A life in the shadows

31

"So vote's tomorrow?" Siobhan asked her fiancé as they lay in bed.
"Mmhm." He replied, stroking her hair.
"Matty, pay attention." She giggled. "I wanna talk to you."
"I'm listening." He told her, still stroking her hair back.
"Anyways, like I was saying, everyone's going to be up there. We'll get to see everyone at once."
"I know."
"Aren't you excited? It's not even Taladay and we'll be able to see our friends all in one room."
"Mmhm." Matteo hummed again. She sat up, annoyed.
"Matty!"
"I agree with you. Completely." He quickly said.
"What was I saying then?"
"I don't know but I agree with you completely."
"What has you so distracted?"
"If the votes are in our favour, how would we ever get Klaus to let your siblings go?"
"If he doesn't, we could always sneak in and revive them on our own."
"We could, but we also need Klaus and Elijah to stop being total douchebags to you."
"Yeah but that's impossible. You've met the pair of them."
"I think we could maybe talk Elijah out of being mean and accepting you."
"Maybe, probably not."
"Don't be so pessimistic."
"Sure they'll be nice and my mother will come back from the dead and forgive Klaus, and they'll wake up my dad and he'll like Niklaus and we'll all be one big happy family."
"Darling," Matteo started.
"I know, but Klaus is a douchebag squared. There is no way to ever justify anything he did. He was wrong, and taking Stefan- making him do bad things? That was like rubbing salt into the wound. He's kind of evil, Matty. My brother is kind of totally evil."
"You know why he took Stefan. He's looking for a friend. But I mean, he did kill Elena so Stefan would never befriend him. Again."
"True. And he made you stay because you would have stopped Stefan any time he got close to murdering. That would've spoiled his fun."
"Family is complicated."
"Very much so." Matteo's phone started to ring.
"Speaking of family. " Matteo picked up. "Hello Stefan."
"Matt. How are you?"
"I'm well. You?"
"I'm okay."
"How's Klaus treating you?"
"Like he treats everyone." Matteo could almost see his brother roll his eyes.
"Need me to beat him up?"
"As entertaining as that'd be, uh, you have to stay in Mystic Falls, remember? I got that video you sent me. The one with Damon getting his ass kicked. It was very entertaining. I didn't know Siobhan was that skilled."
"You should see Matty in action. Hi, Stefan."
"Siobhan, hi."
"If you think I'm impressive, you'd be blown away by Matt. He's the best."
"Matt never fights."
"I just offered to beat up Klaus for you!" He argued.
"Yeah, but you were just kidding around."
"Not when it comes to you."
"Matty might never really fight, but that doesn't mean he's no good at it. Trust me, he's the best."
"I'll have to see it to believe it." Stefan said not really believing them. "How's Damon doing?"
"I haven't seen him since yesterday. I think he's been out all night." Matteo admitted.
"Go to him, he needs you. But don't tell him I said so." Stefan hung up. Matteo looked over to his fiancée.
"What do you think that's about?"
"I think you should probably go check on your brother." She said and Matteo nodded standing up and getting dressed.
He walked downstairs to see Damon at the kitchen table a blood bag in hand, though he wasn't drinking it.
"Dames?" Matteo called but Damon didn't seem to hear him. He walked closer and put a hand on Damon's shoulder. "Damon?"
"Oh, hey Matt."
"Damon, what happened?"
"Where'd you go yesterday?"
"I went home for the day. I thought I should stay out of the way for the party."
"Oh. That close by?"
"What happened to you, Damon?"
"Stefan's really flipped the switch. He's gone. And there's no Lexi to bring him back because I killed her."
"What happened yesterday?"
"He killed Andie." Damon put the blood bag on the table and took a gulp from his bottle of bourbon.
"What?!"
"I went to go pick her up, and Stefan compelled her to jump off a high ledge. He's gone, Matteo. It's not him anymore."
"You shouldn't have gone looking for him. I told you not to."
"Oh, So it's my fault?"
"Of course not. Not at all. Damon, this is not your fault."
"You're right, though. Stupid Stefan, sacrificing himself. He shouldn't have done so."
"Of course he would. You're his brother. He loves you, man. And he'd do anything to protect you. Stefan isn't gone, D. He has to keep you from Klaus, otherwise Klaus'll come after you. Don't go after them. Not if you want Stefan to stay sane."
"He's been killing people up and down the coast. He's just killed my girlfriend. That is not sane."
"Yes it is. Everything he's doing- he's doing to protect us. Keeping Klaus from thinking about Mystic Falls. Klaus is pretty much deranged, right now, trying to find werewolves."
"You think he's still Stefan?"
"I think he maybe needs some space otherwise he really won't be Stefan anymore."
"He saves my life. I can't let him throw his own away."
"Your entire life is worth more to him than a few years, maybe decades of his. Let him try, Dames. Let him try to do things his own way. Mourn for Andie. I know you cared for her."
"I barely knew her. We only ever talked about me."
"Don't lie to me." Matteo put a hand on his brothers shoulder. Unbeknownst to both him and Damon, his eyes flashed gold. Andie was in front of him. He frowned.
"It's not Stefan's fault and it's not his fault." She said looking down at Damon putting a hand on his head though it went straight through. "Tell him I don't blame him."
"Uh..." Matteo trailed off.
"What?" Damon asked,
"She cared for you too, Dames."
"Whatever."
"She would want you to blame yourself."
"I guess we'll never know, huh? She's too busy being dead."
"Well, we could talk to a psychic, a witch who has a spell to contact those who have passed on."
"What good would that do?"
"Stop blaming yourself, D. She wouldn't want you to and you know it. Wasn't she always helping you get to terms with who you are? Convincing you that you're worth it? Do you really think she'd want you to sit here upset and in self loathing when she believed you could be better than that?" Damon sighed, but said nothing. Matteo let go of his shoulder and Andie disappeared.