Forever

Stefano

"Damon." I dropped onto one of the armchairs in the living room.

The vampire himself had been lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He sat up at his name, eyes widened in alarm. "What the hell are you doing here little Gilbert. You're gonna get Ric killed."

He barely missed tipping over his drink.

"Are you drunk?" How much had he had?

"No." That's a yes.

I didn't even know vampires could get drunk, but maybe I could finally get some answers.

Ok maybe this isn't such a good idea. I'd come hoping to maybe see what was going on, but if Damon was that intoxicated and something set him off, this could also get dangerous real fast.

Screw it. "Don't worry, got the 'all good' from the Mikaelsons and everything. What did they say to you? Like Klaus told me a little, but not a lot."

Damon blinked owlishly at me. "You're the whole reason this is happening." He grabbed his glass and downed it. "They didn't want us to go after them with you in the middle, so they took Ric to make sure we stayed away from you."

Damn, he was really out of it.

"But why would they do that? The whole reason they're staying in town is so I can be with you guys." It didn't make any sense.

"Something about not trusting us with you while you're unbonded, you're a Mikaelson now and their family watches out for each other, blah blah blah."

There was that word again.

Unbonded.

What did it mean exactly? "What do you know about soulmates?" I might not ever get a chance like this again, vampires rarely ever let their guard down this much and the alcohol would only affect him so long.

"Not much, just that thing you said before you got vampired." He gestured vaguely as he laid down again. "I think Kathrine mentioned something but I was too brainwashed to care."

"Drew?" Stefan appeared.

F.

Of course he had to show up. "Stefano."

"Are you okay? Why are you here? I thought you were staying at your house because of the blow up." He crossed his arms. "Did something happen? Was it them?"

"No no, nothing happened." Even though the Mikaelsons are probably the scariest people I've ever met. "Just needed a break from all the Original drama." And I hoped to god they wouldn't find out about this, not even Jeremy knew.

I know they'd both lose their shit if they figured out where I was, especially if the 'accord' Elijah had going meant the group had to stay away from me, now it made sense why they were keeping their distance.

"Oh, maybe it'd be best if you went home? I'm sure Jeremy could help."

"No, yeah. That would be better." I needed to get out of here. As I learned before, it was best not to piss off an Original.

"I'm sorry, it's just Damon, he's really broken up about Ric's disappearance and it could be dangerous for you."

"Bye." I hated how awkward this was, I quickly made my way out of the Salvatore estate and saw a vaguely familiar figure in the trees.

Great.

I begrudgingly made my way over. "Hey, would it be too much to ask for you to not report this back?"

The hybrid simply stared at me. "I heard about what happened to Jaime, I think I'll take my chances."

"C'mon Amy. I really didn't know how bad this situation was. Klaus and Elijah are this close to losing it." She'd been part of the group of hybrids assigned to protect me in the various cities we'd visited. "Please can we keep this one little secret between us? I'll promise not to sneak away anymore."

"I don't know, Klaus would be more angry if I didn't tell him than if I did." She hesitated.

"But if you do then you're putting all my friends' lives at risk, my sister's life." Had I known how heavy the toll would be from this visit, I wouldn't have come. "Would you really want to potentially have Elijah also angry because he's not gonna take it out on me." Hopefully. He was already pissed about the tunnel incident and the blow up. If he was anything like his siblings, this would be the final straw and I'd rather not face his wrath.

Being caught in the middle felt very much like a time bomb.

One side was bound to explode at some point.

"I could put in a good word for you with Klaus if that helps any." Take the deal Amy. Take it. I'd pushed far too many buttons today already.

That seemed to do the trick. "Fine, but only if you won't disappear anymore. It's really stressful having to find you before Klaus calls."

Good to know.

Of course he had a hybrid following me. Thats probably how Elijah knew we were in the tunnels in the first place.

I let out a breath. At least I didn't have to worry about that. The last thing I needed was to accidentally shatter this unstable 'truce' they've got going on, though my biggest question was why did they hide it from me?

"Alright, let's go before he comes looking for you himself."

"Ladies."