A life in the shadows

57

"Matt can't know." It was morning and Lacey was pulling on her clothes.
"Huh?"
"You can't tell Matt that you and I had sex."
"You're not ashamed of me already, are you?" Damon smirked.
"It's not that, I just like you alive more than I like you dead."
"You haven't actually seen me alive."
"You know what I mean."
"Fine. I won't tell him."
"Thanks." She smiled.
"So is Matt like this with every guy you show interest in, or...?"
"I usually don't let Matt know until it's serious. I mean, he's super protective."
"So what happened in Portland?"
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
"Nope."
"I was trying to find out more about my parents, I mean Matt told me a lot, but I wanted to find out more about who they were so I went tracking down their friends and such, without telling anyone."
"That's, like, a recurring theme for you, isn't it? Not telling him things."
"Funny. Anyways, these particular friends weren't part of the list Matt gave me, and I thought he just didn't know about them, but as soon as I got into town, they found me. It was a trap, because these guys weren't friends of my parents. They were more like... mortal enemies. Matt came to save me, how he knew I was in danger or where I was, I have no clue. But he did, and he's a good fighter but there were fifteen witches and warlocks there. They tried to give him aneurysms and I know he felt it because I saw him wincing every few minutes but he ignored it to try to help me. He might have even defeated them all, if he wasn't so concerned with me. He managed to take out thirteen of them before the last two used magic to tie him up. So it was the two of us. I thought we were both going to die. They were talking about all the different ways they might possibly kill us in, just to get revenge on my parents. They said they'd kill Matt first, make me watch, then set me on fire while I was alive." Lacey closed her eyes as the memories started to haunt her. "I really thought we would die. I don't know how we escaped, only that I must have passed out because when I came to Matteo was untying me and carrying me out."
"Did you ask him?"
"I tried but he never answered. Siobhan said one of his ropes got loose so he used that to untie himself."
"You don't believe it?"
"Those ropes were tied with magic. It's impossible to untie them by hand, never mind them getting loose. And Matt would have said so if it was true. All he ever did was deflect the question. Eventually I gave up."
"Oh."
"At the end of the day, what matters most is that we survived. You learn to give up on particulars, when it comes to Matt. He never tells you the full story." Lacey walked over to the mirror and tied up her hair, running her fingers through the strands that framed her face. She was wearing a turtleneck and jeans.
"Where'd you get the clothes from?"
"I had some in my car, and I brought it up with me last night. I'm not walking out in the dress from yesterday." She frowned and picked up the dress.
"See you later." He grinned.
"See ya."

Rebekah walked out of the boarding house, in the same dress as the night before. She bumped into Elena on the doorstep.
"What are you doing here?" Elena sneered.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She smirked before walking away. Elena walked inside, and saw Damon shirtless in the kitchen. He was pulling on a top.
"Seriously?" She scoffed. "Did you stop taking your vervain?"
"I don't follow." He replied.
"You slept with Rebekah?" She all but yelled. Damon smirked.
"And if I did?" He decided to play along. Lacey didn't want anyone to know she'd been in his room and he liked seeing Elena so worked up over the idea that he was with Rebekah.
"What's wrong with you? She just tried to kill me less than forty eight hours ago."
"Can we just move pass that, Elena?"
"So is that how it's going to be now? I hurt your feelings and this is how you lash out at me?"
"Well, maybe, for once, something I did had nothing to do with you. My feelings weren't 'hurt' yesterday, I'm over it. It's a new day."
"You should know that Esther is planning on killing her entire family. She's linked them all together with a spell. Whatever happens to one of them, happens to all of them." She frowned. Olly was at the door. He listened a little longer.
"Well, that's great! Klaus will finally be dead. We win. Why do you look like someone just shot a panda bear?"
"Uh, because to kill Klaus she has to kill all of them, including Elijah. And he doesn't deserve this! And Siobhan just lost her dad. Now she has to lose all her siblings?"
"I'm supposed to care about Elijah? And Siobhan hates most of her siblings, anyways."
"Shouldn't you at least care about Rebekah?" Elena spat. Meanwhile upstairs Olly was telling Matt and Siobhan what he overheard.
"Two seconds ago, you were pissed that she attacked you. It's a win-win, don't you think." Damon said, dismissively. Seeing Elena's conflicted expression, he blocked her from leaving. "Don't do anything to screw this up, Elena."
"Why are you doing this?"
"He's right, you know. Klaus has to die. They all do." Stefan walked in, oblivious to the fact that Matteo was behind him.
"You're joking." Matteo scowled walking in. "I mean, I get that you have your troubles with Klaus- he's a dick, but you're going to kill off the entire family? I mean, even if they weren't related to Siobhan, you'd kill off everyone else, just to kill Klaus."
"Matt-"
"This is Siobhan's family, and she just got them back. It's not enough that you had something to do with her dad's death, you have to kill off everyone else in her family too." Matteo shook his head and left the room, meeting Siobhan at the front door.
"Damon." Lacey glared, stepping forward after Matteo walked out.
"Who are you?" Elena asked.
"Imagine someone killing Matt, right after you found out he's alive. And you're prepared to do the same to Siobhan."
"Difference is, Matteo's a good guy."
"Then imagine how Matt would feel if someone killed off you and Stefan. I know you're not innocent. Everyone knows your story."
"This is who I am. If someone's going to take out people I hate, I'm definitely not going to stand in the way."
"Maybe Matt was right."
"That you shouldn't have come to Mystic Falls?"
"No, not that." She turned on her heel and walked out. Damon looked hurt as he stormed out of the room, but Elena grabbed his shirt stopping him.
"Who is she?"
"Why do you care?" He tugged his shirt from her grasp and walked off.