Bad Feelings (Zach's Daughter series, Book Five, The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter 6__Handle with Care

Silas was a witch, and he was standing right downstairs in our living room.

Jeremy and I walked into the living room to see Silas talking to Damon and Elena, but Jeremy held a crossbow toward him.

Silas didn't have to look at us to know we were there. "Hello, Potential Hunter, AKA, a very distant niece of mine." I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. "And hello, Hunter. Banner day for you, huh? Didn't you and the Bennett witch used to . . ." 

Silas clicked his tongue suggestively and whistled.

"Hey, knock it off, okay?" I asked.

Elena looked at Jeremy. "It's okay, Jer. We all want the same thing today. Silas dead, Bonnie alive."

Silas looked unconvincing. "Yeah." 

I looked at Jeremy. "AKA, put the damn crossbow down, Pocahontas." 

"We're just supposed to believe that he's going to bring Bonnie back to life out of the goodness of his heart?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, I hope not," Silas told us. "I mean, I am kind of a monster." Jeremy raised the crossbow to point at him again. "You know, guys, I'm feeling really ganged up on right now. Okay? I would hate to lose my temper and do something . . ." Silas raised his hand up, fire shooting from his fingers. "Crazy." Jeremy and I took a step back. Silas laughed quietly, extinguishing the flames. "Ah. Man, I really love being a witch again. I feel like I'm constantly reinventing myself. I'm like a supernatural Madonna, don't you think?" 

Jeremy, Elena, Damon and I exchanged a what the hell look. 

~~~~~

"All right," Silas said. "We gotta get going." He looked at Jeremy. "You grab a crowbar, or four, from the garage." 

"What for?" Jeremy asked.

"Does it matter?" Silas asked. He looked at Elena and me. "You are not going. Men only." He looked at me. "Unless you want to make it a family day. Otherwise, it's not fair to Elena, so . . ." 

"Are you serious?" Elena asked. She looked at me. "He's not serious." 

"No, he's not serious," I told her. 

"Actually, I'm 100% serious," Silas told us. "Elena's a freaky carbon-copy of my one true love, Amara. You can understand why I don't want to stare at her imposter face all day." 

"That makes no sense," I told him.

"It would make complete sense if you were ever in love with somebody who looked exactly like her," Silas told me.

"This is ridiculous," Elena told him. "We're bringing my best friend back from the dead. I'm going." 

"And 'family day' makes now sense either," I told him. "Were you made crazy and annoying in the tomb you rotted in for 2,000 years, or were you just born that way?" 

Silas, visibly annoyed, raised his arm, summoning an arrow from Jeremy's set, shooting it toward me, aimed at my heart. I ducked out of the way, backing the arrow hit the wall. Silas sent three more arrows shooting toward me. I looked up at the sword, grabbing the sword, slashing it through the air three times, and breaking the arrows before they killed me.

Silas looked impressed. "Nice. Fiesty, smart and fast-acting. You're clearly of my bloodline." I rolled my eyes. "But if you keep pissing me off, the next one will go in your heart." He looked at the others. "Now hurry up. I only have until sundown before Tessa tries to stop me."

~~~~~

Stefan was staying with Tessa (Qetsiyah). Elena had gone over there.

Silas, Damon and Jeremy had gone to New Jersey to get the anchor and destroy it, but it had turned out that the anchor wasn't a thing.

It was Amara. She was still alive, and the anchor to the Other Side, and she had taken the Cure, which meant that if she died, which she could now in fact die, she would make the entirety of the Other Side disappear.

Jeremy, Damon and I were sharing drinks in the living room when Stefan and Elena walked into the house.

"Well, uh, have a good night," Stefan told her.

"Yeah," Elena said. "It's weird. Even with no memory, you're still you." 

"Well, Tessa was gonna kill you, and you don't seem like you deserve that, so I was just going on instinct, that's all," Stefan told her.

"Exactly," Elena told him. "That's what I'm saying. Your instincts were always to protect me, so, thank you, for--for just being you." 

"Well, have a good night," Stefan told her, walking away. 

"Stefan Salvatore sleeps in his own bed tonight," I said sarcastically. "Does that mean he stopped hating us or did the power of the Doppelganger universe push him into the car with you?" 

"Well, he, uh, saved my life, so I'll take that as not hate," Elena told us.

"Victory in a day otherwise marred by failure," Damon told us, raising his bottle.

Jeremy and I raised our glasses.

Elena looked at Jeremy.

"We couldn't get Bonnie back," Jeremy told her. "I get a pass."

"Did I say anything?" Elena asked. 

Jeremy looked at the air next to him. "No. No, I won't, because it's not." 

"What?" I asked.

"Bonnie's here," Jeremy told us. "She wants us not to worry." 

"We're gonna keep trying Bonnie," Elena told her. "Okay. It's not over. We've dealt with much worse." 

"Well, Silas is MIA, and out and about, which is pretty bad," Damon told us. "And Amara's been cured, which is even worse because now she's easy to kill, so the fate of the Other Side, where Bonnie currently resides, rests on a living, breathing human being that we now need to protect." 

"We need to protect?" I repeated. 

~~~~~

Damon led Elena and me outside to his car, opening the trunk to reveal a human that looked exactly like Katherine and Elena. "Elena, Nikki, meet Crazy Pants. Crazy Pants, meet Elena and Nikki." 

Amara was wearing a piece of fabric, covering her mouth, but that didn't prevent her from screaming.