ELIANA GILBERT WAS FINALLY home and she couldn't have been more distressed than she was at the moment. Upon entering Mystic Falls she had been informed that the Mayor was dead, not that she really cared for him much. One of her bestfriends, Caroline, was in the hospital. And her brother had just attempted suicide.
"Where the hell is he!" I demanded as I raced up the stairs of my childhood home. There was an alarming number of paramedics which made me grow even more frantic than before.
I finally made it to Jeremy's room and pushed past Elena who was standing next to who I suppose was Stefan. I crouched down in front of Jeremy who looked depressed but soon changed to shocked once he saw me. I didn't let him reminisce in the shock for long as I smacked him on the back of his head.
"What the hell Jeremy!" I yelled as tears threaten to make their way onto the surface but I masked my true emotions under anger. "How could you be so stupid!" I yelled some more.
"Eli, you need to calm down." Elena tried as I glared back at her.
"I'll deal with you later." I said Elena gulped and looked away. She had kept me updated on all things which had to do with Mystic Falls while I had been gone but the last week I had gone without a single word until tonight when I had informed her that I was coming home.
"How could you Jeremy?!" I yelled again as he swallowed thickly and looked down. A tear left his eye as he refused to meet my eyes. I sighed as I looked away from him and took a breath. I was pretty shaken after I had lost my parents. Losing Jeremy would have broken me. It took me so long to recover from my parents passing. I couldn't go back there. I know it wasn't right for me to deal with his suicide attempt this way but I didn't know how.
I sighed quietly before sitting down next to Jeremy and bringing him into a hug. He needed someone right now and regardless of how angry I was at him for the stunt he had pulled I had to be there for him. I didn't know how to handle all this but did anyone?
"I love you Jer. Thank god you're okay." I whispered as I hugged him close to me.
"Are you going to leave again?" Jeremy asked as he too wrapped his arms tightly around me.
"No, not now. Not ever. I've been gone for too long and I'm sorry for that." I said back to him.
"You need to be at the hospital." I heard my sisters boyfriend say to her.
"But..." She said back.
"No, no, no, I'll stay here with Jeremy." He said back as she nodded.
"No, I don't need a babysitter." Jeremy argued as he pulled away from me a little.
"Yes, you do." Elena said as I pulled away from Jeremy.
"I'm sorry Jeremy but tonight you do." I said as he looked upset but didn't argue back. I was at a crossroad right now. My brother needed me but so did my best friend who was in the hospital currently.
"You should go too." Jeremy said as I hesitated.
"I should be here, I can go see her tomorrow." I said as Jeremy shook his head.
"Go, I'll be fine." He said as I hesitantly nodded.
"If I come back and you're dead I swear to god Jer I'll murder you." Jeremy was about to say something but I cut him off with a glare. I then decided to approach Stefan who was standing next to Elena. Elena looked nervous as I approached them.
"An introduction is an order, I'm Eliana." I said as I stuck my hand out for Stefan to shake. He nodded and shook my hand.
"Stefan, I've heard a lot about you. You're Elena's twin but you're older right?" He asked as I nodded.
"By two minutes." I smiled, "so anyone wanna tell me why the paramedics were here?" I asked as Elena and Stefan looked at eachother.
"It was John... he was stabbed" Elena said as my eyes widened before going back to normal.
"Alright who stabbed him and where can I find this person. I need to go express my utmost gratitude to them." I said as Elena cracked the smallest smile.
"It was Katherine." Stefan said before looking at Elena. "She knows right?" He asked her.
"Yeah I know everything. Well I was updated until this week. Lena what was that about?" I asked Elena with a glare.
"It was a busy week..." She trailed off as I rolled my eyes.
"Well what did I miss?" I asked as Stefan began looking uncomfortable.
"John is your father. Your biological father." Stefan said as I cringed.
"Wow, Isobel and John. What a pair we got set up with am I right." I joked as I looked at Elena. Stefan looked surprised at my reaction. He looked over at Elena as I laughed at his reaction a bit before walking out of Jeremy's room. Elena and I got into my car and caught up on what had happened in the last week while we drove to the hospital.
"I'm really glad you're back." Elena said as I nodded.
"Could've been under better circumstances but I'm glad to be back." I said as she smiled.
"I feel like things are going to be better now that you're back. Especially for Jer. He missed you a lot. So did I" Elena said as she looked at me sincerely. I nodded silently. I wasn't good with dealing with too many emotions and tonight was filled with them.
"I, I missed you guys too. I know I said it before but I'm sorry for leaving. I just, I had to. You know with mom and dad passing." I said as Elena nodded and looked away.
"It was hard for all of us." She said as I bit my lip.
"I know but I deal with things differently and you know that but now I'm here. And I'm here for good." I said as Elena smiled. She seemed relieved. I had spent the last year at a boarding school in Nevada. It was far away from Mystic Falls and getting away had been my coping mechanism. I was afraid to come back for the longest time but after hearing about all the things that were going down I had to come back.
"Bonnie. How's Caroline?" Elena asked as we approached her. Bonnie's eyes lit up as she saw me beside Elena. The only way people could tell Elena and I apart was the fact I had a birthmark under my left eye.
"You're back!" She exclaimed as she rushed to hug me. I smiled as I hugged her back. "I missed you so much!" Bonnie said as I hugged her tighter.
"I missed you too Bon Bon!" I said before pulling away. Bonnie's short lived happiness was now gone as if she had suddenly remembered the circumstance.
"She's weak. They don't know if she's gonna make it." Bonnie said as I gasped quietly.
"What? No no no, there has to be something we can do!" I said as Bonnie embraced me again.
"Is there something that you can do? Like a spell of something?" Elena asked hopefully. I pulled away from Bonnie and looked at her as well.
"She doesn't know how, do you?" Someone said as they began contributing to our conversation. I didn't recognize him from the last time I was in Mystic Falls which led me to believe he was the other Salvatore. He matched Elena's description pretty well.
"No, I don't" Bonnie said as I bit my lip. Dread was beginning to creep up on me.
"No, you don't because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that." He said as I grew frustrated.
"Do you have a solution or are you just here to patronize her!" I snapped, I had always been the fiery one between Elena and I. Most of the time I had little to no control over my temper. His eyes had been glancing over at me every now and then, not very discreetly but now they were fully on me.
"You must be Eliana Gilbert," He said as I barely narrowed my eyes.
"Hm what gave it away?" I sassed back as his eyes seemed to glint with curiosity.
"Definitely not the attitude. I'm Damon." He said as he offered a non genuine smile. I narrowed my eyes because I could see right through his facade.
"Well, I can take down a vampire, that spell was easy to learn." Bonnie said as I smirked, regardless of Bonnie's response, Damon's eyes remained on me.
"I can give Caroline some blood." Damon said as he flickered his gaze to Elena.
"No, no way." Elena said as I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at elena.
"Why not. Don't you want her to live." I said as Elena looked at me.
"No, just enough to heal her. She will be safe in the hospital and it will be out of her system in a day, she will be better Elena." Damon said as Elena still shook her head.
"It's too risky, I can't agree to that." Elena said as I glared at her.
"Well I can, who made you god. You don't get to decide whether Caroline lives of dies." I said as Elena frowned.
"Do it." Bonnie said from beside me. I offered Bonnie a smile for agreeing with the sensible option. "This is Caroline. We can't let her die. Do it" She said to Elena.
"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?" Damon said as he looked at Bonnie. Did this guy not have a heart. Elena never told me he was this selfish.
"No. But you'll do it anyway. For Elena." Bonnie said as the tension rose around us.
"Right, I'm gonna take that as my cue to leave." I said as I motioned towards Bonnie who nodded and led me away. As I walked away I felt Damon's stare but I paid no mind to it.
"Mathewwwww!" I cheered as I saw him sitting outside of Caroline's room.
"A-Ana, is that really you?" Matt questioned as he hesitantly stood up and whipped away his tears. I smiled and nodded before running over to him and embracing him. I had different nicknames, my family called me Eli while, my friends called me Ana.
"How are you holding up?" I asked into his shoulder as I hugged him tightly.
"A little shaken up. I didn't know you were coming back." He said as I pulled away.
"I wanted to surprise everyone." I said as Matt rose and eyebrow.
"Couldn't have found a better time?" He asked as I scoffed.
"My bad! If I would've know all this was going down I would've picked another day for my debut." I said as I rolled my eyes. I caught up more with Matt and Bonnie before Elena said it was time to leave. I would've stayed longer but I could tell it was something important.
"Stefan?" Elena asked as we walked into our house followed by Damon. I furrowed my eyebrows where I walked in to Stefan on the floor. He seemed winded as he quickly shot up off the ground.
"Elena." Stefan said as he looked at Elena and then myself.
"Eliana." I said as Damon shot me an odd look. I shrugged, "Was Stefan falling really the emergency we needed to attend to...?" I asked as I looked at all of them.
"What happened?" Elena asked as she looked at Stefan.
"Katherine happened." Damon said grimly as I furrowed my eyebrows again.
"I thought Katherine was dead" I said as Elena shook her head.
"Dead yes, technically." Damon said. A little while later the four of us transitioned to the kitchen where I was updated on all things Katherine. Elena left shortly to inform Jeremy of what was going on.
"Did she say what she wanted?" Damon asked as he stood next to me. I got the feeling that he wanted to get to know me for the same reason he was in love with my sister for. I looked like his former lover but I guess this would be a quick phase seeing as his former lover was actually back.
"No" Stefan said.
"Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance." Damon said as I silently cursed the woman. I was supposed to make a nice entry after being gone for so long but due to certain circumstances, I was unable to do so.
"She said she fooled one of us, at least. What does that mean?" Stefan questioned Damon. His eyes fell on the distance between Damon and myself which I had failed to notice until recently. I moved away slightly.
"She pretended to be Elena too when I showed up earlier tonight." Damon said as all eyes turned to him.
"I told Jeremy, I can't lie to him anymore." Elena said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Are you alright?" Stefan asked Elena.
"No, I'm not alright. I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone things would get better." Elena said as Stefan nodded.
"I know. We all did." He said before looking at me. "What about you Li?" he asked. Nobody never called me, that but hey new nickname I'm all for it.
"I appreciate the concern but rest assured, I'm fine." I said as he nodded and looked back to Elena while Damon's calculating gaze remained on me. I didn't bother much with him.
"Katherine was in this house, that means she's been invited in, what are we gonna do?" Elena said as Damon scoffed.
"Move." He said as I sighed.
"Are you ever helpful? It's a genuine question." I said as Damon scowled at me.
"Okay miss I've been here for ten minutes and think I know everything." Damon retorted as I narrowed my eyes.
"It's been more than ten minutes but your disability with time isn't my issue at the moment. And I don't think I know everything but at least I'm trying to help unlike you who can't do anything other than patronize everyone else!" I said as I glared at him now.
"Enough you two." Elena said as I looked away from Damon.
"Katherine wants you dead; there's zero you can do about it; you would be dead but you're not. So clearly she has other plans." Damon said to Elena before turning to me as I refused to look at him. "As for you, I don't think she knows you exist." He said as I crossed my arms.
"No she definitely knows. She was working with Isobel. She knows Li exists but I don't think she knows you're back yet." Stefan said as I bit my lip. "Right and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process. What happened tonight when you thought she was Elena?" He asked as all eyes were back on Damon.
"To risk another frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead. We...kissed." Damon said as Stefan looked angry. My disgust for this guy seemed to grow every second he spoke.
"And you thought it was me?" Elena asked.
"What do you mean you kissed?" Stefan asked as he glared daggers at Damon who looked, proud?
"Well, you know, when two lips pucker and they go." Damon said mockingly as he puckered his lips. Stefan vamped towards Damon as Damon moved across the room to stand next to Elena.
"Don't be obvious Stefan." Damon said with a smirk. Stefan started walking towards Damon but was stopped by Elena getting in his way.
"Stefan wait, he kissed Katherine, not me." She said before looking at Damon, "I wouldn't do that. We don't have time for this guys." She finished as I rolled my eyes.
"All this drama is so trivial." I commented as Damon glared at me.
"Later." Stefan said in a promising tone as he looked at Damon who looked back at him.
"I say we go pay dear old dad a visit. John's gotta know something, why else would Katherine try to kill him." I said as Damon looked at me again.
"She's Katherine. She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's been up to before she wants you to know." He said as I rolled my eyes.
"You're giving the good looking grandma way too much credit." I said as he narrowed his eyes at me.
"No actually Li's right." Stefan said as I looked past Damon at Stefan in surprise.
"I am?" I questioned as Stefan nodded. I smirked before looking back at Damon with a smirk. "Heard that, I guess I do know something." I said smugly.
"John could know something through Isobel. Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine so maybe we can go to the hospital and get him to talk." Stefan said.
"I've got a better idea." Damon said as I rose an eyebrow.
"Oh I can't wait to hear this." I said sarcastically as Damon glared at me once more. I gave him an innocent look.
"What's that?" Elena asked.
"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch." Damon said as I scoffed.
"What a brilliant plan." I said as Damon looked about ready to murder me but I knew he couldn't. Not with Stefan and Elena right there. "I think I've lost enough brain cells from being around you so I'm gonna turn in for tonight. Goodnight" I said to Elena and Stefan before looking at Damon who had appeared in my way.
"No good night kiss?" He taunted me as I smirked.
"I think Katherine's got you on that one." I said before rounding him and walking up the stairs.
I found my room exactly as I had left it a little over a year ago. I decided I would unpack my things tomorrow as I changed into my pjs. Once I was ready for bed I hopped into bed and passed out.