A/n: Turns out, the links do work, but it still takes forever for the damn chapter to load. But! We will continue lol

And for the person who asked, all 32 chapters plus a new one within a week. Lucky for y'all, I got strep throat, so I have nothing but time to update everything!

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Nefelibata: def. One who lives in the clouds of their own imagination; an unconventional person

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Chapter 3: Okay, Let's Talk About Crushes.

———

As I sat up in bed at hearing my alarm clock, I couldn't help but sigh at my own stupidity.

Okay, so I chickened out last night since I got too tipsy— but after the bonfire, I'll be on those Salvatores like white on rice.

I also couldn't help but doubt myself a bit at this act of rebellion.

I might have had the brain function of someone beyond their years, but my pubescent hormones definitely made me a liability. My brain still acted like a teenager's, so I couldn't help but think that maybe I was just as inept as the rest of my teenage group of supernatural superstars. Maybe I should get extra help. But, the only person I genuinely trust to help me is my sister...

Bonnie would be strong enough to help me if I helped bring her to her potential, and even now, it'd be nice to have her when I needed help with the tomb.

I would say I could use my Grams, but I knew I had to face facts; Grams was way too fucking old to be dealing with this high level of magic.

It'd be all around better to leave it to me and Bonnie as ascending Bennett witches.

Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't the first time I've knocked this idea around.

I trust Bonnie with my life and I know if I helped teach her, or even taught her myself, she'd be a quick learner.

However, my biggest fear was her using those abilities to effectively kill herself instead of asking me for help— so, I generally stopped my thought process right there. But, now that I thought about it, there was a pretty simple way to ensure she wouldn't commit to martyrdom.

I could just bind our lives together.

If one goes, we'd both go.

No people abusing our powers further, no doppelgänger using her grief against my Bons, we'd try our best to stay alive for the other.

Not to mention, I knew for a fact that Bonnie would save me before she saved Elena in any situation, any day. So maybe, it was time to let the secret loose?

I didn't owe Grams any favors, and Bonnie would be discovering her powers and having a subsequent panic attack over them after, so why not just rip off the band aid and just tell Grams I saw a vision depicting the future of Mystic Falls after?

Now, that's a great idea.

Besides, it'd be extremely hypocritical of me to say I'm protecting Bons by not telling her what's going on when I judge Elena for the same thing.

Well, that settles that, I think to myself as I hop out of bed in just my sports bra and shorts, and proceed to make my way to Bonnie's room.

As I look at her lavender walls and family photos, I almost wish we were normal.

Almost.

A quick hop on top of the lump in between Bon's sheets and she immediately groans before sitting up in bed. I'm hugged around her waist as I look up at my sleepy sister, her dark brown hair strung out in all areas and with fresh blanket imprints on her pretty face.

"What the hell, Alessia?!" She whisper yells as she rubs her eyes before setting one of her hands on my fluffy blonde head.

I snuggle into her stomach before I look up at her remorsefully.

"Bon-Bon, I gotta tell you something, and I think you might be really mad at me when I tell you."

Her green eyes sharpen with awareness before she looks at me with a quirk of her brow, "Well, I could never hate you, Lessy, but, the longest I'll be mad is probably a couple hours. I can't stay mad at you long anyways. So, what's up?"

My caramel eyes start to water at her sweet words and I squeeze her tighter. "Chica, I'm gonna show you something, so you believe me before I explain further."

My sister acknowledges my serious tone with a nod before moving her hand from my head so I can sit up.

I sit across from her on the plush queen size bed, and take a deep inhale before saying, "You know how Grams has been talking about that witchy psychic stuff lately?"

She nods, and I take that as my cue to continue, "Well, she talked to me about it a long while ago, and made me promise not to tell you."

I reveal a handful of my pillow feathers clutched in my hand and she blinks her olive green eyes at me, clearly confused.

"Are you hungover, Lessy? Maybe I should get you some water."

Bonnie starts to stand up, but I grab her small wrist and yank her back to her seated position.

"Bonnie, please, just listen. I'm not hungover, and I'm not joking, just... look."

My witchy sister looks at me hard, trying to discern whether I'm joking or not, but all she gets is my unflinching gaze.

"Okay, fine, show me."

I place my other hand on top of the one holding the light, downy feathers, and slowly lift it, channeling a small amount of my magic to pull on the feathers, causing them to swirl in the air around us. Bonnie is completely mystified, and starts waving her hands above and below the feathers as they spin.

"What the hell is going on?" She asks in a slightly panicked voice, and my hand quickly finds hers to soothe her nerves as the feathers continue to float.

"Grams made me swear not to tell you, believe me I did want to, but Mystic Falls is about to be in serious trouble, and you're the only one I can genuinely trust to help me, Bons. And if you don't want to help me, it's still important that you know this for your safety."

Bonnie's eyes are frantic, olive eyes darting from the floor, to the door, to the feathers, and back to me. Her smaller hand squeezes mine, her way of telling me to keep talking even though she's speechless.

"We are very, very special, Bonnie. Me and you, we come from a long line of powerful witches, spanning back over a thousand years. I'm telling you this because we are not the only supernatural entities in this town, and we aren't going to be one of the few for long. You've been feeling it right? Ever since yesterday morning, there's been a heavy, foreboding weight on your chest?"

My sister looks like she wants to deny it for a moment, but nods her head slowly. We've always been very open with each other outside of this instance, and it's reassuring to know she trusts me even after finding out about the secret.

"That's because there are very dangerous people in town right now, and your magic is starting to awaken. That's why Grams has started bringing it up lately, and why you've been feeling so weird this year," I finish, unsure of how she is going to react.

The brunette shakes in disbelief as she runs her hands through her hair in an effort to calm herself. I wait quietly for a few moments as Bonnie collects herself, finally turning to me with an air of determination and focus.

"You're definitely not off the hook for not telling me sooner, Lessy. However— despite all odds— I actually believe you."

I let out a sigh of relief at how great she's taking this, and I can't stop the smile that works it's way up my face at having my sister with me on this. I should've done this way sooner! My excitement must've been shining through because Bonnie held up her hand as if telling me to hold my horses.

"But, before we get all hocus pocus, you really need to fill me in on what's going on in Mystic Falls."

Well, this is gonna take all morning.

———

It did take all morning.

Bonnie took it much better than I thought— mostly since I came to her and told her the truth.

However, her animosity towards Grams grew exponentially the more she thought about it.

Oddly enough, having me here definitely changed the relationship between the elder and the youngest Bennett.

She now had a very strong relationship with me, instead. Because of that— and how we were raised— she grew to see Grams as an alcoholic who refused to take responsibility for her grandkids, just like our parents.

Her drinking, her lack of honesty, and more importantly Grams making me hide something from her, all built up to a simmering anger that had developed over the years— and it was definitely leading to a confrontation.

But, she and I mutually agreed not to tell Grams that Bonnie officially knew about the supernatural status of Mystic Falls and our family line.

I would start teaching her the lighter spells, stuff that I knew wouldn't overwhelm her body so soon after the awakening of her magic, but would also protect her.

Also, considering I hadn't talked to the big bad Salvatore to negotiate retrieving our great, great etc.'s talisman, she would need all the protection she could get.

"Ms. Bennett?"

Oh, shit.

I snap my attention back to the present and realize that the whole class is looking at me. I'm pretty sure I had a nightmare about this particular situation a couple years ago. Maybe I am a psychic. Mr. Tanner looks anything but amused and I quirk an eyebrow at the prick. "Lovely to see that you haven't changed at all, Alessia. Your ability to completely ignore pertinent information to your grade is astounding."

Not as astounding as that giant stick up your ass.

"Thanks, Mr. Tanner, my talent generally depends on the teacher."

He glares at me for like 5 seconds before turning his attention onto my nearest and dearest sister, "How about you, littler Miss Bennett?"

She wasn't paying much attention either, but she had way more of an excuse than I did. "Um... A lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

I hear Matt and Caroline stifle their laughs and I send a playful glare at both of them. "Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett," Mr. Tanner says snidely, and I'm vaguely reminded of Professor Snape. Except this time I'll be glad when he dies. I said what I said.

Mr. Tanner turns and locks his steely gaze on Matt, and I think this is like watching a massacre, which is funny because I'm 82% sure that's what he's asking about. "Mr. Donovan," he starts, "Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your imbedded jock stereotype?" Prick.

"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," he responds very coolly, a slow smile creeping up on his handsome dimples. The class is all chuckles and giggles now, but I'm wondering why there wasn't laughter for my cheeky comeback. It must be Matt's mystical jock powers. Mr. Tanner mockingly hums before turning to our lady of the hour: Elena Gilbert.

"Elena?"

Her pretty brown head pops up in alarm, and I plant my head in my hands. It's super amusing that literally no one was paying any attention.

"Surely, you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significant historical events?"

He acts like any of us actually care about what's happened in this little backwater town. Supernaturally speaking, it's history was riveting, but the fact that the normal class has a section on three years of really good harvest for apples speaks to how absolutely boring this town is if you're not spooky.

"I'm sorry," she says with a slight shake of her head, nervously twirling her pencil, "I-I don't know."

He levies a heavy glare onto her tiny form, and I remembered just how much of a dick he was about to be to her.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena, but the personal excuses ended with summer break."

The class is dead silent at just how awful what he just said was.

Now, you will not catch me trying to save the doppelgänger on a regular basis— and even though I knew Stefan was about to crack at him— no one ever actually called the shitty teacher out on what he said. In my memories, anyway.

"Mr. Tanner," I start off with a fake smile, "I have a question."

He poises to brush me off, but I continue anyway.

"Was it your mother or your ex-wife who made you such an absolute dick? None of us got the question right. Maybe you should owe our ignorance to the fact that you're a shit teacher."

Mr. Tanner's seeing red. Elena's shocked that I said anything. Bonnie, Matt, and Caroline are looking at me like I'm nuts. And— of course— I can feel Stefan's eyes burrowing into the side of my face.

"OFFICE NOW, BENNETT!"

I grab my things as gracefully as I can and with a smile head out the door.

I always have found it funny that teachers never verify whether you actually go to the office at this school.

I quickly turned the opposite direction for the front doors before sending a text to Grams.

—

From: Me

Msg: IN TROUBLE @ SCHOOL BUT HAD TO GET GRIMOIRE

—

Yeah, that'll do it.

Not super into lying to my grandma, but it provided a great opportunity to explain away how I'd gotten the grimoire in the first place. I did have to go do something witch-related anyway.

Also, I wouldn't really get in trouble at home.

Me and Bons were good kids growing up, so Grams never really got a good grasp on punishments. The most I'd probably get from this would be training my magic for an extra couple of hours, so it was well worth it.

Also, I kinda consider it to be my final goodbye to the awful douchebag.

May he rest in peace.

———

This place is much creepier in person, I thought to myself as I entered the clearing to the old witch house.

The sun was starting to set through the trees, and the overall vibe was ominous. I could definitely sense the old magic practically oozing from the place, but if nothing else, that made this place even creepier. I felt a sigh working it's way past my slightly chapped lips.

It'd been a hell of a hike up here since I left Bonnie the car, and I was gonna take a guess from the lack of a warm energy that the witches were not very happy to see me.

Oh well, don't care.

I open the aged front door and am greeted with the smell of decay and mold. The main room is drenched in shadows, and I feel the temperature drop.

My 'someone's watching me' tingles travel down my spine, and I slowly turn around, completely unsurprised to see Emily Bennett looking up at me coldly.

Huh, she's shorter than I thought.

I give her a mocking smile before I pop a squat on the remains of a rocking chair.

"Hiya, Emily," I start out, looking at my nails in a bored manner, "I'd say 'great to see you', but I'm pretty sure that you're the reason for my not-so-warm welcome."

She steps towards me gracefully before finally replying, "I can't find much joy in my descendants when they're plotting to release the tomb vampires."

That causes me to furrow my brows before looking up at her.

"Hey, whoa there, I'm not trying to release anyone. My only goal is to get Damon Salvatore in and out of that cave so he can see that Kat isn't in there. The rest of the vamps are gonna burn."

Unless I'm feeling lenient, then I'll help Anna get her mommy dearest out.

Her dark gaze remains steely as she regards me, most likely trying to judge whether I'm lying or not. When they soften slightly, I know she knows I'm speaking the truth.

"Why must you align yourself with vampires, child?"

I can't stop the laugh that bubbles up my throat at that, tossing my loose blond curls back as I look back up at the specter.

"Coming from Katherine's bestie? That's a little judgmental, don't you think?"

She looks momentarily surprised that I'm aware of that information, pausing before she glides over to the dilapidated windowsill, gently taking a seat and smoothing out her old dress.

After she's done fluffing her pilgrim clothes, Emily replies, "It's because of her that I know what I speak of. Vampires are traitorous blasphemies against nature, and you intend to do business with one."

Definitely not just one.

"I'm doing this to protect my family. That's all you, or any of these other witches in here need to know."

She shakes her head with a rueful smile, and the old door at the entrance opens once again, "Be gone, child. You will not have our assistance if that's what you seek."

I chuckle as I dust my skirt off and proceed to walk out of this knockoff Haunted Mansion. I pause at the doorway, knowing Emily is still watching me.

Shooting her a small smile, I correct, "I didn't come for your help. I came to warn you and the rest of the dead squad that if you attempt to stop me, I will come back here, and I will burn this place to the ground."

And then I marched forward, following the smell of smoke and the flicker of light deep within the forest.

Time to party.

———

By the time I get to the bonfire, it's in full swing.

I must've spent more time hiking than I thought I did, because it's dark, and a lot of people are already drinking.

Gotta love safe underage drinking by a giant fire.

I walk past one of the trees when I'm suddenly tackled by a blonde whirlwind.

"ALESSIA! You're okay!! You didn't answer your phone at all, you bitch!"

I laugh as I squeeze Caroline back, "Sorry, Care! My phone died while I was walking home and I totally spaced."

After a few more moments of scolding me, Bonnie appears at my side, along with Elena.

Ugh, I think as they both approach, knowing by the fiery look in her green eyes that Bonnie was gonna rip me a new one at some point. And judging by the confused look in Elena's, the doppelgänger clearly wanted answers as to why I valiantly defended her honor.

Double ugh.

"Hey, Alessia, heard about what you did in history!" I hear as a strong arm is thrown across my shoulder.

Tyler.

And judging by his smell, I'd say he's more than just a little tipsy.

But, I'm thankful for any reason to vamoose out of this situation, so I smile brightly back at him. He smiles down at me briefly, eyes kind, before shaking his head at whatever thought he had.

"Tyler! Awesome to see ya! Let's go get me a drink!" I quickly suggest, desperately trying to avoid a public tongue-lashing from my little sister.

His dark gaze brightens at seeing my obvious cue to help me escape, and he scoops me up bridal style before he takes off towards the drink table and kegs.

I wave at a frustrated Bonnie and giggling Caroline as I'm sped away, laughing at Tyler's exuberance. I'm placed gently back on the ground, and my favorite guy friend quickly gets to making me a drink as I pat him on the back.

"My valiant knight in shining armor! Tyler, I owe you one."

He turns back to me with a warm smile and a completed drink concoction that's probably way too alcoholic for my own good. I'm a lot more thirsty than I thought I was after taking a few sips of the strong hodgepodge, so I grab a water as well.

After all, I'm going to need to be semi-sober later on.

"So, you gonna tell me what that Tanner thing was all about, or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?"

I laugh again and wrap my arm around his shoulder as we walk around the bustling party, "Long story short, didn't feel like being treated like a piece of shit for an hour and a half." I offer him my bottle of water, but right before he gets his mouth on it, I block it with my hand.

He quirks a dark brow at me and I put a hand on my hip while playfully glaring at him, "Waterfall it, dude. You've been making out with Vicki Donovan the past few months."

Tyler's nearly black eyes roll right to the back of his head before he complies, downing half of my water down in a couple gulps before passing it back to me.

He grins at me wickedly before quipping, "Speaking of which, I might loop in for round two of that."

That was my cue to roll my eyes at the goof before I remember something. As he turns away, I grab his arm and he arches a dark brow at me in question.

"Make sure if she's down to do the dirty, you get her out of here, the forest is no place to bang a lady," I firmly say, giving him a no-nonsense look.

Ty looks at me like I've lost my mind, "Of course. I'm not that much of a douche. Also, I'm not really feeling going that far tonight. I just wanna get wasted with my friends and go home."

I nod with a warm smile before I reply, for safety, "Okay, let me know if you need a ride back?"

Ty salutes before turning off back towards the bonfire.

I'm so proud of the character growth in that little shit.

My bootie heel promptly turns in the dirt and I bump hard into someone's chest.

Someone's muscular chest, Jesus CH—

My thoughts immediately come to a halt as I see who's broad chest I've run into. Bright green eyes pierce mine, and I feel my breath hitch at just how pretty Stefan Salvatore looks in firelight. Like seriously, he looked like a god.

"Oh, hi Stefan," I say, quickly regaining my composure as he puts his empty hand in his pocket boyishly.

Cute.

Shut up, hormones.

"Hey, Alessia," he replies with a smile that would make me melt if I was weaker, but I was a strong woman so there was no way I had to fight smiling back. "Are you doing alright? Things got a little intense in Mr. Tanner's class."

I don't know when I started feeling comfortable enough to, but I shrug my shoulders at him, giving him a wry grin before taking a sip of my drink.

"Nah, I'm good. I'd be more concerned for Mr. Tanner's ego. Especially, since I never went to the office."

The vampire's pretty eyes widened hilariously as he coughed out his drink. I put my hands behind my back innocently as I wait for him to recover, a playful grin strong on my face.

How does he look attractive when LITERALLY choking?!

God clearly has favorites.

Stefan actually laughs as he finishes, wiping whatever beer he was drinking off his mouth, and I actually feel pretty proud that I got the ever-so-stoic Stefan to laugh.

At least, I was— until I saw a certain brunette glaring at me.

"Annndddd, that's my cue to bounce," I say with a point toward Elena, and Stefan furrows his brow in confusion before looking where I'm pointing at the previously-fuming Elena.

Stefan looks like he's about to say something as he focuses back on me, but I've already started dancing away, hearing "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne blaring out of the stereos.

"See ya around, Salvatore!" I call out before dancing through the crowd.

It's a good thing I didn't turn around either, I think seeing the spark that flashed in Stefan's eyes at that moment might've made my heart stop.

———

I saw Stefan and Elena later on walking on the bridge.

Wow, they really made that gross, dilapidated, bridge with lights thrown on it look romantic.

Weird.

Suddenly, I see Tyler marching off angrily from the woods.

Oh, no. I thought he SAID he wouldn't!

I immediately dash over to him, nearly tripping in my high booties, and I realize I might not be 100% sober.

Besides the point.

I grab one of Tyler's large, angrily swinging hands and he turns so harshly that I'm scared he might do something stupid that'll make me retaliate. But, his dark eyes soften slightly and his sneer lessens as he looks at me. I squeeze his hand and guide him over to a corner of the woods to talk privately.

Tyler lets me, willingly, and I know something must be really bothering him to make my normally-hyped-jock-bestie follow me without question.

He leans against the tree across from me, and I take— as graceful as I can in a short skirt— a seat on the dirt. He promptly does the same, sitting with his feet crossed one over the other.

"What's going on, big guy? Was it Jeremy?" I ask after a moment of silence, watching his large shoulders heave from how angry Ty is.

His dark eyes flare at the mention of the younger Gilbert— but then, he takes a deep breath.

So proud.

Releasing the large inhale, he finally replies, "Yeah. Vicki wanted to make out in the woods, but I told her I was hanging with Matt tonight. She started saying that I was ashamed of her and all this other bullshit, and then that fucking pill-pusher came and started acting all 'white knight'— accusing me of using her and shit. But, I told Vick from the get-go that I didn't want anything serious. Especially since back then I was still reeling from—," he cuts himself off.

Tyler's eyes widen at what he almost said before he glances around nervously, "Ya know, all the pressure from my dad."

Poor guy.

"Don't you worry that handsome head of yours," I say with a soft smile, "Little Gil is just obsessed with Vicki is all. He's going through a lot, he probably sees her as the only thing that made him happy this summer."

I'm pleased to see that Tyler is paying careful attention to what I'm saying. Not retaliating or getting defensive, just listening.

I then tilt my blonde curls over to where Stefan and Elena are sitting and talking, "His sister is doing something similar with Adonis, over there. Neither of the Gilberts are really in the right headspace for relationships, because they're grieving. They don't want to grieve anymore, so they're looking for a lifeline— no matter who it is."

Tyler nods, his handsome face pensive and thoughtful, before he looks up at me with a question in his eyes, "And Vick? What do I do about her?"

"My recommendation?" I ask, and Ty nods, "Tell her the truth and quit banging her. You aren't good to go on the relationship front; she isn't good to go on the friends-with-benefits front. It's just not gonna work because you don't both want the same thing."

Tyler accepts the hard pill to swallow, and then turns up to me with a slightly tired smile, "You're way too good at giving advice, Aless."

A quick shrug of my shoulders and a smirk is all I give back, as I see Elena take off after Jeremy into the woods.

And that's my cue to move, but first.

I dust myself off as I get up from the ground, before extending a hand to Tyler. He looks at my hand doubtfully but takes it, and stumbles when I yank him up with ease.

"Jesus, Bennett, you hitting the gym harder now or what?"

I laugh and shake my head, starting to walk over to the Salvatore who's about to get torn a new one by yours truly.

"You could say that!"

———

Stefan smiles when seeing me, and I use all my protective anger to stop myself from smiling back.

"You and I got issues, Salvatore."

He looks at me, clearly confused at what I mean, and my glare hardens, "It's fine to reject girls. But, if you ever talk to Caroline like she's some boy-crazy whore again— I will eviscerate you and use your innards to decorate the town hall for the festival."

Forest green eyes widen in shock at the intensity of my threat, but I meant every single fucking word.

None of these pretty supernatural pieces of shit were gonna step on Caroline or Bonnie if I had anything to do about it. His eyes soften, and I see the sparkle of remorse in them as he looks at me.

I nearly soften, but I can't afford to be weak to every pretty boy I see here, there were a shit ton coming!

I promptly turn on my heel as I hear Jeremy scream from the woods.

I don't walk over. I know she's gonna live, and Vicki's definitely not in my list of Top Ten People I Like right now. Stefan's footsteps go quieter as he begins making his covert escape from the crime scene while Vicki's unconscious body is carried out of the woods.

Someone's eyes are on me, and I turn to see a shocked Bonnie— her hands trembling as she looks from Vicki back to me, and I can see it click when she realizes what did this. I purposefully glance over to Caroline and Tyler, telling Bonnie to take care of them both. Then, I turn off into the woods.

If I used that spell I read in Emily's grimoire, I'd be at the Salvatore boardinghouse in about fifteen minutes.

———

Now, I will be the first one to say, I love dramatic entrances.

I also like messing with people.

So imagine my excitement when I got to the boardinghouse and the brothers Salvatore shot out of the attic window like a rocket.

Like, seriously, this was peak entrance material.

So, I waited for a moment for Damon Salvatore to speak first as my eagerness starts to build. His back was to me as he leaned against a hedge, but I could tell he was just as much of a gorgeous specimen as Stefan.

With a bad boy edge, which is also very hot.

It's gonna be so hard to focus when we talk business.

"I was impressed!" He compliments Stefan condescendingly, and I knew we were gonna get along fabulously, "I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised."

Right as Stefan is about to speak, I walk out of the shadows, crossing my arms before saying, "Oh, cut him some slack. It was definitely a seven."

Two sets of bright eyes snapped to my form, one looking extremely worried, and the other being merely surprised. At least Damon was surprised for a second before he sped over to look closer at me.

Whoa, pretty, pretty man.

Bright blue piercing eyes framed by long dark lashes, strong jawline, playful mouth, dark black brows barely covered by his mop of shiny black hair— the man was a rom-com's wet dream. Same amount of sheer beauty as Stefan, just a different genre.

Like Stefan is a Renaissance painting while Damon is a sex god, Damon Salvatore oozed sex.

"Well, if it isn't the older Bennett? You're just as pretty as I remember."

Huh?

"Damon," Stefan said, his deep voice rough and pleading, "Leave her alone."

A dark eyebrow quirked as Damon acknowledged his brother's reaction. "I don't think I will, Steffy."

Then it was full-on vampire right up in my face.

However, I was more than prepared for Damon to react violently— taking the vervain soaked stake that I had hidden in my jacket and stabbing him in the stomach.

His eyes widen as I twist it, before launching him back harshly with my magic into the shed behind him.

Stefan is blinking in shock, and Damon is dusting himself off of broken shed pieces while trying to pull out the stake.

"Oh— come on, Damon— don't be like that. I already know about your deal with Emily," I say blandly, waiting for the information to really reach him.

Said elder Salvatore blinks owlishly for a second before he finally says 'fuck it' and yanks out the stake haphazardly anyway.

Stefan is looking like he saw the sky turn purple and rain raspberries.

I'm trying not to laugh.

"Alright. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk business like adults."

———

A/n: Hey, all! Thanks so much for the love your showing my little story, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoy reading your comments and seeing your favorites.

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