𝟏• 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂 | 𝐓𝐕𝐃 ✓

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'YOU TOOK HER TO NEW YORK'?" Stefan, for what felt like the millionth time that morning, exhaled disappointedly, rubbing his face up and down with his hands in his frustration at the voice of his brother through the phone call. "Who on Earth told you that was a good idea?"

"If you've met your brother," He turned his head to spot Aurelia leaning on a table, having creeped into the room behind him quietly. "He thinks all his ideas are brilliant—Einstein level, you know—" She cut herself off as the younger Salvatore quickly began to pace towards her, body pulling backwards slightly in surprise when he put his thumb close to her mouth. "What are you doing?"

"Blood," Stefan replied mindlessly, as if what he was doing was a habit—Aurelia squinted for a moment, wondering when his physical contact with her became a habit for him.

And she proceeded to swat away his hand rather violently before he could potentially see her begin to turn red at the thought—well, he probably would've missed it anyway, with vampires being dead and all.

"What was that for?"

"Uh—" Aurelia looked away from his eyes quickly. "No reason—" And her tongue darted out to clean up the remaining blood on her lips and at the corners of her mouth, hand moving to wipe whatever saliva she'd gotten there with her sleeve.

As she remained focused on that, she could barely notice how absolutely fixated Stefan's eyes were as they followed her movements, his eyes widening the smallest bit at how... effective the unintentional action was.

"Um—" He blinked several times, turning away from Aurelia quickly before she could notice his dazed appearance. "Damon, still there?"

"After all I heard—be glad I still am."

"Where's Elena?"

"Out exploring. Maybe, she's eating a hot dog... vendor."

"Oh, wonderful." Aurelia piped up. "I take it you've retired your search for Katherine in order to get blood-drunk, then."

"No, 'Good Morning, Damon'?" Damon feigned hurt in his voice at her snappy statement. "Also, I'm more responsible than you think—because this little joyride is really just a search for Katherine and the cure."

"And Elena's fine with this?" Stefan asked, lips curling downwards in disbelief. "Yesterday, she was living the vampire high life."

"Which," Aurelia continued. "Mind you, sweet Damon, is a rollercoaster no one would want to get off."

"Of course, I know that, idiots." A pause, and then his voice became suspiciously hurried—likely so that they wouldn't catch his next statement. "WhichiswhyIdidn'ttellher." Aurelia raised both eyebrows at the idiotic idea, before throwing her arms up in surrender.

"I give up." She stated. "Damon's brain is gone forever. He's coming up with the most senseless ideas known to mankind."

"Oh shut up—" Damon snapped at her, earning an offended look he was unaware of. "I'm hoping she's going to be so wasted on blood and booze that she won't even notice."

"With how smitten you are about her," Aurelia retorted, arms folding. "She'll figure your plan out, extract it from you, and do whatever she wants with the information—and the worst part—you won't even notice!"

"If I can handle Stefan when he flipped his switch, I can handle her—trust me."

"Listen to me." Stefan pushed his way back into the conversation with a defeated sigh. "She's ruthless without her humanity. The cure is the fastest way to get it back."