A/N: Okay, my lovelies! It's time for a brand-new chapter! I hope you're excited and ready to read.
As always, I must say that I do not own The Vampire Diaries. All (with the exception of this story and my OC Grace) belong to author L.J Smith.
Please review constructively, and no flaming will be accepted nor appreciated. Thank you!
REMEMBER ME THIS WAY
"And I'll be right behind your shoulder watching you.
I'll be standing by your side and all you do, and I won't ever leave."
~Jordan Hill: 'Remember Me This Way' (Remember Me This Way (Single) [1995])
So, as it turned out; it seems that a few hours after everything that went down at Young Farm, there was a freak accident, in the form of an explosion that took the lives of Pastor Young and eleven others. All of which were members of the Town Council.
Tragic? Yeah, I suppose so; after all lives were lost, and a young teenaged girl was now orphaned. Poor kid. Suspicious? Uh, yes. Definitely. Twelve people suddenly martyr themselves? For what purpose exactly? To prove a point? Send a message to someone?
Whatever the reason, nobody is fessing up as to the real reason for the mass suicide … except that the cause of death was a gas leak. Or so it said in the newspaper Nik gets every morning to keep himself abreast of the comings and goings of this miserable small town. There is a memorial happening at the local church in a few days.
All are welcome.
But I'm still umming and ahhing about whether or not I'm gonna go. If the tension currently hanging over us like a thick fog at the Mansion doesn't let up, I might just go. Just for a little bit of peace. Why is there tension, you ask? Well, you'd have to ask Nik that question, if you could stand to be within feet of him in the same room. All of it radiates from him, and a little bit from Rebekah, whom I barely see right now, since she and Nik had been avoiding each other like the plague ever since their massive fight.
But I will take some of the blame too.
While Nik hasn't been avoiding me, as such. He still makes excuses and leaves the room, or shuts me down instantaneously the second I even broach the subject of why he had done what he did with Tyler and Bonnie, to bring him back to his body. At first, I accepted that he needed time and space because of his altercation with Bekah. But by the third time he had done it, I was about ready to spike his scotch with wolfsbane, just to prove a point: that he was seriously pissing me off, and acting extremely IMMATURE.
He and I will have this desperately needed conversation eventually.
I will make sure of it.
Mikaelson Mansion
Day
The brilliant, warm sunshine filtered into the ballroom, as I sat alone on Elijah's piano seat with my back facing the keys, strumming away on my guitar. It was something I did when I was feeling emotional; and it usually changed my mood. But this time, it really didn't seem to be working, and I set aside the guitar letting out a sigh of discontentment.
Welcome to day four of Nik's avoidance routine, and I was getting pretty frustrated with him. I got up from the piano, guitar in hand, and headed for the door when my phone started ringing shrilly. Frowning, I reached into my pocket and looked at caller ID: Rebekah. I groaned unhappily, and hit accept call.
"Morning, Rebekah." I greeted my sister, hoping that she wasn't calling yet again to rant and rave about Nik. "I am not in the mood to hear you complain about Nik again. I'm already having my own issues with him as it is." I warned her, sternly.
"This has nothing to do with my bastard of a brother, Grace. I'm calling because I need you to take Damon off my hands for today." Rebekah responded, sounding impatient. Ever since Rebekah and Nik had their frosty falling out, of which Nik declared rather passionately that Rebekah was no longer his sister - I call bullshit on that - she had temporarily moved into the Boarding House with Damon.
I froze.
"Why? Has something happened?" I asked, mildly concerned. Rebekah just snorted.
"Well, ever since Alaric died, he's been rather moody." She stated.
"Damon lost his friend and drinking buddy, Bekah. I'm not entirely surprised." I pointed out, a little surprised by her seeming lack of empathy for her boyfriend. "Not too long ago, you were the one grieving—"
"Yes, yes. I'm well aware of that." Rebekah interrupted, and I rolled my eyes. "Selfish bastard." I heard her mutter. But before I could jump on her for launching into another smear against her brother, she continued talking. "Look, I really just need your help. I'm a little out of my depth here. Damon is the longest relationship I've ever had where Nik hasn't scared him off or killed him."
"Good bloody luck with that. Damon's not one to go down without a fight." I muttered underneath my breath.
"And I've never had to comfort somebody that wasn't one of my brothers before." She sounded a little anxious.
"I didn't say I wouldn't help, sweetie. I'm just trying to solve a problem of my own right now." I explained hastily.
"What problem?" Rebekah demanded instantly.
"I'm trying to talk to Nik about why he chose not to tell me why he did what he did after he was 'killed.' He refuses to speak to me." I said, feeling hurt.
"And you're shocked by this?" Rebekah was sarcastic. "Nik has always been stubborn, ever since he was a little boy. You know that." She reminded me.
"Not like this." I said, quietly.
"Can you help me or not?" Rebekah asked bluntly. She didn't want to discuss Nik anymore, and I was getting sick of being brushed off. Movement out the corner of my eye caught my attention and I turned to see Nik stepping into the ballroom, just finished or in the middle of painting, if the paint spattered shirt he was wearing gave any indication. He paused when he saw me, and his eyebrow rose in question.
I sighed.
"Sure. I'll help." I promised, reluctantly.
"Thank you. You'll find him at the Grill." Rebekah sounded relieved, whereas I felt kinda used and resentful. "I have to go. I'm purchasing a new house, and I can't be distracted right now." She hung up abruptly, and I pulled the phone away, frowning at it.
Purchasing a new house, huh?
"Nice conversation with Rebekah, love?" Nik asked casually. I frowned at him.
"Not nice to eavesdrop, Nik." I chided him as I put my phone back into my pocket. I walked by him, intending to put my guitar away and grab my jacket and shoes. Nik reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me to a stop.
"What's wrong?" He asked, tucking a piece of my hair that had fallen free from my ponytail back behind my ear.
"Something's up with Damon. I'm gonna find out what." I replied, choosing to play dumb.
"You know that's not what I meant, sweetheart." Nik frowned, seeing right through me.
"Oh? Now you want to talk?" I sneered, ripping my hand away from his grip as I charged up the staircase. Nik was quick to follow.
"I don't want to fight with you." Nik stated, trying to keep his patience, which always seemed to be thin these days.
"I'm not fighting." I corrected him. "All I've been trying to do is understand. But you continue to dodge every attempt that I've made." I stopped at the top of the staircase and turned to face him. "Indulge me. What is so bad that you refuse to talk to me about it?" I demanded. Nik said nothing, just looked at me in frustration. "I'm about to marry you, Nik. Like it or not, there are going to be times where we have to have uncomfortable or difficult conversations with each other." I reminded him, before turning and continuing down the corridor towards our bedroom, more determined than ever to get a moment of reprieve from this house.
"I'm not trying to avoid talking to you about it." Nik finally admits, and I pause with my hand on the doorknob and turn to look at him, waiting.
"Care to elaborate?" I prompt him.
"Not right now. But I promise I will explain soon." Nik promises.
I nod, "As long as you do. I don't like this stifling tension hanging over us right now." I told him. Nik nods in agreement. I walked over to him and kissed him chastely. "I'll see you later." Nik smiles a little, before turning and heading back downstairs while I went back to our bedroom.
Mystic Grill
Day
I stepped into the Grill, and glanced around as I let the heat of the place warm me up a little. It wasn't too busy, but had a decent amount of customers dotted about the room. I zeroed in on the bar, finding the reason I was here, nursing his usual bourbon with a bottle of Jack within easy reach for a quick refill.
"Hey, Grace." I smiled warmly at Matt, who was carrying a bussing bucket underneath his arm and wiping down a nearby table. "Table for one?" He asked, politely.
I shook my head.
"I'm actually looking for Damon." I replied, before pointing towards the bar. "And I think I've spotted him." I added. "Thanks anyway."
Matt nodded before getting back to work, and I made my way over to Damon. I reached out and grabbed the chair right next to him, pulling it out to sit down.
"That seat's taken." Damon mumbled, and I frowned at him before rolling my eyes and moving around to his other side.
"By whom?" I asked, shrugging out of my jacket. Then froze when I noticed exactly who had taken up the seat. Alaric smiled and raised a finger to his lips to signal me to be silent. "Never mind. I already know." I said, and draped my jacket across the back of the chair. "Not exactly healthy, Damon." I admonished him.
"You're free to leave at any time." Damon responded, carelessly. He takes another swig at his drink, not once glancing in my direction.
"Why? You don't want to spend some time with Lil' old me? I'm crushed." I teased, earning a small chuckle from Damon who poured me a glass of Jack and pushed it towards me. "Things will get better, Damon." I reassured him.
"Yeah? I'll believe that when I see it." Damon snorted. "Not that I mind, but why exactly are you here?" He asked, finally turning to look at me.
"You have a lot of people who are concerned about you. Your girlfriend for one." I replied, taking a sip and enjoying the burn of the liquor trickling down my throat.
"Then why isn't she here then, if she's so concerned about me?" Damon questioned, looking slightly irritated.
"She doesn't know how to comfort you. Besides, have you met you? You don't exactly like people feeling sorry for you or showing any sort of pity." I told him. Alaric's ghost nodded in agreement beside Damon.
"You know me so well, Grace." Damon agreed, saluting me with his glass. I sighed heavily, then jumped when a newspaper is suddenly thrown down in front of us. A hand reaches over and attempts to pull Alaric's chair out. "That seat's taken." Damon says once again. I looked up to see who owned the hand and saw Liz paused in the act of sitting down.
"Please. Take mine." I offered, hopping down from the stool and walking around to lean against the counter in front of Alaric and beside Damon. Liz offers me a tired smile, as Damon reaches for the newspaper and reads the headline.
"'Faulty gas line leads to tragic explosion at Young Farm.'" Damon throws down the paper and looks at Liz sceptically. "Really?"
"Better than 'Town Council blown up. Police have no suspects.' Unless the perpetrator is right next to me." Liz looks up at Damon, staring at him curiously, as Damon takes a swig from his drink.
"Don't look at me. I always take credit for killing people." Damon denied involvement.
"Besides, I can vouch for him." I piped up, drawing Liz's attention. "Never went anywhere near the house. Just saved Stefan, Elena and Rebekah from the barn and we got the hell out of there." I explained. Liz still didn't look convinced, and Damon immediately puts down his drink.
"Seriously, stop looking at me like that, Liz." Damon sounded defensive. "If I were going to kill twelve people, I wouldn't blow them up. I'd have a dinner party." Damon insisted, and I winced at the graphic image he painted in my head.
"The explosion was sparked from inside. This wasn't an accident." Liz stated.
"It's definitely suspicious." I agreed, while Damon shrugged carelessly.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Liz and I look at him, scandalised. "The Council's dead, Liz. I see that as a win."
"Be that as it may, Damon. You should show at least some respect for the dead." I chided him.
"I've known some of the Council since I was a kid. They were my friends." Liz said. I shivered as something passed through me, making it feel like somebody had dumped ice over my head. I glanced back and saw Alaric gesturing insistently towards the main entrance. Frowning, I turned and saw an unknown Black man, in his mid-thirties perhaps, walking straight over towards us.
"Well, your friends tried to kill your daughter. Not to mention my girlfriend and Grace." Damon pointed out to Liz, before realising I wasn't paying attention to their conversation and looking over at our newcomer. "Who's the new guy?"
I shrugged as Liz turned to give 'new guy' her full attention.
"Excuse me, Sheriff. Hi, um, I was wondering if I could speak to you for a minute about the explosion at the Young Farm?" Damon and I exchanged suspicious glances with each other before looking back at him, frowning cautiously. Liz seemed taken aback.
"I'm sorry, Mr…?"
"Oh. Connor Jordan." The guy introduced himself, then holds out his hand to Liz for her to take. Connor was wearing thick black, work gloves, and obviously waiting for something to happen as Liz takes his hand and briefly shakes it.
"Are you with the insurance investigators?" Liz asks him, shifting into 'Sheriff-mode' instantly. Anybody strange even mentioning our most recent accident, was definitely worth investigating.
"No, no. I'm more of an independent contractor." Connor explains, before looking at both Damon and me. "Can we speak in private?" He asks, a bit brusque.
Rude…
"Sure." Liz agrees, and Connor nods briefly.
"Thanks." He walks off. Liz looks at Damon and me before gathering her things and following Connor. Damon raises an eyebrow before turning back to his drink.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Busybody Guy." He mutters sarcastically. I return back to the seat Liz vacated and looked at Damon for the next move.
"This guy is suspicious. So what's our next move?" I asked him. Damon smirks, amused by my eagerness.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to your soon-to-be hubby?" He asked, acerbically .
"Nope." I shook my head. "I'm yours for the entire day." I told him. "Besides, I'm not too eager to go home, until Nik is ready to answer a few of my questions about what happened after he was 'killed'." I added, a little irritated. Damon immediately looked interested.
"Ooh, that sounds promising. A little trouble in paradise?" He teased, and I glared at him half-heartedly.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" I stated, a little accusingly. Damon shrugged, taking another slug from his drink. "In any case, no there's nothing wrong. At least not with me." I explained, reluctantly. Damon's smirk broadened.
"Oh? Then who with?"
"Rebekah." I mumbled, feeling like the worst of betrayers, and the smirk on Damon's face practically vanished.
"What did that fucker do?" He demanded, all traces of amusement gone.
"Probably nothing any worse than what you or Stefan do when you both fight." I said, sadly.
"You obviously haven't seen Stefan and I really lay into each other." Damon scoffed, taking another swig. "What happened?"
I took a sip before responding.
"Rebekah destroyed what was left of Elena's human blood." I replied, nonchalantly. Damon blinked at me in surprise, clearly not expecting that sort of response. "And Nik naturally responded: by snapping her neck after agreeing with something she criticized him for." I sighed. Damon was quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful.
"Hard to say if she deserved it or not." Damon eventually responded. "Depending on what she said that set him off." He looked at me quizzically, asking me to fill in the blanks for him.
"Nik supposedly doesn't care about Rebekah's feelings about his 'death' or lack thereof?" I supplied, and Damon winced.
"Okay. Harsh." He admitted.
"What was? What Nik did or what Rebekah said?" I asked, curious about Damon's interpretation, as a sibling himself. Maybe he had some insight I hadn't thought of. Damon swallowed a mouthful.
"What Rebekah said." He said. "But Klaus and Rebekah are their own worst enemy, as far as I'm concerned." Damon observed. I raised an eyebrow at his answer, while subtly glancing over at Alaric for his reaction. I wasn't disappointed, he looked a little taken aback also.
"And you feel qualified to suggest such a thing like this?" I asked, flatly. "Don't you think you're being a tad hypocritical?"
Damon let out a derisive chuckle.
"Look, I don't claim to be perfect. Hell, if I had been, my father probably wouldn't have treated me like crap my entire life and sent me off to the Civil War like he did, while kissing Stefan's ass for being the 'golden boy.'" He sounded very resentful of this fact, but just as quickly dismissed it to get back to his point. "Point is, I probably would've reacted the exact same way as Klaus did, because I would've hated the insinuation that she knew what I was feeling, over the fact that she wasted what was left of Elena's precious blood." Then he smirked. "But at the same time, I'm glad Rebekah fucked up Klaus's plans."
"Of course, you are." Alaric muttered, rolling his eyes. I struggled to hide my smirk.
"Well, at least I know what's up with Rebekah now." Damon shrugged, as he pulled out his phone from his back pocket and accessed his speed dial.
"Who are you calling?" I frowned.
"Stefan. Probably teaching Elena the art of 'Bambi hunting' right about now." He stabbed at Stefan's name and held it up to his ear. "Time to ruin the moment, naturally." He grinned, and I rolled my eyes and finished what remained of my drink as the call connected.
Managed to persuade Damon to play a session of darts with me after his brief phone call with Stefan, who yes, was with Elena, who also no doubt was likely to come down to the Grill any second to interrogate him about the mass suicide. The door to the Grill opened, about ten minutes after Damon's phone call, and I saw him roll his eyes in exasperation as he made his shot.
"Elena's here." Damon muttered at me, as he threw and missed the bullseye by a few inches. I grinned around the rim of the glass I was in the process of taking a sip from, and noticed Alaric eying Elena sadly as she scanned the room looking for, well Damon.
"Ten bucks says she immediately reams you for the accident." I challenged him, and Damon smirked.
"No bet. She always accuses me."
"Did you do it?" Elena got straight to the point as she fronted up to Damon who was in the process of removing his darts from the board. He gave me a 'see?' look, which I retorted by childishly sticking my tongue out at him.
"Hello to you too." Damon drawled as he walked past her and back to where I was standing, observing his next shot. Elena rolled her eyes and deliberately stood in front of him to block his move.
"Did you set off the explosion that killed the Town Council?" She insisted, and Damon lowered his arm and grabbed Elena by her upper arms, shoving her aside.
"Pushy much?" I observed, earning a glare from Elena and a scoff from Damon.
"Am I wearing my 'I Blew Up The Council' T-shirt, why does everybody keep asking me that?" Damon whined, hurling his last dart at the board before turning and heading back to the bar, hooking an arm around my shoulders at the same time. I playfully shrugged him off.
"Did you?" Elena pressed.
"No." Damon responded, flatly. "Anything else?" Elena hesitated.
"Yes, something's wrong. I can't keep any of the animal blood down." She admitted.
"Well, there's a shock." Damon drawled.
"I think I need your help." Elena requested.
"Naturally." I muttered underneath my breath as Damon studies her in annoyance for a few seconds before sighing heavily and spinning 'round on his stool to sweep his arm around the place.
"Pick your meal." He points to a customer of Asian descent. "You've got Asian fusion." Points to another customer. "Mexican." And then finally at one of the locals I recognized walking about the town whenever I sought some personal time to myself. "What about some good old American comfort food?"
Elena immediately protested, "No. No, no human blood. Stefan's right. I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone." Damon pauses before knocking back what was left of his drink before getting to his feet.
"Fine." He said, reluctantly. "Come on." He hovers his hand on the small of Elena's back and guides her towards the restrooms. "Be right back, sweetness." Damon shouts back at me, and I nodded; not envying him his task of helping Elena keep down her blood.
"How you holding up?" I jumped when I remembered that I wasn't exactly alone and glanced up into Alaric's warm smiling face.
"I'll live." I responded, trying hard not to reflect on the conversation I was going to be having with Nik once he was ready to fess up. "A lot of things have gone down in your absence, Rik." I told him, not particularly caring if people thought I was off my rocker talking to thin air.
"So I heard before." Alaric said, indicating to the conversation I had with Damon about Nik and Rebekah's turbulent, rocky relationship at present. "Are you safe?"
"I've lived through their spats before, back when they were human." I reminded him.
"Yeah, when they were human." Alaric put emphasis on the term 'human.' "But they're not human anymore, Grace. You could be at risk."
I nodded, "Yeah, I could be. But none of them would hurt me." I insisted.
Alaric raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"You seem awfully sure of yourself." He disapproved, and I couldn't help but scowl at the ghost of my friend in annoyance.
"I'm not a fool, Rik. I'm well aware of the risks, but I mean too much to them all for them to risk my safety. My death nearly divided them, more so than Esther's death before they learned the real truth." I insisted. "I appreciate your concern, but it's not needed."
"If you say so." Alaric sighed.
"Why are you still here, anyway? Shouldn't you be enjoying some well-deserved peace?" I questioned him, kindly.
"I'm worried about Damon." Alaric admitted. "He's not coping very well."
"Yeah, I noticed." I agreed. "I'm not sure what to do to help somebody who doesn't like being pitied." I admitted, and Alaric smiled.
"Just being there helps." Alaric encouraged. "Damon lost me, he'll probably cling to you to prevent losing you also." I cringed at the very idea.
"That's what I'm afraid of." I groaned, almost regretting agreeing to look out for him like Rebekah wished me to do.
Mikaelson Mansion
Day
The day of the memorial arrived, and in the end I decided to go to it. Not because I wanted to remember those bastards that tried to kill me and Rebekah, but for entirely selfish reasons. I figured praying in a church would help me or shed some insight into what to do next.
I was standing in the wardrobe I shared with Nik; dressed only in a lacy black bra and thong, deciding on which black clothes I was going to wear this afternoon. In the end I chose my latest addition to my collection: a Christian Dior number that Rebekah and I picked out on a shopping whim a few days after her fight with Nik, in an attempt to both distract her and cheer her up.
It was black, sort of looking like a Grammar School Blazer with a pencil skirt that ended mid-thigh, some decorative pockets and had long sleeves and a V-neck collar that showed an appropriate amount of cleavage, as to not be distasteful inside a church surrounded by mourners. I paired this with some sheer tan toeless pantyhose and a pair of strappy black stilettos. I decided to let my hair hang naturally, with just a simple Alice band to keep my bangs from getting into my face. A quick application of eyeliner, mascara and a plum shade of lipstick, and I was as ready as I was gonna get for an event I knew for a fact that Nik was going to oppose me attending.
"You look wonderful, love." I pause in the middle of the staircase, and looked up to see Nik leaning against the parlour doorway, smiling warmly but curiously at me. "Where are you off to?" I drew in a deep breath to calm myself, before responding.
"The Memorial." I said, continuing the rest of the way down the stairs and heading for a small decorative table near the front doors, which my little black purse sat waiting for me. Predictably, Nik's smile instantly fell.
"I see. Why on earth would you be attending?" He asked, straightening up and walking towards me. "You were nearly killed by those cretins, you should be celebrating their demise." He pointed out to me and I couldn't help the slight chuckle I let out.
"You're not the first person who has said this." I commented, earning a look of surprise from Nik. "Not that it's going to persuade me otherwise of course." I stated, firmly.
"Who said this?" Nik asked.
"Damon." Nik stiffened and rolled his eyes. "But he's going as well, despite his obvious approval of the deaths." I explained.
"Seems a tad contradictory, don't you think?" Nik observed, and I nodded.
"I suspect he has another reason for 'paying his respects.'" I said. "It seems Elena is having some difficulties adjusting to her newfound diet lately." I reported to Nik.
"Understandable. She is still young." Nik stated, and I shook my head.
"No, it's nothing like that. From what she told Damon at the Grill yesterday, it seems she can't hold down blood." I said, and looked at Nik quizzically. "Is that normal for newborns?"
He frowned, "It's not something I've ever heard of. What sort of blood was she drinking, do you know?"
"Animal blood."
"Well that's not surprising, love. It tastes absolutely horrendous." Nik smirked, like it should've been obvious. I gave him a flat look.
"As I'm not a vampire, I'll have to take your word for it." I stated, gathering up my purse and car keys.
"You won't be saying that for very long, love. Not that we'll be starting you off on animal blood for your first meal, mind you." Nik reminded me of my not too distant future, and I shuddered at the thought of consuming blood, despite the fact that it was a perfectly natural, instinctive thing for vampires to do.
"I know, Nik." I said, smiling a little. I placed my hand on the door handle, and paused when Nik's larger hand closed over mine, stopping me.
"Are you sure I can't persuade you to stay?" Nik asked, and I shook my head.
"You can. Doesn't mean I'll listen." I replied, leaning back and kissing him briefly on the lips, and giggling when he followed my lips to deepen the kiss after I pulled away. "Stop, Nik. I'll see you later." I reassured him, then frowned sternly at him. "Remember, we still need to have our discussion." I reminded him, and Nik frowned in annoyance.
"I haven't forgotten." He acknowledged, holding the door as I opened it and went outside to my car. I blew him a kiss and got into the car, and drove towards the security gates. I felt a little guilty about ditching Nik to go to a service dedicated to a bunch of ignorant Town Council members, because he and Damon were technically right. Why should I go and send them off?
No. I was going for my own reasons. The fact that the church was going to be filled with mourners, was just an unfortunate and slightly inconvenient coincidence.
Mystic Falls Church
Day
It was a beautiful day. Perfect for what was probably going to be a very beautiful and moving service. I turned my car into the parking lot beside the church, which was a large brick building complete with four white ionic columns in front of the main entrance to the church, and a small tower off to the side, from which I could hear a bell playing its sepulchral tone for all churchgoers to hear.
I parked my car and got out, wincing a little at the afternoon glare of the sun and slid on my aviators. I closed and locked the car with my fob before stashing it in my purse and hooking it over my shoulder. I allowed myself to be swallowed up into the surprisingly large crowd of mourners, searching for a familiar face.
I eventually spotted Damon, looking dapper in a suit in his usual shade of black, but I noticed that he had foregone wearing a tie; which made him look infuriatingly gorgeous. If I wasn't already with, and completely devoted to Nik … well, you get the idea. Let's just say, Bekah is one lucky girl.
"Hello, Damon." I greeted him, quietly. He turned and looked at me, taking in what I was wearing and let out a low appreciative whistle.
"Hello, legs." He teased with a playful smirk, and I grimaced at him, unamused.
"Damon." I warned him, trying to remind him to be respectful despite his enormous dislike of the Town Council members we were supposed to be mourning today. He rolled his eyes, but gathered me up into a friendly, brotherly hug.
"You look beautiful." Damon stated, completely serious this time and I smiled at him.
"Thank you. You've scrubbed up nicely as well." I complemented him and he scoffed.
"Yeah, well. It's church. Gotta keep up appearances." He said sarcastically and I giggled a little, pleased to see that some of his dry humour had returned since yesterday. Damon offered me his arm, and I took it, allowing him to lead me towards the main entrance.
"So, how's Elena. Did it work, whatever you did?" I asked, just to make conversation while we waited to go inside. Damon shrugged.
"Seemed to. Haven't heard anything since." He answered, and we both started when Damon's phone started ringing. He pulled it out and looked at caller ID. "Oops. Spoke too soon." Damon hit accept call. "Elena, missed me already?" He answered in his usual smart-arse way. "Are you okay?" He suddenly went all serious, drawing my attention. I didn't particularly like Elena, but if there was something I could do to keep up appearances, I was willing to put aside the animosity to help. "Okay, just hang on. I'm coming." Damon hung up, and let out an irritated sigh.
"What's up?" I asked, frowning.
"Elena's not coping well with blood again. She's apparently thrown it up all over herself." Damon replied, looking mildly concerned.
"What was the last thing she drank?" I asked.
"My blood." Damon responded, impatiently. He started walking back towards the parking lot. I followed him, trying to get more information.
"She can't even keep vampire blood down? What gives?" I questioned.
"If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn't be in this mess with Elena." Damon responded, a little short. "Look, I'll be back soon, I got this under control." He got to his car and got in, and threw me a slightly flirty smirk. "Save me a seat?"
Damon peeled out of the parking lot, leaving me standing on the grass with a lot of unanswered questions swirling around in my head like an out of control tornado. I sighed, already regretting my decision to come here; begrudgingly knowing that Nik had some sort of sixth sense of his own about why I shouldn't be here in the first place. I just knew that something funky was going to happen today, and I didn't need to be psychic or a medium to know that.
I turned and walked towards the main entrance and walked into the foyer. The inside of the church itself was modest and tasteful; typical of a pious southern small town, and I walked patiently behind the crowd of mourners all slowly filing into the main part of the church to find their seats. I smiled politely at a few of the locals, and when I finally made it past the threshold, I immediately scanned the pews for an appropriate spot to sit. Preferably away from Elena and her friends, since my presence was probably not likely to be taken well since I was in a relationship with Nik, who was a contributing factor of why we were sending off twelve 'innocent' members of the Town Council.
"Grace!" I paused, and was nearly balled over when a blonde blur suddenly charged at me and wrapped their arms around my neck. "Hey, how are you?" It was Caroline. I offered her a pained smile, and glanced over her head at Tyler who was looking a little uncomfortable.
"Hi, Caroline. I'm surviving, as usual." I deadpanned, then nodded politely at Tyler. "Hey."
"Do you want to sit with us?" Caroline offered, realising that I was looking for a place to sit. I shook my head.
"Not unless you want to sit with Damon. I'm saving a spot for him as well." I replied, and Caroline immediately made a face. "Yeah, didn't think so." I chuckled softly. "Sorry, love."
Caroline cringed, "Love? You sounded like Klaus just then." She accused, and I shrugged.
"Or it could've been my British upbringing. Can't really shake that." I pointed out. Just then Stefan walked up, ignoring me (big surprise) and focused on Tyler and Caroline.
"What are you doing here, Tyler?" He demanded, earning a defensive scowl from the teen hybrid.
"Being sensitive to the community's loss." Tyler responded, like it should've been obvious. Stefan raised an eyebrow.
"With a hunter out to get you?"
I blinked, "Hunter?"
"Yeah. This random guy shook hands with Tyler with black gloves laced with vervain, and immediately shot at him with bullets after he reacted." Caroline explained, looking pissed off. I frowned contemplatively.
"Black guy, kinda serious looking." I listed. "Rude?" I added for good measure. Tyler nodded.
"That's the guy." He confirmed to me. "And I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be." Tyler indicated to Stefan.
"Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass." Caroline defended her boyfriend. I admired Caroline for her guts, but from what I observed from this guy up close and personal with Damon; I seriously doubted she'd last a chance, even if he was a human. We watched as Stefan walks off down a couple of rows, before taking a seat two pews behind Elena, who was sitting beside Matt. Ever since their accident, in which Elena lost her life; those two had been closer than ever.
Damon was not with her.
Shit! Where'd he go? I thought, thinking the worst now that there was supposedly a vampire hunter on the loose. Carol Lockwood approaches the podium, preparing the start the memorial, and I immediately slide into the nearest pew, while Caroline and Tyler hurry back to their own seats.
"Before we begin the mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council." Yeah, that's likely… I sneered in my head. "I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad." Carol starts looking around the congregation. "April, are you still here, honey?"
No one moves. Understandable. Kid just lost her father, probably got cold feet and didn't want to make a spectacle of herself. I certainly didn't when my parents died. Eventually, Carol sighs heavily and re-addresses the crowd.
"Is there anyone who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?" She asks, hopefully. Again, nobody moves for a moment. Then Elena stands up. I notice Caroline fidgeting a little, looking worried. "Come on up, Elena." Carol encourages her. As I watched Elena walk up to the podium, Damon suddenly enters the church and Stefan, Tyler, Caroline and I turn to look at him.
I sagged with relief.
Damon dips his hand into a bowl of Holy Water at the entrance and makes the Sign of the Cross, smirking as he did so. I rolled my eyes, then let out an indignant grunt with Damon none too gently grabs my arm and pulls me out of the pew and over to where Stefan was sitting.
"Easy on the goods." I growl at him. Damon shrugs as he slides in beside Stefan and tugs me down beside him. Stefan also looks at his brother questioningly.
"She doesn't look so good." Damon indicates to an uncomfortable, sickly-looking Elena standing at the podium. Stefan scowled.
"Maybe you should've told me she was rejecting all food sources." He retorts, while I immediately feel very concerned, and filed away this information so I could relay this to Nik in case Damon and Stefan were unable to fix the problem. Damon smirks maliciously.
"Jealousy's beneath you, brother." He teases.
"Oh, bite me." Stefan replies, irritated. Elena nervously shuffles from foot to foot and fidgets with some papers on the podium as she prepares to speak.
"I, uh, when I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too." She admits, and both Damon and Stefan look at each other. Jeez, it was like Elena was an unexploded bomb about to go off. I could practically hear the wood cracking underneath her hands as she grips the podium for dear life. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
Then she stops, and I feel Damon stiffen up beside me and sniff the air. I glanced at him.
"What is it?" I whispered, and Damon immediately shushes me.
"Nobody move. Don't turn around, it's a trap." Damon mutters underneath his breath, and sits ramrod straight. I frowned.
"What's going on?" I insist, and feel Damon reach over and trace the word 'blood' on the back of my hand, hastily. My eyes widen in horror.
Oh, no. We're in for it now… Just another reason why I shouldn't have attended this memorial today. Nik is gonna kill me if things go south right now. I look over at Elena and realise she is struggling.
"I, um…" Elena stammers, breathing in and out. From the ignorant perspective, it looks like Elena is just getting emotional, but the knowledgeable could tell that she was starting to lose it when blue-black veins start subtly appearing towards her eyes. I stiffen in anxiety, and can't even relax even after Damon grabs my hand in an attempt to keep me calm and to keep me in my seat.
"Keep calm." Damon hisses at me, just as Stefan gets up and slides out of the pew to walk up to the podium and rescue Elena. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and leads her off the stage back to where she had been sitting with Matt. The priest takes this as his cue to start the service.
"Please turn to page forty-two in your hymn book." He drones, and I quickly snatch up the book just to occupy my hands.
"Calm down!" Damon scolds me, as we both get to our feet.
"Let us join together in a song." The priest invites us, and I turn and glance at Damon sheepishly.
"Sorry. I just don't want to prove Nik right." I confess and Damon nods, absently.
"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. Just keep it cool." Damon reassures, hastily. When the song is finished, I lean over to Damon.
"Where's the blood coming from?" Damon sniffs subtly and angles his head towards the balcony above us.
"The balcony." He replies, then starts to rise again. "I'm gonna go rip his head off now." I immediately shove him back down.
"Are you nuts!?" I whisper-yell at him. Damon glares at both me, and the back of Stefan's head. Apparently, Stefan agreed with me.
"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off." Damon retorts, presumably to both Stefan and I.
"Do you wanna die?" I chide him. Damon appears to ignore what I said.
"You have ten seconds before I go old fashioned on the new guy." Damon warns, and my eyes widen when I realise he was really going to idiotically risk everything to go take out who I believed to be that Connor guy.
"Don't do it, Damon. Please." I pleaded, clinging to his arm in an iron grip. Damon pauses momentarily and looks at the scared look on my face. Good, he's actually listening for once…
"Three, two, one. Bye." Damn it, Damon! He starts to get up from his seat, and I go to stop him. But Damon suddenly stops and looks at Matt. I follow his gaze and notice Elena look at Stefan, who nods, before she turns into Matt and starts 'crying' into his neck. While this is happening, Tyler suddenly gets to his feet and heads for the podium himself. We all watch him, both confused and worried.
"Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young." Tyler announces.
"What the hell is he doing?" I mutter at Damon, who narrows his eyes.
"Sacrificing himself." Damon guesses, and my mouth drops open in horror.
"Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team, a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of—" A gunshot rings out, cutting Tyler off and causing him to crumple to the floor. The congregation starts screaming, ducking into the aisles or running out of the church.
"Keep your head down. I'm going after him!" Damon tells me, and allows himself to be swept up into the panicking crowd heading out of the church.
"Grace!" Caroline rushes over to me, grabs my hand and pulls me towards the stage and over to Tyler, along with Carol and Elena. Carol looks shaken up and white as paper.
"Oh my God."
I reach over and rip out the stake from Tyler's chest before anyone else could, earning a thankful nod from Tyler as he starts coughing.
"I'm gonna kill that bastard." He vows, attempting to sit up.
"Damon's way ahead of you." I stated, tossing aside the stake and Stefan glances at the door with the crowd still fleeing through it.
"I have to help him." He turns towards Elena. "Stay here." Stefan goes to leave, but Elena stops him to bring up a valid point.
"What about April?"
"We got it. Go!" Caroline tells Stefan, who leaves without another word. I straighten up and stand off to the side, choosing to observe rather than get in the way, and spot Elena walking off.
"I have to call an ambulance." Carol frets, and Caroline immediately protests.
"No, he's fine." She insists, but Carol just gives her a hard look.
"The whole town just watched him get shot. I'm calling an ambulance!" Carol insists, and I continue watching where Elena was going. She disappears up a staircase that seemed to lead up to the balcony where the choir presumably stands to sing. My eyes widen in alarm when I remembered Damon saying that the balcony was where the blood scent was coming from.
"Uh, Caroline…" I piped up, gaining the blonde's attention.
"What?" Caroline asks.
"Elena's gone." I pointed out, and pointed in the direction of the staircase. Caroline swears underneath her breath when she suddenly puts two and two together like I did, and grabs my hand.
"Come with me." She orders, and I nod. We 'rush', or rather 'vamp blur' over to the staircase and go up, just in time to see Elena, vamped out, about to take a bite out of a bound, gagged and bleeding teenage girl.
"Shit, April!" Caroline curses, and blurs over to pull Elena away from her. Elena immediately starts to fight Caroline. "She's not dead, but if you feed on her you will kill her!" Caroline reminds Elena, who continues to fight.
"Let go of me!" Elena protests. While Caroline was knocking some sense into Elena, I rushed over to April's side and pull down the gag across her mouth. The poor girl whimpers in pain and fear.
"Oh, sweetheart." I winced. "Hang on, I'm gonna help you." I promised, and started removing the ropes from around her ankles and wrists. An animal like growl causes April and I to jump instinctively and I glance over at Caroline and Elena. The latter was still fighting to get to the blood still leaking from April's wound in her stomach. My heart went out to April; I knew exactly how much a stomach wound hurt, and I absently placed a hand over my stab shaped birthmark right over where my heart was.
"Look at her! Look at her, Elena! It's April. April Young." Caroline was shouting at a feral Elena. "She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend." While Caroline continued soothing Elena, I started basic first aid. Just until either Caroline or Elena could give April some of their blood. I reached into my purse and pulled out a hankie and immediately applied pressure to the wound on April's stomach. April instantly protested.
"I know. I know it hurts, honey. Shh! You're okay." I soothed her, stroking back stray pieces of April's brown hair that had escaped the hair clip the younger girl used to keep her hair back. I turned to look at Caroline and Elena and sagged in relief that Elena seemed to be calming down. Caroline releases her from her iron grip.
"She's an orphan." Caroline reminded her friend. "Just like you, just like Grace." She indicated to April and me. "She's scared. Just like you were." Elena looks at April guiltily, allowing Caroline enough time to bite into her wrist and come over to April to feed her her blood. She reaches down to remove my hankie and goes to press her wrist to April's mouth. The wound heals over like nothing happened and Caroline hands the soiled hankie back to me.
April gasps and looks at both Caroline and me, fearfully.
"Please, don't hurt me. Please." She pleads, tears falling down her face.
"No one's gonna hurt you, love. No one's gonna hurt you." I reassured the traumatized girl, as I stuffed the bloodied hankie out of sight. Caroline gets to her feet and turns towards Elena.
"She needs you. You can make her forget all of this." Caroline encourages Elena. April looks at me, frightened, obviously remembering what happened to her. I reached out and took her hand.
"Why did he do this?" She asked me, and I hesitate; unsure how to answer the question. Elena starts backing off.
"No, I – I can't, Caroline. You have to do it." She insists, but Caroline remains stubborn.
"No. The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself." She stated firmly.
"No, I can't." Elena insists.
"Yes, you can." I piped up, drawing both Elena and Caroline's attention. Elena seemed surprised to see me there. "You just need to believe what you're telling her. Okay?" I coached her, and Elena frowned. But then she cautiously kneels down beside April and touches her shoulder.
April starts panicking.
"April, listen to me." Elena asks firmly. April looks at Elena timidly. "Everything's going to be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like I got through it." She reassures her friend, then begins to compel her. I stood up and moved away from them, to give Elena the space she needed to do what she had to do.
"I'm going to help you. I promise." She intones, her pupils dilating.
"I'm gonna be okay. You're gonna help me." April monotones back, and Elena turns and smiles at both Caroline and me. Caroline smiles back, and I nod approvingly.
"You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone." Elena compelled April. "It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things." April smiles at Elena, finally calm.
"I'll be outside." I said to Caroline who smiles at me. I go to walk off, and is immediately jerked to a stop by my wrist. I glance back in confusion and see an awkward looking Elena standing there, biting her bottom lip. "Elena?"
"Uh, thanks. I appreciate that you helped us out just now." Elena thanked me, and I smiled a little. She lets go of my wrist and I jerk a thumb in the direction of the staircase.
"Gonna go find Damon." I said, and made my way down the stairs, leaving Elena and Caroline to finish things up there. As I head for the main doors, ignoring the paramedics sorting out a completely healthy and annoyed looking Tyler, who was being fussed and hovered over by an overprotective, fretting Carol; I spied the rows of lit red candles, burning beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, and paused for a moment … deep in thought.
Outside the Church
Day
I walked out of the church and found Damon sitting on the steps, looking highly irritated for some reason. Curious, I walked over to him and sank down beside the dark vampire, hugging his arm to me and huddling in closer for warmth.
"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked, and Damon looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"They're worth a lot more than that." He responded, getting to his feet and pulling me up with him. But he didn't shrug off my grip on his arm as we made our way towards the parking lot. "Everything go alright in there?" Damon asked, and I made a face.
"You mean that farce Carol is making Tyler go along with to keep up appearances? I think everything's under control." I snorted. Damon just looked at me, flatly. "What?"
"I can smell the blood, Grace." He pointed out, and I frowned and reached into my purse, pulling out the soiled, bloody handkerchief.
"You mean this?" I indicated, then put the hankie out of sight when a car suddenly drove past. Damon nodded. "Again, everything's fine."
"What happened?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest as he leant against my car. I adopted a nonchalant attitude.
"Oh, nothing special. Just helped Caroline prevent Elena from killing April Young up on the balcony." I explained, and watched Damon's eyes nearly bug out of his head.
"Jesus, Grace!" Damon growled. "You really are playing with fire, aren't you?" He accused me, and I scowled at him defensively.
"Hey! If you're going to blame anybody for me being up there, blame Caroline. She brought me for back up." I stated my innocence.
"You could've said no." Damon pointed out, hotly. I glowered at him.
"I could've done a lot of things, Damon. But I chose to help Caroline prevent April becoming Elena's happy meal with legs!"
"And likely to have become one yourself." Damon insisted and I threw up my hands in resignation.
"Whatever, Damon. You're gonna keep protesting this till you're blue in the face. Why fight it?" I pointed out snidely and Damon let out a heavy sigh.
"You know that Elena is having issues with blood at the moment." He told me, glaring at me with frustration.
"And Caroline handled it beautifully." I praised her.
"What if she hadn't?"
"I am more than capable of protecting myself, Damon. You know this." Then I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why do you keep picking a fight over this? What's really going on with you?" I prodded him, suspiciously.
"Why are you constantly putting yourself in danger?" Damon insisted.
"Why are you avoiding my question?" I retorted. Damon glowered at me some more before finally caving.
"Stefan doesn't like the fact that I'm helping Elena with her blood issues." Damon confessed and I rolled my eyes.
"Why can't you both just get along, for God's sake." I grumbled, leaning beside him against the car. "What did he do now?"
"Aside from behaving like a jealous dickhead?" I just looked at him, unamused. I already knew this part of the conversation between them from when I was sitting beside them back in the church. "Well, I attacked that Connor guy. He shoots me with goddamn wooden bullets. I throw his pistol away. He rolls me over and tries to stake me." My eyes widened in alarm. "Then Stefan shows up, and scares him off. Little brother offers to help me up and I accept it … only to get punched in the face by him." Damon spells it out for me, and I groaned.
"God, are you both twelve?" I question, exasperated. Damon looked at me dubiously.
"Seriously? That's the reaction I get from you?" He sounded a little offended. "Some friend you are." I look at him sarcastically.
"Neither of you get any sympathy from me, because you're both just as bad as each other." I stated. "I haven't dealt with behaviour like this, since Nik went spare at Kol for getting into his paints and using them to turn Rebekah's hair blue." I reminisced, and Damon snorted with laughter.
"He did what? Seriously." He chuckled. "When did that happen?" Damon looked genuinely interested, and I decided to go with it, since it deviated from the topic about his confrontation with Stefan.
"When they were kids." I responded, with a little smile. "Took Rebekah forever to get the colour out of her hair, and it started turning purple." I giggled at the memory. "She started liking it too."
"As riveting as this is, I'm getting bored. Let's go do something else." Damon suggested, cutting into the happy memory, and I sighed.
"Sure. What did you have in mind?" I asked, clicking on my key fob.
"Let's get a drink." Damon opened the door then pointed at me. "You're buying."
"Gee, thanks. It's a good thing Nik gave me a card to spend whenever." I groused, getting in and adjusting the mirrors. Damon starts whistling along with the song on the radio, and I just look at him strangely. He was definitely not dealing very well with his emotions. But I guess I could consider myself lucky that he hadn't decided to 'switch off'.
That would've been a 'fun' experience.
Mystic Grill
Evening
Turns out that the Grill was the place to go to after a rather botched up memorial service, as it was practically packed to the rafters when Damon and I arrived. Damon just breezed on in, uncaring that there was a large amount of people already congregating at the bar, and promptly ordered his usual … after kicking a bar patron out of his usual seat. I mentally facepalmed and moved to stop him from potentially maiming the thoroughly disgruntled customer he'd booted from his stool, when I spotted Jeremy and Matt on the opposite side of the bar, deep in conversation.
In order to get over to where Damon was, I had to walk passed the boys. So it was very easy to eavesdrop on their conversation without being obvious. However, they spotted me first.
"Grace, hey!" Matt greeted me, and I walked over to them. I could feel Damon's slightly irritated gaze on the back of my head. I ignored him for a moment, wanting to see how well they were coping after the attempted assassination scandal during the memorial.
"Hey, how are you guys coping with everything?" I asked, curiously.
"Woah. That was insane." Matt answered with Jeremy nodding in agreement. "How do you think they'll cover this one up?" He asked us both. I shrugged, not really caring. But Jeremy seemed to have an idea.
"An assassination attempt on the Mayor's son."
"Altar boy goes postal." Matt suggested, and I made a face.
"That was tasteless, Matt. A little decorum, please." I chided him, disapprovingly. Somebody moves past me, causing me to stumble a little, and Jeremy steadies me, scowling a little at the culprit. I turned to scowl and demand an apology from the person and feel my eyes widen in alarm. Connor takes a seat on the stool beside Matt and orders a drink from the bartender. I turn and look over at Damon, who I noticed became extremely alert and pissed off when he saw our mysterious vampire hunter.
Damon immediately goes to get to his feet, but I raised a hand up to stop him, shaking my head subtly. Damon glares at me, but thankfully heeds my non-verbal warning. Connor glances around the room and zeroes in on Matt's neck.
"Hey," He grabs Matt's attention. "What happened there?" He gestures to Elena's vampire bite on his neck. Matt instantly claps a hand on his wound, making an 'oh, fuck' expression before replying.
"Uh, girlfriend went a little overboard." Matt lied, and walks off. Connor immediately looks over at me. Great. If he does anything, Damon will kick his arse, and then Nik will kick his for not protecting me.
"Don't look at me. I'm engaged." I stated, raising my hand to show Connor my ring, and hopefully getting me off the hook. Connor immediately loses interest, and picks up the drink the bartender puts in front of him.
"Nice ink." Jeremy suddenly pipes up, and I turn and look at the teenager, who was staring approvingly at Connor's arm. Both Connor and I blink down at his arm with confusion. Jeremy gets up from his stool and walks off, and I follow him; sending Connor an apologetic smile as I went.
"What ink?" Matt questions Jeremy before I could. Jeremy looks at his friend like he was crazy.
"You didn't see his tattoo? It was huge." Jeremy insisted, and Matt and I frown in confusion.
"He didn't have a tattoo, Jeremy." I pointed out.
"Yeah, he did." He insists again, before he and Matt walk off and I turned to take another look at Connor's arm. I was surprised to see how troubled the guy looked. I elbowed my way through the crowd of customers and went over to Damon, who was still looking at Connor with mistrust.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I snapped at Damon, trying to get him to stop staring before he gets noticed and raises the guy's suspicions. Damon tore his eyes away from his target and looked at me. His icy blue eyes felt like a laser drilling into my skin, and I couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably.
"What gives you the right to tell me what I can and cannot do?" Damon growls at me, and I mentally count to ten before responding.
"I am not having this conversation with you, Damon." I retorted flatly. "Especially, if you're going to whinge about the fact that I stopped you from exposing yourself, not only in front of a large crowd of innocents, but also to a trigger-happy vampire hunter, who won't hesitate to blow you away." I added.
Damon hissed with displeasure underneath his breath. Presumably because he knew I was right, and because he was being thwarted yet again to take care of the latest conundrum to fall into our laps.
"You were literally standing inches away from a deadly vampire hunter, who had no problems using a human as bait to lure out the local vamps." Damon couldn't help but argue. "Seems to me that you have no sense of self-preservation." He smirked sarcastically.
"I swear to God, Damon. If you start comparing me to Elena and her martyring tendencies; I will grab that little cocktail umbrella, and try to do what Nik attempted to do to you in Chicago." I reminded him.
"I'd have it out of your hands before you could try." Damon pointed out.
"Keep pushing me, and we'll see." I said, also smirking. Suddenly, Damon's phone tings with a new text message, and he snatches it up and casually glances at it. Immediately, he knocks back his drink and seizes my hand.
"C'mon, sweets." He says, pulling me towards the front doors. "Wait!" Damon turns back to the bar, and while the bartender wasn't looking, swipes an unopened bottle of bourbon and hides in his jacket.
"Damon!" I blurted outraged. He shrugged, taking my hand again and dragging me off.
"I've got a feeling I might be needing it." Damon guesses, and I shake my head exasperatedly. I knew I should've declined Rebekah's plea to take care of Damon for a bit.
"Where are we going?" I demanded, the minute we stepped out into the crisp night air.
"I've been summoned to the High School by Stefan. Apparently, something's happening over there." Damon explained, heading straight for my car.
"Oh. So I'm dropping you off, is that it?" I guessed, secretly hoping that was the case. Damon shook his head.
"Nope." He answered, popping the 'p'. "You're coming along too."
"But I got the impression that I wasn't invited." I pointed out, but Damon just looked at me dryly.
"So?"
"So, I'm gonna take the hint and go home. After dropping you off, of course." I stated.
"Nope. Not happening." Damon disagreed, much to my chagrin. "You're gonna be my plus one."
"Plus one? It's not a party, Damon. Whatever this is, there's got to be a reason why I wasn't sent a text message." I protested.
"Don't care." Damon insisted, and I just shook my head and gave in.
"Whatever, Damon. Let's just get this over with." I said, tiredly.
"Sounds good. Let's go!"
Mystic Falls High School
Night
I pull into the carpark, and Damon gets out of the car before I even stop to walk over to Bonnie, who was getting out of her car, having apparently just arrived herself.
"What are we doing here?" Damon demanded, indicating towards me as well. Bonnie gives me a half-hearted glare before responding to Damon.
"I don't know. Ask Stefan." She suggests, locking her car and striding across the lawn, over to some picnic tables, where I could see Caroline, Stefan, Elena, Matt and Jeremy sitting around them outside the school. Tyler wasn't there; presumably still under the watchful eye of his mother at the hospital.
Stefan glares at me as Bonnie, Damon and I approach them.
"What's she doing here?" Stefan demands at Damon, and I stop in my tracks and just stare at him, shocked by the rudeness.
"Grace is with me." Damon states carelessly, before looking about. "Stefan, what are we doing?" He asks, as Caroline gets up from her perch and comes over to greet me with a hug, before pulling me over to sit with her. I smile at her, but feel wildly uncomfortable being somewhere where I was not welcome. Stefan is not happy that I'm here, but shrugs when Elena – surprisingly – scowls at him for his behaviour. He eventually holds up a box of paper lanterns for Damon to see.
"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." Stefan explains, and hands Elena a lantern. "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it." He explains. "We push it away, we make a joke out of it. Ignore how we feel." Stefan lets out a heavy, dramatic sigh. "We've never just let ourselves grieve."
I got up from where I was sitting next to Caroline, and walked back over to a very sceptical Damon's side.
"So, you're lighting lanterns?" I clarified. Stefan looked at me blankly.
"Yeah. Yeah, we need to do this." He confirmed, and predictably, Damon shook his head.
"No. What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the Council." Damon insisted. "We have more important things to be doing right now than this."
I disagreed. So did Stefan.
"Not tonight, we don't." He said, firmly. Damon scoffed as he watched Stefan pick up a lantern and using a zippo lighter, lit the candle within. "This is for my uncle Zach and my friend Lexi and for Alaric."
He passes the zippo lighter to Matt who lights his lantern.
"This is for Vicki." Caroline gets to her feet and takes the lighter from Matt.
"This is for my dad. And Tyler's." She declared, lighting her lantern. Jeremy takes his turn. He looks over at a solemn Elena.
"This is for our parents." He looks at Matt. "For Vicki. Anna. Jenna. And Alaric."
I watched all this silently. They needed to grieve, and find a conduit to help them cope with their losses. And if lighting lanterns was the way to do it, great. But I preferred a different method to deal. Something a little more traditional. A lantern wasn't going to cut it for me, and apparently, not for Damon either. Jeremy finished lighting the lantern, and turned towards Damon, offering him Stefan's lighter.
"No way. I'm not doing that." Damon turns on his heel and leaves. Jeremy looks at me and holds up the lighter, but I shake my head.
"Thanks anyway. But I prefer to grieve my own way." I said, before turning and following after Damon who was crossing the road and almost out of sight. I needed to catch up with him. God only knows what would happen. An angry, grieving Damon was not a pretty sight.
Mystic Falls Cemetery
Night
I struggle to keep with Damon, who had longer legs than I did and when he was determined, could walk pretty fast when he needed too; with or without the aid of vampire speed. Eventually, I find him sitting on a bench, swigging on the stolen bottle of bourbon, talking to a gravestone. Damon's way of dealing with grief was apparently drinking himself into a stooper, and mumbling to himself. It was obvious from where I was standing, watching him, that he needed – no, wanted - to be alone. So, I decided to grant his wish. I was about to turn and walk back to the school to retrieve my car and head home, when Damon suddenly starts talking:
"They're floating lanterns in the sky, can you believe that?" Who the hell was he talking to? "A Japanese lantern is the symbol of letting go of the past. Well, here's a news flash: we're not Japanese!" Damon shouts, despairingly. I walk closer, trying not to be seen, and froze. There, sitting beside Damon, who couldn't see him, was Alaric, staring at his grieving friend with sad, pained eyes.
"Do you know what they are? Children." Damon sneers with disgust, and I hug myself both for comfort and to stave off the biting wind that was blowing by. "Like lighting a candle is going to make everything okay or even saying a prayer or pretending Elena is not going to end up just like the rest of us murderous vampires."
I frowned at the implication that prayers never solved anything, but held my tongue. This was Damon's moment to vent his frustrations, and I doubted my protesting or interference would be entirely welcomed right now.
"Stupid, delusional, exasperating, little children." Damon takes a swig from his bottle. "I know what you're going to say: "It makes them feel better, Damon." So what?" He lets out a heavy sigh, and I feel a sympathetic tear slide down my cheek. "For how long? A minute, a day? What differences does it make?" Damon gets up from the bench and walks towards what I assume is Alaric's gravestone, still ranting. Alaric doesn't move, still observing him.
"Because in the end, when you lose somebody; every candle, every prayer is not going to make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be." Damon pauses for a moment to read something that had been chiseled into the marble and scoffs, before adding: "And a rock with a birthday carved into it that I'm pretty sure is wrong." Alaric smiles and chuckles, and I roll my eyes and shake my head with fond exasperation.
Damon takes a seat on the tombstone.
"So thanks, friend. Thanks for leaving me here to babysit because I should've been gone long by now. I'm just stuck here fighting with my brother and taking care of the kids. You owe me big." Damon takes one final slug from the bourbon, before abandoning it on Alaric's marker, and strides away. I watch him go, waiting until I'm sure it's safe to emerge before striding over to where Alaric was still sitting on the bench.
"I miss you too, buddy." Alaric acknowledges Damon's parting remark, before locking eyes with me and standing. From the knowing look in his eyes, I knew that he was very much aware that I had been eavesdrop the whole time. He smiles at me, bittersweetly. "Take care of him, will you?" He urges me, and I nod.
"Always." I croaked, wishing I could hug him one last time. Alaric nods, before putting his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and turns and walks off, fading from view.
Mikaelson Mansion
Night
I went straight home from the cemetery. The foyer was deserted, the only thing around were the eerie shadows casting strange shapes on the polished white marbled floor, and the warm glow of the fireplace from underneath the closed double doors leading into Nik's study.
I walked slowly towards the stairs, but paused when I spotted a random white candle that had been abandoned in the living room. Probably left over from when Nik and Rebekah had forced Bonnie to separate them from the linking spell. Remembering the candles I saw back at the church, I was suddenly inspired and wordlessly walked in and picked it up. I headed up the staircase, aware that Nik probably sensed that I was home without me announcing it, and not really caring at the moment. I was tired. I was sad, and I wasn't in the mood to even begin trying to coax the truth out once again from Nik.
I quickly changed out of my mourning attire and dressed in my pajamas, before walking over to the window and perching on the window seat. I set down the thick, white candle and using a box of matches I grabbed from the mantelpiece, lit it, and sat back to stare at the yellow flame flickering. I was not religious, as such. But I liked the symbolism and the sense of calm praying gave you when you gave it a go.
"I didn't know you were religious." Nik's voice suddenly rang out, and I turned and looked at him. He looked genuinely curious, but also concerned. I smiled a little.
"I'm not really." I admitted. "I mean, I was baptised Catholic, but I choose to be Agnostic. The Catholic faith raises too many questions for me to be devoutly pious." I said, hugging my knees to my chest as I continued staring at the candle's flame.
"That's fair." Nik acknowledged, taking a seat beside me on the window seat. "How was the memorial?"
"Chaotic." I responded, sheepishly. Nik raised an eyebrow. "But you already knew it would be, didn't you?" I teased, feeling a little accusing. Nik looked mildly annoyed at the assumption.
"No, I did not." He responded. "What happened?"
"Tyler Lockwood was shot point blank, by a vampire hunter." I replied bluntly. "It caused mass panic, and Damon wanted to gut the guy who did it." I revealed. "He failed."
"I see. Sounds like a lot of excitement." Nik stated sarcastically.
"Hardly. It's unfortunately par for the course in this town. A new disaster every five minutes." I spat, tiredly.
"Precisely why I do not intend on staying in this bloody town for much longer." Nik said, dryly. I nodded, but had nothing to say to that. "It wasn't my choice, you know." Nik randomly speaks up, and I blink at him in confusion. "Jumping from my body to Tyler's." He elaborated.
My eyes widened in surprise, "It wasn't? Then whose decision was it?" I asked, relieved that Nik was finally confessing.
"Bonnie's." Nik answered. "She cast the spell that would transfer me to the nearest hybrid vessel, in the event that I should be slain by Alaric. But the decision was an entirely selfish one." He stood up and started pacing, intent on getting it all out. "It was to save the lives of her beloved Salvatores, Caroline and Tyler himself."
"That's surprising. Considering she previously didn't give a toss about Damon and Stefan, due to her witch heritage." I commented, a little spitefully. But I supposed, in a way, I should be grateful that Bonnie did cast it when she did. It meant that Rebekah and I still had both Nik and Damon in our lives/existence, and Caroline would be allowed to live the life that had been cruelly taken away from her by Katherine.
I sighed, and smiled gratefully at Nik, relieved that that weight had been taken off my shoulders.
"Well, I asked for the truth, and you delivered it in spades. Thank you, Nik." I said. Nik returned the smile, before immediately walking over and squatting in front of me and cupping my face in his large hands. He leaned in and rested his forehead against mine.
"You know I would do anything for you, love. If it is within my power. Remember that." Nik reminded me, and I chuckled before relaxing when my hybrid suddenly kissed me deeply. This lasted for several minutes, before I reluctantly broke away.
"I love you, Nik." I whispered, still feeling sad, but grateful to still have him. Nik pulled me from the window seat and cradled me in his arms.
"I love you too, sweetheart. Always and forever."
A/N: Please review!