Not About You

Chapter Seventeen

Unfortunately, life didn't get any calmer around the boarding house. Stefan was spending even more time with Caroline as he was serving as her escort for Miss Mystic Falls so he hadn't been around much. And for some reason, John Gilbert had convinced the sheriff that he and Damon should team up to hunt down the vampire responsible for the deaths and blood bank robberies. Lucy found the irony amusing even if they did wonder what the ass was up to.

Then the Gilbert in question showed up at their house. Lucy was the one to answer the door. She sighed and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I finally get one of you to quit coming around and now there's another."

He lifted his brows and looked her over. "Is Damon here?"

"Come in, I guess." She stepped back so he could enter and shut the door behind him. By the time she turned around, Damon was in the hallway.

He held out an arm and she moved to his side where he held her to him. "What do you want, John?"

"You haven't been answering my calls."

"Most people would take that as a hint," Lucy said with an arched brow.

John frowned and narrowed his gaze. "You know what I don't understand here is you. Damon I get. Stefan I get. But you're human. You saw him kill me and you didn't run screaming? Something's off about you."

"And?" He acted like he was telling her something she didn't already know. She'd always been a little weird, a little odd, and she quite enjoyed it.

He shook his head and put his attention back on Damon. "Is she compelled?"

"I'm on vervain, dick," she answered for herself. "Besides, Damon wouldn't do that."

Damon shrugged. "What do you want, John? We both know we aren't going vampire hunting."

"Fair enough," John said with a nod. "The original Johnathan Gilbert had an invention that worked against vampires. It was believed lost in the church fire. Now that we know the vampires survived, we believe the device is retrievable."

"If it wasn't destroyed when we burnt the others," Damon corrected.

"True, but we have reason to believe it survived. We want you to collect it for us."

Lucy took a step away from Damon. "You keep saying we. Who's we?"

"Let's just call us a group of like-minded individuals."

This guy was such a smug bastard. She couldn't stand him. Maybe she just had a natural aversion to all things Gilbert.

"What do you need me for? You know where the tomb is. Go digging yourself."

"Johnathan was friendly with a woman that turned out to be a vampire. Her name was Pearl. Sound familiar?"

Damon immediately pulled Lucy back into his side at the mention of the other woman's name. "We're done here."

John tilted his head. "Excuse me?"

Damon left Lucy's side to head for the door. "I only played along with your blackmail scheme because I curious what you were up to. I'm over it."

"I'll tell everyone on the council what you are," John said just before Damon could open the door. "And I'll tell them your little girlfriend here knows everything."

The vampire's jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth. He stepped toward the other man, every movement marking him a predator. He was furious. "Go ahead. Tell them. I'll kill every last one of them and everyone they might have told of our existence. Then I'll sever your hand, take off your ring and kill you too. Do you understand?"