Potential (Book Four, The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter 16__Bring It On

At home, after a couple of days, Stefan, Damon and I walked into the parlor.

"We're gonna lose her," Stefan told us. 

"She needs time," Damon told us. "It's only been a couple of days." 

"Her humanity's off," I told them. "She's basically numb to everything that makes her who she is."

Damon poured himself a glass of bourbon. "She's a vampire. You're human, Nikki, you wouldn't understand." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Off switch is one of the biggest perks. If being undead gets you down . . ." He snapped his fingers. "Viola, vampire Prozac." 

Damon took a drink. 

"She burned down her family home with her brother's dead body still inside," I told him.

"Saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves," Damon told me. "I call that a win." 

~~~~

"Worst case scenario, I'll invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on," Damon told us. 

"No, her brother just died," Stefan told him. "If you force all that grief on her at once, it's going to overwhelm her. We need to give her a reason to want to turn it on." 

"Fine," Damon said. "We'll show her a good time." Stefan looked skeptical. "I know it's controversial, Stefan, but people actually like to have fun."

"You really think that's gonna work?" Stefan asked. 

I looked from Stefan to Damon. "There's only one way to find out." 

~~~~

The next morning, we walked into Damon's room.

"So that's the plan?" Damon asked skeptically. "You're gonna take her back to school?"

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

"I don't know," Damon said. "Got a free meal out of it."

"Look, do you think I want to go to school and play chaperone?" I asked. "You can't go because you're not a student."

Stefan looked at Damon. "Besides, you've got to go look for Katherine. I mean, Elena needs this Cure now more than ever."

Caroline walked into the room in a bath robe. "Not that anyone asked me, but I think taking her back to school is a great idea."

"Why are you here?" I asked. 

"Uh, blame it on your fancy water filters," Caroline told me. "Your house has the only vervain-free showers in town." 

 "Oh, yeah," Damon said. "The mayor put vervain in the water supply." He clicked his tongue. "So many people to kill."

"Yeah, my mo says it's about to get worse, so she could us a little help," Caroline told us.

Stefan looked at Damon. 

"Fine, I'll go after the psychotic Doppelganger," Damon told us. "Stefan, you wanna go talk to the Sheriff?" Stefan nodded. "Blondie, Nikki, take her to school." 

Caroline smiled.

"Brilliant," I whispered sarcastically.

"Sounds like fun," Elena told us, walking into the room, completely numb. Stefan and Damon openly stared at her body. I looked away in exasperation and annoyance. Caroline averted her eyes, smiling awkwardly. "What? It's nothing you guys haven't seen before." Elena wrapped a towel around her body, covering herself up. Stefan and Damon shared a look with nonplussed expressions. "And as for the, uh, 'going to school' idea . . . I've got nothing better to do."