Disclaimer: I only own my OCs

A/N: Hi all, this chapter may get a bit dark as Alexa is dealing with happened to her. I hope I managed to portray it accurately as well as her complicated feelings towards Damon. I can't guarantee that it will get any happier anytime soon but I still hope that you enjoy!

XXX

I…. What… Wait… She… What… I just… Oh god.

She killed me.

Katherine killed me.

I frantically spun around, eyes rapidly scanning the street. Is she gone?

Please tell me she's gone.

I couldn't...

Oh god, I staggered to the side of the street and threw up in the bushes. The bile burned my throat and tongue, forcing tears from my eyes. Once there was nothing left to throw up, I clasped my hands to my mouth and staggered back.

I need to get home. I wanna go home.

It was late. I could tell that it was late.

Phone?

I patted down my pockets.

No phone.

Don't actually remember picking it up before I left to go to the carnival. Guess I'll just have to walk. In the dark. With the psychotic bitch vampire who just killed me.

No. Don't think about that. Anything but that. Just walk, Alexa, just keep walking. One foot in front of the other. Just keep moving. Just get home. You'll be safe at home. Don't think about what happened. Just don't do it. Because it was just too awful. Too unbelievable.

Shit. I just died.

XXX

The moment that I got home, I bolted up the stairs and dived under my bed covers. Fortunately, Aunt Jenna and Jeremy were in bed. No idea as to where Ellie was. I spared a moment to kick my shoes off before I cocooned the covers around me, tucking my head beneath them.

Somewhere, in the rational part of my mind, I knew that being under the covers wouldn't protect me if Katherine came a calling. But it gave me the illusion of safety. And that was exactly what I needed at this point in time. It was the only thing that would stop me from losing my mind.

If it wasn't for the Gilbert ring that Uncle John had given me, I would be dead at this moment in time. Like, dead dead. And ain't that a hard truth to wrap your mind around. Even with all this vampire shit, even with all the times I had been attacked, I had never even begun to consider that I could actually die. I had just assumed that I would always be saved. But that didn't happen. Instead, I died.

I needed someone. I needed someone to be with me right now. To hold me in their arms and tell me that everything was alright. That I was fine. But... who?

Damon? I was still trying to hate him. I had to hate him. He was going to snap Jeremy's neck. But... I just couldn't make myself hate him. And I hate that. So I couldn't call him over here. If he comforted me, if he was nice to me, then I wouldn't be able even try to hate him.

Tyler? I can't drag him into this. He deserved to have a normal life. One free from vampires and all that supernatural crap. Maybe... someday in the future... I would tell him. But not right now. He needed to be protected.

Luke? Luke was gone.

XXX

To say that my sleep was disturbed would be an understatement. I woke up so many times, it was unreal. How I didn't wake anyone else up, I do not know. Maybe I didn't scream out loud. I didn't even know, there was no way to tell. After I woke up, my previous injuries had healed. My neck was fine and the persistent dull ache in my fractured wrist was finally gone.

After the seventh time that I gasped awake, I gave up on the concept of sleep and quietly stumbled down the stairs. Everytime I closed my eyes, I heard that sickening snap.

Have I ever said just how much I hate Katherine?

Anyways, I made my way into the kitchen and spent the rest of the night baking away. Instead of cookies, I baked cakes. Well, three cakes. A coffee cake. A Victoria sponge. And a chocolate cake.

Cooking helped. It helped me take my mind off of what happened. And I got to eat lots of goodie goodie stuff. Licking the bowl, I have to admit, is one of my favourite parts. It was very process based. Baking was like science. I had to concentrate on what I was doing and that meant that I was able to stop the bad thoughts from entering my mind.

It didn't scratch the itch that I wanted it to. All I wanted was for my mind to go numb. And I knew the perfect way to do that. But I couldn't. I couldn't resort to drinking. To search for the numbness I craved, I feared that I would drink too much. Drinking to forget was dangerous. I had managed to avoid it for the most part, the aftermath of Luke's death was really the only time I had done so. And I had been caught before too much damage could be done. But this time, considering what I was trying to forget, I don't know if I would be able to stop. And if I would even allow myself to be caught. I could do a lot of damage in one night, and if I went somewhere else, who knows who could stop me. But I couldn't think like that. I couldn't let Katherine ruin all the hard work for the past few weeks. She had taken my life, I wouldn't let her take that.

When I used to bully the gang into cooking with me, we always used to fight over who got to lick the bowl. Once, we broke a bowl during one of our fights. The bowl belonged to Mrs Lockwood. Tyler freaked and, well, let's just say that the remains of the bowl are now swimming with the froggies.

But anyways, I spent the next few hours just baking cakes. And once those three cakes were finished and placed inside the special cake boxes that my mom (cough, Miranda, cough) had brought me, I retreated back up to my bedroom.

One of the most important lessons that I had learnt as a child was that sleeping under the bed was a safe place to sleep. A childish notion, I know, but it was one that I had valued for years. Ellie and I used to sleep under her bed when we had bad dreams as children. And when Jeremy was old enough, he joined us. Dad used to tell us stories of how he would enter Elena's room to see a blanket peeking out from under the bed. He would crouch down and see me, Jer and Ellie curled around each other, fast asleep.

So, it was with that thought in my mind that I gathered up my blanket and pillow and crawled under my bed.

There, much safer.

XXX

I woke up the next morning to Tyler's face peering under the bed.

I blinked slowly at him before closing my eyes and curling the blanket tighter around me. God, I was so damn tired. I probably shouldn't have stayed up for those cake baking hours. But sleep just wasn't happening and I had hoped that it would clear my mind enough for me to be able to get at least a couple of hours. It hadn't worked. I had woken up so many times during the night that everything was just a blur.

I heard a faint sigh before a warm arm wrapped around my waist as an equally as warm body slid up behind me.

"Why did you sleep under the bed last night, Alex?" my brother asked, his breath tickling the back of my neck.

Gosh, how do I explain that to him? Unless... do I tell him? About the vampires? About the witches? About everything? I need to tell him. I need to rant about it all to someone. And it was safer for him to know. Not knowing was dangerous, especially with Katherine around. And… I just needed him to know. He was one of my best friends, I trusted him. Even though this secret was not mine to tell, I needed to pass it on. I was going to break if I didn't have someone to talk to.

"Ty," I started softly as he stroked my hair back from my face. "Promise not to interrupt until I'm finished?"

"I promise."

"Well, you remember when I used to force you to watch Supernatural with me? And I used to say 'wouldn't it be cool if all those supernatural pains in the asses existed?"

"I believe your exact squeal was 'wouldn't it be cool if Dean existed'."

"Details. But I do have a point to bringing that up."

I took a deep breath and held up the hand with the ring on it. It looked so innocent and yet it was so powerful. A part of me hated it, I was going through this pain because it brought me back. Would Katherine have even killed me if I didn't have it? I didn't know. But I had to be thankful for it. It was the only reason why I was still here. And I had to appreciate that.

"This ring," I started as Ty carefully took my hand in his and examined the ring. "This ring protects me."

"Protects you? From what?"

"Supernatural death."

Silence.

I can't put into words how grateful I was that I couldn't see his face. I don't know if I could have kept going if I could see his reaction.

"Supernatural death?" he repeated, his voice blank.

"Yeah, if a witch or a vampire or whatever the hell is out there kills me, then this ring will bring me back to life."

"So... it's all real. Vampire, witches, werewolves."

"Vampires and witches, yeah. We actually have some living in grand old Mystic Falls. Don't know about werewolves though. God I hope they aren't real too. Can't be dealing with that right now."

"God," Tyler sighed as his arm around my waist tightened its grip slightly.

"Yeah," I snorted humourlessly as I curled my fingers around Ty's thumb. "That's how I reacted."

"Did Luke and Jazz know?"

"They were freakin vampire hunters! And so were Heather and Eric. For all the good it did them."

"So, all of you knew except for me."

Oh snap.

I quickly spun around to face Tyler, getting myself completely tangled up in the blanket at the same time. I grasped his face in my hands and looked him in the eye. My tired brain just went into panic mode, which was not good for explaining the reasoning behind all of our decisions.

"We wanted to tell you Ty, I promise. But... well... you were safer not knowing. And I only found out a few months ago. And with all the crap with your father, you had a lot to deal with. And we would have told you eventually. Luke wouldn't even have told me if it wasn't for the Salvatore's coming to town and all the deaths that followed."

"The Salvatore's?" Ty repeated, frowning in confusion. "What have they got to do with it?"

I clapped a hand over my mouth, eyes wide in horror. Oh crap, I did not just say that. I was just going to tell him about the existence of the supernatural, not that the Salvatore's were supernatural themselves.

"Alexa... are the Salvatore's... vampires?"

"You can't tell anyone! Promise me!"

"Hey, hey," Ty ran his hand through my hair. "I promise."

"Yes, the Salvatore's are vampires. They were turned in 1864 by a vampire called... K-K-Katherine Pierce. Who just so happens to look exactly like my twin sister."

I don't know how I managed to pronounce her name. Just the thought of it made me feel sick. But I had to explain it to Tyler.

"Exactly?"

"Exactly. Carbon copies. Identical. No difference between the two. She's already managed to fool several people."

"You had trouble saying her name."

Shit, time to play dumb. Can't let anyone know that I was killed. They would be too busy worrying over me to focus on getting rid of Katherine. That bitch needed to go, otherwise no one would be safe.

"Who's name?"

"Katherine's name."

"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

I sighed as Ty took my hand and stroked the back of it, "Yeah, I did."

I glanced down at my ring. It had become the symbol of what happened to me. Every time I looked at it, I just remembered what happened. And I couldn't even take it off. John had given it to me to protect me, his gift would be wasted if I took it off now.

"Last night, she... she... she," I choked on my words as I fought back the tears. "She snapped my neck and killed me."

"She what?!" my brother hissed, fury in his eyes. His grip on my hand became too tight but I didn't say anything. It helped. The discomfort grounded me. It helped me to remember that I was here, I was alive. I wasn't back at that moment. And I needed that.

"She killed me, Ty, how do I...? How can I...? Shit, Tyler, I'm fucking terrified. What if she comes back and does it again?" I looked at my brother, tears glistening in my eyes. I hadn't meant to say so much, but maybe I needed to. Because it was all I could think about. Katherine had been invited in. She could come and go as she pleased. So what was there to stop her from doing it again? From hurting me? From killing me?

"Right, come on, you're coming with me," Tyler stated firmly, easing out from under the bed. It took me a moment to register his words and, in that time, Ty used the blanket to gently pull me back out into the open.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I quickly scanned the room. Logically, I knew that she wasn't there, but the scared part of me couldn't help but imagine her hiding in the corner of my room, ready to jump out at me.

"Back to my house."

"But she can get in there, she's been invited in."

"Ah, but does that... invitation... extend to the extension?"

I cast my mind back to when Damon explained the 'rules' of vampirism to me. He had mentioned something about extensions, that they counted as a grey area, depending on when they were built and stuff like that.

"... I don't think so."

"Well then, that settles it, you're spending the day with me."

He picked me up and gently plonked me down on my bed before turning and digging through my wardrobe.

I watched him. There was a reason as to why I had adopted him as my older brother. And that reason is because he knows me. He knows that I don't wanna talk about Katherine snapping my neck. He knows that I wanna be distracted. That I just needed to feel safe for the first time since it happened.

A set of sweatpants and one of Tyler's old hoodies landed on my lap. I blinked at them before looking up at Ty.

"Get ready; I'll let Jenna know where you're going. Meet me outside in around 15 minutes."

"Yes, sir," I smiled slightly as I clutched the hoodie to my face. It smelt like him. And that made me feel safer already.

He rolled his eyes and smiled before leaving the room.

XXX

It took me 20 minutes to get ready, but Ty didn't mind. The fact that I had not retreated back under the bed was good enough for him. I didn't have the energy for a shower, but I did run a wet cloth all over my body. It was good enough for now. And I knew that all I would be doing was hiding out at Ty's house.

He drove as quickly as possible back to his house without breaking the speed limit. The moment we arrived, he ushered me into the extension. Now, I should take the time to tell you that the extension was basically the music room.

It was a pretty big music room.

I was left on the sofa Mrs Lockwood had deemed good enough to place in her music room as Tyler left to find a blanket, goodies and drinks. (The non-alcoholic kind.) It was decorated with flowers, roses, to be exact. It had a faint scent of her perfume and I knew that Mrs Lockwood had been here recently. It hadn't been used much; you could tell from the plumpness of the cushions. But they were still soft enough that you could sink back into them and be hidden from the world.

It didn't take very long for me to be wrapped up in the blanket from Tyler's bed. He had even brought his laptop into the room. It was placed on the small table next to the sofa, one which was to be used for drinks.

After checking that I was as alright as could be and that I was eating something, Ty wandered over to the piano in front of me. He gently lifted the lid and carefully ran his fingers over the keys. With a long, deep breath, Ty eased the stool out of its place and sat down. He slowly played a couple of songs, ones from our childhood, just to get back into the swing of it. I watched him with tired eyes as the music helped ease the tension in my heart. Ty's dark eyes glanced up and he gave me such a sweet smile. He asked for song requests and pointed to the laptop. While I looked for songs on the internet, Tyler played the songs that I had already chosen on the piano.

A surprise, I know. Tyler Lockwood plays the piano. And plays it amazingly well, I shall add. He was so good that I insisted on recording everything that he played. Playing the piano helped him deal with his anger. It always got worse when he couldn't play for a while. When you combined it with his sketching, you could see how sweet Ty could really be. His skill set was so diverse, it frustrated me when people just focussed on his football.

And that is how we spent the day. Holed up in the Lockwood music room, alternating between Ty playing the piano and us watching Star Trek together. For food, we just ordered takeout. Mrs Lockwood had poked her head in a couple of times, but Ty managed to make her leave each time. I don't know what he told her, but she looked at me with such soft eyes that my heart ached for my mom. After that, she made sure that no one disturbed us until it was time for me to go home.

And, for the first time since my encounter with Katherine, I felt safe.

XXX

I woke up the next morning with someone lying on the bed next to me.

I knew that it wasn't Tyler as he was spending the day with Uncle Mason Lockwood. It was the only reason why I hadn't spent the night. Mason had requested to have Tyler time and I couldn't deny it, not without telling him why I desperately needed the time with my adopted brother. So I just slapped on my mask and told Ty it was fine and to spend the day with his uncle.

It wouldn't be Jeremy as he would be squashing me by this point in time. Nor would it be Ellie as she would be under the covers. And that didn't leave me many other options.

So I did the only thing I could, I opened my eyes and blearily looked up to see Damon Salvatore smirking down at me. Well shit, I probably should have expected that.

"What do you want?" I sighed wearily as I pulled the cover over my head and tried to find the feeling of not-panic that I had earlier.

"Group meeting, my house," he replied, tugging on the top of the blanket. I debated fighting the tugging, but experience had taught me that he would play dirty and get the blanket anyway.

"I don't wanna go," I grumbled, closing my eyes as I relinquished my grip on the blanket. Wouldn't wanna rip my blankey now, would we? The thought of attending a group meeting was not a good one. I would have to fix my mask back on and pretend that everything was okay. But how could I do that? Sharp noises had me jumping and I had barely slept the past couple of nights, so thinking was hard. And I couldn't tell them any of this. I had to protect them from it. If they found out, then I don't know what they would do. And I couldn't let them get hurt because of me.

"What makes you think that you have a choice?"

You know, I could practically sense the raised eyebrow.

"I'll call Elena," I warned the vampire, opening my eyes and squinting up at him. A small part of my brain admired the way the sunlight shone in his hair. Then the bigger part of my brain told it to piss off and to get a grip. Ugh, lack of sleep really doesn't agree with me.

"Try it," he smirked challenging as he leaned back against my pillows.

I glared at him and opened my mouth, ready to scream bloody murder for my twin sister to come and save me from Damon. The Damon who I no longer hate. I should hate him. I know that I should hate him. But there's just something about him that I just can't hate. What he did was a stupid, drunken mistake. And well...

"But before you wake up the entire household, I should probably tell you that Elena's already at my house."

I closed my mouth with a snap and crossed my arms. The glare that I had aimed at Damon soon morphed into a pout. Stupid Elena. Why was she never here when I needed her to rescue me from Damon? And that stupid persistent crush on Damon.

I felt a hand start to play with my hair as I considered my options. I barely even noticed that my head was resting on Damon's chest as I thought. I could resist for longer and probably just get dragged to the meeting in my pyjamas. I could just give in, get dressed and sit in a room where I have the protection of two vampires. Or I could... well, I can't think of a third option right now.

Shit.

"Fine!" I relented petulantly. "I'll go."

"Good."

XXX

Was I a bad person?

For not hating Damon anymore?

Even though he tried to kill my brother?

There was something inside of me that just could not hate him.

I tried. God knows I tried. I tried so so so hard. But I just couldn't. I hated Tyler for longer and all we did was argue. Damon was going to snap Jeremy's neck. My baby brother's neck.

And yet, I just couldn't do it. My soul just rebelled at the thought of hating him.

I mean, I missed him, for godssake! I missed that we didn't spend some time together every day like we used to. I hated that I couldn't tell him about Katherine, about what she did to me.

I guess lo... liking someone really does suck.

XXX

I was given 10 minutes to get ready by Mr Vampire. So I took 30.

Take that blood sucker.

I made sure to take an extra-long hot shower. And I washed my hair twice.

Petty? Yeah. Necessary? Yeah. To be fair, before you all judge me, I kinda needed it after last night. The hot shower helped to wake me up and I definitely needed to be awake. If I was to keep what happened a secret, I had to have my mask on point. And that meant that I needed to feel a bit more awake. It wouldn't fix all of it, but at least I could stop the more obvious signs from forming.

Once I was dressed in some leggings and a large off the shoulder t-shirt, I let the vampire back into my room. I had, of course, banished him while I got ready. There was no way that I was gonna let Damon Freaking Salvatore stay in the same room as me while I got dressed. No way in hell.

"You took your time," he mock grumbled as he made my bed before lying back down on it. I internally rolled my eyes, he was so high-maintenance at times. But at least I didn't have to do it now. I was legitimately worried that if I got too close to my bed, then I wouldn't want to get off of it.

"Did I?" I asked as I put on some makeup to hide the dark circles beneath my eyes, fake innocence decorating my voice. "Whoops, my bad."

I smirked at Damon's face through the reflection in the mirror as I swept my bangs to the side. Elena expected certain standards and knew that if I hadn't reached them, then something was wrong. So even though I didn't want to put makeup on and sort out my hair, I had to, in order to stop my twin from noticing that something was wrong.

"Your bad indeed," the vampire muttered, rolling his eyes as he pushed himself off the bed. I clipped my belt around my waist and tucked my phone in my purse. Right, I guess I was ready to face the rest of the world. And it was a good thing that I was…

I had about a seconds warning before I was thrown over Damon's shoulder.

"Put me down!" I squealed, trying to get lose. I really hated when he did that. And, unfortunately, he knew it so the ass kept on doing it.

"Careful, wouldn't want me to drop you now, would we?"

"Dick," I rolled my eyes, winding my arms around his waist and holding on tight. What? I wouldn't want to fall off while Damon was vampire running, now, would I? That and, well, how do I say this, being with the Damon helped. It helped me forget what happened.

It... helped me to be me again.

XXX

Right, so, apparently, Ric was also invited to this little group meeting of ours.

I didn't even know until he turned up on the Salvatore Boarding House doorstep. Nobody tells me anything. Well, thinking about that, Damon is normally the one who tells me stuff and since I'm not really talking to him at the moment, he hasn't really had the chance to tell me anything.

... Damn, I'm poking holes in my own sulk points.

What. An. Idiot.

As the Salvatore Brother's went to answer the door, Elena asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine, twin," I smiled at her, doing my best to appear my normal self. I hadn't actually told my twin what happened, the last thing that she needed was to worry about Katherine snapping my neck. It's not like it's important, I came back to life. She still has her twin. Nothing to worry about. But she would worry. It's in her nature. She worries about me. Worries too much.

So I've been avoiding her. Which is why I let Tyler drag me to his house yesterday. When we did happen to cross paths, I put on my best Alexa face. The problem is though, I'm not sure if she's totally convinced. So I just hard to try harder.

"Thanks for coming, Ric," Stefan's voice interrupted Elena before she could say something that would make me accidently tell her what happened. Which was something that I really needed to work on.

"Should I get you something to drink? Coffee? Bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?" Damon snarked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes as I pulled Ellie's cardigan closer and tucked the sleeves over my hands.

"Elena mentioned that you needed my help," Alaric said, completely ignoring Damon. Oh, so, Ellie's gonna talk to Ric without me know? Well, that's just rude. Rude twin. She could have at least told me that she was going to speak to Ric.

The history teacher vampire hunter sat down next to me on the other sofa. I was curled up in the corner of said sofa. The two lovebirds were sat opposite while Damon paced behind me.

"Yeah, we were hoping that you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family," Stefan answered the unasked question of 'why the hell am I here?'.

That caught my attention.

"What the hell do you mean?" I struggled to stop myself from snapping, sitting up straight. "What's wrong with my Lockwood family?" Nobody answered me. "I demand answers, people!"

"Now, why would I know anything about the Lockwood's?" Ric asked, completely ignoring me like the rest of the meanie's in the room. They can't name drop the Lockwood's without properly involving me. They all knew how important that family was to me, so they should really be improving on their conversation skills.

"Well, you wouldn't," Damon smirked as he sat on the arm of the sofa next to me, gently easing me back so that I was sat back. "But your dead-not-dead vampire wife might."

I pouted and crossed my arms. I don't like being ignored. Especially when it comes to my Lockwoods. I would need to have words with these fools later. Once I was feeling a bit more like myself. I relaxed my back, subconsciously resting my head against Damon's side.

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together," Elena continued with a glance at me.

"You said that she had spent years researching this town," Stefan finished with a sigh.

I feel left out. It's like they rehearsed this. When would they even have had time to do so? Yesterday?

Ric shook his head.

Ha! He doesn't like your little triple speech either!

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls was rooted in folklores and legends," the vamper hunter said reluctantly, obviously not liking the thought of having to discuss his vampire ex-wife. Huh... guess I was wrong. "But at the time I thought much of it was fiction."

"Like that amazing vampire story?" Damon spoke up next to me. Does he ever lose that smirk? I do love that smirk though. Ugh, I did not just say that. Stupid crush. Let's move on, please.

"Aside from vampires, what else is there?" my twin asked, resting her head on Stefan's shoulder.

"Well, uh," Ric thought for a moment before continuing, "The lycanthrope."

"Oooh, now, if I'm remembering my Underworld film series correctly," I piped up before Elena could speak. "The lycanthropes are werewolves... yeah?"

Ric it looked over at me and smiled slightly, nodding his head.

Yay, I was right.

I allowed myself to wallow in my success as a hand rested on my shoulder and a thumb gently rubbed my collar bone.

"No way, impossible," well, Damon most certainly sounded shocked, "Way too Lon Chaney."

Way too who?

"Is it?" Stefan shot back.

"I've been on this planet one hundred and seventy some odd years," Damon started, staring hard at his brother. "And I have never come across one. If werewolves exist, then where the hell are they?"

"In Forks, Washington?" I suggested innocently, blinking up at the vampire next to me. I was rewarded with a jab in the ribs for my suggestion. I did love teasing him about the Twilight movies and books. He loathed them to a ridiculous level. If you got him drunk enough, he would rant about how they were an abomination and insult to the vampire name.

"Why do you suspect the Lockwood's, though?" Ric asked, getting me and Damon to focus on the problem. Which sucked. Because being distracted was exactly what I needed right now.

"Yeah! Why do you suspect my Lockwood's?" I demanded, glaring around the room. I put a special emphasis on the 'my'. Well, they were my Lockwood's. My big brother Ty-Ty Lockwood. And my honorary Uncle Mason Lockwood. And Mrs Lockwood had been there for me for years. She was like a second mother growing up and I had learnt a lot from her.

But it was Damon who finally answered my question, "Because, Alexa, vervain didn't affect the mayor at Founder's Day, but the Gilbert device did. And it affected his son, aka your precious Tyler."

I hated that stupid Gilbert device. Even though it saved my life, it fucked up a lot more.

"And," Stefan added, looking at Ric. Oh, god, there's more. "At the school carnival, his Uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behaviour when he fought with one of the carnival's workers."

"That doesn't suggest anything," I muttered petulantly, crossing my arms.

"It suggests, Alexa, that they're some sort of supernatural entity."

I narrowed my eyes and went to retort when Ellie spoke up, "We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is."

Silly twin, interrupting me, naughty Stefan needed scolding for his comments against my Ty and Mason. No one insults my Lockwood's and gets away with it. Except for me, of course. And I had earnt that right over the years.

"Well, all her things are still at Duke," Ric answered Elena with a painful sigh. "I mean, her office is still there, she's technically still missing."

That must be so hard for Ric. Knowing that she's still alive, but she just doesn't give a damn about him anymore. I could never imagine that. That bitch had hurt a lot of people in her relatively short lifetime.

"So can we get access to it?" Damon asked, exchanging a look with his brother. The history teacher hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding. Even with his acceptance, the man didn't look happy.

"Ric, we need to know what we're dealing with here," Damon's grip on my shoulder increased slightly as he spoke, "If this wolf men thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know that it's not good. It means that Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney." Real life who? "And that little Tyler punk," don't call my Tyler a punk, "May just very well be Lon Chaney Junior." Who who Junior? "Which means that Bella Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed."

Didn't Bella Talbot on season 3 of Supernatural use the pseudonym of Bella Lugosi at one point?

XXX

Ellie, Damon, Ric and I were going to go to Duke to see visits Isobel's office.

Oh joy.

Stefan had to stay in the cursed town of Mystic Falls to look after Baby Vampire Caroline Forbes. Who was doing amazingly, by the way. I had texted her a few times to check in. Despite what happened to me, I couldn't abandon my friend after what happened to her.

Damon had to go because it was his idea in the first place. And as much as I can say that I don't want him to go, I wanted him to go. God, what was wrong with me?

Well, at lot of things… ya know what? Let's not open that can of worms.

"So, let me get this straight," Jer piped up from where he was lounging on my bed. "You're going to Duke University to go through your birth mom's research in the hope that it can tell you what the Lockwood's are."

Well, that's a pretty simple way of putting it.

"Pretty much," I nodded as I packed an overnight bag to take with me. Ya know, just in case. We didn't know how long this trip would take so Ric had advised us to have an overnight bag. I got the sense that he wanted it all done today, but he was responsible enough to know that we had to be prepared for a slightly longer trip.

"Huh. And Damon's going with you?"

"Yep," I tried to sound angry and annoyed at the thought of Damon accompanying me on this trip. But I think I failed. Miserably. Because I was actually relieved. Despite the fact that Katherine was, like, a gazillion years old, I knew that I would feel safer with Damon around. And I craved that right now.

I could feel Jeremy's gaze burning on my back.

Not turning around. Not turning around. Not turning around.

"Alexa, do you still hate him?"

"No! Yes!" I snapped before sighing, "Oh, I don't know,"

I slumped down on my bed next to my little brother and put my head in my hands, "I don't know how I feel about Damon Salvatore."

"You lo-," Jer started with a confident look on his face.

No! Not that word! Naughty word!

"No!" I squeaked in fear, clapping a hand over his mouth, and coughing deeply to hide how high-pitched my voice had become. "You do not say that word. I am not that word with that dick. I'm not. I'm not."

I can't be.

But…

No.

Jeremy took my hand in his and entwined our fingers, "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

I moaned in frustration as I shifted so that I was leaning against my brother's chest. My head resting under his chin. As much as I hated how much he had outgrown me, I did adore the height when it meant I could effectively snuggle with my kid brother.

"A few days ago, before the whole," I waved my hand in the air, unable to say the actual words, but Jer understood what I meant as he nodded, "I probably would've been able to admit it. But since then, I've tried to hate him. I've tried, tried, tried."

"Tried and failed."

"I don't get why I can't hate him."

"Because you l-"

"No!"

"Like him, you strongly like him."

"That's better."

"But you were like that with Luke."

I frowned in confusion, "I was?"

"When Luke did something that you didn't approve of, you would try and try to hate him but, ultimately, you would fail."

Huh. I did not know that.

"I managed to hate Tyler for several months. And yet I wasn't able to hate Damon for several days."

"And Damon's transgression was worse."

"So, what you're saying is that I am incapable of staying mad at the boys who I strongly like?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Well... that's... just stupid."

"Like you then."

"Hey!" I whined pathetically, elbowing Jeremy in the ribs.

He laughed.

A knock on the door interrupted our little sibling moment.

"Alexa?" Ellie poked her head around the door. "You ready to go?"

"Uh…" I looked over at my semi-packed bag. "Nearly!"

I feel off of the bed and quickly stuffed some random things in my bag. I don't even know what I put in there. Just… stuff. Hopefully we didn't need to stay the night as I don't think I managed to pack anything useful at the end.

"Lexa, you've had ages to get ready," Elena sighed, a small smile dancing on her lips.

"I was distracted!" I declared, looking around for a distraction, which came in the form of my delightful brother. "By Jeremy!"

"Oi!" Jer laughed from where he still lounged on my bed. "Don't drag me into this."

"Too late," I stuck my tongue out at him before looking at my twin. "Ready."

"About time," she rolled her eyes as she hitched her own bag over her shoulder.

"About time," I mocked, dodging her hand which had come to scold me for my cheekiness.

"You coming to say buh bye?" I asked Jer as I walked backwards out of the door.

"Might as well," he replied, sliding off of my bed.

"Goodie," I smiled at him before walking into a body.

Huh, wonder who that is.

I slowly tilted my head up to see Stefan smiling down at me.

"Stefan," I greeted him as I moved away from him.

"Alexa," he returned with a small laugh.

"How ya been?" I asked as I linked my arm through his and we walked down the stairs.

"Good. How have you been?"

"Amazing," I replied, lying through my teeth. If only I could convince myself that.

"Really? You haven't seemed yourself these past couple of days."

Oh shit. He noticed. Quick! Deflection.

"Bye Aunt Jenna!" I called over to my aunt. I slipped my arm out of Stefan's and dashed over to her.

"See you later Alexa," she laughed as I wrapped her up in a tight hug and kissed her cheek.

"Look after my sofa for me, I give you permission to sit on it for me."

"Thanks Alexa."

"Oh, and could you deliver the Victoria, the carrot and the chocolate cake to the Lockwood's for me? They're all packaged up, they just need delivering."

"Of course."

"Thank you," I smiled as I hefted my bag back up onto my shoulder. "And the extra cakes are for you."

"Sleepless night?"

What is it with people and asking me revealing questions? Curse you people. Sigh, more deflection. Which sucked, as I hoped to get another hug from my aunt.

"Bye Auntie J!"

I ran from the house before she could ask any more questions.

Oh crap. Damon.

Right, come on Alexa, act cool.

"Salvatore, s'up?" I nodded at the vampire as I walked towards the car.

Not quite what I intended.

God, that was so cringey.

Damon raised an eyebrow as the rest of the group walked up to the car. That group consisted of Alaric the History teacher who made a beeline for the driver's seat, Elena, Stefan and Jeremy.

I leant against the car as Jeremy stood in front of me.

"Look after yourself, Lexa," he smiled down at me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"You look after yourself, kiddo," I rested my hands on his and gave them a squeeze.

"I will," he promised with a serious nod.

"Good."

"Sorry you can't come too, Stef," Damon smirked at his brother, drawing my attention away from my brother.

"Bye Lexa," he kissed me on the cheek and walked back into the house.

"Bye Jer," I called back distractedly, admiring the way Damon's hair shone in the sunlight.

Wait, what?

"Call me if you need anything," Stefan smiled lovingly at his girlfriend. Aww, aren't they so cute?

"You too, Alexa," the bunny eater added after I slyly cleared my throat.

"Thanks Stef," I smiled slightly in gratitude as he remembered to include me. Albeit with a wee bit of prompting.

"Oh, I'll take really good care of them," the dick behind me smirked, sliding an arm around my shoulder.

"Oh joy, I feel so safe," I mumbled as Ellie pulled her vampire in for a steamy kiss.

Ewwww, I didn't wanna see that.

Get a room.

I scrunched my nose and leaned into my Salvatore.

Now, I know that I appear to be acting very Alexa like. But that's all it is, an act. I was trying my damndest to not remember what happened that night. I don't think that I would be able to cope with the resulting break down.

Because I...

"Okay, time to go," Damon told the love birds, breaking my chain of thought.

As I climbed into the back of the car, I couldn't help but think: when did life get so damn complicated?

XXX

There was silence in the car. Complete silence.

Elena was hating on Damon.

Damon was thinking that I was hating on him.

Alaric was awkwardly trying to not be there.

I was trying failing to take my mind off of Bitcherine and what she did to me.

So yeah, everyone was silent.

My twin was sharing the back seat with me and I had my legs over her lap. We used to do this when we were kids and our parents took us places. It was just a lot more comfortable. And if I was uber lucky, I would get a cheeky foot rub from my sister.

"How are you doing back there?" Damon asked, finally breaking the silence. I almost jumped at the noise but somehow, I held it back. Which was lucky as I definitely would have gotten a look from my sister.

His hand landed on my knee and squeezed it slightly before retreating back to the front of the car at the lack of an answer. I wasn't sure whether he was talking to me or Elena, so I kept quiet.

"You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly."

Pretending to hate you? Oh Damon, you know me so well.

"I don't think they're pretending," Ric told Damon. "You did try to kill their brother. In front of Alexa."

"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement," Damon tried to defend himself. "For one thing, I didn't. And he would have come back to life."

"Yeah, thanks to a ring that you didn't know he was wearing," my twin scoffed, resting her hand on my ankle. "And you shouldn't have even tried to, Damon. Alexa shouldn't have had to beg you to not do it in the first place."

"Why are you so sure that I didn't know?" the vampire asked Elena, completely ignoring the second point. I had noticed that it was something he always did. I think the guilt got to him when he heard how much I had to beg him. It must have been hard for him to hear it. And I was glad it was.

"Did you, Damon?" I finally spoke up as my eyes flickered to meet his. "Did you know?"

"Yes," he answered after a slight hesitation.

I shook my head, "You're lying to me."

"Alexa, I saw the ring!" Damon exclaimed even though I could hear the lie in his voice. "It's a big tacky thing, it's hard to miss."

I glanced down at the ring on my hand. It was kinda big. But that mean tacky. Did it?

"Ellie?" I asked quietly. "It's not tacky, is it?"

I held up my hand and showed her my ring. It glinted in the sunlight and I flashed back to that night. The lights from the carnival had been glinting in the distance. God, I had to stop. I needed to get my mind off of it before I had a breakdown in the car.

"No, Lexa, it's not tacky," she was quick to reassure me. "Just ignore Damon."

"Thank you, Ellie," I smiled softly at her as I focussed on her lovely smile to keep my mind firmly in the present.

More silence.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the head rest.

I was so tired. Like the night before, I had gotten barely any sleep. Around 1 o'clock, I had woken up for the fifth time, so I just went downstairs and baked cakes for six hours. But I think that's what clued my family in on my problems. I always used to bake when I couldn't sleep. Well, before I had Luke and alcohol I used to. I baked five cakes last night. Five.

The sound of my phone ringing caught my attention, 'Gives You Hell' by The All-American Rejects blasting out.

A soft smile adorned my face as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"Hey Ty," I answered the phone, closing my eyes again. Thank god I had someone to talk to. The silence was really bugging me. It meant that I had time to think. And thinking was uber bad right now.

"Hi Alex, how ya doin?"

"I'm doing good, how are you doing?"

"I'm good. Listen, I'm having a get together at the lake later today and I wanted to know if you were coming."

What? That's so unfair! I can't go. Sad face. Ugh, why did he have to pick today? Why did we have to go to Duke today?

"Today? Why did you have to have it today?"

"Is today not good for you?"

Duh, no kidding.

"I'm going to Duke University to look through my birth mom's stuff."

"And how are you coping with that?"

Well, he knows me well enough to know that it bothers me. Bravo brother. Bravo. Because it really did. It would have bother me normally. But with my mental state how it was, it bothered me even more. Isobel broke my wrist and Katherine broke my neck. For some reason, my female ancestors had an obsession with breaking my bones. At least my wrist had healed. I had noticed it that night. At least my death did something helpful. Although, I couldn't get my cast taken off. Because people would ask how it healed so quickly. Which meant that I was stuck with the damn thing for now.

"I'm coping well; I have Elena, Ric and Damon with me to keep me company."

"Well, at least you're not alone."

I knew from his tone that he had gotten the silent hint that I was giving him. I had told him all about those pesky little special abilities vampire had, so he knew not to say anything about the incident as he knew Damon could hear.

"Sucks that you can't come."

"I know, it does suck."

The urge to giggle was so strong.

Suck? Vampires? Blood?

I know, I know, I'm so immature. But I needed the stupid shit like that. It helped.

"I'll arrange something for the two of us to do when you get back."

"Thanks Ty. Oh, Aunt Jenna should be dropping off your cakes."

"Yeah, I've got them. How many did you make last night?"

"Uh, five? Yeah, five. Plus the three from the night before."

"I see. Well, we're definitely going to have a get together when you get back. Maybe even a sleepover."

Clever brother. He knew why I was having problems sleeping. I love how well he knows me. And how he tries to help me.

"Can't wait."

"Look, Alex, I've gotta go, I'll see you when you get back."

"Damn right you will. See you later big brother."

"See you later little sister."

I hung up with a reluctant sigh.

Back to the silence. Back to my thoughts.

XXX

By the time we had reached Duke, I had fallen asleep.

Fortunately, I had not been asleep long enough for me to have any nightmares. That would have been awkward to explain. And it would have given everything away. Damon knew that I had gotten over the nightmares from the Nolan's deaths and while I could play it off as nightmares caused by what happened to Jeremy, I knew that he wouldn't believe it. He would hear it in my heartbeat. Which was annoying. I really needed to learn how to lie without it giving me away.

But anyways, Ellie had the wonderful job of waking me up. I was a real grouch when I was woken up from my little catnaps. But if anyone could handle it, it would be my twin. She had had years of practice and knew the best way to get me awake and cooperating. She had learnt from our dad, who handled my grouchiness like a pro. So he always got Alexa duty when it came to waking me up and dealing with me after a short nap.

I leant against her as we walked towards the uni building, my head on her shoulder. Ellie had an arm wrapped around my waist so that she could properly direct me. In the state I was in, I was likely to walk into something and hurt myself. As I yawned for the second time, I mumbled some unintelligible thing about wanting more sleep.

"Then perhaps you should not have stayed up so late baking cakes," my twin scolded me softly as she pulled me closer to her.

"But Ellie, I couldn't sleep," I protested weakly without thinking.

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

Ah crap. Curiosity peaked.

Thankfully, an oblivious Ric decided to speak, successfully diverting Elena's attention away from my sleeping problems. And I knew that the mention of our birth mom would effectively dominate all of her interest.

"So, Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore."

Wow, that was fascinating Ric. I really understood all of that. Ugh, I was far too tired to deal with big words.

Ric led the way to an office which was occupied by some good looking chica. Why is everyone I meet so darn good looking? It's really gives a girl a complex ya know.

Damon's hand lightly brushed against the small of my back as he moved to stand beside me. I rested some of my weight against him as Ric spoke to chica.

"Excuse me, hi," he greeted her, catching her attention. Awww, isn't he so sweet and polite? "I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier."

"Yes, of course," chica smiled, standing up, her eyes lighting up in interest. "I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant on comparative folklore."

People, speak words that tired people can understand. Don't be mean to the tired people.

Vanessa's gaze turned to Ellie, Damon and me. At the sight of Ellie, her eyes widened slightly but before I could confirm that my tired eyes were accurate, she quickly looked back at Ric with a smile.

"Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys."

You do that.

I closed my eyes and tucked my head under Ellie's chin. Ellie huffed in my ear as my hair tickled hair but she didn't move me.

A thumb started to lightly stroke my side and I just knew that it was Damon. I was surrounded by two of the people that I cared for deeply and it helped. I wasn't completely relaxed but it was helping me to get rid of the tension that had built up.

"These are my friends, Elena, Alexa and Damon," Ric said, sweeping his arm back to gesture to us all.

"'lo," I mumbled, waving a hand in the air, only for it to be caught up Damon and tucked back into my side.

"I hope this isn't too much of an imposition."

Aww, Ric, you're so cute. Such a cutie.

"Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there."

Right through where? Respect the tired people. Who are sleeping. And have their eyes closed.

"Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student, she was brilliant and one of the reasons that I went into folklore."

That's nice. But did we ask for your life story? A clue: no. We did not. I don't particularly care. Stupid Vanessa.

"Uh, I have to ask, has there been any news?"

Well, we found out that she has twin daughters, she asked my Damon to turn her into a vampire, and she's working with Bitcherine. Oh, and she almost got my Damon killed. Anything else?

"No, I'm afraid not," Ric lied through gritted teeth. Well, I suppose that's an easier answer than my one.

But I did like my one better.

"It's this way."

At the sound of a door being unlocked, I opened my eyes, blearily watching Vanessa disappear into a dark room.

I guess we're going in there…?

And I guessed right. Ellie carefully steered me into the room, making sure that I didn't knock into the doorframe. Well, isn't this a musty, old room. Full of musty old books. And it's dark. Someone open the curtains. And turn on the lights.

"I'll grab the light," Vanessa spoke from the side. Yeah, you do that. "Feel free to look around." Was gonna do it anyway. But thanks for the invitation. "It's fascinating, isn't it?"

Ummmmm, yeah?

Weird lady.

I pulled my twin over to a bookcase of musty books. Musty books that looked like they were written in a different language. They were covered in dust and looked like no one had bothered to touch them in years. Why was I over here?

Oh yeah, I pulled us over here. Why did I do that?

Ooooh, Petrova. What an interesting surname. Ugh, am I really that bored? I let out a little groan and rolled my eyes.

"Where did she go?" Damon asked from the side.

Uhhhhh, to get the light.

Tut tut, silly Damon.

I disentangled myself from Elena so that I could pick up a... thing from the shelf. It was an interesting looking thing. Oh, I know, it's a paperweight. A pretty paperweight. A pretty red paperweight. I wonder if I could take it as a part of my inheritance. Afterall, I was owed a lot after Isobel broke my wrist.

Click.

Gasp.

Turn.

Oh shit.

There was a crossbow pointed at my twin.

There was a CROSSBOW pointed at my twin.

I placed my hand on Elena's tummy and pushed her backwards, stepping in front of her at the same time. I had a greater chance of surviving. If Vanessa was a supernatural, that is. But even if she wasn't, I would rather that I got hit by it than my sister. She needed to be okay.

I closed my eyes.

Vanessa fired.

But there was no pain.

Just a rush of air and a grunt.

I opened my eyes to see Damon standing in front of me. A pained expression on his face.

Oh my god. Oh dear god.

Damon just took an arrow for me.

He took an arrow for me.

For me.

XXX

I don't know what shocked me more, the fact that I almost died (again) or the fact that Damon just saved my life (again). I just... it's too soon for this.

"Pull it out," the vampire hissed through gritted teeth. "I can't reach it Alexa."

"But it's icky," I complained, hesitantly wrapping my hands around the arrow. I could see the blood sluggishly leaking from the would through the hole in his shirt.

"Just pull the damn thing out. It. hurts."

"Ok!"

I took a deep breath and shuddered slightly at the thought of what I was about to do.

"One. Two. Three."

Yank.

It's disgusting how easily the arrow slid out of the vampire's flesh. The sound it made made me want to gag but I held it in. Damon took this arrow for me, I had to hold in all of my noisier reactions.

Damon shook his body, sort of reminding me of a wet cat.

I like cats.

"That bitch is dead," Damon spoke; glaring in the direction Ric had dragged Vanessa in.

"You're not gonna kill her," Ellie snapped from the side, where she had been watching it all. Ellie had initially berated me for standing in front of her. But she was quickly distracted by Damon's tense request for someone to pull the fucking arrow out of his back. We had been incredibly lucky that it had missed his heart. I don't know whether Damon had judged it or whether it had been luck. Considering he was facing me; I went with the it was just luck reason.

"Ellie, she tried to kill you!" I exclaimed angrily, wanting to put that woman in the ground myself. "If he wants to kill her, he can kill her."

"Really?" Damon sounded rather surprised.

"Dude, I will hold her down for you," I nodded sharply, my heart pounding in my ears as I focussed on my anger and not my fear. "No one tries to kill my twin and get away with it."

The vampire squinted at me, "Are you trying to manipulate me into not killing her?"

"Me? Manipulate? You honestly think that I'm that clever?"

"I took an arrow in the back for you."

"Which is why I would never ever manipulate you," I said seriously before smiling wryly, "Even if you are, what was it Elena said, oh yes, a 'psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively'."

I heard my sister scoff behind me as Damon smirked, "She really say that about me?"

"Uh huh."

"Huh."

"Now, let's go talk to Vanessa. As in talk. I need to find out why she tried to kill my twin before I let you rip her heart."

"You're quite a violent person, aren't you?"

"What can I say? I've been spending too much time around you."

XXX

"Yo bitch," I called as the infamous trio of Elena, Damon and I walked over to Ric and Vanessa.

Ellie rolled her eyes at me before she said to Vanbitch, "I'm Elena Gilbert, Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce. This is Alexandria Gilbert, my twin sister."

"I'm also Isobel's daughter and descendant of Bitcherine," I continued with a glare on my face. "And this is the man who you just shot. His name is Damon Salvatore."

"I'd be extra nice to me right now," Damon smirked dangerously at the stupid bitch.

Ya know, it's situations like this, where the adrenaline is pumping, that help with forgetting what happened. Oh god, I'm not gonna have to turn into an adrenaline junkie, am I? That would really suck. I mean, it's not like I wouldn't have the opportunity in Mystic Falls. Some sort of supernatural drama seems to happened every week. I just didn't know how I would be able to hide it from the people who cared about me.

"Look, we need your help, ok?" Elena once again broke my train of thought. What is it with people and breaking my chain of thought? "We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls."

Why do I sense that this isn't gonna be fun?

Oh yeah, that's right, because I do actually have a brain.

XXX

Ow, crap, paper cut.

Why? Why is it always me? I swear I never used to be this clumsy. Maybe the lack of sleep was really getting to me.

"Mmmm, I smell blood," Damon breathed in my ear.

"Really? That's nice."

That's it Alexa, act disinterested. He's like a child, ignore him and he will stop misbehaving. You had been playing this game for long enough, you knew how to win it.

I went to hide the injured finger when a strong hand caught it.

"Well, look at that."

"I know," I grumbled, unconsciously resting against Damon's chest. "I feel like Bella Swan. Ugh, I think I'm gonna throw up."

I felt Damon smirk against my ear as he lifted my hand up.

"Uhh, what are you doing?" I squeaked, trying to pull my hand away.

"Waste not want not."

"You are not having some of my blood."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so and I am Alexa the Awesome."

"Right, of course, my most sincere apologies Alexa the Awesome."

"Don't mock me!" I whined pathetically as I slumped even further back into Damon's chest.

The dick just laughed.

"Alexa be leaving now," I pouted, moving away from the vampire who graciously allowed me to leave. I glanced around the room and spotted my sister talking to Vanessa. Despite my desire to avoid Vanessa like the plague, I wanted to hang out with my twin. So I would just have to ignore her while I was there.

"Ellie, Damon's a meanie," I complained to my twin sister as I wandered over to her.

"That's nice, Alexa," she mumbled distractedly as she eyed some vervain in a box.

Vervain is ugly.

I have just decided that. Vervain is ugly.

Couldn't a pretty plant repel vampires?

"Here, take this," Ellie passed a sprig of the vervain to Vanessa. Well, isn't that nice of her. The chick tried to kill her not that long ago and she's giving her anti-Damon gear. Honestly twin, I wonder about you sometimes. If I was feeling really cruel, I would slyly steal it from her later.

"Does vervain really work?" Vanessa whispered, looking at my twin. I think she had realised that I hated her. It wasn't that hard to notice, to be fair, I think that constant glaring and insults pointed that fact out rather well. I had gone out of my way to make sure that Vanessa knew that she was on my shit list.

"Nope, not at all," the vampire whispered loudly and mockingly from the other room. I grinned as Damon glanced over at us and caught my eye. He had a cheeky look on his face as he continued to read the book in his hands. I knew what he was doing and I thoroughly approved.

"Can he hear us?" Vanessa whispered quieter than she did before, shuffling closer to my twin. My gaze sharpened and Vanessa took the hint, taking a step back.

"No, that would be creepy," Damon returned loudly.

I giggled softly as he continued to torment Vanessa. I knew that it was because she shot him. But a part of me hoped that he was doing this because I hated her.

"Can he read minds too?"

"Ya know, if you wanna see me naked, all you have to do is ask."

Damon didn't even bother whispering as he smirked over at us.

I stuck my tongue out at him before saying to bitchface, "He wishes that he could. But, he is capable of being a gigantic dick. Isn't that right, Damon?"

The vampire just grumbled.

Point to Alexandria the Awesome.

XXX

I yawned as I looked through the box of Katherine information that my darling twin had dumped on me. It was full of crap. Nothing useful was contained within.

"Any luck?"

I had to hide a smile as I heard Damon's voice behind me, "Nope, nada, there is absolutely nothing about Queen Bitch in this dusty box that we don't already know."

The Salvatore placed his hands on my hips and rested his chin on my shoulder, "You know, it's a shame that you're still trying to hate me because I could tell you exactly what you need to know."

"Who says that I'm still trying to hate you?" I asked, being careful to keep my eyes away from his face. The warmth of his body against my back had my cheeks flushing. I had missed this casual intimacy with him. It wasn't until it was gone that I realised how much I missed it. And right now, with Katherine's murder attempt still haunting every moment, I needed Damon's touch. It helped ground me and keep me in the now.

Before Damon could comment, Ric called over, "Hey guys, check this out."

Well, let's go check it out.

Damon led me over to where Ric, Elena and Vanessa were grouped around a book resting on the table. I couldn't help but notice an unhappy look on his face and wondered what had put him in a grump all of a sudden.

"So, there's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls, but here are some records of some of the lesser-known legends," Vanessa started speaking. "Everything from Scandinavian skin walkers to Aztecs legends."

She then read some complicated crap sounding thing from the musty old picture book.

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked, resting my head on my vampire's shoulder as I wrinkled my nose at Vanessa being included in the group discussion.

"It translates into the 'Curse of the Sun and the Moon'."

Well, that isn't pretentious sounding at all.

"It's Native American," Ric guessed, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Aztec," Vanbitch corrected him. Woah, bitch please, no one corrects Alaric Freakin Amazing Saltzman. Oh god, look at that face, she's gonna lecture us. Mr Tanner always had that expression on his face when I got in trouble. Or when I had detention with him. Or when I just saw him in general.

"It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story: 600 hundred years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves slaves to the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, whoever's unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."

Please bear with me for one second, brain needs to reboot. Too much information in one go. Please hold.

Ok, I'm good to go.

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked after a few minutes of silence, a thoughtful look on his face.

"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse," Vanessa answered, glancing at me as she did so.

"Yeah, dumbass," I scoffed quietly, gaining a jab in the ribs for my trouble.

"Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their pray of choice."

"Which is?" I prompted, a bad feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.

"Vampires."

I think that there was a collective 'oh shit' from the Mystic Falls gang.

"Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it," the only vampire in the room said, a disbelieving look on his face as we all realised the potential danger the vampires in our gang were in.

"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive," Vanessa contradicted his statement. "Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction."

"Why would they do that?" Elena frowned, a worried look on her face as she held onto the necklace Stefan had given her.

"To protect themselves. Legend has it, a werewolf bite is fatal to a vampire."

I think Damon's soft 'oh' summed everything up perfectly.

XXX

I am not ashamed to admit that I was almost asleep when Elena asked, "Hey, have you done any research on doppelgangers?"

Oooh, this could be interesting.

I sat up in my seat and watched Ellie and Vanessa interact. I did notice, with smug satisfaction, that Vanessa kept the table between her and my sister. Even when I wasn't paying attention, the woman was smart enough to not get too close to my sister.

"Well," ah crap teacher mode, "The word means a lot of different things to different cultures, but typically a doppelganger is a living, breathing double of oneself."

I've noticed.

"Did Isobel have anything that explained the link between me and Katherine?"

Ya know, I'm so glad that I'm not a Katherine doppelganger. The differences were important to me. I needed them, especially after what she did to me. It was like, I knew my sister wasn't Katherine and I could see the differences between the two, but sometimes I still jolted when I saw her out of the corner of my eye. And if I had to look that face in the mirror after what happened, I don't know if I could deal with that.

"That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunately," Vanessa sighed, gesturing to the box next to my twin's hands. "But I can tell you that doppelgangers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives."

My hand unconsciously rose to my neck and gently rubbed it. Undo their lives? Undo Elena's life? Kill her twin?

"It's not exactly uplifting."

No, it's not, thank you so much Vanessa.

"And more things we already know," Elena sighed in aggravation. "I just... I just want to know why we look alike."

"Head scratcher, isn't it?"

I turned my gaze from my twin to my vampire. He was leaning against the wall by the door, his sharp eyes fixed on me. I slowly lowered my hand, hoping he hadn't noticed my previous action.

"Do you know something, or are you just being yourself?" Elena snapped, pointedly not looking at Damon.

"Well, if I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you with that attitude," Damon scolded mockingly as he rolled his eyes at her.

"Would you tell me?" I spoke softly, my voice breaking the silence, looking directly at Damon.

His gaze swung to me in surprise.

"When you're ready," I started, standing up. "Come and find me, I'll be outside."

I patted his firm chest and walked out of the room.

XXX

I sat on the curb, staring at the ground. Aw hell, I pulled out my phone and dialled Jeremy's number.

"Hello?" he answered groggily and I felt guilty for phoning him so late. The kid had been trying to get to sleep earlier recently as he had been getting up early to go gym before school.

"I can't do it," I immediately sighed down the line.

"Lexa, do you know how late it is?"

"I can't hate him, Jer, does that make me a bad person. Will it make you hate me? I can't hate the guy who was going to snap your neck right in front of me because I strongly like him. What's wrong with me?"

"Lexa, breathe. One, it doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you human. Two, I could never ever hate you. You're my big sister, I will always love you. Three, while there may be a lot of things wrong with you Alexa, this is not one of those things. It's a normal reaction when you lo... strongly like someone."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Thanks little brother."

"You're welcome Lexa."

"Sleep well, Jer, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night Alexa. Love you."

"Love you too."

I sighed and stood up, slipping my phone back in my pocket. Well, that's a load off my mind. Now, time to sleep in the car. I knew that I was taking a risk, I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't have a nightmare. But I was so tired. I knew that I would fall asleep even if I tried to fight it. I could only hope that my exhaustion would kill off any nightmares before they could happen.

I made my way over to the vehicle and opened the door. No, correction, I tried to open the door but it was locked.

"Seriously?!" I groaned, resting my head on the cool window. It felt good against my head. It helped to soothe the headache that I didn't know was forming.

"Here, allow me."

I let out a soft sigh as Damon walked up behind me and unlocked the car. As I stepped backwards, he opened the door.

"You're not gonna be able to hate me forever," the vampire stated, stopping me from climbing in the car.

"Damon, do we have to do this now?" I asked, blinking up at him with tired eyes. My vampire placed one of his hands on my shoulder. It squeezed slightly before sliding down my arm, leaving my skin tingling. It turned my palm upwards, allowing Damon to place a book there.

"You didn't dig deep enough."

I looked down at the book before turning it to look at the spine. 'Petrova'. Hang on, didn't I see a book with 'Petrova' on it before Vanessa went all kill, kill, kill?

"I saw this book earlier. It was on one of the shelves."

"Katherine originally came from Europe. Petrova was her real name. Katerina Petrova, to be exact."

The way he said 'Katerina Petrova' sent tingles down my spine. It was just so... oh my god. No, Alexa, focus. Ugh, stupid crush.

"But, how do you that?" I asked, taking my gaze off of the book and looking up into Damon's mesmerising eyes.

"Back when, I saw it engraved on an old heirloom. Men snoop too, you know."

I think that that was a jab against my habit of redecorating his bedroom.

"Let me know what you find, I'm very curious myself."

"Will do," I smiled softly before moving to enter the car.

But I was once again stopped.

"You have every right to hate me," my Damon said quietly, gently cupping my face. "I understand that, but you hated me before and we became... friends. It would suck if that was gone forever."

Oh Damon.

"So, is it? Have I lost you forever?"

"Thanks for the book, Damon. And to answer your question, we'll talk later."

That was not a conversation that I was looking forward to.

XXX

"That was our first road trip."

We had arrived back home and Damon was following me around the porch. Elena and Ric had gone ahead. The man had had a determined look on his face and I secretly hoped that he was finally going to commit to Jenna. Ellie was pulling her phone out of her pocket with a tired look. Stefan had called on our way home and we had learnt all about the drama that had happened back home. So I knew my sister was summoning her boyfriend over so that she could check on him herself.

"Really? Huh, what a boring place for a first road trip," I smiled slightly and shook my head. Wait, no, Alexa, focus. "But this does not mean that the things between us are back to the way that they used to be."

"Oh come on, you know I chipped a bit off of your wall of hatred."

I stood just in front of my front door and closed my eyes. Do it now, Ally, do it now. Or you'll regret it. And you already have enough regrets.

"Before I tell you how I really feel, I have to know the truth, Damon."

Deep breath.

"When you went to break my brother's neck, before my begging stopped you, did you know that he was wearing the magical Gilbert ring?"

I looked into Damon's eyes and he looked into mine.

"No," he answered finally with a regretful. "No, I didn't. Katherine really pissed me off and I snapped and... I would got lucky with the ring. I shouldn't have put in the position where you had to beg for your brother's life. Alexa, I'm sorry."

I nodded in understanding. Drunkenly snapping in anger? I knew that feeling. I knew that feeling well. Far too well.

"Thank you, Damon, for being honest with me and telling me the truth. And to answer your earlier question, no, you haven't lost me forever."

"What?" he sounded so shocked and disbelieving. I think he honestly expected me to say that he had lost me. On some level, I think I expected it too. But I knew far too well what he had done.

"I tried, Damon, I really did try to hate you. But I couldn't. Being drunk and snapping in anger? I know that. I've done that. I spent several months hating Tyler because he said the wrong thing to me when I was absolutely off my head." I blinked back the tears in my eyes. "Truth is Damon; I can't live without you in my life. And I don't want to."

I smiled weakly and kissed my vampire on the cheek.

"Good night Damon."

XXX

"Lexa! Hey Lexa! Wake up!"

I shot up, gasping for breath, the sickening crack of Katherine breaking my neck reverberating in my ears. My hands shot up and I had to feel it to make sure that it wasn't broken. That I was okay.

"Hey," a gentle hand stroked my cheek and I looked up to see my twin sitting next to me on the bed. My heart initially jolted at the sight of her but it quickly relaxed. My body knew that it wasn't Katherine. That it was my twin.

"She killed me," I choked, tears streaming down my cheek, as I broke and revealed what happened

"What?" Ellie frowned; confusion clear on her face as she shuffled closer.

I sobbed, "Katherine killed me. The night of the carnival. She snapped my neck and... and... oh god."

I gasped for breath, struggling to breathe through my tears. My twin quickly wrapped her arms around me and pulled me to her. Holding me tightly against her body. She rested a hand on my neck and her thumb gently stroked the skin beneath my ear. I shook in her hold as I struggled to breathe.

"Breathe, Lexa, deep breaths."

"What if she does it again? What if she takes me ring and kills me again? I don't think that I can die again. It was cold. So cold. And dark. And scary. Oh Ellie, I was so scared!" I babbled into Elena's shoulder as I finally broke.

"She won't hurt you again, Lexa."

"You promise?"

"I promise. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm gonna kill her for what she did to you."

The anger in her tone made me rather fearful for Katherine's life. Ellie wiped the tears from my cheeks and looked at me with soft eyes and a fierce expression.

"No one hurts my little twin sister and gets away with it."

XXX

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, my lovelies! I do love reading them and they help when I struggle with a little bit of writers block, which is a bitch haha! Please keep them coming :) hope you enjoyed and until next time, keep reading and reviewing xoxo