———
I lay numbly in my bed, staring at the ceiling with a dull headache.
I had killed someone. I had taken a life. And to pay the price, I had triggered the werewolf curse.
When everything was settled with the police, we'd figured out the man I hit had been jumping in front of cars trying to commit suicide. I had just happened to be the one that hit him.
Nik said it was the best possible scenario, the man had no family or friends, but that did nothing to stop the overwhelming guilt I was riddled with.
Nik had been helping me, but I couldn't do much more than shower and go to the bathroom. I had barely eaten anything.
Nik thought I'd do well with some company, so he invited Hayley over the other day. I tried to be good company but I couldn't mask my emotions very well.
Nobody else had come to visit.
With my newfound werewolf abilities, I'd discovered that the enhanced hearing was the worst. It wasn't as good as vampire hearing, but it was definitely better than normal.
Every little sound was driving me crazy. For example, the ceiling fan was about to be ripped from its spot if it didn't quiet down.
My attention was drawn to my door as it creaked open revealing Nik.
"Angel? Can I come in?" He asks softly.
I nod and go back to staring at the ceiling.
After a few seconds I feel the bed dip beside me.
"I'm going over to the Salvatore's today. I'd like you to join me." He says gently.
"I can't go Nik." I whisper softly.
"I know you don't want to, but I'm afraid it's necessary. Staying cooped up in your room all day isn't what you need. You need to go outside and walk around for a bit." Nik encourages.
"Nik please don't make me go." I beg, my voice breaking.
"Aw, angel." He breathes, pulling me into a tight hug.
"I know it'll be hard, but I'll be there the whole time. We can even get ice cream after." Nik says.
"I don't want ice cream." I sniffle.
"Just please come with me. I promise I won't leave your side the whole time."
I take a few seconds to think it over. But he was right, I shouldn't just sit in here and rot.
"I'll go."
"Yeah?" Nik smiles.
"Yeah, but I've gotta shower first." I state.
"Take your time, love." Nik replies.
I nod and slowly make my way over to the bathroom.
Once I reach the door I turn back to look at Nik.
"Nik?"
"Yes?" He answers, looking worried I'd changed my mind.
"Will you join me?" I ask softly.
"Anything for you, my love." Nik smiles.
———
I sigh in content as Nik's fingers scrub against my scalp, lathering the shampoo.
He then takes a few moments to rinse out all the soap. Once he fully washed it out, he puts all of my hair over one shoulder.
"Huh..." he sounds.
"What is it?" I ask.
"How come I've never noticed this birthmark?" He questions, running his finger over it.
"I usually cover it with makeup. I used to get bullied for it." I answer.
"Have you always had it?" He asks.
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"This birthmark is a shared trait of a particular Wolfpack in New Orleans." He states.
"You know what pack Hayley and I are from?" I ask breathlessly.
"I believe they're called the crescent pack." Nik replies.
I let the information sink in for a moment before speaking.
"Can we wait a bit to tell Hayley. That's gonna be all she wants to talk about and I'm not sure I can handle that right now." I say in a small voice.
"We can tell her whenever you feel comfortable. It is all up to you, my Angel" Nik replies softly.
"I love you." I turn to rest my forehead against his.
"I love you. Always." Nik responds.
———
I slowly walk down the steps of the Salvatore mansion's cellar, holding tightly to Nik's hand.
Nik needed Stefan to go get the dagger back from Rebekah, so we were here to keep an eye on Damon, who was still under Kol's compulsion.
"You coming to snap my neck again? Because I woke up feeling completely un-murderous, and I'm pretty sure that it's safe to set me free." I hear Damon say.
Nik and I stand out of his view, waiting to make our presence known.
Stefan remains silent as he throws a vial of blood towards Damon.
"Oh man, really? You practically bled me dry. At least spring for a bag or something. I'm thirsty." Damon complains.
Stefan sets a water bottle between the bars of the door.
"Not exactly what I had in mind." Damon grumbles.
He then gets up, groaning, and walks over to grab the water bottle. From his new position he sees Nik and I standing on the other side.
"Hello, mate." Nik greets.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon glares.
"Babysitting." Nik states with a smile.
"Oh." Is all Damon responds with.
"Give him a vial of blood every couple of hours, so he doesn't desiccate. If he gets too much strength back, or if he just annoys you, bleed him out again." Stefan instructs.
"Silent treatment, huh? Is that your best shot?"Damon asks Stefan before turning his attention to Nik and I. "He's still pissed at me for sleeping with Elena."
"You sure about that? 'Cause I saw him trying to sneak out of Rebekah's bed this morning, which would suggest to me that he's moved on." Nik says.
I look at him with furrowed eyebrows, wordlessly questioning if it was true.
He smirks and nods in response.
"Well, well. Looks like my brother ripped out a page of my revenge-sex handbook." Damon jokes.
"Well, why don't you guys enjoy your little, uh, villain bonding time? I'll let you know when I get the dagger from Rebekah." Stefan says.
I feel my eyes start to water a bit at what he said.
Did he consider me a villain?
Nik notices my crestfallen expression and clears his throat, sending the nastiest glare he could muster at Stefan.
"Oh, n-not you of course, Ivy. Uh, I'll just be on my way then..." Stefan corrects himself immediately before making a quick escape upstairs.
———
Nik paces around the room while Damon is lying down on the bed, tossing an object up in the air. I sit in the corner on a chair that Nik got me from upstairs.
"You know, none of this would be an issue if you'd have just done your job properly. I was perfectly willing to let you train Jeremy." Nik breaks the silence.
"No, you weren't. Are you kidding? You got there day two. Do you know how hard it is to get these Xbox brains to focus?" Damon argues.
"And then when I turned a room full of barflies into vampires for him to slaughter, you let Kol kill them." Nik states.
"Your brother problem, not mine, buddy." Damon retorts.
"And whose bright idea was it to saddle Jeremy with a conscience, hmm?" Nik questions.
"Well, we couldn't have him trying to stake Elena in her sleep, now, could we?" Damon replies.
"Ah, yes, for the love of Elena. How is it that she manages to overlook every horrific thing you've ever done? Is it willful ignorance, or perhaps something more pathological?" Nik asks.
"Some people are just more capable of forgiveness than others. Bet you score about a negative 500 in that realm." Damon retorts.
"I need forgiveness from nobody other than Ivy, she is the only opinion I care about." Nik replies confidently.
"Well she used to be my best friend, so clearly, her thinking is a little warped." Damon rolls his eyes.
"I wouldn't direct any of your oh so comedic commentary towards her if I were you." Nik sneers.
"Just stating the truth." Damon shrugs with a smirk.
"So my thinking is warped because I was the only person in this god forsaken town to try and be friends with you?" I ask, hurt dripping from my tone.
"Tell me, did you become my friend because you took pity on me, or because before I started hanging out with you nobody but maybe on occasion Bonnie could stand to be around you?" Damon questions.
I take a deep breath at his words, deep hurt blooming in my chest.
"One more word to her and I swear I'll rip out your tongue-" Nik threatens before I cut him off.
"It's okay, Nik."
"Maybe a bit of both honestly. I thought you were like me, that people didn't have a good reason for not wanting to be your friend, that you actually wanted a companion, a true friend. But you weren't like me, you didn't want a friend, you wanted somebody to mindlessly agree with you and constantly be on your side. But guess what Damon? People are never on your side because it's usually the wrong one." I say.
"That's not true! I was a good friend to you and I never wanted you to mindlessly agree with me." Damon argues.
"Really? Then why did you toss me aside as soon as did something that you didn't like? You didn't care that Nik or my friendship with Elijah made me happy, you just hated that I didn't do exactly what you wanted." I reply.
"That's not-"
"Save it. I'm not in the mood to keep arguing." I interrupt, stomping out of the cellar and walking upstairs.
———
I stood in the Salvatore kitchen, riddled with guilt and regret.
I felt horrible for snapping at Damon like that.
Lately I've been having terrible mood swings, I guess it came with the new werewolf territory.
I sighed before deciding to cut up some fruit for Damon as an apology.
Once I had arranged it nicely in a little bowl, I made my way downstairs.
I slowly came to a stop in front of Damon, placing the bowl next to him.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was very harsh." I apologize when he meets my gaze.
Damon sits in silence for a moment, looking at the bowl beside him before abruptly turning back to me.
"Did you mean it? What you said?"
"That's how it felt from my point of view." I answer softly.
"Then you don't have to worry about me being such a horrible friend to you anymore, Ivy. Because I don't want to be friends with you at all." Damon shrugs, knocking the bowl across the room.
Tears well in my eyes and I walk over to Nik for comfort.
Nik wraps his arms around me in a protective cage.
I knew I should've stayed in my room.
———
After thirty minutes of silence and Nik glaring at his phone, he finally breaks the quiet atmosphere.
"Your brother's lack of communication is infuriating."
"It's one of his trademarks, like his brooding and his hair." Damon answers jokingly.
"I don't understand what's taking so long. I mean, how hard is it to steal a dagger?" Nik asks rhetorically.
"From a vampire who's been stabbed as many times as your sister, I'd say difficult." Damon replies.
Klaus sighs and tosses Damon a vial of blood.
"Sweet." Damon smiles.
"You disappoint me, Damon. You're not trying very hard to get out of here. I expected more the daring escape artist, less the cell potato." Nik says.
"Well, I am compelled to kill Jeremy, so I figured it's probably smarter to sit here and chit-chat with you than bust out of here like the Hulk." Damon replies.
"How do you think Elena felt about that, by the way? Your inability to overcome Kol's compulsion for a single moment even though it meant saving the person she loves most in the world?" Nik asks tauntingly.
"She's met me. She knows impulse control's not my strong suit." Damon shrugs.
"Still, must be hard trying to live up to Stefan. I remember when I compelled him to feed off Elena. He fought it so hard, he actually managed to resist. Now, that's love." Nik smirks.
I tune out the rest of their bickering that was giving me a headache, choosing to stare at a random spot on the wall.
I look back over at Nik when his phone begins to ring.
"Well, if it isn't the happy homicidal maniac." Nik picks up the call.
"Did you know that your darling former blood bag and her brother are trying to kill me?" Kol's voice questions.
"What?" Nik asks angrily.
"Don't pretend like you're not in on it. Your obsession to find the cure clearly trumps any sibling loyalty you once felt." Kol responds.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Nik denies.
"I'm going to rip off Jeremy's arm and kill Elena just for sport. Then I'm coming for you." Kol threatens.
Suddenly, Kol hangs up the phone and Nik grabs Damon by the neck, shoving him harshly against the wall.
"What the hell's going on?" Nik questions furiously.
"I don't know." Damon chokes out.
"What are Stefan and Elena planning?" Nik asks.
"I don't know. I've been stuck in the penalty box with you the whole time. Stefan won't talk to me, and Elena won't come to see me." Damon denies his involvement.
"Tell me what you know." Nik uses compulsion just to be sure.
"I don't know anything about a plan." Damon answers.
"Stay here till I return." Nik orders.
He then grabs me gently, and whisks us both away using vamp-speed.
———
Nik and I frantically walk up the Gilbert home's front steps.
I can hear Elena from outside as her front door is open.
"Jeremy, now!" She shouts.
I watch as the Gilbert siblings and Kol step into our view.
Jeremy catches the stake Elena had thrown to him and stabs Kol through the heart with it.
I scream and go to rush inside, but Nik's arms wrap around my waist, keeping me by his side in fear of my safety.
Kol screams and bursts into flame. He continues to scream as he staggers through the kitchen and falls to the floor, dead.
"What did you do?" Nik spits furiously.
"We didn't have a choice. He was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm!" Elena tries to excuse her actions.
"Lies! He never would've gotten inside if you hadn't have set a trap for him." Nik yells.
"You said you were going to put him down too." Elena argues.
I shake my head in disbelief at her words. Surely she would've known he was only going to dagger his brother, not kill him permanently.
"I was going to make him suffer on my terms! I'm going to burn this house to the ground. And then, when you try to flee for your lives, I'll kill you both without blinking." Nik threatens.
"You kill us, you'll never get to the cure. You'll never be able to make any more hybrids." Jeremy says.
"You really think I care for an instant about my bloody hybrids? I want the cure so I can destoy it. I would've killed you all the second we dug it up, but now I'm just gonna watch you burn instead." Nik replies.
Suddenly, he falls to his knees, gripping his head as he groans in pain.
I lean down to his level, frantically searching for the problem.
"Invite him in." Bonnie's voice orders. "Do it!" She yells as they remain silent.
"Come in." Jeremy speaks.
Nik falls forward as Bonnie magically pulls him inside and immobilizes him.
I follow behind yelling in protest only to be picked up from behind by Jeremy.
I squirm in his hold, but it yields no result against his hunter strength.
"Living room. Go!" Bonnie directs.
They follow directions, racing through the living room and standing in the kitchen.
Bonnie stops Nik in the living room and mutters a spell under her breath.
I watch in fear as Nik rushes to leave the living room, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
Jeremy drops me carelessly and pulls the stake from Kol's corpse before rushing out of the house with Elena.
"Witch, you can't do this to me!" Nik screams at Bonnie.
"You have no idea what I can do now." Bonnie replies before walking out of the house.
I slowly crawl toward the barrier, stopping right at the threshold.
I hesitantly put my hand through and pull it back out to see the barrier only affects Nik.
I sob as I crawl into the living room and collapse onto Nik's lap. I cling onto him and cry into his shoulder, doing anything I can to keep my gaze off of Kol's body.
———