Chapter Thirty-Four: Wish You Well

You've never dealt with this before
You unchained your grip, you know you did, and we will not take no more
An empty hand is your sacrifice. It's your upper hand for the last time
I wish you well, I wish you. I wish you well, I wish you
Your vanity it proved such a waste
You sank so low, now you know, you can't forget your place
Can't you see it slipping away?
It's your upper hand for your last day
~Tremonti

She didn't remember closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep, but suddenly she was waking up, rocketing forward with a scream behind her lips as a nightmare faded around her. The scream that had built up came out as a gasp instead though, her chest shuddering.

Nilly froze, unsure as to where she was for a moment still dazed from the nightmare. Then she realized she was in the guestroom bed with her navy comforter around her. She raked her hands down her face, letting out a groan. There was still a terrible headache pounding in her head, but everything else seemed to be normal. Nilin ran her hands over herself just to make sure.

What the hell happened last night?

The rug was ripped out from under her, that's what happened… and then people wonder why Nilin has trust issues. Being screwed over all the time was beginning to grow old.

Lying back down, Nilly snuggled under the covers. She didn't know what time it was, but it must have been early. The morning light crept slowly into the room, giving everything an orange glow. The storm had past, leaving the sky cloudless and crisp. Nilin sighed and watched the sun advance in the sky outside the window.

There was a part of her that was blaming herself for what happened. Nilin knew what helping Damon might entail. She didn't necessarily predict this, but there was a chance she could have gotten hurt. What it came down to was that, again, she left her guard down with him.

She wished she could blame that one on him, to say that he wormed his way through her walls, but Nilin liked to think that she had control over herself. It was a conscious decision to trust him. Obviously, the wrong one. Damon just proved himself to be what everyone thought he was. And Nilin proved that she was as dumb and gullible as everyone thought.

God, she could still hear his voice. The two words he uttered just before he let her go played over in her mind on repeat, like a song that gets stuck in your head. I'm sorry, was what he had mumbled against her hair. The back of her head still tingled where he had run his fingers through it. Right now, Nilin wanted to slam her head into a wall over and over until she got his voice out of it.

The room grew brighter, causing Nilly to stick her head under the covers. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. It became hot and stuffy under the sheets, but she didn't care as she laid there in a fetal position. Closing her eyes, she stayed that way for a while. Hidden from the world, she stayed under her covers until she heard a faint thump on her door. She didn't answer at first, but the thump continued.

Nilin peeked her head out, inhaling a cool fresh breath of air as it hit her face. "Come in," she said quietly, placing her head back on the pillow. She heard the door open, but kept her eyes on the window, expecting it to be Elena or Jenna. Then someone stood in front of her and it was neither of them. She looked up at the man blocking the window. "Tyler?" she asked softly, pulling herself up.

"Hey," he said just as soft as he sat down next to her. Nilly starred up at him with questioning eyes. He gave her a small toothless smile at her. "Elena called," he explained. "She says you were having a rough time. So I thought I'd come by to check up on you."

Nilly gave him a sad smile and then hugged him. His arms went around her, squeezing her close as she rested her head on his shoulder. Tyler wasn't usually the hugging type, so when he gave one you knew he meant business. "Thanks Ty," she said.

He pulled away to look at her. "So, there actually is some great evil in this world that has bed ridden the invincible Nilin Gilbert, eh?" he wondered, getting her to smile.

"Every hero has their kryptonite, right?" Nilin countered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Yeah, but they always manage to defeat it." Tyler grinned, showing the little kid that was still in his heart. He managed to get her to chuckle a little.

"Your nerd it showing," Nilin said, referring to the days they used to spend hours reading comic books together when they were eleven.

"That's okay, it's only your geeky ass." Tyler nudged her. Nilin covered her face with the pillow, laughing as he bumped her on the head. "But if you try to tell anyone, I will deny, deny, deny," he warned.

"Yeah, yeah. My lips are sealed." Nilin said, lying back on her pillows.

"So," he asked her hesitantly. "Want to tell me what happened?" Nilin stayed quiet as her fingers played with the end of her blanket. "Nilin? What's going on?" he tried.

She chewed on her bottom lip to keep the tears back as she kept eyes down. "There's just so much someone can take, you know?" Nilly whispered and that was enough to get her crying. It was bound to happen. She was holding it in all morning.

Tyler comforted her, him just sitting there was enough. He was one of the few people who Nilin didn't mid crying in front of. It had always been like that. She was comfortable enough around Tyler to show him the weaker side of Nilin Gilbert; the one that not many have witnessed. He also knew how to handle her the best way when she was crying. Just sit there, shut up, and let her dry out.

Which he did.

After a while though, he started to talk to her about meaningless things. Football, school, the girl down at the ice cream shop with the cute laugh and the nice boobs, all that mindless stuff until her tears stopped and her eyes dried out.

Then Tyler gave her that look that was meant to get her to start talking. And she did, about some things. Of course she shied away from anything that had to do with the supernatural, which was mostly at the core of all her problems.

But she did tell him about the adoption and made him swear not to say a thing to anyone, not to a single soul. He swore, of course. She told him about Christian, well sort of. She just mentioned that it was an unhealthy relationship and he was the reason she came back to Mystic Falls.

Nilly left out the part about him being a psycho vampire out to kill her. Tyler was the kind of guy who would laugh at the mention of supernatural creatures and then he'd send her away to an asylum. Maybe she wouldn't mind being locked up in a looney bin that much.

He talked with her, noticeably getting up set. Tyler didn't understand why she didn't come to him about this stuff sooner. It was nice to see something genuine for once, a good reminder that people actually care. She tried to explain to Tyler why she kept this all in, how she was afraid and thought it would be better for everyone. Somehow he made her laugh again, cracking some wise ass comment.

Nilin didn't realize how late it was getting until Tyler had to leave for summer football practice. He hugged her goodbye and then she was alone again. She contemplated going back to bed, but she was getting restless. So instead she slowly got out of bed, pulling her hair into a ponytail and shrugging on a pair of shorts.

Opening her bedroom door, Nilly stepped into the hall and realized how eerily quite the house was. Jeremy's room was dark and no sound came from down the hall. Nilly sauntered to Elena's room and tapped on the door. No answer. She knocked once more. Still no answer. She opened it, looking around the empty room. How strange, were would Elena have gone?

Nilly made her way downstairs, the rooms were dark and silent. She stopped in the family room, wrapping her arms around herself. Then she heard the front door open and close quickly. Someone was breathing heavily. Nilly looked out into the hallway to find Jenna, lips locked with a man, who she was guessing was the social studies teacher.

Nilly froze, a hand going to her mouth to hide her gasp. She meant to turn back into the family room quickly, but she was too slow and Jenna's eyes locked with hers.

Jenna detached herself from the teacher with an awkward cough. She casted her eyes down as her date turned around with a confused look on his face to find Nilin leaning on the wall, arms crossed and a smile plastered on her face.

"Um, I thought the house was empty." Jenna coughed, hands going into her back pockets.

"So, did I," was all Nilin answered. She walked over to the couple, eyeing Jenna the whole time.

"Uh, Alaric Saltzman." The teacher said, extending his hand towards her. "You must be Elena."

Nilly smiled shaking his hand. "No, I'm the other niece," she laughed.

"Nilin, right," he said, stepping back awkwardly. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." Nilly said, staring at Alaric. He wasn't half bad looking. He had dark sandy hair and a five o'clock stubble. His light pale eyes matched his genuine smile. She looked him over once more, and then she turned to her aunt. "Have you seen my other half around?" she asked.

Jenna looked up from her shoes, cheeks still flushed. "Not since this morning," she said shaking her head. "I thought Elena would be home all day, that's what she said at least. Jeremy was here with his friend Anna, but I guess they left too."

"Oh, okay then." Nilly frowned. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her gut. "I'm going to go out. Can I use your car, since it looks like you're in for the night?" Nilly asked.

Jenna narrowed her eyes, but handed Nilin the keys. "Sure, here."

"You two behave yourselves. Nice meeting you Alaric." Nilin grinned, leaving the house. Then she rushed to Jenna's car, quickly driving down the road.

As Nilin pulled into the long driveway, she couldn't help the quickening of her heartbeat. The boarding house alone caused it. Nilly put the car in park and opened the door. Digging her finger nails into the palms of her hands, she walked up to the wooden doors and rang the bell.

The door opened, revealing the younger of the Salvatore brothers. Nilly let out a thankful sigh of relief as Stefan's eyebrows pulled together. "Hi," he said surprised. "I didn't expect you to be up today, let alone here."

"Yeah, well. Obviously I just love getting screwed over. I keep coming back for more, huh Stefan?" Nilin said, bitterly. She saw him shift uncomfortably. "It's been a little rough today, but I think something's up." Nilly explained, her voice becoming softer. "Is Elena here?"

Stefan's eyes seemed to spark at the mention of Elena's name. He shook his head as his arms crossed his chest. "No," he said. "I haven't seen her since last night."

Her heart dropped. Yes, she was mad at Elena and Stefan, but if Elena was in danger... "Something's wrong, Stefan. I can feel it. Jenna said the last time she'd seen Elena was this morning and she had no plans of leaving the house," she told him as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He held it to his ear. Stefan's eyes closed and he let out a low breath as he clicked the end button.

"Voicemail," he mumbled.

"Same thing I've been getting," Nilin looked around. "Can I come in?" she asked, quietly.

"He's upstairs." Stefan answered, understanding Nilin's question. Her lips tightened in a straight line and her eyes went cold.

"It's Elena, though." Nilly said and with that Stefan stepped aside, holding the door for her. They went into the main living room. She turned to Stefan. "Do you know an Anna?" she asked. He looked at her, shaking his head. "She's Jeremy's friend, I've never met her, which I thought was weird, but apparently she and Jeremy were at the house before."

"What else do you know about her?" Stefan asked, crossing his arms.

"Um, she's home schooled, her last name's Johnson and she lives with her mother, Pearl." Nilly told him, remembering the things she'd squeezed out of Jeremy.

Stefan had frozen, his eyes off in the distance. Then he was back to the present, staring at Nilly. "Back in 1864, there was a woman named Pearl. She was Katherine's friend, she was a vampire," he explained.

"What happened to her?" Nilly asked, rocking back on her feet.

"She was put in the tomb, Pearl's one of the 26 vampire trapped in there," he replied. "She also had a vampire daughter, named Anna…"

Nilly's eyes widen, her mouth opening a little. "I don't know about you, but I don't believe in coincidences, Stefan. If this is the same Anna then she even has reason to take Elena."

"What do you mean?"

"She wants her mother out of the tomb, we have— had the key." Nilly explained. The look on Stefan's face alone confirmed what she had said.

"Oh no," was all he got out.

Elena's eyes opened, she was stiff and her breaths came out slow. This wasn't her bed, this wasn't her room. She turned her head, stifling a gasp. It looked like she was in a motel room. Two queen beds, made up with a tacky green and red comforter, two night stands, a small closet with a door next to it and a large window with the curtains sealed shut.

That's not what made Elena's heart quicken though, it was the man sleeping in the chair next to the bed. She recognized him, he worked at the Grill and his name was Ben. His head hung to the side, dark cropped hair sticking out.

Elena needed to leave, she had to get out of here. Slowly she sat up, placing her feet on the floor. Standing up she kept her eyes on him the entire time. He snored in his sleep as Elena edged around him. She took her steps carefully, making sure she was completely silent. Her heart was raging in her chest as she tried to take low shallow breaths.

Only a few more steps to the door. Her hand reached for the door, her fingers turning the lock. Elena froze when the lock clicked, she glanced behind her but Ben was still asleep. Then she went to undo the chain, a hand grabbed her wrist tightly and spun her around. Her back slammed into the door as her eyes met the dark veiny eyes of a vampire.

"I wouldn't." Ben warned. Elena let out a gasp. Then his pupil dilated as he starred at her. "Don't try to escape. Don't even more. Do you understand?" he commanded in a low detached voice.

Elena paused but then answered in the same tone, "I understand."

Ben smirked and then turned his back to her. Elena slowed her breathing, then in one swift movement she unlatched the chain and pulled the door open. She could have made it out, if it wasn't for the girl she ran into. Her hand grabbed Elena's arm squeezing it painfully.

"Seriously?!" The girl yelled, yanking Elena back into the room. That's when she noticed the girl grasping her arm. It was Jeremy's friend, or more than friend, more than human, Anna.

"I told her not to move!" Ben yelled back. "I did that eye thing that you taught me!"

Anna pushed Elena forward, making her stumble. "And forgot the lesson about vervain! She dates a vampire, Ben! You can't compel her, duh!"

"What do you want?" Elena asked, trying to pull out of her grip.

Anna's eyes narrowed. "Does it matter?" she barked and then she shoved Elena into the bathroom. She stumbled forward as the door slammed shut.

She let out a shattered breath as she tried to open the door. No luck. She looked around at the grimy white tilled walls, the white bathtub, the stained shower curtain and the small boarded up window above the toilet. Her heart was still pounding despite the dread leaking into her veins and cooling her adrenaline off. Elena was trapped in here.

Author's Note:

I am back on track, well sort of. Here is Chapter 34 guys! Hope you like it! Thank you all for reading, it means so much to me :) Review and tell me what you think, okay? That would be awesome.
See you on Wednesday!

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