The next day, I walked into the basement, opening the cell door, walking inside to see Damon.
"You coming to snap my neck?" Damon asked. "Like Stefan did? Because I woke up feeling completely un-murderous, and I'm pretty sure that it's safe to set me free."
I held a bottle of blood toward him. "Here. Stefan practically bled you dry. The least I could do is spring a bottle or something, 'cause I bet you're thirsty."
"Do you really have to babysit?" Damon complained.
I sat on the dirt mound, reading a text from Stefan from my phone. "Stefan says, 'Give him a vial of blood every couple of hours so he doesn't desiccate. If he gets too much strength back, or if he just annoys you, bleed him out again. I will be staying with Rebekah until it's all over.'"
"Well, well," Damon said. "Looks like our brother ripped out a page of my revenge-sex handbook."
I smiled a small smile.
****
I walked around the cell with a bottle of bourbon in my hand.
Damon was lying down on the cot, tossing an object up in the air. "You know, none of this would be an issue if you hadn't saved my life by going with Klaus after the sacrifice. Sure, I would be dead, but Stefan and Elena would still be the epic love, and you wouldn't be falling for the Original hybrid."
"I'm not falling for the Original hybrid," I told him. "He's done things that make me look like a freaking angel."
"Ain't that the truth," Damon told me.
"And I can't just forgive all of that," I told him. "Some people are just more capable of forgiveness than others. Bet you score about a negative 500 in that realm. I've done some pretty terrible things myself. You've done worse."
"Debatable," Damon told me.
"See, I don't mind being the bad guy, because somebody has to fill that role and get things done," I told him. "You do bad things for no reason. You do them to be a dick."
"Debatable," Damon told me.
I shrugged. "If you're gonna be bad, be bad with a purpose. Otherwise, you're just not worth forgiving."
Damon gave me a thoughtful look, lying down, sighing, going back to throwing the object in the air.
****
Damon looked at my phone. "Has Stefan gotten back to you yet?"
"Nope," I answered.
"Our brother's lack of communication is infuriating," Damon told me.
"Oh, you know it's one of his trademarks," I told him. "Like his brooding and his hair."
"I don't understand what's taking so long," Damon told me. "The Gilberts are targeting Kol, Stefan is trying to steal a dagger from Rebekah. I mean, how hard are those supposed to be?"
"From a vampire who's been stabbed as many times of Rebekah, and trying to kill an Original vampire with only one newbie vampire and a newbie Hunter, I'd say difficult," I told him, handing him the blood bottle.
"Sweet," Damon said, taking it, drinking.
"You disappoint me, Damon," I complained. "You're not trying very hard to get out of here. I expected more the daring escape artist, less the cell potato. It's boring. You know how much I loathe boredom."
"Well, I am compelled to kill Jeremy, so I figured it's probably smarter to sit here and chit-chat with my baby sis than bust out of here like the Hulk," Damon told me.
