Poison & Wine - Chapter XXXI

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I sat in a field on a beautiful, sunny day laying side by side with a handsome man with the prettiest hazel eyes. We just stared at one another and didn't ruin the moment with words.

It took me a moment, but I noticed something about his chest and looked to see a dagger sticking out of his chest. Now that I looked back at his face, it was grey and veins popped out all over. I cried out and scrambled to take the dagger out, but another pain ripped through my chest, it felt like my heart had been cut out.

I looked down to see a dagger in my own chest, and a hand wrapped around its hilt. I looked up to see what I considered to be the devil himself… Mikael. I fell down beside of the handsome man with the brown hair and reached out for his hand, but couldn't find it. I felt myself fading again and I felt so alone.

I woke up with a start, my breathing heavy and uneven. It was three-thirty in the morning and still dark out so I decided I'd go for a jog. It definitely couldn't hurt since I knew I would not be able to sleep, not after that.

I got up and brushed through my hair; I changed into proper jogging attire before heading out. The house was still dark just as I expected and hoped it would be. As soon as I got outside, I started jogging.

It had been two weeks since my encounter with death. I wasn't exactly being too friendly with anyone currently in Mystic Falls; I had barely spoken to Elena but had continued my training with Alaric. My training was coming along amazingly; I actually had almost beaten Alaric quite write a few times in our fights. Alaric and I had gotten closer and our bond was strengthened. While that bond strengthened, my bond with Elena was faltering. As I mentioned before, I barely even spoke to her and hardly spared her a glance.

I hadn't been sleeping well, either; Mikael haunted my dreams along with every possible form of death. I would always be killed by him by a neck snap, stake, or a dagger. Every night I was experiencing these deaths I would always have the same, constant companion: Elijah. And although I had this companion, I would always feel alone. It had to mean something, right? Elijah and Mikael both being in my nightmares? All I could say was that I was genuinely missing the dreams Emmeline had been giving me about Anastasia.

Another oddity was that it had been two weeks since I'd seen any sign of Klaus.

If it had been before our trip to Portland, I wouldn't have mind. I would've been happy not to see him, but the same, tiny part of me that didn't want Klaus to die was hurt and disappointed by the fact he let Mikael stab me then didn't try to save me after that. Although that part was little, I was growing angry at him by every passing day; he didn't even have the decency to come explain a thing?

How did I know that Klaus did not try to save me? Well, Alaric told me the whole story, and of course I believe him because he's Alaric.

Here's how it went: Mikael stabbed Katherine and I, which was not a part of the plan but he did it anyways because he's an Original. Damon tried killing Klaus – which I saw and felt – but Stefan stopped him. Klaus killed Mikael while Stefan held Damon down then Klaus freed Stefan from his compulsion. Damon grabbed me and ran. By the time he got back to my house, I was almost dead so he went to find Bonnie. Fortunately she was not too far and she had gotten Jonas's grimoires. She found the right spell and healed me up.

Alaric claims that they wanted to get me home, but they couldn't do much since Stefan did his best to ensure they wouldn't track me down. After that I wouldn't let him talk to me about that stuff; I didn't want to hear any excuses. I also had been spending a lot time with Tyler – almost every day actually. I didn't see anything wrong with it, but Alaric didn't like it, though I don't really care.

As I was jogging through the dark streets, I felt like I was being followed or at least that I was being watched, though I knew I was going to be safe; I had two stakes and a pocket knife with me just to be safe. As I continued on, I started hearing things such as another's breathing and footsteps behind me, but every time I turned around there would be nothing. Just thinking it was my paranoid mind, I continued onward, though I still watched my back.

I jogged for over an hour or maybe even two because the sun started rising, indicating it was time for me to go home and get ready for work. Yes, I went back to my job at Mystic Grill to get back on my normal schedule; I figured I needed normal right now. Once I got back home, I went to the kitchen and debated eating; I wasn't hungry, but I haven't been eating normally of late. I knew I probably shouldn't, but I skipped breakfast, telling that was the last time. I'd eat breakfast tomorrow or Monday when I had school.

I took a shower then went to my room and stared at my blank wall; I had cleared the stuff off that I had hanging in the past two weeks because my therapist, the wonderful Dr. Holmes, said I should do it to get some of my feelings out, but so far nothing had given me inspiration.

My therapy was getting complicated with Dr. Holmes because we didn't see eye-to-eye. She would always be professional and wanted to talk about me, but I don't exactly feel comfortable opening up to a stranger. I liked the fact she knew about vampires, though. It kept things interesting when I could comment about the stupid hybrid who looked like a lion. I never told her I wasn't sleeping, though, or that I had a very close encounter with death.

I wondered if I could even become a vampire; I mean, since vampire blood wouldn't heal me, would it be able to bring me back to life? That was scary to think about because, if I ever decided to become one, it would be a toss-up. I wasn't even about to consider becoming one right now, I didn't have a valid enough reason.

I sat there for the next few hours before I knew I needed to go to work. On my way downstairs, I ran into Jeremy who was carrying a crossbow and was about to leave as well. "Where are you going?" He asked me.

I turned toward him and pointed to my nametag. "I'm going for a swim at the Falls."

He rolled his eyes. "PMS?"

I flipped him off before opening the door. "Don't hurt yourself with that."

"I'm not a kid anymore."

I looked over at him and raised an eyebrow then walked out and left for work. Once there, I clocked in and immediately was greeted by Matt Donovan.

"Hey," He said, walking up to me.

"Hey," I ran a hand through my hair; I actually wasn't angry at Matt. I knew he tried his best to stay out of all the supernatural stuff so he was excluded from my anger.

"Andy, you look exhausted," He commented. "Elena said you don't sleep―"

"What are you talking about, Matt? I sleep like a baby," I said as I grabbed my apron and pen pad. "Elena and I hardly speak to one another currently so don't expect reliable information from her." I walked away from him and started to take orders. So Elena was speaking about me behind my back? Even though it wasn't anything bad, it still irritated me.

Work went good for a few hours until brunch time because every person I was angry at seemed to be in here. Elena was eating at a back table with Bonnie and Damon was at the bar drinking with Alaric. I was picking up a drink at the bar when Damon actually said something to me.

"So how's your boyfriend?" He said.

I scowled. "Klaus is not my boyfriend."

"I was talking about Tyler… you've been hanging around him, right? But let's not talk about him and discuss your sugar daddy," Damon gave me a smirk.

I folded my arms. "How did I ever like you? You're a drunk who only ever acts like a man for Elena. It's a wonder to think Stefan could possibly be your brother."

"You two stop acting like kids. Damon, go get Elena and tell her," Alaric looked over at me once Damon stood and walked off. "Did you know Jeremy was fired?"

"Yeah, it happened last week," I grabbed the drink.

"You didn't think of sharing that information?" He questioned.

"No. It wasn't any of my business."

"Andy, you've got to stop this," Alaric stood. "You're going down a bad path. Elena says she's found alcohol bottles―"

"Elena knows nothing," I snapped. "Does everyone listen to her? Ric, you didn't even ask me if I had, you start out with accusing me of it. Don't you know me?" I grabbed the drink the bartender had fixed for the customer and walked away, going right past Elena and glaring at her as I passed.

I didn't drink the alcohol, but I came close to it; I was in a fragile state of mind after the near death, I thought it could help. I poured it out before I could drink it, though, because I knew that I'd spiral out of control again, and I didn't know if I'd be able to come back from it this time. I went to go get another order when I bumped into Damon and Elena.

"We need to talk," Elena said.

"No we don't," I responded and went to walk around her but Damon blocked my way. I went to go the other way, but a third party stood there and stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Don't mind me," Klaus smirked down at me.

"Klaus," Elena said.

"You gonna do this in the Grill? In front of everyone?" Damon pulled me back to his side. "It's a little beneath you, don't you think?"

Klaus directed his attention to Damon. "I don't know what you are talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate and talk to someone," He looked back at me. "How are you doing, love?" I looked to Damon, wanting to punch him so badly but withholding it for now. "Get a round in, would you Tony?" I looked to see someone standing behind Klaus; I had seen him in Portland, he was one of the men who had followed me.

"I'm surprised you stuck around town long enough for happy hour," Damon commented as the hybrid walked by me – the hybrid even smirked at me as he passed.

"My sister seems to be missing," My head snapped over to Klaus. "Need to sort that out."

"Rebekah's gone?" I asked.

"Cute blonde bombshell, psycho. Shouldn't be too hard to find," Damon said.

"Truth is I've grown to rather like your little town, not only because it's Andy's home. Think I might fancy a home here. Oh I imagine you're wondering how does this is affect you. The answer is: not in the slightest. Unless I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word," Klaus promised.

I scoffed. "Your word? I think I'm done trusting you and your family's word." I yanked my arm from Damon's grasp and walked away. I couldn't even handle being near him at the moment, though I did watch them finish their conversation from behind the bar. After they seemed to have finished, Klaus came over to me.

"What's wrong, love? You look a little skinny," He commented as he sat at the bar.

I stared at him a moment before shaking my head. "You're just going to act like nothing happened? You're not going to try to defend your actions or explain anything?"

"There's nothing to defend or explain."

"Right, so, I've got a scar on my back for nothing. Thank you that," I started to walk away but paused when he spoke again.

"You're angry because I let Mikael stab you?"

"I could've died, Klaus."

"But you didn't."

I turned back to him. "I really didn't like you being the one to decide my death sentence. Also, I tried to warn you something was wrong because I figured out it was Katherine, not Elena, but you didn't listen so if you died, it would've been your own fault. Oh, and to answer your earlier question, I'm not okay." I stormed off after that, glad he didn't chase after me.

I finished my shift and headed home; I was stuck in the same building as Klaus and his hybrid Tony all day, and I was ready to go home and relax. It was clear I wasn't going to be able to relax because Elena and Alaric were preparing dinner and setting the table when I got in. I was definitely going to get a lecture.

"So, you're ready?" I heard Alaric ask.

"Vampires, hybrids and originals – no problem. My rebellious brother and sister – I'm worried," Elena responded. They must not have heard me come in.

"Proof that you're still human," Alaric reminded her and I stepped into the kitchen.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"We're making dinner," Elena smiled. "We've gotten out of the tradition of family dinner and I want to get back to it."

I nodded. "Well, since our parents – our adopted ones, of course – and Jenna died, I figured we had dropped that altogether. It's not like any of us actually like being in the room with one another."

"Andy, what's wrong? You know you can talk to Ric and I," Elena stepped toward me.

"You're not the one who was literally stabbed in the back by the father of your supposed friend."

"Supposed friend? Do you mean Klaus?" Elena demanded, glancing over at Ric.

I wasn't able to answer because the front door opened and Jeremy entered. He went straight to the fridge. "Just in time! They're cooking and we're going to lecture one another!" I said to him.

"Sorry, just passing through," He said to us.

"I'm not staying if he isn't," I said quickly.

"Ah, well I thought we would all stay in, have a meal together like a typical, atypical family," Alaric said.

"Why?" Jeremy came and stood by me.

"Maybe because you got fired and you didn't tell anyone," Elena said.

"He told me," I pointed out.

"Ahh – look, can we do this later? I made plans with Tyler. He's right outside,"

"Can I come?" I asked. "I've not seen him in a couple of days."

"Sure," Jeremy and I went to leave.

"Oh wait! When did you two start hanging out with Tyler Lockwood?" Alaric demanded.

"I don't know... Does it matter?"

"Yeah, Jeremy! It matters. He was sired by Klaus. He's dangerous," Elena said.

"You guys left me with Klaus and I'm still breathing."

"He can still hear you. He is right outside. Besides you of all people are gonna lecture me on who I can and can't hang out with?" Jeremy said and I nodded in agreement.

"What is with the attitude?"

"Yeah, whatever, this is lame. Tyler is waiting." We started to leave, but Elena blocked our way.

"Oh, no no! You're not going anywhere, especially not with Tyler." She said.

We looked at Alaric for help. He said, "I'm with her on this, guys. Sorry."

I stepped up to Elena. "Move right now, Elena, I won't give another warning."

"All right, fine. You want us to stay in? Let's all stay in then," Jeremy said, then shouted, "Yo, Tyler! Come on in!"

Elena shouted. "Jeremy!"

Tyler opened the door and came in. he walked over to me and we immediately hugged one another. "How are you doing?" Tyler looked at me intently. He knew to some extent of my nightmares; I'd spent some nights with him – it was completely platonic.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" I smiled small. "How are you? Has Klaus made you errand boy, right?"

"Not yet," His smile faltered a bit, then added in a more quiet tone, "He asks about you quite often, though."

"If you tell him anything else about me and I'll neuter you," I warned then gestured to the table. "Why don't we sit down?"

"Sure," Tyler and I sat beside one another. Jeremy offered him a glass of water which he gladly accepted. I saw Elena and Alaric give each other pointed looks then watch Tyler; Jeremy gave Tyler a glass of water and Tyler thanked him.

"This is weird. Klaus has hybrids stalking me and now you're just sitting in our kitchen," Elena said and I looked over; Klaus has hybrids stalking Elena?

"Look, maybe I should go," Tyler looked at Jeremy and I.

"Oh, stay. You're not doing anything," Jeremy quickly said.

"Unless you have to, you know, check in with your hybrid master," Elena said, leaning against the island.

Tyler laughed. "It's not like that Elena; Andy knows, I explained it to her." Elena gave me a look which I ignored.

"Tell me Tyler… What is the difference between being sired and being compelled?" Alaric asked.

"Compulsion that's just mind control – like hypnosis. And being sired is… it's like faith. You do something because you believe it's the right thing," Tyler explained.

"So you believe that serving Klaus is the right thing?" Elena asked, obviously judging him.

"I don't serve him. Klaus released me from a curse that was ruining my life. I owe him for that," Tyler looked over at me.

"What if he asked you to jump off a bridge?" Alaric asked.

"He wouldn't! And even if he did I'd be fine. I'm a hybrid," Tyler said.

"Okay, so what if he asked you to rip your own heart out?" Elena pressed.

"Again, he wouldn't."

"What if he did?"

"I don't know! Then I'd rip out my heart! You guys sound like Caroline, getting all freaked out over something you don't understand," Tyler snapped.

"You're right, Tyler, I don't understand. Klaus has terrorized every single one of us and you're just blindly loyal to him," Elena said.

"Elena, stop it!" I shouted. "Did you not hear a word that he just said? He can't control it, it's an automatic thing and here you are, acting like he murdered someone! And if are acting like that, Damon, Stefan, and Caroline have all killed somebody and I don't see you acting like that toward them."

"They aren't sired to Klaus."

I shook my head. "You don't understand it, Elena."

"You are overthinking it. I can still make my own decisions," Tyler said right before Jeremy's phone rang but he hung up almost instantly though. Alaric had offered to Tyler about staying for dinner during the call.

"What was that about?" Elena asked.

"It was nothing," Jeremy dismissed it.

"I got to go. Umm, thanks for the food offer, but…" Tyler trailed off.

"Next time," Alaric nodded. Tyler gave me a hug, said goodbye to Jeremy, then left.

"That was illuminating," Alaric exhaled.

"So, Tyler Lockwood is a lunatic who has access to our house," Elena said and I scoffed.

"I mean this whole sire bond thing is... wild. I don't even think Tyler is fully aware of what little reason lies behind what he's saying. It's this weird cult logic," Alaric said.

"Well, great, that's a wonderful influence for you Jer…" Elena turned around but Jeremy had already gone. He slipped past them like I should have. "Jeremy?" We all noticed Jeremy's protection ring was lying on the table at the same time.

"That's his ring," Alaric said.

Elena picked it up. "Where did he go?" I instantly got a bad feeling; we rushed outside to see Jeremy is standing in the middle of the street. "Jeremy? What is he doing?" Elena asked. Suddenly, a car came whipping around the corner and sped towards Jeremy. We all started running toward him.

"Jeremy, move!" I screamed. We all screamed for him to move, but he didn't; I had that same dreadful feeling in me after I found out of my parents deaths. I wanted it to be me, not him. And if I would've been in front of Alaric, I would've been in the one instead.

Alaric pushed Jeremy out of the way at the last second and was hit by the car instead. Elena and I over to Alaric's body and turned him over. The car pulled up next to us; Tony, the hybrid, was in the car.

"There I go again. Bumping into people…" Tony said. He drove away and Elena checked Alaric's hand to make sure his ring was on. Thankfully, it was. Jeremy got up and runs over to us.

"He's gonna be alright. Are you all right?" Elena asked.

"I don't understand," Jeremy looked confused, but we all were.

"Who was that on the phone earlier?" I demanded.

"It was Klaus!" Jeremy said with realization; I felt like a dagger was pushed through my heart. Klaus tried to kill Jeremy.

"You were compelled, Jeremy! We've gotta get him inside - help me!" Elena and him lifted Alaric and headed toward the house; I luckily had my car keys and went to go raise some hell.

I got the address from Tyler easily; all I had to do was tell him that Jeremy almost got killed because of Klaus. When I got there, it was a mansion. Of freaking course. I barged into the mansion to see it was still under conduction and workers were everywhere. As I walked through out it looking for Klaus, I wasn't questioned; evidently pissed off women was a normality. I eventually heard his voice and followed it.

"Tyler, mate. What you are feeling is the remnant of a guilty conscience. I need you to get over it, okay? End of the day human life is just a means to an end. Our means to our end. You do well to remember that?"

I stopped in the doorway of the room he was in. Tyler stood there, obviously upset. "That's what you consider my brother?" I demanded.

"Andy," He sighed, looking over at me.

I walked over to him and punched him as hard as I possibly could. "How dare you try and kill my brother after everything you said and did in Portland! After you nearly got me killed with Mikael! I trusted you and broke it like it meant nothing."

"You wouldn't understand," Klaus said, obviously pissed at me punching him.

"I wouldn't?" I hissed. "I can't believe that I actually allowed myself to open up to you! I can't believe, after you took Elijah from me, you would try to take Jeremy away!"

He got in my face and roughly grabbed my arm. "I took Elijah away? Elijah was going to leave after I reunited him with our family! He didn't care for you, Andy, not like I could. Love, I did you a favor!" He really had to bring Elijah into this?

I punched him again and I couldn't help the tears falling from my eyes. "Screw you, Klaus. I don't want you to care for me when you're slaughtering the people I love!"

I stormed out of the room then; the blows my ego were bad. I just wanted to go home and scream into my pillow instead at Klaus. But when I got home, I was greeted by a headless person on the porch – I didn't even care at this point since it wasn't anyone I cared for - blood beside the couch, and an empty house.

I went up to my room and screamed into my pillow. Klaus was lying, right? He had to be out of jealously… And why did he say, "He didn't care for you, Andy, not like I could"? What brought that on? I was so angry and was feeling so much hatred for him at the moment; why did have to do this? Couldn't he terrorize another family? Why did he have to be so cruel to me?

I got angry at myself now; why was I letting this crap get to me? He killed Jenna, what did I expect? Him to change and become a gentlemen like Elijah had appeared to be? No, Elijah was a bad comparison. He killed when it suited – no pun intended – him; even he wasn't as moral as I'd made myself to believe. Every vampire would always kill, it's their instinct. Why did I expect any differently?

My door opened and I looked up from my pillow to see Elena. "Hey," She said in a small voice.

"Hey," I hid my face again. "Where is everyone?"

"Jeremy's in his room, Ric and Damon are talking downstairs," She said and felt her sit on my bed. "Where did you go?"

"To confront Klaus."

"How did that go?"

I answered by showing her my scraped up fist from the punches I threw at Klaus. "He had a hard face."

She laughed, then became all serious. "Ric's ring didn't heal him completely and Damon had to give him his blood… I was curious, did you ever find out why you don't heal with vampire blood?"

"The witch said there was no explanation, but it's probably to do with or bloodline and connection to the Originals," I said.

"Listen, Andy, I'm sorry for―"

"Look," I sat up and turned toward her. "I'm going to forgive you guys and move on from it, but only because we're all at stake with Klaus going on a killing spree and if one you guys die before I forgive you, I don't want to carry that around. So we're all cool again, clean slate from the very beginning."

"Thank you. Can I hug you?"

I huffed. "Fine," She hugged me tightly and I did the same to her; I did miss her a lot.

"There's another thing," She pulled back and I looked at with grave curiosity. "Jeremy needs to be safe; he needs a normal life. I want that for him, so…"

"So…?"

"So I want Damon to compel him to leave town. We have some family in Denver he can be with without being in danger. He would be leaving within the week, but I wanted to ask you first if I should."

I hesitated a moment. "You... You should do whatever you think is right. Just think about what you would want if you were in his position."

She nodded. "Okay," Then she stood to leave, but stopped in the doorway. "How close did you get to Klaus, Andy?"

I stared at her a moment. "He didn't get under my skin, Elena."

"Are you certain?" She asked.

I didn't speak for a moment, my mind reeling. "No, he didn't,"

"Who are those tears for?"

"For Elijah, for everything I've been through and everything I'm going to go through, Elena. Can I just please be alone?" I asked, turning away from her and pressing my face into a pillow. I heard her leave then let more tears out; this time I cried for Jeremy because I knew she wouldn't let him stay.

Klaus hasn't gotten under my skin, I'd know it if he had… Wouldn't I?

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The End of Chapter XXXI