ADORE YOU

Vanessa Salvatore puffed out her cheeks as she leant against the outside of Mystic Falls Memorial Hospital. Her and her brother, Stefan Salvatore, decided to wait for Stefan’s girlfriend, Elena Gilbert, outside of the hospital. Elena had wanted to run back to the high school to pick up her clothes that she had worn during the Founder’s Day party in the square, hating the feel of the 1800s dress that had adorned her small frame. The human girl had looked so much like Stefan and their older brother, Damon Salvatore, shared ex-girlfriend, Katherine Pierce. It was almost dizzying and gave Vanessa serious PTSD from the 1800s when the raven haired vampire swooped into the Salvatore’s lives.

Vanessa, Stefan and Damon had used to be as close as siblings could be. Sometimes people would admire how close the three Salvatores were to each other because it wasn’t a typical sibling relationship. The two brothers were practically the best of friends while the two boys always protected Vanessa from everything and anything. More so Stefan than Damon since Damon was gone every now and then to fight in the army. As weird as it was, it only made the siblings closer because their time together was cherished a lot more, especially with one of them never knowing when they’d be gone again.

Then Katherine Pierce showed up and tarnished the whole thing. She was an old vampire that Vanessa used to call a best friend. Both of her brothers had been so enamored by her and it was definitely an odd sight to see both Stefan and Damon pine for the same girl, especially with the seven year difference between the two brothers. They had never gone after the same girl and Vanessa had wondered for a long time how that had been possible. Later on down the line, Vanessa had learned that Katherine had compelled all three of the Salvatore siblings, especially the two boys. Vanessa had felt betrayed by the girl who she thought genuinely wanted to hang around her.

The three Salvatore siblings were turned not too long after that at the same time Katherine had perished in a fire. Damon and Vanessa didn’t want to be the monster that Katherine wound up being but Stefan had practically flung two humans at them so they could finish the transition. To say Damon held a grudge against the youngest Salvatore because he was the reason they were immortal would be an understatement. The three siblings didn’t stay together for too long after that, Damon practically tugging Vanessa after him as he fled from Stefan. Stefan had become too much of an issue for them with his not so subtle way of draining his victims. Damon worried Stefan would get the trio exposed so he didn’t leave much room for Vanessa to argue when he told Stefan they would be leaving him behind. No way Damon wanted his baby sister in any more danger than she already was with being a vampire. He already had a hard time protecting her when the thirst for blood was constant and pumping through his system.

Damon and Vanessa had returned to Mystic Falls shortly after Stefan had returned. Not like Damon even told Vanessa why he wanted to go back, but part of her had wanted to believe it was to rekindle with their brother. Stefan had his own reasons of returning after finding Elena, the girl being an exact copy of Katherine in looks. Thankfully, her personality was the complete opposite of Katherine’s and wasn’t a manipulative bitch who only cared about herself ( in Vanessa’s own bitter words, of course ).

Okay, maybe Vanessa still held animosity towards her old supposed best friend who stabbed her in the back.

“What’s taking Elena so long?” Stefan wondered aloud, checking his phone for the fifth time since the two siblings had arrived at the hospital, snapping Vanessa out of her thoughts. Their friends Caroline Forbes, Tyler Lockwood and Matt Donovan had all been involved in a car accident just the night before when Tyler had gotten a random migraine, causing the car to swerve and crash into the nearest tree. Matt and Tyler were okay, but Caroline was currently unconscious in her hospital bed. The doctors still worked on her inside to make sure she survived.

“Humans can only move so fast, Stef,” Vanessa mused, blowing a stray piece of curled, brown hair out of her face. “I’m sure she’s fine. They pretty much got rid of all the tomb vampires that tried to get revenge tonight.”

“Still worry for her,” Stefan mumbled, pocketing his phone just as it began to ring. He pulled it back out of his pocket to reveal Elena’s name across the screen with a photo of her and Stefan behind it. “Hey, you okay?”

“Stefan, I need you to come to the house. Jeremy’s not waking up and John somehow chopped off his fingers,” Elena cried into the phone, alerting both Salvatores as Vanessa could hear the whole thing clearly thanks to her enhanced hearing. That didn’t sound good at all.

Stefan and Vanessa exchanged a quick look with each other, both knowing what they had to do. So after Stefan had told Elena to stay put and stay with John and Jeremy and he and Vanessa would be there soon, he hung up and the two siblings flashed over to the Gilbert house. An ambulance was already parked outside with its lights flashing blue and red everywhere, the front door to the Gilbert house opened. Vanessa could see the two paramedics wheel the gurney with John Gilbert’s body on it. The smell of blood was heavy in the air and she could see John’s hand wrapped in a towel that was already soaked through fully with his blood.

When Stefan and Vanessa tried to enter the house, one of the paramedics held their hand out to stop the duo from entering. More than likely not wanting anyone who wasn’t family in the house at the moment.

“No, they’re okay,” Elena assured the paramedic and offered the siblings a weak smile when they met her at the top of the stairs.

“What happened?” Vanessa asked, following Elena into her younger brother’s room where the long, brown haired teen sat on his bed. He looked almost upset that he wasn’t dead.

“He said that Anna gave him her blood and then he took these pills. I mean, he looks fine, but then again so do the both of you. So I just — I don’t know,” Elena explained frantically and Vanessa wrapped an arm around Elena’s shoulders in comfort while Stefan crouched in front of Jeremy.

Stefan grabbed both sides of Jeremy’s face and made the boy look at him so he could make sure that Anna’s blood hadn’t turned him. Vanessa really couldn’t handle any more vampire drama than they already had at the moment, especially not wanting Jeremy to have to go through being a vampire. It may seemed like a luxury to live forever, but it was the last thing any human could want. Naturally, being alive forever got lonely as mortal loved ones died around you and you constantly had to be careful with where you got your blood form, trying to blend in with the rest of society like you didn’t want to sink your fangs into their jugulars. “Jer, look at me.”

Jeremy pushed Stefan’s hands away from his face and shook his head in annoyance. “I feel fine. I feel exactly the same.”

“Should I call a paramedic up here? What should I do?”

“He’s fine,” Stefan assured his girlfriend, pushing himself to his full height again and stepping back from the disgruntled teenager.

Jeremy’s face fell at Stefan’s statement. “You mean I’m not a vampire? Damn it.”

Elena’s head whipped over to her younger brother in horror. “What? Jeremy, don’t say that. Why would you want that?”

“Did you hear about Anna, what happened to her tonight? She’s dead.”

Vanessa frowned and slowly dropped her arm from around Elena. She knew that Jeremy harbored feelings for the vampire girl as they had spent quite a bit of time together leading up to Anna’s death. Seemed like a Gilbert trait to fall for the supernatural side of the world. “Jeremy, listen to me, okay? I’m sorry about Anna. I know how much she meant to you, but it’s important that you listen. Anna’s blood is leaving your system with every passing second and if you tried this again, then you could actually die. So you have to promise us that you won’t do anything stupid.”

Jeremy silently nodded that he understood and ignored the sad smile that Vanessa offered him. Her heart did ache for the boy as she knew what it was like to love someone you love so deeply within your heart. However, she also knew that Jeremy would surely move on with time and find a girl that could make him happy and live the best life he deserved.

“What about the pills that he took?”

“No, he didn’t take enough to die. Anna’s blood actually healed him of that,” Stefan informed Elena who stood near the doorway to Jeremy’s bedroom still. Her timid posture showed she was nervous to even step into the room and overwhelm her younger brother who nearly turned himself.

A knock on Jeremy’s bedroom door cut off the conversation and the group turned to see a paramedic stood at the door, waiting for Elena to join John in the back of the ambulance. The Gilbert girl looked apprehensive about leaving Jeremy behind, but Stefan offered to stay with Jeremy while Vanessa offered to go with Elena to the hospital so she wasn’t by herself.

“Hey,” Stefan called and Vanessa turned while Elena continued down the steps with the paramedic. “Watch her for me, please.”

Vanessa sent her brother a wink and followed after Elena.

The girls arrived at the hospital ten minutes later and they walked over to the waiting room while the nurses took John to the emergency room to try and fix up his hand. Elena’s friend, Bonnie Bennett, was stood in the middle with a forlorn look on her face and tense shoulders, worry creating a crease in her eyebrows.

“Bonnie, how’s Caroline?” Elena asked as her and Vanessa approached the Bennett witch, the girl’s head snapping up at the sudden voice in the otherwise quiet waiting area.

“Not good. They don’t know if she’s going to make it,” Bonnie replied sadly, the frown on her face only deepening.

“What? Is there something you can do, like a spell or something?”

“She doesn’t know how. Do you?”

Vanessa’s head whipped around to see Damon round the corner, a knowing smirk on his face. What in the hell was he even doing here? He didn’t really care about Caroline in the first place. The only person in the room that Damon cared about besides Vanessa was Elena and himself. Yet, Damon didn’t know about John so there was no way he could be here to support Elena, especially since it seemed like he had already been here since he came from the opposite direction of where the entrance was.

“No, I don’t,” Bonnie reluctantly replied, avoiding eye contact with Elena who seemed just as surprised by Damon’s presence as Vanessa.

“No, you don’t. It took Emily years to learn a spell like that.”

“Oh, well, I can take down a vampire,” Bonnie threatened, crossing her arms and shooting a dark look towards Damon who didn’t even flinch at the look. “That spell was easy to learn. Let me try it again on you.”

Damon merely rolled his blue eyes at Bonnie’s threat and turned to Elena. “Look, I can give Caroline some blood. She’s in the hospital and it’ll be out of here system in a day. She’ll be better.”

Elena shook her head defiantly and Vanessa couldn’t blame Elena for being apprehensive, especially after what happened to Jeremy. Vanessa even felt a bit weird about the whole thing herself as literally anything could happen to Caroline while no one was here. “It’s too risky, Damon. I can’t agree to that.”

“Do it. This is Caroline,” Bonnie reminded Elena, desperation taking over her features. “Okay? We can’t let her die. Let him do it.”

“If I do this, you and me call a truce.”

“No, but you’ll do it anyway. For Elena,” Bonnie countered before she turned on her heel and walked away.

Damon glanced over his shoulder to watch Bonnie walk away and then flickered his gaze over to Vanessa. “Nessa, why don’t you go? I’ll stay with Elena.”

Vanessa rose an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Why would I leave Elena behind? I told Stefan I’d stay with her.”

“Well, now I’m staying with her. Go help Stefan with Jeremy,” Damon replied and shrugged at Vanessa’s confused expression. “He called me. He tells me things. Now go stay with him and Jeremy. I have to talk to Elena anyway.”

“It’s okay, Vee,” Elena promised Vanessa, offering a small smile to her and squeezing the vampire female’s hand. “Thank you for taking the trip with me, but you don’t have to stay. I’d rather you stay with Jeremy right now anyway. He’ll probably listen to you more. He seems to like you most at the moment.”

Vanessa sighed, but decided to just listen to Damon anyway. Damon would just be a sour vampire if Vanessa didn’t listen to him and Vanessa, admittedly, didn’t want to deal with Damon’s bitch fit if she went against his orders. A sour Damon was an annoying one so might as well just do as he says. Plus, she knew that Damon really wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Elena. He did have a heart . . . sort of. Elena seemed to bring that old Damon out again.

Vanessa had flashed back over to the Gilbert house, much to Stefan’s shock. Though, after she explained that Damon was there and was going to save Caroline’s life, he shut up about her leaving Elena at the hospital. Jeremy had thankfully fallen asleep once again so Stefan and Vanessa just had to sit around and make sure he stayed okay until Elena returned with Damon who promised to bring her home after he finished with Caroline.

The sound of the front door opening alerted Stefan and Vanessa, the duo leaving Jeremy’s room to see Elena step through the front door. Stefan jogged the rest of the way down the steps while Vanessa froze mid-way down the steps, taking in Elena’s appearance. Something was off with the way Elena looked, but she couldn’t place why. Had Elena been wearing that leather jacket when they left for the hospital? Had her been that curled? The way she walked also didn’t match the usual slow and causal walk Elena had. This walk was one of more confidence and like Elena could own the room if she wanted.

“How is Caroline?” Stefan asked, walking over to Elena who stopped in the archway to the living room.

“Not good,” Elena answered sadly, stepping into Stefan’s open arms and hugging him tightly. When a cocky look took over Elena’s face when her eyes met with Vanessa’s over Stefan’s shoulder, that’s when Vanessa knew things really weren’t right. “Just what I needed.”

“Stef . . .” Vanessa warned quietly, stepping down the rest of the way as the two pulled apart.

Stefan and Elena’s gazes both flickered over to Vanessa who stared at Elena calculatingly. Vanessa took a step forward and when Elena smirked at Vanessa, knowing fully well that the Salvatore girl caught onto her little act. Her fangs instantly grew out and she flashed over to the Salvatore girl, flinging her over the back of the couch. Stefan appeared to finally catch on because his own fangs grew out and he stood defensively next to his sister, the youngest Salvatore flashing back to her feet with a dark growl.

“Katherine.”