Chapter Ten
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Solitude At Last, At Least Not For Long
November 2nd, 2009
Groaning, I stretch my arms backwards as my head lolls to the side, my vision blurry as my body begins to wake from its short coma. A whine beside me cracks my body into motion as sore eyes lock onto a groaning heap of severely tangled, half down, vanilla-white hair. The form huffs before falling backwards, still seemingly asleep as it tunnels further into the covers to avoid the streaming light from the windows. Stefan's birthday, leaving the Grill, getting Caroline home...Lexi! I search the pockets of my vermillion leather jacket, rummaging through the pockets as quietly as I could to check my phone.
Sweet Saint Stefan
'Where are you? I saw you leave with Caroline?'
'Is everything ok?'
'Come home quick there's been an emergency.'
'Mari please, call me when you see this.'
Shit, what could've transpired in the time I was gone could have been devastation, for all I know, outside this bedroom door could be a decimated world and the only to left were me and Caroline. I use some scrap paper from her nightstand to leave her a note, confirming my rushed whereabouts. Slipping on my tall boots, grasping hold of my coat, I silently exit Caroline's bedroom, sneaking through the house so as to not awaken the Sheriff.
"I didn't expect to be seeing you here Marielle," she states, rather stern in tone as she looks me up and down, then towards Caroline's bedroom.
"My apologies, Sheriff Forbes. Caroline got drunk last night and I drove her home, she asked me not to leave, that's how I'm here." I clarify, jittery with urgency as I tapped away at my phone, preparing to get hold of Stefan.
"Then thank you for bringing her home and for keeping her safe, Marielle. It's greatly appreciated." she gives me a short smile before she gestures for the door, allowing me to leave as I press Stefan's contact. Admittedly worried about his safety.
The voicemail almost rings before the other line picks up, creepily silent as only breathing made its way through the speaker.
"Stef? What's going on, you texted me that there was an emergency." I rush, unlocking the drivers-side door to slip into my truck.
"It's Lexi, Marielle," he confesses, this very sentence put me on edge, what transpired after I left the Mystic Grill that could've been so detrimental, so sorry-inspiring,
"What about Lexi? I know I promised her that the ring-"
"She's dead. Marielle. She's dead." his voice strains as the line dies, leaving me with a ringing tone before the phone absently slips from my grasp out of shock. Unconscious tears trail from my eyes down the smudged blusher of my cheeks, the black lines like a disease as the colour spreads across the lower half of my face. There was already an unspoken answer to all of my questions, the only one who was powerful enough to even consider defeating Lexi...was Damon. Gasping for air as my lungs struggled to function, rapid uneven breaths filling the confines of the car as my entire body leaned backwards, sinking down into the torn leather chair.
If this is what this family had become, I wanted no part of it. All this family brought to my feet was agony, for just over a-century-and-a-half all that had arrived on my doorstep was death, body after body until the village was dry. I refused to be one of those last left standing in Mystic Falls, for the sacrifice could never outweigh the victory. This time when I battled Damon I would be ready, armoured for war as I returned the favour of killing him for his immeasurable misdeeds. Shifting the car into drive, I was off with the wind, almost speeding as I raced to kill my own brother, my flesh and blood who tore away what little happiness I had left in the world. All I loved was gone, my best friend, my Lexi, my sister. Was gone. Sharply pulling up to the house I screech out the raven-haired bastard's name, a rampage of emotions consuming my vision as all I saw was crimson red fielding my view. Detecting him inside of the house was simple, follow the directions of the dead floating amongst them, that is how vampires were so easy to score, their victims were a totem to their location. Thundering up the stairs like a bull to a red flag, I kick in his bedroom door, not startling either himself or Stefan who had previously been arguing (assumingly so as more possessions of Damon's room were destroyed). Throwing my hand at him he flies towards his gargantuan mirror, the shattered shards slicing into his skin like a blistering blade, the glass exploding across the rest of the room as he yelped in obvious pain.
"Marielle!" Stefan bursts, approaching my anger consumed form, attempting to calm me down, but his presence only angered me more, he did nothing to save her. His best friend. I pushed against Damon harder, causing him to shout out in physical agony as my powers drove him into madness, my outwards facing palm flew to face me, revelling in the satisfying snap from Damon's now broken neck.
"Don't. You'll be next. And you're not as strong as him." I warned, pushing past him as he attempted to grasp onto me, gripping my arm.
"Where were you? I was looking for you all night!" Stefan shouts as he chases me about the hallways in a tiff. Damon's impermanent death not concerning him as he continued to annoy me.
"Answer the question!" returns in an equally outraged tone, pulling me closer towards him with his undead strength which I equalized snapping back his arm at an awkward angle.
"Helping Caroline home so she didn't end up breaking her neck because of those heels, or worse" I reply truthfully, gesturing towards Damon as I release my grip on his broken arm to allow it to fully heal as he hisses like a distressed house cat.
"I'm leaving Stefan, I can't stay here in this hellhole of a town anymore. We met Elena, now you know her, that's what you promised me. You promised that it would be a short trip home before heading back off to France for the autumn, maybe New York for Christmas. What was supposed to be three weeks or less transpired into two, whole, months! People die wherever the both of you galavant off to Stefan! Countless people are already dead, our teacher is dead, I almost died, Vicki Donovan is dead and now Lexi is also dead. There's just nothing here for me anymore!" I rant, finalizing my decisions to abandon this family whilst I still had the legs to walk, or the blood in my veins for my heart to continue beating.
"Nothing left for us or Mystic Falls? We can still be a team, Marie! We can still do all the things we've dreamt about, all I'm asking is that you don't go, not now. I'm begging you." he pleads, holding onto me one more time with a gracious, anxious grip. But his affections weren't enough. Not anymore.
"Maybe in the next lifetime Stefan. When Damon's gone and Elena's old and grey, we'll return to each other. I need to leave Mystic Falls whilst I'm still breathing."
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November 25th, 2009
Sliding onto the tall seat of a local bar, I ordered my usual three fingers of rye before leaning back into the chair, mapping out recent witch locations on my scribbled upon map. Multiple hefty grimoires sat in my satchel as I poured over pages and pages of nonsensical codswallop about a particular brand of curse I was searching for. After three weeks the storm between myself and Mystic Falls had calmed, instead of killing my brother I wanted to mentally obliterate him instead. I had requested strictly vampire curses and hexes so that nobody else in town would be harmed. One curse stated that it could trap a vampires body in limbo between necking pints of blood and hurling it back up, another said that when placed on a vampire whatever harm comes to a human because of them will happen ten times over in response, indefinitely trapping the vampire in a wary existence for all time, the list of counterfeit promises went on.
These anecdotes spoke of rituals, herbs and minerals which didn't apply to the certain rules of the spells wanting to be performed. Kyanite didn't link between vampires and their hunger, it was directly connected to werewolves. Witch Hazel was commonly used in divination or mind seeking/reading, I wouldn't need to be able to see into the vampire's mind to curse it, the list of discrepancies went on. Although some pages were truthful, only the common spells like Memory clearing, Nightmare dissolvers, relaxation elixirs and so on. Low vibrating takes my mind away from my papers, its incessant annoyances putting me off my work. It was Elena, again, who was just 'checking in' and 'hoping I was ok' but the phone calls were really for Stefan, whom she still cared immensely for, also for a state of mind now one of her allies was out of town. Damon had called, (of course) I screened those, Caroline had texted after I left her house and asked me for advice on her newest love interest Matthew Donovan (which had admittedly upset me), Bonnie had checked in, the two of us brief friends and surprisingly enough one five minute phone call from my adoptive sister Harriett Lawnder who was stuck in traffic on her way to work, pure boredom seemed to be the reason people stayed in contact with me.
Finishing both my work, my drink and all the change I had to spare, I settled in an average motel for the night, snacking on canned foods which had been reheated in the piss-poor excuse of a microwave. A sudden twinge of pain in my neck had sent me hurtling towards the ground with a muffled shout. The visage of Emily Bennett's face clouded my vision, gripping tightly onto my shoulder before a power pushed me backwards, landing me square on my back. Premonitions never tended to get physically violent, not in my one-hundred-and-sixty-one years of living. This could be a sign, more so for Bonnie Bennett than me, which is why I decide to leave this information alone for the night, reaching out for my diary.
'November 25th, 2009
Another day alone on the road, this isn't an unusual thing for me after this particularly unfortunate lifetime, maybe the next will be full of richer adventures. Being without Stefan or Damon had been foreign at first but soon became usual as the out-loud thoughts in the car were my own, the disastrous singing voice screeching the lyrics to popular songs belonged to me, the space was mine to relax, to finally be able to freely breathe. I'm worried for what might be coming, Damon is up to something and I only fear that if he falls he will tear Stefan down with him. I've decided to return to Mystic Falls but only with the objective of saving everyone, including myself, from the spiteful claws of Damon Salvatore.'