01: Are You Ready For the Monster?
"Can we not do this right now? I'm having a really bad night." Damon sighed, walking upstairs.
"All summer, every single time I came to you with a lead, you made me feel like an idiot for having hope." Elena shook her head, following him. "Tell me what you know, Damon. We're supposed to be in this together. Why didn't you tell me that you've been tracking Klaus' victims?"
At the top of the stairs near his bedroom door he snapped. "Because they're not Klaus's victims, Elena, they're Stefan's!"
She shrank back. "Wh-what?"
His hand was on the doorknob. "He's left a trail of body parts up and down the eastern seaboard."
"No," she denied. "You're wrong."
"He's actually not, pizdă."
They froze in their tracks. Damon stood protectively in front of Elena, immediately recognizing the woman from behind. She stood in his room with all his information on Stefan from his closet. Her long, dark hair reached halfway down her back and was tinted with some red. She wore black jeggings that hugged her legs and curves, sharp heels, and a deep red blouse. Damon had to compose himself; somehow each time he saw her she became more attractive. He also knew the meaning to the Romanian slur she spat at Elena. He had to force himself not to laugh at her vulgarity.
She turned and his jaw tightened. Even Elena's knees buckled a little. Her skin was like porcelain, pale and flawless without so much of a freckle or scar. Lashes so long they touched her perfectly shaped eyebrows and eyes the most vibrant shade of green, caked with thick, black eyeliner. Dark maroon matte lipstick highlighted her lips that pulled into a smirk. Long, black nails tapped on the papers tauntingly. "I've seen it happen before. He's flipped the switch. Full-blown ripper." She shrugged. "Stefan is gone and he's not coming back. Not in your lifetime, pizdă."
"Who the hell are you?" Elena asked bravely although her voice shook and she clung to the back of Damon's shirt.
"What are you doing here?" Damon asked almost as breathlessly. She'd been staring right at him.
"You know her?" The brunette whisper-yelled at him.
Her eyes wafted over to Elena. She looked the girl up and down, disgust growing on her countenance. "And clearly his poor judgement hasn't changed. I arrived in time then." She snickered and licked her lips.
"Shouldn't you be parading around as a good little girl with some poor human suckers?" He teased her, still shielding Elena.
She shrugged and looked at her nails. "I was. Nice people too. I had a boyfriend and a best friend, a nice flat, steady job. A quiet, human life."
"Had?" Elena squeaked.
"Keep up pizdă, I ate them." She grinned, flashing white fangs.
"Way to jump back off the wagon," Damon chuckled. "You were doing so well with your little facade. Told you it wouldn't last. What's the matter, just not as satisfying or fun as I am?"
She laughed a little, something in her eyes making Elena want to run back downstairs.
[Flashback]
"How was work?" A dark haired young man pecked her on the cheek.
She sighed and dropped onto the couch, kicking off her shoes. "Miserable. I was on the brink of tearing out my coworker's throat if she didn't shut her pie hole."
He laughed and started rubbing her feet. On the loveseat beside them a blonde girl scrunched up her face. "You're always so morbid and violent, Nicki."
The male to her side chuckled. "Maybe one day she'll finally snap and actually do something."
The blonde smacked him. "Don't say things like that!"
She - Nicki - laughed darkly. "I'm waiting for the day I do snap, truthfully. I've had a good streak so far."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her beau asked.
"I have snapped before. A few times, really. A lot of people got hurt because of it."
"I don't believe that," the blonde shook her head.
"I do," her boyfriend scoffed. Something always seemed off about Nicki to him.
"What happened?" Nicki's boyfriend asked, rubbing her feet slower. He'd never heard of that side of his girlfriend.
"A friend of mine got in my head. He liked to live life to the fullest and to hell with who got hurt. We'd been friends for quite some time so I joined him in his idea of 'fun'. We ended up playing against each other because of some other dumb bitch who kept recurring in his life."
"He sounds like a dick." Her eye twitched as she stared up at the living room ceiling. "You don't talk to him anymore, do you?"
"I haven't in some time, no."
"But if he came around again you would, wouldn't you?" When she didn't answer he kept going. "You've got a lot going for you right now, Nicki. You don't need that asshole messing with your head."
"He never messed with my head, Zane," she spat at him. "I said he got in my head. Meaning the issues and ideology was already there. He just convinced me to stop clinging to something I'm not."
"Like what you're playing at being here with us?"
Nicki sat up slowly, eyeing her blonde friend's beau predatorily. "What's that supposed to mean, Jagger?"
"Jag, leave her alone," Zane argued.
"Ask her, man," Jagger argued, holding his girlfriend protectively close. "I bet you don't know a damn thing about this guy or her life before she came here."
"Of course I know about her life," he fought back. "She grew up in a small town in the south with some family friends because her dad left and her mom got sick and died."
"And you heard that from her telling you, right?" Zane was quiet. "That's my point! No childhood pictures or memorabilia, no paperwork, no details, no proof of who Nicki Vaine even is. You know she doesn't come up when you search her name on the internet?"
"It's been almost a year, man. Why are you bothering with this?"
"Because he's right," she spoke suddenly, standing to her feet in front of them. "You won't find a Nicki or Nicole Vaine on the internet because she doesn't exist."
The blonde gasped. "Are you like witness protection or something?"
She shook her head. "You're going to wish I was. Nicki Vaine is a name I came up with myself. Please, call me Nova."
"Nova…?" Zane breathed.
"Nova Vasile," she continued. "However, I'm a different kind of monster. I'm unlike the three of you. I was born in August of 1841." Their eyes widened, breaths catching in their throats. "I'm a vampire. I have been since 1866 when I was turned by that friend of mine. And yes," she looked down at Zane who gaped up at her, "he is a dick. I'm bad, Zane. I do things; I kill people. It's in my nature, it's who I am."
"You're lying," he breathed, sinking into the couch beneath her gaze.
She sauntered over to the front door near them and locked it. The three began to sweat. "I tried so hard to make this right, I really did. The three of you have been wonderful. Yes, Jagger, even with your constant accusations because in reality," she looked at him with a sick smile, "you were right."
"Why are you telling us this?" His voice shook as he held tightly to the blonde in his lap.
"I thought it might comfort you in your death."
"You don't have to do this, Nicki!" Zane jumped to his feet. "Nova," he shook his head. "Whatever your name is! You're a good person! Why don't you let people see that? You can coexist!"
"When people see good they expect good," she told him sadly. "And I don't want to have to live up to anyone's expectations which is exactly what I'd have to do with you three. There's nothing human left in me, Zane. No good, no kindness, no love. I'm a monster. I'm almost sorry."
They watched, frozen in horror, as her face began to change. Dark veins appeared beneath her eyes. The whites of her eyes turned black, illuminating her emerald irises. Her natural fangs extended below her bottom lip that curled into a twisted grin. She moved so fast, grabbing Jagger first. His girlfriend leaped out of his lap and ran through the house. Zane watched, completely mortified, as Nova tore into his throat and dropped him when his heart stopped pumping blood. He turned and ran after the blonde.
She zoomed by him with her speed. By time he found the blonde Nova had already let her drop to the floor as well. "Please," he begged, falling to his knees. She ignored him.
"They didn't deserve that!" Elena shouted at her. Damon had to hold the brunette back.
"She just told you she slaughtered three people in under two minutes and you want to go yelling at her?" He scolded her. "For fuck's sake she keeps calling you a cunt in Romanian." Elena blushed and Nova laughed.
"It's my native tongue, sweetheart," she told the brunette, sitting on Damon's bed.
"So you weren't born in Mystic Falls?"
Nova shook her head and waved her hand, inviting them in to talk with her. Hesitantly Elena slipped by Damon to sit in the desk chair. He sighed and leaned against a wall. "I was born in Bucharest in 1841. I came to Mystic Falls on a boat in 1860 and stayed with the Salvatores."
"So you two have known each other a long time," she mused. "What about your parents?"
Her eye twitched. Damon sighed. "Even in all this time I haven't been able to get her to talk about them. What she just told you is the extent of what I know."
Nova looked out the window pensively. "They were bad people, I can tell you that much. Bad people with power. I left on my own and stowed away on a ship."
The longer Elena stared at her, the more regal she seemed. Her posture was straight, legs crossed over the knees with her hands folded on top, not a hair out of place. She wondered if the girl came from royalty or if her parents were just that strict.
"If you keep staring at me I will remove your eyeballs and put them in a jar of formaldehyde."
She jumped in her seat and fiddled with the hem of her white dress. "Sorry," she muttered. "It's just...the way you sit. You have even better posture than Miss Mystic Falls contestants."
"Congratulations on not being blind. Yet." Her green eyes darted to Elena coldly. "I suggest either getting over your boyfriend or joining the party. He's a Ripper, kid. And he's BFFs with the Original hybrid."
"You know about that?" Damon asked warily.
She nodded. "Of course I know about that, bou." She rolled her eyes. "I know everything that's happened in this miserable excuse of a town."
"Speaking of which, last time I checked, you vowed to never step foot back into this 'miserable excuse of a town'," he smirked. "Eat your roomies and change your mind?"
Nova smirked which made Elena's skin crawl. "All the fun seems to happen down here. Thought I might entertain myself and play since it's good enough for my best friend. Besides, I've also got to keep you in line from Bulgarian curva." She sneered at Elena with disgust.
The brunette sweatdropped. At least it's not the other Romanian word…
"Let me guess," she sighed, "you've got beef with Katherine?"
She smiled and leaned forward with her elbow on her knee and chin in her palm. "Oh I hate you just as much, don't even consider otherwise. Truthfully I'd love nothing more than to take Damon the hell out of this pitiful town but I can't do that right now because of your pathetic ass always being the damsel in distress. It's taking a lot for me to not come over there and rip your throat out with my teeth." Her smile never faltered.
Damon snickered as Elena's jaw dropped and she started to shake. "So that's what this is about. I knew you couldn't stay away from me."
"And yet here you are, fawning all over the same face again," she smiled up at him. His smirk vanished. "You're never going to get rid of me, Damon. Not truly."
"I've realized that by now with each time you come back from the dead and follow me to the end of the Earth. What are you really doing here, Nova?"
"You know, I recall people asking the same of you not long ago. Must have sucked when you realized I was right and Katherine screwed you again." She smirked.
"Must have sucked when you realized I was right and you're not so high and mighty that you can coexist with humanity."
In a flash she had him by the throat against the wall. Elena jumped to her feet frightfully. "Maybe you are right," she mused in his face. "Maybe I've finally come to my senses. But I'll be damned if I let you sit here at some doppelganger's feet. I'd sooner drag both of us to Romania." She released him so he could breathe. "Take your pick, Damon - the doppelganger in distress or the SuperNova with answers to baffle you."
"You say that like you'd actually tell me the answers I've been looking for for over a century."
"I would. And if you don't believe me then here's a sign of good faith: I was born into royalty in Bucharest."
A/N: So if anyone is really wondering what those naughty words are in Romanian she's saying, look them up, I'm sorry LOL
I have a mouth worse than a sailor and a trucker. Oops.
Yeah of course I make a comeback with an OC cursing in a different language. Good job lol
xoxo