The Balance

Chapter 28

I'm laying on the couch in the living room, decompressing from the last few weeks. Matt has been stopping by more frequently after Jermey passed away. I still haven't been able to get ahold of Tyler, and Elena has gone off the deep ends.

My eyes snap open when I hear footsteps in the palor, "We're gonna lose her, Damon." I hear Stefan say.

Damon walks towards the bar cart, "She needs time. It's only been a couple days."

"Her humanity's off. She's basically numb to everything that makes her who she is." Stefan points out.

Damon starts to pour himself a glass of bourbon. "She's a vampire. Off switch is one of the biggest perks. If being undead gets you down," he snaps his fingers, "voilà, vampire Prozac."

"She burned down her family home with her brother's dead body still inside." I point out, standing and crossing the room.

Damon shrugs, "Saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves. I call that a win."

"What are you going to do when she goes to far?" I ask him, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms.

"Worst case scenario: I'll invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on." Damon sits the glass down.

Stefan shakes his head, "No, her brother just died. If you force all that grief on her at once, it's going to overwhelm her. We need to give her a reason to want to turn it on."

Damon groans, "Fine, we'll show her a good time."

I search Stefans face to see how he feels about this plan as I guessed he looks skeptical. "Damon showing her a good time isn't going to make her want to feel again," I say, "if anything it's going to make her want to not feel even more."

"I forgot you're the humanity expert," Damon rolls his eyes, "listen. I know what is best."

I shake my head, "I have to get ready for school."

***
"Any update on how much longer Elena is going to be a raging bitch." Caroline sighs as she puts the car in park in front of my house.

I look at her, "I take it her comeback as a cheerleader didn't go well?"

Caroline groans, "she not only fed on the competition but she dropped me durning the routine."

"Ouch." I scrunch my face, "I'd ask if you're okay but I know you can't get hurt."

Caroline waves me off, "I'm not sure how much longer I can deal with her and her emotions being turned off."

My phone vibrates and I see it's Stefan calling me "Allison.." I hear Stefan voice faintly, people cheering and music playing in the background is drowning him out.

"Stefan.. Where are you?" I ask.

"The house," I hear him say as some random guy starts to scream in the background. I pull the phone away from my ear, "Elena decided to throw a party.."

I look at Caroline who looks annoyed. We rush into the house, high schoolers are everywhere, music is thumping and there are empty cups on the floor.

"Stefan," I shout as I shove my way through the party. "This is insane."

Stefan nods, "Yeah. It won't last. They'll either drink all the booze and get bored, or, ah, Damon'll come home and kill everyone."

I kick an empty bottle of bourbon, "yeah he's not going to be too thrilled. On top of that, se can't compel them to leave. The locals are all on vervain from the town water supply."

Stefan nods again, "Yep."

"So what do we do?" I ask.

Stefan shrugs, "Pff, I don't know. Enjoy the party, keep Elena from butchering Grove Hills' cheerleading squad." He takes a swig from a bottle of alcohol.