AN: Thanks so much to everyone for reading and your kind reviews! My situation's getting slightly better, which means more time for me to write. Enjoy the chapter! ;)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter Fourteen
Stefan's POV
You know what? I feel like I'm being characterized as the villain, here, which is completely ridiculous because my brother's version of a Christmas present is ripping someone's head off, sucking all the blood out of it and then slapping the ugly remains down on a platter.
In summary, I hate my life (it's not even a life, actually).
So you're going to spend a day in my shoes, and you're going to find out what it's like to be Stefan Salvatore. Warning: it sucks. Pun somewhat intended.
You wake up and the sun blinds your sensitive eyes, giving you a killer headache as you stand up and stretch out your muscles that are tense from walking back and forth all night, mulling over the complications that are your afterlife. You walk over to the dresser and you can hear Damon and Elena participating in sexual activities directly above you.
Ah, Elena Gilbert. She's a dead ringer of Katherine, the girl that you used to be in love with so very long ago. Damon used to taunt you for loving such a psychopath, but you can't help whom your heart belongs to.
And then Bonnie comes knocking at your door and you hurry to cover your chest with a shirt, not wanting her teenage hormones to flair up. She tries to seduce you, despite your best attempts at remaining disheveled and uncleanly whenever you're in her presence.
You go to school, you cart your "girlfriend" around all day, you come home and get Damon to stop harassing Elena for five seconds and then you feed the entire family…except for big brother, of course. He has to fend for himself.
You still don't know why he came home to Mystic Falls in the first place. You assume that it has to do with the fact that he enjoys tormenting you in every way imaginable, and Elena was just an added bonus.
You can see the way that Elena brings out the humanity in him. You see the brother that you used to know, the man you grew up adoring and aspiring to be like. It's nice to see that not everything changes as the years go by and by and by.
As you go to hunt for bunny rabbits and golden retrievers, you wonder how long it will be before Elena becomes a vampire. There's nothing you can do to stop it—both Damon and Elena were too stupidly stubborn for their own good, and there's nothing you can do to change that. At least you'll have company to spend the rest of eternity with.
As long as Bonnie grows up and forgets all about you, life will be good.
And then you go home, give the food out to everyone, and watch over Elena and Bonnie while Damon finds his own snack. You don't question where he gets it because, quite frankly, you don't want to know.
And then you wake up the next morning and the vicious circle of (not) life continues. Welcome to my undead life. Now feel sorry for me, please.
Elena's POV
Damon was even hotter than usual when he was angry.
Sorry… that wasn't what I should be thinking about at the moment. It was just a harmless observation.
I was sitting on the couch, shamelessly staring at him, while he walked across the room, over and over again, glaring at everything his eyes made contact with.
"Maybe it's in your pocket." We both knew that he wasn't stupid enough to leave the ring that protected him from, you know, burning to death in his pocket, but I was trying to be helpful.
"Yes, Elena; I'm sure I'm stupid enough to have left the ring that keeps me from burning to death in my pocket. Why didn't I think of that before?"
I let out a small chuckle against my will, realizing that great (or not great) minds really do think alike.
His glare was deep, penetrating fury straight from the fires of hell. "Is this funny to you?"
I shut my mouth. "No."
His face softened and he continued his walk, picking up the pace.
"You know, if you wanted to get some cardio in, I could have just gotten you a Jillian Michaels tape."
His black eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'm pretty sure I already burned both of our calories off for the day, doing things that are much more enjoyable than listening to a middle-aged woman scream and flare her unnaturally large nostrils at me." (No offense to Jillian or anyone else that's a fan… I love her for kicking my ass on a daily basis. Damon, being the eternal stud that he is, doesn't need her motivation.)
I sneered at him for being smarter than me and turned on the television, being assaulted with the sound of Hannah Montana's voice blaring through the television.
As she whined about having the best of both worlds, Damon's eyes turned from annoyed to shocked and horrified.
"What the fuck is that?"
I burst out laughing and changed the channel. "It's Miley Cyrus, of course!"
"That girl who spends all her time trying to come up with scandalous new headlines?"
"That's the one."
I don't mean offense to anyone that likes Hannah Montana; I really don't. It's just that here in Mystic Falls, we don't really like pop music… or any music, really.
"I hope my ears stop bleeding before I turn twenty five."
I smirked. "Yes, that could take a while, couldn't it?"
He shrugged and plopped on the couch next to me. "Oh, well. More time for us to spend time together."
A thought struck my mind. "Hey, Damon?"
"What?"
"What are you going to do when I start getting old?"
He looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm going to start getting wrinkly and looking like a granny and stuff… it'll look like I'm babysitting you!"
His face showed no sign of recognition. "Elena…"
He didn't further elaborate, but it didn't look like he was in a very good mood all of the sudden.
"What is it?"
"You promised you'd be my Princess of Darkness for forever."
"And I will…" What the hell was he getting at?"
"Are you not catching on to what that implies?"
I shook my head.
He sighed and stood up. "I thought I had made it fairly obvious that I would turn you into a vampire, and we would spend the rest of eternity together."
My mouth went completely dry. Had I any liquid in it, I would have spit it out.
"I…." I didn't even know what to say to that.
My whole world shifted into a completely new perspective after he said that. There would be no kids, no going to dinner at Grandma's on Christmas eve, no humanity left in me. Was I really ready to give up all of that for someone that I'd known for a few short weeks?
All this time I had thought that I understood Damon, but it turned out that all this time I was really just trying to understand the human side of him that was buried deep. How could I, a mere mortal, understand the complexities of being a vampire for all eternity?
I couldn't.
His vampire side wasn't just the tough mask that he put up, not the part of him that had everyone fooled but me. He thirsted for death upon humans and made no apologies for it. It wasn't a switch that he could turn off and on, like his feelings—he was stuck like this for all eternity and he seemed to enjoy it.
And for the first time since we had first met, I was terrified of him.
I could feel my heart beating out of my chest; my eyes wide open as they stared at him in shock. It was much like the first time I had seen him…that feeling like he was going to chase me, hunt me down, devour me. Rip me apart and feed on me.
But then I remembered everything that we had been through together. I remembered the first time he kissed me and I smashed ice cream in his face, and I remembered how he saved me when crazy-assed-Stefan tried to kill me. I remembered all the countless times I had spent in bed, lying awake, secretly wishing that he were there with me. I remembered the first time he told me he loved me, just yesterday, and how it changed me. I remembered the person I was before I met him…and that was enough for me.
Where I was weak, Damon was strong. We balanced each other out effortlessly, helping each other. I was the light with a touch of darkness, and he was the darkness with light hidden underneath.
When I thought about it, the choice was pretty fucking easy. Sure, I could take my bratty little kids over to the grandmother's house while I sat at home, alone, wondering how different my life could have been. I could have Thanksgiving and Christmas and Valentine's day while living a normal life.
But I could also have all those days while living my life in happiness with the man I loved. Who gives a damn about being alive, anyway?
Before I could give him my answer, he held up his hand.
"I know what you're going to say. But before I say it, let me explain my reasoning."
In all honesty, I didn't need his reasoning—logic is very overrated. But who doesn't love to hear their man give you a tear-jerking speech that makes you fall in love with them that much more?
"I remember my life as a human. I remember how weak I was, and I remember what humanity feels like—vaguely, but the feeling is still there.
"But when I met you, Elena, I saw a new side to humanity. You've taught me that you don't have to be a vampire to be strong, and you don't have to be weak just because you're a human. You can find that balance.
"You're stronger than I am, you know. I need you, by my side, for all eternity. I know that I'm not the easiest person to get along with, but I'm working on it. I've spent hundreds of years in pain, mastering the art of masking my feelings because it's easier not to love. But I don't regret a single second of all that pain if this is what I get to feel like for the rest of my life, you as a human or not."
Oh, fuck; I can feel the tears coming on, and there are a lot of them. And for the record, I think he might be the easiest person in the world to get along with, but that's just my unwanted opinion.
"I can see the power in you, Elena. You're strong—but you could be even stronger. And so I'm asking you if you would give me the honor of living the rest of your life with me, undead, unafraid and ready for anything—will you be my Princess of Darkness?"
Yep, I was crying full-force now. It's pretty pathetic, since what he said wasn't even that sappy. Well, maybe it was.
I sucked in a deep breath, giving me just enough air to say the words that would change me life forever. "Yeah. I'll be your Princess of Darkness."
I can't even use words to describe the immense joy that was in his face. It would be an insult to the expression. It almost looked out of place on his usually cynical face, but I had never seen anything so breathtaking.
He leaned in, gave me a long kiss on the lips, and then moved his mouth down to my neck. I could feel his soft lips against my throat, my blood pumping through my veins for what would be the last time. His fangs just barely pierced my skin and I felt the most wonderful tingling feeling when the door opened loudly, an idiotic Stefan walking in on us.
He obviously wasn't going to change me right then and there, but it still pissed me off that our moment was being interrupted by such an imbecile.
Damon let out a feral growl and he it was clear that he was going to kill Stefan. Personally, I didn't really care whether Stephanie lived to see another day or not (pun intended), but I was obviously in a good mood because of our activities, pissed off or not.
"Damon," I gasped out, trying to catch my breath.
"What?" He snapped, pinning Stefan to the ground.
I sighed, not really meaning the words I was saying. "Don't kill him. It's not his fault we were out here."
"Yeah!" He piped in, pathetically trying to fight against Damon's iron strength. I guess I'm not the feeble one in the room, after all.
"Stop bothering, Stefan," I muttered.
Damon eventually let go and sat back down next to me, obviously trying to regain composure.
"Welcome home, little brother."
Stefan grinned his ugly grin and sat down next to us.
"So, what were you up to?"
"Well, I was going to feed on Elena, here's, blood, but then you walked in and killed our buzz. So thank you, for that, you inconsiderate jackass."
Stefan arched one of his too-bushy eyebrows that took up half his forehead. "I'm the inconsiderate jackass?"
"That's what he said, isn't it?" I interjected. "I'm hungry."
Stephanie's eyes lit up like a kid's on Christmas. "What do you want? Soup? Salad? A sandwich? A burrito? Stoup? Chicken salad?"
Ewe! I hate nasty chicken salad. "Stefan! Shut the hell up! None of those sound even remotely appealing, and stoup isn't a real thing—Rachel Ray made it up."
"Oh…"
Damon finally cut in. "How about pop tarts?"
I smiled. "Perfect."
I will never turn them down. Never. They are second only to Damon for my favorite thing ever.
So let's recap: I have officially signed on to become a vampire for all eternity; Damon wants to feed on my blood (which I'm totally not opposed to); Stefan killed our buzz; Damon almost killed Stefan; Stefan offered me stoup, which doesn't exist; I'm getting pop tarts.
Life is good.
Bonnie's POV
"Go away, you stupid little kid."
Was I being rude? Absolutely. Did I give a damn? Hell, no. Jeremy had popped up out of literally nowhere when I was walking back to Stefan's house and wouldn't leave me alone, insisting that 'I should not have to walk home alone'.
Which made no sense, because I'm older than him and he was going to have to walk home alone. Maybe I could get Damon to scare him, just enough that he wouldn't come back.
"I don't think so. These streets aren't so same, Bonnie."
He had no idea just how true that was.
"Then why are you here?"
"Didn't I just answer that question?"
"Well…sort of. But it opened another one."
Beat that, you little bitch.
"Not my fault I'm not old enough to know every question to every single answer of life."
Damn you, Jeremy! You little doofus!
I sighed. "Jeremy?"
"What?'
That must be stoner-talk for, 'yes'.
"I would really appreciate it if you would leave me alone for, like, five minutes. I'm just not interested. So I would appreciate it if you would respect my wishes."
He stared at me blankly for, like, literally a minute and a half. "No can do, Bonnie. Let's walk."
Without thinking about it I kicked him in the leg as hard as I could and he howled in pain, hobbling to keep up with me as I ran through the night.
"Catch me if you can!" I yelled.
"I'm going to."
We raced all the way home, neck and neck the entire time. He eventually won despite his injury, which really pissed me off.
"Good race, Bonnie."
I slapped his hand away when he held it out to shake.
"No, it wasn't."
"Sure, it was!"
I slammed the door shut in his face and moped all the way downstairs, ignoring Damon's snickering at me. He said some unkind words to Jeremy, which I guess got him to go away, and then I spent the rest of the night trying to seduce Stefan.
Oh, well. Tomorrow is the continuation of the circle of life.
AN: I hope you liked it! And, PS, Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays to everyone! Hope you're all well! Please leave a review if you have the time.
Lots of love,
Evie
