CHAPTER SIX

Nyx walks​ away from Dean, crossing the motel room to get to the bathroom, trying to get away from their conversation. "Will you just drop it? It doesn't matter what the shifter said. He wasn't you. Just forget it." She tells him.

He walks up behind her, refusing to give up, and then looks at her in the mirror. "It matters to me." He argues, but she refuses to look at him. "What did he say to you?"

The brunette ignores him and tries to put her hair up into​ a ponytail, but it hurts her arm and her side to raise her hand over her head. She lets her hands rest at her sides and then looks at their reflection. She sighs as Dean carefully​ takes the hair tie from her balled up fingers; he puts her hair up as best as he can, and her jaw clenches as she looks at them in the mirror.

"I hate that I can't do something as simple as putting my hair up without pain shooting through my arm." She says, and he rests his hands on her shoulders. "And my stupid side."

"And I hate that something that had my face is the reason you feel this way." He says, and she shakes her head.

"But you didn't do this, Dean. That thing did."

"That hasn't changed that you avoid being close to me now, and you're​ talking about having the three of us take turns with the beds." He says, his eyebrows furrowed as he looks at her.

"I said I'd get my own room, but you and Sam won't let me. Something about safety in numbers." She reminds him.

"You claim that you distancing yourself from me has nothing to do with the attack or ending up in the hospital." He continues, and she nods.

"And it's true."

"Which makes me think it's something that the shapeshifter said. You and Sam both told me that it had my memories."

"It did."

"So, what did it say to you?" He asks again, and she sighs as she turns to face him.

"It sad that you're afraid you're going to fall in love with me, and I'm gonna leave you like everyone else. That you notice all the glances and smiles between the two of us, and you know how you feel about me, but not how I feel about you. You think that I have some kind of...connection with Damon, and that I'm a bitch for sleeping with you when I know that I'm not ready for any kind of a relationship." She tells him as she tries to keep her dark eyes from tearing up. "That you were hurt when you woke up alone in that motel room after we slept together."

He's not looking at her anymore. His eyes are trained on the floor beneath their feet. "It said all that, huh?" He asks, and she nods. "You're right, he did talk a lot."

"And I don't know if any of it's true or if it was just trying to screw with my head to make killing me more fun for it or something. And it's not like I could just come out and say, Hey, Dean, by the way, some monster with your memories said that you're falling for me. Is that true or what?" She says. "But I do know that I think it — or maybe you — are right to think I'm a bitch. I mean, I didn't know about the possibility of you feeling something quite like that for me, but I did know that I'm not ready for a relationship. But I also didn't care at the time because... I know that I like you a lot, and everything is so screwed up in my life right now. Everything, but you. And I wanted to be close to you. I didn't think about how it could hurt you. So, yeah, Dean." She nods. "I have been distancing myself from you because of what the shifter said to me."

"I..." It's pretty clear that he doesn't know what to say to her now.

Her phone starts ringing, and she pulls it out of her pocket. She sighs when she sees that it's her brother calling. "Saved by the bell, I guess." She mumbles before answering. "Hey, Jer. What's up?" She asks as she leans against the sink, and Dean walks out of the bathroom, back into the main area of the motel room with his head spinning.

"You need to come home." Her brother tells her, and something in his voice scares her.

"Why? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's Jenna..." He starts, and she closes​ her eyes, afraid of what he'll tell her next.

"What happened, Jeremy? Is she okay?" She asks, and Dean turns back to her when he hears the panic in her voice. "Tell me that she's okay."

"The paramedics are taking her to the hospital right now. Elena's riding in the ambulance with her, and Ric's taking me to the hospital." Jeremy says.

"Wh-Why does Jenna need to go to the hospital?"

The second Dean hears her question, he starts packing up their stuff. He quickly gets all of his own things in his duffle bag and then starts on Nyx's stuff next. She hears him as he moves around the room, but she doesn't look to see what he's doing.

"Katherine compelled her to stab herself in the stomach. I don't know the whole story yet, but she's lost a lot of blood." Jeremy explains.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Nyx tells him as the door opens.

"What's going on?" Sam asks his brother, seeing him rushing around the motel.

"Jeremy, listen to me." She says, trying​ to stay calm. "Everything is gonna be okay, I promise. I will make sure that everything's okay."

"How?" He asks.

"Just trust me, Jer." She tells​ him, her voice starting to shake.

"You're driving." Dean says, tossing the keys to Sam as she hangs up the phone.

Nyx slides her phone into her back pocket again, and she grabs the sides of the sink behind her, trying to maintain her composure. Her eyes are squeezed shut and she's trying so hard to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks, but it feels impossible.

Dean walks back over to Nycole and he stands in front of her, where he had been before her phone rang. "Nyx." He places his hands on her arms.

She takes a deep breath and looks up at him. "I heard the fear in his voice. He's never sounded so scared before." She tells him as she wipes tears from her cheeks. "He said that Katherine compelled Jenna to stab herself in the stomach. She's lost a lot of blood and she was rushed—"

"Hey." He cuts her off and uses his thumb to wipe another tear from her face. "She's gonna be okay."

"You don't know that." She shakes her head as she looks at him. "I already lost both of my parents. And Vicki. I can't..."

"Come on. Let's just focus on getting there first." He says, and she nods.

—

"Jeremy!" Nyx calls as she walks into the hospital. He stands up as soon as he sees her.

She wants to run to him, to get to him faster, but she's still really banged up. She doesn't want to hurt herself again and make things even worse than they already are.

"What happened to you?" He asks as he looks down at her, but she shakes her head.

"It doesn't​ matter. I'm fine."

He carefully wraps his arms around his sister and hugs her to him; she closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath. "I don't know what to do, Cole." He tells her.

"Nycole, hey. You got here faster than I thought you would." Ric says as he walks over to them.

She nods as she and Jeremy both look up at him. "I guess Sam drives faster than I thought he did." She says. "How's Jenna?"

"She's gonna be okay. The doctors say she got really lucky." He tells her, and she sighs in relief as she leans into her brother. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really. It looks worse than it is." She lies, knowing how bad she looks. "Thank you for being here, for helping them." She says, and he nods. "I appreciate it so much more than you could possibly realize."

"Of course." He says, and she looks up at her brother again.

Jeremy has tears in his eyes and he looks more scared and angry than she's ever seen him in her entire life.

"I promise you, Jer. Katherine will not get away with this one. I won't let her." Nyx tells him, and he nods as he looks at her. She hugs him again.

They get back to their house at the same time that Elena does. "You're already home." She looks surprised.

"Ric insisted that we get some rest, and I agreed. He's staying with Jenna at the hospital tonight." She tells her. "Are you okay?" She asks, and Elena shakes her head.

"This is all my fault, Nyx. Katherine warned me what would happen if I didn't do what she said. I just— I thought that I could outsmart her." She says.

"This is not your fault. I don't care what she said that you didn't do."

"Yes, it is."

"Did you stab Jenna?" She asks. "No, you didn't. This was not your fault, Elena."

"But—"

"Go and try to get some rest." Nyx tells her, and she sighs. "Jeremy and I will be upstairs in a few minutes. We're just gonna get stuff for Dean and Sam to sleep down here."

"Okay."

Elena goes upstairs then, and the boys look at Nycole. "So, what's the plan?" Jeremy asks as the front door opens, and Damon walks in. She called him and asked him to meet them there.

Damon looks at her and she motions toward the kitchen. They all walk over there, and she looks at Damon.

"Pretending to be me is one thing, and going after John..." Nyx scoffs and shakes her head, trying to keep a level head right now. "But trying to kill Jenna is too far. When Katherine first got here, you said that you wanted to kill her." She says, and Damon nods. "You still wanna rip her head off?" She asks him.

"Hell yeah." He says.

"We're gonna need a plan, a damn good one." She says. "And a lot of people. Are you all in?" She asks Jeremy, Dean, and Sam.

"Hell yes." Jeremy says.

"You can count me in." Sam says.

"Just tell me what you need me to do and I'm there." Dean says.

"I'll get Stefan, Ric, and Caroline​. You should probably ask Bonnie." Damon tells her, and she nods. "This is going to take a lot of planning, and you can't be here until we're ready. Katherine will know something's up if you stay in town."

Nyx nods. "The boys and I will keep hunting for now. But you better keep us in the loop." She tells him.

"We will." Jeremy says, and she looks at her brother. "I promise."

"Alright. You, get some rest." She tells him, and he hugs his sister again before going upstairs.

"You look like hell." Damon says, and she looks at him. "I'm guessing this has something to do with why Stefan left the house in the middle of the night a few days ago. What happened?"

"A shapeshifter." She tells him. "Can you get the others to help us with this?"

"I'll talk to Stefan when I get home, but he'll definitely help." Damon says. "He and Elena broke up tonight. That's what Katherine wanted from them that they didn't do."

"Okay." She nods, and he leaves.

"Are you sure about this?" Dean asks, and she takes a deep breath as she looks up at him.

"She pretended to be me, tried to kill John, has been manipulating people ever since she got here, and compelled Jenna to stab herself in the stomach." She says. "I've never been more sure of anything."

"Alright. Go get some sleep, and we'll head out tomorrow." He tells her, and she nods.

"Do you guys remember where things are at down here?" She asks.

"Yeah, we got it." Sam says, and she goes up to hers and Elena's​ room.