EDITED JULY 2020

SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE

ONE WEEK LATER

'I shook my head. The friendship that had sprung up between Edward and Seth was something that still boggled my mind. It was proof, though, that things didn't have to be this way. That werewolves and vampires could get along just fine, thank you very much, if they were of a mind to.'

Not everybody liked this idea.

'"Ah," Seth said, his voice cracking up an octave. "Er, Leah's home."'

'"Oh! Bye!"'

'The phone went dead. I left it on the seat and prepared myself mentally to go inside the house, where Charlie would be waiting.'

'My poor dad had so much to deal with right now. Jacob-the-runaway was just one of the straws on his overburdened back. He was almost as worried about me, his barely-a-legal-adult daughter who was about to become a Mrs. in just a few days' time. I walked slowly through the light rain, remembering the night we'd told him...'

'As the sound of Charlie's cruiser announced his return, the ring suddenly weighed a hundred pounds on my finger. I wanted to shove my left hand in a pocket, or maybe sit on it, but Edward's cool, firm grasp kept it front and center. "Stop fidgeting, Bella. Please try to remember that you're not confessing to a murder here."'

'"Easy for you to say."'

'I listened to the ominous sound of my father's boots clomping up the sidewalk. The key rattled in the already open door. The sound reminded me of that part of the horror movie when the victim realizes she's forgotten to lock her deadbolt...'

'"Calm down, Bella,"' Edward whispered, listening to the acceleration of my heart. The door slammed against the wall, and I flinched like I'd been Tasered.'

'"Hey, Charlie,"' Edward called, entirely relaxed.'

'"No!"' I hissed under my breath.'

'"What?"' Edward whispered back.'

'"Wait till he hangs his gun up!'"

"Please give me a gun, just no more!"

Aella paused and looked up from her book towards Damon, who was leaning on his cell door bars with agony on his face, "Apparently someone thinks they have a choice in the matter. Now, where was I?"

Damon glared at the brunette, who sat comfortably on her chair, the damn chair that made annoying noises every time she moved. He soon discovered Aella was a fidgeter.

4 DAYS PREVIOUSLY

"Now, where were we?" Aella skipped happily into the cellar, smiling even more considerable when she heard Damon groan from his cell.

Damon struggled to get up, but once he did, he squinted at the witch, "Please, just kill me now."

"But Damon," she smiled, not so innocently, "We only just finished Twilight, there are three more books, just as brilliant."

Damon slyly motioned to the floor, "But you looked so uncomfortable yesterday. We wouldn't want you to get an achy back."

When Aella smiled brightly, rather than frowned, Damon felt slightly scared for the first time in many years. "You're so thoughtful, Damon. That's why last night when I got home, I searched our attic. Guess what I found... "She ran out of the room, and when Aella returned, Damon wanted out of the cellar and wanted to burn in the sun than face anything this monstrous again. "-this."

Aella struggled to push the bright pink inflatable armchair into the cellar, which would be quite the comical vision if Damon hadn't already wished for the ground to eat him up. Ignoring the things she was knocking over as she rolled the big thing in, she shrugged without care. "I just knew this would come in handy one day."

Damon only groaned against the bars, "Yay, for me."

NOW

"Anything but Edward," Damon moaned, sliding down the door, no energy to stand. "He's so whipped."

Aella closed the book with a loud' snap,' and Damon's ears sang at the sound. Was she really going to leave?

"Want to hear about Jenna's date with Logan' the Scum' Fell?"

Damon groaned out loud.

"I'll take that as a yes," Aella smirked.

Stefan walked down the cellar smirking at Aella's latest strategy to annoy Damon.

"-and she says it's torturing him, but, you know, I'm not so sure."

"Believe me," he heard his brother groan. "I know."

With a low chuckle, Stefan stepped into the cellar, looking at the closed book on Aella's lap, "I see we've finished Breaking Dawn."

"No," Aella frowned, stroking the book cover almost fondly. "We decided to take a break and talk about Jenna's date with Logan tonight."

"Oh, really?" Stefan raised a very amused eyebrow at his girlfriend, who smiled cheekily at him. "We should be heading out in a bit. Do you mind giving me a few minutes with Damon?"

"Apparently, there is a God," Damon moaned from in his cell.

"Sure," Aella nodded as she very loudly - purposely - of course, got off the plastic chair, knowing Damon would be grimacing at the annoying squeaking sounds it made. As he got weaker with each day, he also got more annoyed at the littlest thing. Aella kissed Stefan's cheek as she made her way past him, "I'll get my things together."

Stefan gently took hold of her as she stepped past and pecked her lips with his before she left the two brothers in the cellar. Now usually she would do as she said, only Stefan and Zach had been awfully quiet about their plans for Damon, and Aella knew this would be her chance. Aella stopped at the top of the concrete steps and turned her wrists to gather the air to direct the conversation towards her. It was a new trick of hers that she'd worked out when she was sick of repeating the Bennett incantation to do a similar action.

Stefan walked over to the inflatable chair and shifted it along to look into Damon's cell, smirking as Damon winced at the noise.

"You know as soon as I get out of here, Pixie and that thing will die prolonged deaths," Damon warned, looking up at his brother. "How long have I been here? Why am I here?"

"You've been in here a week."

"Really?" Damon painfully raised a brow. "I could have sworn when Pixie was reading that book; it felt like a lifetime."

Stefan ignored the comment and answered Damon's second question, "During the dark ages when a vampire's actions threatened to expose or bring harm upon the entire race, they would face judgment. They sought to reeducate them rather than to punish them."

"You know what will happen if I don't..." Damon gasped out, recognizing Stefan's true meaning to his words. "...feed on blood."

"You'll grow weaker and weaker," Stefan nodded without guilt. "Eventually, you won't be able to move or speak. In a few more days, your skin will desiccate, and you'll mummify. A living corpse. Unable to hurt anyone. Ever."

Damon slowly chuckled at the plan, "So what, you're just going to leave me in the basement... forever?"

"I've injected you with enough vervain to keep you weak," Stefan revealed his next set of plans. To get Damon out of everyone's lives, the vampires needed to be away from everyone. "Once your circulation stops, I'll move you to the family crypt, and then in 50 years, we can reevaluate."

"I'm stronger than you think."

Stefan shrugged, "You always have been. But you're not stronger than the vervain. And we both know it." He started walking toward the stairs, and Aella silently ran through the cellar door, missing his final words to his brother, "I'm sorry. It didn't have to be this way."

AELLA'S CAR

While Stefan drove them both to school, he counted precisely fifty-five seconds before his girlfriend 'innocently' questioned him.

"So... what does desiccation look like?"

Stefan could only smirk as he kept his eyes on the road, "I wondered how long it was going to take before you asked."

Aella turned to him, annoyance replacing the innocent look, "How did you know?"

Stefan simply looked at her, "Vampire."

"You mean cheater!" Aella exclaimed, forgetting that key part when she had been listening in. "Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!"

"You know I'm not a big fan of pumpkin," Stefan grinned, knowing that would wind Aella up.

Aella looked like someone had told her Santa wasn't real, "Even pumpkin pie?"

Stefan sighed sadly, "Not really the best with blood."

Aella's head swiveled towards him; at seeing his smirking face, she walloped him on the arm, "You're such an ass."

But Stefan only laughed at her; she was so cute.

"But seriously," Aella said once he had finished laughing at her expense. "What happens during desiccation? Damon sounds really freaked out."

"How much did Doctor Gilbert tell you?" Stefan asked, curious how she knew so little of vampire customs but discovered what he was so quick.

"Papa Gilbert was more into me knowing how to discover vampires, keep them away, and killing them, to be honest," Aella shrugged. Although her eyes were sad as she remembered another father figure, she had lost in such a short span of years. "I know what desiccation is, but not much of the details. Before he died, we were going to delve more deeply into that stuff... but-" she shrugged again, looking out of her window "-shit happened."

Stefan watched her for a few moments before he decided to answer her question rather than question her further, "When a vampire does not drink blood, our bodies begin to dry out. Our bodies begin to force itself to feed on the nutrients left within our bodies to survive due to our physiology. It's a long and incredibly painful process. Leave it long enough, and we basically look similar to mummified bodies."

"Ew!" Aella winced, thinking of a mummified Damon. "And because you took his ring, he can't leave during the day either."

"Yes," Stefan nodded, answering Aella even if it wasn't a question. He looked down at his own ring, "The Lapis Lazuli gemstone allows us to walk freely in the day."

Aella frowned and quickly started rummaging through her bag at her feet, "Lapis Lazuli? Where have I heard that before?" Pulling out her personal Grimoire, which had all the spells she had seen in the limited amount of grimoires she'd had access to. She flicked through the pages until she found the page and stabbed her finger on the page, "I knew I'd heard those words before," and showed Stefan the page.

Stefan took hold of the book, his vampire speed allowing him to read the page and keep a very concentrated gaze on the road. "Is this the spell process to create a Daywalking amulet?"

"Mhmm," Aella nodded, taking the book back.

Stefan thought it over for a moment before he looked at Aella, "Let's keep this to ourselves for now, and keep that book hidden away. Not very many witches have access to those kinds of spells."

Aella nodded just as they pulled into the school's parking lot; she was about to get out when Stefan placed a hand on her arm, "Wait a second."

Aella grinned at him as she jokingly said, "I know I'm irresistible, but we will be late if we make out."

Stefan stroked her cheek, leaning in close to her, and jokingly replied, "Like you would say no." He pulled away to take a necklace out of his pocket, "But this is what I want to give you, as you broke yours to-" he gave her a pointed look "-catch Damon."

Ignoring the dig, Aella took the necklace and gasped at its beauty, "It's beautiful. How long have you had it?"

Stefan shrugged, pulling his bag from the back seats onto his lap, "The twenties, I think. Not the best time, and I think my brain has kept hidden some of my antics, but this has always made me think a small portion of it was good."

"Right," Aella nodded knowingly as she put the necklace on, smiling as it rested at the perfect point of her chest, "The phase about you being You-Know-Who."

Stefan snorted at her reference as they stepped out of the car with her, "I'm not sure if I'm proud or horrified."

Aella thought it over as she played with her new necklace, not noticing the slight glowing as she did so, "You know, I'm not sure either."

MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL

Caroline walked down the school corridor with other members of the School Council handing out flyers for the Sexy Suds Car Wash. She was just about to hang another flyer up when she saw Matt about to walk past her, head buried in his history book. "Matt."

Matt looked up in confusion at who said his name, until he saw the beaming face of Caroline looking at him, "Hey Caroline. What are you up to?"

Caroline showed him one of the flyers in her hands, "Getting some attention for the Sexy Suds Car Wash, tomorrow."

Matt chuckled, taking the flyer in his hand, "Are you sure the name hasn't already got enough attention?"

"Well, duh," Caroline laughed. "We had to call it something that people would respond to, and you know the cheerleaders were the first ones to commit, and you know-" she motioned to her own body jokingly "-just saying."

What she didn't expect was for Matt to follow her own hands with his eyes as he bit his lip, that Caroline had never realized until that moment, looked so sexy. "Anyway," she shook her head from those thoughts, "Will you be coming?"

Matt quickly shook his thoughts away, too; he never had thought of Caroline as more than just a friend. Yet, now ideas were going through his head he hadn't associated with the blonde before. So he decided to turn to a subject they both knew of so well, "Do you think Aella would allow me not to come if she had too?"

Caroline snorted at the thought, "You know Principle Weber said the volunteer numbers have reached an all-time high because of her. He suddenly doesn't care that Aella chooses not to show up or sleeps through the School Council meetings anymore."

"That sounds like, Aella," Matt laughed with Caroline, ignorant to the two people now staring at them from down the corridor.

"What are they saying? Why are they laughing?" Aella poked her boyfriend's stomach repeatedly as she turned her back on the couple as if the two wouldn't recognize their friend or her very tall boyfriend.

Stefan chuckled, "You can do that too."

Aella pouted and jumped up and down in the spot, having a small mock tantrum at her boyfriend's teasing, "What's the point of having a vampire boyfriend if you can't use him for his super hearing."

"Oh, be still my heart," Stefan in a deadpan voice.

"Oh, it's already still, you drama queen," Aella hit his chest. "Now, what are they saying?"

Stefan tried to still the forming smile on his face but could not and decided to do as his girlfriend asked. "Well, they were discussing the car wash tomorrow, and now Matt is heading over to Tyler with a smile on his face."

Aella smiled brightly and started jumping on the spot, this time in excitement, "Really? What's he saying to Tyler?"

"That they'll be meeting at the Grill at five, and now they've separated."

Aella's smile fell, "But he was smiling... Why are they not gossiping?"

Stefan pulled her into his chest, not too happy with the sadness on his girlfriend's face. "Because guys do that in private, say the Grill at five... you understand?"

"Oh," she muffled in realization into his chest. Boys were weird. "Okay."

"Aella?"

Aella froze at her best friend's voice. "Caroline," she quickly turned, placing a smile on her face, "How did you know that was me?"

Caroline raised a brow at her best friend, "Oh, I don't know," she replied slowly, her voice full of sarcasm. "Couldn't it be the fact you're my best friend, so of course, I know what you look like from the back. Not to mention you're so short, I can literally see Stefan's head from the other end of the corridor. Like so short!"

"Well, that was mean," Aella pouted over her shoulder at Stefan.

"Anyway!" Caroline waved her hands, almost to slide the conversation along, "What time are we meeting at The Grill?"

"For what?" Aella shrugged not-so-innocently.

"For tomorrow," Caroline sighed in annoyance, noticing as a smirk grew on the brunette's face.

"What's tomorrow?" Aella tried not to smile as she watched Matt quickly look Caroline up and down as he walked away from Tyler. An idea came into her head just as Caroline's face began to turn bright red from rage as Aella purposely wound her up. "Five sounds great, C," Aella smirked and walked away, pulling a sniggering Stefan along with her as Caroline stomped her foot and walked away in the opposite direction.

"What are you up to?" Stefan asked Aella as he wrapped an arm around her. "I thought you were helping Jenna after school?"

"Don't worry, Stefan," Aella turned and pecked her boyfriend on the cheek, smiling sweetly, then walked into her classroom.

It was funny how three meaningless words suddenly made him worry.

SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE

"Seriously, what are you up to?" Stefan questioned Aella as she parked up in front of his house, turning the ignition off.

"Me? Up to anything?" Aella asked, eyes wide open.

Stefan only sighed and leaned across the center console to peck her goodbye; she had a full evening ahead. Aella smiled into the kiss when she felt a chill in her bones and pulled back slightly, brow furrowed. Stefan was just about to ask her what the issue was when her eyes widened at the familiar feeling it was, "Zach!"

Stefan didn't have to ask any questions. He sped into the house, Aella following after him as quickly as she humanly could.

"Unlock it! Unlock the door, Zach!" Aella heard Damon shouting and made it down the stairs just in time to see Stefan wrestle Zach out of Damon's grasp. Aella didn't waste any time and flew her hand up, allowing the energy around her to pick Damon out of Stefan's arms and throw him heavily back into the cell.

Stefan angrily approached the cell door, glaring down at his brother, "Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go."

Back upstairs, Aella knelt by Zach, holding a cold compress to his neck, "I thought you said he couldn't hurt anyone?"

Stefan nodded out of the room, and Aella stood looking down at his nephew, "Keep that on for another ten minutes Zach."

Zach only nodded, his throat too swollen to say anything.

"So?" Aella asked once they were outside next to her car.

"He's getting desperate," Stefan informed her. "He won't be able to even talk by the end of the day."

Aella only sighed, she looked back to the house before turning back to Stefan, "That's what worries me, Stefan. Don't underestimate desperate people, you never know how far they will go to get what they want."

Stefan's response was to pull her close as he muttered against her hair, "Don't worry about Damon." He pecked the top of her head with a soft kiss, "Now. Don't you have an Aunt to help?"

"Okay," she nodded in annoyance, rolling his eyes at the change of conversation. Leaning up on her toes, she kissed his lips and left him waving from the driveway.