Wayward Hearts- Book 4

Part 6

Emma sat in the Salvatore library sorting through several books she had found on memory. The same ones she had scoured for hours when Damon forgot who she was. None of it applied to their current situation, but it was worth a shot.

When her phone started ringing, she looked at it hopeful that it was Bonnie. It was Damon.

"How is the brotherly bonding going?" Emma asked Damon over the phone.

He was driving around with Stefan trying to jog his memory.

Damon hesitated but tried to sound positive, "It's...going. I got this. Are you going to meet us at the Grill later?"

Emma set down the book she was flipping through, "Yeah, whatever you need. Should I call Sam or Dean?"

"No, no. We can deal with this on our own," Damon glanced over at Stefan in the passenger seat.

"Ok, I'll see you at the Grill later," Emma said before she hung up.

She headed to the front door, grabbing her helmet, keys, and jacket. It was a short drive to the Mystic Grill, but somehow Damon and Stefan managed to beat her there, they were sitting at a table.

Emma walked up behind Damon and draped her arms over his shoulders, hugging him from behind and resting her chin on his head. It made him smile briefly.

"But maybe killing our father and turning into a vampire and all the trauma associated with that is what made me become a vampire who feeds on people and then rips their heads off," Emma grimaced and hid her face in Damon's hair at the mention of the Ripper hidden within Stefan, "but now that I don't have all those memories and all that guilt, maybe the Ripper thing won't be such a problem."

Damon reached up and grabbed Emma's hand tightly, remembering her sister, "Let's not try it out, okay?"

A bell chimed, several people, including Damon and Stefan clinked their glasses together before drinking. Emma looked around confused.

"Did I miss something?" Emma asked as she moved to sit down in one of the empty chairs next to Damon.

"Just the best excuse to drink," Damon smiled coyly at her, "it's the graveyard bell thing."

Stefan smirked, "Is this town always so upbeat about dead people?"

"Well, in the theme of morbid town tradition, you go back to the 1820s when everyone was so paranoid about the cholera thing that they would occasionally bury a body a wee bit before its time," Damon started to explain.

"So...you have a holiday dedicated to burying people alive?" Stefan questioned.

"Well, they were so paranoid that they would actually request to be buried with a string attached to a bell above ground, and then the whole family would hang around the grave for 24 hours in hopes of hearing the bell and that their loved one would come back, but now it's just a really kick-ass excuse to get hammered," Damon raised his glass again as another bell chimed.

Emma laughed as she stood up straight, no doubt it was Damon's favorite town tradition.

"Have you heard from Bonnie yet? A witch did this, maybe she can undo it. I've called her like, a dozen times," Emma asked Damon.

Damon shook his head and looked a little hurt, "No, and I've called her at least as much as you have. In the meantime, I say we let Stefan be Stefan. Carefree, no guilt, drunk Stefan."

Emma looked over to where Stefan was sitting, but he wasn't there, "So...where did drunk Stefan wander off to?"

Damon looked slightly alarmed, "You don't happen to see a cute little blonde waitress around do you?"