Chapter Sixty-Three: Search And Destroy - Part 3

Grab your gun, time to go to hell
I'm no hero guilty as charged
Found my faith, living in sin
I'm no Jesus but neither are you my friend
I'm a whore above the broken dreams
This simple answer is never what it seems
A million little pieces we've broken into
A million little pieces I've stolen from you
Search and destroy, search and destroy
Sold my soul, from heaven into hell
Sick as my secrets, but never gonna tell
Lock the blame, burden of my dreams
Cause of faith in a blessing I believe
~30 Seconds to Mars

Time was beginning to elude Nilly, she wasn't positive how long she had been residing in the boarding house. The days melted into nights which gave way to another day. Each night she'd go to bed in her own room, flicking off the lights and sliding under the sheets, but every time she would end up at Damon's door. Even when she tried to create distance between them, Nilin couldn't completely stay away.

He had this hold on her that she couldn't deny. It scared her even more now, but when she was in desperate need of sleep Damon was the one she turned to.

Sometimes it was a nightmare that drove her there, other times it was the sheer fear of being alone. Either way, every time she'd show up, he wouldn't say a word. He'd just give her an all knowing nod and slide over for her to curl up next to him. Most nights she managed to fall asleep, other's she spent listening to his breathing. It was enough to keep the remnants of her sanity intact.

One night, she attempted to fall asleep in her own bed again. With a stolen sip of bourbon she had taken from a bottle downstairs and her headphones in her ears she managed to drift off. But she woke hours later with a heart stopping scream, thrashing around trying to get away from the blood that had plagued her dream. The lifeless arms were reaching for her, the familiar eyes of people she loved stone cold and gone.

Scream after scream spilled out of her mouth as she fought. There was so much blood. Nilin swore she could feel it seeping into her skin. Why couldn't she move? They wouldn't let her go. She needed to move.

Her screaming continued, Nilly was sure she was still in the nightmare. Suddenly the door to her guestroom crashed open and the lights snapped on. Arms were restraining her now, trying to stop her wild jerking movements. "They're all dead," she cried as her struggles increased.

"Nilin, it was a dream. Nilin!" A voice shouted. "Open your eyes, Nilin. Open your eyes," it demanded. Nilly gulped down a breath of air, her body shaking. "Open your eyes," the velvet voice urged her again. This time she complied. Her eyes opened to the sight of Damon. He was blurry because of the tears spilling out of her eyes. She realized he was holding her down, trying to calm her. She shook violently as she looked around. Nilin was in the boarding house, not that forsaken meadow again. The covers were tangled around her feet, not bodies.

"Is she okay?" Stefan asked, and for the first time Nilly realized he was in the room with them. He stood in the doorway, his hands bracing the frame as he looked between Nilly and Damon.

"Fine," Nilin managed to gasp. She became more aware of her surroundings as her breathing slowed down. She was sitting in the middle of the bed, Damon was next to her. He had an arm around her stomach, pinning her arms to her sides and to him, probably in an attempt to control her flailing. His other arm was across her chest and around her shoulders, his hand stroking her cheek. She pressed her head to his chest, feeling it rise and fall.

He loosened his grip on her and immediately her hands went to his shirt, holding him closer to her as if she was afraid to sink back into that nightmare. His hand traveled up and down her back soothingly. "Nilin," he cooed. "Any tighter and my shirt's going to be in shreds," he joked, shifting Nilly so that she was sitting up straighter on the edge of the bed with her feet on the floor.

"Sorry," she whispered. She relaxed her cramped fingers, freeing Damon from her grip. She tried to give him a small smile, but it didn't feel right on her lips.

"Hey Stef, how about you go make Nilin something to drink?" Damon suggested, not taking his eyes off of her. Stefan mumbled some sort of response and left, but Nilly wasn't paying attention. "What happened?"

Nilin shook her head, finally breaking eye contact to look down. She tried to brush her bangs out of her face and tuck them behind her ears.

"It was just a nightmare," she said. Damon didn't answer but she could feel him staring her down.

"Nilin," his tone urged her.

She took in a deep breath. "I was in this meadow and there were these dark figures humped on the ground. I started to walk towards them but the closer I got the stickier the ground became." Nilly let out a shudder as the memory haunted her again.

"It was blood, Damon," she explained. "And the figures were bodies, people; my mom, dad, Jenna. Then it was Magnolia, Shellie and Jeremy. Their eyes were open but they were covered in—" she couldn't finish her sentence. She wiped the tears feverously off her face and then looked up at Damon. His eyes were soft but the darkness of them was locked on her.

"I started screaming when I saw Elena, Stefan and… you," she said softly. "Dead and bloody like the rest of them." Nilly finally finished. Impulsively she turned and wrapped her arms around Damon. He stiffened at her sudden touch. Probably because she had been so cold to him lately, but eventually he relaxed and kissed the top of her head.

"Come on, let's go downstairs." Damon suggested.

Nilly looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be right there. Just give me a minute," she said. Damon gave her a tight smile before he slipped off the bed and left the room, closing the door behind him. The moment it shut Nilly's head collapsed in her hands as she let out a shuttering breath. "Oh god," she sobbed. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the pale faces behind her eyelids.

What was going on with her?

Nilly shook her head, and stood up. She pulled on a black sweatshirt over her head to lessen the aching chill she was feeling. That's when she heard the chime of her cell phone ringer going off. Why would someone be calling her this late at night? She shuffled through the bag hanging in the closet until she fished it out.

"Hello?" she questioned, holding the phone to her ear. There wasn't a response on the other side. "Hello?" she asked again, annoyed.

"Oh Nilly," a voice on the other line chimed. Nilly sharply inhaled, almost losing her grip on the phone. "Still there?" he asked.

"Christian," Nilly breathed. "How'd you- how'd you get this number?" she asked shakily.

His laughter emanated through the phone. "Is that really what you're worried about?" he hummed. Nilly found herself sitting on the edge of the bed now, unsure of how she got there.

"What do you want?" she hissed into the phone. The laughter continued.

"How's you're sister, hmm? Oh and the frisky freak with the hair? You know, the seer," he asked, ignoring Nilly's question. Nilly felt her jaw clamp. "I let those two get away, I could have easily disposed of them. Though, they did put up a good fight I have to admit," he laughed again. "The next one's not going to be so luckily, I'll promise you that." Nilly felt her heart in her throat as she tried to control her breathing. "Who should be next, hmm?" Christian hummed. "That cute little witch of yours, or how about your scrawny cousin? Oh, or sweet Aunt Jenna?" he rambled her loves one off like it was nothing.

"Don't, don't touch them," she hissed into the phone.

"Oooo, or what about that vampire you're shacking up with now? Hmm… what's his name?" Christian purred.

"Leave him out of this," she bit back into the phone.

"Then you know what I want!" he suddenly roared.

Nilly swallowed hard, her hands were beginning to shake. Her heart was racing all over again, trying to match the rate of her thoughts. "Me," she said softly. The laughter started up again and Nilin's stomach turned, something felt like it was caught in her throat.

"Well, seems like you're not as dumb as I thought," he said. "Time's running out Nilin, tick tock." And then the line went dead. Nilly snapped the phone shut and threw it across the room. It bounced off the dresser and clattered on to the floor.

Then she hugged her knees to her body and cried. The tears fell down her cheeks freely now. There came a knock on her door, Nilly quickly stood up. She rubbed her cheeks with her sleeves to dry the wetness. "Nilly, everything okay?" Stefan's voice asked on the other side of the door.

She cleared her throat and opened the door. "Yeah sorry, I got sidetracked," she answered with a small smile plastered on to her face and then followed him downstairs.

Author's Notes:

Hey my lovely readers! I hope you had a wonderful week, her is the last part to this chapter. I know it was a long one, but now everything is set up for the real action. I hope you guys liked this chapter, I didn't get much feedback and that really worried me. I want to know what you guys think. Seriously, I'm interested. So please, please, please don't be shy. Just the simplest thing will point me in the right direction.

Thank you guys so much though. We've reached the 30,000 views mark! Is that a lot? I don't know, haha. To me it is, and its all because of you fantastic people. Keep up the work and I'll see you back here next week!
Favorite, Follow & Review!

RLS