I walked up the front steps of the Gilbert house, and just as I was about to knock, the door opened and I almost ran into Elena and Stefan.
"Oh hey Marni," Elena said.
"Hey," I said. "Jeremy home?"
"Yeah, he's upstairs."
"Thanks," I said.
I went to walk past them, but Stefan grabbed my arm.
"What's that on your neck?" he asked, brushing my hair away from my neck.
I rubbed my hand against where he was looking at and flecks of red came off on my hand.
"Dammit!" I muttered. "I thought I cleaned it all up."
"What happened?" Stefan asked. He and Elena looked at me expectantly.
I sighed.
"Long story short, there was a mystery vampire running around town killing people, I was walking in the woods and then the mystery vamp decided to jump out of no where and bite me. Turns out our mystery vamp is actually a vampire from the tomb, who I killed by the way, and some how she came back to life. Elijah came in and saved the day, and is now looking for Natalie, the tomb vampire. And to top it all off, I found out why knocking was invented," I said, smiling proudly at the last part.
"Are you okay?" Elena asked.
"I'm fine now," I said.
"Wait, since when was there vampire attacks?" Stefan asked.
"Since a couple of weeks ago," I said.
"How long have you known about this?" he asked.
"A few hours, give or take," I said. "Honestly, if you want the full story, go and ask Damon. I can't be bothered explaining it all."
It was true. I was tired and all I wanted to do was talk to Jeremy.
"I'll see you guys later," I said.
I turned and walked in, closing the door behind me.
As I walked up the stairs, I wondered if I should tell Jeremy about what happened today. Why had that Natalie chick attacked me? Maybe she wanted revenge. I would if someone killed me. Had she followed me or did I just happen to stumble across her? I hope Elijah finds her. The first thing I'm going to do when I see her is throw a brick at her face. Now that would be fun. No, I corrected myself. The first thing I'm going to do when I see her find out how the hell she came back to life. I was positive I killed her, I even saw her body go all veiny and everything. I probably should tell Jeremy, but he'd just start worrying about me, and I hate it when people worry about me.
I rounded the corner and came face to face with John.
"My day keeps getting better and better," I muttered sarcastically.
"You need to tell your brothers to back down," he said.
"What?" I asked.
"You know what I mean," he said.
"Look John, I'm not in the mood for this. Today has been a no good, very bad day," I said. "That and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, so you haven't noticed the missing people and the dead bodies showing up?" he asked.
Oh, I realised. He thought it was Damon and Stefan killing people.
I almost laughed at the thought of Stefan eating a human.
"What are you implying?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"I know it's your brothers doing this," he said. "They're the only vampires in town."
"This isn't our doing," I said. "We're trying to find the one who's responsible for this."
"You're lying," he said.
"No, actually, I'm not," I said. "I'm pretty sure my own brothers wouldn't attack me in the middle of the woods, now would they?"
That caught him off guard.
"John, if you think Damon and Stefan are the only vampires in this town, you have another thing coming," I said.
"I'm guessing they're your friends," he said. "I'd tell them to be careful, you know. The Founders Council will figure out who they are eventually."
"That's unlikely," I said, "And speaking of, you and your little council members need to back off. We're handling this situation, and they're just getting in the way. Eventually, one of them is going to get killed."
"Like I'm supposed to believe that you're trying kill this vampire," he scoffed.
"The little bastard bit me, so now it's personal," I said. "Believe it or not John, but we're not the bad guys."
I didn't wait for a response. I just brushed past him and headed to Jeremy's room.
"God your uncle annoys me," was the first thing I said when I walked in.
Jeremy laughed. "He has that effect on most people,"
He got up and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me.
"Hi," I said, a grin spreading across my face.
He leaned down and kissed me softly.
In that picture perfect moment, I forgot about the whole Natalie thing, I just focused my mind on being with the guy I loved.
Over the next week, I had no time to think about the bitch who bit me or her where abouts.
I only had time to think about the Founders Court, which was in almost a weeks time.
It was Tuesday afternoon, and I walked into the Grill, hoping to find Tyler. Instead, I found Matt.
"Hey Matt," I said.
"Hey Marni, what's up?" he asked.
"Not much," I replied.
"Nervous about Saturday?" he asked, smirking.
"Not really," I said truthfully.
"Caroline's a wreck," he laughed. "She's been freaking out about it for days."
I laughed. That sounded like Caroline.
"Have you seen Tyler anywhere?" I asked.
"Um, not since school," Matt said. "He said he'd be here later today though."
"Okay," I said. "I'll wait then,"
I sat down at the table closest to me.
Matt said his goodbyes and got back to work.
I hadn't told Jeremy that I was planning on asking Tyler yet. I hope he wouldn't get to upset. He should know that Tyler and I are strictly friends. Jeremy would understand that I was taking Tyler because he was the best choice, right? That's even if Tyler wanted to go with me.
I pulled a napkin out from the napkin holder and started ripping it up.
I breifly wondered if anything had happened between Bonnie and Shadow, or Anna and Shadow. I hadn't spoken to Shadow in a while. I smirked slightly. Shadow now knew what it was like to be stuck between two people. Poor guy. Anna and Bonnie could be very fiesty when they wanted to.
"What did the napkin ever do to you?" a voice asked, distracting me from my thoughts.
I looked up to find Stefan sitting across from me.
"Hey Stefan," I greeted. I hadn't even noticed he was here. I looked around for Elena, but didn't see her. That's a first. They hardly ever separate. "And to answer your question, the napkin said my wallet looks like a buffalo."
"You are a very strange girl," he said. "You know that?"
"I believe someone has told me that before," I muttered.
"What's up?" he asked.
"The roof, as well as a few other things," I said.
He rolled his eyes. He was used to my randomness.
"I'm waiting for someone," I said, giving him a better answer.
"Jeremy?" he guessed.
"Nope," I said. "Tyler,"
"As in Tyler Lockwood?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said. What other Tyler is there in Mystic Falls? I thought to myself.
"How come?" Stefan asked.
"I am in need for an escort to the Founders Court," I said. "Jeremy can't take me, so I figured I'd ask Tyler."
"Ah," he said. "Have you told Jeremy about this yet?"
"Why are you and Damon so interested in finding out what Jeremy's reaction will be?" I questioned. "You guys have a fair bit more in common than you think."
"Doubt it," he said. "Speaking of Damon, have you spoken to him at all lately?"
"Stefan," I said. "I live in the same house as him. I speak to him nearly every day."
"I know, but have you spoken to him lately about... Elena?" he asked, hesitating slightly.
"Ah," I said. "I thought this would come up sooner or later."
"Have you spoken to him about it?" Stefan asked.
"Hmm... very briefly," I said, remembering back to that day at the beach.
"At the risk of sounding like a jealous boyfriend-"
"Don't worry," I cut him off. "There's no risk. You sound like a jealous boyfriend."
He glared at me slightly.
"Just telling the truth," I muttered.
"Moving on," he said. "What did he say?"
"Well, I asked him if he had feeling for Elena," I said. "And he said something along the lines of 'Maybe I do, or maybe I just like pissing Stefan off,'"
"So he has feelings for Elena," Stefan said flatly.
"It's hard to tell with Damon," I said. "He spent over a century looking for a way to get Katherine out of the tomb, only to find out she wasn't in there. Elena looks like Katherine's twin, Damon probably find comfort in her. Elena's the sweet, kind, caring, non-bitchy version of Katherine. I wouldn't be surprised if Damon had feelings for her. Either that or her really enjoys pissing you off."
In fact, I was pretty certain Damon felt something towards Elena. I just wasn't quite sure what it was yet...
"Do you think you could maybe, I don't know, confront him about it and ask him to back off a little?" he asked.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no," I said. "I'm not taking sides in this one. This is between you and him, not me. Go have a rational converstaion with him, brother to brother."
"Do you think that will help?" he asked.
"Not in the slightest," I said. "But you never know."
"Thank you, Marni," he said sarcastically. "That's very reassuring."
I shrugged. "I try."
"I should probably get going," he said, getting up. "I suppose I should go have that 'brother to brother' talk with Damon."
"Okay, I'll be home later on," I said.
"Okay, I'll see you later," he said, before walking away.
I glanced at the time on my phone. God I wished Tyler would hurry up and get here.
As if my prayers were answered, Tyler walked through the door.
"Tyler!"
I jumped up and practically skipped over to him.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi," I said. "I need to ask you of a really big favor,"
"You're not going to ask me to kill anyone, are you?"
"Close, but no," I said. "I know it's really short notice and all, but I was really hoping you could be my escort for the Founders Court?"
"Sure," he said.
I was guessing he already knew about the age thing.
"Really?"
"Yes, really," he said.
"Thank you so much," I said.
"It's not a problem," he said.
"Look, I gotta go, but I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" I said.
"Okay," he said.
I smiled and walked in the direction of the door.
The first thing I heard when I walked into the house was something being smashed.
"Oh lord," I muttered.
I walked straight through to the parlour and found Damon and Stefan at each others throats, growling at one another. It looked like someone had been thrown into a bookcase before I got there.
"Hey!" I shouted, vamp speeding it over to them.
I managed to squeeze inbetween them and push them away from each other. I had to place each hand on both of their chests to stop them from getting to each other.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked.
They ignored me and kept growling.
"Oh wait, let me guess. Elena," I said, answering my own question. I turned to Stefan. "Stefan, I thought I told you to talk to him rationally, not start fighting with him."
"I was talking to him rationally," Stefan said. "But he decided to take things too far."
"Oh yes Stefan," Damon said. "It's always my fault isn't it? You're never in the wrong at all. You're the do-gooder. You always doing what's best for everyone, and I'm always known as the bad guy."
"You still hate me for what happened in 1864, don't you?" Stefan asked.
"Yes Stefan, I still hate you," Damon said. "I always have hated you. I never stopped hating you."
"Guys," I said, getting frustrated.
"You just can't handle the fact that I finally found something good in life, can you?" Stefan asked.
"Wow you just have me all figured out today, haven't you?" Damon said sarcastically.
"It's true, isn't it?" Stefan asked. "Your angry because you're still miserable and lonely."
Damon pushed forwards but I pushed him back.
"Okay guys, enough!" I shouted. "Stop fighting. You guys are brothers for God's sake!"
Damon snorted. "Hardly."
"Okay, I'm over this. Fight all you want, just don't kill each other. Hopefully in the morning some sense will have gotten into you and you'll get over this petty crap. Good night, Stefan, Damon."
I let go of them and walked upstairs.
You'd think after a century and a half they'd be over this by now.
"Stupid freaking vampires." I muttered.
I sighed.
I so didn't need to deal with this right now.