ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [3]

XXXVIII • A BIRD IN A GILDED CAGE

thirty-eight. a bird in a gilded cage

Salvatore Boarding House

Damon is sitting in an armchair in the massive living room, looking tense and annoyed, along with Rosie and Stefan, who are sitting closely together. A car engine is heard nearby before Isaac opens the main door and walks in.

"You don't live here." The eldest vampire in the room pointed out, doing nothing to conceal his annoyance as he was ignored, "How was the rave?"

"Oh, you know, loud, lame, rave-like." The emotionless one finally replied.

"Anything we should know, or anything you'd like to talk about?" The icy blue-eyed older vampire brother asked in a passive-aggressive manner.

"Where do you guys keep your weapons?" The youngest one looks around.

Puzzled by the sudden out-of-topic question, Damon shares an odd look with Rosie and Stefan before he gets up and walks over to him, "Pardon?"

"Crossbows, vervain grenades, all that hunter crap Jeremy was into? Ah! Yes! The throne." Isaac walks over to a chair and opens a hidden compartment full of weapons underneath the seat; he packs some lethal weapons into a duffel bag. Damon vamp-speeds over to Isaac and tries to inject him with vervain, but Isaac catches his right hand before he can do it; Isaac sighs in a genuinely tired manner, "Elena told on me. Shocker."

"Not a good time for a humanity flip, Newton."

Isaac breaks his hand and he drops the vervain syringe, "Do yourself a favor. Stay out of my way today." He walks out through the exact main front door and closes it behind him as Damon snaps his right hand back into place.

Damon, Rosie and Stefan hear Isaac drives off in his silver Mazda and the eldest vampire amongst the trio throws a vase to the floor in frustration. Later, Rosie walks back into the parlor room to find Stefan, tired and puzzled, watching as Damon is striking several furnitures with an iron poker.

Rosie called out, also deeply concerned, "Damon. What are you doing?"

Stefan turns around to face her, "He's looking for a...healthy outlet for his rage." His brother uses the poker to knock down a lamp, shocking the girl.

His lovely girlfriend frowns at him in confusion, "How's that going?"

Damon spoke up without facing either of them, "I haven't found it yet. Add Isaac without his humanity on the list of problems we have at the moment."

His self-righteous vampire brother nods a little, "Which means every day that goes by is one year of guilt waiting for him on the other side."