two brothers divided

✧

LUX FELT LIKE SHE WAS ON TOP OF THE WORLD. For once, she felt like everything was coming up Lux, and that luck was actually on her side again. She wasn't just some struggling vampire; she was a thriving one – like, actually thriving – and it was all thanks to Damon Salvatore.

          She had to admit, trusting a stranger wasn't always the smartest idea and could land her in trouble, just look at her and Ben's fling, but Lux was desperate. Like, incredibly desperate. The kind of desperate where if trusting and making a deal with a stranger meant having someone who could help her learn control, then she would do it.

          And she was just so happy, for the first time since before she turned, and it was all because she didn't kill her meal on the roadside. Damon taught her how to stop and use her blood to heal the wound because apparently vampire blood has magical healing powers and then she could compel the dude to forget everything – wasn't that a treat.

          But it was also fucking weird because now if she concentrated and looked people in the eyes she could force them to do something, could alter their reality, so she wasn't sure how comfortable she was with that. Right now, she would only use it on her meals and no one else because it felt like a major violation towards her uncle and friends.

          As she sped to the grill, she wanted to giggle and smile wildly at the darkening night, but she internalized it and only a small smile leaked out. Anything more dramatic would make her look insane and she wasn't trying to do that.

          When she walked in, she immediately spotted Bonnie and Caroline talking so she went over to them. "Please tell me I'm not late," Lux said as she got closer to them, because time had a way of escaping from her now and especially with Damon coming out of nowhere to help her.

          Bonnie shook her head. "You're not late, Lux. Elena, however, will be," she assured her friend.

          "Sucks to be her then," Lux laughed lightly before looking between them, "So, what were you talking about?"

          "The new guy Stefan Salvatore," Caroline answered, and immediately Lux' mind went to the thought of him being a vampire just like her and woah, "He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore Boarding House. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue."

          And he's a vampire, Lux' mind supplied to finish off the list, though she kept that to herself since her friends were blissfully unaware of the supernatural world and she hoped it stayed that way. She knows that she sure wished she hadn't met Benjamin and desired to be special because look how that ended up. Now, she's not only is she not special she's always a bloodsucking beast who just learned how to not kill people when she fed.

          Bonnie blinked at Caroline in surprise, and Lux had to admit that it was pretty damn impressive that she got so much intel so soon even though Lux had a feeling it was fake considering everything else she knew. "You got all of that in one day?"

          "Oh, please," Caroline rolled her eyes, looking incredibly proud of herself, "I got all that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding."

          Oh. So Caroline also liked him and wanted him...great. Lux felt her heart drop even though she wasn't sure she would've even made a move at all towards him. She thought he was human when she first met him and even though she knows that's not true now, that he's just like her, she shouldn't really be getting into a relationship when she needed to figure out some stuff about herself first and learn more control.

          But still, what Caroline wanted, Caroline got so she knew immediately that Stefan was a lost cause for her. Caroline claimed him and she would sink her claws in to make it official soon, so there wouldn't be a chance for her, but maybe that's a good thing.

          At least she wouldn't be tempted to take Stefan for herself if one of her friends dated him.

          Caroline peered at her, assessing her quietly with her eyes before saying, "You look really happy."

          "Hmm? Really?" Lux asked, blinking in surprise because she didn't know that she was being so obvious about her joy of getting a vampire mentor.

          "Yeah. It's weird. Today at school you were kinda chill and pulled back, but now you're jittery," Caroline noted.

          Lux shrugged. "I guess I'm just glad to get the first day of school over with. Besides, I'm here with you guys again after not seeing you all summer. It's cause to be happy," she lied, though she was incredibly happy to have her friends back and to be able to control herself.

          "Come on, let's grab a table," Bonnie told them and Lux nodded to follow her.

          Caroline bit her lip, looking over Lux' shoulder at someone. "I'll meet you guys in a sec, I'm just gonna talk to Tyler really quick."

          Lux nodded, biting back a comment because Caroline had been quietly pining over Tyler for some time even though he was a total douche, though she did share a look about with Bonnie before the two went off to sit at a table and Caroline flocked to Tyler.

          "He's never gonna look at her the way she wants," Lux frowned, knowing that her friend was ultimately going to end up hurt and not liking it.

          Bonnie sighed. "I know, but we can't stop her. She needs to make her own choices for herself, and if that means Tyler...it means Tyler."

          "Doesn't mean I have to like it," Lux muttered, because Tyler was so not the right choice for her friend and the fact that Caroline didn't see that made her want to scream. He wasn't interested in her so Caroline was wasting her time and just getting her heart broken and Lux hated it.

          Eventually, as Lux and Bonnie sat down, Matt joined them. At first, the conversation was normal and full of topics about their predictions for the school year and what they're getting tonight until Matt sighed and finally started to talk about what he really wanted to, "How's Elena doing?"

          And that was something that not even Lux knew. She felt like a terrible friend for not really being there for Elena to help her after her parents died, but at the time, she knew that she couldn't have been. She needed to focus on herself and not killing all her friends, which meant that she placed the comforting Elena over the death of her parents responsibility on Bonnie and Caroline.

          "Her mom and dad died. How do you think?" Bonnie asked, though it didn't have any malice at all, "She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months."

          "Has she said anything about me?" Matt asked next and Lux almost rolled eyes. Come on, Bonnie was just talking about how she's coping with the death of her parents and then you ask if Elena's talked about you? That's selfish.

          "Oh, no. I'm so not getting in the middle," Bonnie shook her head.

          "Yeah, if you wanna know about her, ask her herself," Lux nodded in agreement, "Just pick up your phone and call her."

          Matt shuffled awkwardly. "I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me."

          "Because her parents died and she had to focus on mourning them and not a relationship," Lux snapped at him before Bonnie shot her a look and she had to calm herself before turning to Matt again, "Look, she just didn't have time for a relationship – she still doesn't."

          "Give it more time, Matt," Bonnie assured him.

          A bell rang and the door to the grill opened, revealing Elena and Stefan walking in together. That's just great. Her first thought was so Elena has dibs on him now, second was Caroline's going to be pissed, and third was so maybe there isn't a chance for Matt to get back with Elena after all...

          Well, shit. She tried to comfort Matt but she was wrong and maybe Elena was ready for a relationship...just not with Matt. The boy seemed to notice this because he turned back to Bonnie and Lux and muttered, "More time, huh?" And ouch. They were just trying to help, jackass!

          Matt got up and Lux knew if she still had a beating heart it would be going wild in alarm, but she didn't. She had a heart, but it was just dead like the rest of her. Thankfully, though, Matt just introduced himself and didn't make a whole scene, causing Lux to let out a sigh of relief. That couldn't been bad.

          After, Matt led the two of them back to the table and Caroline left Tyler to join them. Bonnie was the first to introduce herself, waving at Stefan and he nodded at her before repeating his own name even though everyone at the table already knew it.

          They went around introducing themselves but Lux couldn't help but just stare at Stefan. He didn't look like a vampire. Then again, she didn't really think there was as standard model for what vampires looked like. But he definitely looked different from Damon, who had dark hair and striking eyes that pierced into her soul. Stefan was mellow, light brown curls and soft eyes that searched but seemed lost and didn't demand anything.

          It was nicer than Damon's, calmer and made Lux feel at ease, but she still held her guard up even when Stefan's attention turned on her and she introduced herself. He was a vampire, just like her, the only difference being that she was aware of his state and Stefan didn't know about her. At least, she didn't think he did.

          "So," Caroline began, not wasting anymore time after they introduced themselves, "You were born in Mystic Falls?"

          Stefan nodded in confirmation. "Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was young," if she wasn't a vampire who knew that he was a vampire, she probably would've said something about not remembering him at all, but she kept that question to herself since she was aware of their shared state of existence in order to help him out a bit.

          "Parents?" Bonnie asked the second question.

          "My parents passed away," he said calmly in response, and Elena sucked in a breath at that.

          "I'm sorry," she gave her sympathies to him, still sensitive to that, "Any siblings?"

          "None that I talk to," well now that caused Lux to raise an eyebrow. Damon did not make it look like that. He said he came back in town to protect his brother, made it seem like they came back together...but now Stefan was saying that they didn't talk. That was definitely shady and she would have to ask Damon later. "I live with my uncle," Stefan then supplied.

          Lux looked around at all her friends who were ready to ask another round of questions so she spoke up. "Come on, guys, lay off him," she teased, though there was an underline of not to fuck with her before she turned to Stefan, "Sorry they interrogated you."

          "It's no problem," Stefan shrugged, though his eyes seemed to convey something of thanks mixed with something that Lux didn't understand so she looked away from him.

          "So, Stefan," Caroline pipped up again, "if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

          "It's a back to school thing at the falls," Bonnie supplied more information and Lux grinned. She always looked the back to school bash they had.

          Instead of looking at the two people who invited him and gave him the information, Stefan turned to Elena. "Are you going?" he asked her, and her alone, and Lux knew that Caroline was going to be fuming when she got home because of it.

          (She would never admit it, but she was a bit hurt herself.)

          "Of course she is," Bonnie answered, the ultimate wing-woman for Elena. Lux nodded, adding to that, because she was a good friend who wanted Elena to be happy, even if it was with the new pretty boy that she thought was especially cute.

✧

          SHE DIDN'T EXACTLY KNOW where to find Damon, seeing as he never gave her a phone number to call or address to go to, and even though she knew his last name and where Stefan was staying, it didn't sound like Stefan knew his brother was in town so she wasn't about to go over there and expose him when he was helping her.

          But as it turned out, she didn't have to, because after school when she got home, there was a knock her front door and then there was Damon, smirking at her.

          "How did you find me?" Lux asked, a little suspicious of him again even though she was extremely happy to see him there.

          "I went asking around for where the Morgans lived," Damon shrugged and Lux hummed.

          "I'm guessing the correct version of that is you compelling someone for directions to my house," Lux said because that seemed like something he would do just based off how willing he was to tell her about the special skill.

          "Bingo," Damon snapped his finger and pointed at her, "Come on, sweetheart, let's go for a walk around the neighborhood."

          "Or we could go to the grill. Like normal people, you know," Lux suggested instead, knowing that she couldn't invite Damon instead since she was a vampire and didn't have that power anymore. And God, was that a bitch when she had Timothy got home and he had to invite her in to her own fucking house.

          "Ah, but we aren't normal people, Lux. We're not even people," a small grin accompanied his wild and piercing eyes, "Besides, we need to talk vampire business and that's not safe at the grill."

          Lux frowned immediately, leaving her house to join Damon outside on the porch. "What are you talking about?" she crossed her eyes as well so he knew that he had to explain himself.

          Damon gave a long sigh. "Mystic Falls has a complicated history with people like us," he began, "So let's just say that some people in town aren't okay with us and that causes problems, so let's not bring it out in the open where they can hear us."

          "Alright then," Lux still looked at him cautiously, but agreed to walk with him, "So...I officially met your brother yesterday and he said something really interesting about how he doesn't talk to his brother anymore."

          Damon hummed, leading her off the porch. "Stefan is also a complicated matter. Let's just say that we have a strained relationship that I am currently trying to prepare."

          Lux nodded at that, accepting his answer for now even if he wasn't making himself out to be the most trustworthy character right now. "How old are you?" she blurted out next.

          "Well, that's a rude thing to ask," Damon said instead of answering, "I don't look a day over twenty-five, thank you very much."

          She huffed at him. "I'm not saying you look old anything, I'm just saying that I have history with Stefan and seems to know a lot about the Civil War here in Mystic Falls. Care to shed some light on that?"

          "That's when we were human," Damon shrugged, "And Stefan has a hard time letting go of the past. He's always held a grudge against me, even after all these years. Makes sense he would remember a lot about that time too."

          "Holding a grudge? About what?" Lux asked, looking to Damon again for answers.

          Damon sighed, "Personal business. I guess I'm too loyal to him ever to say a bad thing about him."

          "I'm sorry, for whatever he did," Lux offered since she didn't have anything else to go off and tell him. Damon smiled appreciatively so she was sure that it was enough for now.

          "How is my little brother anyway?" Damon asked her, an edge of concern in his voice.

          "I mean, I don't know him that well. I really only talked to him last night, but he seemed calm, and he's really into my friend, Elena. I'm sure they'll get together in three months top," Lux informed him, trying to keep out any emotion in her tone.

          "That's good for him. He needs something good in his life," Damon said and Lux looked at him, staring at his features and then into his eyes as he looked back at her. She doesn't know what happened between Damon and Stefan that made Stefan turn away from him even though Damon still cared so much, but she was determined to find out.

          Damon was her vampire mentor, and maybe a friend. She felt like she could trust him now, more than when he showed up at her door because he was offering information about himself and he seemed so sincere.

          "Maybe," Lux shrugged, not sure if she agreed with that since Stefan seemed so rude and cold towards his own brother who was just looking out for him, even after all their time apart.

✧

          SHE GOT TO THE falls when the party had already begun, having gotten something to eat beforehand so she wouldn't be tempted with all the bodies there tonight. She walked around, trying to find her friends amidst the numerous drunk people, and she wrinkled up her nose in disgust.

          She never realized how bad drunk people smelled before with the alcohol on their breath until now when every sense of hers was amplified so fucking much. God, being a vampire sucked. Curse you Ben!

          The only good thing was that she had better hearing and could spot Bonnie just based on her voice, which made it a little easier, she guessed. "Hey," Lux smiled at her.

          "You're late," Bonnie joked, though she looked incredibly rattled by something.

          Lux frowned at her, moving forward. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked her friend, seeing her shaking hands and going to touch them to calm Bonnie, but it looked like that had the opposite effect as Bonnie withdraw her hands immediately like Lux brought them into a fire.

          Bonnie looked at her with wide eyes before blinking. "Sorry, it's just – you're very cold," her friend noticed and Lux stilled for a second. Right. Dead bodies weren't exactly warm anymore.

          "Yeah, it's kinda cold out here tonight, and you know how susceptible I am to the cold," Lux lied, a little smile on her face as she hoped that Bonnie believed it.

          "No," Bonnie shook her head, "You just seemed so dark and cold. I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense. This psychic thing is really getting to me, I shouldn't have said anything."

          "What do you mean cold and dark? Like what?" Lux pushed on, panic alarms going off inside her because she felt like this was the beginning of the end for her. Bonnie was having some cold and dark feeling about her and she was cold and dark now.

          Bonnie shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore. I just – I need a drink," she changed the subject, refusing to answer so Lux didn't push her anymore. That wasn't what a good friend did so she would leave it alone for now.

          "Then let's get a drink," Lux decided, knowing that she too needed one. It had been a long existence as a forever young seventeen year old so far.

          She led the way, looking around for the keg until they eventually found it, pouring herself a good cup of cheap beer and taking a huge swallow of it. Immediately, she gave a disgusted look at the taste and regretted her decision, but it was too late to take it back so why not continue with it?

          Bonnie noticed her and raised an eyebrow. "That's a little extreme."

          Lux shrugged. "I needed it," she said, though didn't explain why or anything else and Bonnie just nodded, leaving it at that because Lux agreed to leave her alone about the psychic stuff.

          "So, did anything really interesting or big happen in New York?" Bonnie asked cautiously, though like she wanted to gain something from the conversation.

          "Big like what?" Lux frowned, "I mean, it was fun, but nothing really happened up there that was big." Liar. Every time she had a conversation with her friends she had to lie now to keep her secret, she couldn't just be trustful and honest with them anymore because she died and then came back to life and now the only person she could talk to about that aspect of her life was Damon because there was no way she making friends with Stefan.

          "Really?" Bonnie asked her skeptically.

          "Yeah, really. Bonnie, where is this coming from?" Lux asked, and though she was serious she gave a smile to make it seemed more lighthearted.

          Bonnie shook her head. "Just forget about it. It's been a long night, I don't really know what I'm talking about."

          The two walked around, maintaining a little conversation though it was a bit difficult now due to everything that they weren't saying to each other. The secrets between the two were known but undiscussed, the other not willing to divulge too much.

          Eventually, they came across a sniffling Caroline and her immediate reaction was that Tyler finally rejected her. "Caroline, what's going on?" Lux asked, immediately rushing to her and giving her hug to comfort her even though that gave her too close of contact to her friend's neck, and boy was that distracting.

          Caroline sobbed into her shoulder for a second before pulling apart, and thank God for that. Lux didn't know how much longer she could go on holding Caroline before her vamp face came out and caused some trouble.

          "Sorry, I'm drunk and overreacting," Caroline immediately apologized.

          "You have nothing to be sorry for, what's going on?" Lux assured her.

          "I was talking to Stefan, trying to make my move and everything and then he rejected me. And not the usual sorry you're not my type but sorry I don't go for people like you and then Elena laughed with him about me and my aggressiveness," Caroline cried, "I know I'm aggressive, but...God, I can't."

          Lux immediately turned to Bonnie. She didn't want to leave her friend in this state, but she was furious with Stefan for talking down to her friend and doing whatever he did to Stefan so she had to find him. "Bonnie, can you stay with her? I'm gonna go find Stefan."

          "You don't have to do that, Lux," Caroline assured her, though it was pitiful because of her current state.

          "I do, actually," Lux told her, before looking to their other friend, "Bonnie?"

          "I'll stay with her," Bonnie confirmed and Lux nodded.

          She walked away from them, though with great difficultly because she wanted to stay and comfort Caroline but she had to find Stefan for. She used her ears, hoping that she could hear his voice, and sped around wherever there wasn't people to look around faster until eventually she found the boy alone.

          "Hey! Stefan!" she grabbed his attention, marching over to him, not even stopping when he blinked at her in surprise, "Who do you think you are? Talking down to my friend and thinking you're better than her when you don't even know her?"

          "I just wanted Caroline to back off, I'm not interested her," Stefan explained him.

          Lux huffed. "That's not what I have a problem with. You don't like her? Fine. Cool with me, but there are better ways to say it than implying that her aggressiveness towards you is a bad thing and something she should change about herself so fuck you. Elena may be charmed into thinking you're great, but I know better. I know you're a fucking dick and I am never going to let my friends forget it, you understand me?"

          "Lux, where is this coming from?" Stefan's eyes searched her for more information but she wouldn't let them find any in her own. In fact, she was done with Stefan Salvatore. He may be pretty and calm, but he was a complete jackass who didn't deserve to her time or her words.

          Besides, she had a friend to comfort.

authors note
hi i love lux my fiery child who takes no shit. honestly the way stefan rejected caroline has always bugged me especially when i was writing this chapter, so i made lux go off on him because that is totally something she would do, but now there's tension between them and lux hates him. oh, the drama! and the slowburn in development!

also i am in no way glorifying damon and saying that he's the better brother and that stefan is in the wrong completely with everything between them, damon is simply manipulating lux because that's the type of person he is. so lux believing him and following him does not reflect my own beliefs but hers because lux is a character and damon has lied and manipulated her to be on his side, so keep that in mind.

(also why was bonnie asking lux if anything big happened in new york after touching her hand??? just things to think about...)