My Return (Vampire Diaries) (Book Seven)

Things We Lost in the Fire

Everything was exactly the same.

Stefan was on the floor with a broken neck.

Matt was on the floor, beaten to a pulp.

Bonnie was on the floor, after having been choked by a fireplace power and having her head slammed against the wall.

I was on the floor with a stake in my chest.

Caroline knelt behind me, pulling the stake out of my chest, making me gasp.

Damon was freaking out, realizing that he was in fact in the real world. "No." I stood. Damon turned to me worriedly. "Nikki..." 

Caroline walked past him, walking toward where Matt was, kneeling next to him. "Matt. Hey, wake up." She bit her wrist, putting it to Matt's mouth for him to drink her blood and heal. "You do not get to die. Matt, drink."

Matt slowly woke up, drinking Caroline's blood to heal.

Damon knelt in front of Bonnie. "Bon." He bit his wrist, putting it to his mouth for her to drink his blood and heal. "Bonnie. Bonnie. Oh, I'm so sorry." Bonnie woke up, coughing. I walked closer. Damon shook his head frantically. "I didn't know where I was. I didn't know I was out."

I snapped Damon's neck, letting him fall unconscious.

     ~~~~~~~      

I had chained Damon up in the foyer.

Everyone was gone.

I walked closer.

"No vervain this time?" Damon asked. "We switching up the menu?"

"Nah, I just wanted to make sure you had a chance to calm down," I told him.

"Oh, I'm calm," Damon told me. Stefan walked in. "No, no, no. I know what you're gonna say to me. You're gonna say to me, I screwed up so bad. I nearly killed all of our friends because I thought I was stuck in a fake hell-world."

Stefan looked grim, but it was clear he was sympathetic. "You don't have to explain. It wasn't your fault."

I looked at Stefan.

Damon was completely confused and stunned by this uncharacteristic reaction. "Huh?"

"It was an honest mistake," Stefan told him. "You're getting a pass."

"Wait," Damon told him. "You skipped a bunch of stuff. First, I'm supposed to say I see the error of my ways, and you tell me that that's not good enough, and then you judge me harder. And then I say something mean but true, that totally throws you off balance."

I knelt in front of Damon. "You came out of the Phoenix Stone, but you thought you were still inside of it. Everybody understands."

Damon nodded. "Oh. That's pretty generous of you. Considering I just stabbed you in the chest."

"Yeah, well, the hell stone does a number on you," Stefan told him.

Damon nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Yeah, it does. Well, I'm here. And it's real. I'm ready for my hug." He spread his arms as wide as the chained shackles around him would allow. "I'll wait until you've unchained me."

Stefan frowned worriedly. "Here's the thing, Damon. Um, hell messes with you, but post-hell is much worse."

I nodded in concern. "Yeah."

The front door opened.

Stefan and I turned to see who it was.

Tyler walked in.