World Around Me

The Return

I walked along the path that lead to the front stairs of the Lockwood mansion with Isria by my side as we were going to attend the wake for Richard Lockwood; we decided not to attend the funeral but my brothers were busy with Jeremy, Caroline and John.

Tyler crashed his Dad’s car last night which gave Caroline internal bleeding so Damon gave her some of his blood to heal her; someone attacked John last night which left him with a stab wound to the stomach and his fingers cut off, while Jeremy drank Anna’s blood and tried to kill himself.

I knew something else was going on because my brothers, Isria and Elena had all been acting different around me; they’d be giving each other looks and whispering extra quiet so I couldn’t hear which was driving me insane because I wanted to know whatever they were hiding from me, I was going to ask Isria what was going on for the 5th time but I saw Damon walking through the front door and past Tyler who was welcoming everyone inside.

“Damon, what are you doing?” I asked my brother as he took a hold of my bicep before he started pulling me back along the path and away from everyone else; I noticed the concern on Tyler’s face as he welcomed Isria inside but his eyes stayed on me as Damon took me onto the lawn so we could talk in private.

“I need to tell you something Bella and you aren’t going to like it, Stefan wanted me to tell you… last night it wasn’t a tomb vampire that attacked John, Katherine’s back” Damon told me as our matching blue eyes looked into the other’s and I could feel the rage boiling up inside me; I’ve spent my entire vampire life never seeing Katherine which I loved because I hated her for ruining my family’s life.

“Katherine’s back and you’re just telling me now? Damon I should have known this as soon as you and Stefan did” I snapped at my brother which wasn’t like me at all but honestly I was pissed off with everyone for not telling me that my worst enemy was back in town; I don’t usually dislike that many people so for me to feel like this towards Katherine it meant I didn’t want anything to do with her.

“Bella, just calm down alright. We didn’t want to tell you because we knew you would react like this, we’ll deal with her” Damon said as he tried his best to reassure me but I was way past being reassured at this point because my brothers hardly ever keep secrets from me; unless it involved Katherine which upset me even more.

“I have a good reason to be reacting like this Damon, she ruined our lives or did you forget that? If it wasn’t for her then we wouldn’t even be this way, Stefan would have never turned me” I said to him as I raised my voice at him but not enough for people to hear us; I knew what I said to him was harsh and uncalled for but it just slipped out before I could stop myself.

“Yes she did ruin our lives and I agree what Stefan did was wrong, but neither of us wanted to lose you Bella. Katherine is just another problem that we have to overcome” Damon said to me firm enough so I’d listened to him and know that he’d make sure everything would be alright in the end; I ran my fingers through my curled hair but I already knew that Stefan and Damon would take care of me for as long as we were together.

“I can’t promise that I’ll play nice when I’m around her, if she wants to hurt the people I care about then she’ll be dealing with me” I said to Damon as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked back along the path and up the front stairs of the Lockwood mansion; all I could do was give Tyler a small smile as he welcomed me inside because Damon didn’t let me stop and talk to him.

Damon made me stay with him for a few more minutes until he left to go talk to Sheriff Forbes about something so I made my way over to Tyler who was just standing by a large window; he was looking out at the front yard of the house as he took a break from greeting everyone.

“Hey Tyler, I was going to come see you earlier but my brother was being a huge pain. I’m really sorry about your Dad, I know you won’t believe me but with time it will get better” I said to him softly as he turned his head to look at me and I wish that I could do more but I couldn’t; Tyler already knew about my brothers and I losing both our parents so at least he knew he could listen to me.

“Thank you Bella, people have been telling me that all day but you’re the first one that I’ve actually listened to” Tyler said to me as he turned his attention back onto the view outside the window and it hurt me having to see him like this; I did want to help Mayor Lockwood in the basement but then I remembered the time he smacked Tyler and then I didn’t want to help him as much.

“If you need anything then I’m here, but on another note how are you? I heard about the accident and Caroline going to hospital” I said to him as I looked at the side of his face as I watched him look down at his feet and I knew he felt horrible about what happened; although Elena told me that Caroline was all better after Damon gave her some of his blood so she would heal faster.

“I don’t even know what happened that night, one second I was fine and the next I heard this piercing noise and I couldn’t think straight” Tyler explained to me as he turned his attention onto me as I processed what he just said; it made sense that he could have been affected by the Gilbert device as his father was but that didn’t explain why they were affected.

“Hey Tyler, you never told me that you had a girlfriend and a very beautiful girlfriend at that. Hi I’m Mason, Tyler’s Uncle” Mason said as he walked over to us and I could see his sexy athletic build under his t-shirt and I could tell he had an easy going charm; he had the Lockwood strong features but he had slightly lighter brown hair and blue eyes which was different to Tyler.

“Oh we’re not dating, we’re just friends but it’s a pleasure to meet someone else in Tyler’s family. I’m Bella and excuse me, my brothers are wanting to see me” I said as I looked up at Mason who was a bit taller than Tyler before I gave them both a smile and left them; I walked over to Damon and Stefan who were watching me closely which wasn’t anything new.

“Now you’re getting all friendly with another Lockwood? Bella you deserve better than this whole family” Damon said to me as I walked through the mansion with him and Stefan so we could find a quiet place to talk; which wasn’t a good thing after hearing the horrible news about Katherine coming back.

“Give it a rest Damon, we need to stick together now more so than ever. Katherine is here, Tyler made the mistake of inviting her inside thinking she was Elena” Stefan informed me quietly before he continued to tell me that she had already threatened Bonnie and has met Matt; she was moving fast through all the people that Elena cares about which means we’d have to get to the bottom of why she’d back.

“I haven’t been able to track her down but she’s definitely still somewhere around here, but we have another problem because Elena has just arrived” Isria told us as she walked over to us after trying to find Katherine to keep an eye on her although Katherine wouldn’t appreciate that; I managed to slip away from Isria and my brothers without them noticing as I walked off to try my hand at finding Katherine.

I walked through a large dark wood door which lead into a dining room that could seat a vast amount of people but right now it was empty; until a hand wrapped around my neck as I was pushed backwards which caused my back to slam into the wall as Katherine stood in front of me as she pinned me to the wall.

“I’ve been waiting such a long time to see you again Bella and now I get to see you as a vampire, I was surprised when I heard that Stefan had turned you” Katherine said to me as I pushed her hand away from my throat roughly so I wasn’t pinned by her; my brothers may hate her for toying with them both before helping them turn but my hatred went deeper because I was a vampire because of her.

“You weren’t surprised that I was turned, all of this is your fault Katherine because you just couldn’t leave my brothers alone. If you didn’t give them your blood than you’d be alone forever, unless you’ve found someone else to lie to” I snapped at her as we looked at each other as we filled the room with tension and this wasn’t my smartest idea; Katherine was older than me which meant she was also stronger and faster than me.

“Well it seems like you haven’t changed in the slightest, you still have a sharp tongue on you and you never were afraid to answer back to me” Katherine said to me as I took her in which was the only thing different about her; she was wearing all black so she did look different from Elena but Katherine has been lying and tricking people her whole vampire life.

“You're the same lying, selfish, manipulative bitch that you've always been. So whatever it is that brought you here, why don't you just get on with it and leave town? Because if you don't, I will hunt you down and I will rip your heart out” I threatened her which wasn’t the best thing to do when I was alone with her but I wasn’t scared of her; I didn’t have enough time to move before Katherine broke a leg off a wooden chair before she drove it into my stomach.