"Sooner or later your human side loses. It has to."

I sat back, smiling as I watched Nik paint what looked like a snow flake. I was wearing one of his black shirts that went down to my thighs, and nothing else.

"Looks like a giant snowflake."

I sighed in irritation as the voice of Stefan Salvatore filled my ears. I sat up and pulled the shirt down further, feel a little selfconscious as another man was in my presence. I looked over at Nik to see him huff.

Without turning to Stefan, Nik said, "I prefer to think of it as an expression of post-modernism. It's my donation to the winter wonderland charity event."

At that moment, a hybrid, Adrian, walked in, his brown eyes glancing over to where I sat. "You said it was urgent?"

Nik nodded, his jaw clenching as he gained his hybrids attention, "Yes. Take this to the mystic grill immediately."

Adrian pursed his lips, "You want me to be a delivery guy?"

Nik threatningly walked towards him, "What I want is for you to do whatever I say, without the attitude."

Adrian forced a smile and scoffed before walking over to grab the painting.

"Be careful with that," I said, smirking as Adrian looked over at me, "It's still wet." Adrian narrowed his eyes at me as he left.

Stefan rose his eyebrows at me, "Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, you know."

Nik smiled in amusement, "What is the point of my hybrids being sired to me if I can't maximize on the benefits of free labor?"

Stefan looked down, scoffing out a laugh.

Nik narrowed his eyes as I got up from the couch, the shirt rising up a little. Nik sped out of the room and came back with one of his sweat pants before handing it to me. I sent him a grateful smile, tippy toed, and pecked his lips as a than you before putting on the sweat pants.

Nik smiled at me before looking to Stefan, "What are you doing here?"

Stefan stepped forward, "Elena is sired to Damon."

"I intuited as much," Nik smirked as I stood there, shocked.

Stefan nodded, "Which means I need to find the cure now more than ever, and here you are making post-modern snowflakes."

"Wait a second," I ran a hand through my hair, "so, technically, there is only two reasons why you want Elena human again. 1) 'Cause you don't like her as a vampire which I find stupid, by the way. And 2) 'Cause she is in love with Damon. You do know how a sure bond works, right?" I crossed my arms, challenging Stefan as he glared at me. "She had to of had feelings for him before for it to transfer into the side bond."

Nik chuckled, amused, as he wrapped an arm around my waist. "I've delivered." He got back onto the topic, "I retrieved the hunter's sword from Italy, which we'll use to decipher the map hidden in the hunter's mark. You're the one who's supposed to deliver the hunter and his mark."

"Jeremy." I whispered.

Stefan rose an eyebrow, "Well, Jeremy is the hunter, and he has to keep killing vampires to complete his mark, but we can't quite figure out how to keep him from killing us."

"Sounds like quite the chore," Nik retorted, "which is why I feel perfectly justified in doing a little charity work."

"Or maybe you're lying about having found the sword," Stefan retorted, crossing his arms. I

Nik looked him in the eyes, "Why would I lie to you, Stefan? We're in this together." He started walking towards his big safe, his arm still wrapped around me, protectively. He put in the code and brought out The sword, "The hilt acts as a cypher which we'll use to decode the marks on Jeremy's tattoo when he's killed enough vampires to complete it." There was a pause as Stefan picked up the sword, analyzing it. "I heard you moved out of your house. Bit of a martyr move, hmm?"

Stefan forced a smile, "I'm not here to bond, Klaus."

Nik hummed, "Oh, on the contrary, I think right now Spencer and I are the best friends you've got."

¤¤¤

Nik and I walked up to Caroline who was admiring Nik's snowflake painting. I smiled and skipped towards her, bringing her into a hug. She let out a sigh and hugged me back before noticing Nik who stood behind me, his hand on the small of my back.

He used to be so protective over me, but ever since we slept together, he has gotten a whole lot more protective and possessive. I'm not complaining though because it was a hot sight.

"Here to steal tiny Tim's crutches?" Caroline glared at Nik which made me frown.

Nik simply smirked and brought me into his side. "Dickens was a dark man. You would have liked him."

"Nice snowflake, by the way," She complimented, looking at the painting.

Nik chuckled, wrapped his arms around, his hands resting on my stomach, his face nuzzling into my neck. "Is my work really that literal?"

"I'm serious," she told him, "There's something... Lonely about it."

"I helped him with it." I stated, ethusiastically, "you see that small smudge at the top right of the painting?" I pointed towards the smudge with a huge smile, "I did that."

"Good job, Spence." Caroline smiled, chuckling at me.

"Champagne, love?" I looked over my shoulder at Nik who was smiling at me. I nodded and said good bye to Caroline as Nik led me to the champagne.

As I glanced back at Caroline, I saw her text somebody on her phone. I furrowed my eyebrows but let it go as Nik pulled me in for a kiss.

¤¤¤

Hayley, a werewolf that I had only had glances at, was speaking to Nik and I. Even though she was being a complete bitch to Nik, I actually liked her personality, plus, she seemed to like me even though I was with Nik.

As she left, Stefan came up to us.

Nik looked to Stefan and frowned, "She doesn't like me much."

"I like you," I spoke up, "I actually more than just like you." Nik smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Where have you been all day?" Nik asked Stefan, lookiny suspcious.

Stefan shrugged, "I've been around."

I pushed Nik's arm off of me and stepped towards Stefan, "We're not interested in vagaries, Stefan. You've been dodgy, Caroline has been weird around me all day. She seemes to be keeping something from me, and the last time she was like this, y'all almost killed Nik. Now do you have something to share with us, or should I get Nik to compel it out of you?"

Stefan looked at me, amused, but there was some ther look in his eyes taht I couldn't quite decipher. "I broke into your safe to look for the sword."

"Why?"

"Because I don't trust you both."

I took a step back in surprise, "you don't trust me?" I asked in disbelief. "I haven't done shit to make you not trust me. In fact, I shouldn't trust you because you and the gang have almost gotten me killed like three or more times."

Nik pulled me slightly behind him, eyeing Stefan, "We showed you the sword. I explained its value. We've been on your side the entire time. What do you want from me... A secret brotherhood handshake?"

Stefan shrugged, "I found the letters. You have a few pen pals over the centuries?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion at his words.

Nik frowned, "Well, is keeping my victims' letters really so different from writing their names on a wall, like you did, ripper? Loneliness, Stefan. That's why you and I memorialize our dead. There's the briefest of moments before we kill where we literally hold their life in our hands, and then we rip it away, and we're left with nothing. So gathering other people's letters or writing their names on a wall... It's a reminder... That in the end we're left infinitely and utterly alone."

Nik then walked away which left me standing there in a stupper. Quickly, getting out of my stupper, I ran after Nik, grabbing his hand. I looked up at him to see tears in his beautiful blue eyes.

"Adrian." Nik greeted, looking over my head. I sighed and turned to look at Adrian who geatured to us.

We followed Adrian into the woods, knowing that something was up. Nik grabbed my hand, and sped up to where we heard the other hybrids plotting. They were going to try and kill the both of us.

When we appeared in front of them, Nik thrusted his hand into Adrian's chest, ripping out his heart.

We stood there, behind Adrian's fallen body, glaring.

Nik sped forward, cutting off body parts with the sword. Blood was splattering everywhere but he didn't care.

A battle cry was heard behind me and in less than a second, I was sprawled out on the woods ground, a hand around my throat. I growled, extending my claws, and shoved them into the werewolves neck. She gurgled up blood, her grip on my neck loosening. I growled even louder, my blue eyes now on display, and my canines, as well.

The adrenaline floods my system like it's on an intravenous drip - right into my blood at full speed.

I lurched forward, now on top of her. I released my claws from her neck before scratching at her entire body, not caring that she was even healing. Then, having enough of her screaming, I reached my hand into her chest, ripping out her heart.

Growling again, I swiveled around to see another hybrid running at me. I got in a defensive stance before putting all my strength into a launch, launching myself at him. My hands gripped his neck, and I swung around his body, snapping his neck. Knowing that, that wasn't enough to actually kill him, I gripped his head again and grunted, letting out a battle cry as I literally ripped his head from his body, blood squirting everywhere on my body.

"Spencer!" I turned around to only get thrown into a tree, a branch impaled me right through my shoulder. I let out a loud cry, my eyes blurred as a figure appraoched me.

"They said it would be hard to kill Klaus' bitch, I guess not." The hybrid said before I felt a hand go through my chest, grabbing my heart. Quickly, though, the pain was gone, and I heard a body slump down onto the ground.

"Love." I felt myself being yanked off of the branch, and something being held to my mouth. Knowing that it had to of been Nik, I grabbed onto what seemed like a wrist and sucked the blood from it. Almost instantly, I felt so much better, but the rage and adrenaline was still there.

Caroline had to of known what was happening, and obviously, Tyler too. Maybe even Stefan knew about it. So, that meant that most of my friends were willingly going to let me die. Again!

"We have one more left, love." I was helped up, and we made it into the cellar where Kim was, trying to get out. "Where is Tyler Lockwood?"

By Nik's question, it was obvious that Tyler had something to do with this, so that made me even more angry. I thought Tyler was my friend. I guess not.

Nik pointed the sword at her, "You'd do well to answer me, love. Where is he?!"

Kim took in a shaky breath, "I don't know."

"Wrong answer." I stated as Nik pressed the sword onto her neck, cutting off her head.

¤¤¤

"Good evening, Carol." I greeted Tyler's mother. I was seeing red since I found out that my friends were willing to kill me, again, to get to Nik, again. I as willing to do anything to get back at them. " You're looking for Tyler... we'd like a little word with him ourselves."

Carol looked at our blood covered bodies with wide eyes, "Klaus, please. Spencer... Don't hurt him. He's my son. He's all I have."

"And you're all he has," Nik stated, "There's a beautiful symmetry to that, don't you think?" He sped forward, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and pushed her face into the water. I stood by, watching this happen, a small bit of regret was there, but Tyler deserves it.

Once Carol was dead, Nik held out a hand to me, and I grabbed it, entwining our fingers together, and then we walked away.

Merry Christmas to us...