♤ [2] An Everlasting Nightmare

ı 20 ı The Perfect Lie

"DAMON!" James yells.

This is enough to snap Damon out of his trance, as he releases Stefan. He looks between all of us, with me still on the floor with wild eyes filled with rage.

James glares at Damon with complete anger and for a second I think they're going to have a full on fight right in front of me. Damon's actions crossed the line.

"Look Damon, we all know you love Elena, but let's not forget about your sister who risked her life with Klaus to save your damn life. So maybe you should stop being such a dick to the people that care about you," James yells, completely infuriated.

He offers me his hand and I gladly take is as we make our way out of the room. Joel on the other hand takes Damon's feeble state to throw in a punch, even stabbing him with a wooden chair leg.

"I never did kick your ass for killing my sister. Consider this part one -we're still not finished," Joel warns as Damon grunts in pain.

"Come on," James instructs. "They're doing a toast."

We all gather in the middle of the ball while waitresses hand out champagne with Esther standing on the staircase, eyeing the crowd suspiciously as she watches each of her children take a glass.

"I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It brings me great joy to see my family together as one at last. I would like to thank you all for gathering for this spectacular evening. Cheers!" Esther announces.

James and I exchange wary glances as we sip the champagne. I glance around, the glass still pressed to my lips until I find Elena. The way she stares at Elijah until he takes a sip of his champagne is too suspicious, and I know James senses it too. For now we ignore it, but I can't shake the feeling we shouldn't have.

After the toast everyone slowly leaves. It's a long and tedious couple of minutes but soon it's only a few that remain. James left a few minutes ago to talk to Esther seeing as they've known each other since James was a toddler. In truth, James went to see if he could dig anything up seeing as no one else was being very open about tonight, Elena especially.

I on the other hand walk to the door, catching up to Elena with Damon on her heels. It appears I've caught them right in the middle of an argument.

"Elena!" I call.

They break from their argument and turn to me. "What did Esther have to say? Did she say anything about Klaus?" I ask, interrogating her.

Elena gulps. "N-no. She just wanted to apologize," she stutters.

"Glad that you got what you wanted- now let's go," Damon demands, grabbing her harshly by her arm. By now Joel and James have joined us, observing the scene. 

"Let go Damon!" Elena snaps and he releases her at once. "I'm sorry I left you out of the plan, but I had to."

"Sorry for trying to save you life! I guess I care too much unlike Stefan," Damon yells.

"You're mad because I included Stefan?" Elena questions.

By now this argument has gotten quite entertaining as the three of us stand on the sidelines, crossing our arms across our chests wishing we had popcorn.

"No Elena! I'm mad because I love you!" Damon finally admits.

Joel and I exchange childish glances, our mouths hung open in shock and surprise.

"Well maybe that's the problem," Elena mutters. Joel and I glance over at each other again, the same shocked expression on our faces like we've watched a fight unfold on the weekly 'Mystic Fall Housewives'.

"Oh shit," I whisper.

"Damnnnn," Joel agrees, nudging me in the elbow.

James decides to intervene before Damon can pull another idiotic move. "Let's go, now," he instructs, practically pushing Damon out the door.

"You too doppelgänger," I say, grabbing Elena's arm.

"You know, just FYI, that probably wasn't the best thing you could've said just then," Joel points out, but Damon only glares at him.

James turns back as we walk, shaking his head. "Joel? Not helping."

As we make our way to the cars, I look back and notice Klaus and Elijah watching over the lot from the balcony, and all I can wonder is what exactly their mother has planned for them.

∆ ∆ ∆

After changing out of the uncomfortable heels and buffy dress I finally make my way downstairs and pour myself a nice glass our bourbon. James and Joel come down moments later after changing from their suits. After they pour themselves a glass of Damon's bourbon, they sit with me in the living room.

"Elena's hiding something about whatever Esther told her. Her heart skipped a beat when I asked," I say.

"Yeah, when I spoke to Esther she seemed to avoid the topic completely. Instead we ended up talking about... spells?" James says, a distant look on his face.

"Spells?" Joel scrunches his brows together.

"About how she is alive, even though Klaus killed her," James explains.

"Klaus killed his own mother?" I ask.

Before they can answer, Damon walks in silently, pouring himself a glass of bourbon. He doesn't acknowledge us, nor does say anything. I feel a great urge to tell him how right I was about Elena, and how I never liked her but I know now isn't the time.

"I'm gonna go have a bath," I say, exiting out of the room, leaving the boys alone.

˙ ˙ ˙

JAMES POV

"You know Damon, I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned tonight," Joel says.

"Oh yeah? What is that?" Damon asks, still pondering over the bourbon table.

"That it's never too late to come over to the gay side," he says raising his glass, chuckling to himself. Clearly he's had too much bourbon in the short while we've been back.

"What I'm saying is you wouldn't feel this way if it weren't for Elena, and that women are a lot more confusing than men," Joel explains, when no one laughs.

I only roll my eyes, still angry with Damon for how he treated his sister. The sound of the water running sounds above us, but for some reason it's coming from Damon's room.

"Is there any reason Blair is using your bath tub instead of her own?" I ask out of curiosity.

Damon shrugs, taking a sip of his drink. "What would I know? She hates me."

"Oh gee, wonder why that is," Joel remarks sarcastically.

I place down my drink. "I'll be right back," I say before heading upstairs to Blair's room.

I creak open her door and turn on the light to her bathroom finding it empty. It doesn't make sense why she would use Damon's tub if hers is working perfectly fine. Confused, I'm about to walk out when I notice a single blood bag peaking out behind the shower curtain of the tub.

I walk to the tub and pull the curtain away, revealing dozens of more blood bags- all of which are empty, the bags drained bone dry.

There's enough bags to fill the entire tub, and now it all makes sense. The reason Blair seemed to get better so fast, how her emotions and everything she did with her switch off had sunk in- all of it was still there but numbed by the high of blood. She couldn't take a bath in her own tub because it was filled with hidden empty blood bags.

One more blood bag and I fear she might slip away again. That's something I can't have.

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[completed & edited: 08/19/2021]