A life in the shadows

6

"Who are you?" The man with black hair asked as she laid Matteo down on the couch in the front room.
"Hi," she greeted warmly. "You must be Damon."
"What did you do to my brother?" He sped to Matteo's side, looking at her accusingly. Stefan followed.
"It wasn't me." She said. "And he'll be fine."
"Siobhan." Elijah greeted. It was only then she realised the room was full of people.
"Elijah." She replied curtly.
"You two know each other?"
"She's Matteo's.." Elijah scrunched his nose in displeasure. "Friend."
"We've met before." She said and turned to Matteo. He should have been waking up around then. As if on cue, he sat up.
"Kaia?" Siobhan asked him. He nodded. Kaia had the ability to pull them out of reality, an ability both Siobhan and Matteo hadn't mastered yet.
"What's a Kaia?" Stefan asked.
"Stefan? Damon?" Matteo sat up and realised where he was.
"Hey brother." Damon said, "mind letting us know what happened?"
"Uh its a long story?" He tried.
"But vampires don't get ill or even faint."
"True, but there are... extenuating circumstances." He said. "So, I should probably give out introductions."
"Probably." Siobhan giggled.
"Siobhan, you've already met Elijah. That over there is Elena, she's a doppelgänger. She's Katherine's doppelgänger, in fact." Siobhan turned to look at him in surprise. "Over there is Alaric, who I, myself, have never really met. I'm Matt, by the way."
"Hi." Alaric nodded. There was a pretty redhead next to him. "This is Jenna. Elena's aunt and my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you." Matteo smiled and Siobhan nodded in agreement. He put an arm around her. "And this is Damon and Stefan."
"The famous brothers." Siobhan laughed.
"Famous?" Damon asked.
"Matty always talks about the two of you."
"He does?"
"And everyone," Matteo cut in. "This is Siobhan. My girlfriend."
"You have a girlfriend?" Damon scoffed.
"Some people don't need to compel a girl to date them, Damon." Stefan insulted.
"Ouch." Matteo said, looking at his brothers. He tried to stand up, but winced.
"You need to go sleep it off." Siobhan told him.
"I'm fine."
"Matteo, you will go sleep this off." She demanded, sternly. He nodded.
"Yes ma'am." He held his arms out to her. "Help me up?"
"Of course." She said and pulled him up. Damon chortled and Matteo rolled his eyes.
"Something funny, little brother?" He asked.
"Stefan's the little brother." He defended.
"You're both my little brothers."
"We're not even little."
"Damon, you'll always be my little brother." Matteo grinned.
"Someone help me take him upstairs, please." Siobhan asked.
"I-" Elijah started, but Siobhan turned to Damon, ignoring him.
"Damon?"
"Sure." Damon wrapped Matteo's arm around his neck and took the weight off Siobhan. The both half carried, half dragged Matteo out of the room. Once they got to the stairs, Damon turned to her. "So you and Elijah don't get along?"
"Understatement." Matteo snorted loudly.
"But you do?"
"Matteo gets along with everyone. He's a likeable person and sees the good in everyone." Siobhan said. "It's annoying at times."
"I know the feeling." Damon kicked the door to Matteo's room open. "So, shove-ahn. How do you spell that?"
"S-i-o-b-h-a-n." Matteo replied for her and she smiled. "It's Irish."
"How long have you two been together?"
"Uh, you answer." Matteo told Siobhan as Damon put him on the bed.
"Its a long story. We weren't officially together together up until about an hour ago." She explained.
"Oh, cool. Well anyways, I'm going to leave you two to it." Damon said slightly awkwardly, walking out of the room. Once he closed the door, Siobhan slid into Matteo's bed, snuggling with him.
"Have you seen her yet?"
"For a brief second." Matteo said. She looked down, looking hurt. "Siobhan, I promise you that my asking you to be with me has nothing to do with Katherine."
"Then why?" She asked. "We've been together for almost a century and a half, but you've never wanted more. Not until you saw her again."
"This world, when I walk through the town, when I see people being happy, I realise I want that. Back home, what we have is normal. No one goes for the real thing, but here, it just makes you believe in more. Sure, we're not humans, and we'll never be humans again, but that shouldn't mean we can't be as happy as them. You deserve more, and I want to give it to you. I truly love you Siobhan, and I will remind you every day for the rest of our lives if I have to. What we have hasn't got anything to do with Katherine. It's about me and you."
"Love you too, Matteo." She smiled and rested her head on his chest. She started humming an enchanting tune, and Matteo played with her hair. It was a beautiful picture, so pure and full of love. Matteo slowly drifted off to sleep, his hand falling limp on top of her head. Siobhan traced patterns on his shirt when she heard noises downstairs. Matteo stirred a little and she continued humming hoping he wouldn't wake up. Once she was sure he was asleep, she went to check out what was going on.
"She'll never forgive you. And never for a vampire...It's a very long time." She heard Elijah say. He left the room, walking past her. He nodded at her, not looking pleased to see her. "Siobhan."
"Elijah." She copied his tone, and walked into the room he'd just gotten out of. She saw Damon standing with a glass in his hand. "You want to tell me what happened?"
"I fed Elena vampire blood so she can come back when she dies."
"You love her." She pointed out.
"Yeah."
"So does Stefan?"
"Yeah."
"And you all loved Katherine once?"
"Matteo won't fall for Elena. Besides, he's pretty smitten with you." Damon assured. "I need something stronger than this. Wanna come with?"
"To where?" Siobhan frowned.
"The Grill. It's like the only bar in town."