Tanner is such a douche bag. That was quite an accurate conclusion that everyone came to after hearing his speech before the first game of the season.
I was bored. Why was I even there? Well, Elena wanted to watch her boyfriend's very first game, more than that, Caroline would have killed me if I hadn't come. It was the very first game of that year and the cheerleading squad had prepared a new program. Caroline showed me some snippets of it and I even gave them a few advices. And there was nothing better to do anyway.
So there I was, standing alone in the crowd, watching with growing annoyance the show that Mr. Dickhead was performing. It was just a small town football game, for Magic's sake!
I was mad at Elena for leaving me alone, as she went to "greet" her boyfriend and hadn't come back yet (she could've not abandoned me at least, after dragging me all this way), but I tried not to show it when I waved at Caroline and Bonnie, who were looking gorgeous in their cheerleading uniforms.
At least, now when Caroline saw me present, I could quietly disappear in the crowd and go home. Or what's even better, I can go to the Grill and "charm" a bartender to pour me some whiskey. I've done it a couple of times before, so no big deal.
I was already heading/sneaking to my car, when I heard someone fighting. I would've never even cared to see what was going on in a first place, if I didn't hear Vicki Fucking Donovan screaming my brother's name.
The second I approached the crowd and saw Tyler beating my baby brother, I lost it. I was so mad that I managed to tear Tyler from Jeremy surprisingly easily. He was too enraged and obviously had lost his head in the heat of a fight as he tried to punch me. But I was having none of it. I dodged his fist and punched him in the gut so hard, that he moved a few steps back by inertia and hit a nearby car with a groan. I heard the crowd screaming in joy or in fear, but I didn't care. I grabbed him by his neck and smacked his head in the side of a car that he was leaning on. In the corner of my eye I saw Elena and Stefan helping Jeremy up and returned my attention to the douche in front of me.
"I told you I'll break your spine if you come near my brother ever again, didn't I?" I whispered, adding more pressure to my grip on his neck making him choke a little. "What part of that you didn't understand?"
He tried to get rid of my hand but I was stronger than him. He was looking so pathetic, that I felt disgusted for even touching him, so I let him go and he fell on his knees coughing and trying to breathe in some air.
"You are not even worth it."
Vicki appeared near him, and started rubbing his back soothingly. She threw a dirty look at me and opened her mouth, no doubt in attempt to say something nasty, but I just looked at her and I don't know what she saw in my eyes, but she instantly looked away in fear.
They were so not worth it. I wasn't going to get in trouble because of those two, so I left them be and went to check on my brother. Jeremy was sitting on the hood of someone's car, with his head tilted back in attempt to stop the nosebleed, while worried Elena was holding a tissue under his nose. I threw a little diagnostic spell at him and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Except for a bleeding nose and a few bruises he was totally fine.
"We are going home," I said and they both looked at me startled. "You may have a concussion, you need to rest."
I helped Jeremy back to his feet and we started walking to my car, when Elena said that she would go say goodbye to Stefan and quickly ran away.
I helped Jeremy to get in the car and went to my own seat, then we waited for Elena for some time, but she was nowhere to be seen, so my annoyed ass decided to go look for her. I didn't have to go far, as I started hearing some muffled voices after I passed a few cars, and one of them definitely belonged to my sister. I came a little closer so I could see who she was talking to.
"You are right I do have other intentions, but so do you," I heard Damon saying, standing a little closer to my sister for my liking.
"Really?" My sister asked raising an eyebrow at him sassily.
"Mm-hmm. I see them. You want me," he told her seductively, making me roll my eyes.
"Excuse me?" Elena asked, shocked.
"I get to you. You found yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me. And right now... you want to kiss me." He whispered leaning closer to her.
Is he trying to compel her?!
Well if so, he had another thing coming. And I was totally right, as Elena instantly slapped him in the face, and I had to try really hard to hold in my laughter when I saw his gobsmacked expression.
"What the hell? I don't know what game you are trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be a part of it. I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight... I'm not Kathrine," she said furiously and stormed off.
I waited till she was gone before coming out of the shadow.
"When I first saw you, I thought you were an evil genius or something," I said quietly and saw him tense up before turning to me. "But now I know that I was wrong. How dumb should you be to try to compel a witch's sister? You thought I left her unprotected from your kind?"
"Well, there was only one way to find out," he smirked at me, but I could feel his anger
"I'm gonna ignore the fact that you were trying to compel my sister to kiss you, this time." I became serious and he tensed up even more, feeling the change in my mood. "You should break up with Caroline. Do whatever you want, tell her whatever you want or make her break up with you, I don't care. I'm not gonna let you break her heart. You used her to be invited in our house and that was a smart move, I'm giving you that. But that's not gonna continue. Caroline doesn't deserve this."
"And if I don't want to do it?" He asked smugly, trying to save his face.
"Don't try to appear dumber than you are, Damon Salvatore," I said walking closer to him. "You didn't come to this town just to annoy your brother as you are trying to make him think, there's something else that you want. And I'll make sure that you will never get that if you make me angry," I growled into his face making him take a step back unconsciously. "I told you from the very beginning that I wasn't your enemy, but you are desperately trying to make me one, by doing the only thing that I asked you not to do. This is the last warning."
I gave him the last look and walked away. I had a brother to take care of.
We only just walked into the house, when I received a phone call from a very terrified Bonnie. Mr. Tanner's dead body had been found in the parking lot. Another animal attack. Not a great loss in my opinion.
The following days had been very busy. Everyone was shaken after what happened, especially students who saw the body. I guess it's one thing when you hear about those things on the news and completely another when you witness it with your own eyes.
But the one who had it worse than anyone else was Bonnie. She predicted the "accident" and was scared out of her mind of her magic. She started to believe, but she still didn't want to accept it. I felt bad for her. I would've told her the truth about myself to calm her down a little bit, but I wanted to tell my family first. That would be the right thing to do. I was just waiting for the right time.
Damon finally came to his senses and broke up with Caroline. I thought she would be heartbroken, but whether he managed to blame it on himself or she wasn't into him that much, she appeared to be completely fine.
Another memorable thing that happened, was my conversation with Mrs. Lockwood. Our relationship with her was okay, I mean her son and husband were douche bags, but she was always only nice to me. And on the eve of the Founder's Ball, we had to meet several times to prepare everything for the heritage project, which meant a lot to my mother.
We met at the Grill to discuss the list of Gilbert family heirlooms, that I was supposed to give her to put on the display at the Founder's Ball. The conversation was tense at first, she was obviously aware of the little fight that held place between me, Jeremy and her son. I knew that she wouldn't be able to avoid that topic for too long and was preparing myself for the outburst, but she managed to surprise me.
"I wanted to apologize for my son's behavior," she suddenly said, taking me off guard. "Tyler isn't acting like himself lately, and... he has some anger issues." She was feeling uncomfortable apologizing, it was obvious that she was certainly not used to it. But I was glad that she made an effort, that was saying something.
"I noticed the change in his behavior too," I finally said, my voice calm and a little "sympathetic". I actually did notice the change in Tyler, the way he behaved that night, I hadn't noticed that earlier because I had a hard time suppressing my own anger as well. But later, when I thought about it, I realized that he was far too aggressive that day. That "mystery" bugged me for a while, before I remembered that it happened on the night of a full moon. Even if he wasn't a werewolf yet, it still affected him. But that didn't change the fact that he behaved like a jerk not only on full moons, so I decided to get back at him and his bitch a little. "Actually, I don't blame him that much," I said smiling sweetly at her and she smiled back instantly. "I think someone is just a bad influence on him..." I didn't finish the sentence, making a pregnant pause and threw a look at Vicki, who was working at the bar. Mrs. Lockwood immediately understood what I wanted to say and puckered her lips in displeasure.
"I understand. Tyler developed an unnatural obsession with second-rated "things" lately," she said disgustedly, and I felt a little bit uncomfortable. I really didn't like her insolence, and wouldn't have aggravated her if that was about someone else, but it was about Vicki, and she really had been testing my patience lately. "I will talk to him."
The rest of the conversation was boring, except she kept insisting on bringing Jonathan Gilbert's watch. That told me that the council was aware of a vampire in town. That wasn't good at all.
Damn you, Damon Salvatore!
A few days later it was announced that a mountain lion was responsible for the recent attacks. It attacked someone else in the woods and had been killed by the police. Yeah right. Probably it was just Damon covering up his tracks. But it was too little too late for that.
I had a hard time gathering my family heirlooms from everywhere, some of them were at the attic, some in the deposit vault and some even at the lake house. I finally managed to gather everything just a day before the Founder's Ball and Mrs. Lockwood promised to send Tyler to pick up the box. So I decided that I would wait for him downstairs and went to the kitchen.
As I was walking into the kitchen with a box of heirlooms in my hands, I heard the news guy on the TV ranting about the mountain lion again and rolled my eyes in annoyance. They were having that on a loop lately, trying to reassure the townsfolk that everything was fine in Mystic Falls.
"Scum ball. Scum bucket," I heard Jenna grumbling to herself while furiously clicking on the TV remote control.
"Who are you talking to?" I asked, confused and set the box on the kitchen table. Who managed to rile her up that early in the morning?
"Him," she answered pointing at the TV, where the corny looking Logan Fell was ranting about the mountain lion.
"Logan Fell?"
"Yeah. Also known as "Scum" Fell. Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?" She asked, finally turning off the TV.
I thought about what she'd said until it hit me.
"Really? Him?" I asked shocked, not even able to imagine those two together. "He looks like a douche."
"I think he's cute," said Elena walking into the kitchen with a teasing smile on her face.
"He is not cute. There's nothing cute about him," Jenna said exasperatedly, then took a I deep breath and turned to me, finally noticing the box. "What are you doing with that?"
"Mom had promised to loan some of our family heirlooms to the founder's council for the heritage display," I shrugged, letting them take a peak inside the box while I poured myself a drink.
"Is that a grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked, fascinated.
"I think it was originally great-great-grandma Mary's wedding ring," Elena answered, looking really thoughtful.
"How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like on eBay?" Jeremy asked teasingly, walking into the room.
"You are not gonna find out," Elena answered, smiling sweetly at him.
"Hey, Jere!" I called him and threw a pocket watch to him as soon as I made sure that he was definitely gonna catch it.
"This... " he said quietly looking at the watch in his hands. "This belonged to dad."
"He was gonna give it to you as his first born son," I said with a shrug, as if it wasn't a big deal. "It's yours now."
There was no way in hell I was going to let the council have the Gilbert watch. They can kill Elena's bunny eating boyfriend. What would I tell her then?
The doorbell rang and Elena went to answer it. I smiled when I sensed the familiar presence, and my smile grew even bigger when I heard Elena sneaking upstairs with Stefan. Oh, love.
My thoughts then wandered to Niklaus. Recently I've been thinking more and more about making a surprise visit. I didn't even care that it was the beginning of a school year, I wouldn't be away for long, just for a weekend.
The only thing, or should I say, the only person, that was holding me back was Damon. Only someone really stupid wouldn't notice that he was up to something. I knew that he wouldn't hurt my family but still he was too chaotic and could bring harm to them even without intending to do so. I didn't want my loved ones to become a collateral damage.
Then I thought about the Founder's Party, once again. Caroline was single again, as were Bonnie and me. Actually only Elena had a date. As Caroline would say, that was pathetic. Those things never really bothered me, I always attended such parties alone or with one of the girls, but that was unacceptable for Caroline, and I could already imagine her ranting about being alone at the founder's party.
I imagined attending the party with Nik, how everyone would stare at us, seeing me with an actual date for the first time. We would have had so much fun. We would've danced, he would've compelled the bartender to pour me some whiskey and then we would've kissed... and kissed... and... well, you got the idea.
My thoughts instantly wandered to a little bit "dirtier" area. Recently our flirting almost turned into sexting. Boy, I had no idea that I could be so bold. Even the thoughts about what we've been saying and writing to each other made my cheeks blush. After each and every such "conversation", he left me hot and bothered, trying to help myself with my hand, and the fact that I knew he'd been doing the same made everything even more unbearable.
Fucking hell! I remember, when after one of our heated sessions, I've been lying on my bed, dreaming of his strong hands and soft lips on my body, when suddenly I was hit with a vision of him in a shower... touching himself... with my name on his lips. That was enough to send me over the edge, and that in fact was the only release that I experienced without him actually being with me.
I was pulled out of my dirty thoughts when I heard the doorbell ringing. It was still early for Tyler so I knew it wasn't him. When I opened the door, I found Caroline and Bonnie standing on my doorstep with huge smiles on their faces.
"Hey! I didn't expect you guys," I said gesturing them to come in. "I thought you were going to meet at the Grill?"
"We were, but we spotted Damon there so we left," Bonnie said throwing a cautious look at Caroline, but she didn't even flinch, walking past me to the kitchen.
We exchanged worried looks with Bonnie and followed her.
"Seriously, you guys! Stop tiptoeing around me, I'm fine," she said hopping on the counter. "I knew the moment I saw him that he wasn't boyfriend material."
"Then why did you start dating him in the first place?" Bonnie asked confused, accepting graciously the glass of orange juice that I poured for her. I gestured Caroline to the other glass, but she refused.
"Why? Have you even seen him? The guy is a pure sex in a leather jacket." Caroline rolled her eyes dreamingly, showing us that she enjoyed every bit of Damon's body, making me laugh.
"You are right, the guy is a walking erotica, but I think that it's everything he's capable of. And that's pathetic actually."
Caroline nodded, agreeing with me, then clapped her hands attracting our attention.
"I don't want to talk about Damon anymore, he's in the past. The real problem is that the founder's ball is tomorrow and three of the most gorgeous girls in this puny town are single. How did that even happen?" She exclaimed exasperatedly, making me roll my eyes.
"I personally think that we don't need men to hit that party tomorrow." I shrugged.
And that was true. Why can't we just go there and have fun, just the three of us.
"Ooh, yeah, let's have a threesome!" Caroline squealed happily, making Bonnie choke on her drink.
We discussed our outfits for tomorrow and decided to meet at my place, to do our nails, make up and hair. Some time later Elena joined us too, and I noticed that she looked a little bit flushed probably after her little make out session with her boyfriend, but decided not to tease her about it.
Caroline and Bonnie were long gone, and I was watching a movie in a living room with Jeremy, when we heard the doorbell ringing again. I felt so lazy that I just kicked Jeremy off the couch and gestured him to open it. He tried to pull me of the couch, but I kicked him again so he had no other choice. I laughed watching him curse under his breath while wandering to the door lazily and muted the movie to be able to hear who was at the door.
I heard some muffled noises and turned around curiously only to see Jeremy trying to close the door in Tyler's face. I sighed heavily and went to pick up the box that I left on the kitchen counter.
"I'm here for my mom. I was supposed to pick up a box of stuff," Tyler said defensively, as if trying to say that he would never be here otherwise.
"Right here," I said pushing Jeremy slightly to the side so I could pass it over to Tyler. "Please be careful."
"Yeah, be careful with it, dick," Jeremy scoffed, sounding like a little child.
"Okay, slow down. Don't make me break you up, again!" I was so not looking forward to watching them beat each other up again.
"I'm fine. He's just being a punk," Tyler grumbled making me roll my eyes. If for Jeremy being childish was a little permissible, taking into account his young age, Tyler was just being immature.
"I got your punk," Jeremy said aggravated and I had to pull him back by the back of his shirt.
"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go," I said sighing tiredly. "Tell your mom that I'll see her at the party."
"Hey. Would it make a difference, if I told you that I'm sorry?" he asked us, surprising me with a hint of honesty in his voice.
It didn't sound like he said that because his mom made him or something. But apparently Jeremy was having none of it.
"Not even if you meant it," he said shutting the door in Tyler's face. He saw my raised eyebrow and shrugged. "What? I'm not gonna make it easier for him, not after everything they've done. Not after he almost punched you."
"Well done. Never let anyone walk all over you" I ruffled his hair and headed back to the living room. "Let's finish this movie. Can you bring us some potato chips? They are in the middle drawer as usual."
We were gathered in Elena's room, making ourselves pretty, with glasses of wine in our hands. What? We stole the bottle from Jenna's hidden stash, she would never notice it anyway. We decided to get our nails done first, so Bonnie took out her manicure set and we started to pick different colors of nail polishes. Me and Caroline had already picked the colors more suitable for our outfits but Elena was still hesitating.
"Delicate flower or naughty vixen?" Bonnie asked Elena who obviously had her head in the clouds.
"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Elena asked with a heavy sigh.
"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date. You seem happy-ish." Bonnie said wiggling her eyebrows, making us laugh.
"I would be happy too if I had an opportunity to snuggle with my boyfriend almost every day," I grumbled with mock irritation.
"Yeah, long distance relationships suck!" Caroline nodded taking a sip from her glass of wine and I suddenly started having some second thoughts about pouring it for her in a first place. She so couldn't hold her liquor.
"I am... ish." Elena told Bonnie completely ignoring us (rude). "Tonight's gonna be a good night. But don't let that stop you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you walked in a door." She gave Bonnie a look as if saying ''spit it out" and Bonnie did just that. Of course she did, it's Bonnie, she's not capable of keeping secrets from Elena.
"It's just." She started hesitantly, throwing some cautious looks at Caroline, who was keeping a poker face. "Damon told Caroline about Kathrine and it's..."
"I know that they both dated her that's why they are having issues," Elena said showing that she knew that part of the story.
"That's some sick menage a trois," I murmured taking my own glass to my lips with my left hand while Caroline was painting my nails on the right one.
"Yeah they both dated her, only she chose Damon. And that drove Stefan mad, so he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Kathrine. He filled her head with all this lies until it finally worked, and she turned against Damon."
All the while telling all of that Bonnie looked really guilty, as if saying sorry for upsetting Elena.
"That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's," Elena said defending her boyfriend.
"We just wanted you to know," Bonnie said, putting her hands up defensively, but looked hilarious instead of guilty, as she was holding nail polisher in her hand, being in the process of painting Elena's nails.
"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business."
"Unless he is a calculating, manipulative liar," Bonnie whispered under her breath, getting back to painting Elena's nails.
"Stefan's none of those things." Elena kept defending Stefan like a mama bear, but she was being too adamant for my liking. As far as I knew Stefan was not that type of person, but he could be. I made a mental note to remind Elena to be a little bit more persistent.
During the process, Mrs. Lockwood called, worried that she couldn't find Jonathan Gilbert's watch, and I had to lie to her that I wasn't able to find it either, but something told me that she didn't believe me. Well, whatever.
I got dressed in emerald green short long sleeved dress, that showed off my legs which in combination with black stilettos made them appear longer than they were. The marks on my hands were gone almost completely, but the ones on my arms were still there so I had to pick a dress with long sleeves. I styled my hair in loose curls, did a light make up, and decided not to wear any jewelry except for the necklace that Nik gave me, in fact, I never took it off. While the girls were finishing getting dressed, I asked Caroline to take a picture of me and sent it to Nik with a huge smile on my face. He called not even a second after I sent it, making my smile grew even bigger.
"Well, aren't you looking ravishing, love?" His raspy voice sent shivers dance down my body as usual, filling my mind with not so pure thoughts.
"You like it?" I asked shyly, even after all this time I wasn't used to his compliments.
"Like isn't the word that I would use, sweetheart. The dress looks gorgeous, but I would prefer to have you with me right now... so I could take it off."
l had to take a few deep breaths to calm down my libido, his words picturing some "juicy" scenes inside my head.
"I would love it if you took it off... slowly," I whispered not able to stop myself. I didn't want to start this, as I knew that I would be left hot but unsatisfied.
"You are torturing me, love, leaving me picturing you naked, but not able to touch you. That's the definition of cruelty," he said in mock annoyance, but I knew he wasn't serious. "But I should thank you for the photo. At least now I have something to look at while I..."
"Nik!" I gasped blushing furiously at what he intended to say.
"l wanted to say while I'll be thinking about you love," he laughed happily, making my heart beat faster, as it always happened when I heard him laugh. "What were you thinking?" He asked teasingly, making me blush even more.
"You are evil!" I grumbled in embarrassment.
"Yes. And you love that about me, don't you, my little witch?"
"You know me too well." I wasn't able to finish, as Caroline called me saying that we were being late for the party. "I gotta go, sorry. I wish you were here with me."
"l wish that too, sweetheart. Enjoy your evening."
There was a pause at the end, as if he intended to say something else, but decided not to. I shrugged it off and wished him good night, before hanging up.
When we reached the Lockwood Mansion, we couldn't help but groan in annoyance, seeing the huge line in front of the entrance. It looked like the whole town was present. On the second thought, I think the whole town was present indeed, as Mystic Falls loved parties. Founder's Balls, Masquerade Balls, Miss Mystic Falls pageants, the historical fairs, the decade dances at the school and whole lot more. They just couldn't get enough of them.
We had to wait for our turn to get inside, where Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood were standing greeting guests. Stefan and Elena went ahead, but I couldn't see them in the line, so I assumed that they were already inside.
"Girls you look smashing!" Mrs. Lockwood said when we approached them. "Come on in."
"Hi Mrs. Lockwood, Mayor. I'm sorry about the watch, I couldn't find it anywhere," I said sadly turning on my incredible acting skills.
"Oh it's okay darling. Of course it would be wonderful if it was there on display alongside with other heirlooms of your family, but there's nothing we can do," she said in the same tone, and something told me that she was putting on an act as well, so we exchanged some sweet but fake smiles before she gestured us to come in.
Everything was flawless as always, the decorations, the music, the perfectly trained waiters... too perfect to my liking, that's why I didn't like such parties, but being the part of a founding family meant that I couldn't just ignore them.
Caroline went to say hi to her mom, while me and Bonnie wandered to the buffet table. It would be a looong night so I needed some calories to help me live through it.
Everything was going well so far, I mean the food was nice, no one was bothering me, my friends were having fun, my sister was dancing with her boyfriend, even aunt Jenna was flirting/fighting with her Logan "Scum" Fell. There was this awkward moment though, when me and Caroline noticed Damon walking around with Katie Fell, of all people. I mean, probably it was a logical thing to do for Damon since Katie was from a founding family and he could easily be invited almost anywhere if he was her "boyfriend", but the girl was a bitch and they had some kind of a rivalry with Caroline, so you got the idea.
I threw a worried glance at Caroline, but she just downed her glass of champagne and grabbed some guy that was standing near and dragged him to the dance floor, not that he minded by the way, he looked quiet happy. Other than that everything was fine. I even managed to "convince" (my family's equivalent of compulsion, nothing serious just increasing of our natural charm, we loved to call it "glamour") the bartender to pour me some whiskey, so you could say that I was happy.
Someone invited Bonnie for a dance, so I decided to join my sister and her boyfriend, as I saw them heading upstairs. They were going through the relics that were on display in one of the rooms, so they just greeted me with smiles, before getting back to what they were doing.
"The founding families in Mystic Falls welcome you to the inaugural founder's council celebration." Elena read out loud what was written on an ancient looking piece of paper on the wall, then turned to us excitedly. "Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these names: Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?" she asked, turning to Stefan in shock. I watched with amusement as Stefan's face became a little worried as he tried to find some suitable explanation, but he didn't have to as he was "saved" by his brother.
"The original Salvatore Brothers, our ancestors. Tragic story actually," he said with his usual signature smirk on his face, walking into the room with slightly annoyed Katie on a tow.
"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan said trying to shut Damon up, as we both knew that he would start ranting about Kathrine yet again.
"It's not boring Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena was desperate to learn more about Stefan's life, as I'm sure he didn't tell her much, and I made a mental note to talk to him about that. I knew Elena, if he kept doing that, she would think that something was wrong and try to learn the truth. He was digging his own grave.
"Well I'm bored," Katie said in her disgustingly annoying voice. "I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me." She was a bitch but she never was that whiny, so I assumed that he compelled her to say that for whatever reason, that I'm sure we'll find out soon. "Could I just borrow your date?" she asked Elena suddenly making her and Stefan freeze in shock. So, for that reason, I thought to myself, amused with everything that was going on in front of me.
He just wanted to stay alone with Elena so he compelled his date to distract Stefan and Stefan and I both knew that.
"Oh, uh." Elena was at a loss of words, throwing unsure looks at her boyfriend.
"I don't really dance," Stefan said finally, but Katie was on a "mission", so that was in vain.
"Oh, sure he does." Damon felt the weakness in Stefan's defenses and started pushing a little. "You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all."
"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Katie asked pushing even further.
"It's up to Stefan," Elena answered as if still trying to process what was going on.
"Well, sorry, but I'm not gonna take no for an answer," Katie said grabbing Stefan's hand and dragging him out of the room. And he had no other choice than to oblige. Poor guy.
As soon as they left Damon moved closer to Elena, ignoring me completely. He had a purpose and he was doing everything to achieve it.
"I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm... acting out, trying to punish Stefan," he admitted somberly, making me choke on my drink.
I shouldn't have laughed and drank at the same time I guess. I just couldn't help myself as I imagined him lying on a sofa, pouring out his soul to the therapist.
They both turned to look at me, as I was having a hard time trying to breathe, but while Elena looked worried and moved closer to help me, Damon looked pissed because I ruined his moment. Well I'm sorry I didn't plan to choke!
"Thank you," I managed to whisper when Elena patted me on my back a few times, helping me to breathe properly.
"Is that whiskey?" She suddenly asked, sniffing the air and throwing an accusing look at me. "Thalia!"
"I know, I know, I'm sorry." She raised her eyebrows at me, obviously having a hard time believing in what I'd just said. "No, you are right, I'm not. You know I love whiskey. But I am sorry for interrupting you though. Do continue."
She kept looking at me disapprovingly for a few moments, before turning back to Damon with a heavy sigh, as if saying "I'm so done with you".
"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town," Damon said changing the subject, throwing another pissed look at me. "Until the war. There was a battle here."
"The Battle of Willow Creek." Elena interrupted him, looking slightly proud of herself. Someone was doing their homework.
"Right."
"I know we talked about it in class," she continued showing off. "Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside."
"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."
Damon finished telling the story and something told me that that was their true story. The story how they died. And how they turned. I almost felt sorry for him, as I saw him showing real, genuine emotions, for the very first time.
"Who was in the church that they wanted to save?" Elena asked cautiously. I had no doubt that she felt his sincerity as well.
"A woman, I guess," he answered quietly, looking into her eyes with some strange emotion. "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?"
"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan had this thing between you, but I can't get in the middle of it Damon." She was completely serious. "I just... I hope you two can work it out."
"I hope so too," he said and I knew he was sincere this time too. I guess he really didn't like that rivalry between them, they were brothers after all. I was curious about what had come between them, I mean they are saying that it was a girl, but was it really? Can you promise your own brother the eternity of misery because of some girl? I highly doubt that.
"Okay that's fun and all, but I need another drink," I said loudly, breaking the mood. They both looked at me as if they forgot about my existence during their conversation. "Damon, since you are such a gentleman today, would you mind buying me a drink?" I asked him sweetly, entwining our hands and gesturing Elena to his other hand, but she chose mine for some reason and we went downstairs.
Looking ahead, Damon bought me a drink after all, cursing me under his breath and calling me a cheeky brat, but still. I was happy, so I left them to reunite with Stefan and Katie and went to find my dates. I immediately spotted Caroline on the dance floor, and decided not to bother her as she was obviously having a good time, and went to find Bonnie instead.
I looked everywhere but couldn't find her, so I decided to stick closer to the buffet, she'll come over eventually. I just leant on a wall, feeling tired all of a sudden. Not physically, but mentally. I was feeling strange as I always felt on events like this, like I didn't belong here. I mean, I wasn't feeling like Cinderella, nothing like that, it's just I don't know, I just felt like I was wasting my time on things that didn't matter. I didn't mind hanging out with friends, but other people... they were the problem.
Everyone seemed so fake. I looked at the dance floor where Damon was dancing with Katie, who was chatting non stop, but his attention was on dancing figures of his brother and his girlfriend. His "relationship" with Katie was fake, even more fake than it was with Caroline. With Caroline he was cautious as he knew I would've killed him if he hurt her, but this... What he was doing with Katie was disgusting and I suddenly felt nauseous thinking about what would their relationship with Caroline be like, if I wasn't there to scare him away. Would he be using her the same way? Would he kill her after she became useless for him? If not, how broken he would have left her after he threw her away like some broken toy? It was disgusting.
Then I looked at the other couple. Stefan and Elena. Their relationship was fake in some way as well. I mean, he was hiding a huge part of himself from her, pretending like he was someone else. She needed to find out and she would, she was too smart for her own good. It looked like their ship was already sinking, as I saw them having some heated conversation. Elena wanted answers and he was too afraid to give them to her. I saw her storming off and sighed. That was predictable.
I thought about going after her for a moment, but decided not to, so I continued watching. I looked aside and spotted Jenna and Logan. He was hanging around her whole evening, and that was suspicious. She was back in town for almost five months now, he could have sent her some flowers or something much earlier if he really wanted to. But he suddenly started paying her attention and that looked so fake, that I was surprised that Aunt Jenna couldn't see that herself. I should keep a close watch on those two. He wanted something from her and I wasn't gonna let him break her heart again.
Deep in my thoughts I heard Mrs. Lockwood scolding a waiter nearby and thought of another thing that was fake. All the Lockwood family was. Starting with the Mayor, who was an abusive father and a piece of shit in general, continuing with Carol, who pretended to be the perfect wife, but had obvious drinking issues and was stuck-up little Mrs. Perfect, which sometimes could be easily forgotten as she was a great actress. But at times like this, when she treated people like crap, it all just came out.
And then there was Tyler. You can say that it wasn't his fault, that his family was fucked up so he had no other choice than to become like them and stuff like that, but that's some bullshit. If you are a good person you are a good person. Period. And he was an abuser, just like his father, especially when he was drunk. I heard that he molested girls, that he made them sleep with him sometimes. He even made an attempt to hit on me last year, but I wasn't some weak little girl as his other on victims, so I kicked the crap out of him. All of their family was disgusting.
Mrs. Lockwood finished scolding the poor waiter and they went away when I heard a familiar voice.
"Bitch!" Bonnie cursed quietly, looking at leaving Carol, and I couldn't help but giggle. She didn't see me so I decided to approach her and did it on time to see her lighting up the candles. She froze in a doorway, looking at the lit up room, and I felt like she was on a verge of a breakdown. I walked to her quietly, trying to not scare her away but she sensed me anyway and turned to me looking like a frightened deer in headlights.
"It's not what you... I didn't..." she started mumbling in panic, but I just hugged her.
"I think it's awesome," I whispered.
She was frozen at first but when it got to her that I wasn't freaking out, she hugged me back, breaking down in tears.
"I don't know what's happening to me. I'm scared."
"Shhh. It's okay. Everything's going to be fine," I said rubbing her back soothingly. "Let's drive you home, okay? The party is boring anyway." I waited till she nodded and continued, giving her my car keys. "Here, take these and go wait in my car, I'm gonna find Elena and Caroline and ask them if they are coming too."
"You are not gonna tell them, right?" She asked in a panicked voice. "They are gonna think..."
"I'm not gonna tell anyone, I promise."
She looked in my eyes as if trying to make sure if I was being sincere, then nodded and walked away.
I sighed watching her leave, and went to look for girls. I found Caroline, but she said that she was driving home with her mother, so I kissed her goodbye and went to find my sister. After what I saw, I was sure she would need a ride. I was looking for her everywhere, but couldn't find her. So imagine my surprise when she stormed right past me, looking genuinely furious, making me raise my eyebrows in surprise. Mad Elena was such a rare occurrence, that I had to process what I'd just seen before finally following her. I saw her approaching Damon when I finally caught up with her.
"There's something seriously wrong with you," she hissed in his face, startling him. Yeah I guess it was the first time he saw her this mad. "You stay away from Katie, or I will go straight to the Sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her."
Then before I could even say something she stormed off again, this time towards Stefan. I went after her again, leaving the furious Damon behind. I had to make my way through the crowd so when I finally found her she was standing alone, sadly watching Stefan's leaving figure.
"Hey, what's wrong? Did you two have an argument?" I asked quietly, squeezing her hand.
"Everything is falling apart," she answered sadly.
She sounded so heartbroken that I wanted to hug her to my chest, but there were too many people around us so I just pulled her hand gesturing her to come with me.
"Bonnie's waiting in my car. We're going home. I'll check on Jenna and be right back, okay?"
She nodded sadly and walked away.
I waited till her figure disappeared around the corner and went in the direction where Stefan had left a minute ago. I needed to put some sense into his thick skull.
I cast a little direction pointing spell, and eventually walked out to the lawn. There were two dark figures standing not too far, so I tried to listen in. When I understood the situation I felt the anger burning in me. I was just about to do something when Damon who was trying to kill Katie by sucking her dry, groaned and fell on the ground. I was confused for a second, until I saw Stefan coming out of the trees.
"What the hell?" Damon grunted, writhing in pain.
"You know, I couldn't spike your drink, so I spiked hers," Stefan said, looking down at his brother. He waited till Damon lost consciousness, then picked him up and walked away, leaving the girl lying on the ground.
Good vampire my ass. No matter how hard Stefan tried to make everyone believe that he was a good brother, that little scene right there proved that he was just being a hypocrite. He tricked his brother, fine. Well done. But the innocent girl became a collateral damage. It's not that it became a surprise to me or something like that, it's just it would have been better if Stefan didn't claim himself to be a saint, and accepted his true nature. Another thing that was fake.
I sighed and went to check up on Katie. Of course we witches were always the ones cleaning up the vampires' mess.