My eyes slowly open, I can really feel the heaviness in them. My head is killing me and my throat feels really dry. I look down at my shirt and see that I'm still wearing the shirt from yesterday, little dots of blood on them. That's when I remembered: I threw up blood. For the past few days I've noticed myself feeling really weak and always tired but I never actually threw up or fainted.
What happened yesterday felt like a dream. A really, really bad dream. But now, I have to put it all on the past. I just have to stop myself from thinking about Stef-...oh, you know who I mean.
"Knock. Knock." A familiar voice rings in my ears and I look over at the door.
"Damon." I smile slowing sitting myself up. "Hey."
"Good morning sleepyhead." He smirks walking into the room.
I brush my hair behind my ears glancing around for my clock which didn't happen to be here. "What time is it?"
"11:49"
My eyes almost bulge out from their sockets. "What?!" I throw the blankets off of my body. "I have to help Elena make the chili for the Lockwood event." I jump up off the bed. "Woah." I say as my world begins to spin and I lose my balance.
A large gush of air swooshes towards me and suddenly big comforting hands hold onto my waist. "Hey, are you okay?"
I furrow my brows glancing around the room, everything gone back to normal. "Um. Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."
Damon examines me cautiously before his eyes catch the blood stains on my top. "What happened?"
Shit.
"Um..." I look down at my bedside table and see a tissue filled with blood. "My nose was bleeding...from crying so much, I guess."
Damon didn't seem to believe me but at the moment he couldn't think of any other possibility. "You're sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." I smile thankful for his worrying. "I promise."
I am okay. I'm not lying. But what happened last night definitely concerned me but maybe it was just an upset stomach, I don't know. But for now, I'm okay and that's all that matters.
"Okay, how about this..." Damon glances down at my clothes. "I'll take out all the ingredients and you change into more fitting clothes."
"But I thought Elena already started?"
"Nope." Damon pops his "p". "Little Ms. Elena decided to go over to busboys house and help him make his own tub of chili."
"Heh, of course she did." I shake my head scoffing.
"But, hey it's okay." Damon smirks. "You got me now."
"Mhm." I try to hold in a laugh. "Alright you can start getting the stuff ready but promise me not to tease me on my cooking skills."
He puts his hands up in the air as if he were innocent. "Yes ma'am."
I let out a small giggle. "Thank you."
"Anytime, mini Gilbert." He winks before waving me off so he can go downstairs and start preparing the chili.
I roll my eyes laughing as he does so.
- -
A little over 20 minutes later, I finally got ready for the day and now Damon and I are making chili.
"I just don't know why you want to bring chili to a potluck." He licks off the chili he got on his finger. "Everybody brings chili." I huff shaking my head, continuing to stir it in the pot. "Hey, Ric."
"What's up?"
I glance up at him. "Did Elena tell you a time for us to head to the Lockwood party?"
"Ah." Ric tilts his head. "Those founders parties aren't really my thing."
"Show up, there's going to be nine other people that brought chili." Damon informs the obvious.
I look over at him shrugging. "It's an old family recipe, okay?"
"Yeah! I know." He chuckles. "I knew your old family. They made sucky chili."
Damon looks me in the eyes smiling and I nudge him in the side with my elbow laughing at his constant teasing. It isn't annoying, it's...cute.
Ric furrows his brows seemingly not liking how Damon and I were acting just now. "Why are you here, exactly?"
Damon nudges his head over to me. "She knows."
"He thinks I'm going to break." I roll my eyes, Damon takes the big wooden spoon from my hand taking over the mixing. "I'm not going to break. I am just going to keep making chili, pretend like I didn't just spend the entire summer looking for someone who didn't want to be found."
Damon shrugs to Ric. "She's in denial."
I give him a glare, speaking through my clenched teeth. "I'm not in denial."
Damon raises an eyebrow. "No?" I shake my head crossing my arms while leaning against the counter. He picks up my phone from beside the bowl of chili and opens it. He faces my phone to me and it shows that I've called him 6 times in the past hour with no answer.
I snatch my phone from him huffing.
- -
After the whole chili fiasco or whatever you want to call it, Damon had to go meet sheriff Forbes and Ric had to go back to his apartment. Now, I was only left with Jeremy who was locked inside his room. I was also upstairs tidying up my own room before the doorbell rings.
"I'll get it!" I shout out loud so Jer can hear. I race down the stairs and open the front door.
It's Caroline. She's holding a bowl of food in her hands. "I come bearing gifts!"
I let out a joking groan. "Please say that's not chili..."
She grins stepping aside. Bonnie and Elena appear and come in.
"Bonnie!" I gasp.
She giggles. "I'm back!" I smile pulling her in for a tight hug. "I leave town for the summer and everything goes to hell for the three of you." Bonnie laughs as she pulls away.
Me, Caroline and Elena look at each other. Jeremy suddenly comes down the stairs.
"Bonnie!"
"Jeremy." She rushes over to him and they kiss and embrace each other.
Awe.
- -
After Jeremy and Bonnie got to catch up, me, Elena, Caroline and Bonnie went over to the kitchen.
"The problem with my dad's normal side of the family is normal made for a really boring summer." Bonnie explains.
Caroline chuckles. "After the last few days, I would kill for a normal family."
She helps Elena decant the Chili in a casserole since obviously I left it for them to do it.
Caroline dipped her finger in the chilli and licked it. She looks up at me with furrowed brows. "Since when did you learn how to cook?"
I shrug my shoulders, my cheeks turning slightly red. "Damon helped a little."
Bonnie raises her eyebrows. "Damon's helping you cook now?"
"Both of you stop judging Niki." Elena glances over at me. "He's just trying to be a good...ow!"
The other three of us get startled. "Ahh! Did I splash you?" Caroline turns to her thinking she splashed hot chilli on Elena.
"No, no, my necklace."She pulls the pendant of the necklace off her skin. Her skin has a burn mark where the pendant touched her skin.
The four of us girls look around at each other startled and confused.
"It burned me."She removes the necklace and holds it by the chain.
Caroline shrugs. "Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it."
Bonnie throws her head to the side giving Care a warning look. "Caroline..."
"What, I'm just saying.." She just shrugs again turning to me. "Maybe Stefan sensed it and tortured Elena for Niki to be "cooking" without Stefan."
I send her a glare knowing she's being over dramatic.
"Let me see it." Bonnie moves from my side and walks around the counter. Elena holds it out while Bonnie looks at the pendant.
Bonnie looks at the necklace and touches it but there's a zap and sparks fly out of it. Elena drops it. Bonnie and Elena look at each other. Elena seems shocked, we all were.
- -
The lawns of the Lockwood mansion are filled with people sitting at tables at the party. Elena and Caroline are sitting apart from the party on a bench. Bonnie and I join them, Bonnie with her grimoire in hand.
"I have an identification spell that might be able to tell me what magic affected the necklace." I sit on Caroline's side while Bonnie sits on Elena's. Elena gives her her necklace. "It's going to take a while, so tell me if anyone's coming, okay?"
Caroline doesn't seem to give a shit about what's happening with the necklace and instead turns around to me. "So you're not, like, switching back and forth between Salvatores, are you?"
I furrow my brows. "What?"
Bonnie looks behind Elena at us. "Caroline..."
Caroline snaps her neck around. "Stay focused." She looks back at me. "As your friend who worries for you daily, what is the deal with you and Damon again?"
"There is no deal." I shrug. "Damon's been just as focused on finding Stefan as I have."
"Yeah, but that doesn't make him any less Damon." She argues. "If my own father, who I love dearly, can't change me. No one's changing Damon. Not even you."
"Woah, who said I was trying to change him? Unlike you Care I don't care if someone's bad or good, it's their choice, not mine." I fight back. I quickly catch myself and snap out of the rage. "Look, why are we even talking about this?"
Caroline had her mouth parted ready to say something before Bonnie caught our attention. "Hey guys."
We looked at her and saw the necklace pendant is levitating and rising slowly in the air.
Caroline furrows her brows. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not doing anything." Bonnie was just as freaked out as we were. "It has its own magic."
Me, Caroline and Bonnie all look at Elena.
Meanwhile, in the Lockwood mansion, Damon is looking at the chili made by the founding families and he comes across the one him and Niki made. He smirks shaking his head.
Alaric joins him and gives him a beer. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret...Founders parties are just an excuse for the council to gather in back rooms and plot against vampires." Damon explains.
Alaric scrunches his eyebrows together. "Hey, uh, I think you need to take a beat with Niki."
Damon double blinks at those words, turning over to Alaric. "Excuse me?"
"Whatever it is you two have going on, I think it's a bad idea."
"I don't really think it's your problem, Ric." Damon over exaggerates the "c" in his nickname.
"It is my problem." Alaric snaps back. "I'm supposed to look after her, and this is me doing that."
Damon furrows his brows. "What do you think I'm doing?"
Alaric gets in a little closer, lowering his voice. "What I think is you need to take a beat."
Liz walks up behind Alaric. "Damon? Sorry. Uh, the mayor just called for the council meeting."
Damon glances back over at Ric with a blank expression before following Liz.
- -
Me, Elena and Caroline were in one of the rooms on the main floor talking.
Caroline looks at Elena. "Did Stefan ever tell you where he got the necklace?"
"No." She shakes her head. "And I never asked." Elena shrugs. "Hopefully Bonnie will be able to figure it out."
Alaric comes into the room looking over at us. "Please tell me it's time to go."
"Beyond." I sigh standing up. I try to look past him, furrowing my eyebrows. "Where's Damon?"
"Probably off somewhere doing bad things to good people. Consider me the honesty police." Suddenly she looks upset.
I cross my arms. "What is it?"
"What's the matter?" Elena looks at her.
Caroline huffs "It's my dad." Elena, Alaric an I turn around and see Bill in the adjoining room.
I shake my head. "Why would he even show up here?"
"I don't know." Care shrugs. "But I can't..."
I nod my head giving her a small smile. "I get it. I'll call you later."
Caroline gives me and Elena both a soft smile in return before leaving and goes upstairs.
Alaric turns to me and my sister. "Okay, what was that all about?"
"Speaking of doing bad things to good people..." She sighs.
We all head for the front door and leave.
"Wait, wait, Houston, we have a problem." Damon's voice calls out from behind us and we turn around.
I furrow my eyebrows at him. "Where have you been?"
"Managing Bill Forbes." Damon scoffs. "Apparently he's impervious to compulsion."
Ric crosses his arms. "How?"
"I have no idea. But he threatened to out me." He rolls his eyes. "Don't get me started on the irony of that."
I furrow my brows. "What did you do to him? How do you know the compulsion doesn't work?"
Damon looks at me. "That's not the most important piece of information I mentioned, Elena."
"What does he want?"
"He wants to control the council." Damon cringes. "Says it's been compromised."
Ric wasn't up for hearing another one of Damon's rants. "It has!"
"He wants to put vervain in the town's water supply." Damon continues not getting the hint.
"Maybe it's not a bad idea." Elena shrugs. "I mean, it'll help you keep yourself in control now that Stefan's not here to..."
*sigh* here we go.
"Elena, cut it out." I try to budge in knowing exactly where this is gonna go if she doesn't shut it.
"To what?" Damon stops walking, turning directly to face the other three of us. "To keep me in check? Make me behave? I should have killed him this morning."
I let out a breath. "He's Caroline's dad, Damon."
Damon does the weird eye thing at me. "Yeah, and when I kill him, she'll have one more parent than we do."
Alaric scoffs seriously not having this conversation. "Oh, come on, Damon!"
"You're repeatedly killing my buzz today, Ric." Damon tries to brush past him to go back inside. "Step aside."
Ric steps to the side to block him, holding him back. "Yeah, it's not going to happen."
Damon looks down at Ric's hand and sees the Gilbert ring. "Your temporary funeral."
"No!" My eyes widen and just then, He kills Alaric by breaking his neck.
Elena gasps. "What is wrong with you?!"
He looks at her with a deadly look, then at me and leaves.
Oh my God.
- -
"I'm only answering in case it's a friend emergency."
"Care, It's an emergency."
I look down at Ric's dead body below me, Elena still standing beside me.
- -
Caroline and I run into Mr. Lockwood's old office room. Damon's mouth was attached to Mr. Forbes' neck and I gasp at the sight. Care vamp speeds towards them and throws Damon across the room against the wall, and then throws him through the window.
"Mr. Forbes!" I rush over to him.
"Daddy!" Caroline turned around speeding over to us remembering that her father was injured. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He breathes heavily.
She bites her wrist, Bill's eyes go wide. "Here. It'll heal you."
He looks over at me seemingly somewhat relieved to see a familiar face. I give him a nod with a small smile assuring him it's okay but he doesn't budge. He turns back to his daughter, "I said I'm okay."
Care furrows her brows, fed up. "Grow up." She makes her dad drink her blood, forcing her wrist to his mouth.
"Let me teach this ass-wheel a life lesson."
I turn my head around still holding Mr. Forbes' shoulders. "Damon, stop.""Just get out of here." Caroline says back to him.
Damon wasn't going to leave without a "fair" fight. "Or what?"
She rushes towards him and hits him in the face. In retaliation he throws her on the desk. Then he strangles her.
"Caroline!" I gasp worried for my friend.
"I'm stronger than you, little girl." Damon chuckles with clenched teeth, putting as much pressure to Care's neck as possible.
I glance at the door as I heard running footsteps. It was Elena.
"Well, I'm angrier!" I hear Caroline growl and she breaks his arm. Then she takes his head, head-butts it and throws him against the wall. She gets up rushes away, taking Mr. Forbes with her.
"Bummer." Damon huffs, his back leaning against the door as he's sat on the floor. "I love a good girl fight." He has Bill's blood all around his mouth.
"You can't do this anymore, Damon. Not in this town. Not around me." Elena tries holding back her anger.
"Why not?" Damon furrow his brows standing up. "It's nothing I haven't done before. Why is it suddenly so important for everyone to keep me in check?"
"Because you're...you!"
"What? A monster?" He takes a step forward, standing right behind me. "Sorry to disappoint you, Elena, but last time I checked, I was still a vampire!"
"I guess I wish that you didn't have to act like one!"
Silence fell upon the room. My fists were clenched together and water was building up in my eyes as I stared at the ground in front of me while listening to two of the most important people in my life fight. "I am not Stefan."
"Well maybe people would actually like you more if you were." Elena says in a low tone with clenched teeth.
I can sense the angry tension in the room as everything stayed still. All I hear next were footsteps walking away before realizing now it was only me and Damon in the room. For once since Caroline and her dad left I looked up. I looked up at Damon. He stood there frozen, angry.
It takes him a few seconds before his eyes locked with mine. "Are you going to run your mouth with me too?"
I wipe the tear that snuck down my cheek. It wasn't from being sad, I too was angry. Livid. "No, Damon. I'm not." I lift myself off the ground, standing an inch or two away from him with a clenched jaw. "I'm sure you can figure it all out yourself."
I spin around and head for the door.
"I don't get why all of you are trying to change me!"
"I'm not trying to change you!" I yell back turning around. "After everything you've done I still always defend you." I shake my head honestly disappointed in myself. "You killed Ric and almost killed Mr. Forbes!"
"He was pissing me off." Damon scoffed.
"That doesn't give you a right to kill him!" I furrow my eyebrows. "If I killed you every time you pissed me off you would've been long gone a year ago."
"Relax. He had his ring on."
"That's still not a reason, Damon!" I shout, extremely frustrated. "I can't let you keep hurting the people I love out of boredom and stupidity." Another tear falls down my face. "I'm sorry but until you know when enough is enough...I can't see you anymore."
"Niki..." Damon sighs thinking this isn't legit.
"I'm serious, Damon." I shake my head. "Soon I'm going to run out of reasons to protect you. You know how much you mean to me but this is getting way out of hand now."
"I don't need you to defend me." He furrows his brows.
"I won't anymore." I match his tone.
"Niki if you dare to walk out that door then don't ever turn back." He threatens.
He doesn't know how badly this hurts me. I don't want to have to do this but keeping him in my life is just hurting my family and friends more than it's hurting me. I meet his eyes. "Goodbye Damon."
And then, I was gone.