The Salvatore Sister

Chapter Eight - Secrets

Damon had led me into the drawing room of the huge – and I mean huge – Salvatore Boarding House. I was perched on the end of the sofa taking in my surroundings as Damon poured out two glasses of whiskey. This is too weird, I thought to myself as I just watched my twin brother. I noted that his hands were shaking slightly as he poured the rich, golden liquid into the glasses. My own hands were clenched together to stop their quivering.
"So, where do you want me to start?" he asked, as he came back towards me and handed me my drink which I sipped timidly.
"From the beginning preferably," I told him as he sat down beside me.
"Well, I was born in the year 1839 to Giuseppe Salvatore and his wife-" Damon began with a smirk.
"Don't be a dick, Damon," I warned him, although kept an identical smirk to his on my face.
Damon chuckled slightly then began his story. He explained to me how Katherine had came to Mystic Falls pretending to be an orphan looking for a place to stay, he told me how Katherine had hid her being a vampire from him at first but revealed herself to him after he had fallen in love with her, how she had deceived Damon and had made Stefan fall in love with her too, he explained how Katherine had fed him vampire blood and that-
"Father killed you?" I exclaimed in pure disbelief, "He wouldn't... Father would never..."
"Wouldn't he?" Damon retorted, "Look Lia, after you died - or well, after we thought you'd died – everybody changed. And – except from me – no one changed more than Father did. You were his little princess... He just became so distant – even more so than he already was – he hated me. Because when he looked at me, he saw you."
I took a deep breath then said, "Well, what happened next?"
"The usual, I died, woke up in transition then... y'know... had to drink human blood to become a vampire," Damon explained but I knew there was something he wasn't telling me.
I pushed that thought aside however when I prompted, "You were going to explain to me how someone who looks exactly like Katherine isn't Katherine..."
"Oh, right, that... Well..." he began but didn't get to explain when we both heard the sounds of the front door open.
"Damon?" a voice shouted from the hall.
"In here," Damon replied.
As if on some natural, worried instinct I had developed I stood up to meet the new arrivals and Damon shadowed my movements right down to the nanosecond. I was poised for some sort of threat when I saw three figures enter the room, but my eyes darted immediately to the female at the front.
"Katherine-" I gasped out, forgetting what Damon had said, I went to dart towards her and rip her heart out but was stopped by strong arms wrapping around my waist.
"No!" Damon exclaimed as he grabbed me, then brought his mouth to my ear and whispered, "This isn't Katherine. This is Elena, remember I mentioned her..."
"But she's-"
"I know."
"And she-"
"Yep."
"I always hated it when you did that," a new voice piped up.
My eyes opened wide in surprise and I turned to study the male figure that had entered the room with Katherine – sorry, Elena. He was standing with a slight smile tugging at his lips as he in turn studied me.
"Stef?" I asked in a hushed voice, not sure I was quite believing this.
"Hi Amelia," he replied, looking almost sheepish.
"Oh my god, it's you," I gasped, not being able to resist the joyful smile that slipped onto my face.
"It's me," he smiled.
I tore out of Damon's arms that were still cautiously wrapped around me, and he went to grab me again but stopped when he saw me run in all the glory of vampire speed into Stefan's arms. I pulled my baby brother to me as close as it was possible and squeezed the living daylights out of him – I'm sure it would've been awkward if he wasn't doing the same to me. I inhaled deeply and – I know this may sound weird – learned he still smelled the exact same as little Stef always had. My brothers are still alive.
From somewhere behind me I heard my twin mutter, "Yeah, he gets a hug straight away, and what do I get? Manic laughter in my face."
I slipped gently out of Stefan's arms to look at his face. He had grown up certainly, but those tell-tale green eyes still held the spark so typical of my little brother. His features had matured and he'd lost his baby fat.
Our little "moment" was interrupted by the Katherine-Clone (I'm going to call her that from now on) who said, "Can someone explain to me what's going on here? Isn't she the tomb vampire?"
"She has a name you know," I snapped, disliking her already.
The Katherine-Clone looked offended and looked to Stefan and then to Damon in confusion, then she turned back to me and drew me a dirty look (which almost made me laugh).
"Right," Stefan said, breaking the pregnant pause, "Elena, this is Amelia. Amelia this is Elena Gilbert my... girlfriend."
"Girlfriend, huh?" I asked, turning to the Katherine-Clone with an expression on my face I knew was a tad too hostile; she at least had the sense to look scared.
"Yeah, and who are you?" she asked, unable to mask the slight quiver in her voice.
"I'm Amelia, like he said," I told her, my tone patronising, "I'm-"
Stefan's older sister, I would have finished if Stefan hadn't cut me off, "- An old friend of mine. And Damon's."
The hostile look that had originally been on my face was replaced with one that I knew would be undeniable confusion. I looked around at Damon who had the same look on his face and was studying Stefan with a raised eyebrow. I turned back to Stefan and went to correct him when he quickly shook his head once, too fast for the Katherine-Clone to catch. Someone's keeping secrets.
"Oh-kay..." Elena – sorry, the Katherine-Clone – said exaggeratedly, "Well, it's nice to meet you."
Stefan might have fallen for her little act but I could see right through her, the welcoming smile on her face wasn't the only fake thing about her – I could see her eyes deceiving her, call me intuitive – or paranoid.
"Wish I could say the same," I muttered just loud enough for her to hear resulting in her totally fake smile to slide off her face.
"Lia!" Damon scalded like I was a child who had been cut head-first in the cookie jar.
"My bad, D'," I called back to him, then turned my attention back to my not-so-baby-anymore brother, "I can't believe it's really you, Stefan. Last time I saw you – well apart from earlier – you were, like, yay big," I held my hand out to just bellow my shoulder to highlight where Stefan had reached up to last time I saw him.
Stefan chuckled slightly and said, "Well, I did grow up."
"It's so weird..."
"I know," Stefan said with both sadness and happiness lacing his tone, "I'm sorry, but there's something we have to do. We'll talk more later, okay? Um- Elena?"
I nodded slowly in understanding and stepped back to stand beside Damon who immediately wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Right..." the Katherine-Clone began, "Damon, we came here for a reason. You need to give us Johnathan Gilbert's invention – for Isobel. She's got Jeremy."
"Absolutely not," Damon said straight away.
"Hear me out," she begged.
"I'm not going to give the device to Isobel who can give it to John who is going to turn around and kill me," Damon explained, and I watched on with concern and I felt an anger flare up in me, whoever wanted to kill my brother would die before they got near him, "I like being a living... dead person."
I giggled softly at Damon's words and I Damon chuckled softly at his own joke.
"Yeah, what is this thing?" I decided to speak up, "You said Johnathan Gilbert's invention-"
I had heard that before: "Because I was curious about you. But the real reason is: I want what you're uncle wants. Johnathan Gilbert's invention." The conversation I had overheard in the Mystic Grill!
"It's a device," Stefan explained, "Apparently it's fatal to vampires."
"But it would be useless," Elena spoke up, "Bonnie can take its power away."
Bonnie? Who is- But then I turned to the figure in the room I had completely overlooked. She was standing a little further back, leaning against one of the tables in the vast drawing room.
"I don't trust her," Damon said and automatically I didn't trust her either – call it twin telepathy.
I turned to the girl who was still unknown to me and asked, "And you are?" Bonnie didn't reply, just stared – or rather, glared – at me.
"This is Bonnie Bennett," Stefan spoke up for the incredibly rude girl.
"Bennett?" I asked and Stefan nodded, "You don't happen to know if you're related to a Brianna Bennett do you?"
Bonnie just shrugged and I felt my eyebrows rise. What-a-bitch.
"What do you actually plan on doing?" Damon asked Bonnie, reverting the conversation back.
"I can remove the original spell," Bonnie said as if it was no big deal.
"John and Isobel will never know," Elena said.
"No, no, I'll get Jeremy my own way," Damon said and I looked up at him, feeling very much the odd one out – who the hell are all these people?
"How are you going to do that?" Stefan asked, "Because Isobel is a vampire and Jeremy could be dead the second you walk in the door."
I couldn't take my cluelessness any longer so asked, "Who are these people? Isobel? And Jeremy?"
"Jeremy's my little brother," the Katherine-Clone explained to me, a bitter tone to her voice, "And Isobel is... my birth mother."
I couldn't help but laugh, "Well, it's all happening 'round here isn't it?"
This received varying looks from all around the room, Damon gave me something close to amusement, Elena and Bonnie were both glaring at me and I couldn't pick which one was filled with more hatred, and Stefan was looking at me almost like he was warning me not to say anymore – so I didn't.
"Are you even up for this?" Damon turned back to Bonnie, "It's just that, no offense, you're no Emily Bennett. Emily knew what she was doing."
"I've been practicing," Bonnie informed the room.
"This isn't piano lessons, honey," Damon retorted and I smirked.
"What's your favourite book?" the witch asked my brother.
"What?" Damon asked, echoing my exact thoughts.
"Name a book, any book."
"Name a book..." Damon muttered to himself in deep thought, "How about; 'Call of the Wild',Jack London?"
Bonnie turned around to face the library and I watched her with one eyebrow quirked in the air. All of a sudden a book started to jerk slightly before it flew in Damon and my direction. Catching it in one hand Damon brought it round to read it.
"Jack London," he muttered before throwing it to the side.
"Great parlour trick," I said and strangely enough heard it echo beside me. I turned and realised Damon had said it at the exact same time as I had – even I was pretty spooked by that. Twin telepathy is still intact.
"We're doing this, Damon," Elena commanded, "And we're going to do it my way. Now give me the device."
"Something tells me there's a Daddy's little princess in our midst," I muttered.
Everyone in the room turned and gave me an odd look and if it were possible Elena was glaring at me with even more hatred in her eyes.
"What?" I asked, "What'd I say?"
Choosing to ignore me, Elena turned back to Damon, "We're wasting time!"
"I don't trust you," Damon said, directing it to Bonnie, "I tried to kill you." Good.
Bonnie made an odd sound that sounded like "mmm" before saying, "You're right, you can't trust me."
"But you can trust me," Elena said in a hushed tone.
There was an awkward pause when everyone just looked at Damon. Damon looked down at me for something, guidance maybe? So I just shrugged. I turned my attention to Stefan who was watching Damon and the Katherine-Clone with an odd expression, he looked worried, and almost sad. The look increased when Damon placed a small device that resembled a pocket-watch into Elena's outstretched hand.
"Thank you," Elena whispered as Stefan's eyes shut.
I have a feeling history may just repeat itself.