CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"This dress hurts." Elena complains as Jenna helps her tie her corset.

"Tell me about it." Nyx mumbles as she squirms. Hers is already fastened into place.

"Suck it in, baby." Jenna tells the younger girl, and Nycole laughs at her sister.

"I can't believe that you got Dean to agree to this." Elena says as she looks over at the older girl.

"I can't believe that he's actually letting Stefan help him." Nyx counters, and she nods in agreement.

"I'm just glad that you two are on better terms now than the last time you did a town event together." Jenna says, and the twins both smile as they look at each other.

"I could never stay mad at Elena. She has my face." She says, and her sister scoffs, but laughs at her joke.

Nyx called Elena after the whole Isobel thing happened, and they talked for a while. So, they're okay now, no more drama between them. The girls go down to the school, and Nyx sees Dean and Sam. She walks over to them as Elena goes to find Stefan.

"What the hell are you wearing?" The teenager questions as she looks at Sam, and he sighs.

"Dean heard Carol Lockwood say that one of the guys who was supposed to be a soldier got sick and couldn't be in the parade. So, he volunteered me to fill in." He tells her, and she laughs.

"That's my boy." She says, and Dean laughs.

"Hey." Jeremy gets their attention as he walks over to them, and they turn to him. "Carol wants us on our float." He tells Sam, and they both walk away.

Nyx looks up at Dean then. "You know, I gotta say, this may be a better look than the suit for the pageant." She tells him as she reaches out and takes the front of his jacket between her fingers, and he shakes his head.

"You owe me for this." He says as he looks down at the suit that Stefan helped him acquire. It's from the 1860's, and he despises it.

"We'll both collect from Caroline at some point." The brunette argues. "That is, if I don't suffocate first. Why the hell did women wear these torture devices?" She asks as she places her hands on her stomach over her corset.

"I don't know, but you look good." Dean says, and she smirks as she looks up at him again.

"My eyes are up here, Winchester." She narrows her dark eyes, and he chuckles. "But, yes, my boobs are squished in this damn thing." She adds, and he starts laughing.

"I didn't notice." He lies.

"Mhm." Nyx shakes her head, but chuckles. "Come on. We should get to our float." She says, and he nods before reluctantly following after her.

And then the parade starts.

"Let's give a big hand to the Mystic Falls High School marching band." Carol says as they walk past the audience, and everyone cheers. "And for a little local history, Mr. Saltzman's students have recreated Virginia's Battle of Willow Creek."

"That's Sam and Jeremy's float?" Dean asks, and Nyx nods. He's standing behind her on their small platform on their float, and he had to lean down so he's closer to her because it's so loud.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our stunning Miss Mystic Falls court and their handsome escorts." Carol says, and Nycole looks up at her sister.

Elena winks at her, and the older girl starts laughing as she looks back out at the crowd. Nyx waves at everyone along with Elena, Stefan, Caroline, Matt, and the two other couples. Dean's just standing there trying not to look too uncomfortable.

She looks at Dean at the same time that he looks down at her. "You so owe me for this." He says into her ear, and she chuckles.

"This is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls." Carol announces. Caroline's on the top platform of the float. "Aren't they beautiful?"

"Mine definitely is." Dean says, and Nyx's smile widens, though she's not sure if she was supposed to hear that.

The brunette sees Bonnie and waves at her; the witch smiles when she sees her friends waving at her from the float. Damon steps into Nyx's line of sight, gaining her attention, and he waves at her with a smirk on her face. She rolls her eyes and looks up at Dean again. He simply offers her a small smile as he places his hand on the small of her back, and she pays no attention to the annoying eldest Salvatore.

Once the parade is finally over, they all go to change back into their normal clothes, and it's such a relief for Nyx to get out of that dress. Especially the corset.

"There's the Nycole I know." Dean says with a smile as she walks over to him. "You look good in a dress, but it's not really you." He tells her, and she smiles.

"You know, I was wrong. This is definitely your best look." The brunette says as she grabs the front of his utility jacket and gives it a light tug. "But I do still like the suit." She tells him.

"I'm sure you do." He chuckles.

"Can you find Sam while I get us a table at the grill?" She asks, and he nods.

Nycole then heads over to the restaurant and walks inside, and Damon steps into her path when she reaches the tables. "I just had an interesting conversation with my brother." He says, and she raises her eyebrows.

"I take it I'm supposed to be interested in this conversation?" The brunette asks.

"Well, it was about you." He tells her.

"Me?"

He nods. "Apparently his relationship with your sister, and the fact that he's saved your life a couple times, makes him feel responsible for you. He told me to stay away from you, says you're better off with Dean than me."

"Is that right?" She asks.

"I want to know what you think, not what Stefan thinks." He says, and she sighs.

"Damon, I genuinely hope that you find a great girl some day. One that makes you forget all about Katherine. You deserve better than her, I really do mean that." She tells him. "But that girl isn't me. I'm sorry."

Dean walks in with Sam then, and she smiles when she sees them. Nyx looks up at Damon again and rests her hand on his arm for a second before walking away from him. He turns and watches her walk over to the other two men.

The three hunters are eating a little later when Jenna finds them, and sits down in their booth across from her niece. She says hi to the boys and then hands Nycole a photo.

"Oh my God." The teenager smiles as she looks down at the picture. "This is the one that my dad took?"

"One of the only good pictures that Grayson ever took of you." Jenna says, and she laughs.

"He was so awful with a camera."

"Can I see?" Dean asks, and she hands it to him. "You look beautiful here. What was the occasion?"

"Nothing special, just a founder's party." She tells him. "I used to go to them all the time."

"That's the last picture your dad ever took of you." Jenna says, regaining their attention. "A few weeks before the accident."

Nyx nods. "I remember."

"Jeremy told me what John said to you — the reason that you didn't want to come and see him the last time you were in town." She says, and her niece looks down. "He was wrong, Nycole, so wrong. You were never meant for a small-town life, and we all knew it — you wanted to see the world. Now you're traveling and getting to see the country. Every time I've talked to you, you're laughing and joking with your friends." She glances between the two boys. "You seem happy, which is all your parents ever wanted for you. They would not be disappointed in you, my dear, not in the slightest."

Nyx smiles as she looks back up​ at her aunt. "Thank you." The brunette says. "For everything."

"Of course." She smiles.

—

"This little town of yours has it up sides every now and then." Dean says, and Nyx looks up at him as they walk down the sidewalk. It's night now, and it's just the two of them together.

"Yeah, it's not always the worst place in the world to be." She says with a smile.

"Nycole!" Damon calls as he runs up behind them.

"And then there's that." Dean mutters as they turn to see what Damon wants.

"What is it?" Nyx asks him.

"Tomb vamps are here​, founding families are their targets." He looks at Dean. "Get her out of here, now."

"Elena and—"

"Stefan's got Elena. Sam has Jeremy. Get the hell out of here." He cuts her off and then walks away from them.

"Come on." Dean says, and she pulls him so that he can't make her go anywhere.

"My friends." Nyx says as he turns back to her. "Caroline and Tyler are in the grill, I saw them in there earlier. They're both part of the founding families. Go get them first."

"What about you?" He questions.

"I'm gonna find John." He neglected to tell her about this, and she's sure he knew. "And Ric, he can help."

"Alright. I'll get Caroline and Tyler to leave, but I'm not leaving here without you." He says, and she nods.

The mayor starts a speech on the stage in the square, and Nyx finds her uncle in her dad's​ old medical practice. "What the hell is going on?" She questions, and John looks at her.

"The plan, just like we discussed." He says, and she shakes her head.

"No, this is not like we discussed. I didn't know anything about the tomb vampires being here."

"How did you think this was going to happen, Nycole?" John questions. "You thought it was going to be separate from the town and your three friends weren't going to be involved?"

"You lied to me." She says. "How could you— I mean, after everything​."

"They're all monsters, Nyx. You know that as well as I​ do." He says, and she scoffs as she shakes her head. "You can't save them."

"Watch me." She turns around and walks out of the building.

Nycole runs out quickly and sees Ric walking down the street. "Ric!" She yells, and he looks over at her.

"What are you doing here? It's not safe." He says, and she shakes her head.

"The founding families are going to be fine. You have to get Stefan and Damon out of here." She tells him. "The device—" She's cut off when people start groaning in pain, holding their heads.

"It works?" He questions.

"I can't explain right now. Just get them!" She yells as she runs away from him.

She runs into Bonnie, and the witch looks at Nyx — she can tell that she's panicking. "What's wrong?" Bonnie asks.

"John lied to me, I need your help." She tells her. "We have to protect Stefan, Damon, and—" She sees cops dragging her brother's girlfriend. "Anna."

"What?" She questions, and Nyx looks back​ at her.

"If I go into the basement, can you keep the flames away from the stairs so that I can get her out?" She asks.

"I mean... Yeah, but, Nycole, you can't." She argues.

"Keep your phone on you, wait for my signal." She tells her and then pretends that she can hear the noise that the vampires are all hearing.

"Nycole?"

Nyx grabs her head and bends over. It's not that hard to fake it as she screams out in false pain.

An officer grabs her, and she feels a needle go into her skin. She's injected with something and then she's pulled away from Bonnie. Nyx is taken somewhere, down some stairs, and dropped onto the floor. When the person who brought her in is gone, she gets up and hides so that anyone else who comes down won't see her.

"The device is done." John says, and Nyx peeks around the thing that she's hiding behind. "The only thing keeping them down is the vervain."

The young huntress is thinking that it's good to know what she was injected with when she suddenly sees Damon on the ground, and he rolls over. "No." She breathes.

"We don't have much time. Let's finish this." John starts to walk, but then he stops and looks down. "Anna." He says suddenly. "You can head up, I'll take it from here." He tells the cops who are pouring gasoline all over the place.

This is definitely Nyx's dumbest plan yet.

"Please." Anna begs as John kneels down beside her. "No!" She yells, but he stakes her despite her pleas.

Nyx quickly puts her hand over her mouth so that John won't hear her. If he finds out that she's down there, she won't be able to get Damon out.

John leaves, igniting the fire behind him, and then he shuts the door upstairs. Nycole sighs as she pulls her phone out of her pocket as she walks over to Damon. "Come on, I need you to get up." She says, and he looks at her.

"What the hell are you doing down here?" He questions.

"I'm an idiot who can act. Get up." She tells him. "We don't have much time."

"How did this even happen?" He asks as pushes himself onto his knees.

"Now's not the time for explanations." She mutters. "I'll tell you later."

"Damon? Nycole?" They hear a familiar voice and look to see the mayor. "What are you two doing here?" He questions.

"I'm a vampire, and she's an idiot. What's your excuse?" Damon asks.

"Damon." She sighs.

"No, really. The vervain didn't affect you. You're not a vampire. What the hell are you?" Damon asks the mayor.

"Mayor, I can get you out of here." She takes a step toward him, but he backs away because of what Damon said.

He ends up on someone else. "Mayor Lockwood." The vampire says and then snaps his neck.

"No!" Nyx yells, and Damon grabs her.

The brunette takes deep breaths as she blinks, trying to shake off the shock of what she just witnessed. She then looks down at her phone and types out a quick message. Now. She sends it to Bonnie and then shoves her phone back into her pocket.

"Damon, get up." Nyx says as she pulls him to his feet. "Come​ on."

The flames start to die down on the staircase, and he wraps his arm around her shoulders. The two of them make it up the stairs, but she can't get the door open. The knob is too hot to touch, and she's not strong enough to break it down.

"Damn it!" She yells between coughs and slams the palm of her hand against the door in frustration. Damon and Nyx have both been breathing in the smoke, and it's getting hard to breathe properly.

"Nycole!" Dean yells from the other side of the door.

"Dean!" She calls.

"Get away from the door!" He tells her, and she moves back to where Damon's leaning against the wall.

The door suddenly flies open, and she shields her face from the wood that splinters off. She looks back and sees Dean standing there. She quickly wraps Damon's arm around her shoulders and pulls him through the open door. Dean helps her carry him out, and they leave the building through the utility entrance.

Damon starts to fall, but Stefan catches him before he can hit the cement. Nyx grabs Dean's arm, and Bonnie and Elena both look at them.

Nyx is coughing as Dean holds onto her, but her breathing evens out and she seems to be okay now. She looks over at Damon at the same time that he looks at her.

"I'm sorry, Nycole​." The vampire says, referring to Anna and the mayor.

"What the hell were you thinking going down there like that?" Dean questions, not knowing what Damon's talking about, and not really caring at the moment. "You could've gotten yourself killed."

"I hate him." Nyx says as she looks up at him, not paying attention to what he said. "He killed her. John killed Anna."

Dean's expression softens and he wraps his arms around her as she leans into his side. The brunette sighs as she looks at Elena, her sister's face falls as she realizes what this means.

"I'm gonna get her out of here. Make sure everyone else is okay." Dean says, and Sam nods.

The two of them get back to the motel, and Nyx sits on the edge of one of the beds​. Dean brings her a glass of water, and she takes it from him as he sits down next to her.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"I watched my uncle kill my little brother's girlfriend. I saw a vampire snap Tyler's dad's neck. And then I saved Damon, someone who has caused so much death..." She looks at him. "Did I do the right thing tonight?"

"Yeah." He nods. "Yeah, I think you did. You saved someone that you care about. He's your friend, Nycole. I think you and I both have to accept that."

"Why is it a problem for you?"

"Because you're important to me, and I don't like or trust Damon." He tells her.

"Damon's not so bad, sometimes." She says and then shakes her head.

"What's wrong?" Dean asks.

"How did everything get so messed up around here?" The brunette sighs. "I mean, lately​ the only thing that makes any sense to me is a man that I've known for almost nine months. A man that I travel the country and kill monsters with."

Nycole takes a deep breath as she stands up and walks over to the table a foot away from them to set the glass of water down. Dean gets to his feet and walks up behind her, resting his hand on her shoulder to try and offer her some amount of comfort.

"You put too much on yourself... Things that are entirely out of your control." He tells her, and she turns around to face him, finding that he's only a few inches away from her. His eyes travel her face before stopping​ on her lips.

Her breathing hitches as he rests his hands on her hips, and his fingertips lightly brush her bare skin. A shiver runs up her spine as she closes her eyes, and he leans down. Dean hesitates for a moment, his lips hovering over hers, and then he presses a soft kiss to her lips. He pulls back and his green eyes meet her brown ones for a moment.

She then grabs the front of his flannel and pulls him closer to her. Their lips meet again, and she deepens the kiss as she pushes the flannel over his shoulders. His hands leave her body and he ends the kiss before shrugging out of it and then pulling his t-shirt over his head. He looks down at her as her dark eyes roam his bare torso.

Nyx looks up at him again and places her hands on either side of his face, and he leans down again and presses his lips firmly against hers. Her hands travel down his body and stop at his waist. He pulls her closer to him as he backs up toward the bed behind him.

Dean turns them so that her back's to their bed, and she moves onto the comforter before pulling her own shirt over her head. His eyes roam her body and then he walks over to his duffle bag. She watches as he pulls out a small, square package before making his way over to the bed.

He drops it onto the nightstand by the bed and then climbs over her. Dean then leans down and presses his lips to hers again, before they travel down to her neck. He feels her working at the button on his jeans, and he sheds the article of clothing before helping her out of hers as well.

She pushes him onto his back and quickly straddles him. A smile spreads across her face as her eyes meet his, and his expression mirrors hers. She then leans down and presses her lips to his again.