All the cards

46

Amity stayed with Caroline overnight with Aeliana, monitoring her health. She magically scanned her every hour and sat in the room with her. The sisters had been bickering, much to Caroline's amusement.
"I can't believe you asked Mal for help."
"Lia, I asked Mal because I was blocked off and I'm pretty sure you would have been too. His whole evil phase is finally bearing fruit."
"Pretty sure means not certain."
"You could always try now."
"No, thanks." She huffed.
"I'm sorry, Lia."
"Whatever."
"I know you hate him-"
"Hate is too soft a word."
"Detest, loathe, despise, abhor?"
"There's no word to describe what I feel for Mal."
"He's different now."
"And for how long?"
"I'm not telling you to forgive and forget. Nor am I telling you to give him a chance. I'm just saying be open to the idea that he might not be so bad. He might be our Malum again."
"Yeah, sure." Amity's phone rang- it was Isaac. She ignored it. A few seconds later her phone chimed with a text.
Hey, I need your help. Your friend Mal kind of whammied me someplace and I don't know where I am.
Amity stood up, alert. "Keep an eye on her, I need to check on something."
"So, which brother of yours messed up this time?"
"It's Mal. He's interfering again."
"Huh. I told you so."
"He means well, Lia."
"Stop excusing him and go save your boyfriend from his evil clutches."
"Not my boyfriend." Amity rolled her eyes and disappeared.
"Amity has a boyfriend?" Caroline asked.
"Don't talk to me." Aria snapped.
"Amity might hate me, but as long as I have these kids in me, she wants to make sure I'm safe."
"Yes, well, I have a lot of ways to shut you up without hurting you and the babies." Caroline looked away.

Amity searches for Isaac, materialising beside him. She groaned noticing he was right beside the Grill.
"I'm going to kill him." She said.
"Amity?"
"I'm sorry." She apologised. "Mal... he's just trying to help. Or amuse himself. His intentions aren't always clear."
"Where am I?"
"Mystic Falls. Virginia." She saw the gears turning in his head as his eyes widened.
"No..."
"Yes." She nodded.
"Okay, why would he send me here?"
"I asked Mal for his help with Caroline. This is him trying to balance out the good he did. He's not exactly a give out of the goodness in his heart kind of guy."
"You have strange friends."
"Mal isn't exactly a friend." Amity cringed. "I didn't want to say anything until after I'd spoken with my siblings but there's a long story accompanying Mal's... presence in my life. One I will tell you in time, I swear."
"Sure."
"Why don't you ever get mad at me or annoyed, at least?" He looked at her confused. "I'm not always very kind to you."
"What are you talking about?"
"I pretty much played with your emotions, I meddled with your mind, and I always have some secret or another that I'm keeping from you."
"You've been alive for a thousand years. I'd be alarmed if I knew everything there was to know about you. You compelled me, sure, but you compelled me out of your life, out of what you believed was harm's way. Plus, you did have a lot on your plate and I'm fine now, and what are you talking about playing with my emotions? You have always been upfront about not wanting to pursue a relationship."
"Isaac.."
"Okay, Where is this coming from?"
"I just think you're too nice." A loud snort echoed from a foot away and they looked up to see Mal looking at them, entertained by their conversation. "Malum!"
"You of all people cannot tell another person they're too nice." He shrugged. "I mean... that's like me telling another person they're too diabolical."
"What was your purpose in bringing him here?"
"Well, you did say you'd forgive my interference."
"Interference. As in that one time. Not your continued interference."
"You should have been more clear."
"Malum, I give you five seconds to get out of my sight."
"I should probably mention Isaac here can't leave town unless he's by your side. The moment you leave him, he'll snap right back into Mystic Falls."
"How do you feel about being human all over again?" Amity glared and Mal held his hands out in surrender and disappeared. She turned back to Isaac. "Come on."
"You don't have to babysit me."
"Isaac, you know I like your company."
"Thank you."
"But I hate this town. And I hate the residents and I would much rather they never find out about you."
"It's okay, I'll amuse myself. I've always wondered what small towns were like."
"This is Mystic Falls. There's always something going on. I don't want to take the chance you get hurt. And besides, there're no other humans in this town and I'm betting there's a reason behind that."
"What do we have here?" A voice purred. "A willing human stumbling into our town?"
"Looks like food to me."
"He's off limits."
"And who are you?"
"Interesting." Amity looked at them. "More siphoners turned vampires."
"What do you mean more?" Amity shrugged and held her hand out to Isaac who took it. She disappeared with him, and appeared in Caroline's hospital room. Aeliana looked up and then smirked.
"Hello Amity, hello Isaac." She said. "Still believe Mal can be redeemed?"
"It might take longer than I originally thought, perhaps an extra millennium."
"Yeah, or never."
"What's going on?" Caroline asked.
"This is a friend of mine, who is cursed so I need him to stay here for a little bit."
"In here here?"
"Well, yeah, otherwise he snaps to Mystic Falls with the crazy vampires."
"Oh." Amity rolled her eyes and waved her hand over Caroline, checking to see if she was okay, before turning back to Isaac who smiled and waved at the blonde in the hospital bed. He noticed Aeliana's glare at his actions and faltered, dropping his arm.