Nadia Gilbert

-Chapter 18-

Bringing Out The Dead

"... I thought we had aspirin." I walk into the kitchen just in time to hear Alaric say to Elena. He and Jenna both have terrible bedheads at the moment.

"Yeah, in the vitamins." Elena tells him as I go to pour myself a cup of coffee.

"You two are hungover." Elena says to him and Jenna as she pours herself a glass of water.

"Late night last night?" I raise a dark eyebrow at Ric and Jenna suggestively. Thanks to vamp hearing, I heard them rummaging around the house at two AM last night.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Jenna blushes sheepishly. "Did we keep you up?"

"It's fine, aunt Jenna." My oval-shaped face smiles at her nicely. "Elena and I are just glad that you two are happy."

Just then, the doorbell rings. Elena walks out of the kitchen and over to the front door to open it. "Sheriff Forbes, hi." I hear Elena say. "Is everything okay?"

"You know about the murdered medical examiner that was staked through the chest, right?" Sheriff Forbes says. "Well, the stake that was used was one of your's."

"What?!" Elena sounds worried and shocked as I feel my stomach do a nervous somersault.

"This is not good." Jenna murmurs anxiously as she and I quickly whoosh over to Elena and Sheriff Forbes.

My large dark brown eyes widen at the site of the stake in the evidence bag. "That's from the lake house." I gulp nervously.

"That's why I'm here." Sheriff Forbes sighs. "I haven't told anyone, but forensics ran it for prints and found only one clean set." Then, she looks at Elena regretfully. "Your's..."

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"So Elena's the prime suspect, huh?" Damon says on the phone with me after I told him about what happened earlier.

"Sheriff Forbes knows that Elena didn't do it." I shake my head. "She's just trying to find out why someone used one of my family's weapons to kill a council member."

"It has to be Klaus." Damon quickly assumes.

"We don't know that, Damon." I remind him as despite Klaus's faults, I find myself defending him. "Don't jump to conclusions." Then I frown before continuing. "Where are you anyways?" I ask. "I haven't seen you since yesterday morning."

"Don't worry about it." Damon answers way too quickly. A clear sigh that he's hiding something.

"Damon, I'm serious." I say worriedly and with caution. "Where are you? What are you doing?"

"Just trust me, okay?" He tells me. "Everything's fine. I'll see you later."

"Damon, wait..." I start, but he's already hung up. I heave a sigh as I drop my cellphone back into my purse. When Damon's hiding things from me, it makes me worry. Because the fact that he's hiding it from me means that it's dangerous and reckless.

Just then, my cellphone rings again. I quickly grab it out of my purse, hoping it's Damon. I look at the caller ID. I sigh inwardly when I see that it's Elena. "Hey." I pick up. "How's Caroline's dad?"

"Someone knifed Bill Forbes!" Elena sounds as if she's about to burst into tears. "He had vampire blood in his system, Nadia. He's gonna wake up in transition!"

"What?!" I feel goosebumps pop up my pale skin. Who would stab Bill Forbes?

"You should get here." Elena tells me shakily.

I quickly zip up my purse and grab my jacket. "I'm on my way..."

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"Hey." I say when I see Caroline and Elena sitting on the front porch of Caroline's house. "How are you doing?" I look down at Caroline gently before she stands up tearfully and hugs me tightly.

"Did you hear back from Tyler yet?" I ask her once we stop hugging.

"No, but I've left messages for him everywhere." Caroline shakes her head as I lead her to sit back on the porch with Elena. "So does Alaric really think that Dr. Fell did it?" She asks.

"He doesn't know what to think." Elena sighs.

"What about you two?" Caroline asks.

"I... I wish for the woman Alaric likes to be good." I say quietly. "I wish that I'm just being paranoid..."

"Yeah..." Elena agrees. "It's unfortunate, but Dr. Fell looks guilty. That's why I told the sheriff."

Caroline nods silently before tilting her head at her house. "My mom's in there sitting with my dad." She says tearfully. "I don't think they've been in the same room this long since I was 10 years old..."

Caroline wipes her eyes before looking at Elena and I seriously. "Is there any chance that Tyler did it?"

"What?" Elena says, sounding confused.

"No, of course not." I shake my head quickly. In all honesty, I'm not sure, but right now, Caroline needs to believe that Tyler has nothing to do with this.

"Well... I... I can't just let my father die..." Tears start falling out of Caroline's eyes. "I'm going... I'm going to force him to feed..." She trails off desperately.

"Oh, Caroline..." I say softly as I pull her into a hug.

"That's his choice, Caroline." Elena tells her sadly. "If he doesn't want to... His choice is all he has left."

"I know this is difficult, Care." I say gently. "But you can't take his choice away from him, okay?"

Caroline lets out a quiet sob as she nods... Just then, Matt arrives. He quickly runs over to us. "Hey, Caroline..."

Caroline quickly gets up and hugs him weepily...

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Once Caroline settled down with her family, Elena and Matt left together while I continue to try to get a hold of Damon, who's cellphone continues to go to voice mail. "Damon, where are you?" I murmur to myself worriedly.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" Elijah's voice makes me jump and spin around quickly.

"Elijah... what... how..." I stutter in bewilderment. "I thought Klaus kept you daggered."

"Yes, I suppose I have Damon to thank for getting out of a coffin." Elijah says. "He undaggered me, wishing for Klaus's downfall."

His words makes my large dark brown eyes widen. "What?! Where is he?"

"Follow me." Elijah says...

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"Elijah, why haven't you..." Klaus smiles at Elijah as he and I walk into Klaus's house. Klaus stops smiling when he sees me. He narrows his eyes at Elijah. "What do you think you're doing? Bringing her here?"

Damon looks shocked to see me here. "Nadia?!" Then, he glares at Elijah. "Why did you bring her here?"

"I assure you that I'll allow all three of you to walk out of here alive and well tonight." Elijah says to Stefan, Damon, and I before looking at Klaus.

"Where are your manners, brother?" Elijah says to Klaus. "Is this not the girl you fancy? Besides, you forgot dessert." After that, Elijah pulls the piece of cloth off of a tray a human waitress is holding. The tray holds two silver daggers. I quickly feel goosebumps spread through my pale skin as I feel an icy chill run up my spine.

Damon silently walks up from behind me and wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. "Don't worry, I got you..." Damon whispers in my ear.

"What have you done?" Klaus growls at Elijah.

"See, I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus." Elijah says to him. "We're doing this on my terms now." Then, Elijah looks at Stefan, Damon, and I. "You three are free to go. From this point on, it will be our personal family business."

After that, Damon gently takes my hand as he leads me out with Stefan following behind us...

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"Well, you're right about Elijah." Stefan sighs to Damon as we're walking back towards the Salvatore boarding house. "Undaggering him was a smart move."

"Wow, actual acknowledgement of a job well done." Damon teases. "You going soft, Stefan?"

"So I guess I shouldn't thank you for saving me from Klaus?" Stefan raises an eyebrow sarcastically.

Before Damon can say anything else to Stefan, I interrupt. "Damon, did you really think I wasn't gonna find out about your reckless plans?" I say angrily. "You could have been killed, Damon! What were you thinking?!" I practically yell at him.

"Well, this clearly sounds like an issue between the two of you, so I'm off." Stefan says before whooshing away.

Damon heaves a sigh. "I'm sorry, Nadia." He says earnestly. "I just didn't want to put you in anymore danger..."

"You put yourself in a houseful of originals, Damon!" I gesture wildly as I glare at him in disbelief. "In what planet is that a good idea?"

"I was just trying to protect you!" Damon exclaims defensively.

"I'm a vampire, Damon, just like you!" I argue. "I can take care of myself!" I take a deep breath and sigh sadly. "Damon, do you remember my transition into a vampire?"

"Yeah, it was a close call." Damon frowns in confusion. "You nearly didn't finish your transition because of Stefan and the whole human blood situation. Because of what Stefan was going through, you weren't sure if you wanted to be a vampire."

"I was afraid." I nod. "Because I didn't want to lose any connections with my humanity. But then, you told me something, didn't you?"

"That no matter what happens, you'll have me to support you." Damon smiles a little.

"Exactly." I smile back as I cross my arms. "You want to tell me how you're going to support me if you end up dead?"

Damon just stares at me for a moment before laughing sheepishly and scratching the back of his head. "Well, there's that..."

"So, here's what's going to happen." I tell him as I grab his hand before we start walking again. "We're going to go back to the Salvatore house, and you're going to tell me everything that's happened today."

Damon sighs before smiling. "Yes, ma'am..."

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Author's note: hey guys, here's another chapter. I know there wasn't really any Klaus and Nadia scenes, but I promise there will be in the next chapter, so please remember to review! Many thanks in advance!