450When I arrived at the Lockwood House with Mason, Tyler was at the front door, greeting guests. Mason's big jeep drove up to the front of the mansion and we stepped out.
"So the black sheep returns." Tyler commented on his uncle, although he could have said the same about me.
"Tyler?" Mason asked.
"Yeah." Tyler confirmed for his uncle. It had been a while since Mason was home.
"What happened to you? In my mind you're twelve years old." Mason joked, he knew how old his nephew was.
"Then that's two years older than the last time you saw me, Uncle Mason." They hugged each other closely.
"Good to see you again."
"Wow, don't I feel left out." I commented from next to the jeep.
"Elena?" Tyler asked, getting me wrong.
"Wrong twin, my friend."
"Oh, my God! Nicole!" Tyler gave me a hug with a smile on his face.
"Hey Ty, it's been a while." I said while releasing him from the tight embrace.
"No kidding, a couple years or so, right?" he asked me.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about your dad, Ty." I put my hand on his shoulder in comfort.
"Thanks it's good to see you two. Come on inside." Both Mason and I walked into the house behind Tyler. I visited with some people before walking out onto the porch.
"I kissed you; I thought you kissed me back. Doppelganger hijinks ensued, and now you're going to ignore me? How's that supposed to make me feel, Elena?"
"I'm sorry? Do I know you?" I asked him, smiling a bit.
"And now you don't know me? Really, Elena? Really mature."
"Look I get that you're angry at Elena but don't do something stupid like confuse me and my sister. I'm Nicole, her twin sister." I tried to get across from him.
"You're scared. You think Katherine is gonna send me off the deep end, don't you? I don't need her for that, so don't pretend to be someone who doesn't exist."
"Seriously? Who's Katherine and when did my sister pick a guy who was mental?" I asked him.
"You don't have a sister, Elena! Get that through your head! Is it such a surprise that I would kiss you?
"Apparently it is." I started walking away when he grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking away. He glared at me.
"Katherine, what are you doing here?"
"Who's Katherine?" That was the moment a girl I recognized as Bonnie ran up to us.
"Elena! Katherine's here! She's with Stefan!
"I'm not Elena! I'm tired of people thinking I'm her!" I almost yelled at them.
"Nikky? Oh, my God! When did you get back?" she hugged me quickly.
"Who's Katherine?" I asked her when she let me go.
"That's a long story."
"Bonnie?" I looked behind Bonnie to see Elena.
"Elena?" she asked her.
"What are you doing with her?" Elena walked over to us and pulled her away from me.
"Nice to see you too, sis." I told her.
"Nikky?" I opened my arms to hug her and she almost jumped into them.
"Now to answer my question, who's Katherine?" They all looked at each other then explained everything they knew to me about what was going on in this little town before going to find my sister's boyfriend.
"So, you kissed your brother's girl?" I asked Damon as we searched.
"It wasn't her." Damon looked away from me.
"Right, it was this Katherine chick who looks like us." I nodded my head to my sister.
"Quite the predicament you're in." I smirked at him and followed my sister as she ran to a guy sitting on a bench with his shirt up and blood running down his stomach. Elena sat by him and Damon went another to, possibly to find Katherine. Elena grabbed a cloth and sat next to the man, Stefan I assumed, and started wiping away blood from his wound.
"You gonna be okay?" she asked him.
"Yeah, it will heal. Who's she?" he asked eyeing me, behind her.
"This is my sister, Nicole, and I wasn't asking about your injury." She gave him a look. He nodded his head to me in a greeting then looked to her.
"I was trying to figure her out. I was playing along and I let her get to me." He answered her honestly. Damon chooses that moment to arrive after his search.
"I tried to track her but she's gone. Oooh, cover up, Fabio." Stefan pulled his shirt down, only the hole in the shirt showed that he ever got hurt. "We got a crazy ex on the loose." He told Stefan then turned to Elena. "You better watch out, looks like Katherine is trying to steal your guy." he smirked at her.
"That's not what's happening." Stefan tried to reassure her.
"Isn't it? I mean it's only fair since I went after your girl." Damon taunted his brother.
"I'm gonna go check on Jenna and Jeremy. Let me know when you guys are done." I shook my head at the two of them and followed Elena as she left. We walked for a while before finding them in the house.
"So what did you do while you were gone?" Aunt Jenna asked me when we got home. After we'd found them both of them practically attacked me, but I have been gone for quite a couple years now.
"Traveled mostly. I got my degree so no more school for me." I told them sitting on the couch with Elena and Jenna next to me. Jeremy was sitting across from us.
"Did you meet anyone special? C'mon give us the details." Jenna pushed.
"Their was one guy, and I loved him. Still do, I guess. But that's over now, I'm home." I told them pushing back the memories. "If you guys don't mind I'm going to shower and get some sleep. It's been a long day." I got up without waiting for their reply and went to my old room for a change of clothes and plugged my phone into the wall to charge. I jumped into the shower and stayed in until the water started to freeze me. When I got ready for bed I heard Elena call out.
"Damon! NO!" I ran to her room and saw her crying over Jeremy. I pushed Damon out of the doorway and ran to my brother and felt for a pulse. Nothing.
"Get out of our house you son of a bitch! OUT!" I yelled glaring at Damon with tears running down my face. Damon looked at us and left. Elena and I held Jeremy in horror and then she noticed a ring on Jeremy's finger.
"It'll be okay, he's coming back." she told me.
"What do you mean? He's dead Elena! We've lost another member of our family!" I reminded her.
"The ring is spelled. If he dies a supernatural death he'll come back." She explained to me.
Elena and I were on the floor, cradling Jeremy in our arms with Stefan standing behind her.
"He saw the ring, that's why he did it. He knew." Stefan tried telling us.
"He didn't see the ring." Elena insisted.
"It's Katherine. She got under his skin. She undid everything that was good about him." Stefan told us.
"There's nothing good about him. Stefan. He's decided what he wants. He doesn't want to feel, he wants to be hated, it's just easier that way. He got his wish." I told him.
"I hate him, Stefan." Elena cried to her boyfriend. Stefan knelt down next to her and comforted her.
"I know. I know." He told her, kissing her shoulder. Jeremy gasped in as much air as he could and Stefan took his face to look him in the eyes.
"What are you doing?" Elena got behind me to hold me back from Stefan.
"Is he okay? Stefan, is he okay?"
"What are you talking about? Let me go, Elena."
"He's okay. Shhh, you're okay." He let Jeremy go with a nod and Elena let me go. I crawled to Jer and hugged him tightly.
"He killed me! Damon killed me!" Elena hugged the two of us.
"It's okay. Oh God."
After I got back into my room I looked at my phone next to my bed and saw the only message.
How'd it go?
-K
According to plan
-N
Do they trust you?
-K
Even if they don't, they'll feel bad for killing my brother so they will tell me everything.
-N
Perfect
-K
