CHAPTER TWELVE

Nyx's​ sitting at the dining room table with Jeremy, and he's drawing in the sketch book that he told her he's pulled out again. "So, what do you want me to draw for you?" He asks his older sister, and she shrugs.

"Something pretty." The brunette says,​ and he chuckles.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." He nods, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

The doorbell rings, and she sighs as she looks toward it. "Will you get that?" She asks, and he gets up to head to the front door.

Nyx then picks up the book he left behind and looks​ at what her brother's already been drawing in his sketchpad, and her eyebrows furrow. It's half a face, and it has a fang like a vampire. It's a strange coincidence, and she hopes that that's all it is. Luckily, it doesn't have any other indicator that he knows — the eyes don't look like a vampire's do when they're around blood.

"Elena, Cole, I need the money!" Jeremy calls, and Nyx stands​ up from the wooden table.

Elena makes her way down the stairs to pay the pizza guy, and Nyx looks at her younger brother as he walks back over to her. "What's with the creepy​ drawing? I thought I said I wanted no monsters." The brunette says, and he looks at her.

"I've been reading an old journal from one of our ancestors. He wrote fiction, short stories about vampires." He tells her, and she nods.

"That's... Huh." She then walks​ over to the fridge and grabs​ some sodas for everyone to go with their dinner.

Nyx knows​ exactly what he's reading, and it's not fiction at all. Their ancestor Johnathan Gilbert journaled his entire life, including the part where he actually came across vampires in their hometown. He went a little crazy toward the end, and his later entries reflect as much. She's definitely glad that her brother thinks it's all made up stories though.

The next day, Nyx is putting on a necklace that her sister gave her, and she sighs as she looks at​ it in the mirror. It has vervain inside of it — she knows that it's meant to protect her, she just hates that she has to wear it because her mind's not safe without it. This town is her home, where she should be safe. She shouldn't have to wear this kind of protection here.

The teenager goes​ downstairs and sees her sister walk over to Jenna. The younger of the twins looks at her for a second, and she nods, knowing exactly what's on Elena's mind.

"Why didn't you tell us, Jenna?" Elena asks as Nyx walks over to them.

"Your mom was gonna do it eventually. I never thought I'd have to." She tells them.

"If our mom were here right now, and we asked — she'd tell us the truth." Nyx says, and the older woman knows that it's true​.

Jenna takes a deep breath. "Your dad was about to leave the office one night when this girl showed up. She was sixteen, a runaway, and about to give birth. He delivered her babies, and he gave her a place to stay, but a few days later, she disappeared. And there you two were." She says as she walks over to them. "Your parents were trying​ so hard to have a baby. It just wasn't happening. All Miranda ever wanted was to be a mom."

"Well, why were our parents' names on the birth certificates?" Elena asks.

"Your dad was a doctor. He took care of it." She explains. "They didn't want to lose you, so they kept it quiet, told as few people as possible, but if anyone ever wanted proof, they had documentation."

"What else do you know about her? The girl?"

"Just her name. Isobel." She tells the twins and then leaves for the dance that she's chaperoning at the high school.

Elena goes upstairs to their bedroom to get ready, and Nyx lays​ down on the couch as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. She has absolutely no interest in a 50's themed dance at a school that she no longer attends.

"Miss me already?" Dean's smirk is evident when he answers his phone.

"So full of yourself." Nyx muses, shaking her head, and he chuckles.

"Everything alright over there?"

"I don't know, mostly." She sighs. "Some vampire's stalking Elena, but he can't get inside the house without an invitation, and she has her bodyguard boyfriend whenever she leaves. They don't seem too worried at the moment, so I'm just hanging around the house."

"Sounds boring." He says. "We'll go get you, and you can kick ass with us again."

"We're still trying to wrap our heads around this whole adoption thing. Jenna told us what happened, and now we know our...our birth mother's name. God, that sounds so weird to say — we have a birth mother who isn't the woman that raised us." She sighs as she stares at the wall across from her.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"About the teenager who got knocked up and then abandoned her two daughters with strangers? No, not really." Nyx says. "I have real problems."

"The vampire stalking Elena, or is there something else on your mind?" He asks, but she doesn't answer. "Nyx, what's goin' on?"

"That last case I was with you for — with Andrea and Lucas... When you and Sam were trying to pull her out of the bathtub, I heard..."

"You could hear the voice too."

"It was just a little kid... Come play with me." She takes a deep breath as she squeezes her eyes shut. "That poor kid was drowned, and for over thirty years his spirit wasn't at rest, and then it turned into something that he wasn't... How do you not let it get to you?"

"I've been doing this a lot longer than you have." Dean sighs. "But it's not always easy. People do some pretty messed up things to each other...and we have to remind ourselves that—"

"We can't save everyone." She nods, remembering Sam's words. "So, he wasn't just talking to me then?"

"No, he wasn't." He shakes his head. "Are you alright, Nyx?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." The teenager takes a deep breath. "I think part of the reason that this case is sticking with me more than the others is...he drowned. I've already been thinking about my parents more because of this whole adoption thing...and I can't talk to them because they died in the lake. Everything just feels like one big web that keeps leading me in circles."

"Your parents are at rest, Nyx." He tells her. "There's no reason to believe otherwise... And everything else — we'll deal with in time." He says, and a small smile tugs at her lips.

"Thanks, Dean."

"We'll drive out there soon, alright?" He tells her. "We just wrapped up one hell of a case. We'll sleep, and then we'll head to you."

"You don't have to do that." She shakes her head. "I have no idea when I'm gonna be leaving, and you don't wanna be here if you can't kill Stefan and Damon. I'm okay, really."

"We'll see you soon. I gotta go, I need some shut eye before we hit the road." He tells her, and she can't help the smile on her face as he hangs up the phone.

"Nycole!" Elena suddenly yells, sounding alarmed, and her sister immediately gets​ up and runs upstairs to get to her.

"What's wrong?" Nyx asks​ as she rushes​ into their room.

"The vampire compass." She says and she has her phone pressed to her ear.

"The what now?"

She runs past Nyx as she talks to someone on her phone, and her sister quickly follows her back down the stairs. Nyx has absolutely no idea what's going on.

"Oh, thank God. This compass was spinning. Stefan must be here. Thank you." She sounds relieved, meaning that nothing's wrong.

"I'm getting ice cream." The older girl says as she turns away from her and starts toward the kitchen.

"Elena!" Stefan suddenly yells, and then Elena screams.

Nyx quickly turns​ around and sees​ Stefan throw an unfamiliar man across the room, away from her sister. She runs​ over to the younger girl as the vampire runs around the house and then out the front door.

"Are you okay?" Nyx asks as she helps Elena to her feet, but she doesn't answer as she throws her arms around her sister. She hugs Elena as she then looks​ at Stefan. "Who the hell was that?"

"I don't know." He shakes his head as he looks at the twins. "I'm gonna call Damon." He tells them.

The twins walk over to the couch and sit down, where Elena quickly explains everything to her sister. This vampire is the one who's been stalking her, also known as the reason that her car is completely totaled and she ended up in another state with Damon.

Damon gets there not long after and he walks over to them as Stefan sits on the other side of a still very freaked out Elena. "How'd he get in?" The raven-haired vampire questions. Stefan already explained to him what happened before he got there.

"He was invited in." Elena tells him.

"He posed as a pizza delivery guy last night." Stefan explains.

"When I had Jeremy answer the door?" Nyx questions, and he nods.

"Well, he gets points for that." Damon says. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No. He was too busy trying to kill her." She says, and he looks at her through narrowed eyes.

"And you have no idea who this is?" Stefan asks his brother, and he shakes his head as he returns his attention to him.

"No." He says. "Don't look at me like that. I told you we had company."

"You think there's more than one?" Elena​ asks as she looks between the brothers.

"We don't know." Damon tells her.

"Damon, he was invited in." Stefan reiterates.

"Then we go get him tonight." He says before looking at the two girls. "You up for it?"

"Hell yeah." Nyx nods as she looks up at him. "This bastard doesn't get to attack Elena and then live."

"What do we have to do?" Elena asks.

"Let your boyfriend take you to the dance. We'll see who shows up." Damon says, and Nyx shakes her head.

"No, I have a better idea." She then pulls her sister off the couch and up the stairs.

The twins get ready for the dance as quickly as they can manage and then head back downstairs. Stefan looks at Nyx. "Are you sure you're up for this, Elena?" He asks, and the older girl smiles​.

"I'm sure." Elena says, and the brothers look between the two of them as they realize what the girls did.

"Not bad." Damon says, and Nyx looks over at her sister.

Elena changed into a different outfit, and Nyx has on what she was wearing before. They even switched necklaces just in case this vampire has any idea whose is whose. Now Nyx looks exactly like Elena did when he attacked her before, and Elena's​ wearing something completely different — not dressed up for the dance. They don't know why he's doing this, but they do know that he's after Elena for the moment and not her sister.

Plus, Nyx is the hunter here. Not Elena.

—

The two sets of siblings walk into the dance at the high school, and Nyx's hand is resting on the inside of Stefan's​ arm as she's posing as his date for the night. Elena's on the other side of Damon, who's standing between the two of them. The brothers walk away from the twins, and the girls go to stand at a table. They don't say anything because vampires have super hearing, and they don't want to give anything away.

"Having fun?" Elena asks as Bonnie and Caroline walk over to them.

"No, but this took about two hours, so I'm staying at least half that." Caroline says and then hugs her. "It's so good to see you, Nycole." She says, and Elena smirks as she glances over at her sister.

Nyx smiles​. Bonnie and Caroline must've seen them walk in with the boys. The twins are glad that this is fooling someone. If their own friends don't know who's who, then neither should a vampire who doesn't know them.

"What's Damon doing here?" Bonnie questions.

"He wanted to come." Nyx says. Seeing as she has to play Stefan's girlfriend for the evening, she should know a little about his brother. "I promise, he'll behave." She adds.

"So, what is this, like, a threesome now, you and the Salvatore brothers?" Caroline questions.

"Not exactly." She says​ as she looks​ at them. "I think he likes Nyx."

"Well, he can keep dreaming." Elena says, and her sister chuckles. She really knows how to sound exactly like Nyx.

The twins walk over to Stefan, and he looks at Nyx. "Are you okay?" He asks, and she knows​ that the question's really meant for Elena.

She looks at her sister, and Elena smiles at her. The older girl then looks​ back up at Stefan. "I'll be alright." Nyx tells him, and he nods.

They then walk over to where they see Damon with their friends; Bonnie's walking away from them. "Back off, Damon." Caroline says as she follows after her​ best friend.

"Where did they go?" Nyx asks.

"I don't know." Damon says.

"What'd you say to 'em?" His brother questions.

"I was perfectly polite." He says and then turns to Elena. "Nycole, would you like to dance?" He asks her.

"Not in this lifetime." She says, and Nyx laughs.

Damon then looks over at Nyx, and she shakes​ her head. "No." She links​ her arm with Stefan's and then grabs her sister's hand before pulling them away from Damon.

The three of them find a table, and Stefan and Nyx are standing​ on one side while Elena stands on the other. They talk for a little while, about nothing important and nothing that could possibly out Nyx as Nyx or Elena as Elena.

"You really can't take him anywhere, can you?" Elena asks, and the other two both turn to see what she's looking at.

Damon's​ dancing with a girl, and they look absolutely ridiculous. Nyx laughs as Stefan shakes his head at his older brother.

"Uh, no." He says, and she looks up at him.

"Guys, back corner." Elena says, and they look in the direction that she said.

They see a guy in a black hoodie. He's facing them, but they can't see his face because it's being completely covered by the hood. It looks exactly like she described it to them.

"Get Damon." Stefan tells the two girls, and Elena walks around the table to get to Nyx.

"Go." Nyx says, and her sister looks at her. "Hey, he's after me, not you. Trust me, okay."

"No, I'm not leaving you." Elena argues.

"We'll find Damon faster if we split up." She says and then quickly walks away from her sister.

The phone — Elena's phone — starts ringing, and Nyx pulls​ it out of her front pocket.

"Hello, Elena." A male voice comes through the speaker. "Here's what you're going to do; there's​ an exit door behind you — you have five seconds."

"No." Nyx says.

"Or your brother dies." He says, and she immediately turns in the direction of the punch table where Jeremy's volunteering for extra credit tonight. "I can snap his neck so fast I bet there's not even a witness. Start walking."

"Don't touch him." She says​ as she starts backing up toward the door that he told her to go through.

"Keep walking." He instructs. "Through the door."

The brunette turns around and takes off running. She makes her way through the dimly lit halls of the school and shoves the phone back into her pocket. She gets to a set of double doors, but they won't open — they're locked from the other side. Nyx turns​ around then and sees​ the vampire walking toward her.

"Damn it." She mutters as she turns again, then she runs through a different door in the hallway.

The teenager ends up in the cafeteria, and he walks in soon after her. She tries to run away from him, but he grabs her and throws her across the top of a table. She lands on the floor on the other side, and he then flips the table over.

Nyx grabs a few of the pencils that land near her on the linoleum floor, and he picks her up and pins her against the wall. She stabs him in the stomach with one of the wooden pencils before he can bite her neck. He groans in pain, and she goes for his chest, but he quickly blocks it with his hand. She pushes the one in his stomach deeper and then shoves him away from her.

His feet slide on the floor, and she quickly moves away from him. The brunette sees a mop bucket and runs over to it because the handle of the mop is wooden. She lets the mop head fall to the ground and steps on it. Just as she breaks it, he gets up and attacks her.

The vampire bites Nyx's​ neck, and she stabs him with the jagged end of the mop handle as hard as she can manage. He's suddenly thrown off of her, and he lands a few feet away.

"Nycole!" Elena runs over to her sister as she grabs her neck.

Stefan's standing beside them, and the vampire looks between Nyx and Elena as he pulls​ the makeshift stake out of his stomach and throws it across the cafeteria.

"What's​ the matter, jackass? Can't decide who's who?" Nyx asks him.

"Hey, dickhead." Damon says, and they all look at him. He's holding the broken mop and looking at the vampire that attacked Nyx. "Nobody wants to kill you​. We just wanna talk." He tells him.

"I wanna kill him."

"Okay, well, Nycole has anger issues."

The vampire suddenly runs at the twins, and Damon throws the mop handle to Stefan. He catches it and puts it back where Nyx had stabbed him before — straight into the vampire's stomach.

"Now you feel like talkin'?" Stefan asks as Damon walks over to the four of them.

"Screw you." The vampire says.

Stefan grabs the mop handle and moves it, causing the guy to groan in pain. "Wrong answer." He says​. "Why are you doing this?" He demands.

"Because it's fun."

"What do you want with Elena?" He moves it again.

"They look like Katherine." He says as he looks between the girls. His eyes then settle on Nyx as he continues. "You were next anyway."

"You know Katherine?" Damon questions.

"Oh. You thought you were the only ones." He barely manages a laugh as he looks between the brothers. "You don't even remember me."

"Tell me how to get in the tomb." He demands.

"No." He says, and Stefan moves the makeshift stake inside his abdomen again, causing him even more pain. "The grimoire."

"Where is it?"

He doesn't answer the question so Stefan does it again, and Elena turns away from the vampires, not liking to see him being tortured. "Check the journal. The journal — Johnathan's journal. Johnathan Gilbert's." He reluctantly tells them.

"Who else is working with you?" Stefan asks him.

"Who else is there?" Damon demands.

"No." The vampire shakes his head. "You're gonna have to kill me."

"Okay." Nyx agrees, and they all look at her. "You really shouldn't have threatened my family." The brunette tells him as she bends down to his level.

The teenager pulls the makeshift stake out of his stomach and then quickly plunges it into his chest instead. She turns around and looks at Elena after he collapses to the floor. The younger girl looks terrified and beyond freaked out.

"You said you wanted to see what I do — this is what I do." She tells her.

"What do we— How are we gonna find the others now?" Elena questions.

"He had to die." Damon says.

"Elena, he's been invited in." Stefan reminds her, and Nyx sighs.

"I'm going home now." The older twin says and then walks away from the three of them.