"I kill people."
"Yeah, for sure."
"Probably tens of thousands of people."
"I hear you, my man."
"So why the everloving fuck do I have to be the shoulder angel in this situation?"
Suzanne glared at Damon, fed up with the fact that he was being a complete fucking buzzkill. Alright, so Suzanne didn't always make the best decisions. But she was physically a year older than him and closer to 30 than 20 and that meant oh holy shit she was getting old Jesus Christ that she could make her own decisions.
Plus, she was pretty sure that Damon was being all pout-y and grumpy since she'd purposely ruined his outfit with her whole Nick-is-undead thing. To be honest, Suzanne was less upset with Nick for not telling her immediately than she was upset with herself and Damon being idiotic dumbasses who didn't realize beforehand.
"Damon. Day. Mom. This is gonna be great."
Damon snorted loudly enough and rolled his eyes to a degree that she was concerned with his ability to control his features before he said, "You're going to break your neck, and I'm probably going to laugh."
Suzanne let out her own derogatory sound before she replied blandly, "Yeah, but if the whole vampirism didn't kick in you'd totally mourn for me and everything."
Out of the corner of her eye, Suzanne saw Damon flinch. Her throwaway comment had clearly hit too close to home. Suzanne would never tell Damon this, but she worried for him sometimes. He didn't have very many deep connections – herself excluded, obviously – that wholeheartedly supported him. So…
Suzanne had asked for a little bit of Damon's blood. Of course he'd huffed and puffed and shit, but he'd wound up giving her something close to two pints. And Suzanne had been taking a small sip every morning alongside her coffee while pretending it was rusty-tasting vodka.
Suzanne was not by any means a particularly good person. But she was pragmatic with the people she loved. And- well. Becoming a vampire had kind of been on her list of things to do ever since she met Damon. Living forever wasn't the crazy angst-ridden decision all forms of media made it out to be – fuck Edward Cullen - living forever sounded goddamn awesome. She'd never wanted kids, and the only person she'd ever really clicked with would also be around forever.
If she and Nick broke up, Suzanne was honest enough with herself to know she'd be devastated. But hey, reunion sex 100 years later? Not a prospect that sounded too bad.
"Anyway. Can we at least establish that this is the best idea ever? I mean yeah, my leg will probably detach, but my obituary would be badass. If I squish, make sure it's a closed casket funeral, yeah?"
Damon stared at her for a minute with a dumbfounded expression.
"I just… why the fuck do I talk to you?"
Rebekah watched as the glass and plastic rectangle began vibrating for the ninth time in the last hour. Nik had already tried to give her the summary of its capabilities as an instant telegram, and to see the slight wince on his face as he glanced at it each time it went off clearly and he touched it indicated that there was something going on.
"Bloody hell, just look at the message."
Nik looked oddly apprehensive as he picked up the device and tapped on the pane of glass for a few moments before lifting it up beside his ear. Rebekah could hear a dial tone for a handful of seconds before there was suddenly a click and a female voice began babbling.
"Alright, I'm super fucking pumped so I'm putting off the silent treatment or passive aggressiveness I was planning on – I hadn't decided yet – for you being an asshole and leaving on your read receipts while ignoring me. I went bungee jumping and it was fucking amazing!"
Rebekah wrinkled her nose, put off by the utterly crass language, but found herself intrigued by the tense expression that now covered Nik's face.
"And I can assume you survived?"
The woman snorted and responded immediately in a blasé tone that Nik would normally be furious for someone using it with him, and Rebekah made sure to take extra care to focus on the unorthodox conversation.
"You shouldn't assume. I would totally haunt your after Damon. Is that a thing? Are ghosts real?"
Nik let out a fond snort that once more grabbed Rebekah's attention. Nik's affection was not something easily gained, and the nameless woman on the other end of the telephone seemed to have done the nearly-impossible.
"They're more like spirits, actually."
"Huh. What are the chances that my childhood pet cat is a ghost?"
Nik let out an exasperated groan and seemed dismayed when he answered, "Bloody hell, Suzanne."
Instead of growing upset, the woman – Suzanne – blithely replied, "Oh, I told D about your whole 'Night of the Living Dead' situation and he spilled blood all over his favorite leather jacket. So if you have a few thousand dollars to spare to buy him a new one, it would be much appreciated."
For a moment Rebekah forgot about the changing value of money Nik had briefly touched upon, and horrid fascination overcame her at the notion of Nik's companion casually requesting such a sum of money from him. But when he laughed lightly – laughed – her attentions shifted once more back to the conversation she was overhearing. Of course he could have left the room to maintain a false sense of privacy, but they both knew Rebekah still would have heard the words anyway.
"And he didn't murder you?"
"Nah. You'd avenge me though, right?"
"Of course, darling."
"Got it. Alright, I've got to go, love you."
"You too."
The phone rang out a dial tone, and Rebekah saw the shocked and disbelieving expression on her older brother's face. Evidently he hadn't expected some part of their goodbye. However, much more important things had arisen that she wished to focus on.
"You have a lover."
Nik nodded, still looking absentminded, so Rebekah decided to take advantage of his perplexed state of mind.
"She has moxy."
Nik's attention sharpened as he focused back on her, and his smirk was bordering on wicked.
"That she does."
A sick, sour feeling bloomed in Rebekah's gut, one that stemmed from malice and jealousy. It wasn't fair. Of course quite a bit had to have changed in the last few decades – recalling her absence from that time sparked a new surge of subdued resentment.
"And what happened to forever and always. Your little caveat that has always torn us from any outside attachments?"
Nik looked abashed and wary as he met Rebekah's gaze, clearly expecting some kind of retaliation.
"I believe our agreement could perhaps be… loosened."
Damon heard an ungodly screech erupt from Suzanne's bedroom before the thumping sound of her rolling off the bed followed. The dogs bounded up the stairs after him as he headed towards her slightly cracked open door. Though he had been planning on knocking to give her some illusion of privacy, Killer and Louie pushed past him and immediately began climbing on top of her prone form where she was splayed out face-down on the carpet.
Damon didn't have to ask what was going on before Suzanne let out a melodramatic, dismayed moan.
"I told Nik I love him. On the fucking phone."
Not needing to hear anymore, Damon did an about-face and headed towards the kitchen, where he hoped they had remembered to restock their stash of liquor.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am about the wait - I moved to NYC and have a real-person job now. I'll try to get back to updating all of my stories when I can! xx thank you my lovelies for sticking around!