The Tomb

AN; Hey... It's been a while since I've updated this story though, but not long enough for me to feel bad considering all the fics I update. Lol.

Feel free to check out the rest of the series if you want to read about the MC's interdementional cycle of reincarnation, but all installments can be read separately.

As always, y'all be killing it with the support, particularly comments, which are my favorite fuel for writting. You guys are the best. Seriously. 💙

So, without further ado, I give you the next chapter. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

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"Annabelle, is it?" I answer softly, sliding into the armchair next to the young girl. "Ah, wait, you go by Anna, right?"

She startles, eyes wide. "I- How did you-"

The girl looked so young it made my heart ache. "I'm Nyx. A magic user-" I inform her, watching her eyes go wide with fear. "- and I know why you're here."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Anna says sharply, but I can sense the fear underneath it.

I smile as comfortingly as possible. "I'm planning to release the vampires of the tomb, child. Fear not. As long as you, and they, make no move against the town people who have done them no harm, as the current generation of citizens of Mystical Falls haven't, then they may go free. They should never have been forced to suffer in such a manner to begin with."

Annabelle's eyes go wide with hope and I pat her shoulder before gripping it tighter, my eyes going steely. "But, make no mistake, I will slaughter any who decide to cause trouble and kill innocents in this town out of a sense of misplaced vengeance. I don't even need to be in the same room, or even the same state to rip your spine out and use it to strangle you. So, you, and your little friends, -Ben and Noah, right?- will follow my very simple rules. Am I understood?"

I let her see the glow of my eyes and feel the weight of my magic suffocating her as she shakily nods, appropriately terrified. I pat her shoulder and pull my magic back, face sweet once more. "Good. I'll be opening it tomorrow. Go steal blood bags from the county over and return."

The girl gapes and Damon snorts, bringing her coffee and pastry order over from the kitchen. "Don't worry, kid, that's just how Nyx is. Very scary, but very kind. Don't think about it too hard."

Anna's eyes widen. "You're… Oh, that's why she's opening the tomb."

I shrug. "Partly. But, they really shouldn't be down there, it's fucked up. Damon will go with you to get enough blood. It can't be from the local hospital because, apparently, the council still watches for vampires."

Damon plops sideways into my lap, making me huff in amusement and adjust my legs as he wraps his arms around my neck and tosses his legs over the arm of the chair like a child. I snicker at the girl's bewilderment, used to Damon's surprising cuddliness by now. "Mah, we have the same goal so let's work together, okay?"

The girl looks resigned like she's off to the gallows as she nods and I bite back a laugh. "Welcome to The Midnight Traveller, Anna," I grin at her, shoving Damon off my lap and to the floor unapologetically. The bell chimes and familiar auras walk in. Jenna, Jeremy, and Elena walk in, Jenna with a disturbed aura and the kids with a guilty one. "Ah, hell."

Jenna storms over, grabs my hand and promptly drags me away as I shoot daggers at the brats who had clearly said some shit they shouldn't have.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Okay,… that's…. a lot," Jenna breathes out. "Witches and werewolves and vampires, huh?"

"Yup," I pop out, sipping my coffee and pouring her a cup. Jenna had pulled me to the second floor and word vomited all over me. She had apparently heard some crazy, out of context shit about Stefan and Bonnie and danger while Jeremy and Elena were talking, not having known she was home. They'd also said something about "Nyx knowing everything," and when Jenna had demanded an explanation, and the teens had clammed up. Jenna, having no other choice, had come to me and asked if she was going crazy or if the kids were into some wild shit.

In the end, Jenna is really the only one left who doesn't know, and more than how utterly vulnerable that makes her, she is my friend, and I have no desire to gaslight and lie to her when I don't think she is untrustworthy. So, I decided to tell her, at least about my own secret.

"It must be difficult, not knowing what you are," Jenna suddenly blurts, taking me aback. I think she's the only person to be so compassionate as to think of it like that, and it reminds me of just how thoughtful she is.

The left corner of my mouth curls into a hint of a smile. When I reach for my friend, she doesn't hesitate to reach back and I let a small, harmless, blue flame dance across our palms and brave, kind Jenna doesn't even twitch. She merely watches with awe, a wide smile growing across her face.

Damon bursts in at supernatural speeds, plopping next to me and promptly ruining all my careful work to keep the secrets of the others around me. "And I'm a vampire!"

He transforms his face, baring fangs at Jenna, but she, despite the fear I can feel in her veins, merely lifts her chin in hard defiance. Damon smirks, shifting back. "You. I like you."

I snort haughtily. "I choose only the best as my friends, didn't I tell you?"

Jenna flushes as Damon puts his head into my lap. "Aww, are you saying that I'm also the best?"

"Bitch, you aren't my friend, just a nuisance I can't get rid of, like a rash, or a particularly persistent mold," I sneer, but I can tell it's not convincing with my hands massaging his scalp and temples, a likely occurrence when anyone puts their head in my lap, a habit born lifetimes ago.

"Softie," Damon signs, preening as I scowl, smoothing along his eyebrows.

"I guess Stefan is a vampire, too, And I think I heard that Bonnie is a witch? What about Zach?"

"Our great-great-grand-nephew," Stefan says, entering with the Gilberts peeking over his shoulder like naughty children hiding behind their mother's skirts. "Human."

Damon frowns. "I thought there was at least one more great in there." Stefan rolls his eyes, muttering that Damon is a shitty uncle, something the elder Salvatore wholeheartedly ignores. "Whatever, you get the idea."

Jeremy comes over, pushin Damon off my lap and sending him to the floor for the second time today, and sitting by my side, hand resting on my forearm to draw my attention, his dark eyes upset and yet, earnest. "I didn't spill you secrets, Nyx. Elena just kept asking things and we argued, forgetting Jenna was home. I would never betray your confidence like that, I swear-"

"Peace, boy. I know," I tell him gently, raising my hand to cut him off. And I mean it, knowing very well that Jeremy would have never deliberately brought this situation down on me. "No harm no foul, Remy."

Elena cringes as she comes over, stepping over a still splayed Damon , who hadn't moved from my floor where he'd unceremoniously fallen. "Nyx, I need to apologize. Not only for accidentally spilling the beans to Jenna, but for… before with Bonnie and accusing you and Stefan."

The girl radiates remorse and embarrassment and it softens me to her. "Ah, I can't blame you for the logical assumption when you found me sucking your boyfriend's finger-" I tactfully ignore Jenna's sputtered confusion and Jeremy erupting into guffawing laughter. "-and I can see why you would then assume I'd harmed Bonnie from the way you found us. So, I accept your apology for that." She breathes a sigh of relief before freezing like a doe in headlights, big brown eyes wide when I continue, letting my voice go stern but not unkind. "However, please be more mindful of your words. It could be incredibly dangerous to all of us if the wrong ears hear somethings. And please don't pressure your brother for information that isn't his to share."

Elena nods, blushing and mortified as she agrees. Stefan takes the opportunity to lean over the back of the couch, wrapping an arm around my neck and pressing our cheeks together in a silent expression of gratitude for my easy forgiveness and I feel myself melt, reaching up to ruffle his hair, careful to observe Elena's reaction. This time, there is no jealousy from her, but rather a pensive air, and I wonder what she's thinking about.

Damon huffs, finally sitting up and rests his head in his hands, placing his elbows on my thighs like my lap is a table. "This is great and all, guys, but we do have things to do. Busy day tomorrow."

"We're freeing the tomb vampires, right?" Jeremy asks as Stefan and Elena settle next to her aunt, and I raise an eyebrow, incredulous.

"We? Oh, no, there is no we, darling boy. You will not be joining this errand," I state firmly as Jeremy sputters.

"What?! But, Nyx-"

"But nothing! I'm not taking you around a whole hoard of desperate, starved vampires of questionable morals!" I scold, pinching his ear in reprimand for even getting the thought in his young, fool head.

"I don't know what this tomb thing is about, but if Nyx says it's dangerous, you aren't going," Jenna agrees immediately, doing her best to sound parental for once and mostly succeeding even though she sounds more than a lost. I shoot her a supportive thumbs up anyway.

"The Gilberts are a vampire hunting family!" Jeremy blurts, much to the surprise of his family and I, though the Salvatore's don't seem as shocked. "I found it out from one of my dad's journals! Technically, facing vampires is my birth right!"

I smirk. "A very good argument if you weren't a fifteen year old without training. Nice try though, kid." I pat his cheek patronizingly as he crosses his arms and pouts. "I won't bring you, but if you'd like, I'll help you learn to protect yourself."

Jeremy deflates and nods. Elena however, leans forward, asking her brother for their dad's journal, this having been news to her and Jenna, who freezes, clearly remembering something. "Elena, there is something you should know before you read those journals. In case it comes up… We'll talk about it at home."

Jenna seems… nervous?

"Aunt Jeanna? What is it?" Elena notices the strangeness in her tone and I share a glance with the Salvatores as the tension begins to rise. Jeremy sighs and slumps against my side, and he is clearly used to his sister's tendency to act like a dog with a bone. Heck, it's how we got into this situation in the first place. I grimace, wondering if I should step in as the two women begin to argue as Elena refuses to drop it for now, but if Jeremy won't, it's really not my place… even if it's my living room.

I wince as the girl continues to grill my friend demanding answers right this moment. "God, Jenna, could you just tell me? None of the secrets around here seem to be being kept anyway, and I don't care if our friends know!"

"You were adopted!" Jenna blurts out, succumbing to the pressure, arms thrown into the air, leaving most of the room gaping. "Fuck! Greyson and Miranda decided to take you in because your parents were still in high school and they'd been trying for a while… Dammit. I needed to tell you in case it came up in one of your Dad's journals." 

Elena stares, eyes wide, turning to her brother who quickly admits, "I, uh, kind of misspoke earlier. Dad does have a lot of journals, but they weren't, like, written by him. At least, I haven't seen one like that yet. The one I was referring to was written by Johnathan Gilbert a century and a half ago, so naturally I didn't know anything about this."

Jenna curses, realizing she kinda jumped the gun by preemptively telling Elena so she wouldn't find out by reading it, and the girl turns back to her aunt. "…Who… who are my biological parents?"

"Isobel, Flemming, I think, is your bio mother, but I don't know about your dad," Jenna admits after a few moments of hesitation.

"What?" A dangerously soft voice asks from the doorway, and I flinch, having been caught off guard for once as Alaric steps through the doorway.

"What the fuck? Is nothing going to stay a secret around here?" I whisper under by breath, readying my magic and cursing my sealed magic, because surely at my full power, I'd have noticed the eavesdropper or Seen this shit coming. I grip Damon's shoulder as I feel him tense, restraining him from acting rashly and killing the potential threat. 

How much has he heard?

"Alaric? What are you-"

"Did you say Isobel Flemming? My dead wife?" He hisses, drawing close, and I shift to position myself carefully in front of Jeremy who does his best to protect me instead, throwing his arm out in front of me, sweet but silly kid that he is. "The one that he-" Alaric points at Damon. "-murdered?!"

My facepalm is so loud that it inadvertently draws all the attention of the room, but I ignore it to massage my now throbbing temples, wondering if I should just throw everyone out so I don't have to deal with this shit. 

Damon tilts his head, realization dawning. "Isobel…oh. Huh. I remember her. But, for the record, I didn't kill her, I just turned her into a vampire upon her request."

Chaos finally erupts and I simply get up and walk out, back to my cafe, snatching the wooden stake in Alaric's jacket before he can try to use it on anyone as I pass, deciding that none of this has to be my problem.

Soap opera bullshit.

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Eventually, things calm down in the second floor of my cafe, Alaric turns out to be sort of a vampire hunter, but still one that can be reasoned with, and the Gilbert Family Dama gets put on the back burner. Later that night, while skimming Johnathan Gilbert's journal, the Salvatores and Elena find out Emily Bennett's grimoire with the spells she used on the tomb was hidden in Giuseppe Salvatore's grave, Stefan and Damon's dad. Together, they went and dug it up in case it would help me. I am going to use the amber necklace to open the tomb, so it shouldn't require too much magic, not like it would have been had I been trying to open the tomb on my own by breaking through the enchantments. That's something that might have even been impossible to do with my current, sealed strength, but thankfully, I have the crystal key.

Now, the very next night after Jenna was told the truth, the moon glowing high in the sky, I start the ritual with only vampires as my wittinesses.

XXXXXSTEFANXXXXX

I breathe deeply, doing my best to ignore the scent of the blood in the cooler, my eyes flickering briefly to Nyx, her brows furrowed as her eyes began to glow like moonlight begins to chant. Head tilted to the sky, her voice begins to ebb and flow musically, like the tide of ocean waves. My lips twitch into a smile at the odd peace she's emanating before I go back to watching Anna, Ben, and Noah, not trusting them in the slightest. I'd caught Noah staring far too intently at Elena when he'd come to the cafe, and if the unusually cold stare from Nyx in his direction is anything to go by, he probably wouldn't be staying alive very long anyway.

And just because the other two had no reason to act against us since they are trying to free Anna's mother, Pearl, that doesn't mean they are trustworthy either. With so many vampires about to be revived, we can't afford to be careless while Nyx is vulnerable performing her magic.

Not that she is defenseless, of course, crazy strong as she is. Plus, Lexi, Damon, and I are more than enough to take on Anna, Ben, Noah, if they try anything, since we're collectively older and stronger. Enzo is staying back at the cafe, guarding the humans and kids just in case anything unexpected happens, but I can't help the way my shoulders keep stiffening.

We'd finally see Katherine again after all these years. Our sire, both loved and hated, who deceived and turned us against one another, the woman who cut broke heart as often as she filled it. 

I glance at Damon, knowing he had truly loved her, or at least, more than I. I still can't tell how much of what I felt was real or compelled. The thought of seeing her again, wearing Elena's face, twists my stomach into knots, but as sick as it feels, it is also partly in anticipation, damn that bitch. There are things I still want answers to.

Nyx didn't seem very concerned, and honestly, that is the greatest reassurance we could need considering the Seer would be far more on edge if she hadn't seen a good outcome. Damon catches my eyes, his blue ones blazing in a way I haven't seen since we were human and my heart clenches when I realize what the look is: hope. I turn away with a hard gulp, nauseas.

Nyx's chanting swells again along with the tingling of magic, and I see her dark hair beginning to float into the sky from the corner of my eyes that I keep trained on that creep, Noah. The burning bundles of herbs flare brightly, the scent filling the area with sweet smoke, covering the entrance of the tomb in gold and red. A creak echoes as another swell of fire and smoke blazes and the lilting melody of power eases slowly.

The silence is disrupted only by the wind and Nyx's panting breaths. Damon hands her a thermos of blood that she takes, dropping to perch on a large, decorative rock to chug it with a wrinkled nose. "Right. Go drag them out. Some will be staked immediately based on what I read of their auras. Don't argue with me."

Our temporary allies bristle but follow Lexi and I, Lexi the oldest of us and the strongest, making a double cross from them difficult. Damon, very reluctantly, agrees to stay with Nyx on her firm orders and steely eyes. She knows something and from the look Lexi gives me, she realizes it, too. The reason for keeping Damon with her becomes obvious when we begin dragging vampires out and I feel myself go cold and numb as I understand what she's protecting Damon from; Katherine isn't here.

She escaped and never came back for us, and despite the fact that I think I might actually hate her, my heart aches from it, and not only for Damon. Lexi pales in sympathy, gripping my arm. "Fuck."

We sort the vampires out by Nyx's command, her solemn, glowing eyes oddly undefiable, and the air around her ethereal and imposing. Anna weeps as she carries her mother out, her fingers gently stroking a single piece of shriveled hair. There is a moment of tenseness as Nyx stares at Pearls desecrated form, as all the vampires await her verdict, her command to go to war or stay our hands over her judgment, but Pearl's character seems to have passed the test as Nyx merely tilts her head regally, her hand waving away the friction silently, lips curled upwards in a bloody but bemused smile.

Anna nearly collapses in relief as she pulls her mother into her lap, Ben at her side, but Noah just watches, eyes barely blinking as he stares at Nyx and his gaze raises the hairs along my skin.

Soon, there are two piles; Sixteen vampires sentenced to death, and ten slated for a second chance. Rather than Damon, it's actually Noah that breaks the quiet first. "Where is she? Where is Katherine?"

I flinch, smiling bitterly. Ah, yet another scorned lover, Katherine? God, we really were nothing but toys to her, weren't we? I turn to lock eyes with my rapidly blanching brother, the pupils of his eyes blown wide and swallowing the blue. Nyx's hand slipping into mine gives me the strength to say the words. "She- she's not here."

Noah rages, roaring his fury as he throws himself back between the twisting stone walls, his screech echoing and I brace myself for Damon's own reaction, but he merely shudders and collapses on the spot, Nyx lunging to slow his fall, wrapping her arms under his shoulders, her cheek resting on his head as he goes limp.

I curse, settling behind him as I rub his back, the same way he used to do for me when I was a child having nightmares. "Brother, brother, please," I whisper, pained. I don't think I've ever seen him like this, excluding when Nyx forced him to turn his emotions back on, and even then, there wasn't this overwhelming defeat. His voice shakes and cracks with it. "You knew?"

"Yeah," Nyx agrees, eyes lidded with her own pity and sorrow for him. "But, you needed to see for yourself. I am sorry, Dae."

"She left. She was free this whole time, but she never came back…." I clench my eyes shut and grit my teeth to keep tears from welling, regret for the rift that had grown between us, regret for how I left him all alone so burdened by his emotions that he kept them turned off for most of our existence, regret for writing him off as heartless and irredeemable when it was the farthest thing from the truth.

After all, it was my fault we were even in this situation in the first place. Had I not been blinded to Father's true character, had I listened to Damon, our father would have never grown suspicious and laid a trap for Katherine. Father would not have killed us while we had her blood in our symptoms. We might never have become vampires-

A hand touches my cheek and I find myself drawn into mercurial eyes. "Enough. Dwelling on the past only leaves you blind to the present. Don't torment yourself. Either of you."

Damon lets out a choked noise, burying his head into Nyx's chest, his breath ragged with the emotion he's trying to force away. 

"You! It's all your fault she's not here!" Noah screams, deranged on us.

"What?" I hiss, baffled at the ridiculousness. A lot of things might be my fault, but Katherine vanishing into the night isn't one of them.

"Noah stop-!" Anna cries out, but he's already charging,, but Damon, eyes red and face a little splotchy yet dry, and Lexi, have him pinned face first in the dirt before he gets far. Meanwhile, I shift in front of Nyx, shielding her and bracing myself to take on Anna And Ben if necessary. Out of my peripheral, I see a delicate hand reach past me and snap, a spark of blue light flashing before a sharp crack fills the air. Noah's neck hangs at an odd angle and I'm once more baffled by the easy power my unusually kind friend hides beneath her skin. Nyx hums, utterly nonchalant. "That one has to die as well. Like the others, he can't live peacefully without seeking revenge nor feed without killing. Will that be a problem for you, Anna, Ben?"

Anna and Ben have both gone bone white, freezing in place, the danger of the unobtrusive cafe owner finally setting in. "N-no, we weren't atached to him, just working together. We have nothing to do with him!"

"Excellent. Stake them and feed the others. Wake them one by one," Nyx says, imperious once more as she lounges on the stone, legs crossed languidly. 

I shoot her an incredulous look and I swear she turns her head in my direction, eyes shut and smirks knowingly. I huff, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Magic bullshit."

Her laughter rings out.

XXXXXNYXXXXXX

"So, in conclusion, the price of our freedom is submission and abandoning justice?" Pearl rasps out as she staggers to her feet using Anna's strength.

I let my eyes narrow and my displeasure be known as my power swells, hair rising again. "You dare? I freed you simply because I thought it right. All I ask of you is to not bring hunters down on us by acting rashly and not to kill while feeding or slaughter innocents, regardless of their ancestry. I even planned to offer daylight rings, and you have the audacity to paint me as some tyrant?" My voice is quiet, emotionless, the broken shards of my unmerged personality, past lives warring with the current one, scraping and chipping against each other as they try to fit together into something cohesive. The older part of me rages at the impertinence even as my newer self tries to quell the wrath.

I'm not sure what my expression looks like from the outside, but it has even my friends going still while the remaining tomb vampires tremble, actually kneeling, terror swallowing them much to my dark satisfaction. "Forgive my foolishness, my lady. I was shortsighted," Pearl backtracks seemingly having become the spokesperson for them all.

I take a few seconds to soothe myself, flexing my sparking hands, before rising off my rock seat. "The Salvatore's have generously agreed to host you tonight and help you acclimate. I also offer my own cafe to those who wish to stay and work in Mystic Falls. I'll offer Daylight rings as I make them. But take heed. Step out of line and your lives are forfeit."

I saunter to Damon's car without a single glance back, knowing he'll take me home. And that I'll have to keep him with me to make sure he doesn't get drunk and self destructive. Damon arrives soon, stiff and silent and it's clear he doesn't want to talk, so I just rest my hand over his and focus my eyes out the window.

His hands are cold.

We arrive back at my cafe and send Enzo and our human friends off with a bit of cajoling, promising that everything is fine and to talk tomorrow. Then I drag Damon up to my sad excuse for my room and tuck him into bed with me and the kids.

"…I can't believe you sleep on a floor mattress. I never realized this wasn't a proper apartment. Where do you even shower?"

"Gym," I reply nonplussed, rubbing his back again and again. "You know my circumstances. Can't spare the cash yet."

"Just move into the boardinghouse with us," he grumbles, fingers running through Thea's curls. Emotional support siblings for the win.

"Not with those unknowns lying about, this is safer considering how warded it is," I disagree.

He frowns tiredly at me and I go back to carding through his hair. "Still, you should have told me you were living like this. I thought you believed asking for help wasn't shameful?"

I give him a rueful look. "It isn't. But in the grand scheme of things, relying on you guys more wouldn't be good either. No matter how close we've gotten in these, what, six months? Doesn't feel right."

He glares. "Hypocrite."

I shrug. "How… how are you feeling?"

He glares harder at the subject change, but sighs, pulling Nico closer to his chest, soaking up the easy affection of the kids splayed around him. "It fu- uh, it sucks. It hurts. I don't understand why I'm never enough."

"You are," I tell him firmly, leaning over him and he spits out a chunk of my hair that falls into his mouth with a huff, making me grin. I bump our foreheads together affectionately. "You are enough. It's not your fault others can't see it."

And really, there wasn't much more that needed to be said, that could be said. When the kids had fallen asleep between us and Damon tangled his fingers in my own, I pretended not to be able to see the tears running down his face, and when morning comes, his aura doesn't seem happier exactly, but oddly more settled. It's much better than the desperate pain he'd worn before, even if the resignation wasn't what I wanted for him either. But at least, this feels like healing.

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AN; We blazing through season one yall 💀

I'm getting ready to bring Katerina the originsls in, so that's something to look forward. As always, I've got very few ideas for the ships so keep voting , even if it's something wild like Silas and Katherine or something terrifying 💙 and let me know what characters, particular villains, your excited for, besides Katherine and the originals of course.