So, I'm back again, and the first thing I have to do is apologize. I'm sooo sorry that it took me so long to update, but here I am again^^.
THANKS (as always) to my readers and reviewers, you are the best.
And an extra big THANK YOU to Avecia, my dear beta reader – without you this story would be soooo much worse^^.
Also, I don't own anything 'bout the Vampire Diaries.
Now, on with it!
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Next morning found the kitchen of the boarding house full of grumpy people, most of them nursing a headache from hell (otherwise known as a hangover).
The only ones currently not sitting somewhere around the big island in the middle of the room, were Damon and Elena - meaning that someone had to go upstairs to get them.
A fact that made the situation ten times worse. Not one of them were not woken up by suspicious sounds coming from Damon's bedroom that night - so they were severely lacking a volunteer for the mission.
So they decided to throw neatly folded slips of paper into a plastic mixing bowl. The poor soul to pick the paper with a drawn x on it would have to go upstairs to wake the pair (or interrupt them in whatever else they were doing at that moment).
Caroline took the bowl, and let everybody take a piece of paper, before sitting herself down again, looking at her own. She sighed in relief as she saw the blank piece in her hand - right at the same moment as Jeremy let his head fall onto the table, mumbling something she could not understand.
Head still down, he lifted one hand up, showing everybody the paper with the black x on it.
Biting back a laugh, Katherine leaned back in her chair and watched him.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Up you go. I think they're having a break right now - can't hear screaming, panting, moaning or... well, anything from up there."
Not bothering to answer the crazy ass vampire, he banged his head one more time on the wooden surface, before he got up, looking as if he was attending his own execution.
As he stood in front of the room, he took a moment to gather his bearings, knocked and then opened the room.
The curtains were closed, only letting in a sliver of light. The sheets on the big bed were a mess, and a few pillows weren't even ON the bed. His sister was lying on her back, head hanging nearly off of the side, sheets barely covering the... important parts. Damon was lying half across her, head cushioned by her stomach. Her cheeks had a light pink hue, and he just knew it wasn't because she was embarrassed to be caught in bed, naked, with a man, but rather because of the activities she had been engaging in. Her breath wasn't all that slow either, so he guessed he had been lucky that he hadn't come up here a few minutes ago, or he really would be scarred for life.
"Is there a reason you're disturbing us, or did you just come to ogle your sister... which would be really weird. And kind of disgusting."
Elena rolled her eyes and slapped Damon on the shoulder, but the grin on her face told them that she wasn't really upset.
"You are the one with your mind permanently down in the gutter, not me. But yeah, I actually did come for a reason. Everybody else is already up, and we're just waiting for the two of you. We have some planning and discussing and what-not to do."
"Fine. Whatever. We'll be down in a few."
Jeremy swallowed around the knot in his throat – he wanted to be out of this room.
"Actually…I'm to stay up here until at least one of you is out of the bed, and on the way downstairs…"
Elena watched the two of them bickering for another few seconds, before she decided that now was the best moment to get the last obstacles out of the way.
"Hey Damon? Why don't you go and make sure that there is enough coffee to bring me over the next few hours? I'll join you as soon as I've… cleared up a few things, alright?"
Understanding immediately, he fished a pair of black jeans from a heap of clothes lying right next to the bed.
With a blur of motions he slipped into them, and had a fresh shirt on, even before Jeremy had time to turn around.
Grinning as he saw the exasperated look on the boy's face, he sauntered off, leaving the siblings alone in his room.
As soon as the younger Gilbert realized that he was alone with his sister, he took a step backwards, towards the door.
"Ah… right… now that Damon is downstairs, I guess I leave you alone to get dressed."
He quickly turned around, but before he could even reach the door, there was a heavy gust of wind, and the door slammed shut.
Knowing that it was probably of no use, he still tried the knob – but as already suspected it wouldn't budge.
Turning back around, he waited for Elena to… well, he didn't know what exactly he waited for, just that it couldn't possibly be fun. For him, that was.
But as he caught sight of his sister, she was just sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on socks – already clad in jeans and top.
As she sat there, he thought that she really was kind of a female version of Damon, just like Bonnie said the other day.
Everything in black, and her face carefully modeled to show not a hint of what she was thinking or feeling.
"Oh, relax Jeremy, will you? I'm not gonna leap up and rip your throat out, or something.
To be honest, I rarely enjoy blood. I only indulge in this side of me when I need a serious energy boost. Like, when I'm injured, or have gone too long without a proper rest or something.
Right now I'm perfectly fine, so no worries."
He blinked a few times before he registered what exactly she had said to him.
"Blood? But…Aren't you alive? I mean, you said something about Bonnie…not that one of the vamps gave you blood…"
Elena could see the telltale confusion in Jeremy's eyes.
"Well, yeah, I'm alive, no doubt about that. I have a nice heartbeat, I have to breathe, and I can walk in the sun. But that doesn't mean I'm actually still human, you know?"
"Okay but… if you aren't a vampire and not human – but still have the urge to drink blood sometimes – what exactly are you?"
Jeremy seemed to have forgotten that he was currently not on his sister's good side.
"I don't know. Did one of you find out what Damon had become? After Bonnie's spell, I mean?"
Her brother wrinkled his brow, trying to figure out what Damon had to do with all of this, but couldn't quite figure it out – and it showed on his face, again.
Sighing, Elena stood up, and came a few steps closer, finally coming to a stop in arms reach of him.
"Think, Jeremy. Damon isn't a vampire anymore, but he's not human, either. And I drink blood – without getting sick to the stomach, and I can even draw strength from it.
It's quite simple, actually. You all thought that Bonnie's spell made Damon human – or at least alive – again. In reality though, it had taken something from him and transferred it to me.
Now we are both caught somewhere in-between. We are not weakened by vervain, and we can walk in the sun. But we have to breathe, and we have a heartbeat, and therefore can be killed easier than the average vampire. Well, maybe not easier, per say; but there are more… alternatives. It doesn't have to be a wooden stake, sunlight or beheading."
Some of the confusion vanished from his face at her words. They actually made sense; at least, when you live in a town like Mystic falls, and are friends with werewolves, witches and vampires.
Only…
"Okay. Got it. But that doesn't explain the setting-vamps-on-fire and the trick with the door. As far as I know, Damon was never able to set things aflame with just a look. That was always Bonnie's thing, not his."
Now Elena grinned. Seemed like her brother really had a decent head on his shoulder when he put some effort into it.
"Hm. Yeah, that one, I'm still trying to figure it out myself. I guess it's a little… souvenir from… beyond the grave. I have a few nice party tricks, but nothing too fancy. We can leave the witchcraft safely in Bonnie's hands.
Now, that's not why I wanted to be alone with you."
With that her face turned serious again and as Elena crossed the last few steps between them, he quickly shut his eyes, figuring that now he'd be done with.
But after a moment he realized that there was no pain, but rather the warm feeling of two arms around him.
He opened his eyes slowly, still waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the scene didn't change.
His sister was still hugging him to her, no trace of violence or hate.
And so, slowly, carefully, he wrapped his arms around her, relishing in the feeling of having his sister back.
He blinked furiously then, feeling the telltale burning sensation of tears behind his eyelids.
He wouldn't cry, damn it.
Just then he heard a sniffling sound coming from the girl in his arms, and figured, what the hell, and let the tears – only a few – fall. They were out of joy, anyway. No need to be ashamed.
They stood like this for a few minutes, Elena letting go of the last remnants of anger, hurt and the feeling of betrayal, and Jeremy just feeling glad that he wouldn't now have to figure out some crazy scheme to get back into his sisters good graces.
As they let go of each other they grinned, taking in the slightly red eyes and tear tracks on the face of the other.
Elena blurred to the bathroom and returned with a wet washcloth only moments later, holding it out to Jeremy – her own face already looked as calm as ever, no trace of tears or emotional turmoil left.
As they finally both looked presentable again, she took his hand and wandered out of the room, and down the stairs.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
As she came into the kitchen, Elena was glad to see that this time no one struggled to be as far away from Katherine as they could.
Though there was tension so thick you could've cut it with a knife, it was better than the scene from yesterday.
And it was more than amusing that Caroline sat right next to the vampiress, the both of them sending equal looks of aggravation in Damon's direction.
The man in question sat on the other side of the table, sipping on his coffee and talking with Bonnie.
"Now that's a sight to behold… I already gathered that Caroline can't stand you, Damon, but what did you do to deserve Kat's death glare?"
Damon just shrugged with his shoulders in a wordless attempt to show her that he didn't know, and then pointed to the empty chair between himself and Bonnie, before he resumed his conversation.
She lifted an eyebrow, but let go of her brother's hand nonetheless and took her seat, her eyes lighting up as she saw the full cup of coffee right in front of her.
"No, really Kat. What did he do?"
"Better question: what didn't he do. He's Damon, little one. He was always good at riling everyone up."
Elena just rolled her eyes and tried to hide her smirk behind the cup.
She could never stay serious when Katherine started to ramble about how infuriating Damon was – considering that she wasn't even a little bit better.
But she always figured that that was the problem –they were too similar to get along.
"Right. Whatever, but, Kat? Stop calling me 'little one'. We had to pretend that I'm your older sister for at least three years now."
"Well, that's because you look older. I still have centuries over you. And you're calling me Kat. All the damn time; like I'm some sort /of pet or something. You stop with that, and I will consider thinking of a new name for you, little one."
She laid extra emphasis on the nickname, just to spite Elena. But both of them grinned, no maliciousness in their gazes.
Everybody could see that this was an old argument, and was only still held because neither of them would let the other win.
"Okay. Whatever. Now, before we begin with planning anything, there are still a few things I have to tell you. Everyone awake enough to listen?"
Elena waited for grumbled and grunted affirmations before she began.
"Well… as I said, I have no idea who our little wannabe villain is exactly. But I do know some things.
First, it's a she. I heard a few of her…minions – for the lack of a better term – refer to her as 'Mistress'.
And she was dead. I don't mean the kind of dead that will give you fangs and bloodlust, either.
She was honest-to-god dead and buried. Not unlike me. And she came back much the same way, too.
Somehow she managed to… well, play blind passenger as I got pulled back from The Other Side.
I never saw her back then, just felt her presence.
And it was not a nice one. Hate and anger wafted off of her in really sickening waves.
As I finally was calm enough – stopped my panicking – to think straight again, she was already gone, and I couldn't, for the life of me, remember if she wasn't just in my imagination.
I forgot about her soon enough, only remembering as she started to gather people.
What we have to find out now, is what could possibly be powerful enough to hitch a ride back from The Other Side. The spell was only meant for one person, and it already changed two.
There's no way the little-miss-eerie-voice just tagged along. She had to have been a powerful being all on her own, as she had still been alive. So, let's try and find out – I'll go and meet up with Isobel, see what information she got her hands on. Anymore questions in the meantime?"
It took more than half an hour to answer the questions that – of course – came after she asked.
She would have to stop asking, if she ever wanted to get anything done around here.
As it was, everyone wanted to know what she meant with 'and it already changed two'.
So she explained – for the second time that day – what Bonnies spell had done to her and Damon before she made her way to the foreclosed house that Isobel had claimed for her stay in Mystic Falls.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Done for today! Now you have to tell me if you liked that chapter, or if it was TOO boring. I think there'll be more action in the next chapter – don't know EXACTLY, yet, because my stories tend to have a mind of their own, and do NOT always do what I tell them to o.O…
No, please click on the little button below – reviews are LOVE people!
So long,
Zora