Chapter Nine
Okay, I'm In
"I'll leave the door on the latch. If you ever come back, if you ever come back. There'll be a light in the hall and the key under the mat. If you ever come back. There'll be a smile on my face and the kettle on. And it will be just like you were never gone..." ~ The Script
"Who I am from the start, take me home to my heart. Let me go and I will run, I will not be silent. All this time spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain. All is lost, hope remains, and this war's not over. There's a light, there's the sun, taking all shattered ones. To the place we belong..." ~ Trading Yesterday
"I don't ever wanna let you down. I don't ever wanna leave this town. 'Cause after all this city never sleeps at night. It's time to begin, isn't it? I get a little bit bigger, but then I'll admit. I'm just the same as I was. Now don't you understand, that I'm never changing who I am..." ~ Imagine Dragons
I stared at one of the many books I found in the study, my eyes tired. In the last few days we've done a lot of research. Jack was mailing whatever he found that might be useful, and Damon and I found some books in their study that mentioned Keepers.
I've been doing most of the reading while Stefan and Damon were out and about trying to get their 'friends' to join this fight. We needed as many bodies as possible.
I wasn't expecting a massive war, but I did think that we might have to be in battle shape. I had no idea what state the Keeper race was in, or what to expect.
I closed the book and pushed it to the side, laying down on my arms, closing my eyes.
I heard footsteps and looked up. Bonnie walked in with another stack of books, reading a note. "Jack?" I asked, taking a deep breath. She looked up and met my tired gaze. "No, these are some of my grandmother's books," she said with a smile.
"I thought we could use them," she went on placing them on the ground next to hundreds of other books. Bonnie agreed to help, only if Dave agreed to teach her what he knew about magic. Dave happily accepted, and they've been working closely together. Sasha allowed Dave to come home, and all seemed well. But she still wasn't taking my calls. I smiled at Bonnie and got to my feet.
"I'll get to them, after I've eaten," I said.
"No rush, we can do them together after you've gotten some sleep."
"Sounds like a plan," I said leaving the room. "Can you bring me something to drink," she called after me. "Sure!" I called back, heading downstairs.
I went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple, and took a bite as I headed to the fridge. I opened the fridge and grabbed a couple of water bottles, closing the fridge door with my butt. I left the kitchen and returned to the study. Bonnie was sitting on the floor, her head buried in a book. I placed a bottle in front of her, and took a seat on the floor with her. "Thanks," Bonnie said opening the bottle and taking a sip.
"So found anything yet?" I asked. "I might've found something, but I just wanna see if it leads anywhere," Bonnie replied flipping a page. "Good," I said taking a sip of water. I pulled a book closer and started reading. It would've been easier if I knew what I was looking for. We lost track of time, both of us too busy reading.
I pushed another book to the side and grabbed another book from one of the piles. I've found a couple of things that could help, but other than that there wasn't much to find.
Most data about Keepers were outdated, and without actual facts I had no idea what was going on. Bonnie sighed, closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
We were both over tired. I looked at the clock and saw that we've been at this for nearly four hours. We hadn't even had anything decent to eat.
"Ava!" Damon called from downstairs. "In here," I called back. Damon appeared a couple minutes later. "You two look like hell," Damon observed leaning against the door frame. "I'm going to head home," Bonnie said getting to her feet. It wasn't lost on me that Damon and Bonnie didn't get along, but I was too tired to care.
Damon watched as Bonnie left, giving her a sickly sweet smile. I shook my head and pulled myself up using the desk. "Any luck?" Damon asked pushing himself away from the door frame. "Not much. You?" I asked picking up the books that had information that I thought could be useful. "Elena managed to get Tyler Lockwood on our side," he answered stopping in front of me. "The werewolf?"
"We're going to need to fight fire with fire if we want to win, Ava."
"I know, I just don't want anyone to get hurt."
"It's war. People will get hurt."
"Then we try to reduce the damage."
The front door opened and someone stomped into the house. Damon and I looked at each other and left to go see what was going on. We rushed downstairs, following the rapid heartbeat. We found the culprit in the living room, pouring a drink.
Sasha stood in the living room in all her beautiful glory. She gulped down the drink and turned around. "Shit!" she swore, jumping backwards. "Don't sneak up on me like that," she chastised holding her hand against her chest.
"Sorry," I said, shifting my weight from my left to my right.
"I just want to make sure I got this all right," Sasha began looking at me and Damon.
"You're my mother." She looked at me, and I nodded. "And you're my father." She looked at Damon. That was the part that she couldn't quite get a grasp on.
"Do you know how crazy this all sounds?" she asked.
"Believe me I was just as shocked," Damon said taking a couple of steps forward.
Sasha and Damon looked at each other, taking in each other's features.
"I know this is a lot to take in, and I don't expect you to just accept it. But you needed to know," I said taking a step forward. Sasha dropped her gaze and nodded, turning around. She poured herself another drink and gulped it down, slamming the glass down on the table. "Okay. I'm in," she said wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "What," I asked taken aback. "You were there when I needed you the most. And you're blood. So, I'm in. Whatever you need." I looked at Sasha and I couldn't help smiling. She smiled her fabulous smile and held out her arms for a hug.
I went over and hugged her. She stepped away and looked at Damon. She took a deep breath and went over to hug him. It took Damon by surprise, but he embraced her and I saw something I thought I'd never see in Damon's eyes. Unconditional love.
He didn't even know her, but he loved her. Sasha let go and turned to look at me, again. "My parents are a hundred," she shook her head. "But look like they're twenty." I laughed and knew that it was all going to be okay. Sasha met my gaze and burst out laughing. She too thought that all this was insane. After a few moments we reigned it in and wiped our eyes. "So, what's the plan?" Sasha asked.
"Honestly?" I said. "I'm not entirely sure. Who knows what's going on out there."
"You don't have a plan?"
"We have a plan," I pointed out. "Granted it's not a great plan."
"Great. We'll die as a family."
"We're not going to die," Damon said rolling his eyes.
"We're going to die," I said looking at Sasha.
"But, we have a plan right?" Sasha asked not sounding totally convinced.
"Will you two stop being so dramatic," Damon said. "We have a plan, we just need to figure out how to best execute it."
"Execute sounds about right," I breathed looking sideways, avoiding Damon's serious gaze. "Women," Damon mumbled turning around. "Always so dramatic."
"We're going to die," Sasha said when Damon left.
"We most certainly will die," I said under my breath.
"We are not going to die!" Damon yelled from the top of the stairs.
"Because we have such a rock solid plan?" I yelled back.
"Yes!" Damon's voice carried from upstairs, his feet moving away from the staircase. "So?" Sasha said. "Where do we go from here?"
"Hell if we're not careful," I said chirpy.
