A life in the shadows

2

Matteo went back home after a few hours. The boarding house was empty, so he decided to find a room and relaxed on his bed. It was a nice room, really.
By the time he heard Stefan and Elena drive up, it was kind of late, and he could tell something was up.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Klaus- he possessed Alaric. And h-he killed Bonnie."
"What?!" He asked. He closed his eyes and calmed himself down. He took a deep breath and walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" Stefan asked.
"Just excuse me. I'll be back." Matteo said and walked out, getting his car keys out. He drove over to Alaric's house, where he knew Klaus was and knocked on the door.
"Matteo." He said. "I didn't expect you here."
"Are you freaking kidding me?" He yelled. "She was a teenage girl."
"With the means to kill me."
"You're a thousand year old Original vampire. She's a seventeen year old witch. You can be a genius, Klaus. When you try. But the fact is, you'd rather kill an innocent girl who was only ever trying to save her best friend. I didn't think I'd say this to you because you've always been kind of evil, and I didn't think you could get worse, but I'm actually disappointed in you."
"Big deal. One less witch in the world."
"Someday you'll regret all these bad decisions you're making."
"You know who I am, Matteo. And you know I'll do anything to rid myself off this curse."
"Honestly, I didn't think you'd stoop this low." Matteo shrugged and turned to leave, but a voice stopped him.
"Matteo Salvatore?" Katherine said. "I, for one, am surprised to see you alive. I thought I'd killed you."
"You did." He said. "I remember all of it, too."
"You've kept quiet since your supposed death. What brings you to Mystic Falls?"
"Well, Katherine. That's really none of your business now, is it?" Matteo stiffened, as he felt a surge of power. He was keeping his senses attuned for whatever might happen. "I have to go."
"Matt-" Klaus started.
"Don't bother. I guess I was just wrong, to think you were worth it." Matteo went back to his car. Maybe the witch was alive again. It seemed like the only explanation for this certain surge of power. Once he got home, he saw Elena come down the stairs. He went to Stefan. "Is Bonnie alive?"
"Yeah, turns out Damon had her cast a spell. He wanted Elena's reaction to be real." Stefan looked over to his brother in confusion. "How did you know?"
"I have a sixth sense about these kinds of things."
"A sixth sense?"
"Anyways, you, Damon and I need to catch up about the past century and a half." Stefan nodded at his brother in agreement. "You comfort your girlfriend, and I'll meet you in Damon's room. Deal?"
"Deal, Matty. We missed you, big brother."
"I missed you too." Matteo put a hand on Stefan's shoulder, before walking up the stairs. He hoped he could keep up the pretence that he was a vampire, because if his brothers asked he wouldn't lie to them.
"Matteo." Damon said as he knocked on the door.
"It's Matt."
"Why don't you go by Matteo?"
"It's a very long story, and one for another time."
"Okay sure."
"You're in love with her, aren't you?"
"Yeah. All we'd need is for you to fall in love with her too and it'd be 1864 all over again."
"Worry not, Damon. I'm truly over Katherine, and honestly Elena's what, seventeen? I'm thirty. It's kind of creepy, don't ya think?"
"Wasn't Katherine seventeen?"
"No she was twenty three, and I started dating her when I was about twenty five. Five years before you and Stefan met her."
"I didn't know that."
"Yeah, I met her on that trip Marcus and I went on, to visit his family in Chicago. The next few years, I'd make some sort of excuse to leave the town, just to meet up with her. Then she came to Mystic Falls and things were just awesome. I didn't know about you and Stefan and her. She'd compelled me to ignore anything that I might have seen between you guys."
"Wow, I'm sorry. That had to be rough." Damon said. "And I thought Stefan and I had it hard."
"Katherine was a bitch, Damon. And she knew exactly how to play us all. She was playing the long game. It wasn't our fault."
"I know." Damon nodded  and Stefan joined the room. He had two blood bags in his hand, and a bottle of what looked to be blood. Matteo hid his grimace.
"I got us blood." He said.
"What's with the bottle?"
"Saint Stefan drinks bunny blood because he can't handle the big boy stuff."
"Oh, well that's fine. I'm full anyways. I don't want blood, right now."
"We're vampires. We need blood, we crave blood. We can never be too full for blood." Damon said.
"I'm really full Damon." Technically Matteo wasn't lying. He was full. Full of food. And he didn't want blood because it wasn't in his diet.
"Fine." Damon said. "More for me."
"So, Matty. How long have you known about us?"
"I've always known, but I couldn't find you sooner."
"Why not?"
"My life was kind of dangerous. It wasn't something I wanted you two to be a part of, in case you ended up getting hurt or worse. God did I want to. I did keep tabs on you, though. Made sure you were okay or close enough to it."
"You knew we were alive and not once did you come for us." Damon said, anger burning in his eyes.
"I have spent a century and a half trying to tidy up my life, hoping for a minute for things to calm down so I could visit or even call but I wasn't allowed."
"Allowed? You're going to have to do better than that."
"How's this? To keep you safe, I had to watch you from afar."
"Safe from what?" Stefan asked, crossing his arms.
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because then I'd be signing your death sentences."