Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Sienna Salvatore – Danielle Campbell.
River Fell – Meaghan Martin.
Luna Lockwood – Isabeli Fontana.
Stone Fell – Alexander Ludwig.
Chapter 12:
"Do you girls ever sleep in your own beds at, I don't know, your own home," Damon drawled from the doorway, prompting Luna and River to glare at him from both sides of Sienna who merely waved her hand in the air in a shoo motion and speak out in a muffled tone, "Damon! Go away, I want to sleep!"
"This is called the Boarding House. Zach always allowed us to stay here," Luna told him in a harsh tone, "Just because it's infiltrated by vampires, doesn't change a thing."
"Besides, our parents don't mind as long as they know where we are, especially with S's pregnancy," River piped up before she was swiftly knocked off the bed by the frantic Sienna who dashed into the adjoining bathroom.
The three occupants froze in bewilderment before equal expressions of revulsion flickered onto their faces at the sound of violent puking. "Ugh, I'm in my second trimester, the morning sickness is supposed to have gone by now," Sienna moaned, flopping down onto the side of her bed, tears streaking down her cheeks from the violent sickness.
"Sweetie, you're carrying twins, pregnancy symptoms are a lot different," River soothingly informed her, caressing her hair gently. Luna snorted audibly, "Yeah, Riv here practically swallowed all the maternity books Care got you."
River nudged her with a scowl, "Shut up, Lu. I'm being helpful here."
Damon rolled his eyes, although electric blue orbs scrutinized Sienna with concern; she looked woebegone as she massaged her very pregnant stomach.
"Anyway, Damon, what's with the wakeup call?" Sienna asked curiously.
Damon shrugged as he turned to leave, "I was on my way back from waking up the lovebirds, thought I'd warn you that your favorite gal pal is here," smirking when the three girls groaned in unified annoyance. His ears suddenly perked up at something they obviously couldn't hear, "Barbie just parked her car on the driveway. Oh, and, Logan just finished making breakfast."
The three girls trudged downstairs with bleary eyes, absently giving Logan a good morning kiss as they slumped down tiredly onto the empty chairs.
"Hey sisters!" Caroline chirped out cheerfully.
"Tone down the cheerfulness, Care-Bear, we just woke up," Luna groaned, slapping a pancake blindly onto her plate.
Caroline rolled her eyes fondly and gave Logan a hug before joining the three girls around the table for breakfast. "Okay, Care, spit it out," Sienna said bluntly, without bothering to look at her face.
"Spit what out?" Caroline asked in an extremely innocent voice that fooled no one.
"Whatever turmoil is going on inside that pretty little head of yours; it's too loud. Spit it out," River insisted.
"Matt and I are officially a couple," she blurted out quickly, sheepishly staring at Luna in specific. The girls all beamed happily and engulfed her with hugs. "Wait, Lu, are you sure you're okay with it?"
Luna scoffed loudly, "Care, I had a crush on him, like, eons ago. He's free meat, I am waayyy over him. Just make sure he's over Gilbert, and we're good. Because if he breaks your heart, nothing will stop me from pulverizing him, not even him being Ty's best friend."
"All right. Change of subject. We should go out!" Caroline chirped eagerly.
"Na-uh, I'm hibernating. My feet are bloated and I'm constantly irritated. No can do," Sienna grumbled glaring down at her heavily pregnant stomach. "You three should go out, I'm just going to burry myself under the blankets today and binge-eat on Ben & Jerrys.
The girls all left to the Grill, promising to stop by the next day. Sienna got up to the living room, her eyes focused on Logan who was enraptured, reading the old Fell journals.
"What's up Logan? Why are you reading your ancestors' journals?"
Logan grimaced, "Doing Damon a favor. Don't ask, just-, ask your cousins when they get back."
"Oh God, I have a bad feeling about this," Sienna murmured to herself.
Sienna was awoken rather abruptly by the loud slamming of the front door. Donning on her night robe, she peaked out the corridor to see an angry Damon arguing quite vehemently with Logan who was rapidly trying to calm him down from his raging fit.
"What the hell is going on here?" Sienna demanded her voice raspy from sleep.
"Nothing! Go back to bed, Sienna," Damon growled, barely sparing her any eye contact.
"Uh, NO, you woke me up, therefore, YOU are going to tell me what the hell happened and why you look like you're about to explode into a murderous rage," Sienna wasn't the least bit intimidated by her volatile uncle; Logan grimaced, but flashed Damon a warning glare before departing to his room, leaving the two stubborn Salvatores to their own devices.
"What did Stefan do?" Sienna drawled out, upon taking note of Damon's questioning raised eyebrow, she clarified, "Since I've known you, I've seen you get mad either from Bonnie or Stefan's doing. I'm gonna risk a guess and say it was Stefan this time."
Placing a dainty hand into Damon's large ones, she tugged him over to the kitchen and sat him down on the table before opening the freezer and the drawer, setting the ice cream bucket and two spoons, "Ice cream always makes me feel better. It helps when you want to spill your guts."
Damon scoffed scornfully, "I'm not some chick whining over a breakup, Sienna."
"No, but you're a hundred and seventy-five year old vampire pining over his lost and epic love whose been trapped in a tomb for a hundred and fifty years. Po-tae-to, po-tah-to. Come on, cousin, spill 'em," Sienna smirked, and a smile involuntarily curled around Damon's mouth as he sighed and grabbed a spoon.
"So, that vampire from the dance, Elena's stalker, he said that the answer to opening the tomb is in Emily Bennett's grimoire, and its location is in Jonathan Gilbert's journal. Apparently, little Gilbert let your history teacher, Alaric Saltzman, borrow it and Anna most probably stole it before Stefan could grab it," while Damon retold the tale of the day's events, Sienna listened carefully, completely enraptured with every word, "I took little Gilbert to meet Anna in the Grill and followed her back to the motel where she told me the grimoire is in my late father's coffin, buried with him."
Damon began spooning the ice cream more violently at that stage, and Sienna couldn't help but grimace, wondering what Stefan and his prissy bitch, Gilbert did to infuriate him so, "Go on…"
"They were double-crossing me the whole time. Ever since the dance, the two lovebirds have been feeding me garbage of brotherly and friendly solidarity, promising me that they'd help me get Katherine out of the tomb, destroying the other vampires in the process and I'd get to leave town with her. But when I went to Giuseppe's burial ground, I found them both with the grimoire in hand, ready to dig him back up and leave without telling me they got the grimoire," Damon spat, and although he had on a nonchalant front, Sienna could practically sense the desolation and betrayal oozing from the older Salvatore.
"So what did you do? I mean, you're Damon Salvatore," Sienna smirked with a meaningful glance, "I doubt you applauded them and then skipped away merrily."
A smirk tugged onto his incredibly handsome features, "I may have fed Elena my blood and threatened to turn her against her will." He withdrew a thick book from his jacket, slamming it onto the table, "Got the grimoire, so all's good in a day's work."
Damon was surprised to silence when Sienna's dainty, warm hand held his comfortingly, "You don't have to act brave and wear that façade of nonchalance around me, Damon. It's okay to be hurt. What Stefan and Elena did was … deplorable-"
Damon scoffed, ripping his hand from hers, "Yeah, right. Like you and your merry band of sisters wouldn't do the same to me if you were given a chance," a cold smile flittered on his face, "It's alright, I'm cool with it. I'm used to taking knives out from my back."
"No. You've kept your word since I allowed you entry into the house. I would never betray you like that, and you know that," Sienna snarled harshly, gravely offended, "If I didn't agree with your method, and didn't want to help you, I'd be honest and tell you to your face that I'm not gonna help you, and basically to go to hell. I don't like backstabbing people and you know that! It's not my style."
And without another word, Sienna got up and waddled upstairs and into her bed, leaving Damon to ponder over his niece's biting words.
"Sienna? Sienna Salvatore, we meet again," an ethereal voice called out.
Sienna whirled around, only to find herself facing yet again, Emily Bennett, dressed in the same eighteenth century garbs, "Ugh, youagain. Look, I did my part, I tried convincing innocent little Bennett, but she wouldn't budge on the Elena front and called me a liar."
A half-smile appeared on Emily's visage, "I know child. I was watching."
"'Cause that's not creepy," Sienna mumbled, "So, you've infiltrated my dreams – again … what's the cryptic message of the day?"
Emily glided over to stand by Sienna's side, barely allowing there to be any personal space between them, "Protect Bonnie from the doppelgänger!"
"Ugh, this again! Listen woman, I'm like nearing my sixth month of pregnancy with TWINS! What do you want me to do? Murder Gilbert? Lock her in the dungeons?" Sienna yelled, clutching her stomach tightly.
"Of course not-"Emily halted for a moment, her face transforming to grief before sighing out loudly in defeat. "It's already too late for Sheila, her Fate is, regrettably, sealed. However, Bonnie still has a fighting chance…
…Protect Bonnie from the influence of the doppelgänger…"
Sienna sucked in a huge lungful of breath as she awoke from yet another aggravating dream.
Damn Bennett witches weren't leaving her alone for crying out loud.
After she had showered and gotten dressed, she went down to the living room, pausing in shock when she found Logan, River and Luna congregated around Damon who was deeply immersed in Emily's grimoire.
"You look like hell," came Luna's affectionate greeting. River held out a plate filled with toast and eggs and Sienna gratefully grabbed it, plumping down on the futon between Luna and River.
"Yeah, well, got another visit from the ghost of annoying past," Sienna snarked, the subtle message transmitted and received successfully as both girl's eyes gleamed with worry and recognition, while the two vampires stared at her in confusion.
"Don't ask," River muttered, as Luna gave her a 'we'll talk about this later' look to which she received a small nod in response.
"Anna took Elena," Stefan shouted hysterically as the door slammed, followed by Stefan's erratic pacing into the room, his eyes beseeching each and every one of them to come to Elena's aid.
Without even looking up from Emily's grimoire, Damon casually quipped, "Yeah, I got that from your six hundred voicemails." Stefan strode across to room and right up to Damon's face, "Damon, all night long, every single street in town, I've been searching. What if your blood hasn't passed out of her system?"
"Then we'll stake her and allow her to rest in peace," Luna smirked flippantly, garnering herself a deathly glare from Stefan and a snort from Damon, River and Sienna.
"Besides, she deserves it for backstabbing your, uh, I dunno, BROTHER," Sienna shouted, "And while we're on that subject, not that I usually agree with Damon's sinister plans, but what the hell, Stef? I didn't know betrayal was on the menu."
Stefan gaped in flabbergasted shock at Sienna towards the end of her speech, while Damon, no matter how much he denied it, was touched at her defending him. Shaking his head, Stefan ignored everyone in the room and focused imploring eyes on his older brother, "Please. What do you know? You were with Anna; you must know where she's living. Just tell me where I can find her."
Damon spared Stefan a miniscule of eye contact before smoothly saying, "Nope. You can go. Really."
"You know, all I can remember is hating you. There might have been a time when that was different, but your choices have erased anything good about you," Damon dropped down the grimoire onto the table and gave Stefan his full attention, "But see, I also know you have just as much reason to hate me. This all began with me. Katherine got taken away from you because of me. And I'm sorry."
There was complete and utter silence around the living room; everyone held their breath in, waiting for Damon's response as he stared at Stefan coolly. Suddenly, he noncommittally shrugged and said, "Apology accepted."
A soft smile appeared on Stefan's face, hope shining through his forest green eyes, "So, you'll help me?" When Damon made no move to speak, he pleaded, "It's Elena, Damon. If you know something, tell me."
"It's Elena. It's Elena… you say that like it would make everything okay. She's not some holy god, ya know," River grumbled in irritation. Sending a smirk toward River at her remark, Damon stood up, making Stefan mimic his actions.
"I mean this sincerely," Damon spoke in a genuine tone, "I hope Elena dies."
Sienna stared at Stefan in pity as Damon walked out of the room, Logan no far behind. Stefan glanced at the floor desolately, and Sienna couldn't hold it in anymore, "Stef, you know I love you. I freaking adore you, and you're an amazing cousin slash uncle. But sometimes you are so naively dense. Last night, you and Elena betrayed Damon, and don't say he doesn't care, because we both know that's a lie. You cannot ask Damon to save the girl who betrayed him's life."
"Yeah, and you know how much I hateee siding on Team Damon, but I'm on his side this time," Luna added with a shrug and a pinched look on her face.
Stefan shook his head, anger clouding his vision, "You're all saying that because you three hate Elena."
River nodded, "That may be true. But even though … Damon has a point this time. I mean, yeesh, give the guy at least a week before asking for his help."
Later on, the three girls found themselves watching Legally Blonde on television while Stefan roamed around like a headless chicken, searching for Elena and Damon returned from god knows where, sitting opposite to the girls, immersed yet again in the grimoire with Logan by his side.
"I can't believe I'm missing Duke's party!" Sienna groaned, "I hate being pregnant!"
"Stop complaining. Your babies will pop out before summer starts and senior year will be having tons of parties," Luna snubbed, throwing popcorn at the whining Salvatore's face.
"Uh, adults in the room. You're too young to be drinking alcohol," Logan called out, momentarily distracted from helping Damon.
"Oh please, Uncle Logan, as if you didn't spend all of high school in a drunk haze. Don't think we didn't hear all the stories," River retorted.
The non-vampires jumped as the door slammed shut and Elena strutted into the room like she owned the place.
"Excuse me, bitch! Who the fuck do you think you are?" Sienna growled, "How many times must I tell your thick-headed brain that barely contains any neurons to think, KNOCK! KNOCK and wait for someone to let you in!"
"Uh, I just, I wanted to talk to Damon," Elena stuttered with wide eyes.
"That's not an excuse, slag," Luna snarled, walking over to Elena's face, her grey eyes stormy with malicious rage. Sienna shot up to her feet with River's aid, "One more time, Gilbert. One more fucking time, you walk into MY house without permission and I swear to all that is holy; I'll find a witch to place a spell barring you from entry. Got it?"
Elena nodded her head rapidly, eyes wide with terror; pregnant Sienna was extremely scary once ticked off.
"What do you want Elena?" Damon snapped; he had been watching his niece and Luna rip Elena's head off, and he had to admit, it was amusing; although he couldn't understand why exactly they despised Katherine's doppelgänger so much.
"I convinced Bonnie to help you," Elena stated proudly, albeit a bit smugly.
"I doubt that," Damon scoffed, crossing his arms together.
"I'm not gonna say that I'm sorry we got the grimoire without you last night, because I'm not really," Elena said adamantly, not even a flicker of regret crossing her face and Sienna never hated her more than that moment.
"Well, at least you're honest," Damon remarked glibly.
"And a bitch," Sienna, Luna and River chorused, garnering amused stares from the vampires and an offended one from the bitch herself.
"Look Elena, leave Bonnie alone. If she really is your best friend, then you can see you're placing her in danger," Sienna commented, sounding serious for once.
Elena glared at her, "What do you care? You made it perfectly clear how much you hate Bonnie and me-"
"No! No, no, no, no, no. I hate YOU and only YOU. Bonnie is just a mindless sheep, too blind to see how damaging her friendship to you is. I'm trying to spare the poor girl any heartbreak," Sienna snapped harshly.
Sienna completely failed in her task, and Elena managed to coerce Damon into leaving the house. Before he left, Damon gave Logan the job of 'taking care of the pregnant teen and her friends' duty while he went to save his damsel in distress from the tomb of desiccation.
How utterly romantic…
NOT!
"Hey, you guys, I'll be right back. Nature calls," Sienna fibbed.
River and Luna absently waved her away, their eyes intently focused on Reese Witherspoon and her pink Chihuahua. Marching up to her room, she grabbed her phone and locked herself in the bathroom, opening the faucet and allowing the rivulet of water to run so that Logan's impressive vampire hearing wouldn't be able to listen in.
Sienna never imagined that she would actually find herself in need of calling this contact, but these past few months were surprising in and of itself. Clicking the screen, Sienna placed the handset onto her ear and waited.
"Hello Sienna. I must admit, I didn't expect you to call so soon."
"Lucy, hi… Yeah, well, I didn't expect your ancestor Emily Bennett to continuously invade my dreams with the same cryptic message you gave me," Sienna retorted.
"She what?" Lucy gasped from the other end.
"Yeah. Basically, she told me to protect Bonnie from the doppelgänger. But today was different. Emily said that it was too late for Sheila and that her Fate was sealed? But that it wasn't too late for Bonnie. What does that mean?"
A sob could be heard from the other end, and Lucy's voice shook slightly, "It means that Sheila's going to die soon."
Sienna gaped, unable to utter a word. Unlike Bonnie, Sienna liked the kooky old witch, and she made Logan a daylight ring without any judgment.
"I'm sorry, Lucy. Really, I am. Not to sound cold or blunt, but I really don't know what to do… Damon wants to open the tomb and free his vampire lover, Katherine. But, Elena convinced both Sheila and Bonnie to help. Bonnie doesn't believe me when I confronted her with your message, and –"
"Look, I have to go," Lucy abruptly interjected, "Thank you for trying, but the time isn't right yet. You'll understand soon enough. I'll be in touch."
The line was cut from the other end, leaving Sienna to stare aghast at her phone and mutter, "What the hell?"
The girls ended up falling asleep in front of the television, halfway through Legally Blonde 2 when they were awoken by a somber Stefan.
"Stefan … what's wrong? Did everything go okay?" Sienna sleepily muttered.
Stefan sighed loudly, looking utterly desolated, prompting Luna and River to sit up in worriment.
"Katherine wasn't in the tomb," Stefan said sadly.
"Oh my god," River gasped.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but poor Damon," Luna commented, pity seeping into her tone for once directed toward the older Salvatore.
"Sheila planned all along to trap Damon in the tomb, but he took Elena with him and when Anna fed her to Pearl, her mother, she screamed and I went in after her…"Stefan rubbed his eyes tiredly but carried on, "Bonnie convinced Sheila to let up the seal, but it exhausted her and she, I'm sorry girls, Elena just called before I got here. Sheila died."
Sienna felt like a bucket of freezing ice-cold water was splashed onto her person, "I had a feeling. Em-Emily's been invading my dreams; she told me that Sheila's fate was sealed. But I thought she had more time."
Stefan gaped at that little fact, before shaking away the thoughts, "Magic tired her. She's not exactly young, so her body gave up. Did, did Damon by any chance come yet?"
"No," Sienna scoffed, though her eyes betrayed her concern, "If I know Damon, he's probably in some sorority house, drinking his sorrows away."
"Still. I'd feel better if you three slept up in Sienna's room, just in case Damon is inconsolable. Usually when he's upset he's at his most volatile stage," Stefan told them.
One by one, the four occupants went up to their respective rooms, their thoughts consumed by Damon's obvious suffering.
Miles away, a stack of curiously shaped packed up boxes began glowing vividly; each box started to shake with potent power, the ambience of the room crackling with suffocating energy …
With death, the impenetrable seal was now unbound, ready for its rightful owner to accept its heritage and unmask its formidable contents.
A/N: The action is FINALLY starting.
Hold your horses dear readers, everything is going to change soon and the excitement is about to begin. Many challenges for the four sisters are about to begin…
R&R.