𝟏• 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂 | 𝐓𝐕𝐃 ✓

TWENTY-ONE [UNEDITED]

"Hello, 'Lia." Aurelia jumped at the sound of Damon's voice, which seemed to come from nowhere. She looked at him, before taking a deep breath.

"Don't do that!" She exclaimed, lightly slapping him on the shoulder.

"You do know that you should be able to hear me, right?" He said, walking down the deserted road with her.

"I- I wasn't paying attention." She said.

"Or... you aren't as strong as you were." He stated. She stopped and looked at him in disbelief, trying not to let her hard expression falter.

"I'm not doing this with you." She said, walking forward. He held her back, however.

"Yes, you are." He said. "Come on, 'Lia. Stefan's worried, I'm worried, Caroline's worried." She raised her eyebrows.

"You told Caroline?" She asked. "Why did you do that?"

"Because she deserves to know about your health." He said. "I thought you said that you wanted her to know everything, and be close to you." He added, concern evident in his eyes. "Come on, she's your sister."

"She's my niece, after a lot of generations." She corrected. "My sister died centuries ago."

"So, you're just going to act like this, right after you patched up things with her?"

"I'm not acting out right now. I'm just..." She trailed off, as her head suddenly shot up. "Do you smell that?" She asked, the familiar scent of blood filling her nostrils.

"Something's happening, and I think it's connected to our humanity-less vampire." Damon said, looking around. "Come on." He sped to the direction of the scent, Aurelia following him at a slower speed.

"That's enough." Damon said to Elena, as he pulled her away from the woman she was feeding on. Aurelia stopped to see the brunette with blood all over her mouth. "We agreed no killing."

"This is the first person I've seen in days whose body isn't laced with vervain and I'm hungry." Elena said.

"If you leave a trail of bodies, people are gonna start asking questions." Damon said.

"I don't care." With those words, Elena began to feed on the woman again.

"I can't believe you're making me say this." Said Damon, pulling Elena back again. "Show a little restraint."

Rolling her eyes, Elena dropped the woman's body- which was motionless- on the ground. "I thought this was supposed to be fun." She said, before walking away from him and Aurelia, pushing the latter on the way. Aurelia, unable to maintain her balance, fell backwards, as Damon caught her.

"Sorry." She said, standing up. Damon sighed, looking at her as she walked away.

!

"What?" Said Damon, in disbelief. "That's your plan? Take Elena to school?"

"Well, the fun route didn't exactly pay off, did it?" Stefan rhetorically asked.

"I don't know. Got a free meal out of it." A scoff was heard from the door of the room, as they saw Aurelia leaning against it.

"Find Katherine." She said. "It should be your number one priority." She walked into the room.

"Exactly what I was coming to." Stefan said. Damon rolled his eyes. "Listen, do you think I want to go to school and chaperone her? Plus, Elena needs the cure now."

"Not that anyone asked me, but I think taking her to school is a great idea." Caroline said, walking into the room in a bathrobe. Damon eyed her, confused as to why she showed up.