The Second Life Of Stella Salvatore

A Thawing Frozen Heart

Sloan's POV:

"Can you believe her?" I heard the scorn in Julian's voice.

"She thinks she's in the clear," Rene scoffed.

Mia's voice, however, was different than the other two. "Maybe we should let her live."

My eyes widened when I heard that comment and I turned in a flash to slap her across the face. She yelped in shock as my glare flashed across my face. "No! Are you stupid?! She disobeyed our orders! She let the father live and now that little pest was conceived!" I growled at all three of them.

Mia looked terrified, but still persisted to play defense. "But it's just a little baby. It couldn't harm anything."

She yelped again when I grabbed her by the front of her shirt and trembled under my gaze. "You may think that brat is just a cute innocent baby, but that thing will kill all of us. It's a threat to us and we're going to take it out and anyone who tries to protect it. After we take out Elena Salvatore for disobeying our orders."

"Wouldn't that be stupid to do now though?" Rene said. "She thinks she's safe along with her daughter, who happens to be the mother of this hybrid child. Maybe we should let her continue to think that. Maybe we should look into her other loved ones and see what their weaknesses are. We should start with the husband."

As I thought about Rene's plan I discovered it to be brilliant. I let go of Mia's shirt and she plopped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. "That's actually a great idea. What do we know about the husband?"

I saw Julian open one of several files on the table in the center of the small apartment we were in. "Damon Giuseppe Salvatore. Status: Vampire. He's nearly 200 years old. Younger brother is Stefan Salvatore. Um..he has a twin brother, Gabriel, who was given up as an infant. Damon is the father of three children with one on the way. Uh..his mother has recently been discovered to be a vampire as well."

"What about his father? What happened to him?"

"Giuseppe Salvatore was killed by Stefan Salvatore while the boy was in transition thanks to Katerina Petrova."

"And how did he treat his sons?"

"Not good. When company was over he treated them normally. But when the family was alone...it was a different story. Damon was beat almost all the time. Especially when Giuseppe had had one too many drinks. Looks like he didn't beat Stefan as much. My guess would be favoritism."

I gave a wicked grin,"Perfect. I think we just found Damon Salvatore's weakness."

Stella's POV:

"Stelwa?" Ivy's voice called after me, stopping me from leaving the room where I tucked her in a few minutes ago. I was still pissed at my dad for dumping babysitting duty on me so he and Mom could go have a mini honeymoon moment before baby number four arrived. Ugh. Sometimes I hated being the oldest. "Can I sleep in your bed tonight?"

I went over to her and sat on the edge of her bed. She was hugging her favorite Monster High doll in her arms. "Why? You have a perfectly good bed right here, Monkey." I used to call her monkey all the time when she was a baby and it kind of stuck.

"I know. But I feel like something bad is going to happen."

Okay. She was starting to freak me out a little. "What do you mean? We're all safe. Damian's in his room and so are Scarlett and Alex. Uncle Stefan and Aunt Lexi and Nonna are in their rooms too. We're all okay. I promise."

"But what about Mama and Daddy and the baby?" She asked fretfully. She actually seemed to be really worried about them. "Something's going to happen."

"Nothing's going to happen, Ivy. They're all fine. They're just up at the lake house probably making out somewhere. They'll be back before you know it. Come on. I'll let you sleep with me in my room as long as you promise to stop freaking me out."