Derek's reaction was instant and brutal.
He pushed the other kids behind him, bared his teeth and gave a low growl. He leaned toward me in an intimidating way, trying to build up defenses.
I moved Basil behind me and stated in a clam voice, "Stop growling Derek. I'm not here to bite and I'm pretty sure neither are you." While I spoke, I raked my eyes over everything in sight: the exits, what I could use as a weapon. But also the reactions of the people he was protecting.
Simon looked like he wanted to fight and was pushing at Derek to get out of the way. Tori wasn't doing much, just picking at her nails and flicking off dried nail polish. Chloe, on the other hand, was speaking in Derek's ear, trying to get him to back off.
"Someone like shouldn't have been able to get in here. Andrew can tell a vampire from miles away." Derek spoke through clenched teeth.
"I'm sorry if you didn't notice that he invited me in knowing exactly what I was because he trusts me." Or at least I sure hoped he trusted me. Especially after what I've done for him before.
"No one can trust a vampire."
"No on can trust a werewolf!" I shot back at him. I could feel my temper rising.
Derek turned to Andrew and Basil put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to her, hearing what she said through one ear and hearing Derek yell at Andrew to do something through the other.
"You have to show them that you're harmless." Basil said, though I could see fear in her eyes and I didn't know if that fear was directed at me or Derek.
"And do you have any suggestions on how to do that?" I asked a bit too sharply. All my life I had been hearing the same thing over, and over again: vampires can't be trusted, they'll kill you! And it was really starting to get to me.
That was my least favorite phrase ever.
But, when I was about to respond, a sharp rap beat three times against the door. Andrew looked confused, but went to the door anyway. I heard a hushed conversation, a little too low for me to hear. That didn't make me feel good. The only creature who could talk so quiet that I couldn't hear, was a vampire.
Andrew came back in a few minutes later looking dazed, his eyes slightly glazed over. But it was the person that came in after him that made my breath come to a halt.
Tall, dark hair, black eyes, and tons of leather.
My old friend Damon Salvatore.
"Hi, Delia." He said as he plopped down on one of the two sofas in the room. He kicked of his shoes and put his feet on the coffee table and put his hands behind his head. "How's it going?"
I glared at him. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "Heard you were in a bit of a tight spot, thought I may as well check it out."
"Damon, it has been, like, one-hundred-forty-five years since I last saw you. Why would you show up now?" My shock had worn off to give way to extensive annoyance.
"Didn't I just explain that?"
I let my breath out in a rush. "Damon, you always have an ulterior motive for…anything! You expect me to believe that you came here just to check up on me? I would have believed that one-hundred-forty-five years ago, but not now. I've heard the rumors. They all say that you have become a unemotional killing machine. I don't think you know how to care anymore, so why would you check on me?"
Derek and Andrew were exchanging looks now that Damon's compulsion had worn off. They were also glancing at me, looking uncomfortable and wary. They weren't the only ones.
"Yeah, I know, checking up on you. Odd. But hey, figured I might as well have a change in character. Do you have any alcohol?" Damon asked, oblivious to the tension in the room.
Andrew answered with a small shake of his head and Damon said, "Wrong. I smell wine. I'm gonna go find it." He rose and stretched before making his way into the kitchen in search of wine.
Derek came over to me with an unattractive grimace on his face. "Who is this doofus? What's going on?" He asked a bit too sharply for my likings.
"I can hear you." Damon yelled from the kitchen in a sing-song voice.
"You think I know what's going on? Didn't you hear how long its been since I saw him? And do you think I even like him? He is a jackass." I said, too low for Damon to hear. Then added, "And, just don't say anything." And I walked over to where Basil was waiting.
"I don't think we have a very good chance of these people trusting us anymore." I said as a warning to Basil. She nodded reluctantly.
From the kitchen, we heard the triumphant cry of, "I found it!" And Damon strode into the living room with a bottle of wine and a smirk plastered on his face. Then he turned to Derek. "I don't appreciate the doofus thing, mutt." I rolled my eyes inwardly, but Derek looked offended.
"Okay Damon. Tell me why you're really here." I wasn't going to take his shit anymore.
He sighed and plopped into the sofa again. "You're sister showed up in town." My eyes widened. I thought that she had been stuck in the tomb all of this time.
"She got a witch to let her out?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.
"No."
I sat down abruptly, like something had just knocked the wind out of me. "So why did you come to me? Do you think she would go after her own sister?"
Damon shook his head. "I don't think she would hunt you. But I figured you could help us with her doppelganger."
"What?" I asked, appalled.
"You should know the legend. You were always into that kind of stuff."
I shook my head. "I never knew what Katherine was running from, but I guess I know now. Are you sure she has a doppelganger?" I asked attentively.
"I've compared them side to side. Its like there's two of her."
"Damn." I muttered under my breath.
"What are you two talking about?" Derek asked with a glare in our direction.
I looked at him and said seriously, "Vampire lore." And he laughed.
Faster than the human (or most superhuman, apparently) eye could follow, I had him backed up into a wall and held him by his neck. "Derek," I whispered to him. "This is very serious. Me, my sister and her doppelganger could be killed because of this. And that wouldn't end up so great, because then the vampires would release the werewolf curse and send you on a rampage night and day." I released him and walked away.
"What do you mean? What curse?" Chloe asked.
"The curse that binds a werewolf by the moon and the curse that binds a vampire by the sun. Although many of us vampires have found ways around the curse." I held up my hand with the ring on it and let it sparkle in the fluorescent light. They still looked confused.
"This'll take a while to explain." Damon stated.
"Yeah." I agreed.
"I'll start," Damon said. "Her sister, Katherine, is a…con-woman. One-hundred-forty-five years ago (or so, I stopped counting a while ago) she was…conning me and my brother, Stefan." Damon said lightly, but I could hear the bitterness hidden deep in his voice.
"What kind of conning?" Simon asked.
"A love con. She was doing us both." Damon relaxed into the sofa again and took a long sip of wine.
Then Simon turned to me. "Your sister?" He asked, as if he didn't want to know.
"A sister that I defiantly never wanted." I said, venom seeping into my voice. I always hated it when people showed me the disgust that should be reserved for Katherine instead.
"Well, back to the story," Damon said. "Okay so, then the people of Fells Church, the town we were in at the time, arranged a little vampire hunt. They planned to sedate all of the vampires with vervain and then put them into the basement of a church and set it on fire. But, instead, the vamps ended up in a tomb. A tomb sealed by a witches' magic. But Katherine got out. She had a friend amongst the witches. Her name was Emily Bennett, and even thought Emily got Katherine out, she locked all of the other vampires into the tomb."
"Why weren't you two locked away in that tomb?" Tori asked, barley glancing up from her nails.
"Because no one suspected Katherine's innocent, sweet little sister." I said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"I wasn't put there because I wasn't a vampire then. But someone killed me and then I was a vampire." Damon said.
"So how does it work? The human to vamp change?" Simon asked.
"Well, a human needs to ingest vampire blood for it to work, and then they have to die while the vampire blood is still in their system." I said. "Some commit suicide to make it happen faster, like Katherine, and others end up like Damon here, who was shot."
"That hurt." Damon said, rubbing at his chest as if it still hurt him.
I massaged my temples and said, flat out, "This story is too long. Can we just skip to the questions?"
"I can deal with that." Simon said. "I thought vampires were like a race. You know, they are born and then have children and the race grows from that."
"You call that a question?" I asked incredulously, but still answered. "Obviously, the supernatural people like you got that wrong. Its as simple as that. You never wanted to know much about us, so we fed you lies." Simon looked offended.
"Why would you do that? I mean, the werewolves were up front with us." Chloe argued.
"Because werewolves were dumb enough to trust you." I said. "And weren't you all asking questions about the curse and moonstone at the mysterious begging of this conversation?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"No buts. So, this moonstone was made, like, a really long time ago. And basically, the moonstone has werewolves change by the full moon, and it makes vampires burst into flame when they go out in the sun."
"You know, I love giving history lessons to strangers and all, but you might need to come with me." Damon said, standing again and taking one last swing of wine.
"Why and where?"
"Because I want you to meet your older sisters doppelganger back in good old Mystic Falls."
I shook my head. "No way in hell am I going back to Mystic Falls any day soon." That place held many, many bad memories for me.
"Yes, you are." Damon said it so surely it made me want to bite his head off. Literally.
"Now, why is that?" I asked in my infamous bitchy tone.
"Because there is tons of shit going on down there and-" He cut himself off and I could tell he was fighting with himself to decide whether or not he would finish that statement of his.
"And what?" I asked, a devilish grin spreading across my face.
"And we need your help." Damon said so quietly I almost didn't hear what he said.
"Could you repeat that for me, please? I didn't catch it."
"Now you're just being cruel, Delia." Damon said, frowning.
"What?" I heard a cry of confusion from Simon and looked over my shoulder momentarily and laughed at the ridiculous look of confusion on his face.
"Nothing." I told Simon, but leaned over and quickly whispered to Damon, "No more cruel than you ever are."
"You're still coming." Damon said.
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not." I said, getting more and more exasperated
"Yes, you are."
"Oh my god, NO I AM NOT!" I yelled at him, causing all of the others to jump at the sudden loud noises.
"It just so interesting to watch you freak out." Damon said, a half smile playing on his lips. "But you are coming." Damon added.
"Why do you want me to come back so much?"
"Didn't I already answer that?" Damon answered with distaste.
"I didn't hear you." I said with the same devilish grin as before.
"I am not repeating something like that." He walked up to me and we stood facing each other, eye to eye. "But you are coming with me. 'Cause we've got a werewolf problem to sort out."