Bonnie came out of the shower, dressed and threw her used towel into my laundry basket. I sat on the floor with a canvas in front of me and a paintbrush in my hand. She grabbed her phone and started calling someone.
"No luck?" I asked, mixing some red with green before bringing the newly mixed color to the canvas and filling inside the outline of the flowers on the canvas.
"Nope, just goes straight to voicemail." Bonnie flopped down on my bed and lay down. "You know I should be used to this but it's kinda getting annoying how Elena always bails on us."
"Yeah well. I can't exactly complain."
"Not to compare or anything but you never ditched us for a boy—who's also a vampire."
"Because I literally have no one. Remember? Single by choice. Give her a break, I think Stefan and her probably talked and they're back again."
"Endless cycle—kinda like you and Damon." I looked up at Bonnie with a dead look and through my paint brush into the small pot of water and got up. "Hey, I'm just saying. There's a lot of pushing and pulling."
"Except he's into Elena, mostly because she looks exactly like Katherine. Elena is in my words a lighter version of Katherine, someone human, not bitchy and actually caring."
"True but I'm starting to think otherwise, like—" Bonnie dried her hair off as the door to my room opened. "Hey, Nate."
"Hey, I just dropped by to tell Ava something." Uncle Nate waved at me but he didn't look too happy. If anything he looked tired. "They found a body drained of blood in the outskirts of town near an abandoned dirt parking lot."
I got up from the floor and went over to him. "Vampires?" I asked as Bonnie sat up, curious. Uncle Nate nodded. "Do you think we missed a couple of tomb vampires?" I questioned.
"Even if we did they wouldn't be stupid to come anywhere near this town."
"Well they do say something about age—" Before Bonnie could finish, her phone started to ring incessantly. Uncle Nate motioned her to pick up or check her phone. She finally picked it up after the fifth ring. "It's Jeremy..." She sounded surprised and quickly left the room to take the call.
"Wonder what that's about?" Uncle Nate watched Bonnie leave and looked at me. I didn't know so I shrugged. "Well, since she's gone. I tried to find some stuff on Katherine."
I picked up my canvas and moved it out of the way, putting it to a safe corner away from people. "Why do I feel like you found nothing?" I commented.
"Give me a break." He ruffled his messy hair and took a sip of coffee from his mug. He was tired, really tired. "I'm doing my thesis and even with your aunt Evie's reluctant help, there's not much I can go on. Do you know how common the name 'Petrova' or 'Petrov' is? Like there's Petrovas and Petrovs everywhere in Eastern Europe."
"If I remember from the writings that we found in that book—it was Bulgarian, shouldn't that narrow things down?"
Uncle Nate let out a laugh and started shaking his head. "It's even more common in Bulgaria. It's in the top ten of most common surnames in all of Eastern Europe, Ava. In English, Petrov or Petrova translates into 'Peters' that's a common surname in Engli—"
"Okay I get it." I cut him off. So our research into Katherine's family was giving us dead ends. We knew Katherine and Elena were related so was Isobel but the question was how and what happened to them. "So I guess we have no choice but to ask Katherine. Great." I finished just as Bonnie came back.
"Jeremy said that Elena wasn't home." Bonnie announced, coming back into the room.
That meant one thing. "So she probably spent the night at Stefan's, great."
"Want me to drop you two off at school?" Uncle Nate offered.
"No, thanks I'm driving today." I took my keys off my dressing table and walked past him before going back up to take one of my finished paintings. "Bonnie, come on. I have a student council meeting."
Bonnie hurried after me, grabbing her things. "Is this about Sarah's death?" I nodded. Sarah's accidental death had affected everyone in some way, her friends for one were upset, Dana was one of them. It didn't help that Aimee was still missing. "Caroline gave me the four-one-one. Can't believe Tyler's a—" I quickly turned around, with wide eyes and looking around. The maids were actually on that day and some of them didn't know anything. "Right. I forgot."
"It's fine. Uncle Nate told Mason and you can imagine how Mason was."
"He wanted to come back."
I nodded as Bonnie got into the car. "I mean you can't blame him, it's his nephew and now that Katherine's dealt with, I think he should just come back."
"True." I agreed, starting the car and driving out of the driveway. "But not to be all doom and gloom—I just have this feeling that Katherine was just the tip of the iceberg and underneath all of her messes is an even bigger titanic iceberg-sized mess."
Bonnie stared at me from the passenger's seat in disbelief. "I swear you are more pessimistic than Caroline. Let's just be happy that we got over one problem."
"I'm trying. I am happy. I'm—" Bonnie didn't move her gaze away from me. She didn't believe me at all. "Let's just get Caroline and there she is."
"Is that Damon?" Bonnie asked. The two of us shared a look and I rolled my eyes as Damon and I made eye-contact. "What's he doing here?"
Caroline ran to my car and got in. "Careful, painting." I cautioned her, nodding at Damon in acknowledgement before pulling out of Caroline's driveway.
"I was just filling him in on last night's events." Caroline answered after getting a little comfortable in the back. "Ugh. Why's everything going so wrong?"
"Is this about Tyler?" Bonnie and I asked at the same time.
"Who else? By the way, please tell me Mason might be coming back because I can't deal with a newbie werewolf when I'm a newbie vampire. It's not fair."
Bonnie gave me a look that I avoided. I know I was the one being overcautious with Mason wanting to be back but I couldn't help it. "Yeah I don't think he might be back anytime soon. He said he'll call instead."
"That's not going to help."
"Yeah, well—Ava, here thinks that Katherine was just—I quote—'the tip of the iceberg and underneath all of her messes is an even bigger titanic iceberg-sized mess'. I don't know what that means but apparently I'm guessing it means we can't relax." Bonnie chimed in.
Caroline let out a sigh. "Oh great. It's not like things could get any worse." She huffed. "You know Matt and I are still off."
"That sucks." Bonnie glanced at me and I immediately shook my head. "Come on. Caroline's your best friend."
"And it won't be fair for me to suddenly push Matt and her together. I'm sure it'll work out." I just didn't want to hurt Matt. "And besides, if it's meant to be. It'll happen on its own."
"Matt and I are never getting back together." Caroline complained. She clapped her hands and pinched her cheeks. "Moving on, I noticed that you and Jeremy were getting pretty close lately."
Bonnie looked to me for help and I looked away. Hey, I was curious about this too and I mean, I could've just read Jeremy's mind but that was invasive and this was much better. "Nothing. Nothing is going on so you two can drop it. We just had a common goal."
I let out a laugh, stopping at a signal and glancing around at my friends. "I didn't do anything."
"Yet." Caroline added. "You know you're not safe either," I groaned hearing Caroline speak but the signal had changed and it was time to get my eyes back on the road. "I saw you and Damon at the Masquerade Ball." Of course she did. Who didn't—was the question. "The way he was looking at you was...something."
"I don't know. I think you're looking too into that."
"No, I was there too and there was definitely something." Bonnie chimed in. "I still think he sucks." She had to remind everyone that she still didn't like Damon. I respected that. I thought Caroline and I were the only ones but Bonnie also hadn't changed her mind.
"Well, he's just been so weird lately like last night—I was telling my uncle about Katherine's warning—"
"The one where she told you to get out of town." Caroline remembered and I nodded.
"Wait, what?" Bonnie, on the other hand, was hearing this for the first time. "When was this?"
"A while ago." I answered before carrying on. "Anyways, I was telling my uncle and he was thinking that maybe I should take Katherine's warning seriously and that maybe we should move back to Washington. Damon overheard and god—" I let out a sigh, killing the engine after parking the car in the school parking lot. "He overheard and not only did he overhear me. He thought I was about to leave town—leave you guys."
"You're not, right?" Caroline carefully asked, grabbing me by my arm and stopping me.
"Of course I'm not." I said. Why would I? I would never abandon people I care about. "Anyways, he did what Caroline just did."
"Wait." Bonnie stopped us all in the middle of the parking lot. "He did what now."
"He asked me not to leave, Bon. That's so weird considering we have a very strange partnership."
"Oh my god." Caroline muttered under her breath. "He's so—ugh! Ava," She grabbed me by my shoulders. "You need to be careful."
I nodded firmly while Bonnie was laughing in the background. She found the whole thing amusing. I looked at my watch while the three of us were walking to school. Oh great. I'd run late at this point if I didn't hurry.
Quickly, I told my friends I'd see them in History and made my way to the student council room where almost everyone was there. In front of my designated desk were two piles of fliers. One of them was for a candlelight vigil for Sarah while the other was a missing poster for Aimee. I felt my chest tighten and found it a little hard to breathe staring at the flier.
"Hey," I drew Dana in for a hug when I saw her walk into the room. She had a handful of fliers for Aimee. Her eyes were downcast, there deep eye bags under her eyes within a night of restless sleep and most of all her eyes were red from crying. "How are you holding up?"
"Perfectly fine. It's not like my best friend isn't missing and another one of my friends is dead—who am I kidding, I feel like shit. I look like shit. I just—" Dana sniffed, holding back her tears and dropping the fliers onto her desk. She covered her face to let out a sob.
Behind her Chad came in and wrapped his arms around her. Dana melted into his embrace, sobbing louder. "They'll find Aimee, Dana." She's dead. It would've been so easy for me to say that but it would've been easier for her to find out about the supposed car accident instead. "Here." I handed her two granola bars and closed her fingers around them. "You haven't had breakfast, have you?"
"No," Dana opened one of the bars and took a bite. "I woke up at five in the morning when I found out about Aimee being missing. Her mom called and I set out with her parents along with Chad to search for her and..."
"We couldn't find her." Chad finished for her, handing her a water bottle. "Then we found out about Sarah. It's just all so terrible."
"There's going to be an assembly in the gym later in the day about...the disappearance of Aimee and Sarah's death."
"Curfew?" I suggested. I really hope not. I couldn't deal with town-wide curfew but it sounded like something Carol Lockwood would implement.
"I don't think so. It's more like a tribute for Sarah and to raise awareness about Aimee." Dana sniffed a little, wiping her tears. "I think you have to say a few words."
Of course I did. As the student body president I had to say a few words but I didn't like doing that. It's not because I didn't want to—it didn't feel right for me to say things when I knew exactly what happened to both of the girls.
"Hey, do you wanna take my place?" I asked without thinking but after a second I realized that it was the right thing to do. Dana knew the two. They were her friends, not to mention, I knew what happened to them. I couldn't save Aimee and I treated her terribly that night. "I don't think it's right for me to be up there after...what I said Aimee."
I shouldn't have called her potential rebound. I regretted it a little. It didn't really help that my visions were more sporadic than ever. I didn't know what was going on anymore.
"Why?" Dana stopped crying and looked up. "Yeah you were a little...bitchy but you were right. It's fine I'm just the VP, you should do your job."
"No, you should do it. I'll even talk to the Principal about it? Hmm. What do you say?"
After a moment of silence, Dana nodded. "Thank you." She smiled and reached out to hug me. I reluctantly let her hug me and froze.
In the distance, I heard Dana's screams ring out across the gym before she fell to the floor. Her neck was torn open and blood was all over her neck.
"Ava, you okay?" Dana had pulled back and was staring at me in concern. I noted that she was wearing a light green dress instead of a blue blouse like in my vision.
"I'm fine." I answered, blinking quickly. Just then the door to the student council opened and I felt that familiar deathly chill. It was either Caroline or—
"Ava, can I borrow you for a second?" Stefan stood in the doorway staring at me. He subtly motioned for me to come outside. Nodding only at the others in the room as a way to be nice.
"Sure. Give me a second." I grabbed my stuff and quickly repeated to Dana that I'd tell the principal about her replacing me for assembly before following Stefan. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine. I just wanted to check up on you." Stefan said, walking with me through the halls. "How are you?"
I smiled and nodded. It was nice that Stefan was trying to make an effort with his non-Elena relationships. "I don't know. I didn't know either of them—maybe Aimee, I did know her but I was so harsh on her last night."
"I'm sure whatever you said was justified."
"How'd you know I said something?"
Stefan looked away, a smile still on his face. "Lucky guess." He answered, stopping at his locker. He tried to get it to open but it got stuck. He reached out and tried to pull it.
"Okay, you're gonna attract way too much attention, not to mention break that thing." I pushed him aside and knocked his locker twice before giving it a tug. The locker popped open.
"Why thank you." Stefan laughed and took out his textbooks and notebooks from his locker. "Usually it works but I don't know what happened."
I patted his shoulder and took a step back. "It happens, they are pretty old. I think some of these are from the '70s."
"Anyways, back to you."
I groaned. "I kinda wanted to avoid this conversation." I attempted to walk away but Stefan caught me by my wrist and stopped me from leaving.
"Oh no. You're not leaving until we finish this conversation."
"Ugh fine. As you can see, I feel terrible. I told Aimee off for trying to be a rebound and then Katherine happened. As for Sarah, I really didn't know her. Your turn."
Now Stefan groaned and tried to get away but I stopped him, attracting some looks from onlookers. I ignored them and carried on. "How are you—now that Katherine is dealt with—how are you doing?"
"I don't know. Honestly I don't feel anything. I guess whatever I felt for her died when I thought she did."
It made sense. Stefan seemed like he already mourned her and made peace with his past with Katherine before moving on. I respected that. "Poetic." I commented.
"Thank you. I try my best."
I couldn't help but laugh, shaking my head. "Just remembered, there's gonna be an assembly later today about—"
"There you are." Jeremy came out from behind us, cutting me off. "Oh hey Ava." He gave me a little wave before turning back to Stefan. "Look, Elena's got to let me know if I'm supposed to cover for her. Jenna's cool with the two of you but you guys are pushing it."
Stefan looked at me and I shrugged. I thought the two were back together or Elena was supposed to tell us what they talked about but she bailed on us. "What are you talking about?"
"You and Elena." Jeremy answered. "Look, I'm glad you guys are back together but if she's gonna sleep over..."
"Wait, wait...hold on a minute. We're not back together."
"You're not." I glanced at the two boys in front of me and Stefan shook his head.
"Wait...she didn't stay at your place last night?" Jeremy's face started to pale.
Stefan stilled. "No, I mean I saw her at the party but that was it. She didn't sleep over." He turned to me.
"Her bed hadn't been slept in and Mrs. Lockwood said that her car was still in the driveway. Where is she then?"
"Maybe she was at Bonnie's or Ava's."
"No. Bonnie and I were at my place. Elena was supposed to sleep over at mine but she bailed on us..." I said.
"Bonnie said the same thing." Jeremy's face was really pale now and he looked afraid. "If Elena wasn't with you guys, then where is she?"
Stefan got my attention and gave me a look. He wanted me to take over and calm Jeremy, maybe even make an excuse to Jenna while he went ahead and talked it over with Damon. I tried to argue but finally I gave in. "Jeremy, why don't you head to class. Stefan will look this over and also we have a school assembly later on, don't miss it. I'm gonna go call my uncle."
I left the two and went back to the student council room to get my stuff. Dana was still in there, softly crying while Chad and Rei tried to comfort her. I hesitated in front of the door, finally going in after the bell rang to quickly grab my stuff and get out. Before going to my first class I had to call my uncle.
─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────
Uncle Nate along with Jeremy and Bonnie were gathered around Alaric's Janine's grimoire was laid out on the table alongside Sheila Bennett's grimoire. Uncle Nate took a detour to Lockwood Mansion. He ended up finding Elena's broken phone.
When I touched it to get a feel of what happened. All I got was a vision of her being taken. It was too dark and blurry for me to make things out.
"This is a tracking spell also known as a locating spell. As the name suggests it helps locate or track someone." Uncle Nate tapped the pages of both grimoires as Bonnie hunched over, eagerly. "It's a simple spell for experienced witches and warlocks but for novices like you," He pointed to Bonnie. "It'll be a little complicated."
"Are you going to show her how to do it?" Jeremy asked.
"I already did. Bonnie knows the rest."
"How does it work?"
"I'll use your blood to draw energy for the tracking spell." Bonnie answered his question, holding her hand out towards Jeremy. "You're blood related; it'll make the connection stronger." She added trying to justify her reasoning.
Uncle Nate laid out a map while Bonnie took out two candles. The two lit the candles and stood back, taking their places. He had no intention to do the spell himself but instead let Bonnie handle it by herself, only stepping in when she needed extra support.
Somehow my uncle had ended up taking both Bonnie and Jeremy under his wing. Bonnie, I understood but Jeremy was still a mystery. I still think that he's not ready to be part of all of this let alone learn how to take on the vampires. Heck even Flynn was more experienced than Jeremy.
"Alright, Alaric said we've got to clear out of here within ten minutes. I've got weapons, he stocked me up along with some leftover weapons from your family." Stefan came in, closing the door behind him.
"You're welcome." Uncle Nate nodded at him before focusing on the map. "Before you ask, I can't get you more."
"Why not? Don't you guys have your entire house stocked up."
"My dad calls the shots." I reminded him, folding my arms around me. "As much as we would love to give you guys free weapons, it's not that simple."
"You heard her. I am but the middle man." Uncle Nate signaled to Bonnie to begin and she reached out for Jeremy's hand .
She took out a knife and looked at Jeremy whose hand was trembling a little. "Are you ready?" Jeremy reluctantly nodded.
She made a small cut on his hand and I purposely stood in front of Stefan who looked away as the drops of blood from Jeremy's cut fell onto the map. She started quietly chanting as the flames swayed in the sudden breeze. The drops of blood moved in one direction, staining the map a little before it merged into one drop, pointing towards Elena's location.
"There." She stopped chanting and pointed to the location on the map. "She's there."
"That's 300 miles away." Jeremy noted.
But Stefan wasn't so pleased. "No, Bonnie. We need a more exact location than that."
"That's as close as I can get."
"It's not a GPS spell, Stefan—exact locations are a bit harder to narrow down." Uncle Nate put a hand on Stefan's shoulder to calm him down and calm back Bonnie.
"We can map it, aerial view will show us what's around there, help us narrow down the area." Jeremy offered. Just in case, he tried to grab my attention, hoping I'd intervene if Stefan didn't agree. I was already on my guard anyway.
"Perfect." Stefan calmed down and agreed to Jeremy's plan. "Call me with whatever you find." He turned to my uncle.
"I'll see you in the parking lot." Uncle Nate answered without letting Stefan talk.
"No, no, I'm coming with you!" Jeremy with his bleeding hand came forward.
"No Jeremy, you're not." Stefan quickly shot him down.
"No, I'm gonna just sit here. What if she's hurt okay?"
I let out a sigh and took a step forward. "Well, I'll be there so it's all good."
"No you won't." Stefan cut me off.
"Yes, I will."
"Ava, it's too dangerous. You heard what Katherine said—"
I rolled my eyes and stopped him from continuing. I knew exactly what Katherine said. "Oh we're listening to the psychotic ex now." I retorted.
"She might know more than she's letting on."
"All the more reason for me to go." I didn't want to back down. I felt bad for not stopping that mysterious man in the venetian mask, maybe he was the one who took Elena. I didn't know but I should've followed my instinct. "I'm going and that's final." Stefan left the room and so did Jeremy and uncle Nate. "Hey, Bo—oh my god." I rushed to Bonnie's side and passed her a tissue. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Bonnie held up the tissue to her nose and tried to wave me off. "It's fine. I'm fine. I just need a little lie down." I didn't move. "Seriously I'm fine. Go." She gave me a little push and forced herself to smile to show she was fine. I didn't believe her.
Reluctantly, I parted with her and met up with Damon and Stefan in the school parking lot where my uncle was also waiting by his car. I was still a little worried about Bonnie but she was stubborn. I had second thoughts on going with the guys and maybe staying behind to help Bonnie out.
"Ready?" Uncle Nate asked, opening the door to the passenger side. I nodded and got in without sparing a glance at the Salvatore brothers. "I'm surprised you didn't go with them."
"Damon's being weird." I answered in response as uncle Nate started the car which thankfully masked my words.
He grinned and pulled out of the parking lot. "Ah. You noticed."
Did everyone think I was stupid? I was dense, I knew that but sometimes, I acted dense. "I'm not that dense. I just pretend not to notice. It's easier that way."
Uncle Nate snickered under his breath. "You really are your father's daughter."
"Dad was not like me." My dad was very good at guessing what people thought about him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he could read people's minds but he couldn't.
"Oh he was. He still is, just less noticeable. Your mom's the responsible one out of the two but you didn't hear it from me." He looked around before taking a turn then checked the rearview mirror to see if the Salvatore brothers were still following us. I looked behind my shoulders to see Damon's car in the distance. I turned around in my seat and sat straight. "Since we're on a road trip, we might as well address the elephant in the room."
I groaned. The conversation I had been avoiding for weeks. I didn't want to talk about this at all. I wanted to move on from this. "Seriously we don't."
"Oh we do."
"Uncle Nate..." I whined.
He turned on the radio and lowered the volume. Music was playing in the background as my uncle glanced at me before carrying on. "You know I never had much of a childhood—neither did your aunts or your dad. Ever since we learned to walk, your grandfather, actually it was our great grandfather who took charge of us, made us learn how to hunt. We never had time to go out, have fun—anything normal."
I nodded along. I didn't know what to say. "That sucks, can't imagine what that must be like." I drawled out. I knew what it was like, kind of anyway. Maybe I was being a brat but I really didn't want to have this conversation.
"Yeah well, it was terrible. I was one of the lucky ones compared to others. By the time my dad took over, I was still in middle school and your dad was in High School. We had time to be normal, that is until your uncle Eric died and your dad was forced to give up everything."
"Where is this going?"
"I'm getting there. The point I'm trying to make is that I get it, I get where you are coming from. It's unfair how everyone in this family is brought up and it's unfair that your parents were still running from their pasts which screwed over yours. It sucks and you're right but you should know that everything we do is for a reason."
"There it is. The greater good speech."
"I'm not done." Uncle Nate stopped at a signal. "Look, your dad was not meant to be the head of this family—Eric was—just like how your grandfather—my father wasn't meant to be the head, heck he was the youngest. Not one person who became the head of the family was ever meant to be in that position."
"So what are you trying to say?"
"Your dad is worried and so am I. You know your brother actually wanted to study in Europe—Germany to be exact. Europe is known as a hub for vampires, especially the oldest and most dangerous ones."
"Oh my god. He was trying to get himself killed."
"That's why we were worried when you started getting involved in these types of messes."
"Okay but why did no one tell that Dan was doing something dumb."
"We didn't want to give you any ideas."
I scrunched up my face in confusion, shaking my head. "Seriously? I've never ever gone looking for trouble." Uncle Nate gave me a look and I sighed. "This doesn't count. I'm doing this for my friends. I'm different—besides if anything happens to Dan, I'm not gonna be next head, it's going to be Chris."
"Not really."
"By that logic great aunt Penelope would've been the head instead of grandpa."
"Except she was insane, bat shit crazy—had nothing in her mind except killing vampires. Cra-zy."
"She seemed fine when I lived through her memories."
"Yeah well, one day she just started losing it. It happens to people in this family, more so than others."
"How fun." It was not fun at all. In fact, I was scared and hoped that I would not become anything like her. I heard those strange whispers while reliving her memories and I can't imagine having those thoughts in your head all the time. "I think this is the place." I announced, noticing an abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods.
Uncle Nate checked the GPS attached and nodded. He checked Jeremy's texts and finally stopped the car. Stefan and Damon followed behind us, in the distance. Uncle Nate went to the trunk and got out a shotgun and bow. I didn't know if I needed the bow yet.
I turned to uncle Nate and he signed. 'I can feel the vampires.' I nodded.
Turning to the old dilapidated mansion, I tried to get a feel of the place. The windows were barred and the porch along with the entry were rotting away. 'Are you sure you didn't sense Damon and Stefan?' I signed back pointing at the Salvatore brothers who just parked their car.
"What are you two doing?" Damon asked, getting out. He looked so confused seeing me and my uncle make gestures at each other.
I put a finger to my lips, trying to quieten him down. The plan was to ambush them and get Elena out, not let them know we were here. "Sign language?" Stefan guessed and uncle Nate nodded. "Oh that's really smart." He muttered under his breath, impressed.
I beamed and signed a 'thank you'. It paid off to learn sign language. My dad had this idea back when he was in high school for people in my family to learn sign language since vampires had good hearing. Since then we have all learned sign language. It was just something we all had to do.
'Ready?' Uncle Nate signed and I nodded.
I held out my left hand and focused. Warmth spread through my body, focusing on my right hand before dusts of light quickly formed into a big orb of light. I softly clicked my fingers once and the orb split into three.
Damon and Stefan both looked impressed as I loaded up my bow with some vervain arrows that were also modified with trackers, just in case they tried to run. Stefan took the lead and signaled us to move. Uncle Nate went with Damon while I decided to go with Stefan. The two of us kept our heads down and Stefan turned to me.
I know we had gone over this plan a couple of times on the way here but still I was a little nervous. I blinked and Stefan disappeared out of my sight. Great, I had to move. I hurried through the halls, ducking and hiding as I went but I froze when I felt so cold.
The cold chill creeped up my spine with the sudden urge to kill. It was stronger than what I had ever felt around the Salvatore brothers, Lexi and even Caroline.
Carefully I peaked to the side of the hall and noticed a man in a suit. His back was turned to me, I couldn't see his face. Still, one look at him and I knew. He was a vampire, someone older and more powerful than anything we had encountered before. The coldness of death was stronger than before around him. He had his grip on Elena who seemed to be limping.
He wasn't the only one. There was another vampire with him, a woman with short pixie-cut, very Alice Cullen if I didn't know any better. Two vampires should be easy. I tried to be optimistic.
A thin stake landed in his hand and he looked at the other vampire. I took that as my signal to act. I looked up at the three orbs of light and willed it to move. The orbs started to chase each other before the man flashed up the stairs to look for the source.
"Down here." I heard Stefan's voice. The man looked down and another stake flew at him.
The orbs moved fast and I focused on the man. The man swiftly moved out of the way of one of the orbs which shattered into small dusts of light, quickly dissipating in the air before another aimed for his face. He dodged it again and I quickly tried to reform the orbs on the spot.
I half expected him to get angry but instead he started to laugh. "Now, isn't this a pleasant surprise." I heard him say. His voice sent shivers down my spine and I dragged my free hand in front of me, more smaller orbs of light began to form around him.
I didn't respond and aimed for him. My head was starting to ache a little and there was buzz in my year but I still kept going. He managed to dodge all of the orbs around him before
"I'll give you a chance to come out right now or things won't be so pretty once I find you." He warned. I was scared. I admit but I had to get Elena out.
I didn't say anything to him. "Elena, duck!" The man heard me and quickly turned to face me. In the half-lit foyer I could barely make his face out but I knew I was visible to him from up the stairs. Before he could act the remaining orbs shattered, colliding with each other raining down sparks.
I heard a few hisses and groans of pain. I aimed my bow at the other vampire while Stefan got Elena out. The arrow flew through the air, hitting him in the arm. He looked up and glared at me before pulling it out but the job was done. The tracker was already embedded into his skin.
Uncle Nate started chanting something and the two vampires fell to the floor. "Come on. You are really making it a habit to be a danger magnet." I said, running to Elena who ran towards me.
"It's not like I asked to be kidnapped." Elena tiredly retorted.
"I'm so not leaving you on your own next time." I grabbed Elena's hands and tried to make a run for it but the man was in front of me. "Hi." I smiled at him as dusts of light gathered around me and Elena like a shield.
"Hello." To my surprise, he actually replied and smiled. "Do you mind dropping the shield?" I was a little surprised by his polite tone.
Unfortunately, I couldn't do that. Even if he did have a nice face. "Sure." I smiled brightly.
"No, wai—" Elena was cut off when the shield of light got brighter before it moved fast towards the man colliding against his skin and shattering. The dusts of light started to come back to me while the man fell to the floor clutching his head in pain as his skin sizzled and burned. "You had a plan." Elena breathed out.
"Of course, I did. Do you think I'd come without one?" I retorted before tugging her arm and taking her with me to the side. Actually that was not planned.
Stefan met me and he took Elena, keeping a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. The three of us stayed in that small alcove while I took out my phone and quickly texted uncle Nate. He and Damon were in position already. I showed the messages to Stefan and Elena who nodded.
"Excuse me." The three of us froze when I heard the man speak. "To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me." He carried on, his voice rang through the entire mansion. "You can't. Do you hear that? I repeat, you cannot beat me. So I want the girl and her friend too," Stefan looked at me and I shrugged. I didn't know what was going on. This was news to me too. "I'm gonna count to three or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"
I glanced at Stefan and signed. 'We need to split up.' He nodded and he handed Elena a vervain grenade before the two of us backed up.
Elena sucked in a breath and with shaky hands, took the grenade and stepped out the alcove. "I'll come with you, just please don't hurt my friends, they just wanted to help me out." She said, standing at the stand at the top of the stairs, the vervain grenade was behind her back.
I kept my gaze on Elena while uncle Nate and Stefan had the other sides covered. The man flashed up the stairs and stood in front of Elena. "What game are you playing with me?" I noticed he had a coat-hanger in his hands. It was turned into a makeshift stake. "Where's your friend?" He asked, looking around me.
"She's not a part of this."
The man leaned close to Elena and pulled back. "That's not what I asked." He started looking around while Elena got into position. "Where is she?"
Without a warning, she threw the vervain bomb in his face. It exploded and his skin burned but he started to heal immediately, faster than before when I hit him with the light. He was up in a second and rushed towards Elena but Stefan sprung into action and shot him with the compressed air stakes.
This was about to go south real quick. Uncle Nate rushed out of his hiding spot, chanting while shooting wooden bullets at the man. He clutched his head in pain, crying out as I also came out of my hiding spot, gathering up a storm of dusts of light. The lights gathered into an orb, I threw at him before it shattered, trying to keep him down.
Stefan tackled him to the ground when he tried to get up. The two fell down the stairs as uncle Nate stopped chanting for a second to catch his breath.
To our horror and surprise, the man got up while Stefan stayed on the floor. He turned around and dusted his coat, turning his gaze at me and my uncle. Before my uncle could react, he grabbed him and threw him across the room. "Now where was I?"
Without thinking, I threw my bow aside and brought my hands together, dragging the air as the light crackled between my fingers. Instead of creating a ball of light, I aimed a stream of light towards the man, bringing him to his knees. He tried to get up but I focused more.
The pain in my head grew and I felt increasingly hot like I was about to burst into flames. Blood dripped down my nose and I froze. The man looked up, his teeth out and black veins underneath his eyes, he eyed me with a strange hunger.
Oh no.
"Damon! Damon!" I cried out. "I can't hold on. I can't—" I finally let go, pulling back collapsing to the floor. I glanced at the man, hoping he was dead but again, he was fine. His burnt skin started to heal fast, he was already on his feet.
"Still a novice." I heard him mutter under his breath. "You shouldn't have done that. Now you've wasted yourself." My head started to spin. He reached out for me and I flinched back even though he didn't touch me. My heart was beating wildly, slowing down and speeding up. I couldn't breathe.
Before he could reach me, Damon ran through him with a stake. The man was impaled on the wall with the coat-hanger stake. His skin started to ashen as he slumped over unconscious. "You okay?" He asked, looking down at me on the floor.
"Just..." He let go of the stake and held out a hand towards me. "...peachy." I took it, standing up. Uncle Nate started to wake up with a groan. I noticed the other vampire, the woman with the pixie cut. She looked at the scene in panic before taking off. Damon tried to go after her but I pulled him back. "...It's not worth it." He nodded, gently holding me up by my waist, steadying me.
"I thought we had a plan." With a wry smile on his face he moved a few strands of my hair out of my face.
"Yeah well nobody predicted that we'd run into a super-vamp." I tried to stand by myself, only to almost fall. Damon caught me and carefully helped me up before he passed me to my uncle who was now standing.
"Speaking of, are we sure he's dead?"
"No vampire can survive that so yeah he's dead."
"Should we just burn the whole place down?" Uncle Nate suggested. "Just in case."
Damon perked up at my uncle's suggestion. It seemed the two of them were on the same page for once. "There's a thought. I'll grab the fuel."
"That would attract too much attention." Stefan answered as Elena ran into his arms.
The two embraced while the rest of us turned away and pretended we were anywhere but there. "I'm gonna go wait in the car." I quietly told my uncle while he and Damon got to work on the fire ignoring Stefan's words from earlier.
The ringing in my head gradually died down as I laid my head on the car window, not even noticing Elena get in the back. My eyes were shut.
Reluctantly I opened them for a moment when I heard uncle Nate say something about the bow I left behind before he took off the quiver of arrows from me, placing both the quiver and the bow in the trunk. I went back to sleep while uncle Nate drove us back to Mystic Falls.
─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────
Uncle Nate dropped Elena off at her place, taking his time to talk to Jenna before dropping me home. He texted two hours later that he was going to be late. Since I didn't feel like cooking, I thought I'd go to the Grill instead.
"Hey." Matt came over to take my order. He looked worse than the last time I had seen him. There were dark circles under his eyes, his eyes and skin were dull. He looked really sickly and pale like one push would make him fall. "The usual?" He asked.
"The usual." I confirmed. "Oh can you also add some triple chocolate cookies and strawberry shake to-go?"
"That's a lot of sugar." Matt commented. "Your mom is not going to be happy."
"She's at a three-day medical conference and I had a long day."
"I didn't see you at the assembly." He ripped out the sheet with my order and passed it to another waiter nearby who took it to the counter. "Dana did your part."
I smiled and nodded. "I told her to take my place."
"That was sweet of you."
"Not really." It was done out of guilt not out goodwill. I didn't deserve to be praised for that. "I didn't know Sarah and I was pretty mean to Aimee."
Matt took a seat opposite me and reached out towards me. "Well, for what it's worth—I think you've done a great job."
I gave his hand a squeeze and let out a tired breath. "I should be the one saying that to you. I heard...about Sarah."
"I just..."
"You know it wasn't your fault or...Tyler's. Sarah was drunk, fooling around. It happens."
Matt shook his head, not wanting me to carry on or listen to me. "No, you don't get it." He said. "That could've been me."
"I don't understand."
"I felt this strange urge, okay, to fight Tyler. I don't know why." I did. Katherine compelled him. The blank stares and the half hearted conversations we had. It was Katherine. Sarah was the backup. "It could've been me."
"But it wasn't you." I know it was bad for me to think but knowing that it could've been Matt instead of Sarah, maybe I was glad it was her not Matt. "Matt, it was an accident. What happened was an accident. A really...really tragic accident."
Matt smiled, giving my hand a small squeeze. I tried to smile back but my smile died when I noticed that his eyes shimmered a pale gold with lilac. Quickly I drew my hand back and stood up. I didn't mean to do that. I was just trying to reassure him. "I should let you get back to work." I said as an excuse. "I'll be by the pool tables." I quickly walked away, not letting him speak.
"I'm surprised to see you here," Stefan gestured to our surroundings and I couldn't help but shrug. He was standing by the pool tables, holding a pool cue stick. "Considering you have a curfew and all."
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the railing that separated the platform area from the seating area. "Well, I'm going through my 'teenage rebel' phase so here I am." I forced myself to smile. "I'm surprised to see you here."
"I thought I'd come here to let some steam out. Are you okay?" He put the stick on the table and turned to me. I looked away. Truth was I was not okay. I hadn't been in a long time.
"You're really sharp, you know that."
"I've been told."
With a sigh, I decided to confide in Stefan. I guess he could relate a little. "I lost control of myself for a second." I said.
"Matt?" I nodded. "It's fine. He didn't get hurt."
"But still. It's not what I was trying to do."
"Wanna play?" He passed me the pool cue stick while setting up the table again. "It'll help take your mind off things."
"Sure." Shrugging, I leaned over the table with the cue stick. I brought the pool cue down with me and aimed it at a colored ball before shooting it. "How are you and Elena?"
"I don't know. I think we're okay again but I don't know." He seemed confused and lost, blindly taking the pool cue stick and shooting it. "Honestly, I feel guilty."
"Because she was in danger?" He nodded. "But it wasn't your fault. Most of these people were from Katherine's past," He opened his mouth but I cut him off before he could speak. I knew what he was going to say. "You know even if you didn't come back to Mystic Falls, it doesn't change the fact that Isobel is Elena's mother and Isobel is a vampire. Personally I think the two are connected, considering they are related."
"So you think Elena would've been in danger either way."
I sucked in a breath and took the cue stick from him, bending over the table, aiming for one of the colored balls before shooting it. "...As much as it sucks to admit, yeah. You just sped up the process or maybe things would've stayed the same. We don't know why Isobel came back. John came back to protect his daughter so did Isobel but if her and Katherine were or are working together—"
"Then Elena was never going to be safe." He finished. "You're smart." I mouthed a 'I know', it was mostly a result of me overthinking. "But you would still be here."
"I can't say that." I confessed.
Truth was, I was not only back in Mystic Falls because I offered to take care of my dying grandma Janine who passed away right before I came back. I was also back to escape from the memories in Havensbrook. Maybe one day I'd go back but not right now.
I didn't want to tell anyone that, not yet. I wasn't ready for that. "I get you feeling bad but if you think about it, you protected Elena."
"Have I? I think I placed her and you and your friends in more danger with Katherine, her past and maybe even Damon." He paused playing to look at me, he was upset and concerned. Guilt was always on his mind. "Now you're also in danger." He added.
I didn't know that yet. "Elena's a doppelgänger." I reminded him, gently taking the cue stick from him. "And I'm something...different, maybe even rare. Who knows?"
"That vampire looked like he knew what you were."
"I noticed." And it scared me.
"You looked scared."
"I was scared." I admitted.
"But you were good." I didn't know what to say to that so I stayed quiet, letting the silence build up. "You know you're a really good person."
"So are you. Not many people would go out of their way to help their ex-girlfriend." I smiled and passed him the cue stick. He returned my smile and made his shot. "You weren't too bad yourself back there, you handled it well." I complimented him. "Especially for someone who only switched diets recently—speaking of, how's that going?"
"Not bad. I think I'm getting the hang of it." He was still smiling as he spoke. I noticed that while we were talking his eyes became brighter. "It's a little difficult but I think I'm getting used to it. Lexi said I should still mix bloods just in case of a relapse but I'm getting there." I felt bad for him. His on-again-off-again relationship with Elena, the strange brotherhood he and Damon had and not to mention his only friend, Lexi was miles away. I guess he was lonely. "Damon." He suddenly said, looking behind me.
I craned my head to look behind my shoulder to see Damon walk in. He made a beeline for us, stopping at a distance. His gaze wandered from me to his brother. His eyes hardened and his jaws clenched as he took a few steps towards us.
"Aw. You two look like you're having fun." He commented, taking the cue stick from my hand and making a shot. His move was a little aggressive. He looked a little mad from the way he moved and the way he spoke but his eyes looked sad. I didn't mention it and acted like I didn't notice anything.
"That was Ava's turn." Stefan pointed out, giving the cue stick back to me.
Damon turned to me and grinned. "You're welcome."
I let out a small laugh, feeling a sense of deja vu before bending over the table to aim and then make my shot. "You know that was the second time you did that." I said, handing back the cue stick to Stefan. "And what are you doing here?"
"Why? Am I interrupting something?" He didn't take his eyes off me while I looked away. God, here we go again.
"That's not what she meant." Stefan jumped in, trying to prevent an argument from breaking out. "I'm sure she was asking why you're here."
He nodded, still he didn't look away. "I got bored staying at home so here I am."
Before I could say anything, Stefan's phone started ringing. He took out his phone as I looked at him, thinking it might be Elena. "Oh, I gotta take this. It's Lexi."
I brightened up, hearing her name. "Say 'hi' to her for me." Stefan nodded and went outside to talk. Damon didn't move. He stood there. "You have something to say."
Looking at him now, he seemed happier with Stefan gone. It was strange. I was too tired to put two and two together so I left things as they were. "You read my mind." He said with an amused smile, taking the cue stick Stefan had passed to me before he left.
It was hard for me to read a werewolf's mind, I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to read a vampire's mind. I never really tried, I guess the only time I did get inside a vampire's head was with Vicki, I didn't think that counted since she was new. "You and I both know I can't. Though I can't tell if that'll change or not."
Damon nodded, handing me cue stick and motioned for me to make my move. I made my move and stood up, waiting for him to make his move. "How are you?" He asked, to my surprise.
"Small talk?" I wondered out loud. "It's not like you but if you have to ask, I didn't faint, I feel better—a little tired and beaten up otherwise, I'm mostly fine just...confused and a little scared."
"Are you thinking about Katherine's warning?"
"It's a little hard not to think about." Katherine wasn't the one to warn people. She threatened, not warned, so it was a little jarring to get a warning from her of all people. "That guy, back there, he looked like he knew what I was. He wasn't scared. He was—"
"A little too happy seeing you." I nodded. "And that makes you scared?" His grip on the stick hardened and if he kept it up, it would splinter.
"I mean if you were in my place you'd feel the same way." The wooden cue stick started to crack a little and I quickly took it off his grip before carrying on. "Not knowing what you are, having a vague hint of what you are." I bent over the table, eying a yellow colored ball before shooting it. I missed it. "Enough about me. Your turn." I stood up and carefully, handed the stick to him, silently warning him to not break it.
"I think I did something bad."
"You think?" I questioned. "Oh god. Who'd you kill? Is it Mr Saltzman? I thought the two of you were getting along."
Damon let out a laugh and shook his head. "No. No. I didn't kill anyone." He wasn't annoyed or angry but a little amused that I even thought he would kill anyone. "Do you think that low of me?" He joked.
I grinned and shrugged. "You weren't exactly a saint."
Damon clicked his tongue. Some might think I was being a little harsh on him but it was easier said to forgive and forget than actually doing it. Not to mention, I was not the person he should be asking for forgiveness from. "Cornered myself there." He mumbled.
"But," Damon looked up, he looked hopeful, inching closer to me. "I can see that you're trying and sometimes, you miss a lot but you're getting there. You can't change what you've already done, you can just learn from it...so what'd you do this time."
"I did something bad and no I didn't kill anyone."
"So what'd you do?"
"I told Elena I loved her."
"Oh." I felt my heart drop.
For a second, I couldn't breathe. All I could do was nod and smile awkwardly, trying to find a way to react or say anything. What does anyone say in response to something like that? I did know but I didn't know how to say it.
Damon took a step forward towards me and I backed away "Oh?" He echoed back. "Say something." He looked desperately at me but I looked away.
It took me a while to find the right words to say but finally, I found them. "What else is there to say? You love Elena. That's it." I moved around the table, putting some distance between us and Damon followed me. "Nothing I say will change that but you should think about Stefan. He deserves better."
"And I don't." He grabbed my wrist and stopped me, turning me around. I could feel some curious gaze from some onlookers and I sighed. I didn't want my evening to go this way.
"Oh god." I heard some whispers of the other people and most of all, Damon's grip on my wrist had tightened. "That's not what I said." I harshly whispered back, trying to pull my wrist away from his grip.
"Not but I've noticed that you're always a little soft on him and then harsh on me."
"Are you—" It was not possible. No way. There was no reason for Damon to be jealous. No, not Damon. "Nevermind. Stefan is my friend, he was nice and he actually tried to work with me not against me and people I care about."
"I'm trying to change that." He let go when he noticed that I was starting to struggle. My wrist was starting to hurt. "I really am."
"I can see that but telling Elena you love her is not helping. Give me a break. You're still being selfish." I held my wrist close to me and lightly rubbed it. "And I don't know why you're telling me this!" I hissed out, trying so hard not to look at him.
"I said 'I loved her' not I'm in love with her."
"There's a difference?" I looked over my shoulder to see him staring at me.
"Yes." He answered. "I did love her but I realized that I don't love her in the way I thought I did. You were right and I guess I realized something else." He put the cue stick down and took a few steps back, giving me space. He was looking down so I couldn't tell if he meant what he said or if he was lying to me again. "Truth is I—"
"Order for Ava!" I heard Matt's voice ring out through the Grill, cutting Damon off.
Damon cursed under his breath. "I have to go." I pursed my lips and looked away. I guess for now, whatever Damon had to say would have to wait. "Tell me later."
I left him there, standing alone and headed for the counter. I quickly picked up my order and left, not looking back. I couldn't stay there, I only hoped that he didn't visit me later on in the night.
I had to close the balcony door later on.
"Hey, I brought food." I placed the bag in front of him on the dining table. He had his laptop and a bunch of notebooks laid out in front of him. "Thesis?" He nodded.
I pulled up a chair and started to unpack the food while he went to get some plates from the kitchen. A quiet beep was heard from his laptop, I pretended I didn't hear that but the beeping kept on going. It kept beeping every five minutes.
Uncle Nate came back with the plates and cutlery, putting them down when he heard the beep. He went straight to his laptop and looked at me.
"I didn't touch anything." I said, putting my hand up in defense before playing myself some of the food.
"I didn't say you did." He rolled his eyes and leaned into the screen. "Hey, did you use one of your brother's prototype arrows?"
"The vervain one with the trackers? I did. I know it was kind of useless but I thought I'd try them out plus they weren't marked."
"Huh. It's strange."
"What is?"
"The tracker's active."
I abruptly stood up and moved to check the screen. "That shouldn't be happening." I murmured. "You and Damon did burn the place down right?"
"Yeah, we did and Damon did stake that vampire." The tracker beeped again before going quiet. "What the hell?"
"Maybe, it got carried in the wind?" I tried to justify.
Uncle Nate looked at me incredulously before he shrugged and closed the program. "Might be a couple of kids breaking in after a fire or the tracker's broken."
"It was a prototype." I remembered. It wasn't going to be perfect. Uncle Nate seemed to consider my words before nodding and closing his laptop, sitting down to have dinner instead.
Putting the suddenly active tracker in the back of my head, I finished my dinner and headed upstairs to do my homework and go to bed, forgetting everything that had happened that day.