I CAN'T SAVE US ↠ KAI PARKER

31. deal with the devil

"If it was up to me... I think maybe I would give him another chance but just because we owe it to our real-selves" I said answering her initial question and she suppressed a smile "but there would be a lot of ground rules and a lot of making up to do, it's all hypothetically speaking anyways" I shrugged and she gave me a nod.

"Then we'll do a hypothetical intervention, as soon as you have a say in it" she added with a smile and I chuckled.

"Did Alaric say why we're meeting at the Lockwood mansion and not the school or the armory?"

"No, he was very secretive about it, I think something happened" Bonnie replied with a worried frown.

"Makes sense, nor him or Caroline were at the school this morning... or the twins" I added, surprised by the tone of concern in my voice.

"I'm sure they're okay, I would've felt something" she was right, they were okay, I needed to stop immediately assuming something bad happened, though in Mystic Falls that seemed the appropriate reaction to almost every situation.

I parked next to Alaric's car and Bonnie and I exchanged concerned looks as soon as we noticed Elena's and Stefan's cars parked in the driveway too. I knew it had to be something bad, why else would they gather us all to have a random meeting in the middle of the day? I just hoped it wasn't related to whoever was after us or Kai.

We rushed inside the house, expecting to find the usual commotion meetings like this brought out but the silence only made me worry even more, it was too quiet. I followed Damon's voice to the living room, where we found him sitting with Stefan near the chimney, their troubled expressions confirming what we'd been dreading and their eyes widened as soon as they saw us standing by the entrance "Is everything okay? Where's everybody?" I asked and they both shared a strained look.

"They're upstairs with the twins" Stefan replied and they both got up.

"The twins? Why?" Bonnie mustered confused.

"Are they okay? Did something happen?" I quickly cut in, unable to hide the fear in my voice.

"I don't know, you tell me" Alaric's voice makes us turn, the anger in his eyes throwing me off, as soon as I realize it's directed at me.

"Ric," Damon chimed in and he shot him a glare.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Bonnie asked him but he ignored her questions and he locked his eyes on me instead.

"The girls condition worsened over night, out of the nowhere–" Stefan answered walking towards us and Alaric suppressed a scowl.

"Not out of the nowhere, we know damn well why this is happening!" he snarled at me, giving me a fuming stare and I frowned.

"Ric–"

"No, Damon, she should know" Alaric cut Damon off, taking a few steps in my direction, the anger in his eyes quickly turning into a threatening look and I froze, unable to process his reaction "this is all your fault! You pushed back and now my daughters are paying the price!"

"No, Ric" I shook my head, the tremble in my voice making me realize how scared I actually was "this isn't Kai–"

"The more you defend him, the more I'm convinced you're on his side, not ours" he seethed with resentment, as if he had just confirmed my 'betrayal'.

"Ric, you know that's not true" Stefan jumped in to help but his expression doesn't ease up even one bit "she's not on his side, she's just confused and maybe what she did was wrong but–"

"But what Stefan?!" Alaric snapped back at him, the exasperation in his voice growing stronger "my kids are in pain because of whatever screwed up game they have going and I'll be damned if I ever let that psychopath hurt my family ever again, even if that means cutting her out of our lives"