremy, Aunt Jenna, Tyler, Luke, Jazz ect have said, yeah?
Goody.
Ric sat at his desk, glancing between the three of us. Damon stood behind me, I could feel his jacket brush against me every time he moved. Elena paced in front of me, unable to keep still.
"Stefan's in the house," Elena was saying. "Damon's a vampire."
"We need you to get him into the house. I would-"
I coughed. Loudly. Elena rolled her eyes but corrected herself.
Good twin.
"Alexa and I would go in, but-"
"But their lives are valuable," Damon interrupted rudely. Well, the interruption wasn't rude, as I do it all the time. What he said was rude. "Yours, on the other hand is... well."
The vampire smirked, implying that he found Ric's life worthless. Especially compared to us. Which was rather rude.
A glaring match then commenced between the vampire and the vampire hunter.
Men.
Whether they were human or vampire, they were all the same. Complete idiots.
"Stefan told me about your ring," Elena told the vampire hunting history teacher, thankfully interrupting the glaring match before it ended up involving violence.
Yeah. Wait, what? What about the ring?
"What about it?" Ric bluffed, glancing at Damon.
"Let me recap," Damon commented. Yes, please do. Because no one had bothered to tell me about this little bit of information. Which was rather rude and unhelpful.
"You tried to kill me. I defended myself. You died. Then, according to my brother, your ring brought you back to life. Am I leaving anything out?"
I gaped at the vampire before turning to gape at Elena before finally turning and gaping at Alaric. Well, no one told me that.
How goddamn rude.
I felt so offended. That was the sort of information that I really should have been told. The fact Elena knew just rubbed salt into the wound. She should have told me too. Ugh, I was annoyed at all three of them.
"Yeah, the part where I try and kill you again," Ric responded, sliding his chair back. Well, that's quite an important part. Silly Damon for missing that out. Oh, hang on a minute, this isn't going to be good. Ugh, we had more important stuff to do here, guys, we don't have time for your immature, male posturing.
"Only this time, I don't miss."
Whoa.
Ric stood up, as though he would charge at Damon the Vampire. I slid of the desk and, inconspicuously, moved between the hunter and the vampire. See, I can be inconspicuous.
Take that Tyler.
But seriously, I should not be worrying about this. The two antagonised each other like crazy. I thought Damon was bad, but Ric was just as worse when it came to Damon. I shared a glance with my sister, who shared my thoughts. This was ridiculous. And it wasn't helping Stefan.
"Mr Saltzman, please," Elena practically begged, giving the teacher a wide-eyed look. "It's Stefan."
And, once again, my heart broke. Why, oh why, do you have to keep doing this to me Elena? A few more cracks and I'll probably just go and break into that damned house myself.
"I'm sorry, Elena, but it's not my problem," Ric said, brushing her off.
I glared at him. How dare he do that to my twin sister! How very dare he! Well, that's not the Alaric I don't know Saltzman that Luke and Jazz told me all about. The awesome, kind and cool Ric Saltzman that would do anything to help someone in need.
"That's a shame," Damon mock-sighed as he moved to my side. The vampire placed a hand on my hip and, for some unknown reason, I got the feeling that everything would be alright. "Because the woman in charge of the crowd can help you find your wife."
Ohhhhhhhh, Damon. That's a low blow. That's a very low blow. Elena and I frowned each other before turning to look at Damon. Seriously, what was he doing? Was he really going to manipulate Ric like this?
"You're lying," Ric said, his voice trembling slightly. Aww, bless him. Great, now I feel guilty on Damon's behalf. Stupid vampire.
"Am I? Why don't you ask her for yourself?" Damon challenged the hunter.
Alaric stayed silent.
Can't say that I blame him really, he's probably very extremely shocked. Shocked to his core.
"Coward," Damon sneered before looking at me and my twin. "Come on girls, let's go."
Elena immediately started walking but I stayed put for a moment. I bit my lip, was I really going to do this? It was also manipulation and I hated doing that. But, ugh, not only was this for Stefan, it was for Elena and Damon too.
I sighed and glanced over at Ric, who was shuffling stuff around on his desk, "Luke says hi."
The hand that Damon had placed on my hip slid round so that it rested in the middle of my back. He used to give me a gently push and guide me from the room.
We had reached the classroom doorway when Ric broke.
"All right! Wait!"
Damon had a triumphant smirk on his face as he turned around. I just sighed, hating the whole situation. It sucked, big time. My sister looked relieved and I focussed on that. Because I hated to admit it, but Damon's plan had actually worked. For once. And nothing had gone wrong.
"I'll go," the vampire hunter sighed reluctantly.
XXX
Ric disappeared out to his car to get all of his vampire killing weapons. He had… a lot. In fact, he had so many that he had just in his car that I was alternating between freaking out at the awesomeness of it all and freaking out at the risk to Damon and Stefan. Because if he did decide to go after them properly, then they were fucked. He even had some kind of stake gun.
"Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night," Damon smirked as he, Elena and myself watched Ric lay out his weapons on the desk.
"I've you to thank for that," Ric snapped back as he tightened his grip on one of the stakes before quickly releasing it.
"So you just carry all of these around with you?" I couldn't help ask as I took a small step closer to Damon. "Like all the time?"
Ric shrugged uncomfortably, "Not all the time. But since I learnt that there were vampires in town," insert glare at Damon, "I've made the habit of keeping them close."
"Well, uh," I struggled to find the right words to reply to that. "I guess it's reassuring to know that you are prepared for these kinds of situations?"
Elena, meanwhile, was examining some sort of dart thing filled with some type of liquid. All in all, I had no idea what it was. My best guess was that the liquid was vervain. So was it some kind of vampire specific tranquilizer? Ugh, that was so not cool.
"What are these?" my twin asked the hunter, glancing up at him.
"Those are tranquilizer darts filled with vervain," was the answer. Oh, I was right, oh goody. Normally that would please me but with this shit? Nope, not happy. But it was still impressive. The idea of them was clever. It was very convenient for the humans in the team too. An easy way of bringing down a vampire.
"Just get me in," Damon ordered Ric, his eyes scanning the equipment laid out before us. "I'll get Stefan out."
"Seriously?" I scoffed, shaking on my head. "That's your plan? Taking on all of the tomb vampires, and let's just remember that we don't remember how many of them there are in there. I have to say, out of all of your plans, that one has to be the worst. And believe me, you have had some pretty stupid plans."
I don't think that Damon appreciated my input as he glared at me. His hand twitched, as though he was tempted to put it over my mouth. I gave him a look and rested my hand near the stakes. Now, both of us knew that I would never be able to hurt him. This was merely a warning. An awful one. But a warning none the less.
Especially since he knew that I was right. We didn't know how many of the vampires had taken refuge in the Gibbon's house. But we do know that maximum number there could be and there was no way that Damon could take them all on.
"Well, I'll be a little stealthier than that," the vampire attempted to defend his plan. "Hopefully."
Oh doesn't that fill me with confidence. 'Hopefully.' Grrrrr, stupid vampire.
I looked at Elena.
Elena looked at me.
We nodded.
"Look! It's the Pope!" I shouted, pointing out of the window.
Here's the plan: I create a distraction while Elena grabs a vervain dart. Sneaky or what? I'm so clever. And that distraction technique never failed either. Which was hilarious because it was so stupid.
Instead of looking out of the window, Damon just looked at me. He did not look impressed. Oh dang, did my technique fail me? Ugh, it would be Damon that it didn't work on.
"Alexa, what are you doing?"
"Nothing," I replied brightly, putting on my best innocent face. I just had to keep him distracted long enough for Ellie to grab that dart.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" we heard Alaric exclaim. Shit, I forgot about Ric. Not good, Alexa, you failed in distracting the adults in the room.
Damn, Elena must have been caught taking the vervain dart.
"Well, what does it look like she's doing?" I attituded, going for another distraction. But my sister must have gotten fed up with that. As she looked them both in the eye and put her hands on her hips. Oh oh, this wasn't going to go well.
"We're going with you guys," Elena told the hunter and vampire firmly. Now, I wouldn't have argued with that tone of voice. But apparently the two men have absolutely no sense.
"No. No. No. No. No way."
Guess who that was?
Yep, that's right, Damon Salvatore.
"Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes way," I shot back, supporting my sister. Damon rolled his eyes at me before looking back at my sister.
"You need me," Elena protested fiercely, a stern look on her face.
Tut tut. Silly twin. You keep on forgetting me. Which was silly as she wasn't getting anywhere near that house without me.
"Correction darling twinnie, they need us," I added with a look at my sister.
"Alexa."
"No, no arguments."
"Fine!" she snapped at me before turning back to the disapproving adults. Haha, I win.
"You need us. We can get in."
"You two fine upstanding gentlemen can distract the nasty vampires and then, hey presto."
"We'll get Stefan out."
Twin work.
"You'll get yourselves killed," Damon growled at us, completely ignoring the logic we just produced. "You're not going in there. Neither of you are going in that house."
I think that Damon's reaching the end of his patience limit. Whoops. But he had to have known that we would try. We had to try. Elena had to try because she loved Stefan. And I had to try for my sister. And for Stefan.
I glanced over at Elena. Uh oh. Her 'frustration and anger' o'mometer was rapidly rising. That's not good.
"We're going, end of discussion," I told the vampire firmly before my twin could bite his head off or burst his eardrums. And there was no way that I would be able to stop her if she got started.
The asshole vampire just completely ignored me.
"So, when you get me in, get out as quickly as you can," he said to Ric. "I know how to sneak around where they can't hear me. You'll basically just be in the way."
"Damon, now is not the time to be the lone ranger!" Elena snapped at the vampire, finally losing her cool.
"Fine, Elena, you can drive the getaway car," Damon smirked at her before turning serious. "You're not going in the house."
Y'know, the more that he says that we're not allowed to go in the house, the more I want to go in the house. You know, break Damon's rules. Be rebellious. Yadda yadda yadda. And I wanted to prove to him that I wasn't useless. That I could help him. I wanted to be able to help him.
"You can't stop me!" Ellie declared sharply. "It's Stefan we're talking about here. You don't understand."
"Oh, I understand. I understand. He's the reason you live. His love lifts you up where you belong. I get it."
Damon's sarcasm had me rolling my eyes. Honestly, now was not the time. Especially with my sister's emotional state being what it was.
"Are you incapable of being serious? Would it be possible for you to not joke around for like 2 seconds?" I asked sarcastically, phrasing it nicer than my sister would have.
Damon turned serious so quickly that it almost gave me whiplash. "I can't protect you, Alexa. Or you Elena," he growled, looking between the two of us. "I don't know how many vampires there are in there." He snapped his fingers. "That's how long it takes for you to get your head ripped off. I have to be able to get in and get out. I can't be distracted with your safety. Or this will end up a bloodbath that none of us walk away from… including Stefan."
Oh. That was…. Intense. Just whoa. But I could see where he was coming from. I really could. He just wanted us to be safe while he saved his brother. And I understood that. But if Elena wanted to go in there anyway, then I would follow her. Because I had to keep her safe. That was my job and I was not going to fail.
"I know," the vampire sighed, shaking his head slowly. "I get it. I understand."
Oh great. Now I wanted to hug him. The look on his face was just screaming for a magical Alexa hug.
Darn vampire.
"If we're gonna go, let's go," Alaric said, breaking up the moment as he looked between us all.
XXX
Once again, Elena and I were relegated to waiting in the car. I wasn't very happy about that. But Damon had given me that look again. So I just settled into the backseat and kept an eye on my sister in case she decided to do anything stupid.
"Ellie, I'm bored," I sighed as I leant forward and rested my head against her shoulder. I was hoping to distract her by focussing on me. It worked a lot of the time. But I didn't know if it would work this time.
"We can't just wait out here," she frowned, looking out the window and completely ignoring me. Well, so much for that plan.
"Look," I sighed. "I completely agree with you, but what else can we do?"
"We can sneak in there ourselves."
"Well, I suppose we could. But I think that it would be an extremely stupid thing to do."
Oh my god. I'm turning into the sensible twin. Well, one of us needed to be right now. And it sure as hell wasn't going to be my idiot twin.
I saw Elena's head turn in the direction of Ric's super bag of weapons. Oh great, why did Ric leave this here? What an idiot. He should have known better. My sister started routing through the bag, ignoring me as I told her to stop it. I was so gonna kill my sister. What was she thinking?
She pulled one of the vervain dart things out of the bag and examined it.
"Elena, no."
Then, all of a sudden, a stupid branch fell onto the windshield. Elena gasped as I jolted in my seat. I was quite impressed with myself for not screaming. But for godsake, is nature trying to give me a goddamn heart attack?
What with the stupid tree branches and stupid storms.
Grrrrrrrrr.
My twin took a deep breath before turning to face me.
"We're going in."
Before I could even open my mouth to argue, my not so adorable twin sister opened the car door and leapt out. I gaped after her before growling and following her.
"Elena! Come back!" I hissed after her, ignoring the rain that began to soak me. "Elena!"
I swear that I could just murder my twin sometimes. Nah, that's taking it a bit far. I could just tie her up and lock her in a safe room with padded walls and no windows.
Yeah, that's what I'll do. Once I had finished gently throttling her for worrying me like this.
I stumbled after her as she walked through the woods towards the vampire occupied house. Her fear gave her speed and I was struggling to keep up. My foot slipped again in the mud and I groaned.
"Ellie, please, wait up."
At that, she stopped. I quickly caught up with her and entwined my hand with hers.
"If we're gonna do this, then we're gonna do it together," I whispered to her.
Green eyes stared into brown.
"Ok," Elena nodded eventually. "Together."
When we reached the porch, Elena climbed over the railing first before turning around and helping me climb over. We pressed ourselves against the wall and listened intently. There was music coming from inside the house and I breathed in relief. That would definitely help us.
I didn't even dare to breathe. My heart was racing. I don't think that I had ever been so scared. One mistake, just one, and we were dead. One mistake and I may just lose my twin forever.
I just started moving towards the stairs when we heard one of the vampires start to talk.
"Billy, Jacob, get back in here!"
Elena's eyes widened in alarm. She grabbed my arm and pulled me against her. I pressed my face against her neck and breathed deeply.
That was far too close.
"Now," my twin breathed in my ear before she grabbed my arm.
We ran past the door, crouching down low, and ran down the stairs to the basement. There was a gate at the bottom that we pushed open and run through. I winced as it creaked slightly but luckily the storm helped us hide the noise.
Ok, one stage down.
We were officially in the basement. Of course, we don't actually know where Stefan is in the house.
So that will be stage 2.
Finding Stefan.
I was hoping that they were keeping him in the basement. Vampires liked doing their creepy shit in basements. The Salvatore's taught me that, with their weird little cell down there. We continued down a short corridor until we reached a locked door. With a giant glass plane in the middle of it.
Right, now way of opening this. Well, unless we smash the glass.
I glanced around and thanked the gods above. I picked up the brick. Nudging Elena in the back, I passed her the brick and watched as she smashed the window. I winced at the sound but Elena didn't care. She just carefully reached in an unlocked the door. My twin was acting so recklessly and I hated it. But this whole thing was reckless. So what could I do?
This was just so nerve wrecking. I hated it. God, did I hate it.
Around the next corner, there was a vampire sitting at the end of the corridor. Fortunately, he had some music playing. Unfortunately he was blocking our way. But I don't think we would still be alive if he didn't have music playing. Especially with all the noise that we had been making.
My twin pulled me back and pushed me against the wall.
"Wait there," she mouthed, glancing back around the corner.
I nodded.
I know that it probably sounds quite cowardly, but I was rather relieved that Elena was dealing with the vampire. As strong a brave face that I put on, it was fake. But, I suppose, after my parent's death, I got on putting on fake faces.
I watched as Elena poked around the side of the wall. She gasped quietly as she quickly moved back behind the safety of the wall.
Oh fuck me, the vampire saw her. Oh that's not 's really very not good.
Elena tightened her grip on the vervain dart.
I held my breath.
Closed my eyes.
There was a thud.
I frowned.
Well, I felt alive.
So I guess that I am still alive?
I opened my eyes to see Elena standing in front of me, a look of surprise on her face too. Right, definitely still alive. And more importantly, my sister was still alive too. Once she saw that I was alright, my twin gave me a quick smile before walking around the corner.
"Are you insane?"
I couldn't tell you just how glad I was to hear Damon's voice.
"Certifiably," I smirked as I poked my head around the corner.
Damon rolled his eyes when he saw me, "You would be here too."
"Of course, it's me; I exist to make your life even more difficult."
Damon didn't approve of that comment.
XXX
To say that Stefan looked like hell warmed over would be an understatement. He had dried blood all over his chest. One of his eyes looked watery. His wrists were burnt. And he looked hungry. So, all in all, he did not look like the healthy happy Stefan that I regularly saw.
Elena immediately ran over to her vampire boyfriend. She started untying the rope around his ankles. I made myself useful by standing out of the way.
So helpful, aren't I?
But I wasn't good at dealing with this kind of thing. Especially since it was Stefan. He was normally so strong, he was normally the one protecting us. So to see him like this, it was unnerving.
Damon went to stake the vampire who was sitting in the chair in front of our vampire.
"No! No, not him," Stefan stopped him weakly.
Hmmmmm, wonder why Stefan stepped Damon. Damon shrugged and walked away from the other vampire. I crept forward to get a close look at the one Stefan saved. He seemed like an ordinary guy. He was staked to the chair by his legs and he didn't look too good either. I wonder what he did to deserve that.
"Whatever."
Yeah, you tell him, Damon.
Whatever.
"Let's get you down."
Awww, if you closed your eyes, you could almost believe that there was love and caring in that voice. Stefan warned Damon that there was vervain on the ropes just before Damon touched them. He immediately walked away from the ropes and moved to support his little brother. Damon was all action, spitting our orders. I could tell that he was nervous. He wanted all of us out of this house of vampires as soon as possible. And that meant that he would have a better reunion with his brother once we were all safe.
"Elena, pull that."
My twin instantly obeyed. Anything to save her boyfriend. Stefan groaned in pain as he was released from the ropes. I felt so sorry for Stefan. What with everything that he had been through today. Being tortured couldn't have been fun. I could just hug the poor little bunny eating vampire. Especially since it was my fault that this was happening to him.
Damon's grip on his brother lingered for a moment before he gave him to Elena to support. It was the little signs like that that made you realise that Damon did care for his brother. That he did love his brother. Even if he did try to deny it with his tough guy act.
"All right, let's go," Damon kept glancing over at the doorway with every noise that was made. "Clothes on."
"Wait," Stefan grunted, looking over at the stranger vampire.
"What?" Damon hissed at his brother. "Guys, come on. We have to get out of here."
Stefan glanced over at me, "Alexa, could you?"
I was confused for a moment before Stefan's hand gestured weakly towards the stakes. Oh. He wanted me to take them out. Oh good, okay. I could do this.
"Of course, Stefan, anything for you," I grimaced as I gripped one of the stakes and pulled it out of the vampire's leg. I winced at the squelching sound that it made as it slid out of the skin. My stomach turned and I resisted the urge to throw up. It was disgusting. The smell, the blood, the sound. It was horrible and I hated it.
Aaannnddd the other one.
Unfortunately, the squelching sound was louder this time round. The vampire groaned in pain as the stakes were pulled from his legs. I felt a stirring of pity for him. Having thought about it, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that he was in his position because he tried to help Stefan.
Of course, I was probably completely wrong.
I covered my mouth and turned away from the others
I'm not gonna throw up.
I'm not gonna throw up.
I'm not gonna throw up.
I'm not gonna...
Something in the corner of the room caught my eye.
I didn't even hear the others leave the room.
My attention was focused on one thing.
And one thing only.
A familiar vervain bracelet.
XXX
Alaric's POV
"I'm going after Frederick!" Damon shouted before he blurred from the room. Well, that was charming, I save his ass and I don't even get a thank you. But then again, what else should I expect from the dick. Manners were a foreign concept to him.
Just as I was about to reload my gun, I noticed moment in the corner of my eye. I quickly turned around, vervain dart raised, to see Alexa stumble into the hallway.
One look at her and I could immediately tell that something was wrong. She was pale, scarily pale. Her green eyes were wide and glazed over. Her breathing was quick and rapid. Tears covered her cheeks and kept falling. Her body shook as she stumbled forward, resting heavily against the wall.
I ran over to her. Despite everything that had happened recently, I did care for the crazy girl. It wasn't her fault that her and her sister were caught up in vampire drama.
"Alexa, what's wrong?" I asked, placing a hand on her cheek and wiping away a tear.
She didn't answer me. I don't think that she even realised that she was there. Whatever she had seen must have been bad to put her in such a state. I was tempted to go find out what she saw but I had more important things to worry about. Like keeping us both alive.
I gently guided her away from the door and placed her next to me in the hallway. I briefly considered giving her a stake to defend herself with, but immediately discarded the idea. She was in no position to defend herself. She didn't even look aware of where she was.
Once again, I started to load the gun, moving faster than I did before.
But a creak from upstairs interrupted me. I quickly glanced up before resuming reloading at a quicker pace. But before I could finish, a vampire appeared out of nowhere and bit down on my neck.
In an almost reflex motion, I dropped the gun and pushed Alexa away from the fight.
The girl didn't even try to stop her fall. She just crashed into the wall, slid to the floor and stayed there. As worried as I was for her, I had to stay focussed on killing this vampire. At least he went for me and not her. Damon would kill me if she got hurt under my watch.
The vampire bit down harder. To say that it hurt would be an understatement. I tried to push the vampire off but he was too strong. So, instead, I reached for a vervain dart that I kept hidden in a pocket.
I found myself being unwillingly wrestled to the ground. The dart got caught on the fabric of my pocket and I grunted out a curse. Movement out of the corner of my eye caught both our attention. Alexa was curling up into a ball, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
The vampire above withdrew his fangs from my neck and moved forward, going for the weaker prey. In a move that was almost pure luck, I managed to stab the vampire in the shoulder with the dart before he could lay a finger on the girl.
Almost immediately, the vampire grew limp and I was able to push it to the side. I gritted my teeth to the pain in my neck and stood up. The first thing I did was pick up my gun. The next thing that I did was check on my student.
Her head was resting against her knees. Glancing around, I crouched down and gently grasped her chin, raising her head. Her eyes were unfocussed as the tears still fell. I was becoming more worried. Not only was the girl never this quiet, she just sat there when the vampire attacked me. She didn't try to run or intervene. Whatever she saw had affected her, badly.
After helping her to her feet, I guided her down the hallway. It was then that I finally got my first sign of life. Her fisted closed around the fabric of my coat and held on tightly. I reached back and pulled her closer, my arm wrapping around her shoulder.
"Frederick's gone," Damon announced, walking back into the hallway. I honestly didn't expect anything else. The guy seemed too clever to stick around in a house where a revenge seeking vampire was massacring people.
I knew the exact moment that Damon laid eyes on the girl at my side as he blurred forward.
"Alexa, what are you still doing here?" he asked her. He gently placed his hands on her neck, thumbs rubbing small circles on her cheeks. For the first time, I saw a true emotion on the vampire's face. He looked worried as he gazed down at Alexa.
The girl lifted her gaze so that she was looking the vampire in the eye.
"D-D-Damon?" she gasped, letting go of my coat and lurching forward. Damon caught her in his arms and pulled her close to him. Alexa gripped his jacket as she buried her face in his neck.
"Let's get out of here," I said to the vampire.
He nodded, pulling Alexa closer to him and helping her walk. I stayed a step behind the pair, making sure that no one could sneak up on us. I could hear Alexa whimpering slightly and Damon hushing her gently. You could see how much he cared for her. It was crazy to think that he could care for someone, even his brother. But the gentle way that he held Alexa and brushed away her tears just proved how much the girl meant to him.
"I'm gonna kill him," Damon snarled, obviously thinking about Frederick. Whether Frederick did this or not, he had still spent the day torturing Stefan. He had proven that he was a threat and one that we couldn't let get away.
We walked out of the front door only to see six very angry looking vampires approaching us. They were spread out and I expected that more were approaching that back door. We were well and truly fucked.
The vampire tightened his grip on the girl in his arms as he asked, "How many of those vervain darts do you have left?"
I almost didn't want to tell him.
"One."
"Not gonna be enough," Damon groaned before moving back into the house.
I quickly followed.
XXX
Damon's POV
We were screwed.
One vervain dart and six pissed off vampires. With that I could practically rewrite the definition of screwed.
I glanced down at the girl in my arms only to see her once again in the blank state that she was in when I entered earlier. She still gripped my jacket tightly with her shaking hands. I had no idea as to what she saw to put her in this state, but I swear that someone will die for causing it.
No one hurt her.
No one.
"So, what you said to get me to do this, about my wife," the annoying little vampire hunter piped up, distracting me from the girl in my arms. "It was a lie, wasn't it?"
I felt absolutely no shame in admitting it.
Alaric mentioned something else but my attention was back on Alexa. She wasn't whimpering anymore but the silence was almost worse. Alexa was never quiet. Whether she was trying to engage me in banter or just ask how I was doing, Alexa just didn't do quiet. So whatever she had seen must have been bad.
I should have realised that she didn't follow us from the basement. But I was too focussed with getting Stefan out to notice. And now something had happened to her.
The vampire outside started messing with us, banging on the door. Each bang had Alexa flinching. I stroked the back of her head, trying to calm her. I saw Ric glance at me out of the corner of my eye. But he didn't say anything. He just kept his gun pointed at the door; his hands steady.
"What's going on here?" Pearl's voice called out before she entered the house.
As she looked around at the bodies of the vampire who I had killed, a fierce anger rushed through me. This wouldn't have happened if she had just left town when she got out. If they had all left town.
"What did you do?" she asked us. Well, I say us, she asked me.
I glared at the woman before swinging Alexa up into my arms and walking over to Pearl. Alexa slowly wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her cold nose in the crook of my neck. I stroked her thigh as I breathed in her comforting smell. It was only her presence that stopped me from snapping. She needed me to stay calm. So I did my best. But when Pearl asked stupid questions like that, it made it hard.
I mean, how dare she have the nerve to ask that question after everything that had happened! Who did she think she was?!
"Me?" I growled viciously. "Your merry little band of vampires spent the day torturing my brother."
Oh and believe me, I was still pissed about that.
No one hurt my brother except for me.
Especially not pissy little tomb vampires.
Pearl glanced at her daughter before saying, "Trust me, the parties responsible for this will be dealt with."
The woman didn't even have the courage to look me in the eye as she said that.
"Our little arrangement doesn't work unless you learn to control them" I snarled, leaning in close to Pearl's face. Alexa's breath hitched as she moved closer to the vampire, so I pulled her closer to my body. The feeling of her body in my arms was just...
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Pearl said, trying to defend herself.
I growled. What a pathetic excuse. But then again, I really shouldn't expect anything better from a woman whose been locked in a tomb for the past 145 years.
"Well, it did."
I pushed past Pearl and Anna, adjusting Alexa's weight in my arms as I walked.
Just before I left the house, I stopped, looked back and snapped, "If I had a good side, not a way to get on it."
I walked out of the house, taking Alexa with me.
XXX
Alexa's POV
Dead.
They were dead.
Why were they dead?
They shouldn't be dead.
I don't want them to be dead.
How can I make them not dead?
I want them back.
Pain.
Pain in my heart.
Too much pain.
Oh god it hurt so much.
Tears.
Drowning in them.
Too many.
Why?
Why?
Why?
"Alexa?"
A voice.
Who's voice?
Their voice?
"Alexa, I need you to focus."
No.
It wasn't their voice.
"Alexandria. Focus. Now."
Damon's command pulled me from the blackness that I had spiralled into.
I gasped back into awareness with a sob. I found myself on Damon's bed, the owner of it sitting in front of me. His jacket was covering my shoulders, helping with the shivers. He held my hands in his, rubbing soothing circles into my palms.
Green eyes stared into ice blue.
Tears once again filled my eyes as I remembered what I had seen.
"Damon?" I sobbed, squeezing his hands.
My body was shaking.
I could barely breathe.
Why?
"Damon?" my voice was softer, strangled, choked with pain.
The vampire pulled me into his arms and allowed me to sob into his shoulder. I gripped the back of his shirt and pulled him closer.
"Why? Damon? Why? Why are they dead? They're not supposed to be dead."
"Who's dead Alexa?" Damon asked gently.
His hand ran though my hair.
I choked.
A lump formed in my throat.
I just couldn't get the words out.
Speaking it would make it real.
"M-M-Mr and M-M-Mrs Nolan."
Damon's body stiffened slightly.
"J-J-J-Jazz."
His body stiffened even more.
"A-A-And L-L-L-L-L-Luke!"
The last word was wailed with such pain and misery that it took me a moment to realise that it was my voice that had uttered it.
"Oh Alexa."
Damon pulled me closer to his body.
I choked on my sobs as my chest hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt so bad.
My heart was dead.
My Luke was dead.
XXX
A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think xoxo