Disclaimer: I only own my OCs
A/N: I was tempted to wait to update on Friday, but I figured that I would treat you all for Halloween! This is the first of the humanityless Alexa chapters, and it did not go the way that I thought it would, Alexa without her humanity is quite interesting to write! On a side note, it really annoyed me in the show how they kept saying that Elena was emotionless, that isn't what turning off your humanity is! That recon was frustrating so I decided to ignore it and go back to what they had previously established. Rant over haha I hope you enjoy the chapter!
XXX
Damon's POV
Ever since Alexa had turned her humanity off, Stefan had not left me alone. It was obvious that my brother didn't approve of her decision, not that I cared. If this was how my girl wanted to deal with her grief, then I would support her. It wasn't my place to decide on how she dealt with this, nor was it my place to tell her that she couldn't turn her humanity off. Because I knew that that was what Stefan wanted from me. My brother wanted me to disapprove of Alexa's decision. To help him force her to turn it back on. But I wouldn't do that. I once told Alexa that I would always support her and I refused to break that promise.
"We're gonna lose her, Damon," Stefan followed me into the Boarding House parlour. Ever since I had returned home that morning, he hadn't stopped following me around. It was getting to be rather tedious. The only reason that I had came home was to make sure that Stefan didn't bother Alexa while she was talking to Bonnie. Because we both knew that my brother didn't approve of Alexa's plan to use Bonnie to bring Elena back to life. We assumed that it was the body count that the plan required that Stefan had an issue with. But knowing my brother, it could have been anything. So to stop him from interfering too much, I agreed to run interference. It also saved Stefan from having his neck snapped. Because my girl was quickly losing her patience with him. And she no longer felt obligated to play nice.
I rolled my eyes, "She just needs time. It's only been a couple of days and she hasn't killed anyone. You just need to relax."
"Her humanity's off," Mr Morality frowned, his forehead crinkling in its usual way. "She's basically numb to everything that makes her who she is. She won't even go and see her family. Jeremy told me that she isn't even answering their calls. That's not like Alexa."
I shook my head as I poured myself a drink. If I was going to have to deal with my pious brother, then I would need the soothing burn of the bourbon. I deliberately kept my back to Stefan, just to keep myself calm, "She's a vampire. Off switch is one of the biggest perks. If being undead gets you down," I snapped my fingers, "voila, vampire Prozac."
"Damon, she wants to help Bonnie kill 12 people and lower the veil to the other side."
"At least she has something to focus on," I shrugged, downing my drink and refilling my glass. Of course, my words just got me a dirty look. But I didn't care. I wouldn't support my brother in his efforts to get Alexa to turn it back on before she was ready. And if she needed to try to bring her sister back to life for her to be ready, then so be it.
"The longer that she keeps it off, the less she will want to turn it back on. We both know that Bonnie's plan won't work, and even if it could, we won't let her go through with it. Alexa needs to deal with her grief now. Otherwise she will just keep running away from it. Especially if she takes innocent lives while she has it off. She won't want to deal with that."
"So what do you suggest? That we force her to turn it back on? Good luck with that, Stefan. When Alexa has a plan in mind, not a lot can stop her from going ahead with it. Especially if that plan involves her sister."
"Look, while she is avoiding Jenna and Jeremy, you are probably the only one who can persuade her to turn it back on. Can you at least try?"
I rolled my eyes. I knew that Stefan wouldn't stop pushing me on this. But I suppose, if I at least pretended to play along, he would leave us alone for a bit. If it wasn't for Alexa needing Bonnie to carry out her plan, I would have taken my girl out of town. But she wouldn't leave the witch while she was vulnerable to persuasion. Caroline and Matt had already stuck their irritating noses in, trying to persuade Bonnie not to go ahead with her spell. They were just unlucky that Alexa had gotten in their first. She had Bonnie fully onboard with her plan at this point. And nothing was going to change that.
"I suppose I could show her a good time, that might be enough to persuade her to turn it back on and drown in her grief and guilt," I mused mockingly, placing my empty glass to the side. That earned me a sceptical and unimpressed look. "I know it's controversial, Stefan, but some people actually like to have fun. Not everyone is as boring as you are."
"You really think that that's gonna work?" Stefan frowned as I walked past him. I was getting fed up with being around my brother. I had spent enough time here that no one would go looking for me when I reunited with my girl. By now, she should be done speaking to the witch. Alexa had put a lot of time into persuading Bonnie to stick with her plan. But there was something else going on there. Every time I asked Alexa what she was up to, she just gave me a wink and found a way to distract me. If I wasn't so irked at being left out, I would be impressed by her ingenuity and creativity.
I didn't even bother turning around to look at him as I answered, "Absolutely not. But if it will persuade her to play nice and not rip out your spleen, then I think it's worth a go. Besides, after everything that she has been through, Alexa, more than anyone deserves to have a good time."
XXX
Alexa's POV
Damon had told me all about his conversation with Stefan. And it took all of my non-existent restraint to not go and rip his head off. I was honestly getting fed up with the older vampire's continued interference in my life. He was just lucky that killing him wasn't worth my time or effort. Otherwise I would have been tempted to get rid of that irritating little menace.
Once he had calmed me down, in his own special way, Damon persuaded me that having fun wasn't actually a bad thing. We both knew that it wouldn't persuade me to turn it back on, but since there wasn't much that I could do for my plan with Bonnie, I figured that I couldn't hurt to have some fun with my boyfriend.
Which was the reason why I was lying on the ground, in the dark, waiting for someone to drive past. Damon had told me that it was one of his favourite games to play, especially during his humanityless years. People got so worried when they found a body in the road. And because of the resulting panic, they were easily targets. It did sound like fun and I figured that it couldn't hurt.
My arms were stretched out above my head as I closed my eyes. It was peaceful out here. We were lurking by one of the roads outside of town. It wasn't one that was used often, but it was often enough. That meant that I could have my fun without worrying about someone stumbling upon us. Because that was just annoying to deal with. I mean, humans got so screamy and it was so irritating. Especially when they wouldn't shut up.
It didn't take long for someone to find me. The human's heart picked up in speed as my body was illuminated by their headlights. They stopped a few feet away from me and I waited for them to leave the car. And I was not disappointed. It took barely a few seconds for a car door to open and footsteps to run over. Judging from the heels that I heard, it was a woman who had stumbled upon me.
"Are you alright?" the woman asked as she crouched down next to me, her voice breathless with worry. "Was there an accident? Where are you hurt? Are you in pain?"
I opened my eyes to see what the woman looked like. She was younger than I expected. Brown hair hung around her face as she looked down at me. Brown eyes shone with panic as she hands shook. She was quite pretty, to be fair. She seemed like she would be fun to play with.
"Too many questions, hon," I sighed out as I looked back at the stars above me. The light of the streetlamps ruined the view, but I was still able to get a good enough look at them. Of course, I was still able to see the confused look flash across the woman's face.
She stared down at me for a second before stuttering, "I, uh, I have a blanket in my car. Try not to move. I'll call for help."
With a determined nod, the woman climbed to her feet before running over to the trunk of her car. I listened as she opened the trunk and started shifting through a box. It was a shame. She seemed like a good person. But now she would be punished for her good intentions. She would learn that nothing good came from helping strangers. Well, she would learn that lesson for the short amount of time that she had left on this earth.
I pushed myself to my feet before speeding over to the car. The woman was so focused on finding that blanket, that she didn't hear me speed behind her. I placed my hands on my hips as I tilted my head to the side. It was… amusing… the way that this woman was so determined to help. She hadn't been tainted by the horrors of this world. She still believed in good. It was a sweet thought. And I hated it. Why did this woman get to live a life of innocence and ignorance? When others suffered. It just wasn't right.
It didn't take much longer for the woman to find the blanket. She piled it into her arms before turning around, only to jolt back when she saw me standing behind her. She held the blanket close to her chest, almost like a shield, as she asked, her voice shaking, "What are you doing?"
"You wanted to help," I shrugged, a faux innocent look on my face before I smirked. I let my face change and enjoyed the look of fear and panic on the human's face. She opened her mouth to scream but before she could get it out, I sped forward, quickly closing the small gap between us. My fangs sank deep into her neck and I couldn't hold in the groan at the taste of her blood. Ever since the fucking mayor had dumped vervain into the water supply, I hadn't been able to feed on a human. Nope, it had been bloodbags only. So to get fresh, warm blood straight from the vein, it felt so good. My fingers tangled into the human's hair, keeping her still as I drank.
I was so caught up in the taste of her blood that I barely noticed as Damon walked up behind me, "Ally, that's enough. You'll get me in trouble with Stefan if you kill her."
I pulled my mouth away, licking at the blood that dripped out of the holes in the woman's neck, before turning to pout at my boyfriend, "Come on, Day, she tastes so good. It's been so long since I fed from someone. If I promise to bury her really well, will you let me finish?"
"Alexa…" Damon sighed, looking conflicted. I knew that I was breaking him down. He didn't particularly care for Stefan's rules either. Especially when they were given with such condescension. It wouldn't take much to push him over the edge and get him to play with me.
I rested the woman's body against the car before swiping my fingers across her neck. They came away stained with blood and I turned around, uncaring that she just slumped into the trunk. Her heart was still beating, so I couldn't be scolded for that just yet. Even if I was fairly convinced that she would soon bleed to death.
"You know, you're allowed to have fun too," I purred, sauntering over to my boyfriend. He watched me with careful eyes, probably wondering where I was going with this. I held up my fingers, the dark blood shining in the lamplight. It was enough to catch his attention, especially when I sucked the blood off of one of my fingers. I kept eye contact with him as I did so, enjoying the hungry look in his eyes. I was willing to leave the human alone if I was entertained in a different way.
Damon must have realised that as, when I went to suck on another finger, his hand shot out to grab my wrist. He pulled me forward, lips crashing into mine. I smirked into the kiss, fingers curling into his leather jacket as he sucked on my bottom lip. Damon let out a small groan at the taste of the blood on my lips before he pushed me back. Strong hands lifted me up so that I was sitting on the edge of the trunk. I immediately wrapped my legs around his hips as Damon's mouth settled on my neck. I tilted my head back, a satisfied look on my face, as he sucked and nibbled on the sensitive spot under my ear. I could feel his erection pressing against me through the thin fabric of my leggings.
Despite the fact that we were outside, on the road, where anyone could stumble upon us, I had absolutely no issues when Damon pulled back and ripped off my top. His mouth moved to my boobs and I could feel his breath through the thin fabric of my bra. He slowly mouthed at my nipples through the lace, driving my insane. I knew that it was his revenge for teasing him earlier. Which was why I went straight for undoing his belt before starting on his jeans. After lowering the zipper, I slid my hand into his boxers and wrapped my fingers around his hard cock. Damon moaned against my boob as I pumped my hand up and down a couple of times.
He pulled away, staring down at me with hungry eyes as his hands slid under my skirt. I expected him to pull my leggings down, which was why I was surprised when he just grabbed the seam of my leggings, his knuckles brushing against my core, and just ripped them open. I let out an impressed groan as I shoved his boxers down, freeing his cock. Damon's fingers pushed my panties out of the way before he lined up his cock with my entrance.
He pushed in hard and fast, growling my name against my neck. I arched my back and titled my hips, drawing him in further as I threw my head back. Damon bit my neck with his human teeth, leaving marks against my skin that instantly healed, as his hands settled on my ass, fingers digging in hard as he continued thrusting. I just gripped onto his shoulders, holding on tightly as the pleasure grew. I knew that it wouldn't take me long to fall over the edge, especially after he changed the tilt of his hips, that amazing cock dragging against the sensitive spot inside me.
I moaned Damon's name into the night air, my face changing as I lost all control. I didn't care that there was a dead human behind me, her blood leaking all over the trunk. I didn't care that we were in the middle of the road. All I could focus on was the hard cock that thrusted in and out, on the strong thumb that settled on my clit, rubbing firm circles. It was enough to make me fall over that edge, my voice echoing around us as I shouted out my pleasure.
Damon followed not long after me, his fangs sinking into my neck. He drank deeply as I squeezed my legs around him, unwilling to let him pull back just yet. He licked away the blood that dripped down my chest, his tongue dipping under my bra to chase the blood that dripped beneath.
And into the silence of the night, I panted, "Now that was fun."
XXX
We returned to the Boarding House, Damon's leather jacket wrapped around me, after doing a pretty poor job of hiding the car and the body. I knew that it would come back and bite me on the ass one day. But for now, I didn't particularly car. It was out of sight of the road. I could compel some poor sap to deal with it for me at a later time.
Fortunately, Stefan wasn't around to ask annoying questions when we returned. He was probably off being pious with Caroline. They had really shoved their already long sticks up their asses over my new attitude. It was annoying. And part of the reason why I avoided going anywhere near them. I was just looking for a good time while I helped Bonnie kill 12 people. I didn't want to be lectured every three seconds for daring to smile in this trying time. So it was definitely a good thing that he wasn't around.
But just in case he did return, I immediately retreated upstairs to Damon's bedroom. Even now, Stefan didn't dare to bother me there. So I felt comfortable unzipping the leather jacket covering me, revealing my bra. As I bent over to pull off my ruined leggings, I had a sharp intake of breath. I knew that this bra made my boobs look good, especially when I bent over like this. As I threw my ruined leggings to the side, I gave Damon a wink.
He narrowed his eyes at me before speeding forward. I let him push me on the bed, his body covering mine. His arms rested on either side of my head as he stared down at me. I shifted my hips slightly so that I could wrap my legs around his, holding him close. Every inch of my body was pressed against his and I knew that he could feel everything, especially with his hips slotted against mine. With a frustrated groan, Damon rested his forehead against mine, "You are making it so hard to be responsible right now."
"Pfft, where's the fun in being responsible?" I scoffed, shifting my hips again, dragging them against his. I could feel his body begin to stand attention and felt a flash of satisfaction. "I thought we were having a fun night?"
"Alexa," my boyfriend growled out my name, as he pressed his hips down, keeping me still. "Let me think."
"Think about what?" I sighed dramatically, running my fingers through his hair. Since he had ruined my fun in one way, I had to get creative in how I distracted him. It wasn't easy with most of my body pinned down. "I think we should do something that doesn't require thinking…"
I could have sworn that I heard Damon mutter, "Curse your horniness," into my skin before he moved his head away to look at me. I stared up at him, trying to look innocent. I didn't know where his mind had gone, but I was curious as to what he was thinking. Of course, I would much rather have sex with him, but I judging from the look on his face, I would have to work for that. It would have been a lot easier if he wasn't pinning me down.
"Okay, I'll play along," I rolled my eyes, cupping his face, my thumbs stroking those delectable cheekbones. "What's on your mind, baby?"
"If I find Katherine and the cure, will you agree to play nice with Stefan?"
"Is this your way of saying that you want to cure me?" I frowned, narrowing my eyes. He had always led me to believe that he didn't want me to take the cure. Which was why his words were a surprised. There had to be something more to it. But I couldn't guarantee that. No one seemed to approve of my decision to turn it all off. I had hoped that my boyfriend was the exception of that.
That earnt me a roll of the eyes and an unimpressed look, "Don't be stupid, Ally, you know that I won't force that cure on you. But I also don't want Katherine to have it. After what she did, she doesn't deserve to have it and use it to gain favour with Klaus. I know that you agree with me."
"Well, let's say that I do," I nodded slowly, letting his words sink in. "How do you propose on tracking her down? Klaus has been trying for centuries and he has failed so far."
"That's because he is a failure," my boyfriend scoffed gently, leaning down to nuzzle my nose. "I can find her for you, Alexa. I just need you to play nice until I do. Then you can take it all out on her."
"Hmm, I suppose that I can stop myself from separating Stefan's spine from his body until you serve me Katherine on a silver platter," I mused as Damon's lips traced my cheek. "As long as you promise to take me with you if you have to leave town for an extended period of time."
"I promise," Damon murmured into my ear. "I know that I can't bring your sister back to you, but I can give you her killer."
"Until Bonnie works her magic, that is exactly what I need," my breath hitched as my boyfriend gently sucked on that spot under my ear. He carefully pinned my hands to the bed as he nipped at my collar bone.
"I should get you to wear my clothes more often," he groaned into my skin before shaking his head. Damon cleared his throat before looking at me with a raised eyebrow, "Now that does mean that you have to practice restraint." At my disgusted look, my boyfriend smirked, "There are fun ways to practice that." He let go of my wrists but gave me a stern look when I went to move them. "You aren't allowed to move until I tell you to."
I nodded, a delighted look on my face as he continued to kiss his way down my chest. If I knew that practicing restraint meant this, then I would have done this a long time ago.
XXX
The next morning, Stefan successfully interrupted shower time. I had gone in first, knowing that the sight of me in the shower was something that Damon was incapable of resisting. He had been trying to focus on what the best way would be to track down Katherine. But he could do that later. I wanted more sex and I was determined to get what I wanted.
Of course, Stefan chose that moment to walk in and ruin everything. He wanted to discuss his idea to take me to school with my boyfriend. It was a ridiculous idea. I had no intention of going back to school. Even when my twin was still alive, I had been cutting down my school attendance. I had even compelled some shmuck to do my school work for me so that I could technically graduate. I wasn't going to go back after putting in that effort.
Damon, apparently, shared my thoughts as he scoffed, "So that's your plan? You're gonna take her back to school?"
"Well, the fun route didn't exactly pay off, did it?" the younger brother scoffed and I rolled my eyes. He didn't seriously think that I was going to turn it back on after having some fun, did he? I wouldn't even begin to consider turning it back on until my plan with Bonnie had been successfully carried out. Taking me back to school would just want me to keep it off even more. It would be even more of a failure than the fun route. Although I did enjoy that. I wouldn't enjoy going back to school.
"I don't know," my boyfriend smirked, crossing his arms. "Got a free meal out of it."
"Look, do you think that I want to go to school and play chaperone?" the younger Salvatore frowned, looking so pious and condescending. "You can't go because you're not a student. Besides, you've got to go look for Katherine. I mean, Alexa needs this cure now more than ever."
"If," Damon's voice was sharp, even as he tried to keep it quiet. "I get this cure from Katherine; you will not use it on Alexa. She doesn't want to be cured and I won't let her be forced into it."
Stefan was saved from my boyfriend's anger by Caroline walking into the room. She had a bathrobe wrapped around her; towel wrapped around her hair. She glanced between the brothers with a smile, trying to diffuse the tension in the room, "Not that anyone asked me, but I think that taking her back to school is a great idea."
I turned off the shower as Damon raised an eyebrow, sounding unimpressed, "Why are you here?"
"Uh, blame it on your fancy water filters," the blonder shrugged, looking completely unphased. "Your house has the only vervain free showers in town."
I picked the shortest towel and wrapped it around my body. I knew that they wouldn't expect me to get involved. Normally I avoided the pair of the like the plague. Which was probably why they felt safe talking about me while in the next room. They knew that I was in here, the sound of the shower clearly gave it away. But they probably thought that they were safe.
"Oh yea, the mayor put vervain the water supply," Damon clicked his tongue and shook his head. "So many people to kill."
The others ignored that little comment as Care nodded, "Yeah, my mom says that it's about to get worse, so she could use a little help."
Stefan gave my boyfriend a pointed look, causing him to roll his eyes, "Fine, I'll go after the psychotic doppelganger. Stefan you wanna go talk to the Sheriff?" When the younger brother nodded, Damon's gaze flickered over to Caroline, "Blondie, take her to school. But be careful, my girl has claws these days and she isn't afraid to use them."
Care just smiled and nodded. The poor, naïve girl. Just because we were friends, didn't mean that I wouldn't rip her apart now. If she stood between me and my sister, then I would make her regret it. Honestly, she should know that. I've been like my entire life. The only difference now was that I was a vampire and I no humanity. I would get as savage as I needed to.
Since things were looking a little chummy, I decided that it would be fun to ruin it all. I sauntered into the bedroom, very much aware of the fact that the towel wrapped around me only just covered my ass. It would be enough to make the other two feel awkward, especially Stefan. He always got flustered by that kind of stuff. It was quite funny. Especially since he knew that I was very much his brother's girl. And he knew how jealous my boyfriend got.
"He's right, you know," I rested my hands on my hips, giving the blonde a wink. "I play dirty these days. But I'll let you take me to school. Not like I have anything better to do if Damon isn't around."
I deliberately let a dirty look form on my face. Because, honestly, it was so funny as to how uncomfortable Stefan got. He knew that I was fucking his brother, because, let's face it, I was not quiet. Damon had skills and he knew how to make me scream. Caroline just rolled her eyes at me, making me shrug.
"Just remember what we discussed last night about restraint," Damon gave me a stern look and I winked.
"As if I could forget that, babes," I smirked as I grabbed the top of my towel. "But fine, I'll show restraint. Now, y'all have about five seconds to vamoose before I drop this towel and believe me, I will do it."
The other two left the room before I got to three. It was such a nice way to clear the room without having to worry about hurt feelings. Not that I worried about that anyway. If I insulted them, then they would be less likely to bother me later. Hmm, maybe I should have insulted them. That way I could speak to Bonnie at school without worry.
Ah, what a wasted opportunity.
XXX
Damon dropped me off at school with a kiss and a promise that I would be rewarded if I didn't kill anyone. It would have felt condescending if he wasn't referring to Stefan and Caroline. Since he would be busy on a doppelganger hunt, Stefan would be the one to 'keep an eye' on me today. Especially since Caroline had only been a vampire for a few months longer than I had been. So there was no guarantee that she could overpower me if the occasion called for it. Of course, what they didn't consider, was if the occasion called for it, they wouldn't even know about that occasion. I would keep it hidden from them and I was even sneakier now than I was before.
I pushed my way through the crowds of students, not even caring about them. I didn't even care if I trod on a few toes. It was their fault for getting in my way. Ugh, why did I agree to come here? Oh yeah, that's right, I didn't have anyone else to entertain me. Besides, Bonnie would be here too. And that meant that I could speak to her about our plan.
I was glancing around the hallway, looking for someone to entertain me, when I spotted the bulletin board. There was always something on there that would prove to be entertaining. And I was right. It was the Mystic Falls Cheerleading Invitational today. Which meant one thing to me: there would be people coming to town who weren't dosed up on vervain. I would get to properly eat. I just had to find a way to sneak to the event without Caroline and Stefan asking questions. Because, like, I wasn't a cheerleader. So they would get suspicious if I just rocked on up. Unless I thought of a good Elena related excuse. That always got them flustered.
I folded up the flyer and tucked it into my pocket before looking around at the rest of the flyers. I would have walked away, but I could hear Caroline on the phone behind me. She was talking to Tyler again. Well, I say talking to Tyler. She was leaving him another voicemail. Apparently this one was about me. Not that I was surprised. It wasn't like there was anything else happening. Well, that she knew of. I had managed to successfully hide my plotting with Bonnie and until I was ready to reveal it, I would keep it hidden.
"Hey," Matt approached Caroline, and I could practically feel him look at my turned back. "Have you seen Bonnie?"
"Yeah, I called her last night," the blonde replied, tucking her phone into her bag. "She's fine. She's just a little drained from, you know, everything."
"Can't really blame her," the human sighed, shaking his head. "Do you know if she is coming in today?"
"She said that she was going to try to," Caroline nodded, looking as someone else joined the pair. I glanced over my shoulder at the newcomer before immediately walking away.
I could feel Jeremy's gaze on me as I found a new corridor to lurk in. I hadn't talked to my brother or my aunt since the night I turned it all off. And that was how it would stay. I knew that they would try to persuade me to turn my humanity back on and I just couldn't do that. But you know what the annoying thing is? I honestly didn't know if they would be successful in getting me to turn it on. Which was why I was determined to avoid them. It wouldn't be for long. If my immediate plotting with Bonnie was successful, then I would be able to get them off my back completely.
I stopped a corridor away, but I was still able to hear them talk. It wasn't that I cared how they were doing. They were alive and I would make sure that they stayed alive. But that was the extent of my caring, for now. They could hate me and be upset with me, that was their call. I knew that they didn't appreciate me turning it off. They would have preferred if I drowned in my guilt and grief with them. But I couldn't do that. I had a chance to bring Elena back to life. And I would do that. The deaths that came with that plan, well, that was just life. Got to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
"Hey, Jeremy, how are you and Jenna doing?" Caroline's voice was soft as she spoke to my brother. I could picture her expression, all wide eyes and sympathetic winces. It was pretty pitiful, to be honest. If she really how cared how they were doing, then she would have checked in on them more often. Instead, she had been joining Stefan in bothering me.
"It's been hard," Jeremy replied with a sigh, shaking his head. "Meredith has moved in to help us look after Jenna. She hasn't been taking this well and we're worried on how the stress will affect the baby."
While the blonde made the right amount of sympathetic noises, I rolled my eyes. They shouldn't have expected anything different. And, really, I blamed her for not checking in on Jenna more. She was the only one who could. Bonnie was busy helping me, not that the others knew that. Not really. They just assumed that she was still a bit messed up from the island. I was obviously avoiding everything to do with my family. So Caroline had failed in her duty as a friend by not going to visit Jenna at any point.
"She'll be fine," Matt spoke up, ever the voice of reason. "Alexa may be avoiding you both now. But if something went wrong with Jenna and the baby, she will be there. Even if her humanity switch is off. She won't abandon you."
"The only reason that she has it off is to bring Elena back by any means necessary," my brother's voice was quiet and I had to strain my hearing to pick it up. "I don't know if she will want to face us, even if our lives are in danger."
"Deep down, she's still Alexa. And she still loves you all."
Jeremy just gave an unconvinced hum.
XXX
"Bonnie," I practically purred as I found the girl in an empty classroom. "There's my favourite witch. I did wonder where you were."
The witch glanced up when I entered, a started look on her face, before she quickly relaxed, "I went to Ric's old classroom. There was still some of his old stuff there that I can use for the spell."
She had a journal on the desk in front of her, one that had been tucked away in a secret compartment in the desk. She had also managed to find one of his bourbon bottles, although I was fairly sure that that couldn't be used in the spell. My thoughts were confirmed when the girl offered me the bottle. I took it with a tilt of the head, unbottling it and taking a healthy swig. Ah, now this was what I needed. If I didn't been to be around to make sure that things got done, I would have accepted Damon's offer to take me away to somewhere hot and sunny with all the booze that I could drink.
"Ah, perfect," I smirked, jumping up to sit on the desk next to her. At my movement, the witch flinched slightly. I knew that she found my new nature to be slightly unsettling. But since I was helping her do what she wanted, she hid the distaste that she must have been feeling. "That is so much easier than me trying to grab something from the house. Less chance of someone catching me and asking what I was up to. Think this will work?"
It also meant that I didn't need to step foot in that building again. I had successfully avoided it since that night and I would continue to avoid it for as long as needed. There was nothing for me there. And I knew that if I went back, then Jenna and Jeremy would try and persuade me to turn it back on. Which obviously wasn't going to happen.
"I think so," Bonnie nodded, hand reaching up to grab the pendant around her neck. The one that had been housing Ric's soul for the past few months. "I'm more powerful now. I don't need to worry about the energy that I need. I can do this without accessing the spirits and without help. There's nothing to stop me anymore."
"Even though you're using a different type of magic? Can that actually work? I just assumed that you had to use the same type of magic for this kind of thing."
"The spell is the same, I'm just using a different power source. It isn't as complicated as it appears. I just never thought to try it while using expression."
"Huh, interesting," I paused to reflect on it for a moment before shrugging. "So, darling, what else do you need? I might else well spend the rest of the school day getting everything ready for you. I mean, what else am I going to do, study?" I snorted and shook my head. Like that was going to happen.
"I just need his body somewhere open and where I won't get disturbed," the witch replied, speaking slowly as she thought. "Then I have everything that I need."
"Luckily, Damon buried it near town, ready for when you would be able to do your spell," I nodded, tapping my thighs. That was an annoying habit that had remain, even after I flicked that switch. I guess my need to keep moving wasn't completely related to my anxiety. I just had too much energy. "I'll put him in the old Fell Crypt, no one ever goes there. So you'll be safe to do your thing there."
Bonnie was silent for a moment, staring at me before asking, "Why are you bringing Ric back before Elena? I thought that you would have prioritised her."
"That was the plan," I admitted, pushing myself off the desk so that I could pace, my heels clicking on the floor. "But then I realised that organising a 12 person massacre was not easy. Especially if they have to be supernatural in nature." I rolled my eyes at the condition that Bonnie had put on our plan. It was only so that they would also return to life once the spell was done. And so she wouldn't feel guilty over killing them in the first place. It was a bit ridiculous, in my opinion. Killing supernaturals for the spell just meant that they could looking for revenge once the veil was lowered. If we killed humans, then that was it. We would never have to worry about them again. But since I needed Bonnie and I really didn't want to resort to threats just yet, I decided to play along with her little condition. "It takes time. And during that time, the rest of the supernatural community in town will just keep on trying to stop us and get me to turn my humanity back on. That will get boring soon. And I might get tempted to start ripping out spines. So I figured, what would be a good distraction? I know, bringing back Alaric."
"What if he comes back evil again?"
I shrugged, "Then the others can spend their time running around trying to find a way to kill him. And during that time, we'll finish our little plan and bring Elena back. He won't come back evil though. Esther's spell won't be able to follow him through like this."
"How are you so sure?" the witch asked, looking at me. She didn't look convinced but she also wasn't arguing against my plan. Which was why I was content to let her ask as many questions as needed. I could deal with questions. I wouldn't deal with refusal. If Bonnie refused to do this, then I would just find another witch who would. I could be very persuasive if I needed to be. And witches tended to have a lot of loved ones that I could threaten. Either way, it was a win win.
"Because I just know," I smirked at the witch. "Come on, Bonnie, just trust me. I won't let things go wrong. I know what I'm doing."
XXX
Collecting Alaric's body had wasted barely any time, even when I tried to do it all at human speed. So I had to find other ways to entertain myself until the cheerleader invitational after school. I didn't kill anyone, even if it was tempting. So instead, I just chilled in the stoner pit, enjoying the best weed that the stoner guys had to offer. Unfortunately, I had to smoke it and not much on anyone. But hey, it kept me busy.
It wasn't until I started to hear buses arriving and the sound of excited laughter that I made my way round to the main school. I was surprised by the amount of people who had arrived already. I'm sure this was bigger than last years one. Not that I really remembered it. I knew that Elena had dragged me along to support Caroline and Bonnie. But I was fairly sure that I had spent most of it drunk. It wasn't that long after I had lost my Nolan's and I was not in a good place during that time.
I spied Caroline through the crowd. She was laughing with some of the others from the cheer team and I made a mental note to avoid her. I knew that the blonde would only express disappointment in me being here. And I really couldn't be bothered to deal with that. Nah, all I wanted was to have some vervain free blood and chill until the mood came up. Bonnie was waiting until later to do the spell. Something about feeling the power of the moon. Not that she needed it, but I think it made her feel better to use it. Especially since it was the same moon when she did the spell to rescue Ric's soul. Not that I cared for the details. All that I cared about was that she actually did the spell.
I had just managed to charm one of the bus drivers when I heard a shocked voice behind me, "Alexa! I didn't expect to see you here today."
I rolled my eyes and released the human from my compulsion. Fortunately, he didn't run away. I honestly didn't know if that was because of my compulsion or because of the low-cut top that I wore. Either way, I wasn't going to complain. It meant that I didn't need to track down a new meal once I had forced Caroline to leave me alone.
I turned around to give the blonde a fake smile, "Oh yeah, totally. Did you think that I would give up the chance to cheer on the team?"
"You didn't even do it voluntarily before," Caroline was trying hard to sound enthusiastic by my presence. It was quite funny really. She clearly didn't know why I was here, had a bad feeling as to my intentions but also didn't want to force me away. Her and Stefan still seemed to think that attending school was a link to humanity. Which was hilarious, considering I had spent barely any time at school today.
"Well," I smirked, realising that I could press buttons without being scolded. "Maybe I thought that I would try doing some normal, human shit." The other vampire winced as I placed as much emphasis on I could on the word 'human'. Not gonna lie, I couldn't keep in the snort of laughter. "After all, Elena was a cheerleader once. Maybe being here will make me feel closer to her."
Was I laying it on thick? Oh yeah. Did I care? Nope. Cos mentioning my dead sister made the others get all flustered. And it normally meant that they left me alone for a few hours. Of course, I knew that Caroline wouldn't give me as much space as she normally would while we were here. But my aim was to get her to stop watching me a for a while. To give me enough time to feed as much as I wanted. I mean, I wasn't asking for a lot, was I? All I wanted was some blood from the vervain. And this was my best opportunity to get that.
"That, um, that makes sense," the blonde stuttered, glancing around. If she was looking for backup, then there was no one around. Bonnie was off meditating or something. Matt and Jeremy had gone home to Jenna. And the younger Salvatore had neglected to attend school today. It was just me and the blonde. "Why don't you come and watch us warm up? You might be able to suggest some improvements to the routine."
I snorted, "That's adorable, hon, but I couldn't possibly suggest any improvements. Tell you what, let me check in with Damon, cos I promised him that I would show restraint today. And then I'll come track you down. How does that sound?"
Caroline glanced at the human behind me, a worried look in her eyes. I knew that, even though she worried, she didn't want to push me over the edge. No one knew what my limits were right now. Would I snap if someone questioned me? Who knew. Not even I knew. Which was quite entertaining if I was being honest. I liked being this unpredictable. It kept things interesting for me.
"That sounds… that sounds great," the other vampire forced a smile. It was obvious that it was fake but I didn't call her out on it. Partly because it was so entertaining but also because if she thought that she was able to trick me, then she would keep on being obvious. And that would only benefit me in the long run.
"Awesome, I'll see you in a bit," my smirk was sharper than I realised as I watched the blonde walk away. But I couldn't bring myself to care. Caroline had to know that she couldn't mess with me. I wouldn't play nice anymore. Things were different now. And the other vampires in town had to realise that. And if they didn't, well, they would be the ones to suffer the consequences.
XXX
Once I had had my fun with the bus driver that I had charmed, I decided to find someone else to play with. Because the bus driver was just annoying. Even after I had compelled him not to scream, the annoying piece of shit just tried to grope me. So I repaid him by compelling him so that he never got hard when he saw someone that he found attractive. Honestly, he deserved worse. But I didn't want to waste any more time on him than I already had. I had fed from him and now it was time to move on.
I was just walking through the crowd that lurked around the edge of the gym when I heard a girl exclaimed, "Oh my god. You guys, I left my makeup bag on the bus."
Hmm, now that sounded like a good opportunity. She would be alone and defenceless. And I knew that Caroline was busy barking orders at the Mystic Falls cheer team to notice that I was hunting an innocent girl. I stalked the girl as she left the building, heading straight to one of the buses parked in the parking lot. Unfortunately for her, but fortunate for me, it was one of the buses parked quite far away from the gym. Which meant that if I allowed her to scream, no one would be around to hear her.
I followed the girl onto the bus as she grabbed the makeup bag that she had left behind. The human was completely oblivious to the fact that I had been hunting her. It was quite pathetic really. Her survival skills were non-existent. Even when I was human, mine were a lot better than hers. The girl almost deserved to be eaten.
I silently moved so that I was stood right behind her. Even then, the blonde girl didn't hear me. A blue ribbon helped to keep her hair in place, matching the blue of her uniform. I wanted to say that she was one of the Grove Hill girls. But I didn't really care enough to remember. All that I cared about was the blood that was pumping through her body.
When she turned around, the girl jolted backwards a step when she saw me standing right behind her. I couldn't stop myself from smirking as her heartrate picked up, her blue eyes widening in fear. It was a delicious sight, one that had my face changing as I purred, "Hello darling." The girl went to scream but I quickly shot forward, resting a finger against her lips as my gaze caught hers. At that point, it was easy to compel the girl, "Don't scream. Don't run. Just do as I say." The blonde repeated my words numbly, resting her arms by her side and I nodded in approval. "Good girl."
Now that I was content that I would get an easy meal, I sank my fangs into her neck. The girl's blood tasted sweet and it was so good. After only eating blood bags for far too long, it felt so good to get blood directly from the vein. And, if I was being honest, it was a much more enjoyable experience compared to drinking from the bus driver. He was all sweaty and gross. The girl in my arms smelt only of her sweet perfume.
Once I had drank enough to satiate my hunger, I pulled away. I knew that blood stained my mouth and lips from the scared look in the girl's eyes. That look satisfied my hunter instincts, even if I wouldn't admit it to anyone. But I was proud that I had left her alive. The girl's blood was so sweet that I nearly considered just draining her dry. But my boyfriend had asked me to show restraint. So I kept her alive. For him.
But that didn't stop me from wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling my phone from my pocket. I switched it to selfie mode before the ordering the girl under my compulsion, "Smile, sweetpea. We have a point to prove."
I snapped a photo, making sure that there was a good shot of the blood on the girl's neck and around my mouth. While I examined the photo, I kept an arm around the kid. Her heart was thudding in her chest in fear. And I enjoyed it far too much.
Once I was content with the photo, I sent it to Damon with the caption, 'see babe, I can show restraint ;)'. I knew that my message would get my boyfriend all growly. And that was my intention. He was so hot when he was angry. And the sex did not disappoint. And since that was the only bright part of my life, getting fucked within an inch of my life, I would do everything that I could to get Damon to let go like that. I never regretted it when he did.
After sending the photo, I released the girl. I reached past her to grab her scarf from her bag. I used my sleeve to wipe away the blood on her neck before wrapping the scarf around her neck. With it being such a dark colour, no blood should be noticeable. I had sealed the wound the best that I could, but leaking blood was always an issue. Not that I cared too much. I just didn't want to be lectured by Caroline, otherwise I would be seriously tempted to just snap her neck. Or, god, worse. She would bring Stefan in to lecture me instead. God. I did not want that to happen.
I looked the girl in the eye again before compelling her, "Don't take that scarf off until you are on your way home." When the girl repeated my words, I smirked, "Now, forget that any of this ever happen. I was never here. You got your makeup bag and then you went back to your team. Nothing else happened."
Now, who else could I eat?
XXX
Once I had eaten from a few different people, I decided to go relax on the outside lunch benches. I was properly full for once. Which was bound to happen when you fed from multiple people. It was a nice feeling, if I was being honest. I hadn't felt this full in a while. With the mayor's annoying little vervain plan and the fucking island, feeding to complete satisfaction just wasn't possible. I could only feed enough to make sure that I wasn't a threat to anyone. Not that I cared too much about that now, if I was being honest. I just couldn't eat people who were hopped up on vervain.
Which was why I was happy to relax on one of the benches before heading back inside. I was able to take this time to relax before the next stage of my plan. I knew that Bonnie was busy doing her thing. After I had taken Alaric's body to the Fell crypt, I had texted her to let her know. I had also told her where I had hidden the key to the crypt, since I really couldn't be bothered to deal with someone stumbling across the body. Nah, that was too much effort for me.
I laid back on the bench, looking up into the blue sky. It was oddly peaceful, even with all the people hanging around. For there were still some people outside. Not everyone had gone into the gym yet and they seemed to be enjoying the cool winter air. I tuned out their conversations, focusing only on the sounds of nature around me. The wind gently blowing the leaves, the animals scurrying amongst the trees. It was a level of peace that I hadn't felt in a very long time. And I probably wouldn't feel it for a long time yet. I had far too many plans on the go to even begin thinking about peace. I had to bring Alaric back to life. I had to help Bonnie with her plan to bring Elena back to life. I had to track down Katherine and the cure, so that I could kill the duplicitous bitch and then use the cure in any way that I saw fit. My only aim for the cure was that it wasn't used against me.
I knew that Damon wouldn't force me to take it, nor would he let the others force me. But they couldn't be sneaky when they wanted to be. So I wouldn't put it past them to try it. Of course, they had to get their hands on the cure first. And after I ripped it from Katherine's dead hands, I had no intention of letting someone else take it from me. I hadn't yet decided if I would just destroy it or give it to someone else to take. Or force them to take it so it couldn't be given to me. But I did know that I would keep it hidden and safe until I had decided.
It was only when my phone buzzed in my pocket that I allowed myself to pay proper attention to my surroundings again. I answered the call without even bothering to look at who was calling. Luckily, the sweet voice of one Bonnie Bennett quickly spoke, "I'm at the crypt. This may take a bit of time; do you know where the others are?"
"Well, my darling Bonnie, I have started to make a point of knowing where the rest of the group are. So don't you worry your pretty head. Jeremy and Matt are spending the night at home with Jenna, as they are worried about her and the baby. Caroline is at the cheerleading invitational, which is where I am right now. And Stefan is investing something for Caroline's mom. Although I am sure that she will summon him here at some point, after she has learnt about the amount of people that I have been munching on." At Bonnie's sharp intake of breath, I rolled my eyes, "I haven't killed anyone. I just took the opportunity to indulge, since it has been far too long."
"You promise that you haven't killed anyone?"
"I promise. Trust me, the last thing that I want is to be put on a timeout by Stefan and Caroline. Which is something that they would do if they felt as though I was out of control. Especially if Damon isn't around to 'keep me in check'. Ugh, which is just incredibly condescending."
"I'm sure it won't come to that. Besides, Damon wouldn't let them, even if they did try it."
I laughed at that, "True, true. Damon would not stand for that. Which is something that I appreciate. It makes getting all of this sorted a lot easier. Now, do you need anything else to carry out your little spell? Because I can get it to you before the annoying blonde realises that I've disappeared."
"No, it's fine. I managed to bring everything that I need. The only thing that you can do for me is make sure that I have enough time to complete the spell."
"Oh, that won't be an issue. Once the invitational is over, I've arranged for everyone to attend a party at the Boarding House. That will distract Stefan and Caroline for ages. Because how dare anyone has fun in this town."
Despite her best intentions, Bonnie let out a little snort at my words. She immediately followed it with a cough in an attempt to hide it. But she adorably failed and instead asked, "Do you want me to direct Ric to the Boarding House when I bring him back then?"
"Yeah, send him over there. Then the others can tell Jenna in as suitable a way as possible. And then while they are all busy doing that, we can get on with planning the last point of the expression triangle."
"You sound as though you have it all planned out."
"Oh of course, my dear. I am not leaving anything to chance now. We will succeed in our plan to bring back my sister. And I will do everything possible to make sure that nothing goes wrong."
XXX
Once I had finished speaking with Bonnie, I knew that it was time to return to the gym. After all, I couldn't risk Caroline coming looking for me. Jus in case she got ideas about searching for Bonnie too. And I had promised the witch that I would give her all the time that she needed.
As I entered, I saw Caroline immediately turn around to look at me. Clearly, the blonde had been looking for me. Which was just tedious. I wanted a bit of time to settle into the room before I had to worry about her approaching me. But alas, I was not to get that peace. So with a roll of my eyes, I adjusted my top, staying where I was when Caroline started to walk towards me.
"Hey, where were you?" she immediately asked when she reached my side. Her hands settled on her hips as she raised an eyebrow. "I thought you would be here ages ago."
"Aw hon," I cooed mockingly, looking around the room for entertainment. "I never said when I would come inside. It's not my fault that you're too impatient."
Unfortunately for me, Caroline ignored my words. She instead stared at a small stain on the collar of my jumper. I didn't care enough to pay attention to what she was looking at. Instead, I watched as the various teams practiced their routines around us. Thinking back on it, I'm glad that I didn't get into cheerleading. It felt like far too much effort. And I would have had to play nice with people that I probably would have been annoyed by.
"What is that?" the blonde asked, suspicion clear in her voice. It sounded as though she knew what it was. But she wanted that verbal confirmation. Well, the joke was on her because I neither knew nor cared what was on my jumper.
"No idea," I shrugged, glancing back at the other vampire to see her narrowing her eyes at me. I just rolled mine. "If you really care about it, I can always take it off so that you can have a proper look."
I grabbed the bottom of my jumper, ready to shrug it off, when Caroline quickly shook her head, "No, it's fine. It's probably nothing." Of course, as I gave her a tight smile and went to walk past her, something must have caught the other girl's eye. She immediately grabbed my arm and spun my around, hissing, "Are you out of your mind?"
"Oh for fucks sake," I muttered, shaking my head, before slightly raising for my voice. "What is it this time?"
"You're feeding on people!" the blonde, despite being weirdly upset, was still able to keep her voice low. "What is wrong with you? Don't you remember what Damon asked? He wanted you to show restraint."
"And I did," I snorted, before rolling my eyes at Caroline's confused look. "They're still alive, aren't they? If I wasn't showing restraint, then there would be a pile of dead people in the stoner pit. Dumbass."
"That's not the point," Caroline argued, getting even more upset. "You're not supposed to feed on people, Alexa. I wouldn't have let you stay here if I knew that that was what you were going to do!"
"Oh," I narrowed my eyes, stepping close to the blonde. My tone turned dangerous as I wonder who the fuck this girl thought she was, speaking to me like that. "And, pray tell, what would you have done to get me to leave? Because you wouldn't win in a fight against me."
Luckily for Caroline, someone intervened before things could get violent. The younger Salvatore brother arrived on the scene, glancing between us with a frown before asking, "Everything alright?"
"Hm, I thought that you would turn up later," I smirked at Stefan, grabbing the blonde's wrist to force her to let go of my arm. It took me squeezing tightly before she agreed, but eventually, she backed off. Of course, there was an unhappy look on her face as she did so. But she was lucky that I wasn't breaking her wrist, considering she had been touching me for far too long. I just couldn't be bothered to deal with the resulting drama if I did just snap it. "Wassup, Stef, has someone snitched on me already? Or did your pious, hypocritical senses tell you that someone was having fun and you just had to rush over and stop that from happening?"
"Alexa's been feeding on people," Caroline hissed before the older vampire had a chance to tell me off for my words. Stefan's frown deepened as he looked down at me. I could see the disapproval in his gaze and that annoyed me. Considering what he had spent his humanityless period doing, he had no right to judge me or be all disapproving. At least I hadn't ripped any heads off yet. In fact, I was doing remarkably well in the no killing department. A lot better than Stefan had.
I just rolled my eyes, "Careful, hon, don't you know that snitches get stiches."
After giving the blonde a sharp smirk, I stalked off towards the Mystic Falls cheerleaders. The other two vampires were really beginning to annoy me. They had no right to be all disapproving of what I did. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have been chasing the cure. And if we hadn't been chasing the cure, then my sister would still be alive. So, yes, I was going to assign them some blame for everything that had happened. And because of that, their interference just annoyed me further.
While I couldn't do anything to make Stefan regret his very existence, I knew that I could hurt Caroline. She would be the person who was tossed during the routine. And just because I wasn't a cheerleader, didn't mean that I couldn't interfere. Oh yes, I would make Caroline regret interfering in my plans and my fun and just being a general spoilsport and snitch.
XXX
Once I had worked my magic with the rest of the cheer team, who were just so excited to talk to me again after such a long time, I went to go sit near the bleachers. I took a seat on one of the coach's chairs that were scatted around the room and crossed my legs beneath me. I knew that it wouldn't be long until it all kicked off. And I was very much looking forward to that.
Of course, it would have been too much to hope that I would be left alone during that time. So when Stefan approached me, I just sighed and rolled my eyes. I knew that there was no point in trying to leave, he would just follow me wherever I went. Apparently, the younger Salvatore just really wanted to talk to me. As was proven when he said, "Hey, we need to talk."
"Hm, do we though?" I smirked up at him as he stood in front of me. I wouldn't make things easy for them right now. If I didn't need to waste time for Bonnie, then I probably would have just ditched the entire event. But I couldn't risk anything interfering with my plans. Which was why I was stuck here.
"Alexa, have you been feeding on the people here?"
"Are you asking cos you know or because you want to know? Cos I have to tell you, if it is the first option, then I will tell you to fuck off and stop wasting my precious time."
"Okay, how about this; you wouldn't happen to know anything about the hospital's missing blood supply, would you?"
"Ugh, blood bags are so last season," I rolled my eyes as Stefan crouched down in front of me. He went to rest his hand on my knee, but thought better of it when I gave him a warning look. Just because I wasn't pushing him over and running away, didn't mean that I wanted him here. "I prefer getting my food directly from the source. So, no, I don't know anything about your little mystery. Will you leave me alone now?"
Stefan didn't leave me alone.
Instead he just sighed, "Look, Alexa, I know what you're going through." He graciously ignored my snort of laughter. "I was having the time of my life when I first turned too. I didn't start ripping heads off until 1912. The next thing that I know, I was killing an entire village."
"And here we go," I muttered before raising my voice, my voice practically dripping with sarcasm. "Oh no, does that mean that I could end up ripping off heads? Oh Stefan, please, help me, save me from that." When I couldn't hold it in any longer, I just laughed, "Seriously, bro, what are you implying? That I could turn into you? Hmm, not gonna happen. I haven't ripped any heads off yet and I highly doubt that I will. So there is no point in trying to scare me into thinking that I could end up being like you. Because it just won't happen."
"You should be. Because I know how deep down you can fall, and I know how difficult it is to climb back out. Come on. You're better than this."
"Eh, you're probably right," I conceded with a shrug, allowing that little win. I would be kind to him for a moment, because it wouldn't happen again. "But guess what, I don't care right now. Until I've done what I need to do, I'll embrace the worst parts of myself. Cos, guess what, it will make sure that I can do what I need to do."
"Does that include killing 12 people to complete the expression triangle?" Stefan's voice was soft when he asked, a wary look in his eyes as he waited for my answer. I don't know why he asked. He clearly knew what the answer was. It was like he was deliberately trying to torture himself. Which was his problem, if I was being honest. I never asked him to think about that. In fact, if I had my way, he wouldn't think about it or even know about it. But alas, I was not that lucky.
"Yep, it includes that," I scoffed, shaking my head. "Like, come on, Stef, I know that you aren't that thick. It's clearly one of the reasons why I flicked the switch. So that my pesky little conscience won't get in the way of me getting the massacre done. Duh doy."
"If you had to turn your humanity off to do it, then you must know that it is wrong."
"Of course I know that it is wrong," I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. I mean, how thick do you have to be to ask that question. What did he expect me to do? Was I supposed to be like oh shit you're right, I must stop all of my plans and only do the right thing? Of course I knew that what I wanted to do was wrong. But I just didn't care. Because, guess what, I didn't need to care about doing the right thing anymore. My humanity was gone. And so was any sort of conscience that I had. "But I don't care. If it means bringing Elena back to life, then I'll do it. Even if it is the worst thing in the world, I'll do it. So you can play as many guilt games as you want, they aren't going to work."
Before Stefan could say anything else, and he was definitely going to say something else, the PA system announced, "Up next: Mystic Fall's very own Lady Timberwolves."
The crowed around us cheered as the cheer team gathered around for one final empowering speech from their cheer captain. Well, Caroline would think that it is an empowering speech. Little did she know that I had been working some mischief in her team. And things were not going to go the way that she wanted them to go…
XXX
I watched in excited anticipation as the announcer called out, "Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for your very own Lady Timberwolves!" I had the perfect view of their routine from where I sat and I was incredibly eager for what was going to happen. It was incredibly easy to organise. All it took was for the right words to be whispered in the right ears. Caroline wasn't as popular as she thought she was. And I knew exactly how to play people on the cheer team. She often forgot that I knew a lot of them through Dana. And I had carefully kept those friendships going over the past few months, since the girl tragically died.
Stefan couldn't understand my excitement as he frowned at me from where he had moved to stand next to me. I could tell that he was suspicious. Because it was obvious that I wasn't excited for the cheerleading routine that was about to be performed. Nah, not even Stefan was that ignorant. Which was why I could that he was getting worried over my gleeful excitement. And I was enjoying that as well. He deserved to be on edge after annoying me for so long. It was a shame that I couldn't go anything to him either. But eh, I'll find some time to make him pay too. Even if I end up getting my boyfriend to do it for me.
The Mystic Falls cheerleader team took centre stage in the gym, getting into position. While the rest of the crowd cheered, I just leant forward, eager to see what my words had caused. Because after Caroline had pissed me off, the little snitch, I had worked some mischief of my own. Honestly, she thought that she could call Stefan over and get me in trouble. Well, she was going to regret that.
Caroline called out, "Ready!" to kick off the routine. With her prompt, the girls all called out, while performing their over practiced moves, "L-O-L, O-M-G, you're looking at Mystic Falls Varsity! B-E-A-T, beat those Cats."
I watched as the anticipated moment drew ever closer. Once they had done their little moves, a few of the girls got ready to toss Caroline in the air, as their star move. But, omg, they didn't catch her when she came back down. The blonde fell to the mat with a thud, letting out a low groan at the unexpected pain.
While the rest of the crowd gasped in shock, I had to hide a giggle in my hand. Cara, my sweet Cara, glanced over at me and I gave her a proud nod. It had been remarkably easy to persuade her to fail to catch Caroline. Just a few whispered words on how Caroline had said that she had put on a few pounds, how Caroline had been seen flirting with her boyfriend. It was the usual mean girl stuff. But damn, it worked like a treat. And I was very proud of my girl for allowing me to get into her head like that.
My giggles must have caught Stefan's attention, as the older vampire looked down at me with a frown, "Did you cause that?"
"Yep," I nodded, not even bothering to hide my part in the blonde's embarrassment. My easy admission of guilt earned me a disapproving frown. But I just ignored it. The drama on the gym floor was a lot more entertaining. The rest of the team were gathered around her. But the other vampire was staring right at me. I gave her a wink, practically admitting that I was responsible for what had just happened. I could tell that she wanted to come over and yell at me. But she couldn't. She had to pretend that the fall had affected her, like it would a human. "Like I said before, snitches get stiches. She's just lucky that this was all that she got."
Before Stefan could say anything else, I gave him a smirk and blew him a kiss, before getting up from my chair. I knew that the other vampire wouldn't stop me. He would want time to think about the fact that I had just made the perfect mean girl move. No one had seen it coming. Even though it was obvious that I was not impressed with the blonde's interference, they hadn't expected me to retaliate so publicly. Which was foolish on their part, if I was being honest. I didn't care if Caroline was publicly embarrassed in front of most of the town and several of the schools in the area. She deserved it.
Besides, after my little stunt, the other two vampires, Mr and Mrs Pious, would be even more determined to keep an eye on me. Just in case I tried something else like that. Which I would be tempted to do, if they kept on pissing me off. Of course, there was a benefit to being watch like that. They wouldn't try to track down Bonnie and interfere in our little plan. In fact, I would be willing to be that the whereabouts of me little witch wouldn't even cross their minds. So really, it was a win win for me. I could annoy them as much as I wanted and they wouldn't even leave me be.
God, they were just so easy to manipulate. It wasn't even a game at this point. It was almost boring. Ah well, as long I benefitted from it, I shouldn't complain. Well not a lot, anyway. There would always be a level of complaining as to how easy they made it for me. Oh well, the jokes on them. Suckers.
As I walked to the exit, I caught Caroline's eye again. The other girls were 'helping' her to sit up again. My smirk deepened at the outraged look in her eyes and I couldn't help but pout mockingly at her. I knew that there was nothing that she could do to make me regret my actions, even if she did manage to get me alone. And I loved how powerless she was. How powerless they both were.
XXX
I was stood outside, debating whether I should check on Bonnie or just head straight to the Boarding House, when Stefan caught up with me. I was surprised by how quickly he had chased after me. I was expecting to have a bit longer with my thoughts before Mr Morality got all annoying.
"That was an impressive move," the older vampire stood in front of me, putting on a decent effort of playing along. But I knew that he didn't mean it. It was the way that his forehead crinkled ever so slightly. He was trying to make a move, I just had to work out what his intentions were. "How did you manage to pull it off?"
"It was easy," I shrugged, walking about him, towards the car park. I hadn't actually driven here, but I figured that I could compel one of the out of towners into giving me a lift to the Boarding House. Afterall, I had told everyone that the party was going to start straight after the invitationals finished. I had even drafted in some of the local college kids to bring in the booze. It was pretty easy really. "Teenage girls can be so insecure. You just have to say the right words and direct their anger at the right person. Caroline just so happened to be the right person. Now are you going to leave me alone or are you going to keep following me? Because you know that I won't listen to anything that you have to say."
"No, I'm impressed, you managed to play everyone really well," the older vampire walked beside me, herding me in the direction of his motorbike. "You got your mean girl revenge on Caroline and you were able to sneak here and feed on plenty of vervain-free people. No one suspected anything."
"Well, duh," I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at him as we came to a stop by the motorbike. Stefan leant back against it while I crossed my arms. "You two can be pretty dense at times. Besides, I didn't kill anyone. And I wouldn't have had to manipulate people into embarrassing Caroline if she had kept her big nose out of my business. I was quite content on feeding from a few people."
"Even so, I bet that you didn't feed enough."
I paused before shrugging, "Eh, I mean, I did feel full earlier. But I could probably have more. Feeding from the vein has, unfortunately, become a bit of a novelty recently."
"That's the problem with feeding here. While you have plenty of choice, there are too many witnesses. You gotta go somewhere a little more private for some real fun."
"Are you trying to lure me away somewhere, Stef? Do I need to start screaming stranger danger? Cos I will. I'm not above just embarrassing you to death."
I mean, he should really know that. I had just manipulated an entire invitational performance to do that to Caroline. I would do the same for Stefan. And there would be enough people within earshot that me screaming would attract a lot of people. Then he wouldn't be able to play whatever game he was trying to play.
"Trust me, it's worth it. I know this little dive bar off the beaten path. Plenty to eat with no one around to bother you."
"Hmm, why am I doubting that this bar even exists? Oh yeah, because you are a buzzkill and wouldn't know fun if it bit you in the ass. I mean, come on Stefan. I'm not that stupid," I scoffed, shaking my head. Did he really think that I was that easy to manipulate? I knew that he was just trying to lure me somewhere. Probably so that he could lecture me and try to force me to turn my humanity back on. But I wouldn't let him. I mean, I wouldn't turn it back on until I was ready anyway. But I refused to be put in the situation where he lectured me to death. I did not want to deal with that boredom. And there was no guarantee that my boyfriend would be able to save me from it for a good few hours yet.
"Alexa, you're forgetting that I had my switch flipped in this town too. I know where to go to have a good time."
"And you're forgetting who my boyfriend is. Damon would have shown me all of the fun places in and around town. Even before my humanity went bye bye."
"Ah, so you're assuming that my brother knows all the good places."
"I'm not assuming. I know. I've been a vampire long enough to know that when it comes to good time places in this town, there really aren't a lot," I paused before adding. "And I am fairly sure that Damon took me to some of them before I turned. Because we actually liked to have fun. Look it up in a dictionary some time."
I turned around to leave, unwilling to play along any longer, when I heard the unmistakable sound of vampire speed. Before I could turn around, Stefan had an arm wrapped around my shoulders before I felt a sharp pain in my side. It took me a moment to realise what had happened, but it was Stefan's muttered words that had it clicking, "I didn't want to do this, Alexa. But you've driven me to it."
He was vervaining me. The fucking asshole was vervaining me. Ugh, how annoying. I just couldn't go one week without someone trying to knock me out. It was getting incredibly tedious. I was a fucking vampire and I was still being taken down. I swear, as soon as I woke up again, I would be expressing my displeasure to Stefan. You know what, I was going to tell my boyfriend on him too. Damon would not be impressed with his brother's actions. And I would definitely enjoy the sight of Damon being up his brother for vervaining me.
I muttered some of that out loud before the vervain fully took hold and I passed out in Stefan's arms.
XXX
I woke up on Damon's bed. Stefan was leaning against the bed post in front of me, looking at his phone. He only glanced up when I cleared my throat, a disapproving look on my face, "What the fuck was that?"
"You were out of control," the older vampire shrugged, not looking at all bothered by my narrowed eyes. "I had to bring you home before you caused any more trouble."
"Out of control my fucking ass," I pushed myself up in a sitting position so that I could properly point at the asshole in front of me. "You vervained me! You had no right to do that. No one was dead because of me. Everything was fine."
"You fed on someone in public, Alexa, that isn't fine."
"Oh please," I scoffed, shaking my head as I pushed myself off the bed. "Outside doesn't mean in public. I had what I was doing. In fact, I was probably a lot more sly than when you fucking vervained me, asshole."
"You could have killed someone."
"But, I didn't. I did exactly what Damon asked me to do. I showed restraint. So how about you just leave me alone?" I grabbed the edge of my jumper before giving the other vampire a challenging look. "If you don't get out right now, I will start stripping. The only reason why I haven't is because I respect my boyfriend."
Stefan sighed and shook his head before turning around. I rolled my eyes as he failed to leave the room, but he was still giving me privacy. I shrugged off my jumper, throwing it over towards the door, to make it obvious that I was only in my bra, before doing the same with my jeans. I replaced them with a black dress, one that emphasised every curve, before slipping on some heeled boots.
"It's good to know that you still respect what you have with Damon," the younger Salvatore sighed as I stepped into the bathroom to redo my makeup. I went for daring, since I knew that my boyfriend would be home soon. And I always enjoyed the hungry look in his eyes when I dressed like this.
"Of course I do," I snorted, adjusting my boobs in the dress. "He has done everything that he can to support me, including telling me that turning it back on is my choice. Besides, just cos I have no humanity, doesn't mean that I don't find him sexy as fuck still. And I intend to fuck him until my vampire body breaks." I shot the other vampire a wink, enjoying the disgusted look on his face. it was what he deserved for his little remark.
But I could tell that Stefan wasn't impressed by my words for another reason. Obviously, he wanted me to turn my humanity back on. And hearing that his brother didn't support him in that must have irked the older vampire. Good. He deserved to be irked.
"Is he okay with you killing people?" Stefan muttered and I smirked at the annoyance in his voice.
"Well, since I haven't actually killed anyone yet, he hasn't had an opinion on it," I shrugged, tucking my phone into my bra. "But apparently you do. So tell me, why do you care if I kill anyone? It won't be your problem. You aren't dating me and I'm kinda surprised that you still like me, considering I'm the reason Elena broke up with you and I've kind of been a bitch to you ever since last summer."
"Because it's my fault that you're like this," Stefan sighed, looking genuinely pained. "I brought all of this into your life, into your sister's life. Maybe if I stop you from falling off the deep end, I can make everything up to her."
"Good lord," I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "That is such a contradiction. You can't make it up to a dead person. So you need me to bring her back to make it up to her. But you won't let me do what is necessary. So, in a way, you're just failing her again."
I enjoyed the pain in the other vampire's eyes as I turned around to leave the room. This conversation was boring me and I was determined to seek other ways to entertain myself until the party arrived. Unfortunately, Stefan didn't agree as he followed me out of the room. I just continued walking as he spoke, "Look, I've killed hundreds of people and I have to live with that. But I'm not gonna live with the people that you kill or what that'll do to you."
"Oh hon," I sighed and turned around, resting a hand on Stefan's shoulder. "The people that I kill are not your concern. You aren't dating me; you didn't turn me. You're not responsible for me, like, at all. So just lighten up, okay? Because your attitude is really beginning to piss me off and I snap necks when I get properly pissed off."
I gave him a wide smile as the sound of a door creaking open reached our ears. It was quicky followed by several voices. Ah, perfect, that party had arrived. And it was just in time. Because I would have snapped Stefan's neck if he continued down his little path.
"What is that?" the older vampire frowned before hurrying down the stairs. It didn't take long for the music to start. It was immediately turned up high and I could feel the thumping of the music in my body. God, it had been so long since I just partied.
I followed Stefan down the stairs at a more relaxed pace, enjoying the sounds around me. I even greeted some of the familiar faces that I encountered, ignoring the frustrated look on the other vampire's face. When I reached his side, he demanded, "Did you do this?"
"Yup," I nodded, getting a fist bump from one of the Duke college kids. He was friends with Duke and never turned down a free party. "Isn't this what people do? Throw a party when the adults are out of town? I'm just doing what a normal person would do."
Stefan just sighed and looked around at the partying teens, "Great. That's great."
XXX
The sun had set by the time Caroline arrived at the party. Even though I had made a point of having fun, I had still kept an ear out for the other two vampires. Bonnie was yet to message me to tell me that her spell had worked. So I still needed to keep Stefan and Caroline off her back.
Stefan was easy to deal with. He just followed me from room to room, making sure that I didn't eat anyone. Not that I was interested in that right now. I was content to drink Damon's good booze and dance on the tables. I even got a bit flirty with some of the boys, but that wasn't as fun when my boyfriend wasn't around to get jealous. Because that led to possessive sex which was hot as fuck. Ugh, Damon better come back with some kind of a lead, otherwise I would be disappointed. Because I had missed out on a lot of sex due to his absence.
Caroline quickly joined Stefan when she arrived, looking around at all the partying teens with wide eyes, "I got here as soon as I could. This is insane."
"Yeah," the Salvatore brother sighed, shaking his head as I encouraged everyone to do shots. "It won't last. They'll either drink all the booze and get bored, or, ah, Damon'll come home and kill everyone."
Lol he was so pessimistic. I mean, the party was likely to end one of those ways. But I didn't intend to stick around that long. I just needed all of this to last long enough for Bonnie to bring Alaric back to life. Then all of the teens could fuck off for all I cared. They would have served their purpose and that was what mattered.
"We can't compel them to leave," the blonde frowned as they left their position in the doorway and walked further into the room. "The locals are all on vervain from the town water supply." When the other vampire just nodded, Caroline sighed, "So what do we do?"
"Pfft, I don't know," Stefan just shrugged and I smirked from my place on the table. I had officially broken him. Who knew that it would just take a party to break Stefan Salvatore. I mean, I shouldn't be too surprised. That guy was practically allergic to fun. "Enjoy the party, keep Alexa from munching her way through the local cheerleading squads." He shrugged and took a swig from the bottle in his hands. I had to admit, I was quite impressed with myself when he gave in and grabbed a bottle. I had officially driven Stefan to drink. It was a pretty big achievement.
"Great," Caroline shook her head. "And where is the start of the party?"
I spun the girl that I was dancing with, pulling her back into my arms when she neared the edge of the table. I had no idea what her name was, but that didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around my neck and laughing in my ear. Her enjoyment was infectious and I couldn't stop myself from laughing too. Even though all of this was just a means to an end, I was actually having fun. I had allowed myself to enjoy the party and damn, I wasn't regretting it. Especially when the girl grabbed a bottle from the ones dancing in front of us, tipping its content into my mouth.
I barely heard Stefan laugh, "Where do you think?"
There was a wistful edge to Caroline's voice when she said, "I almost forgot what that looked like."
"What? Alexa smiling?"
"No. Fun," the blonde shook her head with a laugh. "I mean, look at her. Yes, this is all very bad. But doesn't she make you just want to let go and enjoy yourself? I haven't heard her laugh like that for a long time."
Had it really been that long? I knew that things had been hard recently. And it wasn't just because of Elena dying. It was hard before then. What with Jeremy's little hunter side, Mrs Lockwood being horrifically murdered by Klaus and the whole kill Kol to find the cure plan. It had been one thing after another. And I had barely had time for fun. Even when I was with Damon, it was hard to get my mind off of everything that was happening. So I guess I was due a little fun. Even if it was at a party that only existed as a distraction.
I was drawn from my thoughts by my dancing girl giggling my name, "Alexa! Come on, more dancing!"
I playfully rolled my eyes and sighed dramatically, "Okay, more dancing!"
I spun her out again, not caring that she was close to the edge of the table. I knew that, as long as at least one foot remained on the table, I would be able to pull her back up. Which was exactly what happened. She tilted her head back as her feet clung to the edge of the table. Her brown hair hung low, a delighted giggle coming from her mouth. And I was reminded so fiercely of my sister that I yanked her back up and into my arms. I quickly played it off, downing a burning swig from the bottle before encouraging her to do the same.
That was not supposed to happen. And now I needed to find a new dance partner. Fortunately for me, I was able to finish the bottle without the girl noticing. And then when she saw the empty bottle, I gave a pout and indicated that I would go find a new one. My dancing friend just gave me a wide smile and nodded her head, before finding someone else to dance with.
Well, at least I didn't need to worry about that anymore. Of course, I still went to go and find a new bottle of booze. Afterall, I had to give the appearance of actually wanting to party and not just wasting time.
XXX
Once I had found a new bottle of booze, I took advantage of the other vampires being distracted by each other to snag one of the out of towners. I lured him into the kitchen, which was relatively empty, before pushing him down on the chair. I quickly straddled his lap before compelling him to keep quiet, but not to be unafraid. I enjoyed the fear in his eyes as I let my face change. I quickly bit into his wrist, keeping eye contact with the boy. His fear helped to soothe the anger that I had felt building up. I was annoyed with myself for thinking about Elena like that. Not even turning off my humanity could completely kill the longing that I felt for my dead sister. But this helped.
A monster wouldn't be sad over a dead girl. So I would be a monster. I would terrify this boy and I would enjoy it. And I refused to care about what that said about me. So to prove that to myself, I took more blood than I probably should have. But the boy would survive. He would forever remember this, but he wouldn't ever be able to talk about it or even research it. The information would forever remain in his head. And it would forever torment him.
Once I was done with the boy and he was happily compelled, I retreated back to the main room. The teens were still partying and no one had noticed my absence. Not even my annoying vampire babysitters had noticed. They were busy dancing together, laughing happily. I ignored them, walking over to the front door. It was wide open, letting in a cool breeze. I didn't mind too much. The fact that it was open meant that I could make an easy exit if the occasion called for it. Not that I expected it to just yet. Nah, that probably wouldn't happen until Alaric made his grand entrance.
I leant back against the wall by the door, crossing my arms as I looked into the main room. The merriness and happiness was quite annoying. None of these kids had anything to worry about beyond school. They didn't need to care about dead twins, or killing 12 people for a spell to bring them back to life. They didn't need to worry about supernatural enemies and hunting down murderous doppelgangers. And I hated them for it. Why should they live carefree lives while I suffered? It wasn't fair. If it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't draw attention to myself for the sake of Bonnie's little spell tonight, then I might have let my anger get the best of me. Why would I care if I killed a bunch of teenagers? I mean, if I managed to get 12 of them, I could even complete the triangle. But no, if I did that, I would be breaking Bonnie's condition. And I needed the witch on my side. There was no one else around who practiced expression and I didn't even know where to begin to get someone to learn it. No, my best bet was to remain on Bonnie's good side until the triangle was completed and the veil dropped.
I just stared at the partying teenagers until a voice spoke from beside me, "Alexa, what's going on in here?"
I glanced to the side to see Sheriff Forbes looking at me, an expectant look on her face. I was surprised to see her here. The sheriff didn't normally come out this way unless she was called. But then again, I wouldn't put it past her daughter to have summoned her here to break up the party.
"It's called fun," I muttered, rolling my eyes as I looked back into the crowd. "I know that this town has forgotten what it is, but not everyone is allergic to fun."
That earned me a disapproving look. Honestly, I had lost track of how many of those I had received today. If it wasn't Stefan, it was the sheriff or her daughter. The whole lot of them were black holes of fun. And they were beginning to test my patience.
"Where's Stefan?" Sheriff Forbes asked in lieu of a lecture. Maybe she sensed that I would not be very receptive to one. Either way, I was not going to complain. I was utterly done with lectures today.
"My babysitter," I rolled my eyes. "Is busy dancing with your daughter. The last I looked; they were just chatting. But who knows, with Elena and Tyler out of the picture, they might actually start fucking."
Sheriff Forbes did not appreciate my little dig against her daughter. I mean, I actually didn't say it to offend. If they wanted to fuck, then I wouldn't stand in their way. Maybe if they bumped uglies, they would leave me alone. It was a slim hope, but it still existed.
With a disapproving head shake, the sheriff declared, "That's it, I'm shutting this down right now."
She went to step further inside but I moved to stop her. With the party behind me, I gave the sheriff a toothy smirk, the veins beneath my eyes rippling for a moment, "See, that's the thing, you're not. Because this party is the only thing stopping me from going on a murderous rampage. Which I will do. Because I am completely fed up with you lot getting on your high horses when none of you lost a twin. So, Liz, fuck off. Before I make you."
"You can't attack me, Alexa," Caroline's mom spoke slowly, sounding as though she was trying to talk me down. It was adorable, just how scared she was of me right now. "Not only am I the sheriff, I'm your friend's mom."
"Yeah, well, considering I manipulated a girl into dropping Caroline on her nosy head earlier, you being her mom really doesn't matter much to me," I shrugged as I felt two people appear behind me. "Ah, and here comes the cavalry."
"Get away from my mom, Alexa," Caroline demanded, going to grab my arm. But before she could, Stefan grabbed her hand. He gave the blonde a warning look before sighing.
"Alexa, would it really be the worst thing if the party ended? You can still have fun if the others aren't here."
I went to answer when I spied something in the distance behind the sheriff. And that was the only reason why I relaxed.
XXX
Stefan's POV
I frowned when Alexa suddenly relaxed, rolling her eyes and sighing, "Honestly, you lot are so boring. I just want to have a bit of fun. Aren't I owed a bit of fun? You know, considering my twin sister was horrifically murdered just a few days ago."
I winced at her words. Elena's death remained a sore spot for me. I was also in those tunnels, but I hadn't arrived in time to save her from Katherine and Silas. And now I would never be able to make up what I did to her. I would never be able to tell her that I didn't really want to erase our relationship from my mind. That I was only hurt and I was lashing out. I knew that my pain and guilt were nothing compared to Alexa's, but I was also struggling with Elena's death. I just had to put Alexa first and deal with my own feelings later.
"That's not the point, Alexa," Liz sighed, shaking her head. I knew that she was struggling with everything that had happened. And the fact that all of the blood was stolen from the blood bank just added to her struggles. "You can't throw a party like this. You know you can't."
"Hmm, see, the only thing that I know is that you are all fools," the girl just laughed, a chilling sound. There was an emptiness to that laugh, even as she gave us a wink. "And you will realise that in approximately five seconds."
As she counted down in the background, I went to ask what she meant. But before the words could leave my mouth, someone stepped up to the front door. The sight of that person had me freezing in shock. A surprised gasp left Caroline's mouth as Liz whispered, "Ric?"
"And you're welcome," Alexa smirked at us before disappearing from sight. I didn't even think to chase her into the night. Because Alaric was stood in front of us, staring at us in shock.
"Uh, yeah," the man frowned, staring right back at us. "You can see me?"
"Yeah, we can see you," I nodded, wondering how this was possible. How had Alexa done this? We would have known if Bonnie had completed the expression triangle and dropped the veil. No, this had to be something different. Which made it even more puzzling. "What happened? Who brought you back?"
"Uh, Bonnie did," Ric shook his head as we ushered him further into the house. I led the way to the kitchen, forcing the dazed teen that sat inside to leave the room. I shut the door, blocking out the music, so that we could all focus on what had just happened. "When I died, she did some kind of spell to contain my soul in her pendant. Because of that, she was able to bring me back. Apparently, Alexa has known about this for a while. But because Bonnie lost her magic, they had no way of bringing me back."
"So how was she able to now?" Liz asked, a tired look on her face. While you could tell that she was pleased to have her friend back, it would now be another headache for her. Because while the story was that he had to go out of town for a while, we now had to settle him back in during all of this chaos.
"She used expression to do it," the man shook his head, taking a seat at the dining table. "Apparently her and Alexa had been planning this for a couple of days. I don't know why those chose now. But… here I am."
"Are you, um," Caroline paused in the middle of her question before blurting out the rest in one go. "Are you still a vampire?"
"Yeah, I am," Ric sighed heavily, looking pained. He never wanted to be a vampire in the first place. And then he was forced to turn by Esther and the witches on the other side. He could have had hope, but we lost the cure. So now he would have to remain a vampire. "But that's all I am. Whatever spell Esther cast to make my evil side take control has gone. I don't even feel him in the back of my mind. Is… is everyone else okay? Jenna, the twins, Jeremy? They're all okay?"
I exchanged a glance with Caroline. Ric had no knowledge of what had happened since he died. He didn't know that Alexa was a vampire, about the cure, about Jenna's pregnancy, Jeremy being a hunter, Elena's death. There was so much to tell him. I didn't even know where to start.
"You've, uh, you've missed a lot," I eventually answered, keeping my answer vague for now. We could get Alaric up to date in a few, first, we had to know if he knew anything about Alexa's plan. Even the tinies detail could help us. "And we'll tell you all about it soon. But did Bonnie say anything about what Alexa was planning? Why they brought you back?"
"Just that it was the perfect time for it to happen," Ric shrugged, looking regretful that he couldn't give us any more information. "Bonnie was just quite insistent that I come here when she brought me back."
That could mean anything. It could be the perfect time for their plan or the perfect time considering that Jenna was pregnant and she no longer had the twins to look after her. Jenna. We had to be very careful about how we told Jenna about this. The shock could be too much for the baby. This must have been Alexa's plan. She must have known that we would be too busy focusing on Ric and making sure that Jenna found out properly to be focusing on her. She was using Alaric's return to carry out her plan with Bonnie. And even though I had worked this out, there still wasn't anything that I could do to stop her. Jenna came first here. And Alexa knew that.
XXX
Alexa's POV
I had just paused in the woods surrounding the Boarding House when I heard someone behind me. Honestly, I stop to check my phone for a few minutes and someone manages to track me down. I rolled my eyes before turning around to see Caroline stood behind me. She had one of her favourite disapproving looks on her face as she crossed her arms, "Alexa, you need to come back with me."
"Uh, no I don't," I snorted, shaking my head. "I don't need to do anything. Especially something that I don't want to do."
"Don't make me ask again," the blonde raised an eyebrow, looking remarkably like Stefan. It was uncanny. She had apparently absorbed his self-righteous side. A part of me was tempted to tell her that, but I decided to keep it for later. "I'm stronger than you, Alexa, and I will force you to come back with me if I need to."
"Okay, you might be a tiny bit stronger than me," I conceded with a shrug. It was a fact and I wasn't ashamed of it. "But you can't force me to do anything. Cos, you see, I've been trained to fight. Ric and Damon were training me how to fight ever since I was first killed last spring. You don't have a hope in hell if you try anything."
"That's not the point, Alexa!" Caroline snapped, looking frustrated. She shook her head, curls swooshing in the air. "You brought back Alaric without telling anyone. Do you know what that could have done to Jenna if she was there? What it could have done to her baby?"
"Why do you think I made sure that she wouldn't be there?" I scoffed, stepped back to lean against the tree behind me. "I planned this out very carefully, hon. Humanityless does not mean reckless. And it turns out that I am very good at planning if I don't have you lot interfering all the time."
"Okay, how long have you known that Bonnie could bring Ric back to life? How long were you hiding that from us?"
"Damn, girl, that feels like an attack. Let's see, Bonnie told me and Damon on the day of the Council's memorial. So, like, ages ago. The poor girl just couldn't use her magic to bring him back. Oh, I drowned in the guilt of not telling anyone, of keeping it from you all. Especially when Jenna found out that she was pregnant. But I refused to let you all bully Bonnie into forcing her magic to work after she experienced something so horrific with her grams." I sighed dramatically. "But now I'm glad that I didn't do anything. Because it has just worked out so perfectly for me. Now, you're all going to be worrying about Alaric and Jenna and Jeremy. How this is affecting them. Teaching Ric how to be a vampire. You won't have the time to think about little old me."
Caroline looked at me in shock, "You really don't care about what you've done, do you?"
"The only thing that I care about is carrying out my plan. And I'll do whatever it takes to do so."
"You've changed," the blonde whispered, looking at me with wide eyes. I just shrugged. She wasn't wrong. I had changed. But for the better. I was stronger now. I was willing to play dirty to get what I wanted. I didn't care about boundaries or people's feelings. And I was stronger for it.
"For the better," I nodded, my body tensing slightly as she stepped forward. I didn't know what she was planning. But judging from the regretful look in her eyes, she was going to do something stupid. And I would not put up with that if she did. "Caroline, in respect of our friendship, I'm going to give you one chance to give up on whatever plan is in your head. If you decide to still do it, then I won't be responsible for my actions."
Caroline didn't give up on her plan.
Instead, she sped forward, hands going for my neck. I dodged to the side, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. As she spun, I kicked at her knee. A sickening crack echoed around the forest, followed by the blonde's scream.
As she fell to the floor, I sighed, "I did warn you that I had been trained. I will kick your ass, Caroline. I may even kill you, depends on how much you piss me off. Cos, guess what, I'll be able to bring you back once my plan was completed." I let out a dramatic musing noise, "I wonder if the others would object to my plan if I was bringing you back too."
Thanks to her vampire healing, Caroline was quickly back on her feet. And this time, she looked furious. She sped forward again, looking to punch me in the face. I just grabbed her fist, pushing her back, "Are you seriously this bad at fighting? I honestly thought that you had some skills. I mean, you can't even throw a proper punch."
"Alexa, just stop it!" the blonde shouted, still trying to punch me. "This isn't you! You don't have to be like this!"
"I know I don't, but I need to be, so that I can bring Elena back to life. And until I do that, I'll be whatever I need to be."
I quickly got fed up with Caroline's pathetic attempts to fight me. I mean, if it wasn't for her speed and strength, I would have wrecked her ages ago. The only reason why I showed mercy on her was because of the fact that we were friends, and we probably would be again once I turned my humanity back on.
After another failed attempt on the blonde's part to subdue me, I sped behind her. Before Caroline could turn around, I grabbed her by the neck and twisted my wrists. She fell to the floor, finally quiet. I stared down at her, wondering if I should just leave her there or if I should attempt to do the right thing and return her to the Boarding House. Fortunately, my decision was made for me when the Salvatore brothers arrived in the clearing. They glanced between me and the body at my feet, and I just shrugged, "She was pissing me off."
XXX
After Stefan took Caroline's body back to the Boarding House, giving me a disapproving and disappointed look as he did so, I was left alone in the clearing with Damon. He stared at me with a raised eyebrow, looking for some kind of response. Whether it was one of regret or just me acknowledging what had happened, I didn't know. So I shrugged, "At least I didn't kill her?"
"You did show restraint," my boyfriend conceded with a sigh as he approached me. I was leaning back against the tree again, arms crossed. I knew that from the way I was stood, my boobs looked amazing. And how did I know that? Because of the way that Damon kept looking at them. Was I distracting him so that he didn't tell me off for snapping Caroline's neck? Yep. And I didn't feel any guilt about that at all. "I have to give you that."
"I didn't kill anyone today, even I was really tempted to at times," I pouted, fluttering my eyelashes. I knew exactly what I was doing. And so did Damon, judging from the amusement lurking in those silvery depths. He rested his hands on either side of my head before looking down at me. "So I think that I should be rewarded for that."
"Hm, do you now?" Damon leant down to whisper in my ear. His breath against my skin had me shivering in delight. This was what I had wanted all day. And I was finally about to get my way. His teeth gently tugged on my ear before his hand gripped the back of my neck, tilting my head back, giving him access to my skin. He bit and sucked on my neck, leaving little marks, going over them again when they healed, before growling, "Do you have any idea as to how many times Stefan has messaged me about you today? 'Alexa fed from someone.' 'Alexa manipulated the cheer squad to drop Caroline during their routine.' 'Alexa organised a party at the Boarding House'. He has been annoying me all day. Because of you."
The tone of his voice had me squeezing my legs together, seeking friction as I felt a tingling in my core. Something that Damon must have noticed, as he shoved his thigh between mine, the denim hard against the thin fabric of my panties. It was enough to tease and keep me wanting more. I felt my boyfriend smirk against my skin before he moved his head back and forced me to meet his gaze. There was a hunger there that had me reaching out to tangle my fingers in his hair, tugging gently, looking for a reaction. I loved it when Damon got like this, all growly and dark. It turned me on so fucking much. And it was just what I needed after a tedious day.
Which was why, when his lips crashed into mine, all fire and fury, I just pulled him closer, sucking his lip into my mouth. From the way that Damon gripped my hips, I could tell that today had been frustrating for him. And I was more than happy for him to take it out through hot, wild sex in the woods.
I tugged on his hair, nipping his lip before smirking, grinding down on his thigh, "Why don't you let me make you feel better, darling?"
"Damn you," Damon muttered into my mouth before the thigh that he had pressed against my core was gone, quickly followed by my panties. I clung onto his shoulders as his thumb found my clit, rubbing firm circles that had my legs trembling, before his fingers entered me. My boyfriend set a firm pace, as he bit down on my neck, leaving the mother of all hickies. I just held onto him, not even bothering to hide my moans as he quickly brought me to the edge. I could tell that Damon wasn't in the mood to play when my orgasm crashed over me. It was only Damon's body pressing against mine that kept me on my feet. Especially when he kept his fingers moving, keeping my orgasm going.
It wasn't until I whimpered out his name, my eyes rolling back in painful pleasure, that he removed his fingers. I barely had enough time to catch my breath before I was lifted from the ground. Damon encouraged me to wrap my legs around his hips before I felt his cock pressing against my entrance. Even though I was too oversensitive, I couldn't help but use my grip on his hips to encourage him forward. As he slowly entered me, I let out a loud moan, the stretch setting all my sensitive nerves on fire.
I grabbed at the branches above me as he slowly entered me all the way, letting out another groan as he bottomed out. Even when he wasn't moving, I could feel the pleasure slowly raising. Especially when strong hands ripped open my dress, moving bra out of the way before a warm mouth settled on my nipple.
Damon sucked and nibbled, taking turns to torment each nipple, as he thrusted, short and sharp. I could hear the branches above me creaking as my grip tightened. My barely faded orgasm returned quickly, the sheer power of it had me gasping, my voice getting caught in my throat, as one of the branches that I was holding actually broke. It was only Damon's grip on my ass, fingers digging in, that kept me up.
His fangs sank into the top of my boob as his own orgasm hit him. His grip became almost painful but I loved it. I loved that I had driven him to this, to losing control to the point where he just fucked me against a tree in the middle of the woods. And I had definitely benefitted from it. My body was sore in all the right ways. My dress could never be worn again. And I knew for a fact that my hair was a mess.
And I didn't regret a second of it.
XXX
Getting back to the Boarding House had been fun. Damon had wrapped his leather jacket around me, covering up my bra. There was no hope for my dress and I would just bin it when I got home. Not that I cared. It was all worth it. I had been itching for a good fucking ever since the morning. And dealing with Stefan and Caroline all day had only made me crave it even more. Sex was the one time where I was able to fully let go, since I had promised to show restraint during feeding. And there was just something about Damon that consumed me. I was able to forget everything when I had his focus on me and my body. Which was something that I needed, even without my humanity on.
The party had finished by the time we got home. My bet was that Buzzkill Stefan had ended it early. But I didn't care. I was finished with the party anyway. It had served its purpose. It had kept everyone distracted until Alaric had arrived. At least I didn't need to be the one that broke it up. Nah, I would let the boring people do that. They could ruin their own reputations.
There was no sign of Ric when we got back. I knew that Damon had found out about that, even if he didn't confront me on it. He had just muttered something about it when we arrived at the Boarding House. Judging from the lack of Stefan, my guess was that he was carefully introducing Jenna to the fact that her baby daddy was alive again. At least she didn't have to go through this alone. She would have the support of Ric during her pregnancy. And he would be able to help her and Jeremy deal with their temporary grief over Elena. They just had to be careful with his vampire instincts. He would need to learn how to control the hunger. But that would be their problem now. I had done my part in bringing him back to life.
While Damon searched through his giant wooden chest that often sat in the corner of the room, I went to go change out of my dress. I threw the scraps in the bin, before standing in the middle of the room in my bra. My panties were still in the woods and I knew that I would never see them again. I wondered who would find them and be so scandalised. A part of me hoped that it would be Stefan. He deserved to be scandalised. It's what he got for being so pious.
"So, are we going out again or should I just continue stripping?" I asked, resting my hands on my hips as I stared at my boyfriend's back. He was looking at one photo in particular, a regretful look on his face. I assumed that this was something important, so I decided to wander over and have a proper look. The man stood next to Damon in the photo looked like a fairly ordinary guy. He had short brown hair and a cheeky look in his eyes. "Who's that?"
"An old friend," Damon sighed, tucking the photo in a pocket before standing up. He glanced me up and down, staring hard before shaking his head. It sounded as though he muttered something about not getting distracted before saying, "Look, I have a lead on Katherine. The man in the photo, his name is Will. He was able to create new identities for vampires. I think that Katherine was someone that used his services and that she sent him to kill Hayley."
"There werewolf Hayley? The one that betrayed Tyler for Klaus?" I frowned, resting a hand on my hip as I tapped my lip in thought. I could feel Damon glance between my hip and my lip, a hungry look in his eyes. But he fought his desire, keeping strong in his attempt not to be distracted.
"That's the one. Klaus saved her, probably to get Katherine's location from her. But I might have a more reliable way of finding where she is."
"If we find Katherine, I can get my revenge and control what happens with the cure. And that is important because she does not get to use that cure to benefit herself," I mused before nodding. "What is this more reliable way, babe?"
"Will lived in New York and he kept everything, think of the most extreme hoarder that you know and then times that by a thousand. It would be all over his apartment with no organisational system."
I snorted at that. Damon hated clutter. If things needed to be kept, then they had to be kept out of sight. And they had to be organised. It was why the cellar, even though it housed a lot of random shit, was neatly organised.
"Sounds fun. So you think that he has some information that could tell us where that little bitch is?"
"That's what I'm thinking," Damon nodded, resting his hands on my bare hips. "So, how do you feel about a road trip to the one place that every newbie vampire should go at least once in their life?"
I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck before purring, "I love it."
I pressed my body against his as I felt my boyfriend's fingers slip under the back of my bra. His thumb brushed against the clasp as he muttered into my hair, "You drive me insane."
"The feeling is mutual, Day," I smirked, nipping at his ear. I could feel his body tense as I did so, his grip on me tightening to the point where, if I was human, I would have bruises. But I didn't care. I loved how he didn't treat me like I was made of glass anymore. He was a little rougher, a little tougher. It was panty dropping. Well, it would be if I had some on. "Did you want to leave now? Or do I have time to go shower?"
XXX
I did have time to shower.
And more.
A lot more.
But eventually, Damon refused to stop getting distracted. He persuaded me to get dressed, refusing to look at me until I had clothes on, before taking me down to his car. Before we left, Damon made sure to pack the cooler of blood bags. Just in case I got hungry and we weren't in the position to pull over and feed on someone. It was a good idea, even if I did grumble about it. I just couldn't face the thought of blood bags after feeding from the vein today. But my boyfriend promised that I wouldn't have to deal with them for long.
I sat next to him, allowing him to drive while I stretched out on the passenger seat. My head rested against the window as I just stared at Damon while he drove. It was a lot more interesting than staring out at the darkness around us. The drive was quiet, but I didn't mind. Just being around my boyfriend was enough to make me relax for a bit. And I knew that things would be fine back home while I went looking for revenge. Bonnie had assured me that she would be fine and that she would carrying on planning the final massacre. Beyond that, there wasn't really much that we could do. So I didn't mind leaving her back in Mystic Falls alone.
We had been driving for a while when Damon's phone buzzed. I could feel it buzzing against my foot, as I had my feet on my boyfriend's lap. He curled his lip in annoyance as he pulled it from his pocket and I offered, "You could just not answer it."
"If only life was that simple," he muttered before rolling his eyes when he saw who was calling. He paused for a moment before answering, "Hey."
"Where the hell are you?" Stefan demanded, not even bothering with a decent greeting. And I rolled my eyes too. I mean, he was so rude. Damon had done him a favour by investigating Katherine stuff today, he had helped calm me down and now he was throwing a hissy fit because Damon wasn't at home.
"Out for a drive," my boyfriend shrugged, glancing over at me. "I needed some space. It's not me, it's you."
I had to bite my lip to keep in a snort of laughter. Apparently, Damon hadn't forgiven his brother for annoying him all day. Not that I could blame him. Stefan had an annoying tendency to just spam your phone with texts and calls. It was rage inducing at times.
"Well, we got a little problem," the younger Salvatore ignored the snark, probably with a righteous look. "You said that blood was stolen from Grove Hill hospital? The sheriff said that there's been reports of six other blood banks thefts all within 30 miles of Mystic Falls. Somebody's stockpiling blood. It wasn't Alexan and it's not us."
"Okay," Damon nodded, sounding like he wasn't paying attention as I slowly dragged my foot across his crotch. "So…"
"I think Silas followed us back from that island. He hasn't fed in 2000 years, so he would need to gorge on blood. It explains the thefts."
"You know, I'm really not in the mood to scooby-doo our way through the case of the stolen blood supply," my boyfriend, gripped my ankle as he blew off his brother. "So why don't you hold the fort down until I get back, and I'll be in touch, brother."
He hung up the call before passing me his phone. I tucked it into my pocket before smirking, "You're going to be in trouble for that."
"I'll add it to my list," Damon smirked back, not looking at all bothered by the thought of his brother's moodiness. "Now, are you ready for New York, Ally?"
"Beyond ready."
XXX
A/N: Thank you for the reviews, my darlings :) please keep them coming! I hope you enjoyed my little twists, they keep me on my toes too! And I do hope that Alexa without her humanity is still exciting to read! Friendly reminder that the poll is still open, so please vote! Otherwise I will have to decide for myself whether Jenna has a boy or a girl and hope that you like the result! Until next time xoxo
