CHAPTER TWENTY

Nyx's phone starts ringing and she takes a deep breath as she looks at the caller ID. The only reason that she answers​ after the day that she's had is because it's Caroline,​ and their last conversation ended so abruptly​ and really strange, then she fell off the grid for four whole days.

"Hey, Care. What's up?" She asks tiredly. Vampire blood may be able to heal cuts and get rid of the effects of starvation and dehydration, but unfortunately it can't cure sleep deprivation.

"Are you anywhere near Mystic Falls right now?" The blonde asks.

"Yeah, actually. Why?"

"Nyx, I-I don't know how to tell you this, but..." She takes a deep breath. "Vicki's, um... She's dead, Nyx." She tells her, and Nycole reaches forward and grabs Dean's shoulder. She's riding in the backseat of the Impala.

"What?" He looks at her in the rearview mirror.

"Caroline, where are you?" The brunette asks her.

"We're all at Matt's." She says.

"I'll be right there." Nyx tells​ her. "Turn here." She instructs Dean as she hangs up the phone. He makes a sharp turn.

They pull up outside of Matt's house just as someone walks out the back door. Seeing the hurt and devastation on his face reminds her of the boy that she grew up with for so many years, the one who wasn't yet hardened by the mistreatment that he faced at his father's hand every day at home. And, for a moment, she forgets why they ended on such bad terms. For a moment, she forgets what he did to her, and why she's so angry and distrusting of people in certain situations.

"Ty." Nyx breathes as she opens the door of the Impala and climbs out of the car.

Tyler looks up as she runs over to him as fast as she can, and his eyes widen. He wraps his arms around her as soon as she's within his reach, and she hugs him tightly. He's crying and it makes her own eyes fill with tears as they hold each other.

"She's dead, Nyx. How- How did this happen?" He asks, choking back tears, and she shakes her head.

"I don't know." She lies, and it kills her. And lying about her best friend's death brings even more tears to her eyes.

"Caroline said that she found her body in an unmarked grave off of County Road." He tells her, and her jaw tightens. "Who does that sort of thing to a person?"

"Someone with no real sense of humanity." She pulls back and looks up at him.

"God, I'm so glad that you're back, Nyx. Things here have really sucked without you. I've missed you so much." He says and then leans down and presses his lips against hers.

Dean clears his throat as he looks down, away from them, and his younger brother glances at him. The Winchester's are both still standing by the Impala.

Nyx shakes her head and pushes herself away from him. "Tyler... I'm not— I'm not​ back. I'm just in town for a little while." The brunette says. "But even if I were staying here, it wouldn't change anything between the two of us."

He looks behind her, and she turns​ around to see Dean and Sam watching them. "It's because of those two guys, right?" Tyler asks, and she turns back to him. "It's a small town, I hear what everyone's​ saying. You're traveling the country with two guys and you have​ something going on with one of them."

"Gossip is gossip, Tyler." She sighs, barely able to meet his gaze. "Nobody knows anything that I do when I'm not here."

"So, it's all wrong, then?" He questions. "You don't have anything going on between you and whichever one of those two over there is Dean?"

Nyx opens her mouth to answer, but she doesn't know what exactly to say to him. She doesn't really even know what the answer to his question is. There have been little things that make her think that maybe there's something more than her and Dean being just friends.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Tyler shakes his head. "You left because you said you needed space. You needed time alone. You don't seem all that alone to me, Nycole." He says accusingly.

"There are a lot of reasons as to why I left." Nyx tells him. "Distance between me and this town is one of them, yes. But it's not the only one."

"So, what's the other one? Me?" He questions. "Breaking up with me wasn't bad enough? You had to completely abandon me too?"

"My parents died, Tyler. I was in a bad place, and all you cared about was the next party that we were going to. I didn't want to go to parties. I was leaving a party when my parents drowned in the lake, where me and Elena almost died too." She says. "It seemed like that fact never really occurred to you. Do you have any idea what that felt like? To blame myself for my parents death and for Elena almost dying? It was hell for me. And you didn't even see it."

"So, why didn't you talk to me?"

"I tried!" She snaps. "But you wouldn't shut up long enough to listen!"

"That's why you left? Because I couldn't listen?" He questions.

"I left because I was tired of all the fighting. All you wanted to do was go to parties, and I wanted to talk to you. But you didn't want to, and then we started arguing all the time." She wipes tears from her cheeks.

"We didn't—"

"Yes, we did." She cuts him off. "We even argued like this, about not arguing. Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is, Tyler? Our relationship..." She sighs.

"So, you've found a better one with him then?" He motions toward Dean and Sam.

"I'm not doing this, Tyler. I can't. Not right now, and especially not tonight." She shakes her head. "There are so many more important things going on than a relationship that ended almost eight months ago." She starts to walk past him.

"It was a relationship that lasted ten years." He says as he grabs her arm and makes her turn back to him. "Are you really going to throw all of that away for a guy that you just met?"

"Tyler, let go of me." Nyx says as she looks back up at him.

She can see the anger building up in him, and just like that it all comes flooding back — the last time that she saw him. In an instant, the fear she's tried desperately to get rid of and move passed comes rushing right back to the surface. This is the reason that she left town without so much as a goodbye to the boy that she was once in love with.

"Is there something that you're not telling me?" Tyler questions, and his eyes seem darker than she remembers them being. "There is, isn't there? What aren't you telling me?"

"I was afraid of you." She says without thinking, without meaning to. His grip on her arm is tightening and he doesn't even realize it. "Tyler, my arm." Nyx says, her voice shaky. "Tyler, let go of my wrist. Please. You're hurting me."

Someone suddenly runs up beside her and punches Tyler in the face, causing him to finally let go of her as he falls to the dirt. She was half expecting it to be Dean who came to stop what was going on, but he came from the wrong direction.

"Cole." Jeremy quickly pulls her back as he and Elena rush to her side.

Sam's holding onto Dean so that he can't get to them, knowing that it'd be bad if his older brother beat the hell out of a teenager. He also saw Nyx's friends exiting the house, and knew that they'd help her. Dean stops struggling against his brother's grip when he sees the two guys fighting in front of the small group that's formed outside of Matt's house.

"Matt, stop!" Elena yells, and Jeremy moves forward to pull Matt off of Tyler.

"Stay the hell away from Nycole!" Matt yells, and she rushes over and grabs his arm, helping her brother restrain him. "Don't you ever touch her again!"

"Matt! Matt, stop it!" Nyx yells, still trying to pull him back,​ and he looks down at her.

"What on earth is going on out here?" They all turn around at the sound of a new voice, and see that Sheriff Forbes and Kelly Donovan are now walking out of the house.

"Matty?" Kelly walks over to them quickly, and Nyx looks at her. "Nycki?"

"I'm so sorry, Kelly​." Nyx says, and the older woman looks at her. "This—"

"Can one of you please tell me what the hell just happened?" Tyler asks as he looks at Nyx from where he's still on the ground. "You're afraid of me?" He questions, his eyebrows furrowed.

"A few days after the funeral, she went to a party with your dumb ass." Matt starts telling him, keeping himself between Nycole and Tyler.

"Matt—" She cuts him off, and he turns to her.

"No, he should know." He says and then looks back at Tyler as he gets to his feet. "You got mad because she wasn't even trying to have any fun. You were so drunk off your ass, I don't know how you could even walk. You came over and tried to get her to drink, but she didn't want to. You grabbed her by her face and tried to force a beer down her throat. She pushed you off of her, and you hit her." He tells him. "You used the back of your hand, and you hit her across her face."

Tyler doesn't say anything, he just looks between the two of them, stunned. Nyx is staring at the ground, her body turned toward her brother with their sister standing right behind her.

"You​ woke up the next day with a black eye that you didn't remember getting because I kicked your ass before I took her home." Matt finishes his story, and Jeremy looks down at her. "And that's exactly where you need to go now — home. Get the hell out of here."

Nyx looks back at Kelly then. "I am so sorry. With everything that's going on, this is the last thing that you and Matt should have to be dealing with. My friends and I — we'll go now too." She tells her and then turns toward Sam and Dean.

"Nycole!" Kelly calls her back, and she pauses before she turns around to face her.

The older woman walks over to Nyx and wraps her arms around her. She hesitates for a second before hugging her back. Nyx starts crying, a result of everything that's happening, and Kelly hugs her tighter. She closes her eyes as tight as she can and stays there with her.

"I'm so sorry." The teenager chokes out as Kelly tries to comfort her.