It was odd being back in the very same room from exactly six years ago, this time curling my sister's hair instead of telling her nine year old self to calm down and stop running around. Well, I was actually still instructing her to relax, but for a completely different reason this time. It was her time to do the dreaded deed.
I had done my best to prepare her for this, but I hadn't been a winning candidate back in my day; so what advice did I really have give? Honestly, Elena probably only asked me to help her to relieve some of the tension between us.
Over the course of me bracing Elena, I had been given plenty of opportunities to express my frustration towards her; taking them all to rant at her until I felt emptied. Plus side: there had been no awkward silence. Downside: our relationship was far from fixed. If there was something I had a hard time forgiving, then it was when someone kept me in the dark or lied. Meaning that Elena and I had a long way left to go. But I was mature enough to put our quarrel aside, at least for a couple of days.
"Thank you for this." Elena smiled at me through the mirror. Letting a strand of her hair release from the curling iron, I felt its warmth in my hand as I allowed it to cool before easing it to fall.
"Of course. You're my sister," I stated and moved on to the next piece of hair, wanting to finish the style as soon as possible. This whole event was giving me the creeps, re-experiencing old memories were never fun.
"You okay?" Elena's forehead was creased with concern.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I replied with a teasing gleam in my eyes.
"I'm not the one who looks as if they're going to barf," Elena pointed out.
"It's nothing." I finished the very last curl and reached for the hairspray on the white table, efficiently avoiding Elena's persistent gaze and her raised brow in the process. "Big day, that's all." She finally dropped the matter with a sigh, returning to looking quite nervous herself.
"I remember when Mom and I were first applying for this, she was so excited." Elena's gaze grew distant, peering back in time at the memory.
"Yeah, she had that tendency." I sprayed my sister's hair and broke her out of her trance. "But you were pretty psyched about it too, if I recall." Elena waved off the vapors whilst coughing into the bend of her arm.
"I was." She finally breathed normally. "Mom just made it sound like so much fun. Lots has changed since then." True. Elena exhaled heavily as she applied some shiny lip gloss with her finger.
"I'm sorry to say that it's a little too late to back out now." I squeezed her shoulder lovingly and offered an apologetically smile through the mirror.
"It's not that. I just… I think I'd be enjoying it a lot more if she was here," Elena sighed, picking a little at her cuticles.
"I did your hair better than she ever could've," I had to brag, earning a weak smile. "Stop that!" I slapped Elena's hand lightly. "You're gonna ruin the nail polish."
"Sorry," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, I should go put my dress on. Be careful with that thing, don't hurt anybody," Elena joked, pointing at the hot curling iron on the table.
"Little old me? Hurting someone?" I gaped at her outrageous statement with a hand on my chest, which was clad in a black pantsuit with short, lace sleeves. "Hurt who for instance?"
Chuckling, Elena had barely even left the room when a rush of air made the hairs on my arms stand up. Reaching for my white blazer hanging over a fancy chair, I scouted the room for the cause of the breeze. Instead of seeing an open window as I had suspected, a dark-haired figure dressed in a drop-dead gorgeous suit stared back at me.
"We need to talk," Damon stated, for once without his signature smirk. Uh-oh.
"I've got to…" I waved off into the air vaguely. Damon advanced on me, stopping a little too close. As his breath hit me, my skin began to tingle. What the...? His grip around my arm sent a shiver through my body and the goosebumps forming were a fact.
"I'm serious."
"Hi, serious, I'm Parker." My joke came out weak, since the storm occurring inside of me made it impossible to keep up a good front. Cracks were beginning to show, and I begged for Damon not to notice.
It seemed to be my lucky day, considering how Damon only firmly steered me out of the room. Still, I hated when he did that! But my body was too occupied with processing the tingling sensation that Damon's hand on my arm had created, enjoying it too much to get myself to take command and rip myself free from his grip.
We stopped at one of the rooms that had been prepared for the contestants to change in. A blonde girl exited, knocking us apart before she hurried down the hallway. Frowning, my gaze followed her, recognizing her shoulders stiff from panic. I remembered that feeling. Damon's hand grabbed mine and pulled me into the room along with him. Why was he being so eager with the touching today? Wait, I did know. It was probably connected to how we last parted.
As soon as we'd entered, Elena spun to face us. "Hey, you guys can't be back here," she protested with her blue dress in her hands. Her gaze went down to my hand, still entwined with Damon's, which made me do the same. Slowly, the grip eased and Damon's fingers lightly stroked over my palm and wrist, sending shivers up my arm, before leaving completely. Forcefully, I pried my gaze from my now cold hand to meet Damon's, catching him in the act of also staring at our recently connected fingers.
"He says it's important," I directed towards Elena, not taking my eyes off of Damon for as much as a second.
"Does it have to be right now?" Elena sighed and held up her dress.
"Normally I would have a completely different outlook of what I'm about to say, but since it could really inconvenience me, I'll… squeal," Damon spoke, glancing at Elena whilst stroking his black suit coat in place.
"What are you talking about?" Elena questioned with a frown, her gaze fluttering over to me for an explanation. I shrugged ever so lightly as an answer. I was just as lost as she was here. What was Damon talking about?
"Stefan's still drinking human blood," the answer came out in the most serious tone I had heard the Salvatore use. Ever.
"What?" Elena breathed out. Her chin dropped, and her eyes going round. "He said that he'd stopped…" Elena's eyes flickered over to me as she shook her head in disbelief.
"Yeah. A month ago I would have rejoiced," Damon admitted with a light shrug, "but with the council back on the alert, it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."
"I know he's been a little edgy, but he said that was normal," Elena tried.
"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house," Damon knocked down her weak attempt at defending Stefan. Seeing Elena's knees begin to shake, I moved to lead her to a nearby brown, satin sofa before she collapsed on the floor.
"Oh my god," was all that managed to escape my sister's lips as she stared into the oak floor.
Carefully, I took her dress from her, returning it to its place hanging on one of the mirrors. The last thing needed right now was Carol Lockwood scolding Elena for wrinkling her gown. As I smoothed out its silky surface, I felt a tingling sensation at the back of my neck. Swiveling around on my thin high heel revealed Damon staring right at me, not even seeming bothered that Elena was still in the room. Although I doubted she even noticed the intense look, being too occupied with processing the new information concerning Stefan. Once again, I had to force my gaze away from Damon's; once again leading to him paying attention to Elena.
"Stefan has no idea what normal is, his entire existence isn't normal. Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood, but he spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning to control it. And now it's controlling him instead."
"I–I can't believe this. I mean, it's Stefan that we're talking about here." Elena's off-placed smile showed just how much in shock she remained in.
"Stefan on human blood, Elena. He'll do anything, he'll say anything because he's not gonna want to stop. Trust me." My sister inhaled deeply and buried her face in her hands. I moved to place a hand on her shoulder, but as I was inches away from doing so she shot up and instead began pacing around the room. Like she always did that when freaking out.
"Ele–" I tried grabbing her shoulder again.
"This is all my fault! I'm the one who fed him the blood in the first place." Elena pushed my hands away and stared back with increasing panic in her gaze.
"Listen to me–" I began, but was once again caught off. This was so not my day.
"What's going on in here?" Stefan asked, suddenly appearing in the snow-white doorway behind me.
"You," I seethed from teeth gritted, having Stefan wince. How dare he put my sister in danger! Bloodaholic brain or not, Stefan would pay for this.
"I was just filling in Elena and Parker on your extracurricular activities," Damon quickly interrupted, his back turned to me as he faced his brother.
A charged silence settled. When I turned to Stefan, ready to beat some sense into him, Damon's arm shot out to stop me. It was then that I managed to identify the oddness in Damon's behavior; he was scared. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but he was definitely on his guard. Ready for any kind of change in Stefan's facade. Personally, I hadn't met Stefan since this whole bloody thing begun, but I now noticed the change in him. There was something… off about him.
"What are you talking about?" Stefan shook his head in a stiff manner.
"I know about the blood, Stefan," Elena said with surprising force, considering she had been freaking out only seconds ago.
"I'm, uh, I'll be downstairs, drinking," Damon excused. When he noticed that I wasn't budging from my place as a protective shield in front of my sister, he cleared his throat. "Parker, join me?" All I saw was Stefan, a burning fury racing through my blood, numbing my thoughts.
"It's okay, Parks," Elena reassured with a hand on my arm, breaking me out of my daze. "Go. I got this."
The seconds ticked by without me moving, only staring at Stefan, until a glance at Damon made me realize that he was close to carrying me out. Since I didn't feel like reliving being thrown over his shoulder again, I willed my tense shoulders to relax..
"Fine," I spoke in a cold tone. "But this isn't over," I added for Stefan when I brushed past him. He hadn't exactly been my favorite person before, but this made him sink to the bottom of my list in the blink of an eye.
With the door slamming shut behind us, I gnashed my teeth, continuing to do so all the way downstairs until I reached one of the waiters carrying high, fancy glasses filled with champagne on a silver tray. Grabbing one on the go, I gulped it down.
"Do you–" Damon began.
"Wanna talk about it? Hell no. Want another glass of this?" I held up the empty glass. "Yes, please."
After a short nod, it only took Damon a moment to he return with two more glasses of the sparkling liquid.
"I'm afraid Carol isn't serving anything else," he deplored, as if reading my mind currently debating if there, by any chance, could be any vodka at this kind of event.
"I feared so." I accepted the glass with a thankful nod, trying not to swig it all down at once this time. Instead, I sipped on the liquor like the respectable lady I seemed to be in my long pantsuit. From my convenient corner of the room I observed the mingling women, all wearing short dresses. Were they crazy? It was absolutely freezing outside! I'd gone with long pants swaying around my ankles for a reason.
My eyes proceeding to rake over the crowd, there didn't seem to be anything interesting occurring yet, except for my uncle zigzagging his way through the room. Quickly, I turned my back to him to instead face Damon, having no patience left for John.
"Everyone's favorite person, I see." Damon's gaze followed John's path over my head.
"The definition of a douche," I sighed, then frowned. "Has he done something else?"
"Besides coming back from the dead and making threats? Yes, actually." Damon's eyes left the crowd to land on me. "He's after some invention from 1864. Thinks one of the tomb vampires have it." Damon exhaled roughly, an action sprinkled with something that I couldn't place as annoyance or frustration. Maybe both.
"Which one?"
"Her name's Pearl."
"Anna's mother?" I couldn't stop the question from jumping out.
"Yeah." Damon's turn to frown. "How did you know that?" Oh boy…
"Aherm, well. I might have had a little run in with the two and made some threats," I spoke carefully, angling my front towards the crowd to escape Damon as I let my index finger slide around the top of my now empty glass.
"When?" There was no anger left in Damon's voice, more like a pinch of amusement, and maybe even something that could have been him being impressed.
"Happened at the Grill a while back. It's not that important," I waved off, before crossing my arms.
"What happened?" Damon insisted on knowing.
"They were there, I was in a mood and threatened to stake Anna if they didn't leave." Silence from Damon's part. "Jeremy was involved, so you know, sisterly duty."
"You never cease to amaze, do you?" The first smirk during this entire afternoon unfolded before me.
"What would be the fun in that?" I turned away towards the crowd to hide the wry smile that refused to be suppressed. Damon's mere presence beside me affected me in a way that I didn't like one bit. His gaze sent shudders through my body, and I even found it a bit hard to breath from time to time. What was this shit? I felt like a hormonal teenager! A guy had never made me feel like this before! And I didn't even like this one that much! Most of the time he was an annoying dick. What the heck? Only one previous 'flame' was comparable to these involuntary tingles, but that business had been long ago and couldn't have ended much worse.
"Hey." A light graze of my blazer clad elbow broke me out of another painful memory, and the pleasant shivers were nearly welcomed.
"Hmm?"
"It's starting." Damon nodded towards Mayor Lockwood, standing with some cue cards in his hand next to the broad, turning staircase that ascended to the floor above where the contestants had been cooped up all day.
Naturally, my arm hooked with Damon's as we moved to stand and be part of the gathered crowd, all eager to finally see the show begin. I regretted this action however, since Damon didn't let go of my arm as we stopped, its presence remaining extremely distracting.
To distract myself, I tried recalling the anxiety I'd felt coursing through my body when I had stood at the top of that stair years ago. Thankfully, I'd then been one hundred percent sure that my loyal escort would meet me when I descended. The same couldn't be said for my sister at the moment.
Elena was, of course, the last to walk down the light, wooden steps of the decorated staircase. Tumblr worthy twinkling lights had been hung on the black railing on top of soft, thin, white fabrics.
As my sister made her way down the steps, I leaned forward to spy for Stefan at the base of the staircase, only to notice the empty spot. Shit. My elbow nudged Damon's ribs to alert him of my discovery. However, Elena's name had already been called and there was no going back now. Refusing to let her be humiliated by being stood up – knowing the fear I'd had all those years ago – a silent conversation was exchanged between me and Damon whilst Elena slowly and graceful drew near the end of the staircase. Nodding, I released my arm from Damon's grip to let him walk and take Stefan's place; best last second plan there was.
Elena's panic changed to worry when Damon smoothly slid to take his brother's place of acting as an escort. Her gaze traveled to me with a silent question as she and Damon, hand in hand, walked past me towards the stone courtyard where the traditional dance was to take place.
Like a shadow, I followed them by zigzagging my way through the crowd; silent and undetected. Neither Jenna nor Alaric noticed me when I settled on a place diagonally behind them.
"What is she doing with Damon?" Jenna leaned to whisper to Alaric.
"I have no idea," was the baffled response. Clearly, the attention from the grown-ups on the youth these days was just top-notch! Ignoring the pair, I turned to watch as Elena and Damon joined the row of contestants and their escort lined up.
As the dance began, with a near touching I remembered having driven me crazy during both practice and the actual performance, something odd settled into the pit of my stomach. As if a nibble of discomfort. When they stepped forward to place hands on waist and shoulders, that light gnawing turned into a full bite being taken of my insides.
I couldn't watch this.
Tearing my eyes from the elegant yet intimate dance, I backed away to fade into the crowd, away from Damon's and Elena's eyes searching. Making my escape as I struggled to breathe normally, I hurried towards the parking lot. With my heart beating up in my throat, it created a sensation similar to as if it was about to burst out of me in a cascade of vomit.
Once I was out of the house and the music had faded to silence behind me, I stopped by a dark blue car and sank to the asphalted road. Burying my head in my hands, I forced deep inhales and exhales, my beating heart gradually beginning to calm down.
What was this? Jealousy? Of what? A guy who acted like a dick ninety percent of the time, and my little sister? Really? Get it together, woman!
Since I couldn't run in my high, black pumps, which was what I definitely needed right now, instead I was forced to simply walk around the swirling, small routes with cars parked along the sides. Until, finally, I could think about the dance without wanting to gut someone. By that time, the sun had settled and the chilly, night air had floated in over the area, along with Mystic Falls typical smog.
Stopping, I pressed my palms against a silver car, watching my steaming breath release more and more clouds to join with the misty air.
The noise reached me before I saw them; heaving, panting breaths of pure panic.
Just a few cars away, Stefan and the young blonde who had stormed out of the changing room earlier, stood across from each other. Well, standing might be pushing it. Stefan was pacing, much like Elena had done earlier, whilst the blonde pressed her hand against her neck with her back supported by a car. I couldn't catch much from this distance, but I was close enough the see the thick, dark substance on her hand as she withdrew her palm to show it to Stefan. Blood.
For fuck's sake, Stefan.
Biting into my cheek to prevent the annoyed grunt from coming out, I silenced all my curses.
Stefan took a step closer, to hold the girl by her neck in a firm grip as he seemed hypnotized by her blood. Clearly, he wasn't finished yet.
So! A 164 year old vampire and a mere 23 year old human on a dark road with a bleeding girl. My odds aren't looking so good, one might say. Except, this 23 year old had some tricks up her sleeve. Or more correctly, up her pants!
Hang on. That came out wrong. The general meaning was that my pant legs were wide enough for me to be able to strap some carefully chosen objects to my calves without anyone noticing. Like my precious nifty darts with concentrated vervain, for instants.
I reached down to lift the wide fabric from my leg, releasing a dart from its strapping against my skin. Slowly, I moved closer to the pair standing in the shadows. Taking one look at the girl, I reached down again to remove another dart, filled with a completely different liquid. There. Now I was ready.
"Listen to me, Amber. I need you to be afraid of me," I heard Stefan say. "I need you to run like hell do you understand me? Run. Run now!"
The blonde, Amber, began panting and turned to follow Stefan's wish immediately, running like a lunatic right towards me. Perfect. I grabbed her and shoved my second dart into her neck, lowering her limp body down onto the leafy ground to ease her fall. Stefan, having noticed that his terrified victim had become silent, turned around to face me. His eyes flickered to Amber's body, her blonde hair and white t-shirt speckled with thick blood.
"Parker?" Stefan asked in confusion, not able to take his eyes off the blood.
"I'm gonna give you one last chance, Stefan," I spoke slowly and stepped over the unconscious girl to move closer. "Leave her be," I motioned back with my free hand, "and I'll know that I can trust you around Elena. Don't, and I'll take you out." Stefan could barely hear my words, red veins were playing under his eyes. He wasn't going to be able to resist; but I was prepared.
As he flashed towards the girl, he had to pass me, and I lunged at the vague shape of him with the concentrated vervain dart in my hand. Stefan gasped in surprise – or pain? – grabbing me roughly by the shoulders as I jabbed the dart into his throat, but his grip eased just as fast when the vervain began to take affect.
"I'm sorry, Stefan," I sighed. With a final gasp, he fell limp to the ground, and I quickly went to release another vervain dart from my leg, jabbing it into his neck as an extra reassurance. There.
As I dialed Elena's number, I checked my white blazer for bloodstains. Thankfully, it seemed to be in the clear.
"Parker! Where the hell are you?" Elena's voice called through the phone. Her loud hissing nearly made me go deaf, forcing me to hold the mobile a good few inches from my ear.
"Calm down," I hushed her. "Get Damon and go outside." I looked down at the two unconscious bodies on the ground. "I've taken care of something."
Elena must have feared that 'taken care of' meant the opposite of good, because within a few minutes she rushed out from the mansion with Damon on her heels. He lifted his head as if to sniff into the air, before turning towards my location in the shaded part of the lot. Elena followed and ran up to me.
"Are you oka–" she began, before her gaze flickered past me. "STEFAN!" Elena crouched down next to her stunned boyfriend to lightly stroke his cheek, retrieving her hand when she noticed the blood around his mouth. "Oh my god! What happened?" Her gaze flew up to me, but I was busy instructing Damon.
"She's out at the moment, but when she wakes up–"
"I'll take care of it, she won't remember anything," Damon reassured.
"Good." I threw a glance Amber's way. "Wrong place at the wrong time," I sighed. What would have happened if I hadn't shown up in time? Would she even be alive then? Not that I particularly cared about the girl, but this reminded me too much about my own first encounter with a vampire. Coincidental circumstances decided our fate in the most unfair ways.
"Nice aim," Damon commented.
"Thanks," I replied with a smirk. "You should remember not to piss me off." I cocked my head to the side with a still teasing little smile playing on my face.
"Like I'll ever forget after this," Damon scoffed, nodding towards the bodies.
We both mirrored the other's smirk, a pretty weird thing to do considering the situation, but I didn't really care. One less dead girl to worry about and one less murderous vampire that ran around freely. I even felt sort of victorious. Damon's hand moved to tuck a strand of hair that had escaped my dutch braid behind my ear, and I shuddered at his light grace of my cheek. But I didn't draw back.
And I could have stayed in that position for much longer, hadn't an inconvenient Bonnie decided to show up. She took one look at the bloody Amber, Elena looking troubled besides the unconscious Stefan, before deciding that this whole thing was somehow Damon's fault. He collapsed as she directed all her juju magic, probably mixed with a good part of anger and resentment, towards Damon's kind of innocent head.
"What the hell, Bonnie!" I exclaimed. "Wrong Salvatore! You're too late, I got it covered." Her glower landed on me, and I almost wanted to step back, worried to receive the same blinding pain as Damon was grunting on the ground because of.
"Bonnie, stop!" Elena called, and her friend finally obeyed. Hey! Unfair!
Glaring at Bonnie, I squatted down next to Damon to place a hand to his shoulder. "You okay?" He nodded. "We should probably clean this up. Before he wakes up." I cocked my head back towards Stefan, receiving another confirming nod from Damon.
After helping him to his feet, I went to Elena's side. A bit reluctantly, she abandoned Stefan to rise and look at me.
"Thank you," she said, her eyes luminous from the light the mansion cast. "For not letting him kill anyone."
At first, I didn't answer, only stared at my sister looking at the vampire with devotion. She'd given his heart to Stefan, and it scared me more than I'd like to admit.
"Just…" I began, drawing her attention back to me. With a sigh, I went on. "Lock him up, Elena. He can't be trusted free right now. Lock him up, or I will do it for you."
With that, I left the group, feeling I'd done my bit for the night.
Of course, there was still the whole downside of not owning a car, since I was stuck without a ride home with my only allies having bigger problems to worry about. Considering finding Jenna, I argued against it as I realized she'd probably be going back with Alaric. The last thing I wanted was riding home with those two lovebirds. Instead, I found myself approaching John – John! – of all people.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Parker."
Clearly, it was a bad idea.
"The party was an important milestone in celebrating this town's heritage." I scoffed. John ignored it. "As a member of a founding family, you were expected to be there. Making up excuses for you was the last thing I felt like doing."
"Well, I came tonight didn't I?" I huffed, looking out the side window instead of having to spot him in my peripheral vision. "I'm sure my impression will be memorable enough to forget any other inconveniences."
"By that you mean emptying all the champagne glasses you could get your hands on? Yeah, that was quite an impression to make."
"Shut up, John." He didn't.
Finally, once home, I got to slam the car door in his face, flashing him the finger as he kept declaring his disappointment even as I made my way inside the apartment building.
Once shutting the door behind me, I also shut the events from the night out of my mind, as I slumped down on my couch, not even bothering to change or take off my makeup. Even if I felt tired to the bone, I had a feeling that the approaching days were going to be much worse. Meaning, I needed all the sleep I could get.