Chapter 9

Revenge is sweet. Whoever says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. That or they're just sore losers. 

My retaliation against Damon aside, I have to admit, he has nice tastes in liquor. I'm almost tempted to go out and buy a few crates for myself. 

Almost. I'm not going down that rabbit hole. 

I, unfortunately, passed out upon getting home, making a silent vow to never touch bourbon again. Either that or raise my alcohol tolerance levels…I'll just do that. 

What wakes me up is not an alarm or my biological clock but the loud knocking on my door. Trying to go back to sleep, the knocking resumed after its brief pause. 

I groaned into my pillow before groggily getting to my feet, glancing at the clock on the wall. It's 7:48pm. My still hungover brain trudged my body out of my room and to the door with clear reluctance. 

Opening the door, I see a familiar face, a small frown forming on my face. "Nope." I say, shutting the door before they could speak. 

I turned around to return to the peace of my bed when the knocking resumed at full force. Groaning loudly, I pulled the door open. 

"What do you want, Stefan? I'm not inviting you in. I'm sure you can understand that." I say, leaning on the door. 

To his credit, he nods his head in understanding. "I get that. That's actually part of why I'm here. I wanted to apologize for Damon's actions. That was completely uncalled for."

I gave him a scrutinizing look for a moment, using that moment to make use of biomancy on myself, getting rid of the hangover. 

"How exactly does one apologize for killing another person's friend? I appreciate your intentions Stefan but that apology means a lot less coming from you." I said, standing straighter now that the hangover was out of my system. 

"Yes but as much as I hate him, I don't like seeing him in pain like that. He's my brother, I can't just leave him like that." Stefan pressed on. 

"Sure you can because there isn't exactly much any of you can do to change him back. When I decide that he's suffered enough, I'll fix him." I said with a note of finality. I'll leave him like that for about a week then I'll see about undoing it. 

"What if I promise that he won't bother you again?" Stefan asked, trying to see an angle to bargain through. 

I shook my head at that. "In case you missed the old man in your house, I can handle Damon on my own. To tell you the truth Stefan, the only reason I didn't just kill Damon is because I don't particularly have any problems with you. That is the only reason he's still alive."

Stefan paused for a moment and I watched my words sink in. "Is there anything I can do to change your mind about turning him back?" He asks. 

Just as I'm about to decline whatever offer he wanted to give, I pause. 

"You know what? Why don't we go on a little walk? I have some errands to run and you might be able to help. If you're able to convince me during that time then I'll fix your brother." I offer, something resembling a plan coming to mind. 

"Really? Aren't you afraid that I could hurt you, force you to change him back or even kill you?" He asks, a bit confused. 

That only gets a laugh out of me as I stretch a bit. "Stefan, if I thought I was in danger, we'd be having a very different conversation right now." I said before tugging on my magic. 

"Teg desserd." I chant, my simple shirt and pants transforming into a white button up shirt and black dress pants. 

Stefan barely managed to hold in his surprised look. "That's…convenient."

"It's magic. It's supposed to be." I snarked, stepping out and locking the door behind me. "Let's be off, shall we?"

Xx-Xx-Xx

With the cloak of the night in Town, I watch Stefan stab a wooden stake through the heart of a man, a vampire, who let out a gasping sound before falling to the ground. 

Breathing a bit heavily, Stefan stood back to his full height, catching his breath. It was a close fight, I'm not surprised. The tomb vampires take the full human diet while Stefan runs on squirrel blood. 

"How do you keep finding them all over town?" He asked, finally catching his breath. 

This was the fifth vampire they had put down this night alone. Being able to sense vampires is so convenient. 

"Erif!" I hissed, a ball of fire ignited in my palm. Blowing on the flames, it streaked through the air, enveloping a vampire that tried to creep up behind Stefan. 

It sent the new arrival onto the floor with a scream as the fire burnt him to death. 

"I have my ways. Come on, we still have two more roaming around." There were two more outside while the rest were huddled together in a house far away.

These ones were probably looking around for others so that they'd guide them to where the rest of them were. Chanting under my breath, the ground opened, swallowing the corpses whole. 

"So have you changed your mind?" He asked, making me turn to him.

He'd tried many angles to appeal to me. From offering money to offering his services. That last one was redundant seeing as how he was already helping me clear out the vampires. 

"Nope." I said as we made our way to our next target. Said target was next to another energy signature that was slowly weakening. It didn't fizzle out but I weakened significantly. 

The vampire was feeding on someone. 

"I've offered you everything I can think of. What else can I even give you?" He asked, almost pleading. 

"Well it's a good thing I have an offer for you." I said, causing him to perk up. "I want you to broker a deal between me and Bonnie Bennett."

That caught his attention. "What kind of deal?" He asked, eager but cautious. 

"I'll bring her grandmother back to life and in return, I want Emily Bennett's grimoire. Do that and I'll fix Damon up." I said, now facing him as we stopped walking. 

"How do you know about Sheila and Emily?" He questioned, eyes narrowed. 

"Oh I know a lot of things about a lot of people. It's part of the trade. Plus, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." I said, evading his question before stretching my hand forward. "So, do we have a deal?"

Stefan was silent for almost a minute. It's quite amusing peeking through his mind, seeing how he was weighing the pros, the cons and looking for any hidden agenda behind my desire for the grimoire. In the end, he wants to save his brother and he feels guilty that he and Damon are the reason Bonnie's grandma is dead. 

"Deal." 

Excellent.