Alexandria Gilbert

by JChavz95

Vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers, oh my! All Alexa Gilbert wanted was a quiet life, a free drink and to party the night away with her friends without being nagged by her twin sister Elena, but the arrival of the mysterious Salvatore brothers may just ruin those plans... Starts Season 1, Episode 1, Slowburn Damon/OC, Now on Season 4!

27. Kill or Be Killed

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs

A/N: This was a fun one to write. I got to explore a lot of Alexa's relationships here and how they have changed due to her new circumstances. And I just couldn't resist adding some Dalexa time ;) I hope that Alexa's feelings in this one makes sense!

XXX

I groaned softly as I slowly returned to the land of the living, annoying, awake people. I wanted to go back to my dream. It was a goooood dream. I was the Chocolate Queen and all had to bow before me. Even Damon and Tyler had to bow before the Chocolate Queen.

… It was probably a side effect of drinking three chocolate milkshakes and eating two big large huge chocolate bars at 3 in the morning.

Don't judge me, I was comfort eating. Judge me, thou shalt not.

I let out a loud yawn as I stretched out my body. My back and shoulders clicked and popped. It was incredibly satisfying and indication that I had managed a kind of decent sleep last night. Which was majorly needed at this point. The lack of sleep was seriously getting to me, to the point where it was getting very noticeable. I had texted Bonnie to see if she had any of that calming tea that her Grams had. She hadn't replied yet but I was hoping that she would soon.

Huh.

My hand brushed against something that was not supposed to be on my bed. Oh god, what have I done now?

Frowning, I opened my eyes. There was nothing there. What? Oh yeah, that's right, it's the other side. Whoops. Turning my head, I met the gaze of a smirking Damon Salvatore.

Of course, who else would it be?

I glared up at the vampire through my bangs, completely missing the fact that my hand was still resting on his chest. I wasn't too surprised to see him there, if I was being perfectly honest. He had still been at my side when I eventually feel asleep last night. And, now that I think about it, he was still there when I woke up during the night. In fact, I think he was the one who enabled my little chocolate binge. Which was unlike him but he must have sensed that I needed the comfort that chocolate gave me.

"Why are you here?" I grumbled, pushing my hair out of my face and looking at the clock. A flash of annoyance ran through me when I saw the completely inappropriate time. "And why am I awake so goddamn early?"

Too early, far too early. Especially since I'm still having trouble sleeping the whole night through. I wasn't having anymore nightmares, I just had... trouble sleeping all the way through. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

"Aww," Damon smirked with a soft look in his eyes, ruffling my hair, drawing me from my thoughts. "Don't you want me here?"

"You woke me up."

"You should already be awake; it's a very important day today."

"Is it my birthday?"

"No."

The confusion in Damon's voice had me grinning into my pillow.

"Then it's not an important day."

Is it totally wrong that Damon's laugh gives me this little happy feeling in my tummy? There's just something about it. Something that made me happy too.

As I absentmindedly traced patterns on my vampire's chest, my mind wandered back to that horrid night. One thing struck, and I honestly don't know why it's taken me so long to actually acknowledge it. I mean, I know that I refused to think about what happened but still, it should have occurred to me to ponder that weird little thing that Katherine said sooner.

"Damon," I spoke softly, frowning at that blanket as I picked at a loose thread. "The night Katherine... killed... me, she said something. Something that I don't understand..."

"What did she say?" Damon prompted when I trailed off, covering my hand with his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

I entwined my hand with his as I answered, "She said that she had something that I needed. Of course she never actually explained what that was. She just, well, y'know…"

"Don't worry about it, Alexa, she was probably doing what Katherine does best."

"Being a bitch?"

"Being a lying bitch."

I bit my lip to hide a smile before sighing, "You know what I've realised?"

"What?"

"I've thought and said the word 'bitch' more times in the past month than I have in the past couple of years."

"And how many of them were directed at Katherine?"

I giggled slightly as I answered, "Around ninety percent."

I barely even realised that I had somehow maneuvered myself so that my head was resting on Damon's chest. His free arm came up to wrap around my shoulders and pulled me closer.

"I hate it Damon," I sighed as I stared at our joined hands. "I hate being scared to leave my own house. I hate being scared in my own home. I hate living in constant fear of being attacked by a vampire bitch with a stick up her ass and a hard-on for your brother."

"Well, as soon as I drive a stake through her heart, you won't have to be afraid," Damon sighed into my hair as his thumb gently rubbed small circles on the palm of my hand. It sent tingles through my body but I ruthlessly ignored them. I would enjoy the feeling later. First, I had a question to ask.

"You're really gonna kill her?"

Would he really kill the woman that he spent 145 years looking for? The woman that he spent 145 years loving? She meant so much to him. She had been a huge part of his life for so long, could he really kill her after all that?

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you have so much... history... together."

"It's not a good history, Alexa. Besides, she did the one thing that I can never forgive her for."

"What's that?" I asked, peering up at my vampire through my eyelashes. Damon had a soft look on his face as he moved his hand to stroke my cheek. But before Damon had the chance to answer, my twin sister's voice echoed around my room.

"Alexa! Are you up yet?"

Aww hell.

Twin was awake.

I quickly pushed myself away from the vampire, managing to tangle the blanket around my feet at the same time. I instantly missed his warmth and his scent as I moved away from him. It was crazy but my body ached, missing his touch.

"Out! Out! Out!" I hissed at Damon, flapping my hands as I heard Ellie start to turn the doorknob.

"Why?"

"Because I said so!"

The vampire sighed and I felt a light pressure on the top of my head before the unmistakable sound of vampire speed reached my ears. I casually rearranged myself on my bed as the door opened.

"Hey sis, how ya doin?" I blinked innocently up at my sister as she stood in the doorway.

Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised that you're already awake."

"Well, you know me," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I like to be unpredictable."

My twin gave me a look before she shook her head and walked out of the room. Well, that was rude. Rude twin. And to think that I shooed Damon out of my bed for her.

... That sounded wrong, didn't it?

I didn't mean it like that! I meant... oh you know what I meant.

"Silly twin," I mumbled into my pillow as I curled into a ball and closed my eyes. Might as well get some more sleep. I'm gonna need it if I have to be helpful for the day. Being helpful makes me sleepy. That's why always end a day of being helpful with a period of people annoying. Elena, Jeremy, Tyler, Damon, whoever I can get my hands on.

Of course, Stefan used to be an option, but since he and Elena were fighting, it was against the twin code to be friendly to him. I don't know why they were fighting, but whatever it was about, it was big. Very big.

"Alexa! Get out of that bed!"

I groaned as Ellie's voice rang around my room. How dare she make me get out of bed. I didn't wanna get out of bed. I let out a high-pitched whine as I slid off of the bed. It wasn't fair. I no wanna get out of bed. No fair. Evil twin, making me get out of bed.

Just to be annoying, I made my way into Ellie and Jeremy's bathroom to get ready. The plan was to lock the door and spend ages in there. Mwahaha, that'll annoy twinnie. But that will annoy Jer too... oh well.

It was long overdue.

To be annoying, I mean. Ever since The Incident, I hadn't been in the mood to properly annoy anyone. And it was beginning to be noticed. Jeremy had even texted me to ask if I was feeling okay. So, in order to get rid of any suspicions and to try and get back to feeling like my old self, I was going to put in place a perfect plan to annoy them.

But, you know what they say about plans…

"Why are you in here?" I whined as I dejectedly slouched into the bathroom.

Ellie stared at me, "Because it's my bathroom..."

"So? I had an evil plan and now you've ruined my evil plan, you big... big... big... ruiner!"

"Ruiner?" Elena repeated, raising an eyebrow, obviously judging me.

"Oh hush, twinsey," I rolled my eyes at the patheticness of my previous comeback. "You just don't appreciate decent insults."

"Sure," she drawled as she resumed getting ready for the event thing that was happening. It was something to do with the historical society and a new park. I think it was some kind of volunteer thing to make it all pretty? I dunno. All I knew was that my darling twin and blonde friend had volunteered my services without asking.

"Sure," I mouthed mockingly before quickly smiling as my twin looked at me in the mirror. She looked at me suspiciously for a moment before shrugging and continuing.

Phew, got away with that one.

I slumped to the floor and crossed my legs. Closing my eyes, I cast my mind back to the conversation that I had had with Damon earlier. The vampire had been acting... differently around me lately. It wasn't a noticeable difference, but there was one. If I wasn't so goddamn hyper aware of the guy, I probably wouldn't have noticed. But I liked it, no idea as to what caused it, but I liked it.

"I can't believe that Tyler Lockwood is a werewolf."

Jeremy's voice, and the mention of my dear Ty-Ty's name, had my eyes snapping open. I glanced around until I saw my younger brother standing at the bathroom doorway.

"Correction, dear one," I spoke up before Ellie could. "Mr Mason Lockwood is, we don't know about Tyler yet. But, considering I had been with him on full moons, my thinking is that he isn't a werewolf. Yet, anyway."

Jer snorted and shook his head, "It should be easy for us to figure it out."

It was a little thing, but I liked Jeremy's new haircut. It suited him. And it looked better than his emo cut from before. I was so pleased that Jenna had been successful in dragging him to the barbers.

Elena froze, staring hard at him in the mirror, before saying firmly, "There is no us."

I disagree. There should be an 'us'. The Gilbert Gang, solving vampire problems in Mystic Falls. That would be so cool. Kinda like the gang from Scooby Doo. Which had been one of my favourite shows growing up. Fred was hot. And I had always wanted to be like Daphne. And Velma too, if I was being completely honest.

"I said that I would try and keep you more updated on what was happening. That doesn't mean that I want you involved in it. If I had my way, neither of you would be involved."

I pouted and climbed to my feet. Ellie doesn't want me involved. Evil Ellie. I was involved by being her twin. Hell, I was never not involved.

"By definition of being in this family, I'm involved," baby bro snarked at twin sister, a grumpy look on his face. I have to admit, I had to resist the urge to start clapping the kid. It was so true. By being a member of our family, hell, by living in Mystic Falls, Jeremy was involved in this bullshit, whether we wanted him to be or not. That was one of the reasons why I was against him being compelled after the Vicki incident. It was safer for him to know.

"This is dangerous, Jeremy," Elena snapped in frustration, running a hand through her long hair. "You have to stay out of it, ok?"

"Alright, just saying," Jer muttered before leaving the room.

I sighed and shook my head before following the kid. Jeremy still wasn't on the best of terms with Elena. He was fine with me, but he still held a bit of resentment towards our older sister. Which did piss me off a bit, but I was dealing with it. He did have the right to be mad at her for what she wanted to do. But the fact was, I stopped it from happening and they needed to start properly mending their relationship.

"Hey kiddo!"

Jeremy stopped walking, allowing me to catch up. Standing in front of him, I studied his young face. I almost wished that he didn't have to be involved. That he was still completely oblivious to all of this horror. He was so young and innocent. I hated that he was involved in the world of living nightmares.

"Elena's right, Jer, it is dangerous for you to be involved," I spoke softly, running my hand through his shorter hair. "But it's even more dangerous for you to not be involved. Sometimes knowledge isn't enough." I sighed and rested a hand on his cheek, "At least you now know to be careful, to defend yourself."

"You worry about me too much, Lexa," baby bro said, placing his hand over mine and looking down at me with his lovely brown eyes.

"You're my little brother, it's my job to worry about you, you little twit."

"Thanks, just... thanks."

"You're welcome."

XXX

I stared at the paintbrush.

The paintbrush stared back.

The epic stare down between human and inanimate object continued as Mrs Lockwood rambled on in the background. For those of you who are interested, she was rambling on about our new public park, donations, Fell family and everyone lending a helping hand. Or at least, those are the only words that I bothered listening to.

"You look like you're having fun."

Oh, the voice of an angel.

I turned around and saw Bonnie smiling shyly behind me. I hadn't seen her in a couple of days, not since the carnival. Which sucked, but even if I had seen her, I probably wouldn't have been in the best frame of mind to interact with the sweetheart.

"Always," I smiled softly before stepping forward and drawing her into a hug. I buried my face in her neck and breathed in her floral perfume. Bon wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. Ugh, I had missed her hugs. Bonnie gave such good hugs and it had been far too long since I had enjoyed one.

"God, I've missed you, Bonnie," I sighed as we pulled apart.

"It's only been a few days," she laughed, giving me a sweet smile.

"A few days is far too long," I gave her a stern look, which quickly morphed into a small smile as we sat down on the grass in front of the post I was supposed to be painting. "How have you been?"

"Okay, I guess," Bonnie's smile turned dark as she sighed. "Just been trying to get over the news about Caroline."

I knew that Bonnie carried a lot of guilt when it came to Caroline's circumstances. I had done my best to help her with it but only time would eradicate it. She blamed herself for telling Katherine that Caroline had Damon's blood in her system. But there was no way that she could have known it was Katherine. Not until she touched her. One day, I knew that Bonnie would believe my words that it wasn't her fault. I just had to keep reminding her until that day came.

"Have you seen Caroline?" I asked, picking a blade of grass and playing with it. "Since the carnival?"

"A couple of days back, when I made her a daylight ring," Bon answered with a nod, confirming what I had suspected about Caroline's ring. "It was…" the witch groaned in frustration," it was hard. Seeing her like that."

"It'll get easier," I tried to reassure her, hoping that my words were true. I knew that some of the issue came from the witch's ingrained hatred of vampires. The rest was her guilt. Bonnie was strong enough to overcome both issues. It was just a matter of time. And managing the relationship between the two until it happened.

"How are you?" Bonnie asked before she remembered something. I watched as Bonnie rummaged in her bag, curious as to what she was looking for. The witch pulled out a small pouch and handed it over with an apologetic smile. "Sorry for not replying to your message. But here are some of the herbs you asked about. I've got some more which I'll drop off later. Just mix them with some hot water before you go to bed and it should give you a dreamless sleep."

"Oh Bonnie," I sighed softly, accepting the pouch. "You truly are an angel amongst mortals."

Bonnie accepted the thanks with a bashful smile before frowning slightly, "Alexa, are you okay? What do you need the herbs for?"

I stared down at the pouch, unsure as to how much I should reveal. Eventually I just sighed, "I've been having some pretty shitty nightmares recently. And I don't know how long they will last for. Lack of sleep is becoming a serious issue and I need something to get me through the night." I glanced up and quirked an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, I can't just drink myself into a deep sleep."

Bonnie nodded sympathetically, "What are the dreams about?"

I don't know why I answered like I did. It could have been the lack of sleep or a deep desire for one of my friends to know what happened. But I blurted out the exact opposite of what I intended to say, "Katherine snapping my neck."

"What?"

Bonnie's strangled gasp jolted me back into awareness. I looked up at her with wide eyes only to see her looking at me with tearful ones.

"Alexa?" she asked softly, reaching forward and grabbing my hand.

"The night of the carnival," I elaborated with a shaky smile, giving her hand a squeeze. "I don't think she appreciated my talent for immediately noticing the subtle differences between her and Ellie."

"How did you survive?"

I held up my hand, my ring glinting in the sunlight, "This little piece of shit. Courtesy of John."

"Thank god for that," my friend sighed before shuffling forward and pulling me into a hug. "I'm so sorry that she did that to you."

"Me too," I mumbled into her shoulder. "But I'm dealing with it. Kinda. Well, I'm trying to."

"And if you need anything, just let me know," Bonnie's eyes were kind and I smiled at the fierce, protective look in them.

We sat around for a bit longer, catching up on the unimportant stuff that had happened. It was nice, being able to speak about random crap with her. Definitely helped to relax me. And I think it did Bonnie some good as well.

Eventually, Bonnie got called away by a phone call from her dad and I resumed my battle with the paintbrush. I stared hard at the inanimate objective, looking at how the paint clung to the bristles and how some of them were bent out of shape.

Oh screw this. I ain't painting nothing.

I rested the brush on the top of the can before casually glancing around and walking away.

There, problem solved.

I skipped around the park, making sure to avoid anyone who would make me help. In other words, Elena and Caroline

I wanted to help, honestly, I did. I just couldn't make myself do so. It brought back memories of when I used to help out with Luke and Jazz. We always used to be in charge of the painting. Well, I say in charge of, we just sort of took it over and wouldn't let anyone else have a go. I didn't want to lose those memories.

But I could make new memories. I can't spend the rest of my life not doing things because they remind me of the people who I have lost. I have to move on, make new memories. And I know exactly who I can make those memories with...

XXX

So, yeah, I didn't manage to find who I wanted to find. Not that I'm that surprised, he does have an annoying habit of not being around when I want him to be. The dick. But it's all good; I managed to find someone else who would hang around with me. May I introduce you all to Miss Caroline Forbes?

Caroline had found me napping in the grass. And before you say anything, I was taking a break from searching. My feet were hurting and I couldn't be bothered to walk anymore. Supposed it served me right for wearing sandals and not converses.

"Alexandria, what are you doing?"

I peeled open one eye to see a not at all happy Caroline looming over me.

... Oh no.

I gulped as the thought 'Oh hell I am so dead' flashed through my mind in neon colours. I love you Ellie. I love you Jer. I love you Ty. I love you D-

"I'm sleeping, my dear Caroline."

Caroline shifted her stance, and oh crap is that a hint of fang that I see?

"And why are you sleeping?"

"Well, you have plenty of volunteers helping out, you don't need me."

"Alexandria..."

"Please don't hurt me!" I shrieked playfully, dramatically flinging my arms over my face. And ow, just banged myself on the nose. Owwy.

Caroline giggled as she leant down to pull me to my feet. Well, saved me the trouble of attempting to do that myself. And with her super vampire strength, it made it a lot easier.

Once I was standing, I draped myself over the vampire, resting my head against hers. Caroline was strong enough to carry my entire weight, so I felt absolutely no guilt in resting it all against her.

"How's existence treating you?" I asked as the blonde steered me away from my grass bed. I tugged on a blonde curl, enjoying the fruity smell of her shampoo, to get her attention.

"Existence?"

"Well, considering your situation, I thought that life would be too tacky."

Care playfully rolled her eyes, but answered, "It's been... alright."

"Coping?"

"Sort of, Stefan's been helping me."

"Ah, Stefan," I sighed and shook my head. "Stefan Jerkface Salvatore."

Caroline looked at me with surprised eyes, "You mad at Stefan?"

"He and my twin sister are fighting. That makes my twin sister sad. That makes me be mad at Stefan. As the cause of the sadness"

"Because he's upset Elena?"

I nodded sharply, "Yes."

Care sighed, "I love the connection you two have, you'd do anything for each other."

Shrugging, I replied, "It's because we're family. We'd do anything for our family." I glanced at the vampire and nudged her with my elbow, "That family includes you, Care-Bear."

"Alexa, you're so sweet."

"I know I am," I smirked before giggling as the blonde dug her fingers into my side, tickling me.

"You and your ego," Caroline mock sighed, shaking her head as she stopped tormenting me.

"At least it's not as bad as Damon's."

"Speaking of Damon," uh oh, "What's going on between the two of you?"

Oh hell, why? Caroline, why? I mean, I brought it up myself by mentioning him. But still, why, Caroline, why?

"There's nothing going on between me and Damon."

The bully smirked victoriously as she sensed a weakness, "Oh really?"

"There is nothing, nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing-"

"Ok, ok," Caroline laughed, stopping me before I could keep going. "There is nothing going on."

"Nothing going on with what?"

At the sound of my Ellie's voice, my gaze snapped up from the ground and I smiled brightly.

Throwing myself on her, I breathed in her ear, "Ellie!"

Elena laughed and hugged me tight, "Hello Alexa."

"Heya Ellie. Didja miss me?"

My mean twin rolled her eyes, "Yes, Alexa, I missed you a lot. The past hour has been absolutely unbearable."

"Good, you should always miss such awesomesauce when this awesomesauce is not present."

Y'know, I've missed getting weird looks from people. I've been sad Alexa for so long that I've almost forgotten what it's like to be happy Alexa. But happy Alexa is back in the house. And she was gonna stay there.

XXX

Apparently, there is a very good reason as to why I'm not allowed to carry open paint cans. And that reason is that I have issues when it comes to walking without tripping over. Ah well, I don't care, it means that I don't have to carry anything.

"So suddenly, she's in the running for mother of the year just when I'm trying to avoid her the most."

Ah yes, I forgot to mention, Caroline was telling me and Elena about the issues that she is having with her mommy. I do feel sorry for Care, being a baby vampire with a vampire hunting mother. It made this all so much harder for her. And we just didn't know how Liz would react. Would she put aside a lifetime of hating vampires to support her daughter? Or would she try and stake her herself?

"I'm babbling," the vampire smiled sheepishly as she saw me and my twin exchange a glance. "You don't want to hear all this."

"Don't be silly, of course we do," I corrected the darling as we reached our painting destination. A veranda, I think little miss OCD called it. Either way, it didn't have any hiding spots for me. Or a convenient way for me to run away from the painting.

Caroline started painting one of the posts while I sat down on the floor so that I could steal the paint from Ellie's paint can. I picked somewhere that I could get away with doing a bad job. As I knew that Caroline would be inspecting all of the visible areas.

"Then what happened?" Elena prompted as she knelt next to me.

Painty paint paint. Painty painty paint. Painty paint painty.

You know when you say a word too many times and it starts to sound weird, just got that with paint. Of all the words, sigh; I really do amaze myself sometimes. And not in a good way. But at least it was something normal for me. And I was really trying to get to that normal mind-space today.

"Well, I was a bitch, which is part of the course for us."

"Aww, it's okay Caroline, everyone can be a bitch sometimes," I smiled at the vampire, trying to make her feel better, before smirking at my twin. "Isn't that right, Elena?"

She gave me a look before deadpanning, "Ha ha."

I grinned at her before turning and continuing with my painting. I have to admit, there was a very strong temptation to paint Elena. But, since I wanted to live to see my next birthday, I thought that it would be best not to. Because she would try to kill me. I knew because it had happened before. And I still had the mental scars from it.

The vampire glanced over at my twin and, with a shifty look on her face, asked, "So, uh, how are things with you and Stefan?"

It was clear that Caroline was going for casual and failed. I would normally say that she was checking in on things as a friend. But I dunno. This felt different. Like it wasn't a friend checking in. But I couldn't tell how it was different. Ugh, so annoying.

When Ellie looked reluctant to answer, I piped up with a, "Yeah, how are things with the two of you? Come on Ellie, tell the twin. Purge. Let it all out."

She shot me an oh so grateful look and sighed, "Not good, especially since the fight." He-bitch be dead. "He's been pushing me away because he thinks that Katherine might get jealous enough to hurt me. Either physically or by hurting someone I cared about." Yeah, that does sound like something that Bitcherine would do. Because Bitcherine is a bitch. "I just don't know how to change his mind."

Frowning, I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. It must be hard. Not only was she dealing with a jealous ex. This jealous ex looked exactly like her. Definitely a mindfuck.

"Want me to go and make him change his mind?" I asked softly, giving my twin a small smile when she turned to face me.

"Thanks for the Lexa," she replied, grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze. "But I think that I can handle it."

"Well, let me know if you need my help, Ellie."

"You said that Katherine's dangerous," Caroline spoke up, interrupting the twin moment with a thoughtful look on her face. "Maybe he's got a point."

'Katherine's dangerous'. Talk about stating the obvious Caroline. We know she's dangerous. I know she's dangerous. Dangerous was probably an understatement at this point in time.

"Yeah, I know that she's dangerous, I probably know that better than most people in this town," Ellie replied, glancing over at me and placing her hand over mine as she remembered what Katherine had done. "And I know that he's just trying to protect me, but it feels like giving up and I just..."

As Ellie shook her head, I shifted my body so that I could pull my twin against it. Elena wrapped her arm around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. It was like the beginning of their relationship. Where Stefan had a tendency to give up if things got too hard. And that was really hard on my twin. I had so hoped that they were past that but Stefan was massacring those hopes.

"Just what?" Caroline frowned as she shuffled closer. Now, was it just me, or is Caroline asking a lot of questions right now? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind. It's just that I've never seen her ask so many questions about Elena's and Stefan's relationship. She just seemed unusually... curious. Hmm, maybe it's nothing, I'm probably over-reacting. But...

"I just thought that we were stronger than that," my twin finished in a whisper, a sad look on her face.

And this is why I no longer liked Stefan. He is, once again, hurting my twin sister. And I've warned him, god knows that I've warned him, that if he hurts my twin again, then I would have his vampire heart on a silver plate. So he had better avoid if he wants to continue existing.

XXX

Hmmm, if this brown was a few shades darker, then it would be almost the same colour as Damon's hair, hmmmm...

I mean, what?

Ugh, stupid crush. Even when he wasn't around, it decided to play up.

"Oh, oh, longing looks are being exchanged."

Caroline's voice drew me from my musings and I looked up to see Ellie and Stefan glancing at each other whilst 'working'. I was surprised. Longing looks were using exchanged by couples who were still together. And these definitely weren't angry looks being exchanged.

My twin stared at her boyfriend, (ex-boyfriend?) for a moment before announcing, "I'm gonna go talk to him."

"No, Elena, I think it's a bad idea," Caroline protested, stepping forward to try and block my twin's determined stride.

"Yeah, twin, I agree with the blonde, it's a bad idea," I agreed as I clumsily climbed to my feet, my legs feeling slightly numb as I had been on the floor for a while

But, alas, we were ignored.

"Well, that's just rude," I muttered, crossing my arms as I stood next to the blonde and watched my sister stride over to Stefan. "I have a rude twin. Why was I cursed with a rude twin?"

"Because you're a rude person," a very familiar voice whispered in my ear. His warm breath brushed against the back of my neck as his arms wrapped around my waist. I had to resist the urge to beam and snuggle further into his hold.

"You're a rude person," I whispered back, elbowing my vampire in the tummy as he chuckled at my pout.

"What's her problem?" Damon asked Caroline as he rested his chin on the top of my head.

The blonde gave him a filthy look, "Don't worry about it."

We watched as the Elena-On-A-Mission strode towards her ass of a vampire boyfriend. There was no hesitation in that stride. And I was kind of impressed. I knew better than anyone that there was no changing my sister's mind once she was set on something. And apparently that included confronting vampire boyfriends on the subject of their bitchy, interfering ex.

"Why are you being such a bitch to your mum?"

What?

I frowned and looked up at my Damon, only to see him staring at Caroline. He had an unimpressed look on his face as he wanted for an answer to his question.

"Don't worry about it," the blonde muttered, walking back to her painting post, glancing over at my sister as she did so.

"I think that she doesn't want you to worry about anything," I remarked casually, resting more of my weight against the vampire behind me.

"I get that feeling too."

As Elena reached Stefan and started talking to him, I discovered, much to my disappointment, that I could not hear what they were saying. Which sucked as I loved to eavesdrop. But because of my human limitations, I couldn't. Ugh.

"Damon, what are they saying?" I whined softly to the vampire behind me as I squinted my eyes, trying to lip read.

"What's the matter? Can't you hear them?" he smirked into my hair. And while I couldn't see the smirk, I could damn well sense it. It was always there. And while it sometimes made me melt into a puddle of goo, this time it was just annoying.

"You know I can't," I muttered petulantly, crossing my arms and pouting.

"Awww, poor Alexa," Damon cooed mockingly into my ear. His breath sent tingles down my body, making my crush jump for joy. And I didn't even have it in me to beat it back down. Damn, I was becoming weak.

As I went to elbow the dick in the side, a stroke of genius struck me as my hand brushed my pocket.

"I don't need your stupid vampire hearing when I have this!" I declared smugly as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"Alexa, what are you doing?" Damon asked, confusion clear in his tone, as he failed to follow my thought process.

I snickered to myself as I activated the camera and zoomed in on the fighting couple. And, lo and behold, I could sort of lip-read what they are saying. Something about a discussion? Hmmm, this has not worked as well as I hoped it would. It gave me more questions than answers.

It was then that Elena and Stefan turned around to look at us. Disapproval was clear on their faces as one crossed their arms and the other put them on their hips.

While the two vampires behind me quickly turned away and acted innocent, I grinned and waved. I knew that they had seen me watching them on my phone, so there was no point in trying to hide it. There was only one reason for me to have my phone pointed at them, so what was the point in trying to hide and deny it?

"Hello!" I called and waved with one hand, my grin turning into a smirk as Elena shook her head.

As the fighting couple turned back to... fight, I settled further into Damon's arms and sighed, "Ya know, I'm not a very big fan of your brother right now."

Damon's thumb started tracing small circles on my hip while the fingers on his other hand stroked my side. My crush died of happiness while I tried not to melt at his touch. Especially when his fingers dipped under my top and touched my skin.

"Because he's fighting with your twin?"

Oh Damon, how did you guess?

"Yeah, because those fights are hurting Elena, no matter how much she tries to hide it. It's only been one day and she's banned his name in the house. She almost ate Jeremy alive when he mentioned Stefan over breakfast. Which was funny, in hindsight, but I had to put myself in the firing line to protect the little shit."

"Stefan should feel lucky to still be alive... or unalive."

I giggled softly as we watched our respective siblings talk. Well, argue, really. Judging from the pouty and frowny faces.

"Damn straight," I confirmed with a sly smile. I had always loved giving the shovel talk and then actually going through with it. It would be the first time that I got to do it for one of Ellie's boyfriends. It was normally Caroline's that got the pleasure of my wrath.

"How are you doing?" Damon's soft voice turned slightly serious as he pulled me closer to his body.

I bit my lip to hide a smile and noted, "You know, I only saw you this morning."

"Well, a few hours is far too long a period of time to stay away from me."

I snorted and shook my head, "And people say that I have a big ego."

"But Alexa, you do have a big ego."

"If my ego is big, then yours must be ginormous."

"Hmmmm, no."

"Hmmmm, yes."

"Hmm, how about the two of you shut up?" Caroline interrupted with a bucket load of sass. We both turned to look at her, me pouting at the vampire's rudeness and Damon glaring at her for intruding on our conversation.

"Caroline, that wasn't very nice," I scolded her before sticking out my tongue out at her. Caroline rolled her eyes at me. Hmmm, is it just me, or is she rather stroppy today? Nah, probably just me. But then again, she is a new vampire, she's all 'blah' because of uncontrollable emotions. Or at least, that's what Damon told me.

Ya know, I've found out most, if not all, of my vampire information from Damon. He's my go to guy for vampire stuff. Elena has (or should that be had?) Stefan and I have Damon. I definitely got the better deal

"Perhaps that it is a good thing that you can't hear this, Alexa," Damon spoke with a small wince. "Otherwise you probably would be over there trying to decapitate Stefan right now."

"That bad, huh?"

As we watched Elena walk away from Stefan, Damon remarked loudly, "Well, you know what they say, relationships are about communication."

Care shot him a filthy look before stalking off. What is she so huffy about? That wasn't necessarily directed at her. So what if she's having problems with Matt, there was no need to take it out on innocent people.

"What's up with her?"

"Not sure exactly, but I think that it has something to do with her and Matt breaking up."

"Her and Matt, Elena and Stefan, what is it with the couples in this town?"

I shrugged, "Clearly they weren't strong enough together."

Is it bad that I was thinking whether or not Damon and I would be strong enough?

XXX

"No, no, no, Damon, no," I protested as Damon steered me towards Mason who was standing next to the refreshments table.

"I just wanna talk to him," Damon told me, his grip on my waist strong enough to stop me from pulling away.

"Suuuuuure, you just wanna talk to him," I drawled, receiving a jab in the ribs in return.

"Hello Mason," Damon smirked at the Lockwood, interrupting his alone time with his lemonade. Is it just me, or did that sound vaguely dirty? Just me? Ok, let's rapidly move on.

"Hey Mason," I nodded at Ty's uncle, ignoring the way his eyes flickered down to Damon's arm wrapped around my waist. I knew that he didn't approve of my closeness with Damon. Even more so after the failed murder attempt from Damon last night.

"Working hard?" Damon asked, attempting and failing to be innocent. Because, of course, Damon is incapable of looking innocent, even when he is. And on that thought...

"Damon, wipe that smirk off your face," I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not smirking!"

"Yes, you are."

"You can't even see my face."

"No, but I can sense that infernal smirk."

Despite the fact that I could feel Damon mockingly mouth that statement behind me, I decided to be the more mature on and continue the conversation with Mason. And I can just feel your surprise at me being the mature one. I'm surprised myself. But someone needed to be in this situation.

"Have you been working hard, Mr Mason?" I asked, crossing my arms and resting them on Damon's as he wrapped the other arm around me

"I've been doing my part," the werewolf shrugged, his tone tight, before commenting, "I'm willing to bet that you have done nothing helpful today."

"Hey! That's not true!" I protested in offense, a pout forming on my face. "I've been painting."

The paint on Damon's now covered up arm provided evidence for that.

A small smirk appeared on Mason's face, "I heard that you weren't doing anything."

"And I heard that you talked to Stefan," my Damon butted into the conversation. As much as I hate being interrupted, I didn't mind it this time, it saved me from having to defend myself. Because I did help out, and I'm rather offended that someone who knows me so well would think that I wouldn't help out. Ugh, Mason had turned into a dick since he left town.

"Nice guy," Mason replied cautiously as Damon's grip around my waist tightened slightly as Mason's eyes hardened slightly.

"Yeah, a lot nicer than me," there was a subtle threat in Damon's tone.

"Nice is overrated," Mason retorted, a hint of a growl in his voice as he stepped forward.

"That's what I think."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. God, talk about territorial twats. If I wasn't so damn comfortable, I would dramatically storm off to show my disgust at their mannishness. I mean, for real, there was no need for this drama.

"You have a good day, Damon."

You two disgust me.

"Don't worry," I cut in before Damon could open his mouth and sprout out something else annoying. "He will."

Mason gave me a tight smile before walking off. Sighing, I watched his retreating back. I hated that he and Damon were beefing. Mason was family, even if he had become a bit more of an ass recently. And I was so hoping that they would get along. There werewolf thing shouldn't matter. But the fact that their bite was supposedly lethal to vampires had caused Damon to act.

"I know that you don't like him, Damon, but I do. I care about him."

"I know you do, Alexa, I know you do."

I closed my eyes and relaxed, revelling in Damon's closeness. His arms around my waist, his chin resting on the top of my head. I hadn't felt like this since... since Luke. And even then, it hadn't felt like this.

Before I could expand on that thought, Stefan's voice jolted me from them, "Please tell me that you were just bonding."

You're joking, right?" I murmured, not bothering to open my eyes. Surely Stefan knew his brother better than that by now. Damon would rather kill him then bond with him. As evidenced by the fact that he tried to stab him. But the more important question is, why doesn't that bother me? Is it because Damon is now a bigger influence in my life than Mason is? Did Mason's two-year absence affect me more than I originally thought it did? Was it because Mason had changed while he was gone?

In an attempt to steer the direction away from his feud with the Lockwood werewolf, Damon asked, "So what's up with this faux drama in your relationship?"

Stefan sounded confused, "What are you talking about?"

I opened my eyes and squinted in suspicion. Faux drama? Does that mean that Elena and Stefan were... pretending to fight? No. No, that couldn't be right. Elena would have told me. She wouldn't keep something like that from me.

"Oh come on, Stefan. You and Elena don't fight, not in public and especially not in front of Alexa. Not unless you were trying to prove something."

I looked between the two vampires in confusion. What was Damon going on about?

"Drop it, Damon," the younger vampire snapped, glancing down at me with worried eyes. I stared right back at him, silently demanding answers. Answers that I got a feeling that I wouldn't get. Not from him anyway.

"For now," Damon growled, giving me a squeeze as I went to ask what the hell was going on. "But I will find out the truth."

With that said, my vampire stalked over to the lemonade table, taking me with him.

"Damon, what was that about?" I asked, frowning as my mind whirled at all the possibilities. I turned in his arms so that I could see his face.

"Don't worry about it, Alexa," the vampire sighed, shaking his head. He removed one arm from my waist and the other moved so that the hand rested on my lower back.

I studied him for a moment, noting his pensive stance, before nodding, "I won't."

Damon gave me a grateful look before glancing over at the refreshments table. I knew that he hadn't done enough work to even begin to justify needed a refreshment. But I could tell that it would help him begin to calm down. Damon's accusations about the fight being fake spun around my mind, causing a pit of dread to form in my stomach.

"Would you like some lemonade?" the sweet little darling girl behind the refreshments table asked. And wasn't she just adorable. I had seen her around town. Her older sister was one of the cheer squad.

"Thank you, sweetie," my Damon smiled at her, accepting the cup. And is that an actual genuine smile that I see? Damon, you softie.

As Damon took a sip of the drink, I shook my head and turned away. Only to spin back around at the sound of choking. Damon was coughing and spluttering, spitting out the lemonade, his legs shaking.

Stefan joined me as I rushed to my vampire's side. We supported him as he tried to get the liquid out of his mouth.

"Damon, what's wrong? What's the matter?" I asked, panic and worry taking over. Holy lord what could do this to him. What could do it? It's bad. No. No. No. Shit, breathe, Alexa. You can't help him if you have a panic attack.

"Vervain," my Damon choked out, causing a cold feeling to go down my back. "Vervain."

Oh crap.

XXX

Mason did this. Mason Lockwood did this. He hurt my Damon. He knew, he goddamn knew, how I feel about Damon. And he did this anyway. He knew what would come out of it and he still tried it. The fucking idiot.

Stefan gave his brother a bottle of water to wash his mouth out with, which Damon promptly used. While Damon was spewing water over the railing and Stefan was patting his back, I stood still in a state of partial shock. I just did not want to believe that someone that I had grown up with, someone that I had called family, would do this to the person that I l... strongly like.

"I'm gonna kill him," Damon snarled as the threw the bottle to the side and going to leave, fighting to get past his brother who dodged in front of him.

Wait, what?

"Listen to me!" Stefan snapped at his older brother, pushing him down in a seat. "Sit! Sit!"

"Damon, sit down," I rushed over to help the bunny-eater control his enraged brother. And whilst I did not have the necessary strength to help properly, I did have my friendship with Damon on my side. I knew that he wouldn't risk hurting me, even while he was in a rage.

"I'm not listening to anymore of your 'give peace a chance' crap!" the furious vampire spat as he tried to push his brother out of the way. "He's dead!"

"Ok," Stefan agreed, trying to keep his tone soothing but there was a hint of steel there.

I nodded along, completely mishearing what was said

"I don't like it, he's making threats," the younger vamp continued as his brother stopped fighting. "He could expose us; we need to put him down."

"Wait, what?" I frowned, catching onto what they were saying. "Guys, what are you talking about?"

"Alright, let's do it," Damon growled, standing up and looking around for their target.

"Guys, guys listen to me."

They were not talking about this. They couldn't be. They can't kill Mason. They can't. They can't. Why were they saying this?

I protested again as the two scanned the area, looking for any sign of their new enemy. But my words were ignored, the thrill of the hunt completely overwhelming the two vampires.

The older vampire spotted him first, "Woods, trash duty. Come on."

As the two got ready to leave, I cried out desperately, "Damon!"

My vampire froze before looking back at me. Ice blue met green.

"Stefan, go on ahead, I'll be with you in a moment," Damon said to his brother, his gaze never leaving mine. Stefan glanced between us before nodding and walking on, keeping the werewolf in his sight. Damon sighed and stepped forward, closing the distance between us.

"Damon, don't do this," I begged softly as gentle hands took a hold of mine. "I know he's done some bad things and that he's a threat to you, but you can't kill him. He's Ty's uncle, he's like family to me. I don't want to lose him. Please don't make me."

My Damon sighed as he rested his forehead against mine, "I make no promises, Alexa, but I'll try not to kill him. I'll try and persuade him to stop his vendetta and make peace."

"Thank you, just, just, I dunno, compel him and run him out of town, yeah?"

"I'll try."

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to enjoy my closeness with Damon. The feel of his skin against mine. How he understood my feelings on the matter.

"That's all I ask."

XXX

I didn't bother asking the two vampires if I could go with them. I knew that they wouldn't, so why waste the energy? And thus, because of my lack of asking, I was not forbidden to follow them. Which, of course, I promptly did. Because I needed to be involved in this. Not only was it the Salvatore's, it was my Lockwood's too.

But holy hell, I needed to calm down. Just when I thought that everything was calming down, crap like this happened. I need...

"Tyler, I love you, marry me?"

An unconventional greeting, but Tyler would immediately know that it was me because of it. Well, that and caller ID but shhh, we're gonna pretend that doesn't exist.

"Alex, what the hell? Give me a minute, Jeremy."

Jer's there? Awww baby bro whatcha doin with big bro? Hmmm, I'd best saying hello to him. Just in case he got stroppy later thinking that I was ignoring him.

"Jeremy's with you? Hi Jer!"

Hmmm, think that will do?

"He says hey. What are you after?"

Why would he think that I'm after something? Ok, I am after Tyler comfort, but still, the implication. I don't just call him when I'm after something.

"Your uncle just made a threat against my Damon."

"Didn't Damon threaten Mason first?"

"Yeah, but that was private, but this... hell Ty, this was public. Right in the middle of the volunteer park thing. I don't know who saw it but it was so dangerous."

I ran my hand through my hair, tugging on it slightly, wincing at the sharp pain. But it helped me to focus my mind.

Tyler was silent for a moment, sensing something in my voice, before sighing, "Do you need me to come down there?"

"No, no, you have things that you have to do."

And you could get caught in the crossfire. And I will not let that happen to you, Ty. I won't. I needed to keep him safe. Just like Jeremy. Their safety was important to me. And more important than my needs.

"But Alex-"

"I'm fine, Ty, I promise."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I guess I just needed to hear your voice. That smooth baritone is good a calming a girl's nerves, y'know?"

"As long as you're sure."

"I am."

"Ok, Alex, just remember: everything will sort itself out in the end."

"I'll remember. See you later, Ty."

"Damn right you will. Bye Alex."

"Bye Ty."

Well, that's definitely improved my mood.

XXX

Oh look, Elena. And Elena's seen me.

"Alexa, what are you doing in the woods?" my twin asked as she grabbed my arm and pulled my alongside her.

"I'm looking for Damon and Stefan," I replied before calling out a hello to the blonde vampire in front of us. Caroline gave a muttered reply as she focussed on where she was leading us. It was pure coincidence that I ran into them, I was just making my way though the woods, trying to remember which trail I saw Mason on before.

Glancing at Ellie, I asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Caroline noticed her mum acting suspiciously, so we're investigating," my twin replied, a determined look on her face.

"And you didn't invite me?" I gasped in mock-offence, trying to keep my head in the game and not have a breakdown at the same time.

Ellie looked at me, eyebrow raised, before shaking her head, "You're here now, so it's doesn't really matter."

"Matters to me," I mumbled, deciding to focus on my lack of invite rather than what I would have been invited to do.

My twin rolled her eyes, "Stop being such a drama queen."

"Stop being such a drama queen," I repeated mockingly. I received an elbow to the ribs for my efforts. Um, ow. Why? Why did you feel the need to do that to me?

As Caroline led us up one of the mini-hills, I grumbled about the 'pain' that I was in. It was all an act, of course. A pitiful attempt to get my mind off of what might be happening to my Damon. Because if I focussed on that, then that was it. I would be completely helpless. And I needed to help him. I had to save him.

"Where the hell are we going?" I groaned as we reached the top of the hill, giving us a perfect view of the new park below us. "What is going on?"

I was not happy with the fact that I did not know where I was going. But Caroline was my friend and Elena's my twin, so I trusted their judgement. I just wanted to know what it was.

"I need to be able to hear better," the vampire replied vaguely, a look of concentration on her face as she cupped a hand to her ear and closed her eyes.

"Hear what?" Elena and I asked in unison, only to be shushed. Well, that was rude. Why is everyone being rude today? Is it Rude Day? I just needed answers, was that so bad?

"Something's wrong," the blonde frowned, clearly worried. And her worrying was just making me worry too. The worry pit in my stomach grew as the frown on Caroline's face deepened.

"Care, what's wrong?" I asked, trading glances with Ellie.

"Quiet, Alexa."

Well then. Fine. I will be quiet.

As Caroline went into super hearing mode, I shifted closer to my sister and rested my head on her shoulder. I felt her sigh as she rested her head against mine. My hand sought out hers and gripped it tightly upon finding it. If Caroline wasn't concentrating so hard, I might have spoken. But she was listening out for our Salvatore's. And that was far more important that anything I had to say at that given moment.

I was worried about the boys. And I had every reason to be. For some reason, they have horrible luck, and, knowing them, this supposedly simple thing of theirs will end up ruined in some way. All because of that luck.

"Oh god," Caroline whispered, horrified, as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"What is it?" Ellie questioned her urgently, her grip on me tightening. Oh no, no, no, what's gone wrong now? I felt sick with worry as Caroline hesitated in answering.

"Stefan and Damon," the vampire answered grimly as she looked at us, her eyes revealing the true depth of her worry. Oh shit, what's happened? Are they in danger? Is my Damon in danger?

"What?" Elena breathed, sharing Caroline's previous horror.

"We've got to go to them," I said aloud, my voice shaking slightly as I fought to remain calm.

"This way," Care ordered, moving off in a specific direction.

We followed.

And I prayed to every deity known to man that Damon would live. That he would survive this, like he has managed to survive all the other attacks. That he wouldn't leave me.

XXX

Caroline led us through the woods, her vampire senses directing her. If it wasn't for Caroline, we probably would have had no idea that something was wrong. That something threatened our Salvatores. And by the time we did know, it would have been too late.

I spent my time desperately trying to listen out for our boys. I knew that I had no hope in hell in actually hearing anything. But it stopped me from having another mini freak out. I could feel my heart beating in my chest and nausea rolling around my stomach. The uncertainty was killing.

We've gotta find them. They have to be around here somewhere. Come on guys, where the hell are you? Damon, I need you, where are you? Please-

Whoa!

As Caroline suddenly stopped in front of me, I had to skid to a rapid stop before I crashed into her. I did actually end up crashing into her, but luckily I didn't fall over. And neither did she.

"What is it?" Elena asked from in front of us. She had turned around to look at us, her brow furrowed in confusion. Her gaze caught mine and I took a step forward, moving so that I was in arms reach of her.

"They've been here," Care replied distractedly, glancing around the clearing. Something had obviously caught the attention of her super-senses.

She knelt down and examined a nearby bush. I followed her gaze and holy crap is that blood?! Oh that's not good. That's not good at all. No, no, no. Blood meant that someone had gotten hurt. And judging from the lack of Salvatore's in the clearing, I could only assume that it was them.

I swallowed hard, "Caroline, is that-"

"What are you three doing out here?"

I spun around to see Mason Lockwood standing behind us. Where did he come from? He had a hard look on his face as he glanced between Caroline and Elena.

"Mason, what are you doing out here?" I frowned as Caroline slowly stood up. I couldn't help but be reminded of an angry cat with the way she moved. There was a fluidity to her movements that weren't there before she turned.

Mason didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even look at me.

"Have you seen Stefan?" Elena asked as she slowly started to move away from the werewolf. I reached out, hoping to grab her and pull her closer to me, where she would be safe.

"Yeah, Elena, I've seen him," he replied, his tone cold, before he glanced at me. "Seen Damon too."

A bad feeling struck me. A really bad feeling. I had never seen such hate in his eyes and it truly scared me.

"Where are they?" my twin queried cautiously, sensing the danger the werewolf posed.

Ellie stretched her arm out behind, her hand seeking mine. I stepped forward and grasped it. We both shared the same feeling. This was not gonna end well.

"You don't need me for that," the Lockwood sneered, his harsh gazing landing on the blonde vampire. "I'll let your friend here sniff them out."

It was at that moment that I realised, realised that Mason knew. He knew what Caroline was, he knew what Stefan was, he knew what Damon was. And he was a danger to them all. He was a threat to three of the people that I cared about.

"Does your mother know what you are? Because I am happy to tell her."

I'd never seen this side of Mason before. The cold side. The cruel side. He had either kept it well hidden or it was new. But I didn't like it. This was not my Mason. This was not the man that I called my Uncle. The Mason who had returned to Mystic Falls was not the same one who had left.

The vampire glared at the werewolf, eyes flashing in anger. She took a step forward, showing a hint of fang, as the veins beneath her eyes rippled. The moment she moved, Mason lunged forward and Elena was ripped from my grip. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around my twin's neck.

"Ellie!" I shrieked, fear rushing through me, as she choked desperately. I tried to run forward, to pull my twin sister away from the werewolf. But Caroline grabbed my arm and pulled me back, stopping me.

"Don't be stupid!" Mason snapped harshly, tightening his grip. "Necks snap easy around here."

"Mason, please! Don't do this! Let her go! Please, just let her go," I begged desperately as I locked gazes with my twin. I tried to reassure her, to tell her that everything would be alright, that she would be alright. Because I would not let anything happen to her. Nothing at all. The goddamn apocalypse would happen before I let anything happen to her.

Care pushed me behind her slightly as she growled, "I can take you."

The asshole smirked, "Wanna bet?"

"Yeah. I do."

And with that said, the vampire blurred forward and ripped the werewolf away from my twin. As Care pushed the ass against a tree and gripped his neck, I pulled my sister towards me. Ellie threw her arms around me and held on tightly. I buried my face in her shoulder and took comfort in the fact that she was alive. She was now safe.

"Are you alright?" I whispered in Elena's ear, ignoring the sound of Caroline kicking Mason's ass.

"I'm fine," my twin whispered back, although her shaking hands proved otherwise.

"Good."

As we pulled away, I placed my hand on Ellie's cheek, giving her a quick check before looking at Caroline.

"Come on," the vampire urged us as she continued forward, further into the woods. I nodded and nudged Elena, pushing her in Care's direction.

"Go," I told her when she looked back at me, hesitating at the thought of leaving me behind. "I'll be with you in a moment."

"Make sure that you are," she said sternly before following the vampire. She knew what I was going to do. And she knew that I needed to do it.

For a moment, I just watched her before I turned to look at the werewolf lying, groaning on the ground. I let my fury take hold and strode forward.

"How dare you," I seethed, a red haze covering my vision as the fact that he just tried to kill me sister settled in. "How dare you threaten my twin sister."

"Alexa," Mason groaned weakly, trying to climb to his feet.

"Don't," I snarled, aiming a kick for his sensitive area and feeling satisfied when it connected. "Don't you dare talk to me. You are nothing to me. You are no longer a member of my family. I don't know who you are anymore. You are not the Mason that I grew up with!" Mason tried to speak but I interrupted him. "You've changed, you fucking asshole. And don't give me any bullshit about being a werewolf did that because we both know that it's not true. God, to think that I fought for you. And you repay me by trying to kill my sister! Mason Lockwood never came back, not for me. You are dead to me now."

I went to walked away, but instead, I spun around and knelt down. Gripping the wolf's chin, I smiled coldly, "Don't you ever touch or threaten my twin again, wolf boy, or I will do a lot worse than kicking you in the dick."

Threatening Damon, I could live with. Yeah, I would probably make him hurt, a lot, for it, but I wouldn't cut him out of my life. But threatening Elena, threatening my twin sister, that was unforgivable. Mason is lucky to still be alive. But why would I kill someone who no longer exists in my world?

XXX

Caroline tracked our boys to the old Lockwood ruins. And of course it would be the ruins, where else would it be? What is it with vampires and dark, dank, dirty, underground places? Do they enjoy living up to the stereotypes?

"What is that?" Elena frowned, peering down the stairs with a fearful look. Ah yes, Ellie had never been to the Lockwood ruins before. The only reason that I had been here was because Tyler had brought me, Luke and Jazz here. This was one of our plotting places. Haven't been here in around a year, though.

I turned to look at our vampire, "Care, do you hear anything?"

She concentrated for a moment, listening hard, before a... not very good look appeared on her face. And my worry meter just imploded.

"Caroline, what is it?" Elena asked, glancing over at the vampire from where she had been staring down the stairs. Judging from her tone, she almost didn't want to know the answer.

"My mom," the vampire replied slowly, reluctantly. "She's killing them."

My head snapped round to face her.

"What did you just say?!" I gasped in disbelief as I stopped myself from collapsing. Why? Why did this have to happen? For the love of the almighty, why?!

"We have to stop her!" Ellie exclaimed as she moved towards the stairs.

"No, I can't," the vampire protested, trying to stop us. "She'll find out about me. Elena!"

I went to follow my twin down the stairs before pausing and spinning around. I knew that Caroline was right to be scared. But I also knew that we had to go down there to help our boys.

"Caroline, I understand, okay? Just stay here, you've done good."

With that said, I bolted down the stairs after Elena. And if Caroline called my name, well, I just didn't hear her. Because I had to save my boys.

"What's the plan?" I whispered when I caught up with my twin. Instead of answering, she bent down and picked up a plank of wood.

"Looks like a good plan," I nodded in approval. "Can I have one?"

"No, because you're not going in there," Elena replied in a matter of fact tone that drove me insane.

"What?!" I hissed, glancing around for anything that I could use as a weapon. "I'm going in."

"Alexa-"

"Don't 'Alexa' me, that's my Salvatore in there too!"

Ellie stared at me for a moment before nodding, "Ok."

"Swell, now let's go."

XXX

Elena led the way, opening the metal door. Which, unfortunately, let out an awful racket. I winced; someone would have heard that. And judging from Ellie's face, she realised that too. So the amount of time we had to save them had just decreased rapidly.

Before we could decide who was gonna open the door that was separating us from our vampires, a police deputy opened it. I barely had time to think 'oh shit' before Elena was smashing her wooden plank in his face. Well, that's one way of dealing with it.

We pushed our way into the room, only to find ourselves being held at gunpoint, courtesy of Sheriff Liz Forbes.

"Elena! Alexa!" she exclaimed in surprise, clearly not expecting to see us. "What are you two doing here?"

"You can't kill them," Elena stated firmly, not showing any of her fear.

"We won't let you," I finished, staring at the gun and edging slightly in front of my sister.

And this is why you should fear the power of the Gilbert twins.

I was hyper aware of the fact that Damon was lying, bleeding, on the floor only a few feet away from me. But it wasn't safe to go over to him just yet. The vampire hunting fool still had a gun. And that gun was still pointed at me and my sister.

Just as I was about to step further into the room, the sudden appearance of a large hand found me being pushed inside. Elena, who had also been pushed in, dragged me over to the corner, which was also closer to our boys.

I glared at the deputy who pushed me. He did not have permission to touch. Nor did he have permission to push my twin and point a gun at her. Subtly, well, as subtly as I could, I pushed myself in front of Elena. If one of us was gonna be shot, then I would rather it be me than Elena. She was, after all, the more important twin. And I was not gonna let anything happen to her.

The door slammed shut, startling all of us.

"What was that?" the deputy snapped, but we could all hear the fear in his voice. And the cruel part of me was pleased by that. He deserved to be scared after what he did to my Salvatore's

"Who else is with you?" Sheriff Forbes asked us, lowering her gun so that it wasn't pointed at us anymore.

Ellie shook her head. I ignored her. Instead, I slowly made my way over to where my Damon was lying on the dirty floor. I crouched down, glancing at the sheriff and the deputy to make sure that they weren't pointing any guns at me twin.

"Damon, wake up," I whispered, placing my hand on his cheek. "Please."

He didn't move.

"Crap," I mumbled, my heart clenching at the sight of his blood. I needed him to wake up. Him waking up was the only way that we were getting out of here. Caroline couldn't risk coming down. And we didn't want her to. Her mom didn't yet know about her vampireness and it would be for the best if she didn't know. I didn't want to put my friend through that.

Then the unmistakable sound of a vampire blurring around the room reached our ears.

It wasn't either of the Salvatore's as they were currently on the ground next to me, so it must be...

Awww bless you darling.

As Caroline started kicking ass and taking names, I smiled and resting my forehead against Damon's.

"You're safe now, Damon," I sighed, closing my eyes, feeling his breath against my face. "It's all gonna be ok."

And it was. My Damon was now safe from the psycho vampire hunters who wanted to hurt him. Who wanted to kill him. Stupid vampire hunters. Didn't they realise that not all vampires are evil?

XXX

As I heard and felt a quiet groan, I opened my eyes and sat up. Damon moved his head and groaned again. While we had waited for the two to wake up, we had taken the liberty of removing all the wooden bullets. It was a disgusting job, but one that needed to be done.

The sight of those beautiful ice blue eyes had all the tension easing from my muscles. I guess it wasn't until I could see them that I could fully believe that he was alright. Stupid or what?

While Caroline and Elena gathered around the also awakening Stefan, I held my wrist in front of Damon's mouth. My vampire stared up at me in confusion. Obviously he wasn't back to his normal self.

"You need blood. And you need it now," I answered the unspoken question.

"There are other bodies here."

He was right. There were other bodies that he could drink from and it would be safer. But I needed to make sure that he was okay. And giving him my blood felt like a good way to do that. And the slightly possessive part of me wanted to be the one to heal him. Which was something that I just didn't want to think about right now.

"Damon, I'm allowing you to drink my blood. Accept the damn invitation."

"What if I can't stop?"

"I trust you," I replied simply. And I did. I trusted him with my life.

My Damon stared at me for a few moments longer before sinking his fangs into my offered wrist. I had to bit my lip at the initial pain but it quickly became bearable. I think it helped that Damon was trying to make it bearable. There was an odd... pleasure mixed in with the pain. And it was something that I do not want to think about.

He soon stopped, not wanting to risk taking too much. As soon as my wrist was released, I bandaged it with a strip of fabric which Caroline had procured for me. My vampire pulled a deputy body over to him and started feeding on that instead. But my blood had given him enough strength that he could sit up without help.

I sat behind him, a hand on his back. I was reluctant to move too far away from him, which was, of course, understandable. After what just happened, I didn't want him to leave my sight.

"You alright, Ellie?" I asked as Damon fed, one of his hands gripping my knee as he used the other to hold the body.

"I'm fine," my twin replied quietly. I glanced over my shoulder to see her smiling softly at me. "You?"

"Peachy," I muttered as my gaze drifted over to Stefan.

"Holding up there, Stef?" I asked the bunny eater who had stubbornly refused the offer of deputy blood. I mean, I could understand why, considering what had happened last time he fed on a human. But he also needed to recuperate his strength. He was dangerously weak right now.

"Yeah," Stefan sighed, leaning more of his weight against my sister.

Now, considering the fact that he and Elena are 'fighting', they are sitting awfully close to each other. And the looks on their faces, those are the looks of two people who are still together. Oh but of course, they are still together. How silly of me. It was all an act. Some stupid little pretence. And I fell for it. But what hurt the most is that neither one of them trusted me enough to tell me. Neither one of them thought to warn me. No, I just got lied to instead.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Damon feeding.

I sighed and stood up. Due to the nervous energy that still filled me, I just could not keep still anymore, so I started pacing.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

I counted my steps, I counted the bricks, I counted the blood splatters. Anything to keep my mind off of the fact that Elena kept something like this from me. Something so important. Hypocritical? Probably. Do I care? No.

I was so focused on my counting that I barely registered Damon stop feeding. I only became aware of it when he moved so that he was crouched in front of his brother. Even with all the blood he had drank, he was still terribly weak. I knew that he would be okay soon, that the blood would do it's job. But it was still hard to see him so weak.

"You need to drink some deputy blood," Damon commented, reinforcing what Caroline and I had said earlier.

"No, I'm gonna be fine," Stefan groaned, clearly proving that he wasn't fine. "It's just gonna take a little bit longer."

A little bit longer? Try a lot longer.

"Damon's right, you know," Care piped up from her position on the steps, where she had been huddled ever since she disarmed her mom. "If there's ever a time to break your diet..."

"He said he didn't want it, ok?" Elena snapped, coming to the defence of her boyfriend. I rolled my eyes, so much for them breaking up.

Damon shook his head at his younger brother's stubbornness before staggering to his feet. I stopped pacing and moved closer towards him, ready to catch him if he fell.

"This is a most unfortunate situation," he spoke, looking Sheriff Forbes in the eye. "Two deputies dead and you." He took a step forward, closer to the sheriff. "What am I gonna do with you?"

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Caroline asked. And her voice, she sounded so damn vulnerable that it broke my heart. "Mom? Mom? Please." Her voice cracked. "Look, I know that we don't get along and that you hate me but I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me, right?"

But Liz stayed silent.

"Mom, please, he will kill you."

"Then kill me," Sheriff Forbes finally spoke, sounding so utterly broken.

"No!" Caroline exclaimed tearfully, standing up. And my heart broke for her. Her mom would rather die than keep her secret. And that was just awful. Family should look after family. And yet here mom was refusing to do that.

"I can't take this," Liz said tearfully, refusing to look at her daughter. "Kill me now."

"But you were gonna drag it out so painfully," Damon spoke softly, almost sounding menacing. The vampire caught the human as she stumbled forward, his arms holding her in place.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Care cried out fearfully, stepping forward

"Damon, don't!" Stefan called out with Elena joining in, "Damon, please!"

I looked closely at Damon and I knew, I just knew, that he wouldn't hurt her. Damon had changed since he had first arrived back in Mystic Falls. He wouldn't hurt Liz. She was his friend. And he wouldn't do that to Caroline. There was another option here and he would take it.

"Guys, chillax," I sighed, walking forward to wrap Caroline in a hug. "Damon won't hurt her."

"No one is killing anybody," Damon finished, looking Sheriff Forbes in the eye. "You're my friend."

And there's the proof that everyone has been looking for that he actually does have a heart. And there is the man who I lo... strongly like.

XXX

"When were you gonna tell me?"

Elena glanced back at me as I stared into the woods that surrounded the Salvatore Boarding House. I knew that if I looked her in the eye while she explained, I would end up forgiving her too quickly. And I couldn't do that. This was something that she shouldn't have lied to me about.

My twin opened and closed her mouth, unable to come up with an answer. And that just annoyed me even more. I had assumed that she had a plan as to when she would tell me. But looks like I was wrong.

I shook my head, snorting in disbelief, "You weren't gonna, were you? Of course not."

"Lexa, it's nothing personal, it's just... you have an unfortunate habit of blurting stuff out."

"What?!" I hissed angrily, not at all in control of my emotions after the day I had. "Are you saying that I'm incapable of keeping secrets?!"

"No! That's not what I'm saying at all."

"I can keep secrets. I can keep quiet about the things that matter. I'm just... I'm offended that you wouldn't trust me with your secret."

"Lexa, I'm so-"

"No, don't talk to me. I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Lexa please."

"Nope. Not listening. Go away."

"No, Alexa, I won't."

I shrugged, "I'll go away then."

I turned around, avoiding looking Elena in the eye and stalked into the Boarding House.

XXX

I gave Caroline a half smile as she walked through the front door. It would have been a full one, but my argument with Elena had made me grumpy. And a lack of sleep had just made it worse.

"Hey, sorry I was so long, it took forever," Care babbled nervously and my heart went out to her. "I just didn't know how long my mom was gonna be here."

"Damon says that it'll take 3 days tops for the vervain to leave her system," Elena told her as she led the blonde and the suitcase towards the basement. "Maybe even sooner."

I ignored Stefan as he appeared next to us. I was angry with him too, as you could tell from the ignoring. He was involved in this. And that meant that he also didn't trust me to keep secrets.

"Hey!" Care greeted him, trying to act like her usual happy self. "You get some bunny in you?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better, thank you," he smiled at her, sensing the tension in the room. Normally I would make a comment here. But bad mood says no comments.

The three chatted as we made our way down to the cell where Sheriff Forbes was gonna be staying. I felt quite sorry for her, what with having to stay down here. I couldn't do it. Nuh uh, it would creep the hell outta me.

"Can you keep Caroline far away from me please?" Liz asked Damon, unaware of the fact that her daughter was standing only a foot away, a devastated look on her face. "I don't want to see her."

"She's your daughter, Liz," Damon told her. If anyone could empathise with Caroline in this situation, it would be my Salvatore. And the look he gave the younger vampire. His eyes were soft with sympathy as Caroline teared up.

"Not anymore. My daughter's gone."

Damon sighed and shook his head, "You have no idea how wrong you are about that."

Beside me, Caroline's breath hitched, drawing Damon's attention again. My vampire looked at Caroline, an unreadable look in his eyes as he considered what to say next. Caroline shook her head and left, tears already forming in her eyes.

I just could not believe Liz, surely, she couldn't believe that. If she does, I may just have to slap her. Sighing, I picked up the suitcase Caroline abandoned and wandered inside the cell. As Damon took it from my hands, I gave him a small smile.

"Did the Nolan's know?"

I turned and frowned at Liz, "Huh?"

"Did the Nolan's know? Did Luke know?" Sheriff Forbes repeated, the hurt inside her heart causing her to lash out. But seriously, why do all of the vampire hunters that I meet ask me this? Seriously, why?

"Luke knew," I answered, taking a deep breath in order to remain calm. "Luke knew that Stefan and Damon were vampires. And he still remained friends with Stefan. He still tolerated Damon."

"Did he know about Caroline?"

I gave her a sad smile, "She wasn't a vampire then."

XXX

I made my way into the living room to see Caroline curled up on the sofa, tears slowly spilling from her eyes. Making my way over to her, I was soon joined by Elena. I gave her the cold shoulder as I focussed on my friend.

"You want me to take you home?" my twin offered as she sat down on the coffee table in front of the vampire.

Care shook her head, "I can't go home."

Her voice was thick with fear as she glanced between us, her eyes shining with tears and fear. Sighing, I sat on the arm of the sofa and rested my hand on the top of her head. I carefully pulled her head close so that it was resting against my side.

"Why not?" Elena prompted, although from the look on her face, she already had an idea.

"Because I'm scared," the blonde whimpered, digging her head into my side.

"What are you scared of, sweetheart?" I asked softly as I began to stroke her hair. "You can tell us, Care-Bear."

"Katherine's gonna be there," Care admitted with a sob, clutching her cushion tighter. "And she's gonna want me to tel her everything that happened today. She told me that I had to spy on you and Alexa and report back to her."

I was rather surprised to be dragged into this. I had figured that I was expendable, hence why the psychotic cow killed me. But maybe she just wanted the enjoyment of hearing me suffer. Wouldn't surprise me. Katherine was a vicious bitch.

"I know," Ellie confirmed with a sigh. Of course you goddamn knew. And, of course, you didn't tell me. Jesus Ellie, is there anything that you did tell me? "And I've been so mad at you. But then, I tried to put myself in your position so that I could understand why you would do this to me and to Alexa and to Stefan because he's been such a friend to you."

I know, that if Katherine had wanted me to do it, all she would have to do is threaten someone that I care about. It would have been that simple. And...

"Caroline, who did she threaten?" I asked, taking over from Elena for a moment as I went with my instinct.

"Matt," the blonde sobbed, unable to hold it all back any longer. "She threatened Matt." Oh sweetheart. "I'm so so scared of her, Elena, Alexa. I am so scared of her."

I titled Care's face upwards so that she would be facing me, "Trust me, Caroline, you should be scared of her. She's already killed me once, who knows what she could do to everyone else. In fact, we should all be scared of her."

"Why is she doing this? What does she want?"

I glanced at Elena as she moved over to the couch and enveloped Caroline in a hug.

"That's the million dollar question," my twin sighed, pulling Caroline close. I get the feeling that when we do find out Katherine's plans, we're all gonna wish that we didn't know.

XXX

I just couldn't face going home with Elena. Especially since I knew that Stefan would be joining her when we got there. So I went to my old standby.

"Alexa, what are you doing in my bed?"

I could feel Damon's breath against my face as I refused to open my eyes.

"I didn't want to get in the car with Elena so soon after our argument and I knew that she wouldn't find me here," I answered as Damon settled down into the bed. "Where is Elena, anyway?"

"She's with Stefan."

"Of course she is."

I shuffled closer to Damon and rested my head on his chest. The vampire's arm came up and wrapped itself around my waist.

"I thought that I was going to lose you today," I whispered into his chest. I didn't want to say it but I needed the reassurance that would follow. The thought of losing Damon, it physically hurt me.

"You'll never lose me."

"Never do that to me again."

"You care that much?"

"Of course I care, I care about you a lot."

I do a helluva lot more than care. But I couldn't admit that. Not now. Maybe not ever.

"Night Damon."

"Night Alexa."

Before I drifted off to sleep, I could have sworn that I felt Damon place a kiss on my forehead.

XXX

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, my lovelies :) they really made my day and are great for motivation! Seriously though, thank you, I really appreciate them :) please keep them coming! Until next time dearies xoxo