Chapter Fifty-Five: Swept Away

Your clothes are smooth and spotless
The air is putrid sewage
Downwind of your pressed church clothes
Your eyes are black and empty
Your deeds are just for showing
How big and bright your fake smile glows
I see you moving and they're getting scared
Their eyes are focusing on something else
You're staring at me and I stare at you
I rage against everything that you do

~Flyleaf

Nilin stood in front of Alaric's black bag, in her hand was a glass syringe looking thing. She rolled it over in her palm curiously. It sort of looked like a tranquilizing dart, like one a hunter would use to shoot lions or bears with. But it was clear and she could see a yellow tinged liquid in it. Alaric had more of the darts in his bag, all containing the strange liquid.

Then it hit here. Still holding the syringe in her hand, Nilly realized what it was. Vervain, some sort of vervain extract was in the liquid. She couldn't help but smile at the vervain darts. Maybe Alaric did know what he was doing.

But with that thought her smile dropped and her heart kicked up. Damon… She bolted from the room, leaving the black bag and weapons behind. Nilly had a fifty percent chance in figuring out who Alaric was after and, between the two brothers, Nilly had a good idea which one it was.

She hurried back down the stairs, stumbling a little as she went. She followed the noise of the party into the parlor. She looked around, meandering through the different groups of people. She spotted Liz Forbs talking with Ms. Lockwood. The mayor was standing around with a bunch of his golf buddies and Jenna was off in the corner, a martini glass in hand, talking to Piper Denison and Magnolia. Then Nilly spotted Alaric walking over to her aunt, smiling and placing a kiss on her cheek.

There was no Damon in sight though. She hurried back out of the room and across the foyer to the other side of the house. She checked the massive dining room but it was empty. Nilly went into the living room, opening the glass doors slowly. The room was lit up, every light was on but it seemed to be empty. She stepped into the room, peering around.

Something slammed behind her, Nilly gasped and spun around to see the door shut. "What the hell…?" she mumbled. She swallowed hard, and tried to open it. It wouldn't open, it was jammed. Nilly felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest as she tugged on the door handle. "Come on, come on."

Still the door wouldn't budge. Nilin was beginning to panic. She began bagging on the door. "Hello?" she jammed her tiny fist into the door. "Can anyone hear me? Hello?"

The slightest disturbance of air touched the back of Nilly's neck and she froze. Very slowly she took a deep breath and turned around, desperately trying to control her shaking. She wasn't the only one in the room.

Lounging on the couch, a sickening smirk on his face, was Christian. "Hello, Nilly," he greeted, standing up.

"Christian," she choked out. She pressed her back to the door, keeping as much distance as possible. Her hands were shaking violently. Nilin kept her hands behind her back so he didn't notice them.

"Lovely party," he smiled, gesturing his hands around the room. Suddenly he was right in front of her, a breath away. His hand came up to stroke her cheek but she turned away, not looking him in the eye. "Oh, don't be like that," he cooed. Still she kept her head to the side. He grabbed her chin painfully, forcing her to look at him. His other hand teased the tips of her hair, pulling on them. "I like the new hair style," he said. "Threw me off, a little bit." Christian laughed.

Nilly jerked her chin away, trying to push him off her. "Don't touch me," she spat.

He grabbed her hair by the roots, causing her head to yank to the side and a gasp of pain to escape her mouth. "Ah ah ah," Christian hissed. "Behave." "Screw you," Nilly cursed. She felt his other hand grip her thigh, causing her dress to slide up. Her fingers turned to claws on his chest, desperately attempting to stop him. She grabbed his hand on her thigh, using all her strength to pull it away. His grip on her hair tightened and tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. "Get off me," she yelled. "Stop!"

Her yelling was cut short when his lips slammed into hers. Nilly thrashed about but he held her in place. His lips moved to her neck and Nilly tried to yell but her breath was caught in her throat. The tears flowed now, she couldn't help it. They dampened her cheeks as she fought back. His mouth clamped down on the side of her throat and she felt that all too familiar pain. His lethal fangs punctured her skin and he began to drain the blood from her.

She tried to fight back but he had her pinned. Her teeth were clenched tight so no sounds escaped her mouth. She kept her eyes closed as he moaned against her searing skin. Just as she began to feel light headed, and her knees began to slacken he pulled away from her neck.

With his lips close to her ear he whispered, "Ready to come with me?"

Nilly had trouble focusing, her mind weaving in and out. She shook her head. "No," she answered. He began to laugh as he grabbed her arms. "No, no!" she yelled and Nilly kept screaming it, over and over.

"Chance number two, Nilly," he breathed and then Christian's hands disappeared and he was gone.

Nilly gulped a lung full of air as her shaking fingers prodded her neck. The bite was clean, just two holes. It wasn't his usual slash and tear routine. A sob escaped her mouth and she slid down the wall, still taking in shuddering breaths.

She managed to calm herself down. The gurgled sobbing sound she was making quieted down. Her heartbeat seemed to settle into an even drumroll. She wiped the tears off her cheeks and straightened herself out. Her hair was knotted and her dress was wrinkled.

Standing up, Nilly tried the door again and of course it opened now. She left the room and made her way up the staircase once more, slipping into the coatroom. She went over to Alaric's bag and unzipped it. She wasn't taking any more chances. With three vervain darts tucked away, she left the room and went straight to the bathroom.

She locked the door and turned to brace her arms on the counter, staring in the mirror. Looking at herself she broke down again, her body shook with each sob. Seeing the blood on the side of her neck, she started to freak out even more. Of course they had no paper towels, only the fancy hand towels. She grabbed one off the rods and held it to her neck. The blood dripping down her neck began to dry. She dampened the towel desperately trying to remove it.

Then there was a pounding on the door that startled her. She stumbled back to the other side of the bathroom. "Nilin? What happened?" Damon asked. She let out a sigh of relief, her heart rate slowing down. But she couldn't let him see her like this, he'd freak out.

"I'm okay," she called, silently cursing the waver in her voice. "Be out in a minute."

"Open the door, now. I can smell blood," he demanded. She pushed off the wall, hesitantly looking at the door.

"I said I'm fine," she urged, dabbing the dried blood off her neck.

"And I said open the door, or I'll break it down," he threatened. "One… Two…"

With an inner cringe, Nilin unlocked the door. Immediately Damon was checking her over. He tried to push the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ears to look at her eyes but Nilly kept her head cast down. Elena and Stefan quickly appeared in the doorway behind him.

"What happened?" Elena gasped as Damon turned Nilly's head to the side, revealing the tiny puncture wounds.

"For the last time, I said I was fine." Nilin repeated, stepping back from Damon. She threw her hair to the side to cover the bite. The finally she looked up at Damon. He stared at her, his eyes dark, his lips set in a tight line, before storming out of the room.

"Damon!" she yelled after him, but Stefan raised his hand up.

"I've got it," he said, turning and going after his brother.

"Nilly, tell me what happened." Elena asked, stepping closer to her. Nilin just looked at her sister.

"He was here," Magnolia suddenly answered as she appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. Nilly stared at the tall girl, her hair pulled to a side braid like most of the time, and nodded.

"But how-how did you know?" Nilly questioned.

"I didn't fully, 'till now. At one point in the night though, I felt something. Something was… off," she explained.

"What do you mean by off?" Elena asked looking to Magnolia.

"Like, the atmosphere suddenly darkened. A weight pressing down on me, it was weird." Magnolia answered, coming up to Nilly. "Let me see," she said, touching Nilin's hand that was held over her bite. Reluctantly Nilly dropped her hand and swept her hair out of the way. She tilted her head to the side.

Magnolia's gentle fingers brushed over the stinging skin before she cleaned the rest of the blood off with a towel. "Sorry," she apologized when Nilly winced.

"It's okay," Nilly said softly. "Use to it," she explained, giving Mags a sad excuse of a smile.

"So have you gotten that feeling before?" Elena asked as she watched Magnolia work on Nilly. Magnolia shook her head.

"No, not before. But then again, I was never this connected to my powers before," she said as she fixed Nilly's hair on her neck to cover the bite.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Nilly asked. Magnolia sighed and stepped back, leaning on the wall.

"Our powers have been growing more lately, and I think it's because of you," she said to Nilly.

Nilly looked at her, eyebrows pulling together. "Me?" she questioned.

"Well, you are our first charge, after all. It would make sense that as we go along our powers would strengthen and connect. It's a good thing, Nilly." Magnolia smiled.

Nilly nodded, rubbing her forehead. "I guess it is," she agreed. "We should find the other's and head home."

"Okay," Elena gave her a tight smile, rubbing Nilly's arm. Nilly left the bathroom as she heard Elena and Mags talking. She knew they were setting up some type of protection plan or watch schedule, but Nilin didn't want to hear it. They followed shortly, Elena coming up on one side and Magnolia on the other.

"I'm going to find my cousin," Magnolia said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"When you pry them apart, tell Jeremy we're leaving too." Nilly said, getting an eye roll out of Magnolia as she walked away. Elena wrapped her arm around Nilly as they left the Lockwood house, waving goodbye to Mrs. Lockwood.

Author's Notes:
Hello my lovelies. I hope you guys had a fantastic week and a great Halloween. Here's the next part for you guys. Thanks for sticking with me. You guys are amazing and I'll see you on Monday. Tell me what you thinks going to happen. I want to hear your comments, questions and concerns.
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