Willowwacks: def. a wooded, uninhabited area
Chapter 17: No One Really Likes the Fifties.
I kick down the rotted wooden door, opening the jerrycan and running a line of gasoline down the hallway.
"Oh, Emily!" I call out, furrowing my brows momentarily before adding, "And any other witch ghost in this shack!"
Emily appears abruptly, clearly upset judging by the stark wrinkles between her thin brows, "What are you doing, child?!"
"Oh, calm down," I say, racing through the house to try and make sure I've doused enough wood before stopping and killing off the rest of the can in the living room-looking area. Who knows? This place is grody.
"This is just insurance," I sigh out, trying to catch my breath. Emily appears in front of me once again, and I pause momentarily to wonder if she's the spirit representative for our family. To be honest, if that's the case, I'm glad it's her and not Qetsiyah. She'd be an entirely different type of monster to deal with, and probably not this easily bullied.
"This is my way of letting you know that I'm completely serious about my threat. If I even feel you brush up against the veil when me and Bons use that ugly necklace, I will come back and burn this shit to the ground."
Emily's dark eyes harden, clearly not fond of the threat.
Or maybe that I called the talisman ugly.
"And what if we killed you right now, child? You know not the forces you're dealing with."
I turn to face her completely, face blank, hand resting on my hip.
"Trust me when I say that my death will not be permanent," My eyes are hard and honest on her dark ones, "Sure, I'll probably bother you and the other witches for a little bit, might even see how the OG witch is doing, but I'm not staying on the Other Side for long."
Pausing, I then purposefully glance around the room, playfully adding, "And then I'll burn this grimy little hut you all call home to the ground. Or, hell, Bons might do it herself if she sees I'm MIA."
Her hands are folded tightly together on her old dress, and I can tell by the look of intense deliberation on her face that it was a good idea to reaffirm my threat. This bitch was definitely going to try to destroy the talisman anyway.
I'd be a bit less annoyed by that prospect if she had at least acted like she wouldn't. Really, it's just plain insulting.
Emily's pretty brown face proceeds to smile softly, seemingly looking at me in a different light.
"You're truly going to kill the rest of the tomb vampires?"
I pause momentarily about how I'm going to answer this. If Emily really was planning on taking me on, she'd probably get one of her flying monkeys to keep an eye on me. And if that was the case, she was just testing to see if I would lie about Anna and give them full reason not to trust me.
See, now that's the kind of sneakiness I can respect.
"There's a girl vamp," I start, and I can see Emily's brown eyes widen momentarily at my admission.
"She just wants her mother. If they end up becoming a threat, I'll take care of it after, but the rest are going to burn down there."
Emily continues to stare at me, still surprised that I was honest and that she couldn't use a lie against me, before slowly focusing her gaze once again.
"I see. We will not interfere. However, should you break your bond.."
Waving my hand dismissively I walk over to the front door, "Blah blah, death threat, blah blah, I got shit to do. Bye, Emily!"
I left without looking back.
—
After that, I promptly drove down to ye olde Salvatore boardinghouse. Not knocking because I'm sure that they can both hear me approaching, I whisper a spell to open the door for me and promptly go inside.
"Stefano!" I call out, setting my bag on their coat rack, "Your therapist is here!"
Both brothers suddenly flash in front of me along with a gust of wind, Damon with his typical shit-eating grin on his face, and Stefan looking quite broody. God, these boys need more moods outside of 'mischievously flirtatious' and "exceedingly depressed'.
They're lucky they look so good doing it, otherwise it'd come off as a bit predictable.
Stefan's forest green eyes are very obvious in their misery. He looks like he called me here to stake him rather than just to talk. The elder Salvatore, on the other hand, is clearly bemused, probably overhearing the couples' discussion prior and loving it.
"Hey there, Aly Cat," Damon greets cheerfully, quickly throwing his muscular arm over my shoulder and raising a mocking dark brow at Stefan, "I'm gonna guess you're here to be Stef's emotional support witch?"
Nodding, I push off the handsome vampire's arm.
"Basically. You guys got anything a human could eat? I'm starved," I ask, pushing my way past the two of them to head to the kitchen, for hopefully something decent to munch on while I sit with Stefan.
Damon has already vamp sped into the kitchen by the time I get in, and I can't help but be a little awestruck at how pretty this kitchen is. Marble countertops, pretty wood paneling, and enough kitchen accessories to make me think that Zach could've made for a great interior designer if he wasn't dead.
The blue eyed vampire whips out an apron that says 'Kiss the Cook', securely tying it around his waist as I try to stifle a laugh. Stefan enters, the now more prominent wrinkle between his brows is enough visual information for me to tell that he's not particularly happy about Damon interrupting his appointment, and I can't help but laugh lightly at it.
Damon raises his handsome brow up at me as he pulls out several pans, "Something funny over there, gorgeous?"
Ignoring the compliment so I don't blush, I shake my head, "Nah, just thought about something funny."
He brushes it off with another eyebrow raise, turning to the fridge as Stefan pops a squat on the bar stool next to me.
"Are you vegetarian or anything like that?" He asks as his pretty blue eyes scan the limited supply within the refrigerator.
I shake my head, and he proceeds to grab milk, cheese, flour, pasta, and a bunch of seasonings that I can't see from this angle, sighing, "Mac and cheese, it is."
Wow. What a fantasy come true.
Like seriously, a hot guy making me food could be considered a kink of mine, and I felt my stomach warming at seeing the beautiful vamp in front of me doing so. I quickly snap myself out of it, of course, since as of right now this is an emotionally unavailable pretty boy.
Instead, I turn over to the sad pretty boy on my left who's staring hard at the granite countertop in thought.
"Alright," I sigh, resting my head in my hand as I look at Stefan Salvatore's flawless profile, "Lay it on me, how are you doing after that hot mess?"
Shaking his dirty blond hair out like I've asked a stupid question, and maybe I have, he turns his sad emerald gaze to my brown one.
"Things are not good. At this point, I'm scared I'm going to lose her in the constant rollercoaster that seems to be this relationship."
Damon sets a glass of water in front of me, and I gratefully accept it, before asking Stefan, "Was it this hard with Katherine?"
I can see Damon's shoulders stiffen slightly, but if he wants to snoop in on me and Stefan's convo under the guise of giving me food, I don't need to be careful of his feelings on the matter.
Stefan shrugs, "It was definitely hard, and of course, I was under compulsion for certain parts of it, but it wasn't near as stressful. I was never scared that Katherine was going to leave. She didn't want to let go of either of us, ever."
Nodding, I take a sip of my water.
"Look, Stefan. I'm going to be honest with you. Elena is a seventeen year old girl. The only real relationship she's ever had was with Matt, and she didn't really want him, she just liked that he wanted her and decided to give it a shot.
What I'm saying is, she's nowhere near as emotionally mature as Katherine was/is, so you're going to have to accept that her little fits are going to happen as the curveballs keep coming. At least until she gets a good head on her shoulders, anyway."
Damon glances over at me as I finish talking, adding flour to the bit of milk he had in the heated pan, expression unreadable.
"You're seventeen, too, little Bennett. And yet, here you are giving a therapy session to a one hundred seventy one year old vampire, and doing business with his more attractive older brother."
Shrugging nonchalantly, I look back up into Damon's blue gaze.
"People mature in one of two ways: over time, or after experience. I happen to be in the latter category. Elena's a normal teenage girl, outside of looking like KitKat, anyway, so she can afford to be childish. I can't."
It was true. I might've been born with more information in my little infant skull than most people, but I hadn't been able to enjoy being a kid very much. Whether it was martial arts, cheerleading, or learning to be a true badass witch, everything that I've done in my life so far was to prepare for right now.
Sure, it was kinda fun learning, but I've never done anything just for the sake of it being a good time in my entire life. Instead, I was more like a little soldier than a child.
How tragic.
Stefan is looking at me intently, scanning me as if he had never thought about it like that.
Which is weird considering he's been watching Elena all these months. After such stalker-y dedication, you'd think he would've at least noticed that much about her.
Glancing back down to the granite, Stefan starts looking rather pensive. At least he was until he suddenly turned back to me, a certain thoughtfulness in his gaze.
"That must've been hard for you, Alessia."
Wait, what?
Damon lets out a sigh as he stirs his other pot of bubbling pasta, "You're doing an awful lot of grown up stuff considering you're just a baby."
Rolling my caramel eyes, I glare at Damon, before smirking.
"You're the one trying to get in this baby's panties."
Stefan's green eyes grow comically wide.
"WHAT?"
Damon rolls his eyes at Stefan's offended tone, "Oh shut up, Clark Kent. Your little girlfriend is the same age, I don't want to hear shit from you."
Dinner at the Salvatores had been relatively peaceful after that, and I drove home after, knowing that tomorrow I would be threatening another person if my timeline guess was correct.
Oh god, is this going to become a regular thing?
I think about this whole mess as I close my eyes, slipping off into a peaceful rest.
—
As I walk into the Grill, my eyes narrow in annoyance as I see that prick, Ben, flirting with Bons.
So, Anna was still going to go with the plan of kidnapping Elena to get the Salvatores to pass up the grimoire.
How perfectly irritating.
Honestly, I would be able to respect the hustle if they hadn't chosen my sister as bait. This jackoff was going to make Bonnie feel like she was special then go home to that musty motel and probably bang Anna. Ew. They both separate as Bons gives him a warm smile, and I promptly start my walk over to the boy once she's out of my eye-line.
He stands behind the bar before giving me a warm but slightly strained smile. What a terrible pretender I think as I slide onto the barstool.
"Hi there, Alessia. How can I help you?" He asks warmly, and I smile back.
"Can I get you guys' sirloin and eggs with a cup of coffee? Medium rare and sunny side up."
He jots my order down, and I glance around the Grill one more time to make sure I picked a more isolated area. Check.
Glancing down at my phone as I wait for him to come back, I see a text from both Bons and Caroline.
—
From: Bons
Msg: I JUST SAW BEN!!
—
From: Care Bear
Msg: Did Bon txt u about Hang Ten Ben???
—
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. When we were all in Mystic Falls Elementary together, he faked that he was actually a pro surfer for like a year. Weird times.
Ben comes back with my order, along with a napkin with my silverware, and I smile happily at him.
"How've you been, Ben? Is graduated life treating you well?"
He nods his adorable brown head, "Yeah, it's been a hard transition, but a rewarding one."
Oh, well, there's a double meaning if I've ever seen one.
"I saw you with Bons earlier, I bet it's good to see everyone again," I say, reaching to unroll my napkin wrap of utensils as Ben leans forward across the bar towards me, eyes turned flirtatious.
"You're not jealous, are you?" He asks in a deeper voice that I'm guessing should be seductive, but once you hang out with two god-like specimens on a regular basis, normal cute boys just aren't as intimidating.
I glance up at him, smile still on my pretty pink lips as I grab the steak knife out of the napkin and promptly stab it through his hand into the bar.
Ben groans in pain, but no one turns and notices. He struggles to maintain a look of normality as I twist the knife hard, causing him to halt a yell with a cough.
"Listen, you little shit," I whisper menacingly, smile still glued to my cheeks, and I thoroughly enjoy his dark eyes widening in shock and pain.
"Tell Anna to keep her grubby little hands away from my sister. And while she's at it, you can too. I'm not afraid to leave her mom's corpse burning in that cave with the rest of them if you both wanna play it this way."
He glares hard at me, veins starting to appear underneath his eyes, "You have no idea what you're messing with. We'll eat you and spit you out."
I lean forward, caramel gaze unflinching, and anyone else watching would think I was sharing a secret with him.
"I would love to see you try, Baby Drac. I'll spill your body parts all over this goddamn bar," I say mock cheerfully, yanking out the knife with a twist and watching him grimace in pain. Pushing the plate forward, I reach in my purse and pull out a twenty, dropping it on the table as I stand up.
Smiling, I say, "Great to see ya again, Ben. Tell Anna to text me!"
I can feel his spiteful glare on my back as I leave, and I just hope that I've made my point very clear.
Didn't really want to kill them, but if I had to for Bons, I would.
——
I flatten my poodle skirt down, tugging on a corner that had snagged on the puffy fabric underneath before glancing to the driver's side at my handsome vampire 'date'.
Ugh, of course Elena got attacked again. I forgot about that other creepy vamp. He wasn't actually my problem after all, he was Elena's and Anna's.
"Damon, sweetie. No offense, but why am I here?" I sigh, and blue eyes meet mine in a way that spells trouble.
"Well, Aly Cat, Elena has a vamp problem, so we all have one. The guy has an all access pass to the Gilbert buffet, so we're luring him out," he sighs, slowly taking a sip from his blood bag like a tired man sips a beer.
I pull down his visor, using the moonlight to reapply my ruby red lipstick and making sure my bronze curls have stayed in the big ass pink bow. Excellent.
"And what exactly does that have to do with me, D?"
Damon glances at me briefly before firing back, "Aw, don't you like spending time with me? I am your fake boyfriend after all."
"Ex," I say with a small smile, "We stopped doing that last week, remember?"
He pauses thoughtfully, then nods, continuing to drive in silence without actually answering my question. Weird dude. But, hot weird dude, so we forgive.
—
The dance is, of course, flawless.
Caroline was a genuine miracle worker with planning all of the events, I knew from how much she complained about it that the student council budget was less than stellar. All these founding families were definitely more talk than walk considering they were the main donors.
Damon links my arm through his, placing my hand on his hard bicep firmly, and smirking at the blush it produced.
Douchebag.
A quick glance around the room shows me most of the familiar heads of my friends, short Care and Bons. Glancing a bit harder, I finally spot them over by the far corner beverage table. Stepping to walk towards them, my body is suddenly swiftly twirled, and I find myself pulled much closer to Damon's side.
He leases down to my ear, and I can hear him smirking at my raised heartbeat as he mutters, "Not so fast. You can have your social time after we take care of Elena's stalker."
I huff, but willingly walk along side him as he spots Stefan and Elena. Pulling up to the couple, I can very clearly feel the tension between the two. Stefan looks frustrated and kinda sad, and Doppelena looks absolutely livid.
I make a low whistle as we approach, and I hear Damon chuckle softly.
Oh, I get it. He heard whatever happened over here and wanted to get in on the action.
Again, douchebag.
Damon is all smiles as we all four make our way through the crowd to find a place to stand and chat battle strategy. Finding a spot beneath the many swirling color lights was a bit harder than I thought it'd be, but these dances were always way more packed than they should've been. Seriously, they just always let anybody come in here. It's how there was always spiked punch at every single one of these dances.
And it was also how it was going to be difficult to find the guy. I had a very, very brief memory of the perp, and honestly, he wasn't even cute enough to warrant really remembering the face.
Stelena suddenly splits apart, Elena storming off towards Care and Bons as Stefan just stands there looking stunned. I hear Damon choke on a laugh and elbow him lightly in the stomach.
Time and place, dude.
When Stefan finally turns around, the pain in his eyes is alarming, and I'm suddenly hit with the thought that if this is how Stefan looks when he's hurt.. what's Damon gonna look like, in person, when his heart breaks?
That's going to be a painful expression to witness.
Oh god, when did I start to care?
———
A/n: Hello everyone! I'm sorry if things look weird this chapter, but something changed with the keyboard as I was writing it, so I had to make some adjustments. I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!