An Elemental Difference - FIRE - Book 2 (Stefan Salvatore)

Chapter 57 - Does Aella know?

THE LAKE HOUSE

"Jeremy broke his arm there when he was six," Elena pointed out to Stefan as the four of them sat on the dock.

Aella sat on Stefan's lap, wrapped snugly in his arms and a blanket, while Jenna and Elena shared a bench and a large blanket to keep them warm.

Aella snorted at the memory, "He had us all write on his cast and then write made-up names in different handwriting, so it looked like he had loads of friends."

Jenna giggled into her hot chocolate, "I thought Miranda was going to march him to the hospital for a new cast."

Stefan was confused, so Aella explained, "We got bored and started thinking of dirty names."

Elena laughed loudly, "Ben Dover was his favorite. Mom was so mad."

"It was the only time Vicki was nice to us," Aella snickered at the memory. "We were at Matt's, and she was there with her friends. They kept saying these names our parents would murder us for saying...."

"...So we got Jeremy to say them instead." Elena finished, the memory so fresh in her mind. "He got away with it because he was so cute."

Jenna nodded in agreement, unable to stop laughing, "It also helped that the cast came off a day before school started back. God knows what the teachers would have said when he declared Mike Hunt was his best friend." Her phone rang, "Speaking of teachers...." She answered the call, "Hi, hunny."

Aella smirked into Stefan's shoulder, "She should have answered the phone, 'Mike Hunt speaking.'"

A smile appeared on Stefan's face for a second until his eyes darted to Jenna, who turned towards Aella, her phone out for her to take, "Ric needs to talk to you."

"Oh, god." Aella pulled herself up and muttered, "Please be about my awesome yet slightly copyrighted essay." Stefan raised a brow, obviously hearing it, and Aella waved him off, "So I added a few motivational quotes from Full House; Joey really can sound quite Hardyesque, so sue me." She grabbed the phone from Jenna, "Hello, favorite teacher of mine."

Stefan listened in and let out a low groan as Aella shouted at Ric, "Damon did what?!"

Elena rolled her eyes as Aella stomped towards the house, "What's he done now?"

Stefan got up, folding the blanket neatly, "Damon decided to introduce himself to Elijah." Jenna and Elena groaned. Before Stefan followed Aella, he just smiled and answered, "Exactly."

When he reached the house, Aella was finishing the call. She was sitting on the bed in the bedroom just off the kitchen, rubbing the space between her eyebrows in circular movements, "Okay. Thanks for letting me know, Ric."

Stefan leaned against the door frame, "How bad is it?"

Aella's eyes remained closed, "Do you mind if we move here permanently?"

"That bad?" Stefan pushed himself off the door frame and moved to sit next to Aella. Her head fell perfectly between his neck and shoulder, and he rubbed her back.

"Mhhm," Aella whined, shuffling so his rubbing moved to particular spots. "That's not bad." The movement seemed to ease some of her strength as she told him, "Damon decided to show Elijah he wasn't afraid of him, and Elijah stabbed him in the neck with a pencil." Stefan's rubbing stopped, and Aella quickly added, "He's okay. His ego got taken down a notch, but he's okay."

The rubbing resumed to her delight as Stefan admitted, "I want to say I'm shocked...."

Aella groaned, "This is the reason we came out here. Stupid egotistical vampires who want to prove you wrong and decide to piss off the wrong vampire." She jumped up and began pacing, "Not just your everyday vampires, an Original vampire who can't die!"