Disclaimer: I only own my OCs
A/N: It was my husband's birthday yesterday and I got seriously sloshed. So I am battling a pretty bag hangover and can't really remember what happened in this chapter. Nor do I have the mental faculty to be able to read through it before posting. But I hope you enjoy it :)
XXX
It's safe to say that I didn't move more than a foot away from my brother that night. And I refused point blank to let him out of my sight. I even slept in his bed with him. I knew that it was irrational, but I just kept on thinking that if I took my eyes off of him for one tiny second, he would disappear. I would turn around and see him lying on the floor. Dead. Because I hadn't saved him.
Twice in two days. I almost lost him twice, in two days. Stupid vampires.
Every time I closed my eyes to sleep, that moment, that awful awful moment, just replayed in my mind. The way he just dropped. The thud as his body hit the floor.
Just no.
Jeremy was fine. He was fine. He was fine, alive and breathing. And fine.
I don't know how, but Jeremy had somehow managed to fall asleep. I could barely close my eyes. My arms were wrapped around him as I ran my fingers through his hair. Around half way through the night, the door to the bathroom opened and Ellie's head peeked round the door.
"Is he asleep?" she mouthed as she opened the door and walked towards the bed.
"Yeah," I answered before smiling fondly down at the kid. "Strange child."
Despite his near-death experience, the kid was knockout. His head was safely tucked into my tummy while his fingers were curled around the fabric of my pyjama trousers. Ever now and then, he would let out a little snort and shuffle closer. I didn't mind. While I couldn't sleep after what happened, I felt better having him in my arms.
My twin nodded before climbing into the bed. She claimed the place on the other side of our brother. While I was sitting up, she laid down behind him, wrapping her arms around the kid. I rested my free hand on her shoulder.
"How are you?" she asked me, glancing up at me.
"I'm coping better now that I have Jeremy right next to me," I sighed, looking at her.
The three of us hadn't shared a bed since the night Elena returned from the hospital after our parent's death. What with me and Jeremy going off the rails, we just didn't get the opportunity. And then the vampires arrived in town. And then you had the fallout from that.
"And how's your neck?" my sister had a very unimpressed tone in her voice.
"It's fine," I reassured her softly.
With my older sister there, everything felt so much better. She could help me protect Jeremy. It's what she did, she looked out for us. She tried to protect us, even when there was a risk to herself. So I did what I did best, I protected her.
With my twin's hand entwined with mine, I managed to fall asleep.
XXX
The next morning I woke up ridiculously early. And I mean ridiculously early. The sun wasn't even up yet. But to be honest, I was surprised that I had even managed to fall asleep. My neck was sore from where my head had slumped forward. And I didn't even want to think about how much my back would ache when I moved. That was gonna be a bitch to deal with.
Being awake this early was practically sacrilegious. No one should be awake this early. It should be illegal to be awake this early. I laid in bed for around half an hour, trying to get back to sleep. But alas, it was in vain.
So I gently disentangled myself from my siblings and crept out of the room. I considered going into my room and spend some time in there. But decided against it. That was where my baby brother had nearly died. I knew that I was going to have nightmares in there again. But that was going to be an issue for later.
I loitered in the hallway for a moment before making my way downstairs. The perfect idea of something to do, I had.
I immediately walked into the kitchen as I reached the bottom of the stairs.
Right, here's the plan:
Make cookies.
Make cookie dough.
Watch film.
Eat cookie dough.
Good plan, dontcha think?
I thought so.
So, of course, first port of call was the kitchen. Cookies were one of the easiest things to make. For me, at least. But anyways, I decided to treat myself, so I made double chocolate cookies. Sue me, I needed the extra chocolate. At least I wasn't going for the booze. My self-control had amazed even myself. After what happened, even I had expected me to go to my old comfort mechanism. But it hadn't even occurred to me. Which was good. Because that meant that while there was still an itch under my skin, I was in control. And that was exactly what I needed.
After putting the first batch of cookies in the oven and making the cookie dough, I meandered into the living room to choose a film. That was always that hard part. I never knew what to watch. It got worse when I was tired.
What to watch? Hmmm, what to watch?
Mary Poppins? Nah, not in the mood for Mary Poppins.
Star Wars? Possibly… but which one? Hmmm, can't decide. Guess that that one's out the window.
Star Trek? No, not awake enough to enjoy the gorgeous, handsome guys in it.
Indiana Jones? Nope, have to watch all three if I watch one. Cos that's the rule.
Grease? No, too many Jazz memories.
Oooh, I know.
I pulled Shrek 2 out of the DVD stand and put it into the DVD player. I loved this film. Like seriously love it. It made me laugh, which is exactly what I need right now. I needed a little bit of laughter in my life. Especially after last night. And the day before that. Hell, the month before that. This year had been a shitshow so far. And it wasn't even halfway through. So something heart-warming like Shrek 2 was the perfect thing.
Cookie dough, warm blanket, soft cuddly teddy bear and a funny film, just what a girls needs at four in the morning.
I sat there, watching the film and shamelessly shovelling cookie dough into my mouth. Double chocolate cookie dough. Like I said, I needed the chocolate.
I used to do this a lot, before mom and dad died. My adopted mom and dad… my aunt and uncle? Nah, they would always be mom and dad. But anyways, not important.
Instead of the morning, it would be very late at night. And I would have Jazz, Luke and Tyler with me. A bowl of cookie dough each, a good film on the TV. We would all bundle onto my bed and curl around each other.
Good times. Good times.
XXX
I had to get up at one point to take the cookies out of the oven, but other than that, I spent my time on my sofa. It didn't take me long to finish my cookie dough. But it did actually take me longer than I thought it would.
Once Shrek 2 had finished, I reluctantly left my blanket and put a new film on. The first Shrek film, to be exact. Don't know why I watched the second before I watched the first one. Probably did it because I was tired. I do a lot of weird things when I'm tired.
I must have fallen asleep sometime during Shrek as when I next opened my eyes, it was to Aunt Jenna shaking me awake. The film had been turned off and sunlight poured through the open windows. I languidly rubbed my eyes before stretching the kinks of out my back. Sleeping on the sofa equals bad back come morning time. Especially after the way I slept upstairs. And after it collided with the wall the other night. Yikes, my back must really hate me.
"Been making cookies at night again, have we?" Aunt Jenna asked as I sat up and invited her under the blanket.
She sat down next to me as I answer, "Double chocolate chip cookies, Aunt Jenna, there's a difference."
"Sorry," she smiled as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "But you didn't answer the question."
I shrugged, leaning into her side, "I woke up really early and couldn't get back to sleep. Especially after what happened to Jeremy last night. So I came downstairs and made cookies."
"And cookie dough."
"Can't watch a film without some sort of naughty goodie."
"Of course not, that would be sacrilege."
"Hush."
"But why cookie dough?"
"I was making cookies, thought that I might as well have cookie dough as the naughty."
"And the clearing up?" Auntie Jenna asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Fell asleep before I could."
Truth be told, I had completely forgotten about the clearing up. It never even crossed my mind.
Whoops.
Just as my aunt was about to make a reply to my comment, my baby brother called from the kitchen, "Nice cookies, Alexa!"
Oh, thanks.
… Hey… wait a minute…
"Keep your grubby hands off of my cookies!" I shouted before smiling sweetly at my Aunt Jenna. "I'll be right back."
I staggered to my feet and made my way into the kitchen.
"And who said that you could eat some of my cookies?" I asked as I walked up in front of Jeremy and crossed my arms.
"I did," Jer smirked as he knew that he would get away with it. In fact, he would probably get away with a lot over the next few days.
I stared at him for a moment before flinging my arms around him. I sighed and found comfort in the feel of his heartbeat beneath my hand. Even though I knew exactly where he was, my heart had still clenched up. Seeing him, holding him, helped to reassure me that he was okay. And he was going to stay okay.
"I'm so happy that you're okay," I whispered in his ear as I rubbed his back.
"I'm always ok," he returned with a smile.
"You're not allowed to scare me like that. Do it again and I'll tell Elena about your secret stash."
"I promise."
"Good," I sniffed, pulling away, pretending that I hadn't teared up. "Now, ring buddy, I need to get ready for the carnival and make some more cookies... and not necessarily in that order."
"Wait, ring buddies?" Jeremy echoed, frowning slightly. Is that the only part of that sentence that he understood?
"Ring buddies," I repeated, lifting my hand and showing him my ring. He grasped my hand and tilted it from side to side, examining the ring. (He he, Lord of the Rings... shut up Alexa.)
"It's the same as mine!"
"Uncle John gave it to me before he left."
"That's when he gave me mine."
"Fascinating. But before we can investigate matters, I have to get dressed."
"Alright," Jer shrugged, as he sat on the counter and ate another one of my cookies.
I rolled my eyes at the boy before making my way upstairs and getting myself ready for the day. The clothes for the day were black leggings, black shorts and a royal blue off-the-shoulder t-shirt. Normal, I know. I'm amazed myself. But I wasn't in the mood for anything to bright.
I spent the rest of my morning making cookies. Peanut butter cookies. Smarties cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. Double chocolate chip cookies. White chocolate cookies. Fudge cookies. Oatmeal cookies. Almond cookies. Caramel cookies. Coconut cookies. Gingerbread cookies. Shortbread cookies. Sugar cookies.
Yeah, I know, that's a lot of cookies. But it's alright; they're being used in the carnival. Sort of.
I had enlisted Jeremy and Aunt Jenna's help to make them. They were tasked with doing the measuring and the mixing. I was the Overlord of the Kitchen. I got a scary amount of pleasure from bossing them around.
They were also, of course, made to do the washing up. I sat there eating cookies while making snarky comments.
... I think that the power might have gone to my head a teensy tiny bit...
Whoops.
XXX
So, I spent the morning baking (and eating) cookies. I spent the afternoon helping Ellie and Bon-Bon set up the carnival. It's safe to say that that job bored the hell outta me. Why would I wanna set up? Actually being at the carnival was the fun part. Setting up was boring and tedious. Like I didn't care about any of this shit. And with Caroline being unavailable, I had been hoping to skip the setting up part.
But alas, evil twin made me help.
And she went down the more evil route of guilting me into agreeing. The girl knew exactly what buttons to press to make me actually ask her if she needed help. Honestly, if anyone tried to say that my sister wasn't evil, then they were naïve fools.
Fortunately for me, though, I had a box of cookies with me. I needed them. The sugar helped curb the itch under my skin that had been difficult to ignore. And besides, it gave me something to do with my hands instead of fiddling with my new ring.
"Katherine looked just like you," Bonnie was saying to Elena as they set up the prizes. Pretty pretty snakes.
Ellie had given me a purple snake to keep. I hereby name this snake Nagini. Nagini can now join the Almighty Teddy Bear Mr Ted, Peterbob the Sloth, Tyler the Wolf and Damon the Bat. Such loyal friends, I have. I had it wrapped around my neck, the head resting on my shoulder. And before you judge me, all girls had cuddly toys. Ellie still slept with her bear at times. So no judging, thank you.
"It was freakish."
"She is my ancestor," Elena reminded her, although I was sure that Ellie would have rather forgotten that point herself.
"Our ancestor," I mumbled petulantly around a fudge cookie. Though I don't know why I did, it's not like I wanna be associated with that bitch. But it was habit at this point.
"Oh hey, I moved the student booth into the cafeteria," Ellie said to Bonnie as she ripped open plastic bags.
But the witch ignored her, "Your vampire ancestor and she didn't just resemble you like a family member would, like Alexa does. She was you."
"I don't know, I can't explain it," my twin huffed, sounding stressed. "It's creepy, that's all I got."
Twinnie does not sound like she's in a good mood. I'm guessing that she didn't get a good night's sleep either.
I glanced down at my box of cookies before slowly extending my arm and offering one to my sister. She smiled at me in thanks as she took one of the chocolate chip cookies. I nodded at her before swiftly retracting my arm and hugging the box close to my chest.
"How do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you?" Bon asked, interrupting the twin moment with that horrible thought. Like honestly, it hadn't occurred to me and know that I knew it, it gave me bad feelings.
"Ooh, now that's a scary thought," I frowned, nibbling on a smarties cookie in an attempt to comfort myself.
I wonder if I could tell the difference between Katherine and Elena. Hmmm, only time would tell. Not that I would want to meet the bitch. But I knew that it was only a matter of time until I did.
"I don't," Ellie answered with a wry tone. "But I could sit here and be tortured by the not knowing or I could get these prizes to the ring toss."
Now that's the twin that I know and love.
Bonnie smiled apologetically at Elena before turning to look at me.
"Have you talked to Damon since he tried to kill Jeremy?" she asked with a cautious look. It was a fair question and sweet of Bonnie to check in. But all it did was remind me of what happened. And I had been doing my best to try and forget. Well, as much as I could forget. I knew that it would haunt my dreams tonight, the last thing I needed was for it to haunt my waking moments too.
I frowned bitterly, "Nope, I most certainly have not laid eyes on that dick since he tried to kill my baby brother. Nor do I want to."
Nope, not at all. Just keep reminding yourself of that, Alexa. Thatta girl.
"Listen, Bonnie," Elena interrupted, sensing that this was a sensitive topic for me. "We don't want to talk about Damon or anything else that's vampire related, ok?"
She passed her a bag of snake toys. My Nagini's... brothers? And sisters? Aunts? Uncles? Siblings?
"We're human. And we have to do human stuff. Otherwise, I'm going to go crazy and Alexa will go even crazier."
"Hey! I'm not cray cray!" I pouted round my cookie. Evil twin. I was just a little bit eccentric at times. That didn't mean crazy.
"Okay, I'm sorry," Bonnie laughed with a sweet smile. "I'll focus. We have to make Caroline proud or she will kill us."
I snorted in agreement, "You two will be dead and buried in the ground before I can say skippity do da, skippity day."
"Thanks Alexa," my twin rolled her eyes at me.
"Most welcome," I beamed before stuffing another cookie in my mouth.
"I don't know how Caroline does all of this," Bonnie interrupted before Elena could through something at me.
"Well, because she's not human, obviously," Ellie smirked wickedly.
"Obviously," Bon-Bon agreed before they looked at each other and started laughing.
I just shrugged and ate another cookie.
XXX
Oh crap. Run, run, run.
Evil Elena is after me. Apparently, she thinks that I need to help out more. I disagree. I had helped out more than enough by lugging bags of toys and boxes of t-shirts around. More than my fair share of lugging too.
I had managed to find my way into the school. It was less likely that she would find me in the school. It wasn't an open area, like the school grounds were. There were far more hiding places to take advantage of. And with the entire carnival taking place outside, there was no excuse for her to come in here.
Oooh lookie, its Stefan and Jeremy. Two of my favourite boys.
Let's go say hello.
I wandered over to the two.
"Jeremy, if I thought that you wanted to kill me, we would be having a much different conversation," the vampire was saying to my brother. What did I just walk into?
Just as I was about to turn around and walk away, Stefan's voice rang out.
"Hello Alexa."
Sigh.
"Hey Stefan!" I smile at the two as I approached the pair. "Sup bro."
"Hello Alexa," Jer sighed, giving me a small smile. Which I took as a win.
"Whatcha talking about?" I asked, standing between them and leaning against the locker.
"We're talking about how Damon deserves to be staked," my brother answered in complete seriousness.
"Oh… right… well then," I commented and cleared my throat, shuffling closer to Stefan. "That's… that's nice."
That was scary. I knew that my brother would hold a grudge against Damon. But I didn't expect him to go straight into 'kill kill kill' mode. That was not good. Damon was far too strong for Jeremy and the last thing I needed was for him to do something stupid and get himself hurt again. Or potentially killed. Ring or not, Jeremy dying would kill me. Luckily, it seemed like Stefan agreed.
"You need to forget about Damon, all right?" Stefan said to my brother with one of his sternest tones. "He's a hundred times stronger than you and right now, he's not stable." Not stable, my ass. "You have got to try to move forward."
"I was nearly killed by a vampire and would have been brought back by a magic ring, how do you move forward from that?" Jer frowned moodily. I mean, it was a fair question. It was fortunate that he didn't actually die. Because then he would have to deal with that PTSD too.
"When you figure out the answer to that question, please, let me know," I said to my brother, patting him on the chest.
"Well, fortunately, we have a nice little distraction, courtesy of the slave driver Elena," Stefan smiled slightly as his gaze drifted to the end of the corridor. "Hello Elena."
Ellie smiled briefly at him before looking at me. Oh shit. Stefan must have been in the conspiracy to make me help out as he hadn't given me enough warning to run away. I feel so betrayed.
"And where have you been?" she asked me, placing one hand on her hip and tapping her foot.
"Uhhhh," oh crap, blank brain, think think think. "I… I… I was looking for Jeremy!" I nodded sharply, feeling rather proud of myself. It was a good excuse. And luckily, my bro was right next to me. "I was making sure that he had set up all of the gold fish at the gold fish toss."
"And has he?"
Damn, totally did not think that she would ask that. I mean, I really should have. But for some reason, I assumed that she would be fair. And I had kinda hoped that she would have been distracted by Stefan.
"Yeah, yeah, I have, all three hundred goldfish," he answered, saving me from answering. Knew I loved the little shit. He rolled his eyes, "It's gonna be epic!"
With that little snark, the kid stormed off. Oooh, what's his problem? He isn't still mad at Elena, is he? I had assumed that after what happened, he would no longer be mad at her. Clearly I had to stop making assumptions. And I made a mental note to speak to the kid later about his anger towards my twin.
"He's gonna be alright," Stefan reassured my twin as I slowly slid down the locker until I was sitting on the ground between them. "He's just been through a little bit of an ordeal."
Nearly having your neck snapped and dying? Yeah, that's an ordeal, alright. I wonder if Jeremy blamed me. Damon was only there because of me. Jeremy wouldn't have nearly died if it weren't for me. God, I hoped he didn't blame me. But I just didn't know.
"I was just hoping that this carnival would reel him back into the world of high school teenager," Ellie sighed despondently. I absentmindedly patted her knee as I searched for a peanut butter cookie in my little box of cookies.
"So that's where we're doing here?" Stefan asked, resting a hand on my twin's hip. Do they even realise that I'm still down here?
"Yes, we all are," my twin replied decisively. "We're going to be boring high school students who live in a world where the 'v' word is not uttered."
Ok, right. One- I have never been a boring high school student. I'm not capable of being boring. I'm too unique. And two- the 'v' word? Haha. Vampire is a naughty naughty word.
I wonder if Elena would hit me if I said it…
Hmmm, might try it later.
"Got it," Stefan nodded seriously. I wonder if she scared him with her 'no 'v' word' nonsense.
"Then later you're going to take me to the Ferris wheel, we're gonna ride to the very top and then you're gonna kiss me and my heart will flutter like a normal high school girl."
Awwwwww, how cute. I want that. I want someone to do that with me. But I didn't have anyone. And I didn't think I would for a long time. Even with my crush on Damon still going strong (damn hormones), there was no one in town who caught my eye. I mean, there were always candidates for some fun. But nothing for what Ellie was talking about.
"Do you see a running theme here?"
Nope.
"Yeah, I know, I'm seeing it and I'm liking it. But I have to ask a quick question. Uh, what do we do about Damon?"
"Ugh!" I groaned loudly, catching their attention. "Don't even mention that dick's name!"
Was I being a bit dramatic in my Damon hatred? Maybe. But I had to be. Maybe if I went to the extreme, I would actually believe it. And I needed to believe. I mean, yeah he stopped because I begged him too. But we shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.
"Alexa's right," Ellie agreed, patting my head. Hey! Watch the hair! "No 'D' word either. That has also been deleted from the list of topics that we can discuss."
"Hear, hear!" I cheered, holding in a cookie in a mock toast. Why would I want to talk about Damon the Dick? Dickatore can just go away. Go jump off a cliff. Wouldn't kill him, so he should do it. Stupid vampire. No! Bad Alexa! Stop thinking about him! Bad thoughts! It wouldn't help anything.
The vampire and the twin looked down at me as I munched on another delicious treat.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm being rude," I mumbled through a mouthful of cookie. I held up the box and asked, "Either of you want one?"
"No, Alexa," Stefan smiled indulgently. "I'm good."
I shrugged, "Your loss," before stuffing another cookie in my mouth.
I glanced up, only to see that they were both looking down at me. Wonder what they wanted, if it wasn't my cookies.
"Carry on with your conversation. Don't let my awesomeness distract you," I told them, waving a hand. "Difficult, I know, but please try."
"Unfortunately Katherine showing up has put him in a little bit of an odd place, little off-kilter, kind of dangerous. Who knows what he's up to?"
"Being a dick," I muttered into my cookie box.
Glancing up, I saw my dear twin and her boyfriend lean in and kiss each other. Ewwww! Not while I'm here. I scrunched my nose up in disgust and started crawling away. And yes, I do mean crawl.
Icky, yucky.
Once I was far away enough, I made my escape.
XXX
You would think that with all the vampire problems that this town has, that they would have the high school carnival during the day. And not at night. But I have to admit, it does seem cooler during the night. More awesome.
My dear Tyler had not yet arrived at the carnival. He was around 15 minutes late. No cookies for him. So I had been roped into doing a circuit of the place with Ellie and Bonnie. I had expressed my displeasure with Ty via text. A lot of texting. If I had to suffer, then he did too.
"The ring toss is out of Bart and Homer dolls and Team Jacob T's," Bon was telling Ellie as we walked around the carnival. Do you think that I should tell Elena that I saw some of the senior students selling the Team Jacob shirts earlier? Don't tell, but I brought one for Tyler. Hehe. Like I said, if I had to suffer, then he did too.
"Ok, I can grab some from the science club," Elena was saying, looking down at her clipboard. Did you know, the science club are easily bribed?
"Also, we lost a speaker in the karaoke booth."
Which I was not allowed within 10 feet of. Can't see why, I'm an amazing singer. Haha, no I'm not. I'm an awful singer. Can't sing to save my life. But that didn't mean that I didn't love karaoke. You weren't supposed to be amazing at it. You just needed to have fun.
"Hey, it's all good, Elena," Bonnie smiled sweetly at my twin. "Take a beat, look around, this is a huge success."
"I completely agree," I grinned, slinging an arm around Ellie's shoulders and pulling her close. "This is an epic job well done. You should be proud."
"You mean that I can do more than just wreak vampire havoc?" Elena gasped in mock amazement.
"I know! What an amazing thought," I smirked at my twin before grunting as she elbowed me in the tummy.
Evil twin.
Ellie and Bon-Bon then had a little best friend giggle session.
I used to have them with Jazz. I don't have anyone to do them with anymore. Tyler refuses point blank to giggle. Well, when he's sober he does, when he's drunk... well, that's an entirely different matter.
"Hey, Carter, right?" my twin called over to a hot guy who was fixing something.
I remember when I was out with Jazz once. We were sitting at the park and this family walked past with ice cream. I was really craving ice cream by this point. So I just sort of... moaned, "I want food... I want ice cream... I want that fit guy!"
Yeah, so, this really good looking guy walked past us and, unfortunately, heard me. As he looked over at us, giving me a weird look, Jazz buried her face in her hands while I waved at him, grinning madly. It's safe to say that he near enough bolted away. Can't see why. Totally unreasonable reaction.
Strangely enough, I haven't actually seen him since... hmmm, odd.
Anyways, back to the carnival.
"You're with the carnival."
No, twinnie, he's just fixing the thingymajig for fun.
Silly twin.
"That'll be me," Carter smiled, turning to look at us. He had such a lovely smile, and I wasn't the only one who noticed…
"Great," Ellie smiled happily. Carter's gaze drifted over to Bonnie and the smile on his face grew.
"Wow, what do you need, beautiful?" he asked, stepping forward with a flirtatious look. His eyes never left the witch.
Well, looks like the Bennett is gonna get lucky tonight. About time really. She deserved to have some luck in the guy department.
Bonnie blushed slightly before shyly asking, "What do you know about karaoke speakers?"
"Why do you show me the problem?" Carter answer, holding out his hand with a cheeky smile.
"Go on, Bon," I whispered in her ear, my voice practically dripping innuendo. "Show him the problem."
Well, look, she's blushing even more now. I feel so proud of myself. It wasn't often that I got to tease Bonnie like that.
"Ok, come on," the witch accepted the guy's hand and they walked off together.
"Awww, our little Bon-Bon's growing up," I mock sniffed, wiping a fake tear from my eye.
"You're terrible," Ellie laughed at me. "You know that, don't you?"
"Know it? Yeah," I smirked at my twin. "Proud of it? Totally."
"What did I do to get a twin sister like you?"
"Hey! I'm an awesome twin!"
"Sure you are."
"... Silence."
XXX
Tyler was destroying opponents at the Wrestling club when I finally caught up with him.
I don't know why, but his strength always managed to amaze me. He was just so strong and muscular. And he was excellent back up when you accidently piss off people in the street. Which, in my defence, and contrary to what Tyler says, has only happened twice.
As Ty completely annihilated a blonde senior, I smirked and walked up behind him.
"Who's next?" the Lockwood teen asked, looking around the cheering crowd.
"Me," I answered loudly, enjoying the way Ty's body froze.
I heard a quiet "Oh no," before Ty-Ty turned to face me. He had a cautious smirk on his face, "Sure, Alexa, bring it on."
"Oh, don't worry brother, I most certainly will."
I slowly walked around the table so that I was opposite Ty. Resting my elbow on the table, I positioned my arm. Tyler's warm hand encompassed mine and I could sense the strength in his muscles. That, and his hand made mine look miniscule.
… I had really small hands.
I had about a second to think 'oh shit, perhaps this wasn't such a good idea' before the bell dinged and the match started.
It's safe to say that I lost. Epically.
Tyler didn't even have to put any effort in. I was even using two hands to try and move his, but it barely moved an inch. I had even moved around the table to push his hand. But to no avail.
Ya know, it's scary how weak I am. I don't like. Alexa wanna be strong.
After several minutes of Tyler enjoying me struggling, he eventually decided that enough was enough and pushed my hand to the table. I pouted as the crowd cheered. I always lost when I arm-wrestled Ty. It wasn't fair. Why was he so strong? He didn't even have the manners to let me win.
My brother laughed at my pout and used our still linked hands to pull me closer to him.
"Don't pout," he said, letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around my waist. "You knew that you would lose."
"But I don't like to lose," I whined, putting my arm over his shoulder and resting my head on his arm.
"I know. I still have the scars."
"I wasn't responsible for those!"
"Sure you weren't."
"Oh shush. Now, go wrestle someone else and win."
"Yes ma'am."
And win he did. There must have been around 5 different idiots who challenged him and he beat every single one of them. Even the ones who demanded a rematch. Honestly, if a muscular teen like Tyler absolutely thrashes you once, you don't go back to get your ass kicked again.
I was so proud of my Ty! Beating all those fools! It was all because of me, of course. I was giving him the luck he needed to win. He wouldn't be able to win if it wasn't for me.
… I do have a big ego, don't I?
And look, here is another shmuck who thinks that they can beat my Tyler.
As the boys got into position, I placed my hands over their linked ones.
"Ready, steady, 3, 2, 1," I smirked at Ty before moving my hands. "Go!"
The little ding of the bell sounded and Tyler proceeded to thrash another opponent. It's like they're not even trying.
As my bro smashed the other kid's hand on the table, I gave him a big hug, planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek, much to his disgust.
"Go Tyler!" I cheered before cooing in his ear. "Aren't you so strong?"
"Aren't you so weak?" he returned, a smirk forming on his lips.
"Right, that's it, no more cookies for you!" I frowned deeply. I would have crossed my arms for added effect, but they were currently wrapped around my Lockwood's shoulders. And I didn't feel like moving them.
"Oh no! What a terrible punishment!"
A warm hand landing on my back prevented me from retorting. That's probably a good thing, as the retort I had in mind was rather rude and offensive. With naughty naughty words.
I glanced back, only to see Uncle Lockwood.
"Hey Mason," I grinned at him, untangling myself from Tyler to give him a hug.
"Alexa," he smiled at me before looking at his nephew. "Hey Tyler?"
Ty turned around at the sound of his name, "Yeah?"
"I bet that I could beat you," Mason grinned cockily.
"Oooh, challenge extended," I smirked, leaning forward in anticipation.
"Go for it," Ty laughed.
"Challenge accepted," I mock gasped. "Lockwood v Lockwood."
"Alexa, quiet," Ty ordered me as I moved into my position.
"Alexa, quiet," I mouthed mockingly. Huh, looks like Ty might put me in another headlock. Let's get on with the match!
I placed my hands over the boys before winking at my brother.
"Ready, steady, 3, 2, 1... Go!"
I stepped back and the boys started.
Whoa, looks like someone's stronger than Tyler... I can't even begin to explain how weird that is. Ty's the strongest human I know. But Mason... Mason's destroying him. My Lockwood couldn't even move his hand towards the table. It was so weird. Like completely unreal.
It didn't take long for the Uncle to bring the Nephews hand to greet the table.
Dude.
That was just… dude.
"Bad luck, Ty," I commiserated, pulling him back into the hug.
I honestly thought that he was gonna have a hulk moment and go 'Tyler angry! Tyler smash!' I did that once, during one of my non sober moments. Ended up breaking my hand instead of the wall. Stupid wall. Luckily there were no adults around to tell me off.
But anyways, Ty-Ty placed a hand on my lower back as he took a deep breath.
"Ok, he's the champ," Tyler smiled weakly as he moved away from the table, pulling me with him. We were still in the Tylexa hug that we had started ages ago. Started, interrupted, continued. "Who wants to go next?"
"Stefan wants to go!" a most unwelcome voice called from the crowd.
I looked up to see Damon freaking Salvatore standing not that far in front of me. Stefan standing next to him.
How long had he been standing there?
Why was he even here?
He doesn't go to school!
How dare he be here!
I glared at the dick as Stefan made his way over. I pulled my arms away from Ty's shoulders and mimed the motion for 'I'm gonna kill you'. I do believe that it worked as he raised an eyebrow at me in response.
Oh yeah, you is dead, dickhead. I mean, you is even deader than you were before.
The feel of Ty wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against his chest jolted me from my glare.
"Stop death glaring Damon," he whispered in my ear, although I could hear the laughter in his voice.
"Can't help it," I muttered, not taking my murderous eyes off of Damon. "Must death glare."
If looks could kill, he would be dead and buried in the ground.
"My brother over there thinks that I can beat you," Stefan stated as he got into the position.
"Your brother's wrong," Mason stated cockily, smirking at the Salvatore.
He's a dick, of course he's wrong. But I hate to break it you Mase, but you is gonna get yo ass kicked. The dude's a vampire. You don't stand a chance. It'll be like me arm wrestling Tyler... only more pathetic.
But, one question...
"Who do I cheer for?" I frowned, leaning back against Ty's chest. "My twin sister's boyfriend or my brother's uncle?"
Decisions. Decisions.
"Cheer for whoever you wanna cheer for," Ty whispered in my ear.
"Does that mean that I can cheer for myself?" I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"No."
"Oh," I pouted in disappointment.
The bell dinged and the match between Lockwood human and Salvatore vampire started.
Ok, either Stefan is really really really weak, isn't putting any effort in or Mason is inhumanly strong. I honestly don't know which option to go for. But it didn't take long for Stefan's hand to hit the table. Which I did not expect.
"Bad luck, Stef," I smiled at the vampire as I reached out and patted his shoulder. He nodded and smiled at me before leaving to rejoin his dick of a brother.
"So, we're not the only ones that you bestow embarrassing nicknames on," Mason remarked casually as we waited for the next fool of an opponent.
I rolled my eyes, "My nicknames are not embarrassing, they're awesome."
"Sure they are."
Blonde kid challenged...
... Blonde kid defeated.
"Don't you dare use that tone on me. Everyone uses that tone on me."
"What tone?"
"The 'I'm talking to a young child' tone!"
"Aww, poor little Alex."
"Don't patronise me!"
"Being called a young child by her friends."
"Right," I growled, pulling myself from Ty's grasp and standing at the table. "Bring it on."
I positioned my arm on the table and smirked at Mason. Yeah, not so cocky now, are you? Know that I'll kick your ass, don't you? Yeah, you better be afraid.
"Alexa, you'll get hurt," Ty sighed, but he didn't try and move me. He's knows me far too well.
"No, I won't," I argued, refusing to back down.
"Alexa, listen to Tyler," Mason warned as he slowly, reluctantly got into position.
"I never listen to Tyler, why should I start now?" I smirked as my small hand was encompassed in Mason's large one. "Hell, I never listen to anyone."
If I thought Tyler's hand was big, Mason's hand was even bigger. I'm a midget compared to these people.
The bell dinged and I started pushing. But to no avail.
"Why am I so weak?" I whined as I kept on struggling. It was worse than when I was arm wrestling Tyler.
Mason just laughed at my efforts.
"Don't laugh at me!"
I even resorted to using two hands. But that didn't work either. After a few more seconds, I glanced at my brother, "Tyler! Help!"
Ty-Ty sighed in reluctance but moved to stand behind me. His hand covered mine and he added his strength to my pushing.
"Come on Ty!" I giggled as we pushed.
But, unfortunately, we lost. Even with our combined strength, we lost.
Oh.
XXX
Damon's POV
"You're lurking," my brother's voice sounded from behind me.
Oh brother, how wrong you are. I don't lurk.
I didn't even bother looking at Stefan. Instead I kept my gaze on Alexa and the Lockwood kid. The male teen was arm wrestling another irritating human while my Gilbert was cheering from the side. She hadn't yet realised that I was standing here.
"I'm observing," I corrected him tensely as my Alexa threw herself at Lockwood junior when he won his match.
"More like obsessing," Stefan rebuked, stepping next to me. A small smirk formed on his lips. "Obsessing over Alexa."
I took my eyes off of my Gilbert to glare briefly at my brother.
"I'm not obsessing over Alexa," I denied watching as the girl in question stepped away from the Lockwood teen as he started another match.
"Of course you're not."
"Don't take that tone with me, Stefan."
I wasn't exactly... stable right now. I think my threatening of Jeremy earlier proved that. Katherine had driven me over an edge that I didn't know was there. And I was fighting so hard not to throw myself over it again.
"He's got strength," I commented as Lockwood defeated another opponent. My eyes narrowed as Alexa once again stepped forward to hug her 'brother'. But this time, she planted a kiss on his cheek. I felt a brief flash of jealousy as the kid pulled her body closer to him.
What right did he have to touch my human? My Alexa?
"He's a triple letter varsity athlete, of course he has strength. You're reaching," Stefan's voice drew me from my jealousy.
I snorted. Me? Reaching? Of course not.
"Enter the uncle," I murmured as I watched Lockwood senior catch the Lockwood-Gilbert duo's attention by placing his hand on Alexa's back. What is it with Lockwood's and touching my Alexa?
Irritating people.
Well, at least Mason's arrival had separated the two teens. Tyler was no longer in danger of having his throat ripped out.
"That's ridiculous," Stefan scoffed as the two Lockwood's got into position.
Alexa rested her hands on the linked hands before glancing between the two.
"Ready, steady, 3, 2, 1... Go!"
She always has to be in the middle of it, doesn't she? She's not one to be left out of something.
Even though he had been beating teenagers all evening, Lockwood Junior was almost immediately beaten by his uncle. Lockwood senior looked smug, junior locked shocked and angry, Gilbert just looked shocked.
I growled slightly as she pulled him into another hug.
"Ok, he's the champ," junior smiled weakly as he pulled Alexa closer to him and moved away from the table. "Who wants to go next?"
Hmmm, here's an opportunity to do some investigating.
"Stefan wants to go," I called over in answer.
A smirk formed on my lips as my girl froze before slowing raising her eyes. Her bright green eyes rapidly scanned the crowd until they came to a stop on me. A dark glare appeared on her face as she stared at me. If looks could kill, then I would not live to see another day. The teen stepped away from Tyler and slashed her finger across her neck.
Hmmm, I do believe that she is attempting to give me a death threat.
I raised my eyebrow in surprise. Which she must have interpreted as some form of fear as a subtle hint of smugness appeared on her face.
The Lockwood teen glanced between me and Alexa with a look of surprise on his face before he rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around my girl's waist. He pulled her against him and whispered in her ear, "Stop death glaring Damon."
"Can't help it," she muttered in reply, never ceasing her death glaring. "Must death glare."
My gaze was diverted by Stefan as he stood opposite Mason. He glared at me quickly before looking at the older Lockwood, "My brother over there thinks that I can beat you."
"You're brother's wrong," Mason smirked at my brother.
What is he talking about? I'm never wrong.
I eagerly watched as the match started. Come on Stefan! Put some effort into it!
I closely watched Mason Lockwood during the match. He didn't even look like he was struggling. There is no way that this guy is human. For him to be able to last thing long against Stefan, there has to be something different about him. That is, unless my idiot brother wasn't even trying.
When Stefan lost, I groaned and shook my head.
"You didn't put in any effort at all!" I hissed at him when he returned.
"Yeah, actually, I did," my brother corrected me with a worried look on his face.
Oh... well... that changes everything.
"Come with me," I ordered, gesturing down the corridor.
I glanced over at Alexa one last time before following my brother. I almost wanted to stay, to stay and appreciate the joyful, peaceful look on her face. It wasn't often that she got the chance to be that happy.
I sighed quietly and shook my head.
"Damon?"
I looked at my brother.
"Is he...?" I asked, referring to Mason.
I hoped that he wasn't a vampire. That was the thing that we needed.
"No, no, it wasn't that kind of strength," my brother was quick to reply. "But it was more than human, if that makes sense."
"What is up with that family?" I asked myself, a frown forming. "They're not vampire, so what the hell are they?"
"Maybe they're ninja turtles," Stef suggested, smirking.
I looked at him. Seriously?
"You're not funny," I told him. Honestly, he was useless.
"Or zombies, werewolves."
"No comedic timing at all."
I heard a human behind me and looked.
Hmmmm, perhaps...
I turned and walked over to the human.
"What?" Stefan asked wearily. "What are you up to?"
I smirked at him over my shoulder, "Since this is reality. And there's no such thing as werewolves or combat turtles."
"I said ninja turtles, actually," Stef corrected weakly.
Now, as much as I would have loved to have commented on that, I had to ignore it.
"Hey you!" I called over to the human.
"I have a name," human snapped as he turned to face me.
"Yeah, I don't care," I retorted before grabbing his shoulders and looking him in the eye. "I need you to pick a fight with someone, a kid named Tyler Lockwood," I compelled the kid.
"Damon, don't do this," buzzkill warned from behind me.
"It's just an experiment," I waved him off before continuing. "Get him mad, don't back down, no matter what he does, ok?"
"I won't back down," the human replied in that toneless, expressionless voice of the compelled.
"I know you won't," I smirked, patting his shoulder.
I watched as the human left, now this was gonna be interesting.
"You do realise that someone is going to get hurt, right?" I heard Mr Morality ask.
I rolled my eyes, "No someone is going to get mad, as in a rage."
"What's that going to accomplish?"
"That Tyler kid is incapable of walking away from a fight when Alexa isn't with him. Let's see who intervenes, maybe it's the ambiguous, supernatural mystery uncle."
"While you may find that out, Alexa won't forgive you if Tyler gets hurt."
I paused.
Huh, didn't think of that.
XXX
Alexa's POV
Tyler had soon chased me off when I started braiding his hair.
Don't judge me, I was bored!
It wasn't the first time that I had tried to braid his hair. It was a fairly common thing for me to try and do it while Ty was distracted. It usually ended with us wrestling on the ground. But this time, I ran for it.
I remember when we were younger and he, Luke, Jazz and I had a sleepover at the Nolan house. We were watching Grease and Tyler fell asleep. His hair was a bit longer than it was now. Now, we were all rather hyped up on sugar and Jazz dared me to braid Ty's hair. I said no at first, but then she double dared me. And you can't say no to a double dare. So I braided all of his hair.
But boy did I pay for it in the morning.
I... I miss those times.
Life was just so much simpler. And I missed my friends. Even before we started going out together, Luke and I were close. And Jazz? She was my go to. If I had problems that I knew Ellie couldn't help me with, I went to go and see Jazz. But she was even closer to Ty. They had something, something special. They weren't dating, I know that much for sure, but they had a bond. And I know that Ty misses her.
It's amazing how much can change in just a few months.
I had wandered outside by this point. I just stood there, staring up at the moon in the sky.
On carnival day last year, after it had finished, we all squeezed into Tyler's bed and watched Interview with the Vampire. It was a night of laughter and frivolity and friendship. And now it's gone. And things will never be the same again.
"Alexa."
Damon's voice drew me out of my dark, depressing, melancholy thoughts. With a sigh, I turned to face him. It was the first time I had properly seen him since he attacked Jeremy. I had done a pretty successful job of avoiding him so far. And he hadn't tried to approach me either. But here he was. And I had to confront my feelings for him and what he did. Oh joy.
"Damon."
I tilted my head, "Did you not get the message from my death glare earlier? I don't want to see you Damon."
"Look, I get that, but I need you to come with me."
"Why should I? You were going to snap my brother's neck. Why should I go anywhere with you?"
I needed to hold onto this anger. It was very important that I did so. Even if it hurt, fighting with Damon. I had to be angry at him. He was going to kill my brother. Ring or no ring, that was over a line.
"Alexa, I need you to come with me right now."
"Damon..."
The vampire sighed and placed his hands on my shoulders, "We will talk about it; we just can't do it right now."
It the almost pleading look in his eyes which convinced me to agree.
"I'll go," I sighed wearily, running my hand through my hair.
Oh, I was so gonna regret this.
XXX
I knew that I was gonna regret going with Damon. And you wanna know why?
Caroline was a vampire.
Yep, that's right, Caroline Forbes was a vampire.
I'm not even surprised anymore. With all the jacked up crap that happens in this town, I'm not even surprised.
"How did this happen?" Stefan asked his brother.
We had taken over Ric's classroom. Ellie and Stefan were leaning against the windowsill while me and Damon had claimed the desks. Damon took Ric's while I sat on one of the desks opposite. It was only my sister's worried request that had stopped me pacing. I still felt the need to keep moving, but out of respect for my sister, I channelled that need into tapping my fingers against my knee. It wasn't quite what I needed, but it was enough for now.
"Well, I fed her blood and Katherine obviously killed her," Damon replied, a hint of sarcasm in his tone at the stupid question. Oh lookie, another reason to kill the bitch. Seriously though, let's just kill her. "A plus B equals..."
"But why?" Elena asked quietly. This had hit her hard; one of her best friends had just been turned into a vampire. There was no way that I could help her cope with this. This crappy situation was one that we had to learn how to deal with as we went along.
"Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty little slut," my Salvatore replied with a hard look.
"No, no," I shook my head. "She isn't a manipulative, nasty little slut."
Damon looked at me, eyebrow raised.
"She's a manipulative, nasty little bitch," I crossed my arms and nodded my head sharply. She was a bitch. And that bitch deserved to die. As in die die. And I would happily do it. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than driving a stake through her cold, dead, black heart. After everything she had done, it was the least she deserved.
"She said 'game on'," Stefan remarked, interrupting me from my daydream of staking Bitcherine. "What does that even mean?"
"It means that she's playing dirty," Damon answered with a quick glance at me. "She wants us to know."
Since when did Damon become the one we asked all of our questions to? And since when did he willingly answer them? How things had changed.
"But why Caroline?" Ellie repeated, her doe eyes staring up at Stefan desperately.
Damned if I know. Because she was convenient? Because she already had vampire blood in her system? Because she was close to us? Because it would hurt us? No one but Katherine could answer that question. And I get this little feeling that she won't. She's a bitch like that, you see.
"I don't know," Damon scoffed, shrugging his shoulders.
"Caroline must be completely out of her mind," Stefan sighed, pulling my sister closer. "Even when you know what happens in theory, actually going through it is just as hard." Stefan paused before swallowing hard. "Especially the hunger."
"She wouldn't have been prepared for that," Damon agreed, a faraway look on his face. Like he was remembering when he first felt the hunger. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like. And I hoped that I never would have to.
"How bad is this going to be for her?" I asked quietly, looking to Damon for my answer. I knew that he wouldn't lie to protect my feelings. Stefan would, to protect us. But Damon knew that I needed the truth.
"Bad," he answered, his gaze catching mine. And in it I could see his conflict. His guilt and sorrow. I remembered his face after he knocked out Jeremy. It was clear that he had regretted his actions. But he couldn't take back what he did. All he could do was try and make up for it.
"We have to find her," Stef announced into the silence.
"Yep," Damon agreed before adding. "And kill her."
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! Repeat what you just said?" I slid off of the desk and stared incredulously at the vampire.
"You're not gonna kill Caroline!" my twin snapped at him, placing a hand on Stefan's shoulder.
"I agree with my twin," I glared at Damon in disbelieve. First he tries to kill my baby brother and now he wants to kill one of my twin's best friends?! One of my friends?! This was not how he apologised for what he did.
"She knows who we are," Damon argued with us. "She's officially a liability. Even more so than before. And we've got to get rid of her."
Does he not realise that arguing with us is futile? We Gilbert's are stubborn cows and there ain't gonna be any changing our minds.
"Damon, absolutely not!" Ooh goodie, Stefan's on our side.
"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan?" my vamp snapped at his brother. At the mention of Vicki's name, memories of that night swirled around my mind. My finger's found the place on my neck which she had bitten me. I felt someone's gaze on my and glanced up to look at Damon, but he was looking at his brother. Huh.
"Caroline, of all people, will not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter," Damon continued firmly. "Guys, come on, we all know how this story's gonna end, so let's just flip to the last chapter and..."
"It's not an option, Damon!" Elena snapped, glaring at the vampire.
"No?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, before looking at his brother. "Your silence is deafening Stefan."
He wasn't the only one.
I, too, hadn't said much. I didn't want Caroline killed but on the other hand, I didn't want someone that I loved to get hurt because of that decision. Vicki had hurt both of my siblings that night. And while I knew that Caroline was stronger, could I really take that risk? Which was an absolutely horrible thought, as she didn't deserve to be dragged into this mess. And now she had, we were discussing her death. Without even talking to her first. I was such a horrible friend.
"Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki? Talk about a town where history repeats itself." I hope history doesn't repeat itself. That would mean that I would most likely get another bite. And my sister would get hurt again. "You know I'm right."
Stefan stood up and walked over to stand in front of his brother, "We're not gonna kill her."
"It's the only way," Damon sighed, sounding like he genuinely believed his words.
I really hope not.
XXX
It didn't take us long to find her, not with a vampire on our side.
But I was more worried about what state she would be in. We had no idea how long she had been a vampire for. And that meant that we didn't know what she had been up to. She had been all alone dealing with that hunger. She could have hurt someone. Which would be absolutely devasting for her. I cared about her. And that's all that matters.
Well, that's all that matters to me.
As it turns out, Caroline had feed on some poor human. Stefan could smell the blood. It was... rather creepy the way that he could smell the blood from so far away. A small part of me wondered if he would be okay. After his little crazy phase where he was chugging human blood and eating Amber, I was a bit wary about him being near blood again. Which was crazy, as he would be around blood, like all the time. It was just natural. But I still worried. I couldn't let my sister go through that again.
Stefan led the way and when we reached the desired location, it was not a pleasant surprise. There was a dead dude on the trailer. Damon was hugging Caroline. And he was about to stake her.
Stefan narrowed his eyes in anger and blurred forward, knocking the stake from Damon's hand. He placed himself between his brother and Caroline. There was a clear 'if you want her then you'll have to go through me' vibe.
"Stefan!" Damon growled at his brother.
I was so tempted to go over to him and rip him a new one, but Caroline needed me more. I could deal with Damon later. I heard a panicked, "Get away from me!" from behind me. I shot around to see Caroline rapidly backing away from my twin.
"You killed me!" she cried tearfully, stumbling in her heels.
"Hey, hey," I soothed, stepping forward and gently enveloping her in a hug. "Calm down, its ok."
I knew that there was a huge chance that the newbie vampire could turn around and rip my throat out. But I was willing to take that chance. Caroline needed comforting and as she wouldn't let Elena near her, I was the best person to do it. I just had to trust my friend to have a bit more self-control.
"That's wasn't me," Ellie was quick to reassure Caroline. "That was Katherine."
"Then why did she look like you?" Care asked, nearing hysterical. "And why, why did she do this to me?"
"Don't think about that right now," I pushed the hair away from her face. "Just focus on calming down."
Blood was smeared all over her face and in her hair. Tears had smeared her makeup and the veins rippled under her eyes. I had never seen Caroline look so messy. And broken. Her sobs came out like hiccups as she clutched onto my arms. Her grip hurt but I didn't have it in me to deny her to comfort she was drawing from my touch. Caroline had killed that man and she was being forced to acknowledge what she was. It was far too much for my darling friend to deal with. And I hated that this had been forced on her by Katherine.
"Stefan, we've got to get her inside," Ellie said to her vampire as I soothed our friend. Stef nodded and walked over to Caroline. She looked up at him with those beautiful blue eyes as I tucked her hair behind her ear.
"It's ok, Caroline," he reassured her gently, keeping his voice low and gentle. "Come with me."
He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and moved to take her inside. She clung onto his arm like she had mine. I didn't want her to move away from me but I knew it was best for her to get away from the body of her victim. And I trusted Stefan to look after her. He knew what she was going through and he could help her.
"She'll die, it's only a matter of time," Damon called over before they could get too far.
"Yeah, maybe so," Stefan shrugged before stating, "But it's not gonna happen tonight."
"Oh yeah it is," I heard Damon mumbled as I saw him move out of the corner of my eye. He picked up the stake and blurred forward.
I didn't even think, I just moved.
My movement placed me in between Damon and Caroline. The stake that was aimed for Caroline's heart stopped barely an inch from mine.
I just stared at the stake, barely aware of the fact that Damon's body was brushing against my own. I could feel my super-duper magic Gilbert finger press against my hand from where I had my hand clenched in a fist. Slowly, I raised my gaze so that I was looking Damon in the eye. His hand shook slightly and I could feel the stake dip forward slightly, tugging on my top.
"Damon, please, don't," I pleaded softly, keeping eye contact with him. I knew that he wanted me to move, but I refused point blank. He was not gonna hurt Caroline. He was not gonna kill her. I was not going to lose someone else.
We stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before he slowly, oh so slowly, lowered the stake.
"Whatever happens, it's on you," he warned me before dropping the stake and walking away. The moment the wooden weapon left his hand, I breathed a sigh of relief. It took all my effort to keep on my feet as my knees shook. I honestly didn't know if Damon would stop. If he would let Caroline be.
It didn't take long for someone else to join our little group.
"Caroline?"
We all turned around to see Bonnie the Bennet witch standing there, staring at her friend in shock. Caroline froze where she stood. We all knew about Bonnie's new attitude towards vampires. And now Caroline was one. I just hoped that it wouldn't affect their friendship.
"It's ok, come on," Stefan whispered to the younger vampire, trying to usher her inside before anything else could happen. But Caroline couldn't move. She just stared desperately at Bonnie.
"No, you're not, you can't be," Bonnie gasped, striding forward and grabbing Caroline's arm. She quickly gasped and released her grip, stagging back a couple of steps. The witch looked around us all, grief and desperation on her face. She didn't want to believe it either. But it was written in the blood on Caroline's face.
Something must have caught her eye as she staggered over to the trailer. Oh god, and now she's found the body of Care's victim. I had seen enough of his face to know that it was the guy who was flirting with Bonnie earlier. And now he was dead. At the hands of Caroline.
This was not gonna end well.
XXX
"I can't believe that this is happening," Bonnie shook her head as she paced in front of us.
I stared up at her from where I was sat crossed legged on the floor, leaning against Ellie's legs. Stefan had taken Caroline inside and had left us with the distraught witch and stake happy vampire. We knew that we needed to get rid of the body, but none of us were in a state to decide how. Luckily Damon was able to deal with it. As there were too many people around, he had decided that the best idea would be to bury him on the school grounds.
"Come on, don't pout about it," Damon smirked as he reappeared with a shovel. "I've got a body to bury."
All that poor guy did was be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now he's dead. Like most of the people that I've met recently. Ugh, I had seen too many dead bodies recently. And it fucking sucked.
I felt someone tap the top of my head and I glanced up to see Damon looking down at me. I couldn't read the expression on his face. Well, his true expression. I could see the mask he put on. The uncaring one.
"I thought you wer calling the shots, no?"
"Piss off, dick," I muttered, looking away and resting my head against my sister's knee. God, I just wanted to sleep right about now. I was far too tried to deal with this bullshit.
"Sucks to be you, buddy," Damon remarked, getting himself ready to bury the body. Disrespectful git.
But a cry of pain drew my attention back to him.
What I saw made me leap to my feet in surprise and horror.
Damon was lying on the ground, clutching his head and he cried out. I called out his name and stepped forward. I didn't know what was happening. He just went down. No one could have vervained him, it would have knocked him out. He was clutching his head and rolling around.
The sound of water drew me attention over to the hose. It had been turned on and water was leaking out. But this wasn't an ordinary leak, it was magic controlled. The water was forced towards Damon and covered his legs.
Bonnie stepping forward caught my eye. She had a dark look on her face as her fingers twitched in front of her. I had never seen her so angry. If I didn't love her dearly, then I would have been terrified of her. Instead, my fear was for the one her anger was directed at.
"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt," she glared at my vampire as the water kept pouring onto him.
"I didn't do this!" he shouted, pain layering his voice as he squinted up at the witch.
"Bonnie, stop!" I shouted, taking a step towards Damon. "He didn't do this! It wasn't his fault!"
"Everything that happens is his fault, Alexa," the witch snapped back, not taking her eyes off of the vampire. It was scary to see how powerful she had gotten in such a short amount of time. Last time I saw her like this, she was stuck in her trance. This time, she was in control.
Bonnie's finger twitched and a whooshing sound filled the air. She had started a fire. On the water trail. And it shot straight towards Damon.
"Bonnie! No!" I screamed, my heart stopping. My Damon's agony filled shouts melded with my own scream. "Stop it! Bonnie! Stop it! You'll kill him!"
I couldn't watch it. Seeing Damon in that much pain just... broke my heart. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't hate him. I just couldn't. And I couldn't watch him get hurt this badly. I wanted him alive. He needed to make it up to me and he couldn't do that while dead. And I couldn't lose him. I've lost too many people.
"Bonnie! Stop this or so help me, I will make you stop!"
She ignored me.
So, time for desperate measures.
I ran forward and leapt over the line of fire. It wasn't the highest flame but I could feel it's heat while near it.
"Alexa!" Ellie shouted from behind me as I landed safely on the other side.
Bonnie hadn't even glanced in my direction. Her gaze was fixed on the screaming vampire. One glance over at Damon had my mind going blank in panic. All I could think was that I needed to stop the witch. So I took a step forward and shoved her. hard.
In my defence, it worked.
Bonnie staggered back a couple of steps, just about keeping her balance. Thankfully, her concentration broke and the fire stopped, dying out instantly. My Damon was safe.
"Why did you stop me?!" the witch snapped at me, glaring at me.
"Because I can't let you hurt him!" I snapped right back. "I just... can't let you hurt him!"
"This isn't us, Bonnie," Elena added, walking up beside me. "This can't be us."
As the two girls beside me embraced, I let my gaze wander over to Damon.
He looked at me, gratitude clear in his ice blue eyes.
Why couldn't I hate him?
XXX
I stood in the road near the school, looking up at the stars. Everything was just... getting to me, so I told Elena that I would see her later and left. Hence why I was staring at the stars. There was just something calming about looking up at them.
"Alexa? Time to go home now," Elena's voice sounded from behind me.
... Wait a minute...
"Well, there's a problem with that," I commented, crossing my arms, refusing to turn around at first.
"Oh? And what's that?"
I turned around and glared, "Because you're not my twin sister."
Katherine looked at me for a moment before smirking, "How did you know?"
I snorted and rolled my eyes, "I grew up with Elena, I know her better than anyone on this planet. It would be wrong for me to not be able to recognise the bitch in twin's clothing."
But it was terrifying how they look completely identical to each other. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew my twin sister so well, I probably wouldn't have noticed the difference. Katherine had even managed to mimic the way Elena stood. It was just the little things; her posture, the way she spoke, even just her general presence. I imagine she must have fooled a lot of people.
I shrugged slightly before turning back around, "Besides, your tone of voice gave you away. There was too much bitch in it.
"Excuse me?" the vampire behind me asked, her voice taking on a dangerous tone.
"You're excused."
Oh crap, I really should not antagonise the really strong, powerful vampire bitch. But... she kissed my Damon. I may be trying to hate him right now, but she kissed him! And she turned Caroline. And has just been a bitch in general. She's fucked over a lot of people, she deserved to be antagonised!
A strong hand wrapped around my throat and lifted my so that the tips of my toes could only just reach the floor. Katherine's face was carefully blank but I could still see the anger in her eyes. Probably thinking how dare she talk to me like that.
"You look a lot like me," the bitch remarked casually as I gasped for air. Her attentive eyes scanned my face. "But your eyes."
"I know, I know, they're different," I choked out, completely ignoring all the survival instincts screaming at me to be quiet. To beg for mercy.
"I really wouldn't anger me, if I were you," Katherine growled, tightening her grip.
"Or what, you'll kill me? Please, you haven't killed me yet."
"Only because you're useful to me."
That... That doesn't sound good.
"Oh really, why the hell should I believe that you are telling the truth?!"
"You shouldn't, but you will."
"No I won't!"
"Oh, don't worry, you'll come to trust me, I have something that you need."
"And what the hell is that?"
Bitcherine smirked at me, "Now what makes you think that I would tell you that?"
"Because evil bitches like to gloat?"
Snap.
XXX
When I next opened my eyes, I was laying in the middle of the road.
What was I doing here?
I slowly staggered to my feet, rubbing my neck which felt stiff and sore.
What the hell happened?
I remember talking to Katherine and... oh shit.
She snapped my neck.
Katherine snapped my neck.
Thank god for the ring.
But... oh god...
XXX
A/N: This where I really get mean to Alexa }:) but it is so fun haha! Thank you for all the reviews, my lovelies, they really do make me happy and keep me motivated to write. Please keep them coming :) until next time, I hope you enjoy xoxo
