"Oh, brother! We're home!" He called, dropping the bags next to the door. I rolled my eyes and put Nia's in front of her bed and mine on my bed.

"Did she wake up?" I asked Stefan who was standing in the kitchen, brewing some kind of soup.

"Yeah, actually. She was only up for ten minutes, though. I got her to eat a few spoons of chicken soup,"

I had to push down the urge to say 'gross'. Chicken soup was the worst.

"We are not eating chicken soup for lunch," Damon said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

Of course I didn't say it, but I totally agreed with him on this one.

"Well, you're gonna have to make yourself something to eat, then. Because me and Persephone are eating chicken soup, right?"

"Actually, I'm not hungry..." I trailed off.

"But you have to eat something," Stefan said.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much,"

"Feisty," Damon commented.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes before walking out of the kitchen to check on Nia. Her forehead was cool and she was breathing. Deciding to make good use of the time until she woke up, I took out my assignment on creative writing. I sat on the floor and scattered my papers across my bed, using it as a temporary desk.

Through the closed kitchen door I could hear voices.

"We have to talk about it at some point, don't we?" Damon said.

"Indeed,"

"Perse?" I heard a soft voice. I jumped up and kneeled down next to Nia's bed.

"Nia. You're up!" I smiled.

"How long did I sleep?" She asked, her voice insecure and a little croaky from so much sleep.

"Only about eight hours, actually," Damon spoke, leaning against the door frame.

Stefan pushed past him, a cup of tea and a bowl of soup in his hands. "Are you hungry?"

"Kinda," She admitted and sat upright. Her hair was sticking off her head and she had bags under her eyes. Although, I'd say they probably weren't as bad as mine.

"Here you go." Stefan gave her the bowl and put the cup on the floor next to me.

She balanced it on her lap and began eating it.

We all stared at her while waiting for her to finish and I knew she was beginning to feel incomfortable but there were a few things that needed to be talked about.

As soon as the last spoonful of chicken soup had been eaten, Stefan brought it up.

"So, about last night,"

"I think we need to start before that, if you guys want to understand," I said, handing Nia the cup of tea.

"Start by telling us what happened, then we'll go on from there," Damon looked pretty scary when he was all serious like this.

"Right. Nia?"

"I ended up in that hallway," She breathed.

"How?" Damon inquired.

"I told you you'd need to know the backstory!" I snapped. I was getting really defensive over Nia, probably because she's always been like the sister I'd never had and now in this vulnerable state with someone like Damon around...

"I was talking to Nia," Damon replied all calmly.

"Well, I am talking to you!"

"Perse, why don't you just tell us the backstory?" Stefan asked.

"Sure. So, Nia sleepwalks. She's been doing that for the past months. I always thought she was just having dreams, but last night...Something woke me up, and usually I only wake up after she's come back. So I decided to follow her. She was pretty fast so I only reached her in the main hallway where that...thing was waiting to attack us,"

"Anything else?" Damon cocked an eyebrow at Nia. She shook her head.

"What was that thing?" Nia asked wide eyed.

"We don't know," Stefan said.

I groaned. "We're gonna need the truth here!"

"He's telling the truth, surprisingly," Damon said. "We don't know but we have a suspicion,"

"Which is?"

"We think it was a ghost. The ghost of a vampire, to be precise,"

"Funny," I commented drily.

Stefan and Damon exchanged a look.

"What?" I chuckled nervously. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"Listen Persephone..."

"The name's Perse," I sighed.

"Listen, Perse. There is things out there that you don't know about," Stefan said.

"You know," Damon shrugged like they both didn't sound like they were going crazy. "Supernatural stuff. Vampires, witches,"

I didn't say anything. Stefan looked at me worriedly and Damon's face was mocking, as usual. I'm guessing it was the eyebrows.

Had I mentioned that both of them were smoking hot? No? Well, they are both unbelievably good looking. I wish I was a Salvatore.

"Who are you guys?" Nia asked, obviously thinking she was living with two mad brothers.

"We..." Stefan hesitated. "We do research on paranormal activities all over the globe. I called Damon when I noticed some strange things going on here at NYU. I saw you sleepwalking, Nia. Luckily he arrived just the night that ghost attacked you guys,"

"The two of you are crazy!" Nia exclaimed, jumping out of the bed. She grabbed her burgundary cloak and slipped in the pair of boots I'd brought for her.

Damon was on his way to block her from leaving but I held him back. "Let her leave,"

"This is the second time you took orders from her, Damon!" Stefan almost smiled at his brother.

"Nia, please be back before it gets dark," I warned her.

"Well, she's proven to be quite difficult," Damon said while Stefan just turned around and walked into the kitchen.

"You know, for some weird reason I believe you guys," I said, deciding not to argue about my friend being difficult at the moment.

"Really?" Stefan smiled.

"Terrible choice, really,"

"That doesn't mean I trust you, though," I added quickly.

"Naturally," Stefan said understandingly.

Honestly, that guy was too understanding. I'd bet my secondhand Lou Boutin heels that a girl had used and broken his heart before.

Probably went on to Damon, or something. Understandable, if you didn't know him he must seem perfect. Well, until he openef his mouth.

Stefan probably had a better reason to hate his brother than just his natural character but honestly that already was one good reason.

"So, what are we having for dinner?" I asked, leaning against the door frame.

"We have limited facilities," Stefan said with an apologetic smile and gestured at the small stove.

"Take-out it is," Damon chirped from the other room.

Was he always in a good mood? Or was he always on edge and just extremely good at hiding it? My guess was that he just liked to annoy people, especially his brother.

"Pizza?" He suggested.

Stefan and I shrugged.

"Oh, come on! Buzzkill is gone. I thought you at least knew how to have fun, Perse! I know Stefan doesn't, but I had hope for you!"

"Not when there's a ghost possibly haunting me and my best friend," I said.

"From all we know the ghost is stuck in the University. So, a nice club in town should be out of its limits,"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Damon,"

"We can't leave Nia here all alone," I argued.

"I agree," Stefan said.

"We'll leave a message!" Damon really seemed to want to go out and party.

"I don't have anything to wear!"

"So we're going shopping! Great!" Damon clapped his hands together.

"But..." I started but was cut off.

"Oh, come on! Now you're just making up excuses. Let's go out. It'll help take your mind off things. You don't seem to be the one to deal with things openly,"

"Fine!" I groaned. "I'll go party with you! But only because I don't want you to psycho-analyse me..." I muttered the last part.

"We're leaving in two and a half hours. You should try to get a little sleep because I promise you that it's going to be a long night!"

He walked into the bathroom and left Stefan and me to each other.

"Are you coming, too?" I asked.

"I can't leave you with him. But someone has to stay here since we can't leave Nia either,"

"How about we look for her?" I suggested.

"I'll look for her, you go to sleep," He said, gently nudging me into the direction of my bed.

"But you haven't slept either!" I argued. "You don't deserve to sleep any less than I do!"

"I can deal with it," He smiled. "The life of a medical student,"

"Fine," I gave up. Stefan grabbed his leather jacket and left. As soon as the door closed Damon entered the room.

"So, do you really have nothing to wear or was that just a lame excuse?"

"I really don't have anything to wear. Nia didn't like me partying, let alone partying herself," I shrugged.

"Buzzkill," He said.

"There's nothing wrong with staying home at night, reading a good book or watching a movie. And with good food by your side, life can be good," I defended Nia.

"Believe me, my brother does that. Books. No wonder he's always alone,"

"Don't talk bad about Stefan!"

"Oh, you like him, don't you?" He smirked.

"Please. He's a good guy, nothing more,"

"Don't deny your nature, Perse. It's only natural!"

"Goodbye, Damon. I'm gonna change and then I'm gonna hit the sack before our 'long night',"

"Yeah, hit the sack," Damon spat out the words like they were something disgusting.

I rolled my eyes and went into the bathroom where I carefully locked the door and changed.

I was just out of my shirt when the door knob was turned.

"So this is how much you trust me!" Damon said, fake hurt in his voice.

"For good reason!" I replied and quickly finished changing.

I was really uncomfortable sleeping with Damon basically staring at me and I thought I wouldn't be able to fall asleep but my eyes dropped as soon as my head touched the pillow.

I was only awoken by the door falling shut.

Damon was sitting on his bed, a book in his lap. He looked up at Stefan and Nia.

"That took long," He commented.

"Yeah, she was pretty hard to find," Stefan replied. He glanced at me. "Sleep well?"

"Like a baby," Damon answered for me.

I glared at him.

"You are so not intimidating with your hair sticking off your head like you just put your hands in a socket," He smirked.

I jumped up and took two quick steps towards him. But then instead of showing him what intimidating meant like I had planned, I walked into the bathroom quickly.

"That self control, though," Stefan said. "I wouldn't have held back,"

"What do you mean, brother?"

"You know what I mean," He said.

"Are you hungry? I'm afraid you'll have to wait. We are going shopping for you girls, for a party. We're gonna grab some food on the way," Damon told Nia.
"Shopping?"

"Perse has nothing appropriate to wear. We can't have you girls go to New York's hottest party looking like homeless people!"

"I am not going shopping with you!" She shrieked.

"Oh, that's a shame," Damon sighed.

"That's a shame?" I echoed, coming out of the bathroom still in my pyjama top.  "You are making me go shopping, and she's allowed to come in sweat pants?"

"I'll wear those leather shorts and your black tanktop. I won't look completely homeless!" Nia argued. That was a good sign. Any emotion was at least a reaction. I was afraid that she'd be scared for life.

I glared at Damon. "When're we leaving?"

"As soon as Nia's changed," The annoying brother replied.

"Be right back," She said and left to the bathroom with her clothes slung over her arm.

A moment later I heard water running. "That's gonna take a while," I sighed and lay on my bed.

"So, Perse," Stefan spoke up. "You don't really talk much about yourself,"

"Neither do you," I replied, my eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"She's got a point," Damon said.

"There isn't much to tell," Stefan said.

"Same here,"

"You guys are so boring!" Damon groaned.

"And you are so rude," I said.

"Ouch," It was quiet after that.

When Nia finally exited the bathroom in her so called party wear I jumped up.

"She's wearing that! Can't I go casual, too?" I questioned.

"Where's the fun in that?" Damon replied with his signature smirk.

"Fun? You call shopping fun? It's torture!"

"You, Persephone are one strange girl," He replied.

"Thank you so much, oh almighty Mr Salvatore!"

"I could get used to that name,"

"Can we go?" Stefan asked, his voice as expressionless as his face.

"Buzzkill,"