Chapter Thirty-Two: Bad Blood
And you said you always had my back
Oh but how were we to know that these are the days
That bind you together and these little things define you forever
All this bad blood here, won't you let it dry?
It's been cold for years, won't you let it lie?
If we're only ever looking back we will drive ourselves insane
As the friendship goes, resentment grows
We will walk our different ways
~Bastille
Nilly was sitting on her bed, John Gilbert's journal and the book from Shellie sat in front of her. She reached over to the nightstand and pulled another old looking journal out. The leather one Magnolia and Shellie had given Nilly ages ago, it was filled with the story of how the Founding Families battled the vampires in MysticFalls. She opened it up and laid it on top of the big blue book she had gotten today.
Nilin made a mental note of asking the cousins how they ended up with all these ancient, somewhat scandalizing, books.
As the rain continued to fall in a drizzle, she scanned through the books. It had been raining all day, now the night skies were pitch black outside Nilly's open window. The thunder rumbled off in the distance, Nilly loved the sound of it. Both windows on either side of her bed were wide open, letting in a cool breeze. The wind blew again, causing the Gilbert journal pages to shudder and turn over.
Nilly went to turn back to the page she was on when an entry caught her attention.
"Through these trying times I am glad to have Giuseppe Salvatore at my side. As this darkness shadows over our beloved town it is up to my latest invention to pick out the undead among us. And I know for a fact that Giuseppe had placed all his trust in this. A man of many secrets, I know this one will be safe with him."
Nilly scanned over the paragraph once more. Salvatore, she wondered the relation but further reading showed that Giuseppe had two sons. No coincidence,this was Damon and Stefan's father. She flipped through the journal, towards the end. After the church had been burned, and to when they had discovered the tomb. Her eyes flashed over another entry.
"The witch had told us everything, though she knew she would burn for her crime. That tomb must never be open, we have sacrificed too much for those demons to walk again. It will remain closed for if it is unlocked, the town of Mystic Falls would be lost. The Fell family believed it should be I, not them, who protected the witch's spell book. But I feared she would haunt me from the here after. They mocked my fear, but it was Giuseppe who relinquished it. Only one person holds the answer to opening it now. I have entrusted this key to the hands of Giuseppe Salvatore, for I know that he will take it to his grave."
Nilly stared at the last line of Jonathan Gilbert's handwriting. The gears in her head began to move. She flipped opened the brown leather book with the story of the Founders. She skimmed through it quickly, flipping the pages. Her fingers stopped on one page.
"Though all Founding families played a great roll of the extermination of the vampires, three families led most of the decision; the Gilberts, the Salvatores and the Fells. Each played a major roll in the rescue of Mystic Falls and the driving force of peace in the town."
Nilly continued to look through the book, gathering that John and Giuseppe had a major hand and influence in the 1800's. She also realized that both men were very good at keeping secrets, even from the Council. She leaned back a little, her eyes focusing on a spot on the wall. Her mind shot back and forth, making connections and trying to draw a final conclusion.
Her eyes widen when she settled on a theory. She scanned over the last line she read of John's journal. "For I know that he will take it to his grave." A smile came across her face.
"What are you smirking at, princess?" said a velvet voice at her window. Nilly shot away from the voice, finding herself on the other side of her bed. She held a hand over her heart as she glared at Damon. He was in her window, one leg inside the other dangling out. He wore a satisfied grin on his face.
"Knock much?" she glowered.
"Oh right, where are my manners?" he laughed. "Can I come in?" he asked, already swinging his other leg over her window sill.
"And what if I said 'no'?" Nilly asked, still glaring at him as he walked over to her bed.
"I'd still come in," he smiled. Damon sat down on the bed, resting his head back on a pillow, one arm behind his head.
"Yes, Damon please come in my room in the middle of the evening and lay in my bed. No, I don't mind." Nilly grumbled sarcastically as she looked down at the books in front of her. Damon let out laugh as he turned on his side, propping himself up on his elbow.
"So, did they eat you alive yesterday?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
Nilly smiled. "You mean the two saints downstairs? Of course not. They're on our side now, remember?"
"You trust them?" He asked, his fingers twirling a strand of Nilly's hair and giving her goose bumps.
She shrugged. "I'd trust Elena with my life, it just all seems kind of weird. But I can see their reason for wanting to help."
"And what do you think the reason is?"
Nilly smiled sadly at the book in front of her. "To keep you away from me, of course, and get you out of this town," she said. "But either way, it's more people to help." Nilly spoke quickly. Damon just 'Mmhm'ed. "Besides," Nilly continued. "They're more focused on something else now."
"Like what?" Damon asked, hand dropping from the tip of her hair.
"Well, instead of eating me alive last night," Nilly quoted. "They threw a whole other thing at me, because that's just what my life needs right now."
"What happened?" he asked.
She shook her head, still looking down at the books. "You'd never guess." Nilly said, then she turned her body to face him. "I found out that I'm adopted and, wait for it," she paused. "Elena's actually my twin sister, not my cousin. Which means, now try to wrap your head around this, we're both adopted."
Damon stared at her for a moment, than he started to laugh. "You're joking," he said. But Nilly just glanced at him, the look on her face enough to cut his laughter short. "You're not joking," he said slowly.
Nilly shook her head, "I wish I was."
"Well you look like you're taking it well, or are you?" he asked. Nilly thought for a moment then she laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling next to Damon. Her head propped up by a pillow, she placed her hands on her stomach and sighed.
"I think I'm just numb at this point," she confessed. Damon was quiet next to her, but Nilly continued to gaze up at the ceiling. "Stefan thinks we're descents of Katherine. That would explain the whole eerie resemblance you told me about, but we haven't figured out why we look exactly like her." Then Nilly thought for a moment. "You know what? I don't want to know anything about it. For once, I want to be completely ignorant about this," she admitted.
"And why's that?" Damon asked. She shrugged.
"I don't want it to change anything. If I go any farther with it, I just know I'm going to find something I never wanted to learn. But Elena wants to know and…" She turned her head towards him, her mind going blank when she met Damon's eyes. "I just don't want to," she mumbled.
"Then don't," he said. "You have more important things to deal with right now, and that's what you should focus on. Not your family's dirty laundry."
His words sparked something, something she had completely forgotten about thanks to him. She sat up quickly. "Speaking of family secrets, did you know your father had many?"
"My father?" Damon asked, sitting up as well. Nilly pulled out the brown leather book and handed it to him.
"This book is all about the Founder Council and how they planned to round up the vampire's back in 1864. I've read a bit of it and from what I got was that your father, Giuseppe Salvatore and John Gilbert played a very big roll." Nilly explained. Damon was looking down at the book flipping through it.
"So that got me thinking," she continued, pulling out the Gilbert Journal. "I start looking at Jonathan Gilbert's journal, one Jeremy found. It mentions your father and his talent for keeping secrets."
Damon snickered. "Yeah, the one thing he was good at."
"But wait there's more," Nilly smiled. She flipped to a page in the journal and held it out to Damon, tapping her finger on the worn page. "I have entrusted this key to the hands of Giuseppe Salvatore, for I know that he will take it to his grave." Nilly recited.
Damon took the journal, reading over the entry and the next. His hands froze and he looked up from the book. Midnight eyes shining, a grin came to his face.
"He always said he'd die with a full grave." Damon said, still smirking. A smile came to Nilly's face, her theory was right. Suddenly Damon cupped her face, holding it gently between his hands. "You're brilliant," he said. Nilly's smile grew as her heartbeat quickened. Then he was standing over by her window.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going?" she asked, sliding off the bed. "You don't think you're doing this without me." Nilly crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine," he said. "I need to check something out and then we'll go." With that he flung himself through the window. Nilly popped her head out, but he was already gone. She smiled at her accomplishment as she swapped her yoga pants for a pair of jean shorts and threw on a jacket over her pink tank top. She wrenched open her door and ran down the stairs.
"Elena! Elena!"
Elena got up from the couch, startled, as Nilly came hurling down the steps, yelling her name. "What?" she asked, eyes wide.
Nilly stopped in front of her, placing her arm on Elena's shoulder.
"I figured it out," she gasped.
"What?" Elena asked again, less frantic.
"I figured it out," she repeated. "I know where the grimoire is."
Suddenly Stefan was next to Elena. "How? Where?" he asked.
Nilly just grinned. "I was reading one of John Gilbert's journals and it mentioned a Giuseppe Salvatore."
"My father," Stefan said.
Nilly nodded. "When the founders discover the tomb, they traced it back to Emily Bennett. They found out about her spell book and how it held the key to opening it. They wanted to give the book to John Gilbert, but by then I'm guessing his mind had already began to slip. So he gave it to Giuseppe."
Elena stared at Nilly, her mind working quickly. "So Giuseppe was the last one to have the grimoire." Elena stated. "But how do we know where it is?"
Nilly smiled, she opened an old looking book she had been holding in her hand and flipped it over towards her and Stefan. "Read this," she said. Elena's eyes skimmed over the passage, but Stefan's was quicker. With a sharp inhale of breath, Stefan froze beside her. Elena looked at him, his eyes skimming over the journal entry again.
"I know where it is." Stefan announced quietly. He turned towards Elena, taking the book from Nilly. "My father, he was obsessed with removing the vampires from Mystic. He would have done anything to keep them in that tomb. So when the Founder's Council discovered Emily's spell book and gave it to him, he literally took it to his grave."
Elena's eyes widen as she put her hand to her mouth. "Oh, Stefan…" she said softly.
He shook his head, taking her hand. "It's what we have to do," he said to her, raising his eyebrows as if to remind her of the deal they had made. They'd do anything to stop Damon from releasing those vampires in the tomb and unleashing Katherine on the town.
"So, I'm guessing you know where your father's buried then." Nilly spoke up. Stefan nodded at her.
"We should get going then, before the rain comes in again." Elena said, going for her car keys.
About a half an hour later, Elena, Nilly and Stefan were making their way through the woods. They weren't far from the older part cemetery as they followed Stefan in the Old Wood around it.
"Why isn't your father buried in your family's tomb?" Nilly called after Stefan. He slowed down realizing how far ahead he was from Nilly and Elena.
"It wasn't built until well after he died." Stefan explained as Elena neared him. Nilly scurried to catch up too, but being cautious of where she stepped, not wanting to take another trip to the hospital. They stopped again, this time at an old neglected piece of land. If you didn't look close enough you would have never seen the rubble of old graves under the thick ferns and moss.
They lit a torch, the fire sent light bouncing off the tree trunks and glistened on the still wet leaves. Stefan stopped and held out his hand. Elena gave him the shovel she had been carrying. He let out a sigh as Elena turned to Nilly. She was looking around the woods, squinting her eyes.
"Are you sure the grimoire's in there with him?" she asked Nilly, who snapped her attention back on Elena.
"As sure as I could be," she answered, walking closer to them.
"I think Nilly's right on this one." Stefan said as he began shoveling the dirt.
"Great." Elena huffed. She noticed Nilly looking around the woods again.
"Don't you think we should have told Damon?" Nilly asked, turning back to Stefan and her. "I mean he is the one whose been looking for it. He dragged me all the way to Georgia for this."
"What if it's not in here? Would you really want an angry, disappointed Damon around?" Elena said, giving her a half-hearted smile and dodging the question completely. Nilly just shrugged a sigh.
"I don't know it just doesn't feel right," she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
"We're unearthing a dead man's grave in the middle of the night and you think not telling Damon we're here isn't right?" Elena smiled.
Nilly just glared at Elena as she leaned on a tree. "You know what I mean," she scoffed.
"Let's get this open and then we can actually decide what to do next." Stefan said, already a few inches into the ground. Elena saw Nilly's eyes scrunch together at Stefan's words, but then she walked up next to him and grabbed the other shovel they had brought.
"Nilin, I can do this on my own." Stefan said.
Nilly shrugged, pushing the shovel into the earth. "And I promised you and Damon both, that I would do whatever I can to help," she declared as she dumped the dirt on the pile Stefan had started.
"I know, and I appreciate that, but-"
"Stefan, I've seen that look before." Elena spoke up, gesturing to Nilly. "It's better for all of us if you just let her be when that look comes out." Nilly just looked up from her hole and gave a cheesy smile.
Stefan let out a sigh as he continued to dig. A little while later, Nilly wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She stepped out of the trench she and Stefan had been working on and handed the shovel to Elena.
"I'll be right back, I want to see if I can get service out here. Your turn," she winked walking into the tree line. Elena rolled her eyes at Nilly as she left and than turned back to Stefan with the shovel in her hands. She walked over and pick up where Nilly left off.
"You don't need to do this." Stefan tried to urge. Elena just smiled at him.
"If Nilly didn't pick that other shovel up, I was about to," she informed him.
He smiled grimly at her. "Elena-"
She shook her head and looked at him. "This town is my home, Stefan. My friends and family are here. You're here," she said, her voice fading to a whisper, not sure as to Nilly's whereabouts. "I don't want that tomb open any more than you do."
He kissed her forehead quickly before they both went back to mounding the dirt. Nilly came back over a few minutes later.
"No luck," she said, sliding her phone back in her pocket. Elena looked up at her, thankful for the lack of service in the Old Wood.
"Awe, too bad," she said, lifting a shovelful of dirt out of the trench. Nilly squatted down between her and Stefan. Elena watched as Nilly laid a hand on Stefan's shoulder.
"I'm sorry you have to do this." Nilly said, her voice soft and kind. It made Elena's heart throb. Stefan gave Nilly a tight smile and than nodded, continuing to dig.
Elena lost count of how many shovelfuls she lifted until they all heard the thud of metal on wood. Everyone stopped and Nilly came over to help Elena out of the grave. Stefan scraped the dirt off the top of the casket and then looked up at Elena. She gave him a slight nod while Nilly looked down in the grave, frowning slightly.
She disappeared for a second then came back to Elena's side holding a flashlight. She pointed it down at Stefan as he got on his knees and began to wipe the dirt away. He ran his hand over the dirt until he caught something, the edge of the coffin.
"Is that it?" Elena asked as Nilly knelt closer with the flashlight both peering down at Stefan. He pulled it up, revealing an old, boned skeleton. Its arms encasing what appeared to be a cover of a book. Stefan pulled it out of the skeleton's grasp and handed the thick red book to Elena. He closed the coffin and Nilly helped him out of the freshly dug grave.
The three of them were silent as Elena handed the grimoire back to Stefan. He opened it slowly, tearing at the cover which had been sealed and eroded, closed by time. He laid the pages flat as Elena took the flashlight from Nilly. She held it at a better angle for him as he started to read, her and Nilly on either side of him.
"Well, what do you know?" Came a voice from behind them. Simultaneously the three of them spun around quickly to face the voice.
There stood a seething Damon Salvatore
Author's Notes:
Ahh, cliffhanger. Well, not much of one for you guys who watch the show. How'd I do? Let me know, okay? Favorite, Follow & Review! :)
See you guys on Friday!
RLS
Check Out the Outfits:
Go to Polyvore DOT com and attach the following to the end of the url,
Elena, Stefan, Nillin & Damon:
/chapter_twenty-one_elena_stefan_nilin/set?id=93846241