Trouble (Vampire Diaries fan fic, Book Two!!!!!!!),

Chapter 2__Brave New World

I had gone to school, come home, and when I walked into the living room, Stefan and Damon were talking.

"Are you worried that one day, all of the forest animals are gonna band together and fight back?" Damon asked Stefan. "I mean, surely they talk."

"I'm just happy that's a blood bag and not a soroity girl supplying your dinner," Stefan said.

"I like this. You walking on eggshells around me because you think I'm gonna explode. Very suspenseful. Is Elena worried too? I bet I'm in your every conversation." He looked at me. "What about you, Nikki? Are you nervous about me too?"

"Jeremy wouldn't be the first or the last person's neck you'll snap," I replied. He had snapped my father's neck.

"You're never gonna let me live killing Zach down, are you?" Damon asked. I didn't answer. "Or is this about what Katherine said last night?"

I still didn't answer, Stefan asking, "Speaking of, have either of you heard from Katherine?"

"Since she tried to kill me and I tried to kill her?" I asked rhetorically. "Nope."

Damon changed the subject. "I think the Lockwoods have a family secret because the Gilbert device effected them, but the vervain didn't. So they're not vampires. They're something else."

"Is this your new obsession?" I asked.

"If you'd rather some unknown supernatural element running rampant upon our town," Damon said. "Fine. I'll drop it."

"We haven't seen the last of Katherine, you do know that, right?" Stefan asked. "We have no idea what she's up to."

"Sure we do," Damon said.."She came back to profess her undying eternal love for you. So I'm gonna let you deal with her because I have more important things to do. Like explode." He held up his glass of blood as he started to leave. "Cheers."

Stefan looked toward me, but I just shook my head.

I had no idea what to do.

 

~

 

I sat down on the couch when I saw Jeremy sitting on a chair. "What are you doing here?" 

"Trying to kill Damon," Jeremy answered.

I chuckled once. "God, if I had a dolar every time I've heard that." 

"He killed your father, didn't he?" Jeremy asked as I started to take a sip of Scotch. "It wasn't an extended business trip like he told me and Jenna, was it?" 

I pulled the glass away from my mouth, shaking my head. "No. No, it wasn't. Yes, he killed him." 

"Why didn't you kill him?" 

"I tried. Then the next thing I know, all the vervain is gone, and he's got  a hand to my throat, Stefan begging him not to kill me." Jeremy gave me a weird, confused look, and I shook my head. "It's complicated." 

"I've got time," Jeremy said. "He's still at the carnival." 

I looked toward him.

 

~

 

"So, Damon saved you from the tomb vampires after you saved him from the tomb to save Stefan because he wouldn't leave without Damon?" Jeremy asked. "And then you saved both again even while weak from blood loss and exhaustion from the samve vampires the day they kidnapped Stefan? And Bonnie used you as a connection to save them from the fire?" 

"Told you it was complicated," I reminded him.

"No kidding." I nodded absentmindedly, looking down at my glass of Scotch. 

A long hesitation of silence passed. 

"What about your mom?" Jeremy finally asked. "Jenna said something about her the one day you were over with Elena." 

I looked up. "She, uh, died when I was six. She was sick." 

"Oh," Jeremy said quietly.

"Yeah." 

The door opened and we fell quiet as Damon walked in, closer to the liqour table as he looked toward me. "You say something, Nikk?" 

"No," I lied as I looked toward him." 

"Liar," Damon told me. "What the hell are you doing here, Jeremy?" 

"You don't lock your front door," Jeremy said. 

"Yeah," Damon said sarcastically. "Since she's here." 

He went to drink his drink as I looked toward Jeremy with an arched eyebrow. 

I knew he couldn't do it. 

"No, I wouldn't . . ." Jeremy trailed off, confirming my suspicions. "I laced it with vervain." 

"Why would you do that?" Damon asked as he put the glass down. 

Jeremy held up the stake. Crappy stake, at that. "So I could stake you . . . with this." 

He let the stake fall to the floor and Damon picked it up. "You came here to kill me?" 

"It's only fair," Jeremy said, pulling back his hood. "You killed me first." 

Damon looked toward me. "And you were just gonna let him kill me?" 

"I knew he wasn't gonna be able to do it," I replied, taking a sip of my Scotch.

He came to sit on the other couch as he asked Jeremy, "What made you wisen up?" 

"My father hated vampires, my uncle too," Jeremy said. "They were absolute. They knew exactly what they stood for, and I figured maybe I should too, I mean, stand for something. But killing you, what's that gonna do?" 

"Look, I don't do the big brother thing very well, and it looks like Nikki's talked more than she can handle for one day," Damon said, and I tilted my head at him with a look. "Sorry, I don't have any milk and cookies to offer you." 

Jeremy stood up, starting to walk for the door. "Dick." 

"Wait," I said. "My father hated most vampires too." 

"He did?" Jeremy asked.

I nodded. "Damon especially. It was his idea to lock him away. But that ended very badly." 

I sipped at the Scotch as Damon said, "My father ated vampires. For the same reason your dads did. Only, it was 1864, and people knew how to whittle." 

I nodded to the crappy stake in Damon's hands as I asked Jeremy, "Did you do that?" 

"Yeah, I tried," Jeremy said. "It's a lot harder than it looks." 

I tilted my head. "Oh, I don't know about that." 

I grabbed the new, clean stake out of my sleeve, showing the smooth surface to Damon and Jeremy. "I've lived in a house with two good-some-day-and-bad-the-next vampires who could easily kill me in my sleep, and with any vampire who can just come walking through that door and try to kill me." Jeremy chuckled. "Of course I'm gonna have a stake or two ready." 

I put it away and took another sip of the Scotch.

Weird combination of people in this room.

Who would've thought?