Pernicious | Kai Parker

Chapter 6

It was easily the worst car ride ever.

Amelia hated being in the front seat. She usually tried to sleep if she had to be there, but given the situation, sleep wasn't the wisest idea. Covering her face, she brought her knees to her chest and groaned every now and then.

Silas was yammering away about stuff she didn't care about, and he was a terrible driver. He kept swerving and laughing at random things on the road as if it wasn't urgent that they get to New Jersey before sundown.

"I'm gonna throw up if you keep doing that," Amelia moaned, grabbing at her water bottle and chugging a bit of it before putting her head back down.

"Yeah, Silas, drive straight, Elena's calling," said Damon from behind Amelia. "Hello," he answered in a funny voice.

"Stefan's with Tessa, of all people, can you believe that? Why does he keep going back to her?"

Jeremy made a face as Damon sighed. "Look, who knows? Amnesia Stef's a fickle little—"

"Wait," said Silas, looking at Damon through the rearview mirror. "You didn't tell Elena what we did to Stefan?"

Amelia snapped her head up, and in unison, she, Elena, and Jeremy said, "What?"

Damon gritted his teeth. "Silas needed his psychic juju to get into Tessa's head and the only way to temporarily reactivate his abilities was to break Stefan's neck... a couple times."

"As if he didn't hate us enough! Damon, oh, god. I'm going over there."

"She should, really," said Silas sarcastically. "Tessa's bad business."

"No," said Damon instead. "Just let Stefan have his space. It's like you said, he's already mad enough."

"Sounds like he's more mad at you. Maybe he and I can find some common ground." She hung up, and Damon scoffed, tossing the phone into the back of the car.

Silas smirked, looking at all three of them. "Knock, knock."

They were silent. "Knock, knock," said Silas. "Who's there? The mayor. The mayor who?"

He gestured to Amelia to answer, but when she didn't, he went to Damon. "Well, who?" said Damon irritably.

"No one!" said Silas, tapping his hands against the wheel. "That's the joke. No one's there because I killed the mayor."

Amelia turned to look at Jeremy, and they both moved to glare at Silas. "You're a dick," said Jeremy as Amelia grabbed Silas's arm and siphoned again. "Drive and shut the fuck up." She then made a choking sound. "Oh second thought, pull over, right now."

As soon as Silas stopped the car, she bolted out, managing to pull her hair back as she threw up on the side of the road.

At long last, they arrived in New Jersey, and Amelia was grateful to get out of the car. "Never let him drive me anywhere again," she groaned, holding her stomach as they went up to the warehouse.

"Believe me, I'm with you on that," said Damon.

Silas walked up behind them, happy as can be. "How do you do it, Damon? How can you stand being here while your girlfriend sits at home, worrying about her doppelgänger soul mate?"

"It's called being secure," the vampire replied. "I'm assuming you know a little bit about that by the way you wear your hair. Please don't tell me you believe in this doppelgänger prophecy crap."

"Crap? What do you mean 'crap?' Do you not notice the universe trying to mirror my love for Amara by bringing our doppelgängers together?"

"You do realize that by destroying the Other Side, that you are personally moving Heaven and Earth to be together. That's not fate, you idiot. That's you being a crazy person."