The deafening silence filled the kitchen as the three of us sat at the table with huge steaming cups of coffee in our hands. The kitchen was still a mess after Vicki's crazy fit, but none of us had the willpower to start cleaning it, so we (Elena) decided that we'd better sit and talk. She tried to kick Jeremy out, but I insisted that he stayed... so here we were.
Elena looked like she could burst any minute and kept throwing me questioning looks; I was frozen, staring into my cup as if hoping to find some courage to finally start this dreaded conversation, while Jeremy just observed both of us confusedly.
I rubbed my tired eyes, suppressing a sigh, and finally looked at my siblings, feeling relieved that at least Jenna wasn't at home at the moment. I don't think I could've handled her too.
"I have no idea how to do this to be honest," I finally spoke, taking a sip of my coffee to buy myself more time to think. "I imagined having this conversation with you at least hundreds of times, but right now my mind is completely blank. Mom and dad should have been doing this, but..." I bit my tongue, waiting for them to flinch after I reminded them of our parents and was really glad when they didn't. That was a good sign.
"Doing what?" Jeremy asked, confused. "What should've mom and dad been doing? You are kinda scaring me right now, sis."
"I don't think you should be telling this both of us, Thal," Elena threw a glance at Jeremy.
"Stop acting like an adult Elena!" Jeremy huffed. "You are only two years older than me. Whatever this is, it sounds serious, so I'm not going anywhere!"
"Stop it, you two," I sighed, tiredly rubbing my temples. "I didn't start this conversation so you two could fight. This is serious. And he needs to know, Elena. Mom and dad wanted this."
They both shut up, but still kept throwing heated glances towards each other, acting like children.
"Have any of you ever read our ancestors' journals?" I finally asked, and they both stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me in confusion.
"You mean the ones about vampires?" Jeremy asked rolling his eyes. "Dad made me read them, but I didn't see a point. Our ancestors were nuts." He started laughing then noticed our serious faces and eventually stopped. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"This town and the founding families have... a history with supernatural. Our ancestors discovered the existence of vampires in 1864, when they appeared in Mystic Falls and were not so subtle about hiding their little secret."
Elena didn't look surprised so I assumed that Stefan had already told her this part of the story, Jeremy on the other hand... he looked like he was having an internal battle. He knew that I would never joke about something involving our parents and at the same time he had a hard time believing in existence of some fictional characters.
"You know about the fire in the old Fell's Church, right? That was where your ancestors rounded all the vampires that were in town and tried to execute them, and cover that as the casualty of the war. And they did a pretty good job. Since then, the members of the founding families kept that secret in their families, passing it down to their descendants through their journals. The parents revealed the secret to their children when they turned 17, or it was like that in our family at least, I don't really know about the others. The town's council knows about their existence and is always ready to strike."
"So mom and dad told you when you turned 17?" Elena asked leaning forward, almost spilling her coffee.
"Actually, I was already aware of their existence. I've met them... before... before I was adopted."
I knew I should have kept going, but I had one of those moments, when flashback after flashback drilled through my mind, so I had to close my eyes and count to ten, until I was ready to go again. I looked at my siblings and saw their sympathetic looks, even Jeremy looked like was starting to believe me.
"Is that... is that why you were receiving... special treatment?" Elena asked cautiously, wincing from her own words and I felt my heart warming up from the affection.
"No, actually, even though I've met one or two of them, they never caused me any harm. But there were others..." They both looked at me with huge eyes, as it was the first time ever when I revealed something about my past. "I don't know if you remember this Jer, um, but there was this accident. I was 10 and you were 7, we were playing outside near the woods, when this huge dog appeared out of nowhere and tried to attack us. It was the first time when it happened. The dog was so huge and scary and you were crying and I knew that I needed to protect you at any cost, but it was so huge and obviously rabid that I felt helpless and angry. It was about to jump, when I felt some strange feeling inside me like I was about to explode, and it suddenly was sent flying into a nearby tree as if punched by a huge invisible fist. We ran away, but you never said anything about the flying dog, so I assumed you didn't see what really happened, as you were right behind me, or were too scared to notice anything strange."
Jeremy looked at me with huge eyes and pulled his own hair in frustration as if trying to remember.
"I... I remember that day... it took mom and dad a while to calm me down," he slowly said squinting his eyes tightly. "But... I don't remember how we ran away... I remember it's bloodshot eyes... and foaming at the mouth, how you hid me behind your back. I was so scared that I closed my eyes for a second and the only thing that I heard for a while was its loud barking... and then everything stopped. Then you grabbed my hand and dragged me away. That's all I remember."
Elena was listening to our brother's story, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes teary. I'm sure mine were too, because I remembered everything like it was yesterday, how he was crying... crying so hard that no one was able to calm him down. I was shaken too, as I knew that everything could've ended badly for me and my little brother that day. That incident was one of the reasons why I practiced magic like crazy later on.
"I remember that day too. You were scared of the dogs for months after that," Elena said, her voice cracking. "But I was too young, I didn't know it was that bad... I'm sorry."
She gently squeezed his hand, while I slowly untangled his other hand out of his hair and squeezed it too.
"Everyone was so concerned about me, but they never really acknowledged the fact that you were scared too," he mumbled looking at me apologetically.
"I was," I simply said. "But not for myself. The only thing that was on my mind was: "not my baby brother". It doesn't matter what happens to me. I can handle much worse. The only thing that matters is my family's safety."
"Stop. You always take care of us, despite being in pain yourself," Jeremy said harshly, squeezing my hand in return. "You always do, in small things and bigger." His voice broke, but he still continued. "After mom and dad died, me and Elena were a mess... and you were always there for us. I... I know I would've been in a very wrong place right now if it wasn't for you, and I know it's the same with Elena too. But we never... I mean... we never asked how you really were feeling about it, we never..."
We were all crying at the moment, the pain was still raw and I was bloody sure it would never be gone completely. That kind of pain never does.
"I felt that it would be wrong to let the grief suffocate me when you needed me the most, that they were your parents more than they were mine. That it didn't matter how bad I was hurt because you had it worse."
"How could you think that?" Elena managed to ask between sobs. "They were your parents too. We were all hurt the same."
I didn't even know that it was there. So many feelings and the pain. I didn't even know that I needed this. That we needed this. To let it all out. It was like we lanced a huge boil. It hurt like bitch but it was the first step to a true healing.
It took us a while to calm down. The silence was not heavy this time, it was cozy and warm, like a hot cocoa in the winter. Jeremy was the first to break the silence.
"So magic, huh?" he asked sarcastically making me laugh.
"Yeah, magic," I chuckled. "Not long after that incident, my grandma showed up, as you know." They both nodded and I continued. "She turned out to be a witch," I said casually and chuckled internally at their shocked faces. "She told me that our bloodline was special and that our magic was different, so when I used my powers for the first time, she felt it, and instantly knew that somewhere out there was her flesh and blood."
"What do you mean by different magic?" Elena asked eagerly, her eyes shining with curiosity.
"Well, for example, Bonnie is a classic witch and her bloodline..."
"Bonnie is a witch?" Jeremy gasped while at the same time Elena mumbled: "So she really is a witch."
"Yeah, she is. And her grandmother too as was... is her mother, wherever she is right now. Bennetts are powerful witches but, they are... common, I guess. Almost all the witches nowadays channel magic from their ancestors or any other outer source, but witches of my bloodline are known to have our own magic, our own magical core. I don't know how to explain this," I shook my head and continued. "That's not the point really. Anyways, my grandmother and her daughter were the last witches of our bloodline before I came along."
"So, do you know what happened with your... biological mother?" Jeremy asked carefully.
"After my grandfather died, she ran away and hid her presence with a spell so her mother couldn't find her. Grandma didn't know what she was up to or where she was for years, she felt the presence of her magic but she didn't know her exact location, until one day she stopped feeling her magic at all."
Elena and Jeremy shared a glance as if arguing about who was going to ask the uncomfortable question, while I watched them amusedly. It was so sweet that they were trying not to hurt my feelings, so I decided to save both of them from the awkward outcome.
"She died," I simply said and they both flinched. "Don't feel bad. I never knew her. I found out that she died giving birth to me, but she wasn't... I mean she was partially guilty of my... unhappy childhood, before mom and dad found me." I smiled gently and saw them relaxing as well. Good, it was enough sorrow for one day. "When grandma felt her death she thought that our bloodline was broken, until she felt me ten years later. Long story short, she taught me everything she knew, including everything about the supernatural world."
"So you knew about the vampires," Elena said thoughtfully, biting her lip. "But you were seventeen long before the... accident, so why didn't mom and dad let you in on a family secret?"
"I think they wanted to do that on your seventeenth birthday, Elena. So they could tell all of us at once. But at the same time I think they didn't want us to learn at all. I overheard their conversation one night, they were discussing that topic and mom was really anxious about us knowing, she said that there were no vampires in Mystic Falls for a very long time and as such there was no need to drop that bomb on our heads, so they agreed that they wanted us to have a proper childhood. They would have eventually told us of course, but they would have postponed it as far as they could."
"So, what changed?" Jeremy asked suddenly. "Don't get me wrong, I believe you, and I'm kinda glad that I know, though it's scary knowing that there are... some predators out there and stuff, but... why now? Something happened today that changed your mind, right?" He asked me and immediately continued without letting me answer. "And it has something to do with Vicki wreaking a havoc in our kitchen, right? Is she... is she a vampire?" he asked again lowering his voice as if afraid that someone would overhear us. "I mean she acted weird... but she didn't... I don't know... look like a vampire. And she entered the house easily too. The journals said that a vampire should be invited into the house and I sure as hell didn't invite her in. And you," he suddenly turned to Elena, gasping at the thought that occurred to him. "You knew too! You knew about the vampires!"
"Hey, hey, calm down little bro," I said soothingly. "Just take a deep breath okay? You are rumbling." I waited until he calmed down a bit, then continued. "You are right, something did change. Just like our parents, I was postponing the "big reveal of all things that go bump in the night" for a while now, mostly because I had no idea how to bring that up. So you can imagine my shock, when I returned home today and found my little brother with a maggot of a vampire, who could go crazy at any moment and complete the transition using that said brother as a snack."
I was almost growling at the end, my anger at the whole situation raising its ugly head again. The day had not even ended yet and I had such an overwhelming emotional roller-coaster that if I was a little bit weaker mentally I could have ended having a heart attack.
"What do you mean a maggot? Is she a vampire or not?" Elena asked confused.
"Not yet. She is in transition, which means that she needs to drink human blood to become a vampire."
"You mean she could've..." Elena gasped terrified at what could have happened to Jeremy if I came home later, even Jeremy looked a little green.
"Vampires are like... humans with heightened emotions. No, not like that." I shook my head at the bad analogy. "When a human turns into a vampire, all of his or her emotions and personality traits heighten. Which means, for example, if you are a really kind and caring person, as a vampire you would never hurt anyone, like drinking blood only from blood bags or stuff, just not to hurt anyone. If you are a calm and collected person in general, as a vampire you would have an excellent control as well. In Vicki's case..." I winced. "Vicki is not a good person and what's even worse she's a drug addict. Can you imagine what kind of vampire she would become?"
I saw the realization crossing their faces, and nodded grimly, confirming their darkest conclusions.
"Oh my God," Elena quietly said.
"She will never be able to control her bloodlust. She's like the last person who should be turned into a vampire. Ever." I saw Jeremy's scared expression and felt sad about dragging him into this mess.
"What should we do?" he asked quietly, looking at me hopefully. His faith in me was so heartwarming that I couldn't help but give him a small smile.
"Well, first of all, if she doesn't feed on human blood in the next 24 hours, she's dead."
"Like dead dead?" Elena asked quickly, then shook her head. "Oh my God, poor Matt."
"Yeah, like dead dead." I confirmed, though it wasn't necessary. "Second of all, if she actually turns, Stefan would try to help her... teach her how to be a vampire."
"Wait, Stefan is a vampire?" Jeremy asked, almost choking on his now cold coffee that he was nervously sipping for last two minutes. "That's why you said that she was his responsibility! And you said something about his brother and... that means he is a vampire too! Did one of them turn her? Wait, wait, wait," me and Elena looked at him sympathetically as his mind was obviously blowing up from all the thoughts that came and went in supersonic speed. "Those bodies, the news guy said there was a fire, and Vicki was there and was turned, which means someone killed them all and turned Vicki and... You are dating a vampire and you know it!" He finished his chaotic speech with an accusing look that he threw at Elena, who flinched and looked away trying to avoid his gaze.
"I learned about it yesterday. There were too many weird things about Stefan, it didn't take long to put two and two together," she mumbled, still not looking at Jeremy.
"You are too smart for your own good," I sighed, taking a sip of my cold coffee and wincing at the terrible taste. "Or too bloody nosy."
"Hey," she exclaimed turning to me, but was interrupted by Jeremy.
"So are you still dating him or not?" he asked impatiently.
"We, uh, it's complicated," she mumbled again, almost getting smaller under Jeremy's irritated gaze.
"What do you mean it's complicated?" he almost shouted. "You can't be with him, he is a freaking vampire!"
"Hey!" I said loudly, banging on the table dramatically. "There's no place for racism in this house!"
"What?" He turned to me totally confused. "But you said that we needed to learn how to protect ourselves and..."
"Yes, I did. And I meant it. I'm going to teach both of you how to defend yourselves and that's it. We are not going to look for trouble, hunting vampires or something like that. Vampires are just like humans, I mean there are bad ones, the ones that don't give a shit about human lives and stuff, but there are good ones too." He didn't look convinced, so I went on, trying to make him understand. I didn't want him to turn into some vampire hater. "Look, I told you that I met them before. Before I was adopted I was in a really bad place, and the vampires were not the torturers there, they were prisoners and victims. I'm not saying that all of them are innocent, no, some of them really need to be put down, but there are decent ones among them too. I'm just asking you not to go jumping to conclusions. The world is not only black and white, Jeremy."
It was quite for a moment. He was looking straight into my eyes, and I could see his body relaxing with every second, until he finally sighed in defeat.
"Okay, I promise not to judge," he quietly said, breaking the eye contact and lowering his gaze to his cup. "I just... they are vampires. What are we gonna do?"
"He is right, no matter how I feel about Stefan... his brother is... he is..." Elena added too, suddenly losing all of her fuse, the cruel reality hitting her hard.
"The people in this town started dying from animal attacks, then not long after that appeared a new guy who also happened to be a vampire. I put two and two together and went to the Salvatore Boarding House to pay Stefan a visit and met his brother. I told both of them to not kill anyone in this town and to not hurt my loved ones. We made some kind of a truce. What happened yesterday with Vicki and her friends is an exception. I need to know why he did this, though I have some thoughts, but... I need to see the man. I didn't take him as a sloppy person."
Actually I was almost 100% sure about what happened, but I still needed to talk to him. And I am about to get that opportunity in a few seconds, I thought, when I felt a familiar presence on our doorstep. I stood up a second before he knocked at our door, and went to answer it ignoring my siblings' confused faces.
He totally didn't expect to see me. The smugness washed away from his face the second he noticed my pissed off expression. He sighed heavily, but didn't flinch, which made me respect him a little bit. The man got some balls.
I stepped aside letting him in silently, then closed the door behind him. He didn't look that good to be honest, like he haven't slept for days, which I'm sure was the truth. But he looked healthy enough. Of course he did, after he sucked dry all those druggies in the woods. I wondered if a vampire could get high after drinking a junkie's blood. Huh. A thought for another time.
"Look, I'm not gonna apologize for what I did," he said firmly, making me raise an eyebrow in silent request to go on. "Stefan vervained me, and held in a cellar for almost a week! I was starving when I got out, we didn't have any blood bags in the house, so when I ran into the woods and stumbled upon those misfits, I just couldn't help myself. Not that I even wanted to. I know about your ability to sense the truth and you know that I'm telling one right now. I didn't do it on purpose."
That was one hell of a speech right there. I had to try really hard not to roll my eyes at him. The guy should learn to admit his mistakes. And being his smug, cocky self he suffered a lot just saying all of that.
"I believe you. But there are two things that bother me at the moment and you sure as hell is going to fix that," I said calmly, not breaking an eye contact. I saw Elena and Jeremy's curious faces peaking from the kitchen but decided to carry on. "First of all, you created a huge mess, and alarmed the council even more this time. Mrs. Lockwood was looking for the Gilbert watch, but I already gave it to my brother and told her that I lost it, but she didn't look like she believed me. They are getting ready for a "witch hunt" and I'm considering letting them deal with you more and more as of late. Second of all, why the hell did you turn Vicki Donovan?"
I really wanted to know the answer to my question, because the way that girl escaped death was quite alarming. She was like a freaking cockroach. I always hated when in movies some very annoying characters would survive everything including a nuclear bomb, when the good guys would literally die from one punch. It was so unfair.
"I'll deal with the council," he said cockily and I had to suppress the burning desire to punch him in the face. He always underestimated humans, thinking himself invincible. "I have a few ideas already, don't you worry. And about your second question, the answer is "I don't know". Believe it or not, I tried to kill the girl three times and she still survived. I've found it kinda poetic."
"Of course you did. I wonder sometimes, what is going on in that psychotic mind of yours. Out of all people to pick as your little pet project, you picked the one that hates my family." I became completely serious and he tensed a little, feeling my anger. "She came here and almost completed the transition by using my baby brother's vein."
"How was I even supposed to know that?" he asked sounding irritated, and I believed him. "I don't follow your little drama here, you know? I just turned some random girl, how was I supposed to know that she has some beef with you?"
"Cut the crap Damon. Even if you didn't know that, you still turned a junkie into a vampire. And I'm sure as hell you did it on purpose. She's an addict, for God's sake! So much with being subtle!"
"Okay, fine. I admit I did it on purpose," he finally cracked, his voice filled with irritation. "Stefan was trying so hard to save her from me before, plus I wanted him out of my hair. He would try to force his bunny diet on her, which would take almost all of his time, which in turn would get him busy enough to keep him out of my business. It's a win win."
"Yeah. For you. As always. Why am I even surprised," I muttered the last part pinching the bridge of my nose in irritation. "Okay. With that out of the way, why the hell are you here?"
"Of course I'm looking for my little brother," he rolled his eyes in a "duh" manner. "Considering the fact that he and your sister are together, I deduced that I would find him here."
"Well, Sherlock, you deduced wrong. He is out there, looking for Vicki."
"Yeah, figured. So, considering that little punks over there were eavesdropping the whole time, I assume they are now in the know?" he half asked half stated, turning around and giving a small cheeky wave to my siblings, only to receive an irritated look from Jeremy and an eye roll from Elena.
"My sister is too smart and you and your brother wouldn't recognize subtlety even if it bit you in the ass. Now, I don't want to sound like an inhospitable host, but now when you know that your brother's not here, you should just go and look for him somewhere else. We are in the middle of something here."
"Okay, okay, jeez," he said throwing his hands up in mock defeat and heading to the front door. "I really need to exchange a few words with my brother and fast, so... See you around, witchy."
We watched him leave, none of us saying a word until we heard him starting his car. Elena and Jeremy exchanged a look as if not knowing what to think about this whole situation. I checked the time and saw that it was late already and Jenna would be home soon.
"Okay, I think we should just call it a day, alright? We all had a confusing day and I know that you still have a lot of questions and I promise, I'll answer all of them tomorrow. For now I think we should just clean the mess that Vicki's left behind, before Jenna comes home and starts asking questions."
That got their attention and without wasting more time we started tidying the kitchen. We worked in silence, not needing any words, our teamwork as amazing as always.
Though I couldn't read people's minds it was no secret for me what both of them were thinking about. Me, on the other hand... Well, I was experiencing this strange mixture of bitterness and anger, looking at all the damaged food that the bitch threw around my kitchen. I always had a thing about food. Being starved for almost five years does that to you, you know? You start to appreciate food. I always finished my meals leaving nothing behind, and tried to control our fridge so that we didn't have to waste food because it had gone off lying there for too long. Eventually all my family and friends got the idea and started doing the same, and I really appreciated that. It was even crazier when I just moved in this house, when I saw the amount of food they had... I don't even want to remember this.
We were almost finished when I excused myself and went to take a shower. I took my bag where I dropped it when I entered the house some hours ago and went to my room. This whole situation shook me more than I thought it would. I was still worried that they would hate me because I was a witch. That fear was too old and too strong, poisoning my thoughts for years, I swear I tried to get rid of it, but I didn't succeed yet. I wanted to talk to Nik, so that he could calm me down and tell me that everything would be okay. Childish, I know, but it was one of the perks of having a boyfriend.
I cringed yet again, calling Niklaus Mikaelson a boyfriend. I wished if there was another suitable word to call him, but thought that it would be a little bit strange if I called him my man. Though even that would be better than calling him my boyfriend.
I realized then that I must've zoned out once again, as I found myself staring inside my wardrobe for a last couple of minutes thinking about Nik, and burst into giggles. I quickly took a fresh set of clothes and went to my bathroom to take a quick shower, thinking about calling him when I finish, as I found a few missed calls from him, probably calling to know if I arrived safely.
I was about to dial his number, trying to dry my wet hair with a towel, when I heard the front door opening. I threw the phone on my bed and went to greet Aunt Jenna. I would call him later.
All the while talking to Jenna I couldn't escape the feeling of guilt. She was the only one in our family that wasn't aware of vampires now. She deserved to know just in case, because I had this feeling that peaceful days in Mystic Falls had come to an end. Of course she was wearing the vervain bracelet that I gave her, most of all, I kept adding some dry vervain almost in all food in the house, not even counting my herbal tea that they were all obsessed with, so they consumed the herb almost every day. But still.
Engrossed with the guilt I didn't notice at first that she was upset with something. She was sitting at the kitchen table, working on her thesis once again, but she looked like she was rereading the same page over and over again, huffing in annoyance from time to time. So I decided to take matters in my own hands and started preparing the tea using my grandma's recipe this time. The mixture of herbs was supposed to calm down the nerves and clear the head. I used to prepare it for Elena and Jeremy to help with their studying. But it would work just fine in this situation as well.
"So," I said putting the cup of tea in front of Jenna, startling her out of her thoughts. "Why do you look so down? What happened?"
She blinked a few times, returning to reality, then gave me a grateful smile, taking a sip of her tea.
"It's nothing really. You don't need to worry." She tried to look confident, but failed miserably.
"Really?" I asked arching an eyebrow at her, my voice filled with disbelief. "Okay, then. Elena told me about your little date with Mr. Logan Fell. How did it go?"
I knew I hit the right spot, when her eyes sparkled with anger which then turned into sadness once again.
"Fine, you caught me. It went okay actually, it's just... I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but it looked like he was interested in this house more than he was in me," she snorted as if showing how ridiculous that thought was, obviously not telling me everything, but I didn't return the smile.
I remember how he was circling around her at the founder's party, suddenly interested in starting over, but... I know my Aunt is a beautiful woman and any man would be stupid to lose her, but there was something fishy about Logan, but I couldn't put my finger on what that was exactly. So instead of continuing the conversation about him, I decided to distract her a little bit.
"You know I could read your tea leaves and see if there would be another date?" I asked hesitantly and she immediately raised her head and looked at me with excitement.
"You would do that? I now how you don't like doing it."
And that was true. I was a Seer and could look into the future not waiting for a vision to hit me, but it wasn't even half as effective as a full blown vision. Just a few glimpses here and there, but still it was more than enough for everyone who knew about that ability of mine. Though I tried to not use it much, not wanting to attract unwanted attention, so not a lot of people knew about it. And there was the fact that it didn't work all the time. Sometimes when people were better not knowing something, the Universe would kinda block that ability of mine so I couldn't see a damn thing, but it only happened when some really important events were concerned, so I think this time I was okay performing the divination.
Jenna quickly finished her tea and handed me her cup. She looked so eager, like a little girl who was about to receive a candy, and I couldn't hold a small laugh, before looking into her cup. She already had stirred it a little so I didn't have to remind her to do that.
I couldn't see anything at first, then came a few blurred images and I had to concentrate to really see them.
"I see you laughing," I started slowly, feeling her building excitement and desire to ask some questions, but she knew better than to do that. "You are wearing a..." I had to take a pause to make sure that I saw that clearly, "...a man's shirt. Your legs are bare so I assume you are naked under it. There's a man, and he's only wearing sweatpants and... oh my, what a body! Good job, Aunt Jenna! I don't know him, but he's handsome. Looking around thirty something and he really looks like he works out a lot. You are in our house at the second floor, sneaking to your room, kissing at the every step and I think you have an ice cream in your hands. You stopped to kiss once again near Jeremy's room and," I had to stop, the scene was so funny that I couldn't help myself.
"What! What happened?" she asked half nervous half flushed.
"Jeremy came out of his room and spotted you," I finally said. "And oh my God, you both look like two deer caught into headlights."
The mini vision ended abruptly and I looked at Jenna only to find her blushing and giggling at the same time.
"That's... that's promising," she finally said but burst into giggles once again. "Not the part with Jeremy of course."
"You should've seen Jeremy's face," I said, my body shaking from holding laughter. "It was priceless."
We looked at each other and started laughing again.
"So this guy..." she started again, after we both calmed down, curiosity shining in her eyes, her cheeks flushed. "You say he's hot?"
"Oh if I was into older guys I would've definitely jumped his bones," I said wiggling my eyebrows at her.
"Thalia!"
"Okay, okay, I'm kidding. I'm already taken, so you are safe there," I said teasingly and she flushed again. "You both looked really happy though. And I liked the guy too. There was something about him, like he's what you need, the kind, caring and smart type of guy."
"You are describing a perfect man here, dear niece of mine," she rolled her eyes at me, but I still could see that my words got to her. "I don't think that type even exists. But knowing you, if you are saying he's a good guy..." she trailed off thoughtfully but then shook her head and gave me a warm smile. "You know I always admired Grayson and Miranda's relationship. They were like two pieces of one heart. I hope that some day I would really meet that kind of man."
"Oh, you will, Aunt Jenna. Believe me, you will."
Even after saying all this, I could feel that she didn't believe me completely. Why is that people are always ready to believe in bad things, but never in good. I mean, she definitely thought that I made that all up, just to make her feel better, because that was too good to be true. But I wasn't going to try and convince her. I knew that it will happen one day, probably even sooner than later. She will see.
I was finally alone in my room, wearing my pajamas and ready for bed. I turned off the lights and lay down. Sneaking under the covers I dialed Nik's number once again. He answered almost immediately.
"Hey," I tiredly said, suppressing a yawn.
"Thalia! Is everything alright? You weren't answering your phone." His voice was filled with concern, showing that he was worried about me. I wish I could have kissed his worries away.
"I'm sorry. A lot of things happened, I had to take care of a vampire in transition and have a serious talk with my siblings. I'm drained."
"What do you mean a vampire in transition? Are you alright? What happened?"
"I'm fine, you know I can take care of myself, it's just... When I got home I found her in my house... with my baby brother." I paused letting the seriousness of the situation to sink in. "To say that I was mad would be an understatement."
"Is he alright? Where did the vampire in transition even come from in a first place?"
"Yeah, he is fine. I arrived just in time. About where she came from. Well, I don't remember if I told you this, but there are two vampires in town at the moment, Stefan and Damon Salvatore."
"I don't recall you telling me about it, love. I've heard of them, even met one before. I assume they are the ones you painted? Are they a threat?"
"Well I must've forgotten. I wanted to tell you about them when I came to visit, but, well, it suddenly appeared that we had more interesting things to do than talk about them." I heard him chuckle and couldn't help but smile myself. "I paid them a visit when people started dying from "animal attacks", and we made some kind of a truce. They were not to kill anyone and harm my loved ones in any way and in return I promised not to take their lives."
"Uh, that's my girl. Going around threatening century and a half year old vampires and being a badass." I could hear an amusement dripping from his voice and couldn't help but let out a small giggle. "So considering the fact that there was a transitioning vampire in your house, I assume they did something stupid."
"Yeah. The oldest, Damon, apparently have promised an eternity of misery to his brother, so things are getting wild around here. It would've been interesting to watch if it didn't concern my family's wellbeing." I told him then about Stefan and my sister being together, and Elena being a nosy smart ass, cracking Stefan's secret like a walnut. And about Vicki. "So I had to tell my siblings about the existence of vampires and answer a lot of their questions. This day was such an emotional roller coaster, that I'm literally drained right now. It would've been better if you were here so I could snuggle into your chest and tell everyone to fuck off."
His laugh soothed my erratic mind, lulling me to sleep better than any sleeping pill could. At the end I was just mumbling, trying to fight my sleep, but failing. He must've noticed that, because he wished me sweet dreams and hung up. Drifting away, I made a mental note to ask him about his encounter with one of Salvatore brothers, feeling that it was somehow important.
The next morning, I was... Guess what?! Yep, running as usual. I had a lot of catching up to do after I spent last few days doing nothing. Well, I was doing something, but I don't think that you can count it as a sporting activity. Anyways, I was running alone this time, letting Jeremy sleep in. Yesterday was a hard day for him so I left him alone for now. I've already prepared the course of training for both of them and decided to start tomorrow, so it was okay.
I came home and was about to go to the back yard to let some steam out using my punching bag, when I found Elena sitting in the kitchen, looking like she didn't sleep at all last night.
"What happened? Why are you up so early?" I quietly asked, gently caressing her hair.
"Stefan called. Vicki completed the transition," she simply said, but I could hear anxiety and sadness in her voice.
"Well, I would've preferred if she just did something useful in her life for once and died peacefully, but that would've been too good to become true." She chuckled weekly, but didn't react other than that. "But that's not why you were crying last night, is it?"
"I... I broke up with Stefan." Her voice broke at the end, eyes started getting teary for what looked like the nth time in the last few hours.
"Oh, Ellie," I said sympathetically, hugging her tightly.
She buried her face into my chest and broke down in tears. We stood like this for a while, I tried to give her all the sympathy that I could, caressing her back and letting her cry it all out.
"I thought that he was the one. That finally there was someone who made me feel alive again. We kinda clicked you know? Like we were meant for each other. And then he," she choked on her tears and hugged me even tighter, as if trying to escape the pain. "He's a vampire, how can we even..."
"Shhh, it's okay." I tried to calm her down, but they were just empty words, so I decided to try something else. "You know, there's something else that I wanted to tell you. You're not the only one in this family who fell in love with a vampire."
It took a while for my words to sink in, but when they did she pulled away so quick that she almost fell from the chair.
"You mean... you mean what I think you mean, right?" I simply nodded, which made her eyes get even bigger. "You are telling me that Nik is..."
"Yeah, he's a vampire too."
"How... how did that even happen?" She asked curiously, her tears almost forgotten.
"Well, as I told you before, I met him at the exhibit. Now I need to clarify something. A witch can always recognize a vampire by touching him or her. You remember how one day Bonnie suddenly became wary of Stefan and claimed that she had a bad feeling about him?" I asked and waited until she nodded before carrying on. "So, when we first met, Nik kissed my hand and I immediately knew who he was, but... You know me, I'm a pretty good judge of character, so I instantly knew that he would never hurt me. He invited me for a walk and I said yes and everything was perfect, well apart from the fact that we were attacked by his enemies."
"You were what? Why? What happened?"
"It's okay, we managed to fight back. Actually I didn't even have to do anything, he's quite powerful, and old, waaay older than Stefan and Damon. So it wasn't a big deal. What I wanted to say is, I love him and I can't even imagine myself without him. He's not perfect, but he's perfect for me. And you should just listen to your heart."
It sounded a little cheesy, but it was the best advise for anyone. Our heart always knows what's best for us.
"You know we were all surprised with how much you changed after you came back from your trip to LA. You became softer and more content and, I don't know, whole, maybe. It was like you finally realized where your place in this world is and started to live properly. And when I learned that all of it happened because of a man, I suddenly felt a huge desire to find him and hug him to death."
Her words really meant a lot to me and I could feel my eyes getting teary. Ugh, all this emotional crap is getting out of hand.
"Oh no. No way in hell I'm letting you hug my man to death, you hugging monster. Who am I gonna snuggle with then?"
We both burst into giggles and I gently wiped her tears away. I hated it when she cried.
"Now. It's a good thing that you are up already. I kinda wanted to start tomorrow with both of you, but I guess I can give an introductory lesson today. So, go and put your best sweatpants on, because I'm gonna show you how to kick some vampire ass."