Free of family

17

That evening Arkyn drove Rebekah and Alexis to the bonfire. Bonnie was going to make her own way, not wanting anything to do with Rebekah, which he understood. The bonfire after that was pretty awkward. Rebekah had gone off on her own, and Bonnie was trying to cheer up Alexis, seeming to have no need for him. He stood beside the girls and caught sight of Jeremy. He glared at the young boy who made his way over.
"Is there a reason you're here?" He asked standing in front of Jeremy.
"I, uh. I need to talk to Lex." He said.
"Are you being brave or stupid?" Arkyn scowled.
"Ark," Alexis put a hand on his arm moving him so she could see Jeremy. "It's okay. I need to talk to him too." Arkyn stood, unmoving for another second and Alexis threw a pleading look to Bonnie. Bonnie nodded and gently steered Ark away.
"Hey, let's go get some drinks." She said but he glared at Jeremy a little longer before eventually moving away.
"Call me if you need me." He said and Alexis nodded. He reluctantly let Bonnie drag him away.

"We've walked around the party twice. I'm not gonna go rip out Jeremy's throat. I wouldn't have even done that before." Arkyn stopped Bonnie before she dragged him around yet again.
"I know." She shrugged. "But you still needed to cool down."
"He hurt her. He chose to see his ex girlfriend over the whole summer and not tell her."
"I know. That was pretty crappy, but he does care for Alexis. You know it, I know it."
"I'm being too overprotective, aren't I?" He looked at her and she nodded.
"Yeah, you are. You gotta let her go through her own relationship bumps."
"Probably." He looked away in time to see Rebekah skewer Damon with the marshmallow stick. "What do you think happened there?"
"I don't know." She looked over curiously. "It's kind of satisfying, though. Someone hurting Damon for a change."
"Does it win me any points?" Rebekah popped up from behind them.
"Why did you stab Damon with the stick?"
"He was being nice." She said.
"God help anyone who's mean to you." Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"Ha ha. Damon has no reason to be nice to me. I'm not an idiot, I know when someone's distracting me."
"If you're here to ask us any questions, you're wasting your time." Arkyn sighed. "If anyone's distracting anyone, it's Bonnie distracting me because she thinks I'll suddenly turn murderous."
"Do tell." Rebekah looked interested.
"Shouldn't you be trying to figure out what Damon's up to?"
"Well I doubt he's planning to kill Nik or us, so it doesn't interest me."
"Well then. Have fun, and we're going to go another round around the party." Arkyn said, attempting to leave with Bonnie.
"And leave your little sister alone and defenceless with horny, teenage boys?"
"I'm only a few minutes older than you, Rebekah, and you're more of a threat to the boys than they are to you." Rebekah pulled a face. Bonnie's phone chimed with a text.
"It's Lex." She frowned reading through her message. "I gotta go."
"Is she okay? What happened?"
"I'm sure she's okay." Bonnie soothes and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Stay here, Ark. I promise to kick Jeremy's ass if he did anything."
"Deal." He sighed and she hurried away.
"Looks like you're all free now."
"So this is how you choose to spend your time? Pestering me?"
"Well I haven't been able to for three hundred and eight years."
"You never used to before, either."
"Rubbish!" She denied. "That is not true!"
"Why are you really here? You aren't devoted enough to Klaus to just follow his every command."
"No matter what, he's still our brother."
"He put you in a box for decades."
"Well, I'm sorry I can't just turn off my family loyalty like you."
"That's funny because the whole reason you ended up in a box was because you turned off any loyalty you had towards him."
"And yet you're the one threatening his life. I don't think you're in much position to judge me."
"I'm not going to go after him unless he comes after the people I care about first."
"What about us? Me, Nik, Elijah, Kol? You'll choose them over us?"
"Klaus and Elijah can go to hell for all I care, Bex. And yes, I do care about you. You're my sister but right now I can't even stand to look at your face."
"What have I ever done to you?"
"You know exactly what you did." He glared, and she looked away.
"You don't even care about Nik. Why do you keep bringing it up?"
"Just forget it, Bex. You can stay at my place, go to my school, report back to Klaus. Whatever you want." He shrugged. "Just give me some space."
"Why are you so mad at me? I made one mistake- nothing that even affected you and you want nothing to do with me?"
"We've probably got ears on us, and I don't want to talk anymore. Seriously."
"Not until you talk to me."
"You think I wasn't affected? Klaus was distraught. Okay, he was pissed off, and he was beyond upset, so naturally he wanted me to feel the same pain he did. He came and destroyed the entire town because I loved them and he wanted me hurt. So yes, if I have to threaten him with a white oak stake to keep it from happening again, I will."
"Are you bloody kidding me? You hate me because Nik killed all your buddies? Newsflash, it's nothing he hasn't done to the rest of us a thousand times over."
"You're the one who chooses to stay by his side, to love him no matter what. You and Elijah have always tried to shelter him. If you want to sacrifice your happiness, go for it. Stay by his side no matter how many of your lovers he kills." Arkyn scoffed. "But that's your choice. Not mine."
"That's it?"