Alexandria Gilbert

by JChavz95

Vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers, oh my! All Alexa Gilbert wanted was a quiet life, a free drink and to party the night away with her friends without being nagged by her twin sister Elena, but the arrival of the mysterious Salvatore brothers may just ruin those plans... Starts Season 1, Episode 1, Slowburn Damon/OC, Now on Season 5!

100. 500 Years of Solitude

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs

A/N: OMG I didn't realise how long it had been since I last updated! I still haven't finished my next backlog chapter lol but I couldn't keep you waiting any longer. It has been hectic for me, I went to Orlando (Disney World!) and moved house (never doing that again!) and I had writers block for quite some time. But I am slowly getting back into the story again now so I thought I would treat you all :) especially since this is Chapter 100! Eek! Never thought I would get here, but somehow, I did! And I do have to say that I loved writing this chapter haha it is so long! But we get smut! Some beautiful Dalexa scenes, some cute friendship moments, Alexa being a dramatic little shit and a few more treats ;) I hope you enjoy!

XXX

I would never be quite sure how we made it to the Grill. All I could remember was planning on going somewhere and then the next thing that I knew; Damon was pouring a shot of bourbon into my mouth as I sat on the bar. I stared up at him as his thumb wiped away a drop that lingered on my bottom lip. I reached up to grab his wrist, before sucking his thumb into my mouth, keeping my gaze locked on his. My boyfriend's eyes darkened before his hand tangled in my hair, tilting my head back, his lips pressing against mine, as his thumb moved to press against my jaw.

"I'm supposed to be helping you deal with what happened," he muttered against my lips, nipping on my bottom one. I just reached up to wrap my arms around his neck, holding his body close to mine.

I tugged gently on Damon's hair before murmuring, "I'd much rather do this."

Damon sighed for a moment, his breath brushing against my face, before he tugged me forward. I sat on the very edge of the bar, one strong hand holding my thigh, encouraging it to wrap around his hips, while the other remained tangled in my hair, keeping me still. I just closed my eyes, allowing myself to be consumed by my boyfriend. The feel of his lips against mine, his body pressed against me, the way his fingers dug into me just right, keeping my focus only on him. And not what happened earlier in the day.

I gasped against Damon's lips as he pressed his hips against mine for a moment, his erection pressing against my core. I stared up at him as he released his grip on my hair, brushing my bangs from my eyes, a determined look on his face, "I can't take away the memories of what happened to you. But I can let you run away from your trauma until the morning."

"Thank you," I smiled and I was surprised to find that it was a genuine smile, one that felt right. It was probably the first one since Wes took me down to his creepy little lab. And I felt so relieved, because it meant that I was slowly starting to move on from that nightmare.

My boyfriend let out a hum before his lips returned to mine. I closed my eyes as he held me firm, tongue swiping into my mouth. I couldn't hold back my gasp as my fingers dug into his shoulders. I felt him smirk against my lips before his hand was tilting my head back. Damon pressed a kiss to my jaw before he found that sensitive spot under my ear, lavishing it with attention. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt my body grow hot, gasping when his fangs scraped against my skin.

"Don't be too loud, baby," Damon murmured in my ear, his hand moving from my hair, dragging down my skin. His clever fingers found my nipple, tweaking it through the thin fabric of my dress. I had neglected to put on a bra when I got dressed earlier, something that my boyfriend definitely approved of in this moment in time. "Wouldn't want anyone to call the sheriff on us."

His only response was a hitch in my breathing as his thumb continued to drag against my nipple, fingers tweaking and tugging, switching between them. My head hung back, hair brushing against the bare skin of my back, as his mouth sucked hard on that sensitive spot before following his fingers down my body. I could feel his warm breath through the thin fabric of my dress and it would have had my thighs clenching together if it wasn't for his firm body holding them apart.

I could feel his smirk as he mouthed at my nipples through my dress, gently nipping them, before moving down my body, hitching up my dress as he went. My back hit the bar with a thud as he nipped the skin above my panties, his fangs scraping against the spot where Harry Nolan stabbed me, before those clever fingers hooked into the edges of my panties. I immediately lifted my hips, letting him drag down them my legs, ignoring the throaty chuckle as I couldn't hold in my breathless, "Please."

"Hands above your head, Ally," Damon ordered softly, kissing my inner thighs as I did what I was told. "And no moving them until I say so."

I nodded, whispering my agreement, as one strong hand pressed against my hips, holding them down, as he pressed the lightest of kisses to my core. I couldn't hold in my gasp as his tongue flicked against my clit, before sucking it into his mouth. Two fingers eased into me, immediately curling up to press against that spot that had me seeing stars. And I wasn't quite sure how I managed to reduce my moan to a whimper.

My fingers curled into fists, clutching at thin air, as I had nothing to hold on to, nothing to ground me. My mind had no choice but to focus only on Damon's tongue, his fingers, the pleasure that coiled in my stomach. It consumed me, taking all of my attention and for the first time in hours, I stopped thinking.

It didn't take long for me to reach that edge of oblivion, my body tensing and it was only my boyfriend's hand keeping me pinned to the bar that stopped me from arching into him, seeking more. I could feel the smugness oozing from him as I chanted his name, begging for more. To let me drop over that edge into blissful oblivion. But Damon kept me on that edge until I couldn't even whimper his name, only ragged noises escaping my throat, eyes rolling back as my body shook, that tight coil so close to snapping.

It wasn't until I let out a particularly high-pitched whine, my head landing on the bar with a thud, that Damon took pity on me. His thumb replaced his tongue, twisting just right as his fangs sank into my inner thigh. My breath got caught in my throat, the edges of my vision going black, as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over me.

His fingers kept my orgasm going, until pleasure was tinged with pain, and I couldn't even remember my own name. It wasn't until I gasped out his name, my body arching, that he carefully removed his fingers, pressing one final kiss to my clit. I gasped for breath as he rested his elbows on either of my hips, looking down at me with a satisfied expression. I stared up at Damon as my chest heaved, drawing his gaze to my boobs. I could feel his erection against my thigh as I shifted my hips, aching for more.

My movements had his lips curling up into a smirk before he finally gave me permission to move my hands. I immediately sat up, fingers curling into his hair as I pulled him in for a kiss, groaning as I tasted myself on his tongue. Damon's hands moved to my hips, gripping them tight, as I whispered against his lips, "Day, please, I need more, I need you."

My boyfriend cursed against my lips as I wrapped my legs around him, squeezing tight as I tugged on his hair. He lifted me from the bar, spinning me around, pressing me against the wood. The edge of the bar dug into my skin, just below my boobs. But I didn't care, not as Damon pressed firm kisses against the bare skin of my back, rocking his hips against mine, holding me up as I went up on my tip toes. I let out a whimper at the feel of his amazing cock, trapped in the confines of his jeans, pressing against my core.

"Easy, baby, I've got you," he murmured against my skin, biting the bare skin of my shoulder, the strap of my dress having fallen down my arm, revealing the side of my boob. His fingers brushed against the newly revealed skin, the feel of his touch against the sensitive skin of my boob had my breath hitching. I felt his satisfied purr against my skin before I heard the sound of a zipper. I inhaled sharply as the head of his cock pressed against my entrance. At Damon's urging, I spread my legs wider, using the bar to keep myself on my tip toes.

As he slowly slid into me, I couldn't hold in my whimper as my oversensitive body opened for him, drawing him in deeper. My boyfriend muttered curses against my skin as I pressed my hips back, drawing more of him in. The slow stretch had my legs shaking and it was only Damon's body pressing against mine that kept me on my feet.

My forehead pressed against the wood of the bar as he bottomed out, and I breathed out his name, unable to think beyond the cock pressing against that spot that had my body clenching around him. Damon's hands gripped my own on the bar as he thrusted, short and sharp, keeping a constant friction against that magical spot. I chanted my boyfriend's name, my voice breaking with each thrust, as I felt that coil tighten. I knew that it wouldn't take much to drive me over that edge again and it was Damon sucking on that spot under my ear that sent me tumbling over.

I came with a strangled gasp, my entire body shaking, and Damon groaned into my skin as I clenched around him. His grip on my hands grew tight as he sought his own release, his thrusts growing sharper, harder, prolonging my orgasm. I just slumped against the bar; eyes closed as I couldn't think beyond the cock thrusting into me.

Damon's fangs sank into my neck as he came, pressing hips against mine. I just let out a groan at the feeling, orgasming again. I didn't open my eyes until my boyfriend carefully retracted his fangs, pressing a kiss to the healing skin. As he eased out of me, I couldn't hold in my whimper as the movement brushed against my oversensitive body.

"Easy, baby," Damon chuckled against my shoulder, giving my hands a squeeze before moving to grip my hips. He gently pulled me away from the bar, waiting until my feet were on the ground before turning me around. My hair tumbled around my shoulders as I stood, the straps of my dress slipping down my arms, with my dress now only covering my nipples, revealing far too much of my cleavage. My boyfriend's gaze darted down to my boobs, that hungry look back in his eyes, before he cupped my face, pressing his forehead against mine.

I breathed out Damon's name, reaching up to tangle my fingers in his hair, as he pressed up against my body. He just smirked, nuzzling my nose before tilting my head up, lips pressing against mine.

XXX

As the sun peaked through the windows, I was laying down on the bar, staring up at my boyfriend. Damon sat on a stool by my head, one elbow on the bar, his hand gently stroking my cheek, brushing my hair from my face, running his fingers through the soft strands that spread out across the wood beneath me. The other held mine, keeping a strong grip on my hand, while I rested my free one over his. Those gorgeous eyes stared into mine, piercing through the fuzziness of the bourbon. Empty bottles decorated the bar, discarded glasses next to them. I vaguely remembered Damon just pouring bourbon directly into my mouth at one point, forgoing the glasses.

"You know," I murmured, giving his hand a squeeze, fingers tracing patterns on his palm. "I'm not the only one who went through a traumatic experience recently."

"I was just locked in a cell, Ally," my boyfriend sighed, shaking his head, his fingers a comforting weight against my skin, keeping my attention focused on him. He continued to stroke my cheek, that intense gaze keeping mine captive. Every now and then, guilt appeared in those eyes. I knew that he blamed himself for Wes getting his dirty little hands on me. And I also knew that no matter what I said, he would continue to blame himself. I knew that the sight of the blood on my skin, staining my dress, haunted him. As he paid particular attention to those areas, soothing the recently healed skin with his lips and tongue.

"Yeah, but a cell that you were locked in for five years," I frowned, reaching up one hand to run my fingers through his hair, before my thumb brushed against his lip. He pressed a kiss to the tip of it. "Day, you were forced to confront a trauma that you had run away from for fifty years. That can't be easy for you."

"I'll be fine, baby," Damon shook his head, grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to my palm. "I'm just worried about you. What Wes did was horrible, and you suffered the equivalent of five years of pain in one day."

"You're being dramatic, it wasn't that bad," I sighed, ignoring the look that just screamed 'don't bullshit me', before frowning. "My mouth feels fuzzy. What happened?"

"That'll be the bourbon, Ally," my boyfriend chuckled, shaking his head as he tapped my nose. I pouted up at him while he took a swig from the half-full bourbon bottle. I didn't feel drunk, but at the same time, my mouth didn't feel right. I knew that I had failed to keep track of the amount of shots that Damon had poured into my mouth during the night, as I was far too distracted by the way he had sucked on my lip, groaning at the taste of bourbon and me after each one. His tongue had swiped into my mouth, consuming all rational thought, after each shot, causing my body to grow hot. And considering how many times we had fucked in this bar tonight; I couldn't be blamed for losing track of the shots that I had downed.

"Pfft, I didn't get drunk," I shook my head, messing up my hair. "Although you do owe me drunk sex."

"Oh, do I now?" Damon raised an eyebrow, his thumb dragging against my lip. My tongue dipped out to flick against his skin and the silvery blue of my boyfriend's eyes darkened slightly. I knew that my boobs looked good from the position I was in and I was not above taking advantage of that.

"Yup," I nodded, pressing a kiss to his fingers. "I didn't get it the other night and I was super drunk and super horny. I was practically begging for it and life decided to fuck me over."

"My poor Alexa," my boyfriend teased, his head dipping down to kiss my forehead, as his hand slowly stoked down my body, fingers dragging against my bare skin. His fingers dipped beneath my dress, stroking the underside of my boob. I stared up at him, unable to look away from the hungry look in those silvery depths, even as my breath hitched at the feel of his hands on my sensitive skin, at the way his thumb dragged against my erect nipple.

It wasn't until the back door opened that Damon's gaze flickered away from mine, removing his hand from beneath my dress to rest on my stomach. I blinked slowly, my head feeling heavy, as the opened door let in the light from outside. I scrunched up my nose at the brightness, letting out a low groan. I had to admit that I wasn't particularly pleased that Damon's hand was no longer stroking the sensitive skin of my boob.

"What the hell?" a familiar voice scoffed and my boyfriend rolled his eyes at the sight of Matt and Jeremy in the doorway, even as his hand pressed down against my stomach. It was a comforting weight, one that kept my body calm, even as he looked away from me. His touch was the only thing stopping me spiralling during the night, it had kept the flashbacks and nightmares at bay.

"Someone close the damn door," I muttered, closing my eyes to avoid the sunlight. It glinted off the bottles beside me, reflecting into my sensitive eyes. I knew that it was sign that I had drank far too much bourbon. But considering what I had been through just a few hours ago, I was owed a few too many bottles of bourbon.

Luckily, someone quickly closed the door and I sighed as the sunlight disappeared. Now, it was just dim lighting of the lamps above us that illuminated the room.

"Why are you two here?" my brother frowned, walking over to stand next to Damon. I just continued to lay there with my eyes closed, trying to soak up the last of the peace before my day was ruined. Because I knew that something would come along and ruin my good time. It had happened practically every day this month and there was no way that I would get time to relax. Fate didn't care that I had spent all of yesterday being tortured by an insane doctor, she would want to screw me over with something else.

"Well, your sister was going to visit you all," Damon started, running his fingers through my hair as I scrunched up my nose in annoyance. "She had your dad's creepy little journal with her. Which she was going to give to Elena to find something positive in it, as all she could focus on the detailed descriptions of vampire torture, leading her to believe that she was a monster that her dad would have experimented on too. But then she got cold feet and wanted to get drunk instead."

"Is that how we ended up here?" I frowned, opening one eye to look up at my boyfriend, pretending that I didn't hear the rest of his words. I ignored the exasperated look on my brother's face as he, too, looked down at me. I knew that he would not have been impressed with my belief that our dad would have thought of me as a monster. But it was something that I had carried with me that since I turned, since I had made that choice to become a vampire when I was ready. And I knew that I wouldn't let go of it any time soon.

Damon hummed, fingers continuing to stroke my cheek, even as he looked over at my brother and friend. Jeremy glanced between us before rolling his eyes, "Did you even know that we were opening today?"

"Nope, lucky guess," my boyfriend smirked, looking down at me as I snorted. I shook my head, debating whether it was worth sitting up. But judging from the fuzziness lingering in the mind, I knew that sitting up wouldn't end well. At least if I was lying down, I wouldn't end up doing something to embarrass myself. Like falling over. Because that felt like a very possible scenario.

"Sounds about right," Matt muttered as he walked behind the bar, picking up the empty bottles on route. "I'm going to add these to your tab."

Damon rolled his eyes at me as I sniggered, before standing up. He eased one arm beneath my shoulders, carefully lifting me up into a sitting position. I closed my eyes as the room spun, reaching up to cling onto my boyfriend's shoulders. He kept an arm wrapped around my shoulders as he looked at the other two, "I'm assuming that everything is good in Gilbert land."

"Other than Alexa's misadventure yesterday, we're all good," Jer nodded, ignoring his job in favour of staring at me with worried brown eyes. "Elena went back to college with Caroline and Bonnie. They managed to distract her after Ric told us that you and Stefan were looking after Lexa. And Zoe had a sleepless night, so Jenna wasn't in any mood to mess around."

"Is she okay?" I frowned, while my boyfriend adjusted the straps of my dress, making sure that they wouldn't fall down again.

My brother was quick to reassure me, "Jenna's fine. I think it's just the usual sleep regression, Ric left out the gory details of what happened to avoid stressing her out."

"How do you know that there were gory details?" I narrowed my eyes at the kid, who just gave me a challenging look in return.

"Because you would have come home with Ric if everything was fine."

"Damn," I muttered, looking away. "When did you get so smart?"

XXX

It was the buzzing of Damon's phone that distracted me from Jeremy's attempts to get me to tell him what went down in Wes' lab. I knew that his efforts were in vain, because I had previously promised myself that I wouldn't reveal the details of my experience in Dr Maxfield's lab to my family. It was something that Ric had apparently silently shared, if he hadn't told them what he saw either. I was relieved, since I didn't want them to experience the guilt that followed the truth. I knew that they had put every effort into looking for me. And I'm sure they would have found me eventually. My family were stubborn fools and they often got their own way, when they put their mind to it.

My boyfriend glanced down at the screen before tapping my nose, "Ally, stay there. Don't move until I come back."

I rolled my eyes but nodded at his stern look, "Stop being such a worrier, Day."

Content that I would do as requested, Damon answered the call, walking in the direction of the back rooms. I watched him go, my body tensing as he left my side, despite my stern words to myself. But it was like I was subconsciously scared that now he was out of my line of sight, something bad would happen. And I didn't know whether that something bad would happen to him or me.

Fortunately, before I could let my mind run away from me, my brother distracted me. The kid moved to stand in front of me, reaching out to pull me into a hug. I clung onto him, enjoying the sound of his heart beating, his human warmth. Jeremy pressed his face against my shoulder, fingers digging into me as he sought the reassurance that he couldn't before.

"I'm fine, Jer," I whispered into his hair, holding him close. Matt kindly looked away, crouching down behind the bar to do something. It was sweet of him to give us this moment alone and I made a mental note to thank him later. "All healed up and nothing to worry about."

"Why didn't you come home with Ric?" the kid whispered into my shoulder before shifting to look at me with those big brown eyes. I winced, glancing away as I tried to think of an answer that wouldn't hint at the horrors that I had experienced.

Luckily for me, there was an easy answer that I could give, "I was hungry, kiddo," I sighed, running my fingers through his hair. "I wasn't safe to be around until I fed and there was no way that I was putting any of you at risk."

"We had blood bags at home," Jer gave me a stubborn look and I sighed, tapping his forehead.

"Considering how hungry I was, there was chance that I could have gone for something a bit warmer than a blood bag," I shook my head, glancing away. "If it helps, I was totally going to come see you all once I was fed and mentally ready. I just, uh, chickened out slightly."

"Why did you?" my brother frowned at me, his gaze darting towards the journal sitting innocently on the end of the bar. I followed his gaze, staring at the little book with hard eyes. I had been so tempted to burn it, like I had burned my dress. But I also knew that I couldn't deny my siblings that connection with our dad. Even if that connection was a journal full of descriptions of vampire torture.

"Because I just couldn't step foot in our childhood home without remembering the fact that dad was a part of the Augustine Society," I sighed, still staring at the journal. "I knew that he hated vampires and that he probably wouldn't have accepted me like this. Cos, you know, he hated vampires. But then Wes told me that he was a member of Augustine, that he experimented on vampires too." I hesitated before whispering against my will, "That little fucker told me that everything that he had learnt, everything that he did to me in that lab, he learnt from dad. After that, the thought of going home just made me feel sick."

"You know that we don't feel that way, right?" my sweet brother frowned, nudging my chin, encouraging me to look back at him. "You're my sister, Lexa, and nothing will ever change that."

"How about you read that book and let me know if you feel the same," I snorted, shaking my head. I had only read a few pages, before the words made me feel sick. Oh, I knew that there would be some good in there, but I couldn't bring myself to keep reading to find it. Which was why I was going to give it to my sister. She would be able to find the good in that fucking book. She would be able to help me find my faith in our dad again. Because I needed that. The thought of living the rest of my existence believing that my dad would call me a monster was not a pleasant one.

"Lexa," Jeremy gave me a stern look. "If my hunter instincts can't make me think of you as a monster, then that journal won't either."

I kindly didn't point out that he did think of me as a monster for a while. It was only because I knew that it wasn't him. My sweet brother had fought against those pesky little hunter instincts, eagerly agreeing to find a way around them.

"He's right," Matt popped up from behind the bar to give me a stern look and I shook my head at him. "You aren't a monster, Alexa. And not even your dad's words will make us believe that."

"You two are going to make me cry," I muttered, glancing over at the entrance to the back rooms, desperately wishing that my boyfriend would return. He would help me escape their kind words, which was almost definitely push me into an emotional break. And I was determined to avoid any more breakdowns. In fact, I was determined to run away from what happened yesterday for as long as possible.

XXX

My body didn't relax until Damon walked back into the main room, tucking his phone back in his pocket. I knew that it was obvious, just how tense I was, and just how much I relaxed when my boyfriend walked back, from the way my brother sighed. But he kindly kept quiet, giving my shoulder a squeeze, before moving to the side, letting Damon take his place.

"Right, home time, baby," my boyfriend nodded, resting his hands on my thighs after tugging my dress further down. Honestly, he got so possessive at times. But I didn't care too much. His possessive, mother-henning attitude just felt comforting after what I went through. And I was content to let him fuss as much as he needed to.

I nodded before asking, "Who was on the phone?"

"Stefan," Damon replied, switching his grip to my hips, as he got ready to help me down from the bar. I immediately moved my hands to his shoulders, already knowing that my head would spin when my feet hit the floor. I could still feel the fuzziness lurking around the edges of my brain, comfortably numbing the memories from yesterday. "Apparently Katherine had a heart attack yesterday, and he has taken her home to die in peace."

"Wait, what?" I frowned, shaking my head. "Katherine had a heart attack? But she didn't die? How fucking rude."

My boyfriend laughed at my pout, before easing me off the bar. And I was immediately proved right. My head went fuzzy, spinning in all the wrong ways, when my feet settled on the floor. I let out a low groan, resting my head against Damon's chest as I muttered curses, while he kindly kept his grip on my hips, keeping me on my feet. I heard one of the boys muffle a laugh, and I removed one hand from my boyfriend's shoulder to give them the middle finger. They weren't allowed to laugh at me, I was still feeling delicate. Not that I would say that out loud, but it made me feel better to think it, while giving them the bird.

"Donovan, Little Gilbert," Damon turned his attention to the others while I moved my hands from his shoulders, wrapping my arms around his waist instead, not even trying to pretend that I wasn't clinging on to him. "You're welcome to tag along. We're going to celebrate Katherine's impending death in style."

The two boys exchanged a look before nodding. I knew that they couldn't resist tagging along. Katherine dying was a big fucking deal. And no one wanted to miss the moment that the bitch finally got what was coming to her.

"We'll finish opening up and then head over," Matt said, moving with determination to finish off his opening up tasks.

"If your boss gives you any issues, then let me know and I'll compel him into agreeing," I muttered, shifting closer to Damon before pausing and glancing down. "Where the fuck are my shoes? Did I even leave home with shoes on?" While my boyfriend smirked into my hair, practically oozing amusement, I glanced at the other two boys. "If you find my shoes, can you bring them with you?"

"Come on, Ally, let's get home so that we can start celebrating early," Damon eased his arm under my knees before picking me up. I just wrapped my arms around his shoulders, resting my head against his. I was relieved that I wouldn't need to walk outside with my bare feet, especially since I had absolutely no idea where we parked last night. It probably should have worried me, that I didn't really remember much after washing off the blood last night. But I knew that Damon wouldn't get me into trouble, and a lot of that fuzziness was bourbon related.

"Ding dong, the bitch is dead," I sniggered, giving Jeremy and Matt a goodbye wave. My brother shook his head at me, valiantly trying to hide a smile, while the blue-eyed cutie just waved back. "Do you think Stefan will let me film it?"

"I doubt it, baby," my boyfriend shook his head, his voice full of amusement, as he carried me over to the car. We had parked directly opposite the Grill, so it wasn't a long walk. But since I had somehow lost my shoes, although I wasn't completely convinced that I had put some on before we left the Boarding House last night, it would have been a tedious one. "He's projecting some kind of guilt fantasy on the damn woman. And so, he's become a bit overprotective."

"Ugh, that's gross, why can't he go back to hating her?" I scrunched up my nose in annoyance as I was denied my fun. Guess I would just have to make do with spitting cruel words at her instead.

"Well, did anyone manage to give you the latest gossip?" Damon smirked down at me and I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, no, what happened?" I pouted as my boyfriend just laughed at the expectant look on my face. He eased open the car door, before carefully sitting me down in the passenger seat, quickly crouching down next to me. "Day, please, I wanna know."

"Hm, as fun as your reaction would be, this look is just adorable," Damon tapped my nose, leaning forward for a kiss when my pout deepened. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, fingers tangling into my hair, smirking when I let out a tiny groan.

"You're being a tease," I grumbled when he pulled back, giving me a wink before walking around the car to get in. "I wanna know what happened."

"If you're a good girl, I'll tell you when we get home and after you have either put on a bra or changed your dress."

I couldn't stop myself from snorting, "It's not often that I hear you telling me to put a bra on."

"I've seen how flimsy this dress is, Alexa," my boyfriend leant in close, his thumb dragging against my erect nipple, visible through the thin fabric of my dress. My breath hitched at the pressure and I squeezed my legs together. Something that he noticed, as that silvery gaze grew dark again, increasing the pressure of his thumb on my nipple. "And no one else is allowed to enjoy this view."

I knew that I was staring up at him with wide eyes when he pulled back and the wink that I got had me squeezing my thighs together even more. Damn that man.

XXX

When we got back to the Boarding House, I was sent to get changed into something that wouldn't show off my boobs if I sat in the wrong position. I was just on my way to the bedroom when a voice called my name. I paused, frowning for a moment, before speeding across the large house to one of the bigger spare rooms.

Jesse stood in the doorway of his room, arms crossed and an easy smile on his face. I came to a stop just in front of him, making sure to nudge the straps of my dress further up onto my shoulders, before smiling, "Jesse, hey! Holy shit, I almost forgot that you were here. Are you okay? How are you holding up?"

"I'm good," the cutie smiled at me, grabbing a nearby chair so that he could sit down. I did the same, dragging one over, sitting down crossed-legged, resting my elbows on my knees, making sure that my straps were behaving as I did so. "Caroline set me up in one of the good rooms with an en-suite. And she arranged for a fridge to be installed so that I had an easy supply of blood bags."

"Does human blood help then?" I asked, my curiosity taking over for a moment. "I know that the fucking creeper experimented on you to make you crave vampire blood. But does human blood satisfy your hunger?"

"Enough," the other boy nodded, looking remarkably relaxed, considering he was essentially a prisoner in that room. "My body knows that it wants something else. But if I drink enough blood bags, I don't feel hungry enough to attack someone." As I let out a musing noise, thinking about the information that I just heard, Jesse's expression went soft. "Alexa, your sister told me that Wes experimented on you too."

"Damn that girl and her big mouth," I scrunched up my nose in annoyance. I was hoping to protect that cutie from that and from anything else bad that happened before we managed to cure the damage that fucking Wes did.

"She asked me if I knew anything about a second lab," he revealed, his fingers twitching, almost like he wanted to reach out and reassure me. "Unfortunately, I didn't. Wes only took me to the one at Whitmore. Are you okay?"

"Eh?" I winced as my voice went far too high-pitched. "He, uh, he wanted to turn me into a vampire eating ripper like you. The fucker had apparently found a way to make his compound more effective or some nonsense like that. I was kinda in the middle of a prolonged panic attack at the time. But he apparently found a quicker way to turn people into monsters. So I told him that his compound was shit and defective." I paused before frowning. "Maybe that's why he stabbed the needle into my heart, the little fucker."

Jesse sat up straight, a worried look on his face as he asked, "Did he manage to inject you with it?"

"Nah, the rescue party arrived just in time," I shrugged, my hair falling over my shoulder at the movement. "But I do have some good news. Apparently the creepy fucker was using a journal to do his experiments. We pinched it, so hopefully we can find a way to cure you so you aren't stuck in that room for too long."

"It's not too bad," the cutie smiled, shaking his head as he looked over his shoulder into the room. "The bed is comfortable and I have a TV in here. Caroline and Elena have agreed to stop by daily, so that I have someone to talk to."

"I'll stop by too," I nodded, making a silent note to myself. "Did Carmen have any issues doing the spell?"

"Nah, your witch friend was fine, although she did keep mentioning something about her girlfriend, Lucy," Jesse replied and my eyes lit up.

"You found out something about her? Damn, hon, you are my favourite person," I snickered, going to pull out my phone to text the witch, only to pout when I realised that I didn't have it on me.

"Is the part where you say that you would climb me like a tree if you weren't in a relationship?" the boy teased and I groaned loudly.

"Fuck me, when did I say that?"

"You were very drunk at the time," Jesse laughed, shaking his head as I dramatically covered my face. "And slurring a lot."

"I should give up drinking," I muttered, knowing that I would never give up drinking. "Goddamnit. Did anyone else hear?"

"No, that gem was just for me," the cutie was still laughing at me and I pouted.

"I know that there are other gems from my drunk time," I shook my head. "Can you do me a favour and just not tell me what they are?"

"I'll save it for a later date," Jesse promised before a different voice joined the conversation.

"Alexa, I thought you were getting changed."

"Oops," I sniggered before shifting in my seat to look up at Damon with wide eyes. "I got distracted?"

"I can tell," my boyfriend rolled his eyes at me, placing his hand on my shoulder before glancing over at the boy in front of us. "So, you're the vampire eating ripper that is borrowing my spare room."

"Yeah," Jesse winced, glancing over at me for a moment before sighing. "Look, man, I'm sorry that I nearly killed you the other night. I swear, I never would have attacked you if it weren't for what Wes did to me."

"Water under the bridge," Damon waved away his words, looking down at me. I got the feeling that this dress made my boobs look good from above, as his eyes darkened, the grip on my shoulder growing tight. "Just try not to eat anyone while you're under my roof."

"No vampires are coming in here right now," the cutie almost looked sad at his loneliness, before an easy smile formed on his face. "And Caroline has agreed to vervain me whenever the cleaner comes in here."

"Sounds like a plan," my boyfriend shrugged before urging me to my feet. He put the chair back to where it belonged before wrapping a possessive arm around my shoulders. "Alexa, say goodbye to Jesse. We need to go celebrate Katherine's impending doom."

"Bye Jesse," I dutifully waved goodbye at my friend. "I'll come back to see you later and I'll make sure that someone brings a bottle up to you, so you can celebrate Katherine dying too."

"Who's Katherine?" Jesse muttered for a moment before shaking his head. "I'll speak to you later, Alexa."

XXX

After I had changed into a respectable tank top and shorts, I was allowed back downstairs. I didn't even intentionally distract my boyfriend, which was weird for me. But I wanted to start celebrating Katherine's death. Of course, that didn't mean that Damon didn't get distracted when I slipped my dress off of my shoulders, leaving me in just my panties.

As I stared down at the dress on the floor, I shrugged before bending over to pick it up. But before I could do so, I heard the sound of vampire speed and the next thing I knew, my boyfriend's body was pressed up against me. I rolled my eyes as strong hands tightly gripped my hips, "You know, you told me off for getting distracted earlier."

"I did," Damon agreed with a hum, pressing his hips against mine and I bit my lip as I felt his erection pressing against my ass. "But how am I supposed to resist a view like this?"

"Cute words won't always get you your own way," despite my best efforts, my breath hitched as one hand slid up my stomach, pulling me back up against his strong chest, before clever fingers played with my nipple, tugging and rolling it. "Fuck, and you call me insatiable."

"It's not my fault that you're irresistible," my boyfriend whispered in my ear and I shivered as his breath caressed my sensitive neck. While I was distracted by the hand playing with my nipples, the other stroked the skin just above my panties. I didn't even bother hiding my gasp at the movement, Damon's lips curling up into a smirk before he bit down on that spot beneath my ear. The moment that he did so, his fingers slipped beneath my panties. The heel of his palm pressed against my clit, the firm pressure making my legs shake. I curled one arm back, gripping onto my boyfriend's shoulders, just as two fingers curled into me.

My voice cracked as I cursed and I could feel Damon's satisfaction at the noise. I would have told him off for it, but his fingers pressed against the spot that had me seeing stars and I forgot what words were. The heel of his hand kept a steady pressure on my clit and sparks of white-hot pleasure consumed my mind. I couldn't focus on anything beyond his hand, quickly leading me to the edge of pleasure, and I just clung on to his shoulders, unable to do more than just gasp out his name.

Once I reached that edge, I quickly toppled over. Damon's lips curled up into a smirk against my neck and I could feel his fangs against my skin, as he purred out compliments that had my skin flushing for a completely different reason. It wasn't until that pleasure was tinged with pain that he removed his hand. I just slumped back against my boyfriend's strong body, trusting him to keep me on my feet.

"You're a possessive little fucker," I gasped as he continued to mark my skin, even though the bruises quickly healed. "You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Jesse. He didn't even see any cleavage."

"Hm, but if you weren't with me, then you would have climbed him like a tree," Damon's voice was deep and I clenched my thighs together, the feeling of my oversensitive skin pressing together making my breath hitch, before I cursed.

"I was drunk and I was trying to convey that being a vampire still meant that he could be with someone," I gasped as his fangs scraped against that spot again. "He's good looking but he isn't you, Damon."

"Damn right he isn't," my boyfriend purred before ripping off my panties. I barely had a second to hum my appreciation at the panty dropping, or should that be ripping, move before I was being sped over to the bed, landing on my back.

I gave Damon my best innocent look before I quickly sat up, pressing a kiss to his clothed stomach. While he rolled his eyes, I returned the favour and ripped open his t-shirt, before immediately nipping the skin above his jeans. I dug my fingers into his ass before murmuring, "I'll let you get possessive if you fuck me in the way that I want."

"Now who's getting distracted?" Damon huffed out a laugh, just before I got rid of his belt, unzipping his jeans to wrap my hand around his cock. I smirked against his stomach as there was a hitch in his breathing. I barely got any time to tease before I was once again on my back, one of Damon's hands gripping my thigh, wrapping it around his hips.

His cock pressed against my entrance and I couldn't hold in my moan, even as I tried to silence it. Of course, it only grew louder as he slowly entered me, dragging against that magical spot, still far too sensitive. But I just wrapped my other leg around his hips, pulling him closer, groaning louder as he filled me completely.

Damon set a punishing pace, his thrusts short and sharp, and all I could do was grip onto the sheets beneath me, tilting my hips, drawing him in deeper. Each thrust hit that spot that had me moaning out my boyfriend's name, begging for everything that he could give me. Strong fingers dug into my thighs, leaving bruises that healed far too soon, and I just threw my head back.

Damon apparently wasn't in the mood to tease, as I quickly tumbled off that edge into blissful oblivion, chanting out his name. He followed over me the edge not long after, slumping down over me, covering my body with his. I just wrapped my arms around him, pressing a kiss to my boyfriend's cheek before humming, "I've missed jealous sex. Why don't we do this more often?"

"Because we're being good, Ally," Damon chuckled, resting his elbows on either side of my head, even as I squeezed his hips, my legs still wrapped around them. "And I know what you get like when you're jealous."

"Rude. You are so much worse than me."

XXX

I sat on the floor in the library, my back to the fire, with Damon opposite me. Jeremy and Matt had arrived not long after we stop getting distracted and walked downstairs. The boys had taken the chairs on either side, looking at the coffee table with amusement. My boyfriend had set up a line of shot glasses, a bottle of bourbon next to them.

I sniggered as he filled up a few of the glasses, glancing over at my boobs as he did so, cos they looked totally amazing in my tank top, "Rule number one: name the worst thing that Katherine Pierce has ever done. Rule number two: toast to the glory of her impending death. Rule number three: if you come across something that's worse, which you will, repeat rules one and two."

"Oh no, I'm going to get drunk again," I rolled my eyes as Damon picked up one of the glasses. He gave me a wink before putting on a dramatic thinking face.

"She pretended to be buried in a tomb for 145 years, while I waited for her lying ass," my boyfriend kicked off the celebrations with one of Katherine's earliest transgressions, holding up the glass in a toast before downing it. "Wait, does that beat pretending to be Elena and kissing me on the front porch of the Gilbert house, after I had revealed my love for Alexa?"

"Loool, nope," I snorted, nudging a glass forward before filling up a couple more. "Soz, babes, drink up."

Damon's fingers brushed against mine as he picked up the glass, downing it and shaking his head, "I'm surprised that you haven't started, Ally."

"Well, I have a list, but if I'm going to do this, then I'm going to do it properly," I shrugged, filling up the rest of the glasses. Because I knew that we would inevitably drink them all, so I was just saving time. Efficiency. Wes wasn't the only fucker capable of it. "I just need to get my list in chronological order."

"So dramatic," my boyfriend smirked before picking up a glass and holding it to Matt. "Quarterback, go." But the cutie just stared at him with wide eyed, his mind freezing as he was put on the spot. "Think on that." He passed the shot glass to my brother instead. "Little Gilbert."

Jeremy hesitated for a moment, glancing over at me, but I just waved my hand, "Eh, we're celebrating. Get as drunk as you want, kiddo. I'll defend you from the party poopers."

Jer's lips curled up into an adorable smile before taking the glass and holding it up, "She snapped my neck and dumped my body on our back porch to send a message to Stefan and Elena."

He took a shot and Damon gave him an approving nod, nudging over a second glass, "Doozy."

"Then, she made Ric crash his car into a pole and left me for dead, again, forcing Ric to fight off his hunger to feed me his blood," my brother downed a second shot, his nose wrinkling at the burn and I laughed at him.

"My sister's dead because of her," Matt joined in the fun, downing a shot of his own. It felt like a bit of a reach, cos the bitch wasn't even in town then. But hey, fuck Katherine. She ruined everything she touched and I honestly didn't care if she got blamed for shit that she didn't actually do.

"Yes, she is," my boyfriend nodded, playing along as he downed a shot of his own. "Because I wouldn't have even been in town to turn Vicki into a murderous vampire who tried to eat Alexa if I wasn't trying to get Katherine out of a tomb that she wasn't in."

"Have we just reached the petty stage already?" I giggled, shaking my head as I shifted so that I was on my knees. "Cos I broke a nail the other day, can I blame that on her too?"

"Go for it, baby" Damon winked at me, passing me a glass and I immediately downed it, enjoying the burn.

"Oooh, this just got fun," I sniggered, grabbing another glass. "I think she stole some of my perfume and I haven't been able to replace it."

"Now who's being petty?" Jeremy shook his head at me, although he did smile at my giggle.

"I'm still trying to put my list in order," I shrugged, dipping my fingers into my next glass before flicking them at the kid. He pouted at me, going to do the same but Damon moved the full glasses away from him with a warning look. "So I'm going to think of other random shit that I can blame her for before I get to juicy stuff that will get me drunk."

Matt interrupted us with a frown, "I'm fairly sure that she compelled me to kiss her at some point. I think it was at the Masquerade Ball."

"That bitch," I gasped before pressing a glass into his hand. "Drink up, cutie, cos you need to get rid of that memory." I paused before nudging one over to my boyfriend. "You drink too, cos you also need to get rid of the memory of her cooties."

Damon dutifully did as requested, downing the bourbon, while I filled up the other glasses. I could see the amusement in his eyes as he watched me, especially when I flicked more bourbon at my brother. As before, he stopped the kid from retaliating. This time, he did it by passing shots to both of the boys, before giving mine to me. I let my fingers stroke his skin as he did so, giving him a wink when he raised an eyebrow at me.

We all held up our glasses and just as I wondered what we were toasting this time, my boyfriend smirked at us all, "Group shot!"

"Oh yeah," I licked the bourbon from my lips, grabbing another one and downing it, momentarily forgetting the rules. "Oh shit, erm, she stole my clothes once and got blood on them." I ignored my brother's laugh, refilling the glass to add, "And she snores when she sleeps, which is uber loud and disturbs me. This is so much fun, why I have never done this before?"

XXX

"What is this?"

We all looked up at the sound of a new voice. Elena stood by the stairs, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. Bonnie and Caroline were behind her, Tyler to her side, although I was fairly sure that the former witch was hiding a smile. The hybrid shithead didn't even bother hiding his amusement as he whispered to his girlfriend, "I love it when she gets like this."

"Uh oh, the party pooper has arrived," I tried to whisper, but I failed miserably as my sister's eyebrow rose higher. "Ah fuck. She heard me. Save the booze."

The others walked over to us. Elena stood between me and Jeremy, while the other two girls settled on the sofa, Damon between them, Tyler sitting on the arm of Matt's chair. Our buzzkill older sister rolled her eyes at us, looking pointedly at the glass in Jer's hand.

"Elena," Matt had a panicked look on his face and I laughed into my elbow. "We're… we were just…"

"I know what you're doing," my twin shook her head before pointing at Jeremy. "You're cut off."

"No he's not," I protested loudly before the kid had a chance. "We're celebrating and he deserves to celebrate too. And I won't let your party pooperness ruin his good time."

"She's hilarious like this," I glanced over to the side to see Jenna and Ric walking in, Zoe in my aunt's arms, April lingering by the door. I sniffed at the wide smile on her face, crossing my arms. "Let Jeremy drink, Elena. You'll only upset your sister if you stop him."

Ellie glanced down at me before rolling her eyes, "You're unbelievable, Lexa."

"You love me," I shot back before passing her a shot glass. "Come on, you know you want to."

"Fine," she held out for a moment longer before smiling. "If anyone is drinking to Katherine's last days, it's going to be me." I cheered as she down the shot in her hand, quickly passing her another one. "She impersonated me. Repeatedly." I quickly replaced the glass in her hand as she downed that one. "She killed Jeremy and she cut off Uncle John's fingers."

"He might have deserved that," Jeremy snickered, giving me a high five before we quickly downed a shot.

"She also stabbed him," I shrugged, nudging glasses to all of our new arrivals. "And FYI, pettiness is more than allowed. We've already blamed stuff on her that she couldn't have done."

"My Grams died trying to close a tomb that she wasn't in," Bonnie gave me a cheeky smile and I winked at her as she downed her shot, wincing at the burn before rolling her eyes at my cackle.

"That's my girl."

"She's the reason why I triggered my werewolf curse," Tyler added, downed a shot before quickly following it with a second. "And she's the reason for Mason triggering his." He paused before adding, "And she got Mason killed."

Even I drank to that one.

"Klaus followed her to Mystic Falls," Ellie sat down next to Jeremy, while the last few party members squeezed onto the seats in front of me. "And because of that, we lost John."

"And Isobel," I added, patting Ric's hand as he reached out for a shot. He gave me a small smile before I was distracted by Elena.

"She tried to kill me at least twice and she was actually successful in doing so once."

"Nah, it has to be more than that," I frowned, trying to work it out in my head as I ignored the reference to the time of my life that I didn't like thinking about.

"She did kill me," Care shook her head before pausing. "Although, I'm weirdly better off."

"You're gorgeous like this," I winked at my friend as she laughed at me, nudging her boyfriend who agreed with a kiss. I stuck my tongue out at them before Tyler pulled back to look at me.

"Alexa, have you had your turn yet?" my adopted bro looked at me with hopeful eyes. "Because that would be a show."

"Well, luckily for you, I'm just about to start," I smirked, before grabbing the first glass in the line that I had put together. I winked at my boyfriend as he picked up the bottle, ready to fill up my glasses as needed. God, I loved him. "She kissed my boyfriend after he confessed his love for me, thinking that she was my sister." Shot. "She snuck into my home and tried to kill John." Shot. "She fucking killed me on the night of the carnival." Shot. "She manipulated Mason, turning him into a complete stranger." Shot. "She threatened Jenna." Shot. "She killed Jeremy." Shot. "She threatened to snap my neck at the Masquerade." Shot. "She got my sister hurt because she was a little pussy with access to a threatened witch." Shot. "She caused Ty to activate his werewolf curse." Shot. "Nearly killing Matt in the process." Shot. "She plotted with John to get Damon killed." Shot. "She threatened Jenna again." Shot. "She tried to sell Elena out to Klaus to save her own skin." Shot. "She betrayed us." Shot. "She hurt Jenna." Shot. "She got John killed." Shot. "She fucking killed me, again." Shot. "She nearly got Damon killed again by compelling me at Homecoming to forget Klaus' threat." Shot. "She killed Elena on the island." Shot. "She threatened me multiple times in that sad little town that she compelled." Shot. "She threatened to gouge my eyes out." Shot. "She tried to kill Elena after Graduation." Shot. "She tried to kill me, again." Shot. "She got Jeremy hurt in a car accident while he was trying to help her." Shot. "And fuck that bitch, she has been nothing but bad news and I hope she chokes on it." I paused before scrunching up my nose, "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"She's slurring again," Jeremy whispered, a delighted look on his face, and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not slurring," I turned hopeful eyes to Damon, who was staring at me with a hungry look in his eyes, even as I pouted at him. "I'm definitely forgetting something. What else has she done?"

"What hasn't she done?" Caroline laughed, passing me a shot glass while everyone else picked one up. "Group shot?"

"God, this is such a good day," I snickered, twirling my empty glass in my hand, nudging April with my elbow as she sat down next to me.

"We're going to need more booze."

XXX

"Rumour has it, she burnt down the entire city of Atlanta once," Damon smirked, passing me a shot while I ignored my sister's attempts to bully me into drinking some blood. She was under the impression that I had drunk far too much booze and that I needed to sober up. I disrespectfully disagreed, which I said to her face before giving Jeremy another shot.

"Loooool, she definitely would have done that, the she-devil," I sniggered, giving Elena my empty glass and placing the blood bag on the table. I didn't care that I was getting drunk again. Not only was I celebrating the death of the woman who had hurt me so many times, I was running away from everything that happened yesterday. It was the perfect distraction. And if my mind stayed fuzzy, I stopped seeing monsters in the shadows.

"That might win," Jeremy laughed, shaking his head, just as the missing member of our group entered.

Stefan looked at us from the upper level before shaking his head, "Alright, knock it off or take it somewhere else. You guys are being insensitive."

"Els, I was wrong," I completely failed in whispering. "The real party pooper has arrived."

Damon gave me a wink before standing up, holding out a shot glass for his brother, "Come on, Stefan. Don't let the sight of a frail, human Elena-look-alike cloud your memories of the manipulative psycho that she is."

"Manipulative psycho bitch," I wiggled my eyebrows at April, who hid her laugh behind a cough. She didn't even know who Katherine was, but after hearing us list all of her transgressions, she didn't seem too sad to hear that the woman was dying.

The younger Salvatore hesitated for a moment, before nodding and walking forward, accepting the shot glass, "In 1864, Katherine moved into my home, she compelled me to love her, seduced my brother, fed us full of vampire blood and then started a war with the town that got us killed."

"Exactly, bottoms up," my boyfriend downed his shot. But Stefan wasn't done and I realised that Damon was right earlier, when he said that the other vampire had decided that being stupidly protective of the bitch was a good idea.

"But, centuries before that, she was just an innocent girl that was shunned by her family. So, for five hundred years, she lied and manipulated and did whatever she had to do to survive. And she did. She's a survivor, right? So that's the girl that I will drink to today. Cheers."

I scrunched up my nose as he drank his shot, "Seriously? Stefan, broski, what happened to you? Why are you being so nice to her? She's a complete bitch and chose to become a bitch. Like, for realz, why do you defend her?"

"Please," Damon scoffed, shaking his head and Stefan winced, almost like he knew that the next words out his brother's mouth would only cause him trouble. "One night of hot sex with her and you're brainwashed?"

"He what?" I knew that my voice had hit a particularly high pitch when the supernaturals in the room winced. My exclamation was quickly followed by Bonnie and Jenna, although their disgust wasn't as obvious. "That's the information that you were teasing me with earlier?"

"I would have told you," Caroline winced, "But you were being kidnapped and… stuff… and Elena knew too."

"You did?" I stared up at my wincing sister with wide eyes, and she shot the blonde a glare before sighing.

"Damon and I saw her as she was sneaking out yesterday morning," Ellie revealed, looking like the memory made her feel sick. "She had no shame in telling us."

"Oh ew, Stefan! You have Katherine cooties!" I squealed, ignoring the amused look on Damon's face as he walked around the table to stand next to me. I paused for a moment before an even worse thought it hit. "Ew! That was before you rescued me! I hugged you! You carried me! Ew, Katherine cooties touched me!"

"Alexa, you're being dramatic," Stefan sighed, walking over to the group. He shook his head at me, carefully avoiding looking at my twin.

"You slept with the she-devil and you're calling me dramatic?" my voice was still far too high but I couldn't help it. The booze combined with the disgust and shock had killed all of my common sense. "I thought you had taste, Stefan! I tried to hook you up with hot women when we went clubbing, Stefan! And then you do that with the evil bitch upstairs!"

"He also saved her from jumping off the clock tower the other night," Tyler revealed, shrugging when we all looked over at him. "What? Matt told me."

"Stefan!" the younger Salvatore winced at my dramatic gasp. "Am I seriously finding out that I could have celebrated her death days ago? Why are you ruining my life?"

"I couldn't just walk away and let her die, Alexa," Stefan shook his head at me, although he didn't sound annoyed by my dramatic questions. He just grabbed a shot and drank it, indulging my drama. And a part of me did feel as though I was being too dramatic. But since my twin was too busy shaking her head at me, hiding a smile, I didn't care. If she was amused by me, then she wasn't focusing on the fact that her ex slept with the woman who had tormented her for so long.

"Uh, yeah you can, it's easy," I tried to stand up, only to wobble, my head spinning, when I stood up straight. I sensed more than saw my boyfriend's eye roll as he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me back so that I was resting against him. "You just look at the floor and be like 'what was that mysterious thudding noise'? Why are you being so nice to her right now?"

"Because she's dying," the other vampire sighed, looking like he had also asked himself that question. "And no one deserves to die alone."

"That bitch does!" I scrunched up my nose in annoyance. "She let me die alone. Twice. She let Jeremy die alone. She's finally going through the same shit that she made everyone else suffer. You know what? I'm not making you blocktails anymore! I won't even make lazy ones!" I ignored the snigger from Tyler that he failed to hide in Caroline's shoulder. "You are cut off, my rude friend. And I'm going to make you grovel to get back into my good books. Grovel. Grov-el."

XXX

I kept muttering "Grovel" under my breath until Damon distracted me by pouring a shot into my mouth. I rolled my eyes at him before licking the bourbon from my lips, enjoying the way his eyes darkened. His grip on my hips was a tad on the tight side, but I didn't care. Not only was he keeping me on my feet, because my legs were shaky as fuck, his touch had my body tingling. I knew that it was a sign that I had drunk far too much bourbon, but I didn't care. The booze was helping me escape my trauma and I would do anything to escape it.

Stefan avoided my narrowed gaze, picking up an empty bottle while looking at the other ones, "Bottle's empty… I should…"

"Yeah, damn right you should," I stuck my tongue out at him, before wobbling again. I glared down at my legs before frowning. "Did I forget to put shoes on again?"

While my brother laughed, Damon carefully passed me over to Jenna. My aunt rolled her eyes before easing me down onto her chair, passing me the blood bag that I had ignored earlier. I pouted up at her, determined to keep my buzz. Because fuzzy thoughts hid the bad thoughts. I got the feeling that I muttered that out loud when Jenna winced and placed the blood bag to the side.

"That's why you never send a busboy to do a man's job," my boyfriend rolled his eyes as I pouted up at him.

"I want more booze."

Damon gave me a wink, never one to deny me anything. But before he could take more than a step, he paused and smirked sharply, "Nadia, the devil's spawn. Caroline, did you remember to tell the twins that little gem?"

Caroline smacked her forehead while her boyfriend laughed. I just stared up at the newcomer. Even with my muddled mind, I remembered her from that bar. She was the one who snapped my neck before stealing Katherine. She pointed a gun at my sister, well, technically me, but the intent was to point it at my twin. Of course she was related to Katherine. She had definitely inherited her mother's bitchiness.

"Oh em gee," I breathed out, going to stand up but the strong hand that Ric placed on my shoulder kept me in my seat. "You're the kid that got taken away from her. What the fuuuuuuuuck? How is this happening? Is this happening?"

"I think my mind just exploded," Elena's face scrunched up, shaking her head, before gesturing towards the ceiling. Well, at least she confirmed that this was actually happening. "Okay. Uh, Katherine's upstairs."

"Actually, I'm here to see all of you," Katherine's daughter, Nadia?, shook her head. Ugh, I still hated her. She had the same bitchy tone in her voice that her mother did. "I found a way to save my mother and I need some help."

I didn't even bother hiding my laughter, even if I did a good job at pretending by covering my mouth with my hands. My reaction earnt me a dirty look from Nadia, but Damon stood up behind me, his hands settling on my shoulders. Content that none of my loved ones would let the mini-bitch hurt me, I just snorted loudly, "How much have you had to drink? You sound crazier than me!"

"Yeah, no way," my boyfriend agreed, narrowing his eyes. "Even my biased brother knows that I will kick his ass from here to Kentucky if he helps Katherine Pierce live one more day on this Earth." His quick eyes glanced around the room, looking at everyone in turn. "No volunteers."

"I figured as much," the devil's spawn nodded, not sounding as bothered as I would like. "Which is why I found that old safe that your brother spent the summer drowning in and buried it on this property with your friend Matt inside of it. Oh, without this."

She stepped forward to place a painfully familiar ring on the banister. It was Matt's Gilbert ring, the one that protected him from supernatural death. It was the only reason why I let him get involved in this nonsense, because it meant that I would get him back, it meant that I wouldn't lose anyone else.

"You bitch," I spat and it was only Damon's strong, stern grip on my shoulders that stopped me from doing something stupid. Because this woman had wrecked me once already, she would definitely do so again. Not that I cared, I just wanted to rip out her spleen before forcing her to save my friend.

"I just need a couple of volunteers to help me save my mother," the bitch continued to look at Damon, even as Stefan moved to stand by him. "If they help me get what I need, then Matt will be released, safe and sound."

"I'll help," the younger Salvatore immediately volunteered, but before I could do more than roll my eyes, a second voice said the same thing.

"Elena!" I shouted my twin's name as she walked around the couch, making sure to avoid my grabby hands, to approach the bitch's evil little daughter. I spat out curses at her, while my boyfriend kept me held in place. I just about heard him murmuring something with his brother before Stefan followed my sister. "Stop being stupid and get back here. Let me volunteer instead."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Damon switched his grip from my shoulders to wrap his arms around my body, keeping me pressed against him. "Elena will be sensible and if she isn't, then you can lock her up downstairs." Stern eyes turned to our siblings, "Keep in contact, let me know everything that is happening and stay safe. I'll make sure that Alexa doesn't do anything stupid."

"Rude, I'm being sensible right now," I muttered before pointing at my twin. "If you get hurt, I'll bring you back to life to kill you myself."

XXX

"Question: why did we let the she-devil's spawn leave with our siblings, without ripping out her tongue first?"

"Because if she is not here, then we can start looking for Matt," Ric answered my question, a weary edge to his voice, after I phrased the same musing in several different ways. While the others plotted, thinking about the best way to start the search for our missing cutie, the Enhanced Original had taken charge of stopping me from doing something stupid. He was sometimes assisted by my boyfriend, when Damon wasn't busy on his phone. I had absolutely no idea as to who he was speaking to, but he was a lot calmer than I was expecting him to be.

"We could have started looking for Matt while she was here," I pouted, my nails tapping against my phone as I waited for my twin to answer my most recent text. I knew that she was ignoring most of them, which would get her yelled at when she got home. Because I was not impressed with her agreeing to go with the bitch who stole our friend. And I had told her voicemail that. Numerous times. Jenna had rolled her eyes each time that I had done so, but she hadn't tried to stop me. No one had. Clearly, they would prefer for me to take my frustrations out on Elena's voicemail and not someone else. Like the dying woman upstairs, who was the cause of all of this. "I know these grounds are, like, huge. But we have a massive search party and a lot of us have supernatural hearing. I could have found Mattie and ripped out the bitch's tongue."

"Well, that's assuming that Damon allows you to go looking," my aunt shook her head at me before cheating. She passed me her baby and I immediately held Zoe close while I settled back against the back of the chair. I gave her a look, getting an unimpressed one in return, before pressing a kiss to my cousin's head. The baby was happily snoozing, once again content to sleep through the huge moments in her life. Not gonna lie, it was adorable. And I couldn't stop myself from cooing at her before responding to her mom.

"He would let me go looking for Matt," I pouted, ignoring my boyfriend's muttered disagreement as he walked past me. "He loves Mattie too, even if he pretends otherwise."

Ric was distracted from replying by Caroline's loud declaration that they were ready. The others had been busy plotting quietly, gathering around their phones, making plans. I had tried listening in at times, but was distracted each time I opened my mouth to interject.

"Bonnie, you and Jeremy go search the back of the house, but don't go too far, you don't have supernatural hearing. April, you take Tyler and search the south and west parts of the estate. I'll go with Ric and search the rest of it. Jenna, I'm going to set up a group chat and you can coordinate as you hear back from us."

"Erm," I waved my hand in the air, trying to catch their attention while also not disturbing the baby in my arms. "What do I do? Who do I go with?"

"You are staying with me," Damon tugged on a lock of my hair and I tilted my head back to look at him. "That way, I can keep you out of trouble."

"Rude, I don't always get into trouble," I rolled my eyes before pouting. "I want to help. Let me help."

My boyfriend tapped my nose, giving me a wink, "Well, I need help dealing with Katherine, making sure that she doesn't magically recover to spend the next one hundred odd years tormenting us."

"Oooh," my eyes lit up and Jenna groaned. "I can insult her as much as I want and she can't run away." I snickered before an even better thought hit me. "Oh! And Stefan isn't even around to defend the loser." I nodded, before pointing at the group as they got ready to go search for our missing friend. "Y'all better rescue Mattie. I won't be happy if anything happens to him."

"Don't worry, Alexa," Bonnie gave me a comforting smile. "We'll find Matt. You just focus on Katherine."

"I'm going to throw all of her mistakes in her face and make her choke on them."

"Who is suddenly regretting leaving those two in charge of Katherine?" Ric rolled his eyes but he knew better than to try and stop us. Listing all of the ways that she had hurt us had only reminded our gang of what she had done to us. Yeah, we had blamed her for some petty shit that wasn't her fault. But there was a lot of stuff that was her fault. She had spent 500 years turning into a spiteful bitch that delighted in hurting people. And I was going to remind her of that fact.

"Relax," I snorted, shaking my head. "We're not going to kill her. I want to watch her die of old age, panicking as her body fails her. Because as much as I love the thought of killing her myself, I don't want to get scolded by Saint Stefan when he returns."

"As much as I would love to unpick that, we need to go save Matt," Caroline's curls bounced as she strode from the room, but not before spinning around to point her finger at me. "Don't get into trouble. Elena will take it out on me if something happens to you while she is gone."

I gave her my best innocent look, "Why do people assume that I will get into trouble if left by myself? I am, like, the least troublesome person that I know." I glared at Tyler as he snorted loudly. "I am unproblematic and I will prove it. Just you wait, someone else will get into trouble and I'll be sat here, safe and uninjured and gloating."

"Relax, blondie," Damon rolled his eyes, placing his hands on my shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to her."

XXX

"This is so boring," I scrunched up my nose as we looked down at Katherine's sleeping face. Stefan had given her his bed to die in and I made a mental note to bully him into buying a new mattress and sheets afterwards. Because Katherine cooties were a serious thing and I was not going anywhere near that bed until he replaced everything on it. "When you said that we were in charge of the bitch, I thought I would get to have a lot more fun. Ugh, it's just like Katherine to ruin everything."

Damon chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight against him, as he rested his head against mine, "I can always wake her up."

"As tempting as it sounds, I'll have to hear her talk and that is definitely the most annoying noise ever."

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" my boyfriend dramatically rolled his eyes and I giggled. "What can I do to make you happy?"

"Hm, I don't know," I tilted my head back to kiss his jaw. "Each option has its downsides. Well, each option that is Katherine related. I can think of other things to do."

I wiggled my eyebrows and Damon laughed, kissing my temple, "If Liz wasn't on her way over, then I be whisking you away to our bedroom."

"There are just so many people who want to ruin my good time," I grumbled, before looking back at the dying woman in front of me. "I can't believe that Stefan is looking after her. How did she manage to get her claws back into him? Her pussy can't be that good."

My words startled a laugh out of Damon and he shook his head, "I love it when you get into one of these moods."

"I live to please," I hummed, nipping on his jaw as I decided that Katherine was boring me. Watching her sleep was tedious and it didn't help me with my desire to run away with everything that happened to me yesterday. "Do you think Stefan would mad if I dumped her ass on the floor? That might entertain me more than her snoring."

"If you're that bored, I can always take you into her head and torment her," my boyfriend offered, resting his chin on my shoulder as he gave me a squeeze.

I frowned at the sleeping woman, "You can do that? Why has no one ever taught me this?"

"Well, it's not exactly at the top of the list of 'vampire skills that newbies should learn'," Damon snorted, encouraging me forward. He sat down on the edge of the bed next to Katherine, settling me on his lap, before reaching out to rest a hand on her head, fingers brushing her temple. I glanced up at him when he encouraged me to do the same, before carefully placing my hand on the opposite side to his.

"Just concentrate, Ally," my boyfriend whispered into my hair as I closed my eyes. "Focus on her, open your mind, and then enter hers."

I frowned, doing as he instructed and the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of Katherine as she was sobbing. But she didn't look the frail human from before, no, she looked young again. Her hair was braided away from her face, wearing a green dress, but I couldn't focus on that. No, it was the bodies that she sobbed over that caught my attention. One was an older woman, from their similar bone structures, I assumed that it was her mother. The second was a younger girl, one who looked like she was the same age as the sobbing woman. That must have been her twin sister, the one that she lost, when Klaus got his revenge.

I glanced behind me when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Damon stared down at me, eyebrow raised, but before I could say anything, I caught sight of the body behind him. The man, he must have been Katherine's father, was impaled against the wall with a sword. He had died bloody, the pain still obvious on his face. Klaus hadn't gone easy on the family. And I suddenly remembered why he had the reputation that he did.

"Did Klaus do this?" my voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to catch the other woman's attention.

She looked up at me, tears staining her cheeks, before frowning, "Alexa?"

I looked at the bodies of her family, seeing those who she had lost, before images of different bodies flashed across my mind. Bodies of Jeremy and Elena, of John and Isobel.

"You lost your family," I continued to stare at the body of her twin sister, remembering how she took my twin from me. "You knew what that pain was, how it ate away at you, how it consumed you. But then you tried to take my family away from me. You hurt them and killed them." Katherine shook her head, repeating my name, as fresh tears fell. But I couldn't stop my words, not now. I had seen her pain and I couldn't stop remembering the pain that she had caused me. "How many families have you ripped apart over the centuries? How many mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers have you killed?"

"I did what I had to in order to survive," the girl in front of me whispered, looking so utterly broken. I had never seen her like this, but I found that I didn't care. I remembered the look on Jenna's face when she saw Elena's body, when she saw Jeremy's body. I remembered her guilt as John gave his life for hers. I remembered Jeremy's face as he held Elena's body on the island, that young, desperate look that broke my heart.

"No, you didn't," I shook my head as Damon gave my shoulder a squeeze. I got the sense that he wanted to say something too, but he let me speak my part. He let me do what I needed to do, just like he always did. "You chose to become a monster. You chose to hurt people, because that's who you are. You're a selfish little girl and you've never cared about anyone else but yourself."

"That's not true!" Katherine shot back, glaring at me through wet eyes. "I cared about my family."

"Did you care about them? Or did you just convince yourself of that because they died? Because you felt guilty that Klaus only killed them, because you ran away from the sacrifice," I shook my head again, before looking back at Damon. "You tried to take my family from me, Katherine, so many times. I'll never feel sorry for you."

XXX

I sat on the end of the bed, watching as Damon stood over the sleeping woman. Katherine's face was creased, clearly suffering from bad dreams. Good. She deserved it. Now that I was looking at her, I remembered everything that she had done to me and to my loved ones. Our little drinking game earlier had opened some old wounds. And as bad as it sounded, I was going to embrace those old wounds, while ignoring the new ones from yesterday.

I rolled my eyes as my boyfriend reached over to pick up one of the spare pillows, a considering look on his face. I pulled my knees up to my chest, before muttering, "You know, if you smother her, Stefan will tell you off."

"Only if he finds out," Damon gave me a wink, his fingers twitching as he clutched the pillow. It was adorable, just how excited he got at the thought of putting the woman out of her misery. Which was definitely a bad thought. But considering my boyfriend had also suffered in the past few days, with some very old wounds reopening, I wasn't going to deny him the pleasure of killing the woman who broke his heart. Even if it would get us into a shitload of trouble.

"He always finds out," I rolled my eyes, although I didn't actually move to do anything to stop the murderous thoughts. "Although, that might be cos Caroline always snitches."

"And you won't snitch on me if I do this, will you, baby?" my boyfriend smirked and I couldn't quite hide my laugh.

"You're always getting me into trouble," I dramatically sighed, but all I did was watch as he held the pillow above her face. "I'm supposed to be smugly avoiding trouble today."

"You'll only get in trouble if someone finds out," Damon winked, just as someone walked in and saw what he was planning.

"Put the pillow down, Damon," Liz sighed heavily, shaking her head as she approached us. I gave the Sheriff my best innocent look as she glanced over at me. I got the feeling that she didn't believe my innocence but since I was sitting down, looking like a good girl, she couldn't tell me off. My boyfriend groaned out his friend's name, only to get a stern look. "If you kill her, it's murder. I'd have to bring you in, lock you up… then there's all that paperwork… and Alexa will have to get involved too."

"Every time I look at her, I'm reminded of everything that she's done to the people that I care about," Damon shook his head, still staring down at the sleeping woman. "She… she taught me how to kill, Liz. She took my innocence and broke my heart. And then she hurt my brother, she hurt my Alexa. Why should I show her mercy?"

There was a sympathetic look on Liz's as she reached out to gently grab the pillow, her voice soft, "Look at how much control she still has over you, Damon. Be the better man that I know you are. Prove her wrong."

As she turned to walk away, the pillow still in her hands, Liz glanced over at me. She gestured at my boyfriend with her head and I nodded. I carefully slipped off the bed before walking over to Damon, wrapping my arms around him as I pressed up against his back. Resting my head against his back, I gave him a squeeze before sighing, "Don't let her get into your head, Day. She doesn't deserve that honour."

Damon shook his head, one hand resting on mine, gently taking it in his, before the other slowly stroked my forearm, "It was so easy when we were downstairs. I could make myself forget the pain that she had caused you. Now, all I can see is the hurt in your eyes whenever she took someone from you. I remember the bruises on your skin from her, the times that she killed you. She's a constant reminder of the fact that I could have lost you before I even got to have you."

I pressed myself up close to his body, until there was basically no space between us, before murmuring, thankful that I couldn't see my former tormenter's face, "Please don't get arrested because of me."

"I won't get arrested, Alexa," the amusement was back in his voice as he gave my hand a squeeze, thumb brushing against my palm. "Liz wouldn't do that, especially if I killed the woman who turned her daughter into a vampire."

"I'm not going to respond to that," Liz walked over to us, shaking her head, as she glanced down at the sleeping woman. "Did Stefan say how long the doctors gave her?"

"Hours," Damon shrugged, as I continued to cling onto him from behind. He indulged me, holding my hand in his, while gripping my forearm. "She won't see out the day, that's for sure."

"Of all the things to take out Katherine Pierce, I never expected it to be heart attack," my friend's mom frowned, turning to look at us.

"That depends on if you give something else the credit," I muttered, shaking my head, uncaring of the fact that I was messing up my hair. "Ellie and I were the ones who shoved the cure down her throat. And then I took it from her blood to give it to fucking Silas. Who, when he drank the cure, took the magic from her. There's a long list of people responsible for Katherine's death."

"And you aren't one of them," my boyfriend rolled his eyes, tapping my hand. "You didn't know that giving the cure to Silas would lead to Katherine's far too delayed death. If I remember correctly, you stopped me from feeding the bitch to Silas directly."

"I was trying to be better than her," I sighed, focusing only on my beloved's touch and not on the guilt that wanted to take over. I shouldn't feel guilty. Because fuck Katherine. But at the same time, after my humanityless period, I felt sick every time someone died, every time someone got hurt, because of me. Even if that person was Katherine fucking Pierce.

XXX

When Liz left to collect the sedatives that the doctors had prescribed, Damon wrapped me in his arms before leading me over to Stefan's desk. He sat down on the chair, before pulling me down onto his lap. I immediately wrapped one arm around his shoulders before curling into his warmth. My free hand came up to rest above his heart while Damon wrapped his arms around me. One hand rested on my thigh while the other settled over the one I had resting on his chest. My boyfriend's lips brushed against my cheek before he murmured, "Are you still feeling guilty over Katherine's death?"

"I don't know how I feel," I sighed, my gaze flickering over to the sleeping woman. Her forehead was still creased, her sleep still plagued by nightmares. Good. She deserved them. Maybe the bitch was dreaming about all of the people that she had hurt, had killed, over the past five hundred years. "Maybe it's cos I'm looking at her, all vulnerable and helpless, and I feel guilty for my part. If it wasn't for me, maybe Silas would never have got his hands on her. Maybe we would have found a different way to save Bonnie. But then I remember everything that she's done and I wonder why I feel guilty. It's all a horrible mess."

"You shouldn't feel guilty at all," Damon shook his head before his fingers gently grasped my chin, turning my face so that I had no choice but to look at him. His gaze was stern but there was a softness too. He knew why I felt guilty, even if he didn't approve of it. "If you didn't feed her blood to Silas, then I would have done. We needed him cured, so we could bring Bonnie back. I wouldn't have looked for a different way, not until Silas failed us."

"Cos he's a huge failure," I replied automatically before rolling my eyes and scrunching up my nose in annoyance. "Fuck, I've really got to do something about that."

"He's dead, Ally, you can insult him as much as you like," my boyfriend smirked, kissing my cheek and I shrugged my shoulder.

"True, but then I feel bad cos Stefan flinches every time it happens," I replied, keeping my gaze on my beloved and not the dying woman in the room. "And I promised to help him deal with his PTSD."

"Which he has done," Damon reminded me, moving to cup my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. "He's doing a lot better than he was, you can return to your favourite hobby if you want."

"Yeah, I guess," I glanced over at Katherine again, able to see her out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't sad that she was dying, not really. The bitch deserved it and I wasn't going to let myself think otherwise. And I knew that despite my lingering guilt related to my humanityless period, I wouldn't feel bad for my part in her death either. No, I knew that there was something else bothering me, I just didn't want to put it into words. But I knew that it would continue to eat away at me until I said something. I curled closer to Damon's body before muttering, "This is the second doppelganger that I've watched die in the past couple of weeks."

Damon breathed in sharply, gaze flickering over to the former vampire, before he carefully sat me up, both hands moving to cup my face as he stared down at me. I reached up to grip his wrists as he murmured, "You haven't talked about Amara since that night."

"I can still see her face in my dreams," I whispered, squeezing his wrists. "That peaceful expression on her face as she died, blood dripping from her mouth. I remember the moment that I realised I had failed her, that I wasn't able to give her back her life. That she was doomed to die, after spending her entire life in pain." I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment. "She died because I failed her and I guess I can't look at Katherine without remembering that. I played a part in her death and even though I hate her, it hurts."

My boyfriend stared at me for a moment before pressing a kiss to my forehead and sighing, "I asked Bonnie about her, if she had seen her on the Other Side, if she had passed through her." I knew that my expression was on the desperate side, but I didn't care. If Amara had found peace, if she was dancing in the fields of paradise with her sister, like she had dreamed, then maybe I could start to let go of my guilt. Oh, it would never go completely. She had died because I had failed her. But maybe I could start to move on. "She said that Amara didn't pass through. Bonnie thinks that she has found peace."

"Thank god," I closed my eyes, resting my forehead against Damon's. "I… fuck, I was so scared that she was stuck on the Other Side, doomed to be alone for eternity."

"She was an innocent soul; she was always going to find peace."

"I would have said the same about Elena. But then she got stuck on the Other Side."

"Elena didn't find peace because she had unfinished business. Like looking after the stubborn girl that is her twin sister."

"I'm not stubborn, I'm adorable," I muttered, opening my eyes to pout at my boyfriend. He rolled his eyes at me before capturing my lips in a kiss, one hand moving to grip the back of my head while the other held my chin, keeping me still. Not that I was interested in moving anywhere. I was more than happy to just relax into his body, kissing him and ignoring everything around me. After the days, fuck, weeks that I'd had, I was more than entitled to do so.

XXX

I didn't open my eyes again until Liz walked back into the room. I knew that my body jolted as the stair creaked beneath her, but Damon kindly didn't mention anything, instead he just watched his friend. She had a black pouch in her hand and I assumed that they were the sedatives that the doctors had prescribed. A part of me wondered what they were supposed to do. The rest of me just didn't care. As long as I wasn't being jabbed with them, I could ignore them.

"Here are the sedatives from the hospital," Liz glanced over her shoulder to tell us, while approaching the bed. "They should help her with the pain."

Before I could decide if I should hide them, to keep the dying bitch in pain, like she had done to so many others, the annoying wench woke up with a gasp, immediately shaking her head, "I don't want them. They make me weak and when I'm weak, they can get inside my head."

"That happened once," I rolled my eyes, ignoring Katherine's dirty look. "You just don't like the fact that I told you the truth."

"I don't like anything about you, Alexa," the other woman sneered and I stuck my tongue out at her.

"It's a mutual feeling, Bitcherine."

The Sheriff glanced between us before shaking her head, placing the syringes on the bedside table. The noise of the needles knocking together reminded me of the one that Wes had stabbed into my heart, full of vampire ripper serum, it reminded me of the needle that was stuck in my wrist, draining the blood from me. I breathed in deeply, clenching my fists, as I tried to push away the memories. I could feel Damon's worried eyes staring at me, but I just shook my head, focusing only on Katherine's sneer. If I focused on her and how much she pissed me off, then I wasn't focusing on what happened to me in Wes' lab.

"Okay, suit yourself," Liz had shrugged, not sounding at all bothered that the dying woman wanted to be in pain. "They're right here if you want them." Content that she had done her duty, she turned to look at us. Judging from the worry in her eyes, I looked like shit. But she kindly didn't mention it and instead asked, "Still looking for Matt? Any word from Elena?"

"Els is currently ignoring my texts," I muttered, tapping my fingers against my thighs. Damon shook his head, covering my hands with his, giving them a squeeze, before sighing, kindly giving me an out to run away from what happened to me yesterday. I was surprised that he was letting me hide from my trauma, normally, he was one of the first to make me deal with it. But I appreciated that he did give me that time to hide from it, even for an extra day.

"That's because you call her an idiot in every single one of them."

"That's cos she is an idiot," I grumbled, gratefully accepting the distraction, relaxing at his touch. "I told her that she shouldn't have volunteered to help save the she-devil over there. I could have gotten Matt's location from Nadia. All I had to do was snap enough bones."

"Don't you dare hurt my daughter," Katherine glared at me, feebly shifting her body, trying to sit up. But her body was too weak and all she managed was a pathetic flop. It was kind of satisfying, seeing her so weak. I had spent so long being scared of her, of what she could do to me and to my loved ones. Seeing her unable to properly move her body soothed that fear and I realised that I would be able to move on from her too.

"Or what?" I rolled my eyes. "You'll hurt someone that I care about? You've already done that, babes, multiple times. I ain't scared of you."

"I hope Nadia kills Elena," the bitch narrowed her eyes at me and I returned her glare. I could sense Damon rolling his eyes behind me before easing me up. He settled me on the desk before exchanging a glance with Liz.

"If she does, then I'll kill Nadia," my eye twitched as I tried to contain my anger. "And I'll make you watch."

Bitcherine opened her mouth to spit something back, but before a single syllable could leave her mouth, Damon sped forward. My boyfriend grabbed one of the syringes before stabbing it into the menace's arm. She let out a gasp of pain at the roughness before he injected the contents into her body. It didn't take long for her eyes to flutter shut and I could feel my body relaxing again.

When Liz sighed out Damon's name, he gave her a smirk and an unrepentant shrug, "What? It'll shut her up for a while."

The Sheriff glanced over at me before shaking her head, "At least you went for the syringe and didn't try anything else."

When my boyfriend gave her his best innocent look, and I had to hide my laugh behind a cough, his friend just rolled her eyes before leaving. She had done her job by delivering the syringes and by threatening Damon with jail time if he put Katherine out of her misery in an obvious way, so she decided to head home. I couldn't blame her. I wouldn't want to spend more time with the disgusting bitch if I had a choice.

I stared at Katherine's sleeping face, annoyed by the peaceful expression, until my boyfriend stood in front of me. I looked up at him, eyes wide, as he raised an eyebrow, "You and your big mouth."

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled and sighed, shaking my head. "She pissed me off and I just couldn't help myself. Thank you for stabbing her and making her shut up."

"It was an enjoyable experience," Damon shrugged and I tried to hide my giggle behind a cough, but judging from the amusement in his eyes, I did a very poor job. "Now, what can I do to keep you out of trouble?"

"I'm never in trouble," I immediately snorted. "I am always perfectly innocent."

"Your delusions are adorable, baby," my boyfriend tapped my nose before gripping my hips and lifting me off the desk. I wrapped my arms around his neck and despite the eye roll that I got; he scooped me up into his arms to carry me over to the bed. "Come on, Ally, let's go see what Katherine is dreaming about."

XXX

I frowned as we entered Katherine's mind again. I didn't know what my boyfriend was planning, whether he wanted to torment her or if he was just bored and wanted to see what she was thinking about. Either way, I didn't care. I only came to practice my new skills, because I didn't want to talk to Katherine again. After her words about my sister, I barely wanted to look at her.

We were in the woods surrounding Mystic Falls, leaning against a tree as we watched the carriage on the road. Damon had his arms around me, head resting against mine, as he looked at horse-drawn carriage through narrow eyes. His grip on me tightened as we heard Katherine's voice.

"How much further until we reach this Lockwood plantation?" she sounded so bored as she gently wafted her fan, looking every inch the lady that she pretended to be.

"Won't be long now," a new voice replied, one that I didn't recognise. "We've just entered the town of Mystic Falls."

When the bitch let out a satisfied hum, I whispered, "You recognise that carriage, don't you?"

My boyfriend nodded, his thumb stroking my arm, his voice soft, "It was the one that she arrived in, when she came to stay with my family. Katherine continued to use it when she didn't want company when going into town."

"But she said that she was going to the Lockwood planation," I frowned, glancing up at Damon. His gaze was fixed on the carriage slowly moving along the road and I sighed. I carefully moved my hands, resting them on his arms before giving them a squeeze. "Day, we don't have to be here if you don't want to. We can pick on Katherine later; it doesn't have to be now."

"I'm fine, Alexa," Damon shook his head, giving me a squeeze. "I don't know what changed her mind, but I do remember that George Lockwood wasn't impressed that we hosted her and not his family. He always thought of himself as the head honcho, despite his father being the mayor."

"He sounds like a typical Lockwood," I snorted, feeling my boyfriend's lips curl into a smirk against my temple. "I'm so glad that I raised Tyler better than that."

Damon pushed away from the tree, tucking me into his side, before we slowly walked through the woods, following the carriage. It was a silent journey, for the most part, and I was content to just let Damon squeeze me against him. He softly told me little details about the day that Katherine arrived in his life, things that he had never noticed before. Things that he didn't want to notice. I just wrapped my arms around his hips, giving him a squeeze every now and then. I didn't need to speak, I just had to let him know that I was here for him.

We continued walking until we saw a second carriage. But this one wasn't on the road, I wanted to say that it was broken. But I didn't know enough about carriages to know how. Maybe a wheel had come off or the horses had run away or it had gotten stuck in the mud. It could have been anything. But that wasn't the interesting part. No. It was the appearance of a young Stefan Salvatore that caught my eye. He looked absolutely adorable, with his longer hair flopping into his eyes. Honestly, he looked so cute.

"What is it now?" Katherine rolled her eyes as her carriage slowly rolled to a stop.

"It looks like a gentleman is having problems with his carriage," the different voice, Emily, Damon had said, replied. Her voice was weirdly soothing, just like her descendants' was.

"At this rate, we won't arrive until sundown," the vampire grumbled, glancing out of the window. "What does it matter if…" her voice trailed off as her eyes landed on the sweet young Stefan. I didn't like the interested gleam that entered them and I knew that this was the moment that ruined the Salvatore brothers. "Who is that? He's so handsome. What do you say, Emily? Think that gentleman's family will take in a poor orphan girl from Atlanta?"

I blinked my eyes open at the same time as Katherine. She frowned for a moment, glancing around the room, before looking at us when Damon frowned, "What the hell was that?"

"You never heard the real story of how I came to meet your brother," the dying woman wheezed and I hated the soft look that entered her eyes. She didn't deserve Stefan; he was too good for her. He didn't deserve to be tainted by her evilness. And I was glad that she was dying. I could get her claws out of him when she was gone. And then my sweet Stefan would finally be happy. "I want to think that this prophecy of the universe bringing the doppelgangers together is absurd, but the moment that I saw Stefan, I can't describe it… the out of the way road, the downed tree, the broken-down carriage. It just… sounded like fate to me."

"If you two were destined to be together, then you wouldn't have had to compel him to love you," I shook my head, glancing down at Damon's hand on my knee. "Destiny is a lie, Katherine. We decide our own fates and some of us are luckier than others."

"I love Stefan," the woman argued, weakly shaking her head. "I know you'll never believe that. But I do."

"You're incapable of love, Katherine," my boyfriend looked at his ex with hard eyes. And I took his hand in mine, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You lie and you cheat and you hurt people. You never loved Stefan, you never loved me, you never loved Elijah or Mason or any of the other men that you manipulated."

"If I never loved you, Damon, then I wouldn't have brought you that that cure a couple of years ago. I would have let you die."

"You owed me, that's why you did it and don't pretend otherwise."

XXX

Damon disappeared from the room when his phone buzzed. I could tell that he didn't want to leave me with the bitch, but since she was asleep again, I just waved him from the room. My boyfriend grumbled, but left to answer his secret little phone call. I just curled up on the desk chair that I had dragged over, watching the sleeping woman.

Katherine had dozed off not long after her insistence that she did love Stefan, that she had also loved Damon, to a certain extent. I knew that my boyfriend wasn't impressed with her words, since she had ripped out his heart quite a few times. It was hard to believe that she did love him, but maybe, in her own way, she did. Or at least, she cared enough about him that she didn't want him to die.

I brought my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them, arms wrapped around them, when the woman shifted on the bed, her face scrunching up. She was close to waking up again, and I was impressed with just how much she was fighting her impending death. Katherine wasn't going to go down easy, even if her body was failing her.

"I keep debating as to whether I should forgive you," I murmured as the older woman woke up. She glanced over at me with a frown, but wisely kept her mouth shut as I muttered, keeping my gaze fixed above her head. "I know that I technically should, since you're dying and all. But on the other hand, I just can't stop thinking about all of the horrible things that you've done to me and my loved ones."

"There's no point in forgiving me if you're just going to wish that I end up in hell," Katherine rolled her eyes and I snorted.

"You'll end up on the Other Side," I shook my head. "But from what I've heard, that's just like being in hell. You can't talk to anyone, you're just there, alone, surrounded by the living who will never be able to see you." I paused for a moment, before sighing, "If I forgive you, then it won't be for you. It'll be for me."

"That doesn't sound very charitable," Bitcherine pointed out, weakly tugging up the blanket. I watched her struggle for a moment, debating as to whether I should help her, before the woman gave up.

"I'm not a very charitable person," I scoffed, watching her bony hand clutch at the blanket. "I'm not a very nice person. I feel like a monster in disguise but maybe, if I can move on from my past, I can move on from that feeling. Which is why I almost want to forgive you, so I can move on from you."

"I made you who you are," the dying woman narrowed her eyes at me.

My lips quirked up into a smile, "You turned me into a scared little girl who jumped at shadows. You killed me, twice. You broke me and I don't know if I ever quite recovered from that. But maybe I don't need too. Maybe I can just lock it away in my past, along with you. Once you're dead, I'll never have to think about you again."

"You know that Nadia is looking for a way to save me."

"She'll fail," I shook my head. "There is no saving you, Katherine. And you don't deserve to be saved. Not after everything that you've done. Monsters… they don't deserve to be saved."

"Wes really did a number on you yesterday," Katherine muttered, those sharp eyes scanning my face. I shrugged, digging my fingers into my legs as I tried to keep the memories from overwhelming me. "I've never seen you like this. I like it."

"Did you tell him that I was a vampire?" I looked over at her from where my gaze had drifted to the syringes next to her. A part of me was tempted to just stab her with one, to make her shut up. But after yesterday, the thought of touching a needle just made me feel sick.

"He already suspected that you were," the bitch just shrugged, not looking at all bothered by my accusation. "I just confirmed his suspicions."

"Shocker," I muttered, rolling my eyes. Because of course Katherine was related to yet another painful event in my life. "I should have known that you had a part to play in my little adventure yesterday."

"Just like you had a part to play in me dying," the dying menace shot back, narrowing her eyes. "You're the reason why I was cured and you were the one who took it from me, to give it to Silas."

"I should have just let the asshole drain you," I shook my head before standing up. I glanced around the room, debating if it was safe leaving her alone. But since I didn't actually care if she died, I realised that I could just walk away and not give a fuck if she died alone. "I'm not going to forgive you. It won't bring me peace, either way. I'll always remember what you did to me and my family. I don't think you deserved to be forgiven. Others might disagree but you'll never get it from me."

"I can't say that I'm surprised," Katherine rolled her eyes but she stared at me differently, like she did in that diner in Willoughby, there was a small spark of respect in her eyes, and I wanted to make her stop. "But I do respect you sticking to your morals."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I muttered, slowly leaving the room. "Try not to die while you're alone. I don't want to be accused of killing you."

"I'd have thought that you would have wanted to be the one to kill me," my former tormentor shot back and I sighed.

"If I'm going to be accused of something, then I actually want to do it. And since I want you to die like this, let down by your own body, I'm not actually going to kill you."

XXX

I sat on the bottom step of the stairs leading up to Stefan's room, my chin resting on my knees, until I sensed someone standing in front of me. I glanced up, expecting it to be Damon, since he had been gone a lot longer than I was expecting him to be. But it wasn't Damon. Instead, it was someone very unexpected.

"Elijah?" I murmured, before glancing around. "Are you actually here or have I gone insane?"

"I am here, Alexandria," Elijah gave me an oddly soothing smile, before sitting down on the step next to me. His suit brushed against my bare arm as I turned to look at him. The last time that I had spoken to Elijah, I was a humanityless bitch who was delighting in ruining his relationship with Katherine. It was weird, talking to him again, after everything that had happened since Willoughby. "It is good to see that you've found yourself again."

I paused for a moment, making sure that Katherine was still alive upstairs, before shrugging, "It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, but it was needed. Erm, no offence, Elijah, but why are you here? I never expected to see you in Mystic Falls again."

"When Katerina took a turn for the worse, Damon reached out to us all, just in case we wanted to say goodbye," the Original replied, his sharp eyes scanning my face. I knew that I looked like shit, having forgone my makeup, thus revealing the dark circles beneath my eyes. I hadn't really slept last night, with nightmares haunting me, which was why I got the genius idea to go visit my family at a ridiculous hour. Before chickening out. All I could do was hope that he attributed my current state to my humanity's return and the resulting fallout.

"I'm surprised that you wanted to come see her," I frowned, resting my cheek on my knee so that I could look at him properly. "Didn't you reject her before going to New Orleans?"

"When I heard the news, I found myself wanting to make peace with Katerina," Elijah shook his head, looking like he was searching for the right words. "I wanted to seek forgiveness and grant it in return."

"Good luck with that," I muttered, still keeping an ear out of the annoying heartbeat above us. Cos I refused to let her die on my watch. She could choke while I wasn't responsible for her, that way, I wouldn't get in trouble for it. "She's being very difficult."

"I'm not surprised," the man next to me shook his head, a small smile dancing around his lips. "Katerina never liked to appear weak."

"And now she looks pathetic," I snorted before wincing. "Sorry, I won't insult her in front of you. Not until I know if you will approve. It's just that she's been pushing buttons and her evil bitch of a daughter is with my sister right now."

"She found her daughter?" Elijah asked, eyebrow raised and I nodded.

"Apparently it hasn't been the happiest of reunions. Cos it happened after Els and I shoved the cure down her throat. But I think they've been burying old ghosts? I dunno. Can't say that I particularly care either."

"I did hear that you and Elena had finally taken down Katherine Pierce."

"It wasn't exactly planned," I shrugged, my shoulder twitching as the dying woman upstairs coughed. "But Elena came back to life, thanks to Bonnie. And then Katherine tried to take her away from me again. If we didn't have the cure on us, then I might have just killed her."

"I'm impressed with your restraint," Elijah reached out to place a hand on my shoulder. It was a comforting weight and even though my boyfriend was taking his sweet time in returning to my side, I felt my body relaxing slightly.

"You shouldn't be," I sighed, shaking my head. "She just got lucky that my humanity had only just returned and the thought of hurting someone made me feel sick. Any other time, I would have ripped her apart for trying to kill my twin."

The Original's dark eyes continued to look at me and even though I wanted to escape from that sharp gaze, I didn't really have anywhere to go. If Elijah wanted answers about something, he usually got them. Not that I had the energy to fight off any questions that he might have. All I wanted was a nap, but until Katherine died, that wasn't going to happen.

"Something else is bothering you, isn't it?"

"Life hasn't exactly been easy in Mystic Falls since you all left," I mumbled into my knee, my gaze flickering away from his, staring down the empty hallway. "We had Silas to deal with and he was such a pain in my fucking ass. There were problems with my friends that I failed to sort out and, uh, ghosts from the past have come back to haunt us. It's been shit, if I'm being honest. And as bad as it sounds, and I'm not even sorry, Katherine dying has been my one bright spot."

Elijah kindly allowed me to have my bitchy moment about his ex and instead frowned, "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Do you have a time machine that I can use? So that I can go back in time and stop myself from submitting an application to Whitmore fucking college for my sister? Cos that would be swell."

"Unfortunately not, but if you ever need an escape, you are welcome down in New Orleans."

My lips twitched up into a smile, "Klaus invited me down to New Orleans too. Everyone wants to hang out with me."

"I'm surprised that Rebekah didn't extend an invitation too."

I snorted, a proper smile forming on my face, "She was too busy have sexapades with Matt in Europe. She finally listened to my advice so I'm not mad at her forgetting to invite me too."

XXX

After kindly believing my lie that I was absolutely fine, Elijah left my side to go say goodbye to Katerina Petrova. I watched as he disappeared up the stairs before sighing. At least someone would be able to find peace. Because I was struggling. No matter how much I wanted the annoying woman to die, I wanted her to die in way that gave me no regrets. But that just wasn't happening.

I looked away from the door above me, gazed focused on the floor, looking at nothing, until a gentle hand rested on my cheek. I glanced to the side to see Damon staring at me, that worried look in his eyes, even as he gave me a soft smile. I just reached out to wrap my arms around his neck, getting the hug that I wanted, while muttering, "About time you returned."

My boyfriend rolled his eyes as he held me close, "I've got an annoying amount of Original vampires in my parlour. I wanted to make sure that none of them caused trouble before I came back for you."

"One of those Originals just went to go see the bitch," I nodded, trying not to listen in to the conversation upstairs. "It was weirdly nice seeing him."

"Elijah was the first to arrive," Damon nodded, before gently urging me to my feet. I shifted my grip to his waist, still clinging on to him. But my beloved was nice enough to not say anything and instead tucked me under his arm as he led us downstairs. "Klaus and Rebekah came separately."

"I wonder if they all came in the same car," I snorted, deliberately trying to distract myself. And if there was one thing that could distract me from what happened yesterday, it would be Original drama. "Cos if they did, it would have been fucking hilarious."

"Unfortunately I don't think they did," my boyfriend laughed into my hair as we reached the top of the stairs. I glanced over the banister to see Klaus standing by the fireplace, staring into the flames, with his sister nowhere in sight.

"Boo," I grumbled, wondering where my friend was, as Damon directed me down the stairs. It was a sign that Klaus was no longer our biggest issue when he left my side to go pour me a drink. As he did so, I approached the Original Hybrid by my fireplace. "Bet you weren't expecting to come back so soon."

Klaus glanced over at me, a cheeky smirk on his face, "Maybe I just missed your delightful company, Alexa."

"Everyone misses my company," I snorted, accepting the glass that my boyfriend passed me. "I'm so amazing to be around that Elijah invited me down to New Orleans." When the hybrid rolled his eyes, I glanced around the room again, "Where's Rebekah?"

"As soon as she heard that poor Matthew Donovan was slowly suffocating in a safe buried on the grounds, she immediately sped out to go rescue him," the Original shrugged, walking over to one of the couches. He sat down, looking ridiculously at home, before looking over at me. I immediately downed half my drink as a knowing look entered his eyes. "You aren't looking so good, love, do you miss me that much that you're having sleepless nights?"

I rolled my eyes at him as Damon tugged me over to the other couch, tucking me back into his side as we sat down, "Surprisingly, I do actually kind of miss you. At least I knew what your bullshit was and how to deal with it." I paused before adding, "And you didn't bully me as much as some other assholes."

"Silas?"

"Motherfucking Silas," I nodded. "But it's cool, he's dead now."

"An impressive feat," Klaus raised a surprised eyebrow and I snorted.

"Not one that I can claim credit for. Nah, that one was all Stefan."

I glanced up at Damon as his fingers stared tracing patterns on my forearm, his hand a comforting weight. It was enough to get me to relax again. Because even though Silas wasn't the worst thing that I had dealt with, which was so fucking hilarious and surprising, it was still difficult to talk about. He was watching the Original in front of us with an amused look, "I'm surprised that you aren't up there tormenting Katherine."

"Well, if I do that while Elijah is there, then I would be only have to suffer through one of his pious little lectures," Klaus sighed dramatically and I hid my giggle into my drink. "And then I would be tempted to start daggering him again."

"Stefan's been the same," my boyfriend rolled his eyes. "She managed to manipulate him into bed and now he is her white knight."

I snorted as an interested gleam entered the Original Hybrids' eyes, "Are we revealing all of Stef's dirty laundry now? Cos I'm sure I can think of a few gems."

Damon tapped my head, an indulgent look on his face, "Only the ones that can get Katherine into trouble too."

"Well, that's not fun," I grumbled before looking back over at Klaus. "I was the one who cured her, by the way. Well, Elena helped. We shoved it down her throat and it was so satisfying."

"I'd heard," Klaus nodded, looking absolutely delighted. I had to admit, it felt so fucking weird playing nice with him like this. But since he had left our town for good, temporary Katherine related visit aside, he wasn't our biggest problem. No, that was Wes fucking Maxfield and the Augustine society. But they could wait until tomorrow. When I would hopefully be in a better frame of mind to deal with them. "I was impressed when the news reached my ears. But I guess I should know better to underestimate the Gilbert twins."

"It was a spur of the moment decision," I shrugged, glancing up as I saw Elijah at the top of the stairs. He looked relaxed, so at least his goodbye to Katherine didn't open up too many old wounds. "And I don't regret it."

XXX

After Klaus took his turn to go speak to the dying pain in the ass, Elijah excused himself to go outside. He either needed a moment after speaking to Katherine, which was totally understandable, or he was debating if he should do a runner now before he got stuck with his siblings on the way home too. Either way, I was soon left alone with my boyfriend.

Damon's chin settled on the top of my head as he adjusted my legs so that they were stretched out over his. My empty glass was placed to the side but I was just content to rest my head against his chest. Those clever fingers stroked mindless patterns on my thigh while his arm was wrapped around me, holding me tight against him.

Eventually, I muttered, "Were you eavesdropping again or do I need to update you on what I've been up to?"

"After what happened yesterday, Ally, I was always going to listen and check in on you," Damon sighed, giving me a squeeze when I couldn't hide my wince. "You know, you're going to have to talk about it eventually."

"Yeah, I know," I closed my eyes, turning my head to press my face closer to his chest. I knew that I was lucky that he had avoided mentioning it for so long. "But I was hoping to avoid it for a little while longer." I glanced over at the front door when it creaked, my body tensing, the devil's spawn walking in. Nadia gave us a dirty look before disappearing up the stairs to see her mom. A part of me wondered if I should have told her that Klaus was up there, but the rest of me just didn't care. I lowered my voice, as I asked the question that I had been avoiding all day, "Day, what happened to Wes? The rescue was all a bit of a blur. Please… please tell me that someone killed him."

My boyfriend sighed heavily, his grip tightening as he clutched me closer, "Unfortunately, neither Ric nor Stefan had the stomach to kill the creepy doctor. They also didn't have the brain capacity to tie him up for someone else to do the deed."

My breath hitched and I dug my fingers into his arm, "Fuck, does that mean that he is running around out there somewhere?" When Damon reluctantly answered in the affirmative, I whispered, "You aren't leaving my side again for the next decade."

"As if I ever would, Ally," Damon carefully adjusted me so that I was actually sitting on his lap, my face against his neck, with his arms wrapped tightly around me. "Until I have that man's head on a silver platter for you, I'm not letting you go anywhere alone."

"Jesus, fuck," I tried to take a deep breath, pushing away the panic that had reared its ugly head at the news of Wes' escape. "Don't let me have a panic attack with Elijah and Klaus around."

"You're going to be fine, Alexa," my boyfriend's fingers gently brushed up and down my back, following the line of my spine, and I focused only on his touch. I pushed the all Wes related thoughts out of my head. He was a problem for a later time. Like once I had started to deal with the fact that I had spent more than a day being tortured and experimented on. Maybe once I could stop flinching at shadows, I would talk about Wes and what he did. But that wasn't going to happen today.

"I don't feel fine," I shook my head. "But I guess that I'm lucky that I have such an excellent distraction upstairs."

Damon nodded, "You didn't forgive her."

"I was tempted to for a moment," I sighed, reaching up to stroke his collarbone, keeping my eyes closed. "But then I realised that she didn't deserve it. Katherine never regretted what she did. In fact, she was fucking proud of the way that she hurt my loved ones. She never wasted a moment to throw their pain in my face. So why should I forgive someone who would never apologise for what they did?" I paused before muttering, "Does that make me a bad person?"

"Katherine doesn't deserve forgiveness, just because she is dying," my boyfriend was quick to reassure me. And I believed him. Even though he probably hated the dying woman just as much as I did. I knew that the others would forgive her, that Elena and Stefan would forgive her. Because she was dying and that was the right thing to do. But I didn't care about doing the right thing, I wasn't going to follow society's expectations just for the sake of it.

"I'm glad that you agree," I gave him a squeeze. "Because I know what the others would say."

"What they don't know can't hurt them," Damon carefully shrugged and despite the situation, and despite the fucking nightmare that was yesterday, I couldn't stop myself from giggling. "And it can't hurt you either."

"You say that to me a lot," I smiled into his neck. "You're going to get me into trouble."

"You don't need someone to get you into trouble, Ally," my boyfriend rolled his eyes and I giggled again. "You're more than capable of doing that all by yourself."

"Rude, I never get into trouble by myself," I poked his chest. "Everyone else gets me into trouble. I'm a perfectly innocent angel."

"You're certainly something," Damon muttered under his breath, his fingers gently gripping my chin and pulling my face away from his neck. He stared at me with a raised eyebrow while I gave him my most innocent look. "But who can deny that face?"

"You certainly can't," I laughed before leaning in for a kiss. One that my boyfriend instantly returned, his grip moving to my hair, keeping me close. I just held onto his shoulders, ignoring the world around me, as I focused only on the strong lips against mine. On the thumb brushing the skin behind my ear and his fingers gripping onto my hip.

XXX

I was content to be cuddled by my boyfriend until Rebekah and Matt walked in. Their bodies were relaxed, laughing at something previously said, looking completely unharmed. But that didn't stop me from speeding over, pulling my adorable human friend into a tight hug. I could practically sense Matt rolling his eyes before he hugged me back.

"Mattie, thank god you're okay," I breathed out, giving him an extra squeeze before stepping back, keeping my hands on his shoulders. "You are okay, right? You look okay but I know how stubborn you can be and I will not that let that devil spawn upstairs be the reason why you are hurt."

"Alexa, relax," my friend laughed, giving my arms a squeeze before glancing over at Rebekah. "I'm fine. Rebekah got there with plenty of time to spare."

"Good," I nodded my head sharply before pointing at him. "As soon as Care gets back, I'm going to superglue that ring to your finger." While Mattie rolled his eyes, I glanced over at the other blonde. "I am actually so glad to see you. Thank you, for saving this idiot."

"As if I would let Matthew Donovan die," Rebekah laughed, shaking her head as she eased my hands from the human's shoulders before pulling me in for a hug. "Especially after being blown up for him at graduation."

"Yeah, that would be a wasted effort," I agreed with a nod before leading the two into the parlour. Damon was filling up my glass, looking relieved that there was an Original vampire around to 'keep me out of trouble'. Of course, that the fact that Matt was no longer in danger of dying probably helped too. Cos he was fond of the cutie, even if he would never admit it. "So, did you come back to laugh in Katherine's face too or did you just miss me that much that you wanted to see me? Cos I do have to say that I am very offended that you haven't invited me down to New Orleans. Both of your brothers have."

"Well maybe if you replied to my texts, then I would invite you down to see me," the blonde rolled her eyes and I pouted as my boyfriend passed me my drink.

"That's rude, I answer your texts when I can. Mystic Falls hasn't exactly been drama free since you left."

"Matt has been telling me about some of it," Rebekah nodded as we all got settled on the couches. I smiled into my drink as Damon took his place next to me, arm wrapped around my shoulders, tucking me back into his side.

"I bet he has," I snickered as the other two sat opposite us. I noted with hilarious amusement that they sat close to each other. It was cute, that they were actually getting along now. It was just sad that it happened after the Original left town. "Did he happen to tell you that he was killed again a couple of months back?"

"No, he did not mention that," the other girl gave Matt a hard look and he winced, before shooting me a dirty look.

"Alexa, there was no need to worry her with that information."

"I know," I shrugged, before giving him a wink. "But I figured that you might get lucky with 'thank god you didn't die permanently' sex."

Damon hid his laugh behind a cough before looking at Rebekah, "Can you keep an eye on this one? I need to go check in with Jenna."

The darling idiots ignored my protests that I didn't need a babysitter and the blonde nodded, "I won't let her out of my sight."

"You're all so rude," I pouted, slumping back in my seat before downing my drink. I placed the empty glass to the side before crossing my arms. "I seriously don't need a babysitter."

"Considering how awful you look, I'm going to disagree," Rebekah shrugged and I narrowed my eyes at her. "Matt, how much trouble has this one been in recently?"

"Far too much," Mattie rolled his eyes and I muttered unflattering words under my breath. "If you're lucky, she might tell you all about it."

"I don't like any of you," I groaned, reaching behind me for a bottle, I didn't care what, so I could refill my glass. "I didn't get into any trouble."

"Then why do you look like shit?" the Original immediately shot back and I pointed at her.

"Why can't you go bully Katherine like your most annoying brother has?" I pointed towards the stairs, just in time for Klaus to walk down them. "Ah fuck, did my words summon him?"

"No one in New Orleans insults me quite like you do, Alexa," the Original Hybrid smirked at me as he came to sit down next to me.

"Well, sounds like I'll have to go down there, just to teach people how to sass you," I scoffed, ignoring the way he kindly filled up my drink for me. "Cos you're not allowed to go through life without people insulting you."

"My siblings insult me," Klaus pointed out, giving his smirking sister a Look.

"Yeah, but that doesn't count," I rolled my eyes, grabbing a glass for the annoying asshole, since he did actually help me out. "Siblings are supposed to sass you. Nah, you need others to do it too. Rebekah, do you have any candidates in mind or do I have to train people from scratch?"

"I can think of a few people who would work," my friend laughed, shaking her head. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to invite you down to New Orleans?"

"Well, yeah," I scoffed loudly. "How else am I supposed to make Klaus' life difficult until I relocate down there for a few years?"

"You're considering living in New Orleans?" Rebekah looked delighted and I shrugged.

"Eh, if I do, then at least I've got major backup if my big mouth gets me into trouble. Not that I'm saying that it does. It's just a possibility. And I do have to admit that I miss bullying Klaus. It was so much fun."

Klaus' dramatic sigh had me giggling into my drink.

XXX

It wasn't long after the Original family left that Stefan and Elena returned home. The moment that they stepped through the door, I was wrapping them up in my arms. Ellie huffed out a sigh but she let me squeeze her tight, muttering loving insults. Stefan just shook his head at me, patting my back, content to let my sister take up most of my attention.

"Are you okay? What happened? Why didn't you reply to any of my texts? Are you hurt?" I took a deep breath before pulling back as I scented old blood. I knew that my expression was frantic as I searched the two idiots, looking for injuries. "I smell blood. What the fuck happened? Who was bleeding? Elena, what do you look so pale?"

"Lexa, breathe," my twin placed her hand on my shoulder, giving me a smile. "We're fine. Nadia took us to the Travellers, having made some kind of deal with them. All we had to deal was donate some blood and they would let us go."

I knew that my voice was far too high when I repeated, "Travellers? Donated blood?"

It was high enough that Stefan winced before sighing, "It wasn't a lot of blood and I fed Elena some of mine on our way home. We're fine, Alexa, I promise. Did you manage to save Matt?"

"Well, technically, yes," I rolled my eyes before grabbing their wrists and dragging them back into the parlour. Matt was sat on one of the sofas, watching with amusement as I pushed my idiots down next to him, standing in front of them with my arms crossed. Damon and Jenna were by the fire, a sleeping Zoe in my boyfriend's arms. And it was so fucking cute that I had to look away before I forgot to tell off our dumbass siblings. "And you didn't need to be fucking idiots and volunteer to help the she-devil and her spawn."

"Alexa," Ellie rolled her eyes and I made a sharp noise, holding up my hand.

"I will never approve of that decision so don't even try it," I gave her a look before resuming my rant. "Damon had apparently told the Original family that Katherine was finally suffering the consequences of her actions, and so, they all came up here to gloat over her dying body." I kindly ignored Stefan's eye roll. "After she heard of Mattie's predicament, Rebekah immediately went in search of him and rescued him. It was ridiculously easy; the other idiots were still shouting his name when she brought him home. Of course, that was my backup plan. If she hadn't turned up, I would have started breaking Nadia's bones until she gave me a location."

"Alexa was telling me all about her creative plans to rescue me," Matt laughed, shaking his head at me. "It was rather entertaining."

"Damon always thinks so too," I shrugged, glancing over at my boyfriend as he walked over, Zoe still in his arms. It was honestly the most fucking adorable sight. Who knew that Damon Salvatore holding a baby would be the cutest sight that I had ever seen? I had to stop myself from cooing each time I looked at them.

"I'm just glad that you're okay," Ellie smiled at our friend while the rest of the group slowly trickled in. After I had summoned them home, letting them know that someone else saved our blue-eyed cutie for them, our gang had taken turns in freshening up and doing whatever it was that they did. I knew that Caroline had gone to check in on Jesse, taking April with her, while Ric did the same with his girlfriend and daughter. Tyler had gone to collect the bourbon that Matt had failed to get earlier, promising to get his bro properly drunk. Bonnie and Jeremy had gone to collect Jamie, who had arrived back from Whitmore with an unfamiliar scent on his clothes and an adorable smile on his face.

"Is Katherine still alive?" Stefan asked as I settled down on the other couch, nudging Tyler with my toes as I sat down next to him. My adopted bro passed me the bottle of bourbon in his hand, a cheeky look on his face, and I accepted the challenge. I knew that he got far too much enjoyment out of drunk me. But I couldn't bring myself to care. Booze helped numb everything. And I definitely needed that.

"Unfortunately, yes," I grumbled before pouting at Ric as he confiscated the bottle. He gave me a stern look before taking a swig himself. "Hypocrite."

But before I could moan too much, Damon carefully passed me my sleeping cousin. I rolled my eyes before holding the baby close, cooing at her adorable sleeping face. My boyfriend perched on the arm next to me, resting a hand on my shoulder, before his brother disappeared upstairs to check on the dying menace. Although, I did have to admit that I was impressed that she had lasted as long as she had. But that didn't matter. All I wanted was for her to die soon.

"Y'all missed Mikaelson time," I kissed Zoe's forehead before glancing over at my sister. "Els, Elijah was happy that you're alive again. I reckon you might be able to get some Original sex if you want to take a road trip to New Orleans."

"I don't want to hear this," Jenna muttered, giving the bottle in her boyfriend's hand a longing look before sighing and shaking her head. "Alexa, no talking about Original sex."

"What about normal sex?" I blinked up at her, my best innocent look on my face, while I ignored Damon's laugh. The little shit didn't even try hiding it. "Cos I reckon that I can find someone to hook Elena up with."

"No hooking up your sister with strangers," my aunt pointed her finger at me before pausing and adding. "Actually, no hooking your sister up at all."

I sniggered before giving my twin a wink, "Don't worry, Els. I'll still hook you up. We just won't let the old woman over here find out."

Jenna repeated my name, sounding scandalised, but I could hear the laughter in her voice.

XXX

Damon's POV

"You know, I was in a dark place, Damon," my brother sighed, looking up at the sky while sipping his bourbon. He knew that I was still judging him for sleeping with our maker, not that I had said anything. But maybe Katherine had alluded to their naughty night together when he went to go check on her. He had walked down the stairs looking unnerved, immediately disappearing outside. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a room full of supernatural beings determined to keep my girl safe, I wouldn't have followed him. But I knew that not even Alexa could get into trouble with so many of her loved ones around. It was the only reason why I felt comfortable leaving her side, following my brother with a bottle and two glasses.

"And Katherine pulled you out of it," I snorted softly, shaking my head before refilling my glass from the bottle between us. It was a surprise, that she had done something that benefitted someone else. But she had always been adamant that she loved my brother, maybe she was, on some level, telling the truth. "Irony abounds."

"I guess she knew what I needed in the moment in time," Stefan shrugged, glancing over his shoulder as laughter rang out. Caroline had apparently taken to teasing Bonnie about her dalliances with Jeremy. It was tedious teen drama but if it helped Alexa to relax, then I didn't care. I had left my girl in the company of her friends, still holding her cousin. Zoe had woken up not long after I left and Alexa had delighted in entertaining her, enjoying every giggle that she got. That was the only reason why Elena had gotten away with sneaking upstairs, apparently keen to have her own goodbye with her doppelganger. My girl's laughter must have caught my brother's attention, as he quickly asked, "How is Alexa doing? Have you spoken to her about what she went through yesterday? I haven't really had the chance to properly check in with her today."

"Not yet," I shook my head, keeping an ear out for my girl, making sure that she didn't somehow get herself into trouble while I was gone. Because no matter what she said, Alexa had a talent for getting into trouble. And while I knew that Ric and the others would keep her safe, I also knew that she had been through far too much in the past couple of years and it wasn't beyond belief for something to sneak inside and hurt my Alexa. "Once she stops flinching at shadows, I'll speak to her. But for now, I'll let her run away from her trauma." I glanced over at my brother as he sighed, an understanding look on his face. While he hadn't spent much time around my girl today, he had noticed how she flinched when someone appeared without her expecting it. It reminded me of the dark days before the sacrifice, when she was so unsettled that she sometimes refused to sleep. "How bad was it, Stefan? I saw the blood and I know the signs of a panic attack, but how was she when you got there?"

"I've seen Alexa go through a lot of stuff, but I have never seen her that terrified," my brother glanced over his shoulder, looking at the others through the glass door. Alexa was firmly in the middle of the group, Zoe still in her arms, little hands waving in the air. "Wes had a needle in her chest, ready to inject her with whatever he had created, and I could still smell her blood in the air. When we carried her out, she just stared at us, like she didn't believe that her rescue was real." Stefan finished his drink before shaking his head. "She didn't even fight when I refused to let her get distracted, when I wouldn't let her pretend that everything was fine."

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," I had to place my glass to the side, before I accidentally broke it. "She hasn't gone anywhere near the needles that Liz brought over earlier. I was hoping that she just didn't want to give Katherine any pain relief, but she's always had a thing with needles. One being stabbed into her chest wouldn't have helped with that."

"You can't let her run away from this one, Damon," Stefan looked over at me. "She needs to deal with what happened."

"Oh, don't you worry about Alexa, brother," I kept my voice soft, just in case my girl did a cheeky bit of eavesdropping herself. I didn't think that she would, as she would suspect that we would talk about her and what she went through in Wes' lab. And since she had tried so hard to run away from it all day, she wouldn't risk ruining all of her hard work, just to get her own back for me eavesdropping on her earlier. "As soon as Katherine is dead, there won't be any distractions. I might take her out of town, where there won't be any reminders of Wes and Augustine. If I can get her to talk about what happened in a neutral, relaxed setting, then hopefully she can move past it without too many issues."

"Do you really believe that?" my brother's raised eyebrow had me looking away. "Did it work for you?"

"Nope," I smirked, ignoring the earnest look in his eyes. "But I didn't have a stubborn support network that would bully me into dealing with my trauma. We'll get her through this, together, and failure isn't an option."

I ignored Stefan as he muttered, "Maybe we'll bully you into dealing with your own Augustine related trauma too."

I knew that he would be this annoying, once he had found out about my misadventure in the fifties. But I didn't regret telling him, as it helped to rescue Alexa. And I wouldn't regret anything that kept my girl safe, rescuing her from Augustine. What my girl had gone through was worse than what happened all those decades ago. Dr Whitmore was scientific and methodical; he didn't go beyond what he wanted to scientifically find out. Wes hurt Alexa because she pissed him off, because he had a grudge against her. He needed a vampire to perfect his dodgy little formula, to turn more vampires into rippers that hunted their own kind. He didn't need to cut into her like he did. And that didn't even take into account what the vampire hunter did to her. I wasn't surprised that Alexa was putting so much energy into running away from what happened. And once I was able to get her to stop jumping at shadows, I would let her rip apart the men who had hurt her.

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Alexa's POV

"So, what are we doing?" Jamie asked, settling down after passing out drinks. I had cooed that he was such a cutie, before being distracted by the cutie in my arms. Zoe was apparently content to suck on my knuckle again and even though it was so gross, I just couldn't deny her. Which had led to Jenna muttering that I was spoiling her daughter, but I didn't care. I had promised myself that Zoe was going to grow up the happiest child ever and if that meant indulging her when I probably shouldn't, then eh, shit happened.

"We are waiting for Katherine to bite the bullet," Jeremy replied from his spot opposite me. I was curled up in the corner of the couch, Jenna and Ric next to me. Bonnie and Jeremy had taken the one opposite, with Matt squeezed in next to them, April sitting on the arm next to him. Jamie was perched on a chair by his unofficially adopted sister's side. Tyler and Caroline had dragged over the chairs by the fire, closing our little circle.

"Hopefully it happens soon," I muttered, watching as Zoe's eyes slowly closed. She was apparently sucking on my knuckle to soothe herself into sleeping. It was so fucking adorable and I told Jenna that.

She rolled her eyes as Matt leant forward to look at our anchor friend, "So, this anchor thing, does that mean that you'll be able to, like, feel Katherine's death or whatever?"

"I think so," Bonnie nodded, thinking deeply as she tried to work it out. "I mean, she's human, but she's also a doppelganger and a Traveller, apparently."

"Trust that bitch to be so many different things," I snorted, ignoring my aunt's eyeroll. "At least she doesn't get to find peace, cos she definitely doesn't deserve that."

April opened her mouth with a worried frown, but Matt gave her knee a squeeze, shaking his head. And the bright red blush on her cheeks was absolutely hilarious. I knew that she still had a crush on the cutie, but she would never admit it. I only found out for sure because I managed to get her drunk.

"So, who else do you see over there?" Matt asked with a curious look. "Anybody that I know?"

"I see lots of people," our friend shrugged, her gaze flickering around the room, a soft smile on her face. "My grams, the other witches… Vicki… I just don't talk about it, you know, because it's just…"

Her voice trailed off before she smiled at an empty space in the room. It was so fucking disturbing. It was like when Jeremy did it. Although I was convinced that he sometimes did it just to fuck with me. The brat.

"What's happening?" Matt asked, following Bonnie's gaze, desperately hoping to see something.

"She's here," our friend smile, reaching over to grab his hand, giving it a squeeze. "She said that she loves you."

"Love you too, Vick," the blue-eyed cutie smiled and we all kindly ignored how shaky it was. Because out of everyone, Matt was the one person who didn't get his miracle. He didn't get to have Vicki back, even though Jer and I managed to get Elena back. We managed to save Alaric and Bonnie, but we didn't do the same with his sister. Sometimes I wondered how he didn't hate us for that.

I glanced over my shoulder as the balcony door opened, the Salvatore brothers entering. Damon immediately walked over to me, settling down on the arm next to me, one hand resting on my shoulder. I just adjusted Zoe in my arms before leaning against him, my body relaxing at his comforting presence.

Stefan just picked up the empty bottles before frowning, "Have we really gone through four bottles of bourbon today?"

"It was a lot more than four," Ric sighed, shaking his head before giving me a look. I just stared at him with wide eyes before hiding my face against his daughter's. "I threw some empty bottles away earlier."

"Your dad is a snitch, baby girl," I muttered against Zoe's cheek, kissing the soft skin. "How about you help me find a way to punish him?"

Ric gave me a look before his lips twitched up into a smile when the baby snored really loudly. It had me giggling into her hair.

It wasn't until Bonnie breathed out Katherine's name that I looked up. The anchor was staring behind me, shifting to stand up, as she prepared herself for the woman to pass through her.

"Ding dong," I glanced up to see Damon smirking in satisfaction as he stared at Bonnie. "Does that mean that the witch is dead?"

Bonnie opened her mouth to respond before frowning, "She disappeared. She didn't pass through me."

"Boo," I scrunched up my nose in annoyance. "Does that mean that she found peace? Cos she is the last person who deserves that."

"I don't know," my friend shook her head, settling back against Jeremy as she stared at the empty spot. "I've never seen that before, but I'm not an expert on this."

"Well, let us all just pray that the bitch is truly dead."

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A/N: Darlings! Thank you for the reviews :) I loved them all and please keep them coming! I really want to hit 600 by the end of the season :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I tried to keep Alexa realistic, considering what she went through with Wes, I hope I did a good job! And I hope you enjoyed all the smut ;) I will put a warning now, that the next few chapters get Dark. Probably part of the reason why I've struggled with writer's block. But I am getting to the end of the darkness now so should hopefully be pumping them out a bit quicker. And on that note, I will be updating next once my latest chapter is completed and in my backlog. Until next time, I hope you enjoyed xoxo