CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Now who misses who?" Nyx muses after answering her cell.

"Well, you do have better taste in music than Sam." Dean says, and she chuckles.

"Are you guys still in Pennsylvania?"

"No, we're headed your way. We already finished that case with the guy that my dad and I helped out before. I'll tell you about it later." He says. "How's everything over there?"

"I killed a vampire." The brunette tells him, a smile on her face.

"Damon?"

"I wish." She sighs. "No, unfortunately that bastard's still kicking. It was a different vampire — the one that I told you was stalking Elena. I guess he knew Stefan and Damon in 1864."

"Well, what was the deal with him? Why was he after her?"

"Remember that woman that I told you about the other day? The one that Elena and I look exactly like?"

"Yeah."

"He knew her." She explains. "He was trying to kill Elena, and then he was going to come after me just because we look like her. It was some twisted game to him."

"And you keep telling me that you don't want us to come over there?" He questions.

"I'm fine, really." She tells him. "For once, Damon actually seems to be on the right side of things. That should be enough to keep Mystic Falls safe. I mean, for now anyway."

"I don't​ trust this guy." He says.

"Oh, I don't trust him either. I'm not letting my guard down with him. I'm just using his good behavior to my advantage at the moment." She tells him.

"Be careful." He says, and the teenager nods.

"Yeah, I will." Nyx says as she walks down the stairs at her house. "You two stay safe out there, and on the road. And tell Sam that I say hi and I miss him."

"You didn't tell me that you miss me." Dean says.

"Sorry, uh, it's breaking up. You must be going through a tunnel." She says as she walks into the kitchen, gaining the attention of her siblings and Stefan.

"Clear, blue skies and the open road actually. You're not funny."

"Then why am I laughing?" She asks before hanging up on him.

"Was that Dean?" Elena asks.

"Who?" Nyx's eyebrows furrow, and her sister chuckles as she shakes her head.

"Dean?" Jeremy asks. "That's the guy that you've been traveling with, right?"

"He's Elena's imaginary friend. She talks about him like he's real. I think we should have her committed." The older girl says.

"Nyx is in denial." Elena tells their younger brother.

"Your face is in denial." Her sister retorts lamely, and she laughs.

"We have the same face."

"Who asked you?" She grabs​ a water bottle from the fridge and then walks away from them.

Nyx goes​ back upstairs, and Elena follows her. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" She asks; she didn't want to say anything in front of Jeremy.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"There's a tomb of vampires underneath the ruins of the old Fell's Church in the woods. Damon wants to open it because Katherine's down there." Elena tells her. "I just wanted you to know."

"Okay." The new information confuses her, but she doesn't ask for further explanation. She gets the feeling that the less she knows, the better.

The next night, Nyx makes her way​ downstairs, and to her surprise, she finds​ Damon cooking in her kitchen as he talks to Jenna, who's sitting on the counter with a glass of wine in her hand. "Nyx." He smiles when he sees her. "Jenna and I were just talking about past relationships. Do you have any stories that you want to share?" He asks her.

"Not really." The teenager says.

"Have you even seen—"

"No." She cuts Jenna off. "I haven't seen him since I got back, and I don't plan to either."

"What happened?" Damon asks.

"My ex is...complicated." The brunette tells him, and he turns away from them and walks back toward the stove.

"Hello, Elena." He greets, and both Jenna and Nyx turn to see Elena walking into the room.

"Hey. Where have you been?" Jenna asks her. "We're cooking dinner."

"Is Stefan with you?" Damon asks her.

"He'll be here soon." The younger girl tells him.

Elena starts setting the table, and Nyx walks over to sit with Jeremy, who's currently playing video games in the living room. "You want in?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"Maybe next time." She says, and he nods as he keeps playing.

Damon walks into the room later and sits down on Nycole's lap, causing her to punch him in the back as hard as she can. He slides off of her legs and onto the couch, then starts playing video games with Jeremy until the doorbell rings.

Nyx stretches her legs out on the couch when Damon disappears to answer it with Elena, and he walks back a few minutes later with her sister and Stefan right behind him. "So... I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day." Damon's talking to Jeremy, and Nyx looks​ up at them. "Who else did you show it to?"

"Huh?" Jeremy keeps playing, only half listening.

"Don't ask questions, just spill."

"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy asks, confused.

"Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Johnathan Gilbert's journal?" Elena asks him.

"Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?" He questions.

"Who else did you tell?"

"Just that girl Anna."

"The hot weird one?" Damon asks, and he nods.

"Wait, who is Anna?" Stefan questions.

"That's what I wanna find out." He says as Elena's phone rings. "How do you know her?"

"I just know her." Jeremy says. "She wants me to meet her at the grill tonight."

"Perfect. I'll drive." Damon says and then looks at Nyx. "Come on."

"Why me?" She questions.

"Because I enjoy your bright and cheery personality." He says sarcastically, and she rolls her dark eyes at his comment. "Get up."

The three of them get to the grill, and Jeremy goes to wait for this Anna chick to show up to hang out with him. Damon and Nyx sit at a table to see who meets him.

"So, tell me about this ex of yours." Damon says, and the teenager just looks at him. "I don't need a name. Just humor me for a while."

Nycole sighs. "We grew up together, and somewhere along the way I fell in love with him. But as we got older, things became a lot more complicated, and I changed. It got even worse after my parents died." She tells him.

"What do you mean?"

"He's always been an angry person, but when we were kids it didn't really matter. Him getting angry just meant temper tantrums and breaking inanimate objects." She says. "But as we got older, tantrums turned into arguments and breaking things turned into fights."

"He hit you?" He asks, and the brunette shakes her head as she looks away from him.

"No, he— He wasn't violent with me, but he did start getting​ into a lot of fist fights. I hated it and I hated arguing with him." She tells him, refusing to meet his gaze. "It got worse after my parents' funeral. I stopped wanting to go out. He got mad that I didn't want to party after my graduation, but I didn't want to go out because I was sad that my parents didn't get to be there for one of the biggest days of my life. Our relationship turned toxic, and after we started arguing that we weren't arguing, I realized that I couldn't be in that relationship anymore. So, I broke it off and I left town."

"Your ex is Tyler Lockwood, isn't it?"

She sighs. "Is it that obvious?"

"The kid's got some anger issues." He says, and she nods. "Wait, didn't I hear that Vicki was your best friend? That's why you punched me, isn't it?"

"She was, yeah."

"So, your best friend dated your​ boyfriend since childhood and then left him for your younger brother?" Damon questions.

"Vicki wasn't​ perfect, but she was real and she was honest." Nyx says as she looks back up at him. "Vicki and I fought like crazy, but she was always there when I needed her. She was even there when I didn't want her to be... But I wasn't there for her when she needed me. I was too busy running from my life and from my own problems."

"There was nothing you could've done to save her." He tells her. "I turned her to get back at my brother, and she died because her being an addict made the transition basically impossible."

She wipes a tear from her cheek and looks away from him again. Then she sees a girl walk over to her brother and she points her out. "I think that's her." She tells Damon, and he turns.

He looks at the new girl — a teenager with dark brown hair that's done in curls. He pauses for a moment and then turns back to Nycole. He seems to recognize her.

"Do you know her?" She asks, and he nods.

"Yeah." He nods. "From 1864." He tells her, and her eyes widen.

After Anna leaves, Damon goes to get what he wants from her, leaving Nyx sitting alone at their table in Mystic Grill. Her thoughts wander to Tyler and their relationship, and she sighs as she thinks back to the last time she ever saw him. Tears well up in her dark eyes, and she clenches her teeth as she fights back the urge to break down in the middle of the crowded restaurant.

Damon's gone for a while, but then he shows up again and makes Nyx get up from her table and follow him outside. "Why do I have to come now?" The teenager questions.

"I need you to hold the flashlight." He says, and she sighs as she looks up at him. "Do you trust me?" He asks as he turns to face her, and she shakes her head.

"Not even a little." She answers honestly.

"Too bad. Close your eyes." He says and then wraps his arms around her.

Nyx holds onto him tightly as she feels air whirl passed them. Though not as fast as when she was kidnapped by the wendigo a month prior. Before long, she's back on her feet, and Damon steps away from her.

"Well, what do you know?" His voice sounds a few feet away, and her eyebrows furrow.

Nyx turns in the direction that he's facing and she sees Stefan and Elena with an old book. They're all now in the middle of the woods, and Stefan's standing in a freshly dug grave. Elena's holding a flashlight that's​ pointed down.

"This is an interesting turn of events." Damon says, obviously angry, as Elena points the flashlight at them.

Stefan quickly climbs out of the grave and stands between Elena and Damon. "I can't let you bring her back." He tells his older brother. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Damon says. "For thinking for even a second​ that I can trust you."

"You're not capable of trust. The fact that you're here means you read the journal, and you were planning on doing this yourself." His brother says.

"Of course I was going to do it by myself, because the only person I can count on is me." He argues. "You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan."

Nycole looks between the brothers, not sure what to do — not sure what exactly is even going on right now.

"But you..." Damon says to Elena. "You had me fooled." He tells her, and she looks down, seemingly ashamed. "So, what are you going to do now? Because if you try to destroy that, I'll rip her heart out."

"You won't kill her." Stefan argues.

Damon runs past Stefan and grabs his girlfriend. He then holds her against him. "I can do one better." He bites his wrist and forces his blood into Elena's mouth.

Nyx tries to run to them, wanting to get to her sister, but Stefan stops her once she reaches him.

"Give me the book, Stefan. Or I'm snapping her neck. And you and I will have a vampire girlfriend." Damon threatens.

"Let her go first." Stefan says.

"The book."

"I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me." Stefan tells him.

"Problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it back." He says.

"So trust me." Nyx suddenly speaks up, and Damon's blue eyes dart to her. "I haven't lied to you once. I've been nothing but honest since before I even got back to Mystic Falls. I'll take the book, you let go of Elena, they leave us here, and I'll give you the book. Please... Please, just let her go."

Damon looks at his brother and then motions toward Nycole. Stefan holds the book out to her, and Nyx takes it from his hand. She backs away from him to give Damon more incentive to trust her, and then he lets go of her sister. Elena runs over to Stefan, and he hugs her tightly to him as soon as she's in reach.

"Nycole." Elena looks at her sister, and the older girl nods.

"I'll be okay." Nyx tells her and then looks at Stefan. "Take her home."

He looks between Nyx and his brother before they start walking away. He doesn't want to leave her there, but he doesn't see much choice. Stefan and Elena disappear into the woods, and Nyx turns to face Damon as he runs at her and then pins her against​ a tree.

"Did you know what they were planning?" The raven-haired vampire questions.

"No."

"You're her sister." His eyes are darting between hers, studying her face. "Am I honestly​ supposed to believe that she didn't tell you what was going on?"

"You are a walking lie detector. Listen to my heartbeat and tell me if you think I'm lying."

"Your heart's beating a mile a minute."

"Because you just threatened to turn my sister into a vampire, and now you have me pinned against a tree." She says, and he looks at her for a few seconds longer.

Damon backs up a few steps, and she takes a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"Yesterday morning, Elena came into our room and told me that there's a tomb under the ruins of the old Fell's Church that you want to open because Katherine's down there. That is all that she told me, that's all I know about any of this." Nyx tells him. "I don't know why this book is so damn important or why Katherine has been down there for a hundred and forty-some-odd years. All I care about is my family because I have lost enough."

He's quiet for a few seconds before he finally speaks up. "I believe you." He says, and she sighs, letting her shoulders relax. Nyx then holds the book out to him, and he takes it from her.

"Now can you please take me home?" The brunette asks, and he nods before closing the distance between them and wrapping his arms around her just like he had before.