Chapter Thirty-Six- I Love You, Stupid

Chapter Thirty-Six-I Love You, Stupid.

I sat still as a rock in my seat, paralyzed in fear.
“Damien.” I whispered shakily. Alec gave me a confused look.
“What about Damien?” he asked.
“Behind you.” Alec looked behind him, and, once he saw his old accomplice, his eyes went wide.
“D-Damien?” Alec was obviously panicking.
“Hello Alec, or should I say, Traitor?”
Alec cursed under his breath.
“Kieyra, remember that army of vampire hunters you were supposed to gather?” Alec asked quietly.
“…Yeah.”
“Where are they?”
“Um...Back in Carleton Place…” I flashed him an apologetic look.
“Well. We’re screwed.” Alec said, pressing his lips together in a thin line.
“Yes, yes you are.” Damien snarled. Alec and I exchanged worried glances. I began to get up to jump off of the boat when Damien grabbed both of my wrists.
“Ah ah ah, you’re not going anywhere.”
“Screw you.” I mumbled, struggling to break free of Damien’s strong grip. I looked over and saw that Alec was also being restrained by another one of Damien’s minions. As a last resort, I kicked Tegan awake.
“What?” She groaned. I fought to break free once more.
“Help me.” I cried. Tegan’s eyes widened.
“There’s an evil British guy behind me, isn’t there?”
“Uh huh.” I nodded. Tegan was speechless. But then, out of nowhere, she opened up her mouth really loud and started to scream.
“Fire! Fire!” She wailed. Everyone on the boat started to panic, moving every which way and making the boat rock unsteadily. Tegan then got out of her seat and started jumping on the edge of the boat, sure enough, the boat started to sink, and soon after flipped over.
The first thing I noticed once we were underwater was…well…that I could hold my breath for a really long time. The second thing I noticed was that Damien was no longer holding me, and I had travelled about ten feet away from the boat. The third thing was that Alec was floating just above me, with Tegan by his side. I swam up to the surface.
“What should we do?” I asked, gasping for air.
“Stay hidden until I give you the signal. Then you have to get the hell out of here and find Katherine, okay?”
“But what’s the signal?”
“You’ll know it when you see it.”
“But what about you and Tegan!?”
“We’ll be fine! I’ll take care of her. You have to trust me. Please.” Alec pleaded. I nodded.
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“I just want you to know…I love you, more than anything.”
“I know that, I love you too, now why did you have to say that?” He sighed.
“Because you’re not going to like what I’m about to do.”
“Alec, what are you-” Before I could finish my question, Alec and Tegan had disappeared. I swam at lightning speed farther down the canal, got out of the water, and hid behind Sweden’s flag. I cut a small hole in the flag with my fingernail and watched as Alec and Tegan slowly climbed onto the platform, Tegan hiding her face in Alec’s jacket. I didn’t understand exactly what was going on, so I listened in to what Alec was saying to her.
“Kieyra, we have to get out of here! We’ll have to head back to the safe house before Damien can figure out where we’re going-But I just want you to know, I love you.” I was now extremely confused. I mean, hadn’t he just told me to go find Katherine? Did he want us to go back to the safe house? I looked closer and realized that Alec was holding Tegan in a rather romantic way. Hadn’t he just said that he loved me?
Then, Alec did something I’d never expected him to do. He took Tegan’s face in his hands and kissed her like there was no tomorrow.
I was immediately outraged, and wanted to run out and punch them both in their faces. But then I remembered what Alec had said.
You’re not going to like what I’m about to do.
That must have been the signal. I figured that Alec was probably pretending that Tegan was me- an excellent diversion, if I must say so myself. So excellent even I believed it. I made a break for the employee exit, which, luckily, was unlocked. After I got out, I ran directly to the front gates, dripping on every single person I passed. Since Katherine wasn’t at the gate, I went to the first place I’d expect her to be- a house of mirrors. Sure enough, she was just standing in front of one of those mirrors that make you look tall and skinny.
“Katherine, I need your help.” I said, making her jump.
“Kieyra! Where did you come from? And why are you soaking wet?”
“Long story short, Damien and his minions are here and they’re trying to get me.” Katherine grimaced.
“God dammit!”
“Yeah, I know, I think Alec and Tegan might be in trouble. Tegan was pretending to be me, so once Damien figures out that I'm not with Alec..."
"We're screwed, aren't we?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Katherine started pacing around, and it looked like she was having somewhat of a mental breakdown.
“Oh god. I’m dead. I’m going to die. Oh god.”
“Hey, so am I!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are we gonna do!?” Katherine asked, in a panicked voice.
“We have to go back for Alec and Tegan, and the rest of my friends.” I said, thinking aloud.
“What? Are you kidding me? We have to go! We have to get out of here!” Katherine exclaimed.
“No! I’m not leaving without them, and you can’t make me!”
"Like hell I can!" she grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the exit. I rebelled against her, attempting to free my arm from her tight grasp, but nothing I did would work. Since we were equally as strong as each other, we didn't end up getting far; it was like a game of endless human(or vampire) tug-of-war. Katherine pulled me towards the exit; I pulled her towards the Fantasyland section of the park. This pointless war lasted about thirty seconds, and we stopped and hid behind a hotdog stand when people started to stare.
"Please, Katherine. Please help me." She shook her head.
"No. I can't help you. We need to leave." I knew from the look that she gave me that she was not ever changing her mind. I stood there, just staring into her eyes, begging, for about a minute.
Suddenly, I got an idea.
"Fine. We'll leave. But can you get my necklace from the back pocket of my backpack? I want to leave it here so that Alec knows i'm safe if he makes it out alive. It's a secret code we planned back before we left." I lied. I was immediately grateful for the improv classes my mom made me take when I was little.
"Um...alright." Katherine shot me a confused look, but went into my backpack to get the necklace anyways.
And then, with a loud thud, Katherine crashed to the ground, unconscious.
"Thank you, Mariana Wilkins." I muttered, running straight back to Fantsyland as I tried to look as inconspicuous as possible.
Jade, Elena, Ryan and Sam were sitting outside of the It's A Small World ride with towels wrapped around them, soaking wet. When she spotted me by the entrance to the ride, Jade came running towards me.
"What happened? And why are you wet!?" I asked.
"It was all Sam's idea, actually. We tried to cause a distraction by jumping on Damien and the other guy's backs...But he just ended up flinging us back into the water-which, by the way, is not a good idea to drink."
I tried not to grin.
"Hey, where's Alec? I thought Damien got you two...I assumed that since you were here, you both escaped."
My eyebrows narrowed in confusion.
"What are you talking about? Alec and I never-Oh my god." My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.
"What? What is it?"
"Damien has Alec and Tegan. And since he's most likely  figured out that Tegan is definitely not the doppelganger he is looking for, he has to be looking for me." Even though every part of me knew that I should be forming a plan, I couldn't due to the fact that reality of what was happening was sinking in. Damien would do whatever it took to get his doppelganger, and if it meant holding my best friend and boyfriend hostage, then that's exactly what he'd do. I knew that going to find Tegan and Alec was a death sentence-Damien was far more strong and powerful than I was.
But I loved them. So it was worth it.
"Jade, I have to go back for them." I said.
"No, Kieyra, It's way too dangerous! You'll get caught!"
"I don't care anymore! I always knew that if it came down to it, i'd rather die than have the people I love die for me."
"Please don't do this." Jade was nearly crying.
"Jade, it's the only way." A few seconds passed before she realized that I knew what I was doing, completely understood the consequences, and was going through with it no matter what she said. "Get Elena and the boys; make sure you all get home safely." I said, trying hard to keep my composure. Jade nodded.
"I will." She pulled me into a tight, squeezy hug.
"I'm gonna miss you so much." she cried.
"It'll be alright." I said.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The soft sound of a familliar woman's voice made me jump. I spun around to find the blonde lady i'd seen earlier at the front of the line for the It's A Small World ride standing right behind us.
With Lukas and Antoine, the first guys i'd seen when I fell into the hole.
Lukas pried Jade off of me and held onto her wrists tightly when she screamed and flailed her arms and legs around.
"Let me go!" She screamed.
"Make one more sound and your sister gets it!" Antoine said, grabbing onto Elena. Elena whimpered, but stayed still.
"Jade, do what he says." Jade sighed in defeat and stopped fighting.
"Let them go!" I growled.
"Sorry, I'm not allowed to do that." The blonde girl smirked.
"Let them go and I'll come willingly." I said, in a more calm voice this time. The blonde rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Teens these days. So much brooding, angst and self-sacrifice." She said. Damien and the other minion appeared behind her, with Alec and Tegan.
"Well done, Ana." Damien said to the blonde girl, who then smiled.
"Thank you." she giggled. As soon as she saw Alec, she shook her head in dissapointment.
"I would have never expected you to be the one to betray us." She said. "I'm kind of...dissapointed in your lack of correct judgment. You were stupid to think you could take on Damien on your own. Why would you even think of doing such a thing?"
"What can I say? Love makes you do some crazy things." Alec said. Ana let out a series of loud guffaws.
"Love? Honestly? Like, you two are a thing? You and the doppelganger!?" She continued to snicker for another three minutes. Damien was starting to get impatient.
"Would you be quiet already?" He snapped. Ana quickly collected herself.
"Sorry sir." She mumbled.
"That's what I thought." Damien turned to me, and a sly grin spread across his face.
"You thought you could get away, didn't you? Stupid girl." He snarled. I grimaced.
"I'm not fighting. Not anymore. Let them go, and I'll come willingly." Ana rolled her eyes again.
"That's pathetic." she muttered.
"Damien, I will come with you willingly. You can sacrifice me. The only thing I ask in return is that you don't hurt any of my friends."
"Are you negotiating with me?" Damien snorted. I nodded.
"Please."
He chuckled.
 "How about I make you a compromise."
"Depends. What would this compromise be?"
"I'll spare your little boyfriend, that other girl that was with him, and the little girl you helped escape before. But i'll have to keep the little green-eyed friend of yours, and the Wilkins girl."
"What Wilkins girl?"
"The little brown-haired girl...Annabelle, I think." My heart skipped a beat as I realized exactly why Damien wanted Anna and Jade.
Someone from the bloodline of the story teller.
The blood of a witch.
It was all part of the sacrifice. It wasn't just me who was going to be sacrificed-it was my friends too.
I gulped and turned to Jade.
"It's okay, Kieyra. As long as my sister and brother are safe, I'll do this." she said. I shook my head.
"I can't let you do this for me."
"It's not just about you anymore. I have to do this for my family, too. I'd rather me get sacrificed than anyone else in my family."
I turned back to Damien.
"What about Anna? Isn't there any other witch out there you could use? Like maybe Sarah or something?" I know that sacrificing my stepsister probably wasn't the nicest thing to do, but in all honesty, her existence was kind of pointless.
"I might take it into consideration."
"Kieyra, don't do this! Run!" Alec screamed.
"I'm not letting you die." I said. I turned to Damien.
"I'll come. Right now. As long as you let my friends go." Damien nodded.
"Excellent."
"Kieyra, no-"
"Shut up, boy!" Damien threw Alec to the ground.
"Now say your last words to each other. And make it quick." Damien sighed as Alec quickly scrambled to his feet.
"Kieyra, why would you do this?" Alec asked, holding both of my hands loosely.
"Isn't it obvious?"
Alec thought for a moment, and then shook his head.
"It's because I love you, stupid. And I couldn't live with myself if I let you die for me."
"I can't watch you leave. I can't. I refuse to watch you throw away everything like this."
"Then close your eyes." I felt a tear drip down onto my cheek. Alec shook his head.
"I'm not letting you go." he said, his voice cracking.
"You have to." I stroked his cheek with my thumb. My life was flashing before my eyes-this whole year seemed to have gone by in a flash. It seemed as though just yesterday I had been stupid enough to fall down a hole, get turned into a vampire, and become a walking sacrifice. I wasn't saying that good things hadn't happened-in fact, this year was one of the happiest years of my life. I got a new sister, and a new dad to love and cherish. I made a new friend. I fell in love. I made amends with my relatives, and found good qualities in seemingly evil people. Yes, maybe I would die young. But in a way, it didn't matter anymore. I had lived a life worth living for, and would die for someone worth saving.
"Goodbye, Alec." I wiped the tears out of my eyes and prepared myself mentally for what I was about to do as we exchanged our very last kiss.
"I love you. Remember that." Alec nodded, trying hard not to break down.
"I will."
"I need you to one last thing for me, okay?" I asked.
"Of course, anything."
"I need you to close your eyes." Reluctantly, Alec shut his eyes. Damien's other minion released Tegan, and I hugged my friend quickly before Damien took me by the waist, and I was suddenly whisked off into the darkness of the forest.

A/N: So I was hoping to finish this yesterday, on Alec's supposed birthday, but i had to go to sleep :( and even now i shouldn't be typing because my eyes are messed up from getting eyedrops in them and i've been wearing my mom's reading glasses for about an hour now, screwing up my eyes even more. hehe. but i had to get it done!


~Kira~

December 2011 Update

Hey Non-Existent Hole Readers.
So i'd like to talk about a few things.
THE HOLE IS ALMOST DONE! WOO HOO! WOO HOO!
So there's a few things i'd like to say concerning that.
After I finish the Hole, there is no doubt I will write a sequel. There's too many things left hanging after the ending i'm planning that I can't not make a sequel!
But...Sadly...
After this is done, I would really like to work hard on either Not Another Vampire Love Story or the new story I came up with, called 7 Ways To Catch a Spy (it's gonna be on wattpad soon, check it out ^.^)
7WTCAS is pretty much an idea i've had for ages, but never really had a plot line or anything, and whenever I started writing it, I ended up ripping off Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls Series. (there's a new book coming out in March 2012! :DD)
Anyways, so here's the summary if you want to know what it's about.
Basically, it's about this girl, Tayziie Parkins (Her real name is Taylor Zelda...Awks -.-) who really likes spy work and stuff like that. Then this guy, "Alex Smith" (which Is not his real name) and a mysterious substitute teacher appear in her town just after her suspicious History teacher disappears mysteriously. So Tayziie starts spying on "Alex" and "Mr. Carlsby" (that's the teacher), and then thinks that they're plotting something, so starts following them around everywhere, until she gets caught and then finds out that her mom used to work for the CIA and her dad is the principal of an all boys school for spies (That "Alex" attends). She is then sent to an all-girls spy school in the fictional town of Helscon, Virginia, where she meets Nina (the school board's president type guy's british daughter) and Aly, a shy girl from Oklahoma. Long story short, the three girls and "Alex" decide to go on a mission to stop the suspicious history teacher from breaking into a secret room of the school and taking over the CIA's Secret Agents.

Cheesy? Yeah. And am I terrible at summary writing? Yeah. But will you read it? If you don't want Tayziie Parkins to kill you in your sleep. ^.^

Peace :P
~Kira~

Chapter Thirty-Five-It's A Small, Small World.

Chapter Thirty-Five-It's A Small, Small World.
When I woke up the next day, I was happy,  which was weird for me, because I rarely ever wake up happy. I always wake up grumpy (I’m not exactly a morning person). But this day was…different. Instead of cranky, cold, tired, and hungry, I woke up happy, warm, full of energy, and ready to greet the day. Whether or not this had to do with waking up in Alec’s arms with his face pressed into the back of my neck, I have no idea.
“Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase! Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze! It means no worries, for the rest of your days!” Jade sang, skipping into the room.
“You seem happy.” I said. Jade smiled.
“You seem…warm.” She giggled.
“Mm. Very.”
“Is he awake?” She asked.
“It's our problem-free philosophy! Hakuna Matata!” Alec sang into my neck.
“Yep.”
“Tell her to go away.” He groaned.
“Jade, out.” I said. She rolled her eyes and walked away.
“We have to get up sometime soon, you know that, right?”
“Mmh.”
“Mmh isn’t a word.”
“Mmh” I tried to pull away from Alec, but he wouldn’t let me.
“Don’t go. You’re warm.” I smiled and rolled over. He smiled at me, running his fingers through my hair.
“You know, we do have to do something about Damien.” I said.
“Shh. No D word today. Just fun.”
“But if we don’t kill him, the curse-”
“No C word either.” He said. I rolled my eyes.
“We only have a week left until it’s the summer solstice, and if we don’t kill Damien, then it’s lights out for you.” I frowned.
“Relax, we will. Hakuna matata, no worries, remember?” I sighed.
“Fine.  But tomorrow, we’re going back home and making a plan, okay?”
“You’re a buzz kill.” He mumbled.
“But you love me.” I reminded him.
“But I love you.” He chuckled. The bedroom door swung open and Katherine skipped in.
"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO KNOCK ON A DOOR!?" I yelled, throwing a pillow at Katherine's face.
"Hey, that was my pillow!" Alec complained.
"Suck it up, princess." I said. Alec stole my pillow, layed back down, and pretended to be asleep. I got up and went over to Katherine.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I accidentally let Tegan have an energy drink, and now she's running around, yelling "look at me! I'm a sparkly vampire! HEAR ME WHOOSH!", and it's pissing the crap out of me!" I laughed.
"That's your problem, not mine." Katherine groaned and went downstairs. I picked up the pillow and started hitting Alec with it, jumping up and down on the bed.
"It's Christmas, mommy! Wake up, wake up! It's Christmas!" I yelled.
"Five more minutes, sweetheart, mommy needs her sleep." Alec groaned.
"But mommy, I wanna see if Santa came!!"
"Santa's not real, it's always been me. Of course I came. Now let me have five more minutes."
"Santa's not real?" I asked, in my cutest little kid voice.
"No, it's just me." I sat down on Alec's back.
"Santa, I want Cameron Bright for Christmas."
"What!?"Alec turned over, causing me to fall onto the bed.
"Yeah, you heard me. I'm breaking up with you so I can go elope with Cameron Bright." He raised his eyebrows.
"Who's that?" He asked.
"This actor in one of the Twilight movies. He kinna looks like you. And he plays a guy named Alec too." I explained.
'Should I be concerned?"
"Yes. Very." I laughed. He rolled his eyes.
"Hurry up! I wanna go to Disney World!" Tegan complained from downstairs.
"We should probably get up now." I said. Alec groaned.
"Fine."
After that we got up, got dressed, waited for another hour while Katherine looked at herself in a mirror, and then headed off to Disney World.

"Oh my gosh! It's Mickey Mouse! It's Mickey Mouse! IT'S MICKEY FREAKING MOUSE!" Elena exclaimed, running towards a guy in a Mickey Mouse suit.
"Elena, wait!" Jade yelled, running after her sister.
"Text me if you need anything!" I called after.
"I will!" Jade and Elena vanished out of sight. Alec was over by the gates, talking to Katherine about something, and even though I could feel the jealousy building up inside of me, I still remembered Alec's words.

You make me feel human.


If that was the one thing about me that kept Alec from running back to Katherine, then so be it. I turned back to my former friends, who were planning out their day. I walked over to them.
"So, what's the plan for today?" They fell silent.
"Why?" They asked in unison.
"What? Is it so wrong that I want to spend time with my friends today?" I asked.
"Well...don't you have to deal with your...erm...vampire issues?" Tegan asked.
"Ah ah ah. No V word today. Besides, vampire shmampire, I still have needs. And right now, those needs are normal human fun with normal human people."
"But...what about them?" Ryan asked, pointing to Katherine and Alec.
"Meh, Katherine can stay in the house of mirrors all day, and Alec can go...eat a bunny."
"A bunny? Why would he eat a bunny?" Tegan asked.
"I don't know. It just seems like something he would do." I shrugged, looking over my shoulder at Katherine and Alec.
"I'm gonna go talk to them. I'll be back in a minute, okay?" My friends nodded, and I walked over to Alec, who was now alone because Katherine had disappeared.
"Hey, would you mind if I hung out with my friends today?" I asked. He looked at me with puppy dog eyes.
"Okay, half of the day?" I asked. Still more puppy dog eyes.
"Alec! I spend all of my time with you! You're suffocating me! Theoretically, of course, but you're suffocating me!" I whined.
"You owe me for the grand theft auto thing with Katherine, remember?"
"I AM NOT GOING ANY LOWER! IT'S HALF OF THE DAY OR YOU GET NOTHING!" I snapped.
"Fine, fine. A little grumpy today, now aren't we?"
"Trust me, you haven't seen grumpy." I growled. He rolled his eyes, smiled, and held onto both of my hands, looking at me with his puppy dog eyes again.
"You're cute when you're angry."
"Shut up." I blushed.
"Would you two get on with it!" My friends yelled. I laughed.
"I better go." I said. Just to gross out my friends, I planted a long, hard kiss on Alec's lips, making sure they could all see.
"Ew! Get a room!" Tegan yelled, shielding her eyes with her hands while Sam and Ryan looked away.
"It didn't happen. If I didn't see it, It didn't happen." I heard Katherine mutter from across the street. I chuckled.
"Okay, I'm going now." I said, running over to my friends. I could still hear Katherine's incessant mumbling, and it was starting to get annoying.
"It didn't happen. Didn't. It's all in your head, Kat. You didn't see that." Then, she started swearing in Bulgarian.
"Come on guys, let's go."

After we went on each rollercoaster about 3234324 times, we met up with Jade, Elena, and Alec at the It's A Small World ride, partly because Tegan REALLY wanted to, and partly to get out of the heat.
The moment we started getting closer to the front of the line, I started feeling…uneasy. Like something wasn’t right. I felt like…like I was being watched. And the blonde lady at the front of the line who was letting people into the ride looked vaguely familiar. I felt like…I’d seen her before, somewhere. But it wasn’t her I’d recognized; it was her reddish-brown eyes. I could have sworn I’d seen them somewhere before.  I wasn’t going to say anything-If I didn’t know her, I’d probably die of embarrassment, and If I did-well, the chances of her being the bad guy were pretty high. So I kept quiet.

When we got into the ride, Alec, Tegan and I sat at the front, while Jade, Elena, Sam and Ryan (who stopped to try to get one of the people posing as statues to crack) had to sit in the boat behind us.
About two minutes later, when I was looking around at all of the creepy little animatronic children, I saw a Disney World employee fixing a broken little animatronic Dutch boy. Only…he kept looking down at my boat, giving me an evil look. I rubbed my eyes, and when I opened them again, the man was gone.
“That was weird.” I said.
“What was weird?” Alec asked.
“I thought I just saw…never mind.” I shook my head and relaxed my head on Alec’s shoulder, slowly closing my eyes and enjoying the cool air. Since I was bored, I tuned in to my friends’ conversation.
“Whoa, dude those are lifelike! I wonder how they got their faces to look like that!” Ryan exclaimed.
“Um, I’ve never seen floating dead corpses on this ride before.” Said Jade.
“Relax, times are changing. Let’s just chill…” Sam trailed off. I was just starting to tune out my friends’ meaningless babbling when something clicked in my mind.
Dead corpses?
Why would there be fake dead corpses on a ride based around carelessness and joy?
Something wasn’t right.
“Alec.” I nudged his side.
“What?”
“Something’s not right here.”
“What are you talking about? Everything’s fine. It’s just the heat; it’s making you see things. Calm down and relax. Enjoy the ride.” I frowned.
“You’re an idiot.” I growled.
“That’s nice, Kieyra.” Obviously, he was no longer paying attention to me.
“Fine then.” I turned to Tegan, who was sound asleep, and snoring like a bear.
“How attractive is that.” I muttered, noticing some drool at the corner of her mouth. All of a sudden, I felt a tap on the back of my seat.
“It’s impolite to kick people’s seats, kid.” I sighed, fidgeting in my seat. Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Okay, quit it, bud.” Tap tap tap tap tap.
“Listen, kid!” I spun around to put this kid in his place, but it took me merely seconds to realize that the person behind me was no kid. Seeing the immediate look of fear in my eyes, the man smiled, his crimson eyes staring evilly into mine.
“Hello again, Little Katerina.”

Chapter Thirty-Four-You Make Me Feel Human (also known as...OH EM GEE, KIRA ACTUALLY POSTED!?)

“How long ‘till we get there!” Tegan whined, fidgeting in her seat. Alec rolled his eyes.

“About five more hours.” He said. Jade groaned.

“Can we drop her off in Virginia, and maybe just leave her and never come back for her?” she asked.

“Hey!” Tegan frowned.

“Guys, shut up! Can’t you see I’m trying to drive here!?” Alec snapped. The entire car was filled with silence.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Well you’re in a mood.” Said Jade. \

“Yeah, and I have a reason to be!”

“Why, because your girlfriend stabbed you with vervain, threw you into a bush and ran away with our only vehicle?”Tegan asked.

“Hmm, yeah, that might have something to do with it.”

“Tegan, you should probably shut up now.” Jade said.

“Fine.” Tegan grumbled.

“Remind me again why we’re still going to Florida and not trying to find Kieyra?” Jade asked.

“Because…” Alec trailed off. He didn’t really have a straight answer to her question. He didn’t even know the answer.

“Because…well…”

“Because Kieyra told you to?” Tegan asked.

“I thought I told you to keep your mouth shut!” Jade snapped.

“No, she’s right.”Alec sighed.

“Tegan’s right?” Jade asked, giving Tegan a surprised look. Tegan smiled.

“Really?” Tegan asked.

“Wow. That’s a first.” Said Ryan. Even Elena, who barely knew Tegan, was dumbfounded.

“Thanks guys.” Tegan said sarcastically, frowning.

“Well, it’s true. You’re rarely right about anything.” Sam said. Everyone else (except Tegan) nodded in agreement.

“You guys suck.”

                                     

“How much longer ‘till we get there?” I asked. It was getting later, around 7 o’ clock now, and we had been driving nonstop for hours.

“Not much longer.” Katherine said. “We’re in Florida already, we just need to get to Orlando.”

“Okay.” It had been a long, silent car ride ever since I brought up Katherine’s sister. This was the first time I’d spoken in hours. We passed a few signs advertising Disneyland, and even though it was the least of my problems, I was mad that my parents never took me there.

“I wanna go to Disneyland.” I said. Katherine laughed.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Fine then. I promise, after all this is over, we’ll go to Disneyland.” Katherine said.

“Yay!” I exclaimed, doing a mini-happy-dance.

“You know, you’re quite the kid.” She laughed.

“I know. I’m the best doppelganger ever.” I smiled.

“Totally.” She said.

About an hour later, we were in downtown Orlando, five minutes away from the “safe” house. I was nervous as hell. We stopped in front of a small brick house at the edge of the city.

“Wait in the car for a second.” Katherine said, getting out of the car and crossing to the other side of the street. She returned shortly with a little girl wearing a girl scout uniform.

“This is Rebecca. Rebecca is selling girl scout cookies. Rebecca is our way of getting in to the safe house.” I narrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

“How is a little girl going to help us get into the safe house?”

“Simple. She has an extra girl scout sash we can put on you, and you’re going to pretend that you’re her big sister. Capiche?”
“Okay…but what if they recognize me?” Katherine handed me a pair of sunglasses.

“Wear these. If they can’t see your eyes, they might not recognize you.”  I nodded and put the sunglasses on. Rebecca looked at me nervously.

“What’s going on?” She asked, with a shaky voice.

“It’s okay, sweetie, no one’s going to hurt you.” Katherine said in a reassuring voice. Rebecca looked over to me.

“She’s telling the truth. Well, at least she better be.” I said, glaring at Katherine, who rolled her eyes at me.

“Fine, fine. Just get on with it. Remember, you have to get invited in. If you don’t, this entire little mission will have been pointless.”

“Yes, Katherine.” I sighed. Rebecca and I walked towards the small house and knocked on the door. The man who answered was tall, with light brown hair and dark eyes. He was kind of intimidating.

“Would you like to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies?” Rebecca asked sweetly.

“No, sorry kids.”

“Um, sorry to bother you, but if it’s okay, could I come in and use your bathroom? It’s really kind of urgent…” I said in a childish voice.

“Ugh, fine, but make it quick. It’s at the end of the hallway, first door on the left.”

“Thank you!” I ran in and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I sat on the floor and hugged my knees as I heard three very different screams, followed by a knock at the bathroom door.

“Who is it?”

“Miley Cyrus.” Katherine said sarcastically from the other side of the door.

“If you’re Miley Cyrus, you have to say y’all after everything you say.” I said. Katherine sighed.

“Do I really have to?”

“Yep.”

“Ugh, fine. I’m Miley Cyrus, y’all!” She said in a southern accent.

“That’s better.” I unlocked and opened the door. In the hallway, there were now three dead bodies.

“What happened to Rebecca?” I asked.

“I compelled her to forget everything and she went home.”

“And you killed all three of them in less than a minute?”

“Yes.”

“So…what do we do now?”

“Well…I guess we could go to a hotel…or Disneyland…” As tempting as those ideas were, the guilt of betraying her was eating away at me. I had to say something.

“There’s…actually something I wanted to talk to you about.” Katherine gave me a confused look.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, well…I know that you’re planning on letting Alec die. But…why? What did he ever do to you?”

“You’re not supposed to know that.” Katherine snapped.

“I’m not a stupid little kid anymore, Katherine.”

“Well I’ve made up my mind, and there’s nothing you can do about it, Kieyra.”

“Fine then. Let him die. And then you can live the rest of your life feeling my pain. Now, what did he ever do to you?”

“Nothing...” Katherine sighed. “I guess I’m just jealous that he loves you and not me, after all we’ve been through.” I burst out laughing.

“You? Jealous?”

“Shut up or I’ll rip your heart out!”

“Oh please, I’m not scared of you.” I was still laughing for another five minutes. I laughed until it hurt. Katherine, however, was not so impressed.

“You’re unbelievable. You know that, right?” She said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m almost done , so let me have my fun.” Katherine rolled her eyes.

“You have fifteen seconds. Fourteen. Thirteen.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop.” It took me a minute to collect myself. Just as I stopped laughing, there was a knock at the door. I froze.

“Who do you think it is?” I whispered. Katherine shrugged.

“Go hide behind the couch. I’ll go see.” I nodded and was quiet as I struggled to squeeze behind the smelly couch. Katherine slowly made her way over to the door and looked through the peephole. Then she sighed.

“Lover boy and company are here.” I jumped out from behind the couch as quickly as I could and just as the door swung open I ran straight into Alec’s arms. I didn’t care if he was mad at me or not.

“I’m so sorry!” I cried. Was I honestly crying? I didn’t care.

“It’s okay. You’re forgiven.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I missed you so much.” I sniffed.

“I missed you too.” He admitted.

“Ahem.” Jade cleared her throat loudly behind Alec.

“Sorry.” I said, letting go of Alec and hugging Jade.

“Well, that’s better. But really, I should have gotten the first hug. I mean, we’ve been friends way longer than you two have been dating.”

“Two days.” I corrected, rolling my eyes.

“Whatever.” Tegan and Elena joined what was now a group hug.

“So…what do we do now?” Sam asked, standing awkwardly with Ryan outside. Katherine shrugged.

“Kieyra wanted to go to Disneyland.” She said. Elena’s face lit up.

“We totally should go to Disneyland!” she exclaimed.

“I wanna go on the It’s a Small World ride!” Tegan said. Alec smiled.

“So we’re going to Disneyland?” He asked.

“I guess so.” Said Katherine, sighing.

“When should we go?” he asked. I yawned.

“Tomorrow morning. We could probably just stay here for the night, as long as one of us stays awake to keep watch.”  I said.

“I’ll do it.” Katherine said. “Anything to get me out of…quality time with Kieyra’s friends.” I rolled my eyes.

“They’re not that bad.” I defended.

“Whatever you say.” She said.

We looked around and found out that there were four beds in the entire house. The sleeping arrangements so far were as follows: Sam and Ryan, Jade  and Elena, and Teagan alone, since no one wanted to share a bed with her (due to the fact that she kicks in her sleep, snores, and drools). Which left...me and Alec.

Oh god.

“Katherine, are you sure you want to keep watch?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes. One hundred percent.” Katherine said, sighing.

“Oh. Okay.” My heart raced nervously. Kill me. Kill me now. I felt someone tap on my shoulder and I spun around. Alec. Crap.

“Maybe I should help Katherine keep watch. I mean, I wouldn’t want her to be alone all night.” I suggested. Alec rolled his eyes.

“That’s a BS excuse for our sleeping arrangement, Kieyra.”

“It is not!” I lied.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not!”

“You’re such a liar.” He smirked.

“Shut up.” I growled.

“Am I really that bad?”

“Well…no…but-”

“But what?” He asked.

“You’re…you. And you make me nervous.” He laughed.

“How so?”

“I don’t know! If I knew, we wouldn’t be in this situation, now would we?” He laughed and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder.

"Alec! Put me down!" I yelled.

"Nope." he carried me upstairs to our designated bedroom as I pounded on his back with my fists and begged for my release.

"PUT ME DOWN NOW OR I SWEAR, I WILL-"

"You will what?"

"Um...I didn't think it out that far exactly."

"That's what I thought." He dropped me onto a bed, and since I was dizzy from all the blood that rushed to my head while I was upside-down, it took me a minute before I could see straight.

"I think I just lost, like, 7 IQ points from that." I said. Alec smiled. 

"So we're at negative seven now?"

"I'm not that stupid."

"Okay, whatever stops the tears..."

"Hey! You're mean!"

"But you love me." he said, a smug expression on his face.

"Don't be so smug." I said, standing up. He locked his arms around my waist, looking at me with that weird eye thing he does that makes me nervous.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

"I dunno." he said, smiling.

"Stop it." I said.

"Stop what?" He said, pulling me closer.

"You're teasing me." I frowned.

"Yes. And?"

"I don't like it."

"Oh, please, you love it."

"You know what i'd love more?"

"What?"

"IF YOU'D SHUT UP AND KISS ME!" I yelled.

"I told you, I-"

"Don't you give me that BS excuse again! I'm sick of it! You know, you make me so freaking mad sometimes! If you really don't want to kiss me just tell me, because this is starting to really bug me, and i'm starting to feel like there's something wrong with me, or my face, or-" I was immediately silenced when, out of nowhere, Alec crushed his lips against mine. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Not Damien, not the sacrifice, not even the fact that I was miles from home in a strange house alone with my best friends, my best friend's sister, two guys I barely knew, my ancestor, and the boy I loved. It was like the world around us no longer existed.

"I love you. Don't ever forget it." He whispered, smiling. I smiled as he leaned in to kiss me again.

After about ten more minutes of gushy, cheesy romantic crap that no one wants to hear about, I went downstairs, changed into a pair of pyjama shorts and a t-shirt, and went back upstairs. Alec was lying in bed, pretending to be asleep. I crawled under the blanket and poked his face.

"Hmm." he didn't move.

"Don't you "hmm" me. I know you're awake." I said.

"Hmm." he repeated.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." I ruffled his hair.

"Don't touch my hair." he said, opening his eyes. I smiled.

"I have a question." He said.

"What?"

"Why did you come back for me? "

"Because I love you. Why else?"

"Well...you stabbed me with vervain and left with Katherine in your dad's van. I just thought...maybe you just came back for yourself. To kill my friends to stop whatever you thought they were going to do to you-which is something I still don't understand."

"You thought i'd be like Katherine?" He nodded

"I wouldn't do that. By the way, she wants to kill you because she's jealous of us." Alec looked at me confusedly.

"What!?"

"Yeah, she was trying to hide me away so that you would die instead of us killing Damien. Which reminds me, we really have to go back and kill him." Alec smiled.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." I laughed.

"You wanna know something?"he asked.

"What?"

"There's a lot of things that we have that Katherine and I never had together, but...there is one thing we have that never could have happened between me and her."

"Oh? What's that?"

"The way you make me feel." I looked at him confusedly.

"What do you mean?" He smiled.

"You make me feel...human."

"Explain."

"Like, when I'm with you, you make me feel like, for once in my life, I can be a normal teenager. I've never really felt that way before. I like it." I smiled, then yawned.

"I'm tired." I said.

"I noticed." Alec chuckled. I turned over, but Alec wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him.

"Goodnight." He whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too." I said, but since I was already half asleep, it came out like "i luff yuh tuh." And then, before I knew it, I was asleep.