The low rumbling of the engine adds to the familiarity Jordan feels as she sinks into the leather fabric of Damon's car. He wasn't kidding when he said he'd bring her to Jeremy, and Jordan feels as if she is suffocating underneath the tension lacing in the air. Her parents had always told her that she could tell them anything and that she should never feel burdened to voice her feelings. Because her parents loved her, and their mutual love was stronger than every flaw between them.

Jordan knows that it's the same with Damon. She can feel it in any flicker of his eyes to hers, in how he turns the heating up as he sees her shivering, and...something else. Something Jordan can't explain, but then again, some things don't need an explanation. Some matters are better left abstract and vague, because sometimes clearing something up can take all its magic away. She feels like that as they pull up at the Gilbert porch. Once she pours herself empty of bubbling emotions, she fears there is nothing left for the two of them. Because sometimes the road to, is better than the destination; and she doesn't want her path with Damon to end.

Jordan's hand lingers on the handle, ready to open the door without saying anything at all, but something is stopping her. She knows she's not brave enough to be the first to talk; deep down she knows Damon isn't either.

"I hope Jeremy is ok," Damon says. Not that he cares for Jeremy's health whatsoever, but his sympathy might cheer Jordan up.

"I hope so too," Jordan whispers. She opens the door, and again, the arrow springs loose, missing its target completely. Who knew that love could be so tiring? The screeching of the tires enters Jordan's ears as she stares up at her home, and the first thing she notices is the glooming aura surrounding it. It reeks of sadness and despair, and with no lights turned on, it almost looks like a deserted ghost house. The door is unlocked and as Jordan steps inside a wave of weed hits her like a punch in the gut. "Jeremy?" she starts softly, not wanting to scare him away.

Jeremy doesn't respond, but an almost silent sob echoes through the living room. Jordan rounds the corner, and the sight upon her brings tears to her eyes. Lying on the floor is Jeremy, tears streaming down his face. In one hand he holds a blunt, and in the other his phone with a picture of Vicky. Smoke circles the area and his eyes show nothing but hollowness. Jordan falls to the ground, her knees scraping the cold floor. With her remaining strength she hoists Jeremy up. She ignores the violent throbbing in her arms and wraps them around her little brother. "Oh Jer, sweet, sweet Jer."

Jeremy doesn't respond, he just stays numb in Jordan's arms, looking at a picture of Vicki.

Sizzling beams run through Jordan's brain, messing up her logical thinking and throwing her mind into chaos. The truth is beating down on her, hard, and even though she shouldn't tell Jeremy anything at all, she knows that she must. A bond based on lies is not a bond at all, and if she can't even be truthful towards her little brother, who knows who she will lie to as well.

"Jer? I am going to tell you some...strange things, ok? You don't have to believe me, gods, you don't even have to talk. I just-I just need to get this off my chest. You're my little brother, a star that shines the brightest of all, and I love you."

Jeremy looks up at her words, and it is the first sign of life he's given in the past hour. He doesn't say anything, but the closing of his phone and putting out of his blunt tells Jordan that he is listening.

"What I'm going to say will probably sound like a stuttering mess, but that is ok, because the fact that I get the feeling that I can't share it with anyone at all is eating me alive." Jeremy looks at his sister curiously, but doesn't speak up.

Jordan takes a wavering breath, "I am not human," she spits out. "I am not human, and it scares me to death. I don't know what I am capable of and I don't know how this will go."

Jeremy's eyes are wide and ridden of any sleepiness,. The first thought that comes to mind is a vampire, because that is the only thing that would make sense to him, but then he looks at his sister, and he just can't picture her as a blood sucking creature. "What are you?" Jeremy whispers.

"A nymph."

Saying it out loud, for the first time, minus the time when she thought she was going to die, doesn't lift as much weight off her shoulders as Jordan hoped. The adoration and respect on Jeremy's face, however, does wonders. Jordan realises that it wasn't the fact that she wasn't telling anybody what was eating her alive, it were the reactions she was bound to get.

Jeremy turns around in her embrace so he can wrap his arms around his big sister. Putting two and two together, Jeremy knows that Jordan probably isn't his sister by blood, but that doesn't matter in this moment or in any coming moments. He'll always love her like a brother loves his sister. "You've always told Elena and I that we'll get through anything thrown our way, because we are a strong family, but now I'm telling you what you've always reminded us of: as long as we're together we can handle the world."

"I'm so sorry about Vicky, and I'm sorry we lied."

Jeremy mumbles in response, not quite ready to forgive Jordan for keeping such a big secret, but he does keep their embrace, because he knows that whatever sibling quarrelling they might have, it can wait until tomorrow.

♛

A yelp escapes past Jordan's lips as she wakes up. Her arm had turned red overnight and the throbbing has only intensified. Jordan twists her arms from left to right to test her boundaries, but it hurts, a lot, and she bites her lip from crying out.

"Stupid arm," she mutters. They don't have time for any injuries. She pulls a striped long sleeved shirt over her head, partly to cover up the pain from worrying eyes from her friends.

Her talk with Jeremy last night finally gave her some room to breathe. And even though it should make it easier to tell the others, thinking about it creates a knot in her stomach.

Jordan can hear Elena stumbling downstairs. Her eyebrows knit in confusion, she's surprised her sister didn't wake her up to go to school. Jordan hastily puts on her jeans and hurries down the stairs.

"Good morning!" Jenna smiles at her and offers her a cup of coffee.

Jordan takes it with gratitude before turning to Elena, "Can I join you on your drive to school?"

Elena tilts her head in surprise. She figured Jordan would take the day off after what'd happened with her near death experience. "Of course." Elena offers her sister a warm smile. Maybe this is her way of telling Elena that she is ready to open up about whatever is bothering her. She hopes so, because ever since she came back from London Jordan has been slowly falling apart. Elena can see it in the dying fire in her eyes, the absence of her strong demeanour, and the ever increasing circles under her eyes.

Jordan takes her bag from the kitchen counter, not really caring which books it contains. With everything going on, school is the least of her worries. With being a nymph, a human, apple-pie life surely doesn't follow.

"Uncle John! Hi."

Uncle John? What is he doing here?

Jordan's eyebrows knit in confusion as she casts a look at the door, and there he is, the uncle who no one of the Gilbert family really likes. She gives him nothing more than a small nod of her head before she slips past him and into Elena's car. Jordan doesn't have the time to hear his response, nor does she want to. Another person who she needs to keep secrets from is not something Jordan can handle right now, she already has more than enough shoved on her plate.

Elena excuses Jordan's behaviour before she slips into the car as well.

Elena starts the car in silence and they leave the Gilbert's front porch in silence. Elena doesn't want to be the one the break that silence, but the urge to protect her sister from whatever is bothering her is stronger than the will to keep her mouth shut.

"Talk to me, please," Elena almost pleads, "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on."

The inside of Jordan's lip starts to bleed as her teeth sink into the familiar flesh. There are a hundred ways to start a conversation, but Jordan sticks to the pattern she has developed. The pattern of blurting things out. "I'm a nymph."

A car horns in response to Jordan's statement. Elena swerved and almost crashed bumpers with another driver, "You're what?" she whispers, not daring to take her eyes off the road.

Jordan sighs, "You know Noah, the creepy-vampire stalker? You know how he told you I wasn't human? Well he was right, and after my trip to London I'm sure that I'm a nymph."

If Jordan's words took the form of a painting, it would be abstract art. Nothing she says makes any sense to Elena, but she doesn't want to push her sister into even tighter corners. "Wow, that's, wow."

Jordan nods her head absentmindedly, 'wow' isn't the word she'd use to describe what she was. To her it seemed rather frightening. "I have no idea what I can do and I have no idea what it means."

"Have you told Damon?" Elena asks. The swift duck of Jordan's head is enough of an answer for Elena: she hasn't. "You have to tell him. I don't know what kind of bond you share with Damon, and frankly, I don't want to know, but the thing I do know is that you two are like two ends of the same string. He'll help you, I know he will."

Jordan's lips quivers as she looks at Elena, "I am scared. Scared of how he'll react."

Elena's lips turn into a tiny smile, "Even if you were the epitome of his archenemy, he would still cross the ocean, and all the stars of the galaxy if it were to make you smile."

Even though Jordan's lips are still pulled into a frown, a hopeful glint lingers in her eyes. "Would you mind?" Jordan starts.

Elena shakes her head no, it is not like Jordan can focus on school anyways. If she were to ask Elena to skip school last year she'd throw a fit and lecture her on the importance of school. But lately, school seems to fade to the background, and the idea that has been hammered inside of her head that school is the key to her future seems less and less appealing. "I'll drop you off at the boarding house, but on one condition: check on Stefan for me, will you? I'm worrying about him and his denial towards the desire that's been re-ignited inside of him. I'm afraid that if he doesn't learn to control his impulses, his impulses will control him."

Jordan nods her head, indicating that she'll check on Stefan. For Elena's and her interests.