The Crow and the Falcon. (Three)
The Webber house was a sprawling affair with lush green gardens surrounding it. It sat near the top of a hill alongside other equally large, and probably equally as expensive houses. All of them backed onto woodland areas - Stefan had explored a small portion of them when they'd first arrived for hunting purposes. Damon had, of course, sneered at the animal blood, but had gone along anyway. Stefan assumed that he'd had nothing better to do.
They rang the doorbell, and waited for the door to be answered. Stefan removed his sunglasses, a move made out of politeness. Damon stared at him a second, and then removed his own, rolling his eyes as the door opened. A tall woman holding a screaming child stood in the doorway. The adult version of Jess was Stefan's immediate reaction.
"Hi. uh..." He stammered, caught off guard by the small child being held upside-down in the woman's arms.
"We're here to see Jess." Damon put in smoothly.
"Sure. You must be Damon and Stefan, huh?" She said, putting down the child. "Jess mentioned you might be stopping by. I'm Hazel Webber, Jess's mom." She held out her hand in greeting, which the brothers shook in turn. She motioned them into the house. "Please, come on through to the kitchen."
"Play swings." The child demanded looking up at Stefan as Hazel closed the door.
He looked a little mortified. "Swings?" He asked.
"Not right now, Lisa honey. Stefan's here to see Jess."
Lisa pouted and turned to Damon. "Swings?"
Damon grinned at Stefan, then scooped the little girl up and swung her gently around by the arms. She started giggling. Hazel shook her head and smiled as she headed into the kitchen, Stefan following behind.
((Isn't Damon supposed to be here to see Jess as well?)) Stefan asked his brother mentally, a little shocked at the ease with which Damon dealt with Lisa.
((But why would I need to see Jess when I have a lovely young virgin right here?))
Stefan stopped in his tracks and threw his brother a look over his shoulder. Damon just grinned at him, placing the girl on his shoulders. "And what can I do to amuse you now, fair maiden?" He asked, and she giggled some more.
Hazel stood at the kitchen counter pouring the contents of a carton of orange juice into a jug. "You're from out of town, huh?" She asked conversationally.
"Uh huh." Stefan replied. "Transferring from a town in Virginia. Needed a fresh start."
"I think I have a cousin who lives in Virginia. Second cousin, several times removed." She smiled. "You don't sound like you come from there."
"We have roots in Italy - lived there as kids."
"Ooh. Nice place. I went to Florence for my Honeymoon." A dreamy sigh escaped her lips. She shook herself a little, and pulled an apple from a bowl brimming with fruit. She placed it on a tray along with a bag of potato chips, the jug of juice and several glasses. "You mind taking this up as you go?" She asked Stefan.
"Not at all." He picked up the tray, and grinned. "Where to?"
"Thanks. Top floor, end of the hall. If you get lost, follow the mess, or the music. And make sure Jess eats that apple."
Damon put Lisa down as Stefan passed. "Another time, Milady." He said, waving goodbye to the crestfallen child.
As Stefan approached the top floor the sound of a guitar and a male singer could be heard clearly.
"/I can go where no-one else can go
I know what no-one else could know
Here I am just a drowning in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train./"
The music was coming from a room at the end of the hall, its door open halfway. The brothers approached quietly.
"/And everything seems cut and dried
Day and Night Earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it./"
Damon knocked on the door as Stefan poked his head round. Michael Webber was perched on a battered cushion covered couch. He stopped singing, but continued to pluck at the strings of the guitar he was playing. Soft giggling could be heard coming from a room to the right.
"Hi there and C'mon in. Welcome to the madhouse." He grinned, nodding in greeting to Damon. "I'm Mike." He said, introducing himself to Stefan.
"Stefan." He replied. Mike paused playing long enough to shake his hand.
"Take a seat. Cushion, floor or couch, whatever you're comfortable with."
Damon sat back in the couch, sprawling at the opposite end to Mike. Stefan sat down and dragged a cushion under him. He made himself comfortable and looked around the room. The couch was placed in front of a large window looking out onto the back garden and the woodland. Opposite the window were a television, video player and stereo system resting on a low wooden table, complete with a multitude of tapes and CDs. Above this the wall was lined with shelves filled with books, videos, and music sheets. The two remaining walls were covered with posters and the like. A door in each of those walls led off into two more rooms.
"Bedrooms." Mike informed the vampire. "Mine on the left, Jess's on the right. Where the Girly noises are coming from." He grimaced, then yelled in the direction of his sister's room.
"Hey, Jess. Stefan and Damon are here. You gonna come out and be sociable?"
"Out in a minute." She yelled back.
Mike put his guitar carefully to one side and reached for the glasses and the jug of juice. "How're you enjoying the hell-hole known as school, then?" He asked as he poured juice out and offered it to the guests, who accepted them with a nod of thanks. He frowned a little, then amended himself. "Sorry. Perhaps /enjoy/ is the wrong word. How are you /surviving/ hell?"
"We've been through worse." Damon commented, his lips curving up slightly, amused.
Jess's head poked round her bedroom door before Stefan could comment. A pair of hands pushed Jess's red head down a little, and a blond head peered round over the top. Both girls were grinning widely, covered with glitter. Stefan could smell the glue.
"Had fun, did we children?" Mike asked dryly.
Jess poked her tongue out at him and pulled the blond into the room as she emerged dressed in an oversized black T-shirt and white shorts. "Hi guys." She addressed Stefan and Damon, then gestured to her companion. "Uh, this is Zia. Second to last of our little group. Zia, Stefan and Damon." She said, indicating to them in turn.
Zia sat down on one of the cushions that lay strewn over the floor, smiled a wide smile at the two and flipped a lazy wave. "Greetings and Salutations, guys." The brothers smiled back, Stefan warmly, while Damon flashed one of his rare, dazzling grins.
Stefan reached forward to the tray and scooped up the apple. "Your Mom said to make sure you ate that." Stefan said, smiling, and tossed it over to her with a flick of his wrist.
"She would." Jess grimaced, and shot out a hand to deftly pluck the fruit from the air.
"Nice catch." Damon smiled a charming smile.
Jess took a bite. "Practice." She mumbled round her mouthful, as she wandered over to the stereo player. "You finished playing?" Jess asked her brother, then pressed the play button on the CD player at his nod of confirmation.
"/So, tell me what you want, what you really, really want.../"
Jess screeched out in anger, and slammed down on the stop button. "Spice Whores." She spat. "Aaron's been in here. He dies." She stated, venom in her voice.
"Our ten year old brother, and the only one in this house that actually likes the Spice Girls." Mike said, noticing Stefan's baffled look.
"A hanging offence if ever there was one." Damon nodded solemnly, a trace of a grin on his face.
"Yeah. And you can add being drawn and quartered to that for brat coming here when he's not allowed." Jess cackled, a sadistic gleam to her eye as she rummaged around for another CD.
"Lighten up." Mike flung a potato chip at his sister.
The sound of arguing drifted through the door and caught the attention of the vampires, who both frowned at the door. No-one else heard anything until a few moments later. "Uh oh." Mike muttered, and closed his eyes with a groan.
~*~
"Dammit, Adam, I don't care what you think. Bruce and Lydia are /up/ to something. I feel it, and I don't like it." She frowned in annoyance at her brother.
"Okay, Cookie. I admit that the pair are creepy, amoral, butt- kissing jerks, but you're being paranoid."
Cookie growled and threw up her arms in exasperation before storming into Jess and Mike's sitting room. "Can you believe those creeps? Can you actually /believe/ that my snooty cousins have invited themselves to stay for a whole /week/?" She fumed and threw herself onto the couch next to Mike. Adam stayed at the door, a pained expression on his face. "I mean, who the hell do they think they are?" She turned to the person sitting on her right and froze. *Oh no.* she thought. *This /really/ makes my day complete.* She didn't have the energy to debate this new problem. "What are you doing here?" She asked wearily, rubbing at her temples. She could feel a headache brewing up.
"Well, I happened to mention to Jess here that you and I seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot. She suggested that we start again." He smiled.
Cookie glared at him a moment, then turned her stare onto Jess. "This true?"
"Yeah. They're nice guys. I thought you could sort out your differences." Jess shrugged uneasily.
"Did you?" Cookie said flatly, then sighed and shut her eyes. *Nice guys?* She opened one eye and took a good look at Stefan before shutting it again. *Okay, he seems good enough, girl. A little.../odd/, but a decent guy. And when have I ever known Jess to be a bad judge of character? Still...* She tentatively stretched out her feelings to the young man next to her, then drew them back sharply in shock, her eyes flying open to look into his own startled ones.
He was.../different/, she didn't know how, except it had something to do with a hunger she felt. But that wasn't all that had startled her. She'd felt a great deal of pain and anguish from him, boiling inside. It had only just started to heal recently, she noted, but even that was little. *Why does he let it fester?* she wondered.
((They're my emotions. I do with them what I will.)) His voice snapped in her head. Cookie felt quite proud that she still managed to keep an outward appearance of calm.
((What the hell?)) She shot back. She'd never sensed another's thoughts before, let alone had another voice talking in her mind.
((You're telepathic.)) He voice noted to himself dryly. ((And highly psychic, it seems. Lovely.))
((What /are/ you?))
((My business. Not yours.)) He snapped.
((You're talking in my mind and you say its not my business?)) Cookie asked incredulously.
((You're the one who invaded my feelings. I didn't invite you.)) He pointed out.
((Fine. Okay. Whatever. I only did it to find out whether or not I should trust you.))
((You could have just asked me for that.))
((Oh, yeah. Right, and what would you have said.)) She asked sarcastically, narrowing her eyes at him.
((No.))
((No? /No?/)) She hadn't been expecting that.
((Not if you're going to treat me as an enemy. And that's a game you /don't/ want to play. You can trust me on that.)) He sent a mental smirk her way.
((If?))
((As I was saying when you came in, I think we should start again. You intrigue me.))
((At this point /that/ feeling is totally mutual.))
((And you have fire in your soul. I like that. I'd like to get to know you better.))
((Ha. I'll bet.)) She said, feeling self conscious of both his gaze, and the strange looks she was getting from her friends. She sighed mentally. ((I don't believe I'm on the verge of giving In here. How do I know that you're not gonna do anything that'll hurt us?))
((You have my word.)) He stated simply. She had an odd feeling that he was the kind of man to whom keeping his word was a serious matter.
She sighed out loud. "Okay. You have another chance." She said, holding out her hand. He took it and shook it, then let his hand linger for a moment. ((And you can knock that stuff off before you even start. No probing me again without my permission, either.)) Funny, now that she'd done it once, it was easy to speak with her mind.
"A good decision." He smiled arrogantly at her.
Everyone sat in silence for a few moments.
"Uh, so who are you?" Cookie asked.
"Damon Salvatore." He replied, still smiling.
"Stefan." His brother replied softly, his own smile friendly. "Cookie, right?"
She nodded. "And the quiet guy is my pain is the ass little brother, Adam."
"Ha ha." Adam retorted sarcastically before venturing into the room.
"You're the genius that keeps skipping class?" Stefan asked.
"That would be me." Adam confirmed, perching himself on the edge of the stereo table. He stared at the brothers a moment as if considering, then looked away again, grinning to himself slightly. Cookie frowned at him. *What's on /his/ mind?*
"You were saying that the terrible twosome were staying for the week?" Zia asked. "Why? What karmic wrong have we done to deserve it /this/ time?"
"Nothing that I can think of." Cookie snorted.
"Sister dearest is being paranoid. She thinks they're up to some no good underhand scheme." Adam filled them in.
"I wouldn't put it past them." Mike frowned, and Cookie smiled at him before turning to her brother with a look of triumph on her face.
"See! I'm not the only one who thinks it. It's not paranoia."
Mike shrunk back a little under Adam's glare. "I only said I wouldn't put it past them. I didn't actually say they were up to something."
"It's in their eyes." Cookie insisted. The others looked at her sceptically. "Look, when have I been wrong about my /feelings/?"
The others shrugged.
"Well, you haven't so far as I'm aware of." Zia conceded.
"So why do you have a hard time accepting this?" Cookie asked her brother.
"They're only people. I mean, they're awful, but you make them out to be evil.
"Oh, now /that/ I will agree with." Mike nodded.
Stefan broke in. "Uh, who are you talking about?"
"Our cousins." Adam sighed.
"The two most evil people on the planet." Mike intoned, darkly.
((Looks like they knocked you down from first place.)) Stefan quipped at his brother, laughing mentally.
((Your wit astounds me, little brother.)) Damon shot back.
"Not only are they evil," Mike continued, "But they're also scheming, rude and manipulative."
Cookie stared at the brothers, a little wide eyed. ((You can /both/ talk with your minds? And I can hear you, by the way.))
((Damon, why didn't you tell me she was telepathic?))
((What, you didn't guess that she was? You yourself said she was psychic.))
((Quit talking over my head.)) She growled at them. ((Anyway, Damon only figured it five minutes ago. Don't let him fool you.))
((Why is Mike looking puzzled?)) Stefan asked all of a sudden. The red head had stopped speaking, and was frowning.
((Twin thing.)) Cookie explained. ((He and Jess sometimes know what the other is thinking and stuff like that. I guess he might be picking vibrations from this conversation. So maybe we could just talk out loud? Besides which, it's very rude to do this.))
Stefan had the grace to look a little ashamed. "Why is it you hate them so much?" He asked aloud.
Mike shook his head as if to clear it. "Huh? Oh. I fell foul to one of their plans a couple of years back. Ended up with my leg in plaster, and almost got expelled from school. They never once apologised, and they actually /laughed/ at my cast." He sighed.
"What was this plan?" Damon asked curiously.
"Don't want to talk about it." Mike muttered, turning red.
"It's a very embarrassing and sore point with him." Jess explained. "Anyway, to explain the situation without melodrama. Bruce and Lydia are Cookie and Adam's cousins. We hate their guts, to put it simply. They were supposed to stay for the weekend, which is bad enough, but from what I can gather they're staying the whole week. Bad news for us, seeing as we'll probably end up entertaining them if Cookie's mom takes the approach she took last year that the poor little cousins need to be baby-sat."
"So get rid of them." Damon suggested.
Cookie burst out laughing. "Yeah, right. We tried that last year. Tried being polite, bribing them, and even outright hostility. Nothing worked. If you can think of anything that'll work, I'm all ears."
"Actually, I can. I can be quite...persuasive when I want to be." Cookie stared at him, and he smiled back. "Maybe they'll listen to me. Anyhow, I think I'd like to meet them."
Stefan's head thunked defeatedly into the palm of his hand. "What did I do to deserve getting you as a brother?" He shook his head and moaned in despair.
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The track 'Runaway Train' belongs to Soul Asylum, from their album 'Gravedancers Union'.