˗ˏˋ CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE ˎˊ˗
It took forever for Kalila to convince her dad that her going over to the Salvatore Boarding House was perfectly safe, and all she was going to do was help them go through the rest of Isobel's research. Even then, he opted to come with her. Ever since she was on the literal brink of death, he's been wary about letting her out of his sight. She supposed she understood, but that didn't make it any less annoying.
"Hey, Saltzman and Co.!" Damon called from his spot at the table completely surrounded by all kinds of research, stacks of books on either side of them.
"Which one is 'Co.'?" her dad asked as Kalila snorted, setting down Isobel's research on the table as she plopped down on the couch.
"You know, Alaric, I think you probably shouldn't ask," Damon smirked.
"I'm the 'Co.'" her dad grumbled before his attention turned to the person entering the room. "Jeremy?" he asked, and Kalila turned to look too. "What are you doing here?"
Kalila sat up, turning to look at Damon, who just held his hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me! Little Gilbert said he had some fun news to share, so I told him to wait for you two." Still, Kalila rolled her eyes, sending Damon a glare before turning back to Jeremy.
"He's right," Jeremy confirmed Damon's words. "I've been spending time with Tyler, and I know all about the werewolves and the rest of the Lockwood Family. For some reason, Mason is obsessed with finding this thing called a moonstone, so Tyler took it."
Damon sat up at that. "Moonstone? As in the one that seals the vampire/werewolf curse?"
"Yeah." Jeremy nodded. "I think that I could get it from him so we can learn more about it."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kalila interrupted. "If Mason is a werewolf, then Tyler is a werewolf. We can't send you to steal something from a werewolf."
"Tyler's not a werewolf. Not yet, at least. He has the gene, and the curse is only activated if he kills someone."
"Oh...okay," Kalila sighed as the new information made her even more confused. Vampires took her a long time to even comprehend as something that was real, but now werewolves? What was next? Ghosts? She shook the thought out of her head, trying not to think about what else could be going bump in the night, or hell, even right in front of her face. "I guess that's okay."
Jeremy laughed. "You're one of my best friends, Kalila, but I don't need your permission."
"Annoying, isn't it?" Damon just barely had enough time to get that sentence out before he was met with a pillow being chucked at his face. "Okay, okay, but seriously, Little Gilbert. Kalila and Elena will kill me if anything happens to you, so for my sake, don't get yourself killed."
Kalila rolled her eyes but wore a slight smile despite herself. "Get outta here before I tell our sister." Jeremy was gone in seconds. She felt weird referring to Elena as 'our sister', but it was true, wasn't it? Elena was her sister, despite how angry they were when they first found out.
"Good news," Damon said as he held up his phone, his text messages open on the screen. "Katherine got to Uncle Werewolf."
"You're kidding," Kalila sighed.
"Unfortunately not."
"Go," her dad said from next to her, ushering her to stand from the couch. "Go handle Mason. I'll hold down the research fort."
Kalila looked at him in disbelief. "You want me to take on the scary werewolf man?" she asked incredulously. "Who are you and what have you done to my dad?" Damon looked just as confused, which was probably because there was always a fight about her running into danger, especially with him.
"Kal, just go before I change my mind."
Kalila and Damon were also gone in seconds.
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"You ready to see your boyfriend?" Kalila shoved Damon as soon as the words had left his mouth. They had quite literally just parked and gotten out of the car, and it took him less than a whole minute to make fun of her. "Ow!" he exclaimed, but she knew that he was only being dramatic. "I was just asking!"
"No, you were being a dick," Kalila spat back playfully, rolling her eyes. "Besides, we're not even dating. Elena showed up before we could talk about anything." Damon was about to say something else, but Kalila gave him a look, and he shut himself up. "I can literally feel you judging me with your judgey eyes."
"You're so weird." Kalila didn't have time for a rebuttal as the two of them spot Stefan and Bonnie obviously speaking in hushed tones. Stefan's head turned at their approaching steps, obviously hearing them despite the distance. His face broke in a smile at the sight of her, and she smiled back just as bright. "Disgusting," Damon said, pulling her up the steps to the porch.
"Hey, Kalila," Bonnie greeted with a small wave. The two girls hadn't seen each other since Kalila ran into a burning building that was indirectly caused by Bonnie. Kalila just nodded politely. She wasn't one to hold grudges (just look at her best friend and almost-boyfriend), but it was hard when she knew that Bonnie hated vampires and resented the fact that Elena was involved with them with everything in her. It was too much to simply brush aside, and they both knew that. Pretending otherwise was just foolish.
Still, Kalila listened intently as she spoke. "When I touched Mason, I saw a vision of him kissing Katherine," she said, playing with her fingers nervously as she was surrounded by two vampires.
"Which would mean that Mason is way more of a threat than we thought," Stefan added.
"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't we already think he was a threat when he tried to kill all three of us?" Kalila snorted. "I mean, I personally don't think he'd hesitate to do it again."
"Right," Damon interrupted before she got way too rant-y. "And we were going to take care of him before. It's just going to be more difficult withe Katherine in the picture." He turned away from her pouts before addressing the rest of the group. "I vote we question him."
"I don't think he's going to do that very willingly," Stefan pointed out.
"Which is why we are not going to ask! Bon-Bon, help me orchestrate the kidnapping." Bonnie didn't have any time at all to protest before Damon dragged her off, looking over his shoulder at the last second to send the two of them a wink. Real subtle, Damon.
Stefan laughed as Kalila turned back to look at him with a playful glare. He held up his hands in surrender. "You have to admit it's sorta funny."
Her resolve quickly broke as her lips formed a smile just by the way he was looking at her, eyes twinkling and mischievous. "Really?" she teased back, taking a few steps closer to him. "Why's that, Stef?" For a moment, she forgot all about their issues. For a moment, she forgot that if anyone saw them together, it would ruin the whole performance Elena and Stefan put on to keep her out of the whole Katherine mess. For a moment, she just wanted tor forget, to stand up on her tiptoes and kiss the life out of Stefan Salvatore.
But for a moment, Stefan didn't forget.
He took a single step back, but it was enough. "Hey, I, uh..." he trailed off. "I wanted to talk to you about last night."
Kalila sighed, the spell broken as she also took a step back. "Suppose we should do that, huh?" He smiled. "So, Elena came over?"
"Elena came over," he repeated, nodding.
"What happened after I left?"
"Elena checked on Caroline and Liz, and then she left."
"She left?"
"She did, Kalila. I know where Elena and I stand. We're friends, and very committed to making sure Katherine doesn't find out about you, but that's all."
"Well..." she trailed off as she gnawed on her bottom lip, trying to find the courages to say the things she really wanted to say. "Where do you and I stand?"
Before Stefan could answer, the two of them heard the crunching gravel of an approaching vehicle, and turned to see Mason's truck pulling up with Damon driving and Bonnie in the passenger seat. "Hey, Tiny, bus is leaving!" She rolled her eyes at the nicknames she would never really get tired of, and turned back to Stefan.
"I'm sorry, I have to-"
"I know," Stefan interrupted. "Go."
With a nod, she turned around and head to the truck, knowing his eyes were on her. "So?" Damon asked, wiggling his eyebrows as Kalila got in the truck, Bonnie sliding over to the middle. Kalila just answered by reaching over the other girl and punching him hard on the shoulder. "Okay, okay, point taken," he grumbled before heading off down the road.