Dark Paradise

Twenty-Two

Third Person POV

Jaxon reclined in his chair, releasing a small sigh. "So, when do you plan to tell everyone that you're back in town?" he inquired of the girl seated opposite him.

Bonnie gave a nonchalant shrug. "Whenever I feel like it," she replied. They were both seated in the Mystic Grill, donning hats and sunglasses coupled with hoodies to remain inconspicuous.

"But I feel ridiculous, Bon Bon," Jaxon replied, eliciting laughter from the girl. Just then, the door to the Grill opened, prompting Jaxon and Bonnie to look up and see Michael entering.

Jaxon sighed as Michael approached him and Bonnie. "Boy, we have to go," Michael stated, to which Jaxon retorted angrily, "Can you stop calling me 'boy'? I'm 17, nearly 18."

Michael narrowed his eyes at Jaxon, while Bonnie glanced back and forth between the two before inquiring, "Uh, who is this?"

"Oh, uh, Bonnie, this is Michael, my father. Michael, this is Bonnie, my best friend who isn't my sister," Jaxon introduced, and Michael offered her a tight-lipped smile while Bonnie looked shocked.

"Wow, I missed a lot then," Bonnie remarked, and Jaxon nodded, adding, "Definitely. Oh, and I'm in the Bible under the name Tobias, and he's the Archangel Michael, which makes me a—"

Jaxon was interrupted by Michael, who interjected, "A Nephilim. Now, let's go, Tobias." Jaxon rolled his eyes and inquired, "What happened?"

"Your friend and the local bloodsuckers are being foolish," Michael stated. Jaxon rolled his eyes again before he turned to Bonnie, excused himself, and then rose to walk out of the Grill with Michael.

"So, what's our plan?" Jaxon inquired, to which Michael responded, "We're going to eliminate every single one of the tomb vampires they released."

Jaxon halted and spun around, a look of shock on his face. "Wait, the tomb vampires are out?" he questioned, prompting Michael to turn towards him.

"Do you know about the vampires?" Michael asked. Seeing Jaxon's guilty expression, he pressed on, "Tobias, what did you do?"

Jaxon averted his gaze for a moment, and just as he turned back and began to speak, he was interrupted by the woman who materialized beside them.

"Sod off, Michael," she interjected sharply. "He did what anyone would do when their friend is in need," she declared, as Jaxon stared at her in astonishment.

The woman disappeared for a day, and no matter how intensely Jaxon thought about her, consciously and subconsciously, she did not appear. "Where the hell have you been?" Jaxon asked, and the woman glanced at him, simply stating, "Thinking."

Jaxon grimaced at the terse response before he sighed and said, "We'll talk later." Then he turned to Michael and recounted the events.

"Elena and Stefan approached me and the Bennetts with a proposition: we help in opening the tomb to retrieve the girl Damon loves, after which Damon would leave. However, Grams had a different plan; she intended to trap Damon and the girl in the tomb as retribution. Then Stefan's dumbass entered the tomb, making us remove the spell that confined the vampires. The spell resulted in Grams' death, and now you're telling me she died for nothing," Jaxon declared.