A/N
Hey! It's me! I'm back! Are you excited? I am. This. Is my longest chapter. EVER. 7132 words without ANs. This is awesome! Thanks to all of you who came back to my horribly written (in the beginning) saga, and I hope you enjoy!
A special thank you to GoldenQueenOfTheCove, my amazing beta and best friend!
Lost In Translation
Chapter One: Four Months
It had been four months. Four months since he lay on his deathbed as Stefan sacrificed himself for the cure. Four months since he had even received any news about where his daughter might be. Four months since he had broken down because all he had left of her was a shoe.
Four months of not knowing. Four months of panic. Four months of following Stefan's footsteps into hundreds of dead-ends. Four months of searching for answers that don't exist.
Elena promised they'd find her, but what if they didn't? He felt like a little kid again, not sure if the promises were real or if they were just lies to help him sleep at night – not that he slept much anyway. Every day passed the same way; wake up, manage to put a smile on his face and make a joke or two, try to fall asleep and get an hour in if he's lucky, then wake up and do it all over again.
Four months of the same routine, repeated more times than he cared to count, ingrained into his mind deeper than the need for blood was.
He was numb, barely allowing himself to feel. On the rare occasion that he did let himself show a sliver of emotion, it was around Elena or Andie; Andie Starr, the woman who tried to understand, and Elena Gilbert, the girl who did.
This happened to be one of those occasions.
Damon Salvatore sat in bubbles up to his chest, and empty glass of champagne – the only form of alcohol Andie would let him have as of late – in his hand. "We're out of champagne," he sighed.
Andie tucked a curl behind her ear. "No," exasperation filled the single syllable. How he'd managed to down two bottles of champagne in less than half an hour was beyond her knowledge. "You're out of champagne; I don't drink in the morning."
Damon sighed and set the glass on the ground, a small mound of bubbles sliding to the base. He stood slowly, allowing his ears to absorb the near silence of water droplets colliding with the tile as he walked out of the bathroom. "Oh, come on," he heard Andie's voice float toward him. "I mean, you're dripping a little."
"Mm-hmm," he hummed, strutting his way toward the staircase. The front door closed as he hit the bottom step, Elena's half-put-up ponytail bobbing out of his line of sight. His silent footsteps carried him through the doorway the human had just disappeared through. "Morning," Damon said nonchalantly, a small smile gracing his previously blank composure.
She finished putting her hair up before turning toward him, speaking as she did so. "Hey; I just – oh my gosh!" Elena's back was to him a second later.
"You should really learn to knock; what if I was indecent?" There it was; the daily witty, sarcastic mask she expected of him.
The annoyance in her voice was obvious when she spoke again. "You heard me; you knew I was here."
He shrugged, knowing full well she couldn't see the gesture, and put his hand up with a full three seconds to spare in catching the towel flung at him. "You're early." Damon stated. "Has there been any news?" The question was quiet and hesitant, the ever-nagging fear of bad news resurfacing for the first time in days.
Elena shook her head and turned to face him, satisfied with the towel's new position around his waist. "I don't know if it's news as much as a lead." She pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket. "Tennessee."
He was standing in front of her before the final syllable was out of her mouth, tearing the paper from her hand. "And you think this might be it, the missing puzzle piece we've been waiting four months for that will lead us to Stefan?"
"Damon," Elena's voice was clipped, four months of stress piled on top of birthday preparations and lack of sleep adding to her annoyance.
The vampire in question sighed. "Well? That's what you thought last week, and the week before that, and the week before that. Why is this time any different?"
Elena frowned. "Damon, I understand you're worried about Lilith, I'd be the same way if it were Jeremy –"
"No, you wouldn't." He interrupted her and walked over to the table, slamming a fist down. "Nothing about the situation is the same. Yeah, you'd be worried; yeah, he's out alone in a world full of vampires and werewolves, but at least he knows you'd be okay. He and Alaric didn't even know about the cure until they called us after she disappeared. What if – what if she thinks – in her mind, I'm dead. The cure is a foreign concept. She wouldn't come back. She has nothing to come back to."
"Damon–" the doppelganger's attempts to calm him were lost in the tense air as he continued.
"That's not even all of it," was the only thing he said that even hinted that he'd heard her. "What if we find her?" The vague question hung in the air as Elena waited for him to explain. "What if Klaus got to here? What if we find her?" That's when the true meaning of the question sunk in, the unspoken final word increasing the tension in the room. Damon continued after taking a breath. "At least you know Jeremy well enough to write a eulogy."
*LIT*
It had been four months. Four months since her uncle had killed her and began her transition. Four months since she'd chosen to complete the turn. Four months since Klaus had tracked down the nearest witch to make her a daylight ring. Four months since Stefan had revealed to her that the cure did, in fact, exist, but hadn't reached the boarding house in time.
Four months of denial mixed with grief.
"Because we have nowhere else to go," her ripper uncle explained as she asked why they were with Klaus for the third time that car ride. The hybrid let out a low chuckle from the driver's seat. "Nearly everyone we know is dead; I have no one left."
The younger vampire rolled her eyes. "I love how you explained the part about you being here, but completely left out the part about me."
A frown crept over Stefan's features. "Can you not make a sarcastic comment for five minutes? The eyes are enough of a reminder already."
Lilith's sarcastic demeanor melted away instantly and she sat back in her seat. "Sorry."
Klaus pulled into the parking lot of a bar called Southern Comfort – the destination given to them by two, now dead, women who were now west of their location.
A voice piped up from the back seat, Lilith asking the same question for the fourth time. "Why are we here? I mean, not like with-Klaus here, but Tennessee here."
"We need to stay off the grid." The original stepped out of the car and Lilith opened her door. "We can't be caught by the FBI now, can we?"
She rolled her eyes again. "But is the extent you're taking it really necessary? I mean, if we were any more off the grid, we would be in Ytterby."
Stefan's head popped up from the other side of the car and he shot his niece a confused look. "Where?"
The girl indicated to the ripper with her right and sighed out an "exactly" as Klaus turned to him and said "it's in Sweden."
"Am I even allowed in here? I'm only eighteen physically, a whole year older than Stefan. Neither of us are even technically permitted within fifty feet of the establishment. How old are you, Klaus; are we all illegally entering a "no minors" zone?" Lilith arched a brow as she questioned him, stepping in front of the hybrid to wait for an answer.
Klaus chuckled and shook his head. "That, Rippah's Niece, is why compulsion is such a marvelous thing." A predatory grin was plastered on his face as he followed a man inside. "Now, I ask, have you ever hunted wolves?"
Ten minutes later, Stefan suggested a friendly game of "Truth or Wolfsbane," causing his niece to take a few steps towards the door. "Where do you think you're going?" Their Original travelling companion asked her, grabbing her arm. "You can't just leave after four months."
"I didn't want to be here in the first place." She growled, tugging her arm out of Klaus's grip. "It's a free country; I can leave whenever I want."
Lilith was halfway out the door, sun on her face and one foot on the asphalt outside, before he spoke again. "What if I told you that the cure would have gotten there in time if I hadn't been spending my time trying to track down Mr. Ray Sutton?" She froze and, after taking a deep breath and clearing her thoughts, spun around to face the hybrid. "Now, come join us."
The bar was silent as the girl stomped toward the dart board that the werewolf had been secured in front of. She snatched the dart from her uncle's hand and twirled the tip around in a glass of wolfsbane diluted in water. Lilith jerked her arm back, as if she were elbowing someone in the chest, and let the metallic spear fly. A moment later, it was embedded in Ray's shoulder.
Klaus's predatory grin returned. "Welcome to the dark side." He walked over to her and lazily slung his arm over her shoulder. "We've been expecting you."
*LIT*
Vampire and hunter stood outside an old house in Tennessee, the white SUV behind them still cool from the air conditioning being on for the entire three hour drive. "Why are we here, exactly?" Alaric Saltzman asked, putting the keys in his pocket.
Damon shrugged from his spot near the fence. "I told Elena I'd look into the half-lead."
"They're all half leads," the history teacher complained. "And I'm your accomplice." Damon's half-smile didn't reach his eyes. "You don't want to be here." His friend pointed out. It was a statement rather than a question, a quiet observation he'd made before they even got in the car.
The vampire shrugged again. "No, I don't. I'd much rather be tracking down my daughter who can't defend herself against Klaus than follow more of the footsteps of my brother who made a deal with him." He frowned and began walking toward the house. "But, I did tell Elena I'd follow up on her lead, and that's exactly what I'm doing."
Alaric shook his head. "I know you like Elena and all, but you shouldn't go to such lengths against your will." The human's footsteps on the dirt sounded like someone punching a pillow with boxing gloves on.
"It's not entirely against my will." Damon pushed the door open, ignoring the creak the old hinges made with the motion. Blood covered the walls like a second coat of paint, the sun shining in and reflecting off of it and casting everything in an eerie, red glow. "He always was a messy eater." The dark-haired vampire commented before sighing. "Stefan, Stefan, Stefan."
The human stared at the crimson walls in horrified awe. "Stefan did this? I thought he was all about eating the Easter Bunny and Santa's Reindeer, and caring about a human's life more than Barney Stinson cares about suits, not going through humans faster than the people in Contagion went through body bags." A light breeze drifted through the still open door and carried the stench of death back out.
"There're a lot of things people think they know about my baby brother." Damon continued walking through the house, undeterred by his brother's ripper tendencies. "Like, for instance, his favorite movie is Push, his favorite book series is Twilight, and he cries whenever he watches Titanic."
Alaric followed him slowly, cringing away from the blood soaked walls. "Don't you cry when you watch Titanic?"
The vampire sent him a short glare. "That's beside the point." He led the history teacher to a room in the back of the house, pausing in the doorway when the two torn up girls on the couch entered his line of sight. "You know Ric, there's a reason they call him The Ripper."
*LIT*
The car pulled into the driveway of the nicest foreclosure in Silver City. It was a very plain house – a pale green exterior with a white trim and the front door made almost entirely of unpainted oak wood. All in all, the house was very different from what the girl was accustomed to.
"I don't like it." She complained to her mother, taming her chocolate curls with a hair-tie and shrugging into a jean jacket.
Her mother's own chocolate ringlets bounced as she shook her head. "Your feelings about the house won't affect my decision." The woman's words were quick, as if she wanted to get them over with, and held a venomous tone that the girl hadn't heard in years.
The girl frowned and slouched back in her seat, causing her jacket to ride up. "Sorry," she muttered as her mother stepped out of the car.
"Apology accepted," the woman returned, walking toward the trunk. "And you'll only be staying here for a few weeks until I find out why Klaus turned your sister and you're both out of harm's way."
Her daughter stepped out of the car. "That doesn't seem fair." She mumbled. "You're the Petrova Doppelgänger; we're just guilty by association. It doesn't seem right for Klaus to come after us too."
"Nothing Klaus does is right, Ziela. I can't control what he does, and I can't control who he targets. He's going after Lilith because she dated his brother and she knows his weaknesses. She knows how to bring him down, and he's afraid that she'll act with her new strength." Katherine set the suitcase on the ground and slammed the trunk shut. "You heard the lies they've been telling her yourself. I can't just leave her there."
*LIT*
Another wolfsbane soaked dart danced from Lilith's fingertips into Ray's shoulder, not drawing any attention from the compelled patrons. "I'm going to ask you one more time," Klaus began as she twirled another dart around in the glass. "Where is the rest of your pack?"
A girl walked up behind the hybrid and whispered something Lilith couldn't quite catch. "Thank you, love," he told her before addressing his traveling companions. "Rippah, a word, please? Little Miss Darkside can keep Mr. Sutton busy."
Lilith frowned, slightly annoyed with her new nickname. At least it wasn't as much of a pet name as "Lili," or as plain Jane as "Rippah's Niece."
By the time Klaus returned to their interrogation, Ray had two more darts in his shoulders. "Lilith," he complained. "If you keep hurting him, we'll never get any information."
"Well, I got bored." She retorted, watching her uncle walk out of the establishment. "Where is my dearest Uncle Rippah off to?" Lilith asked, mimicking the hybrid's accent.
The original rolled his eyes. "Your dearest Uncle Rippah is doing something for me whilst you assist in Mr. Sutton's torture." He frowned. "And I don't talk like that."
For the next few hours, Ray Sutton was bombarded with alternating darts and questions until he passed out from the pain. Even then, it was a while before either of them spoke. When a conversation finally started, it was short and had no opportunity to expand. "Hey, Klaus?"
He sighed and turned to her. "Yes, little Miss Darkside?"
"You totally talk like that."
*LIT*
He sat on the short wall of the balcony, shaken out of his pleasant conversation by a certain doppelgänger who walked up and took the glass out of his hand. "Jeremy's smoking again." Elena announced, taking a swig of bourbon and handing the glass back.
"Is his stash any good?"
For his comment, Damon Salvatore received a short glare and an annoyed "you're an ass."
The vampire sighed. "So what, Elena? He's lost more people than even you have; cut him some slack. Let's be honest with ourselves, I'm surprised I'm not in there with him."
A frown crept across the doppelgänger's face and she turned to face Alaric. "Can you talk to him; he listens to you."
The teacher shook his head as she walked back to the party. "You're screwed," Damon muttered, taking a drink. His phone went off and the vampire pulled it out. After a quick look at the screen, he sighed and stood up. "I have to go pick up Andie."
"Your fake girlfriend is expecting you to be a chivalrous boyfriend?" Alaric scoffed in disbelief.
Damon shrugged. "I've kept up appearances for four months, Ric; one more night won't kill me."
Though Alaric Saltzman was a history teacher, he was still a vampire hunter – and vampire hunters know when vampires are showing weakness. That's exactly what his friend was doing. "You haven't given up on finding her, have you?"
The vampire's glass shattered when it hit the ground, his hand in the same position, as if he was still holding it. "Of course I haven't. She's my daughter, Ric. Everyone acts like they're walking on eggshells around me half the time because they're afraid the slightest reminder will trigger an explosion; the other half of the time they're acting like I should drop it and move on." Damon wasn't happy, you really couldn't be in this kind of situation, but at least he'd been calm enough to not kill anyone.
Not yet at least.
"Maybe you should drop it," Alaric suggested sadly. "I mean, there's been no word for four months, no leads at all, all you have to go on is a shoe. Don't you think she'd at least have called Jeremy, or at least made an attempt at attacking Tyler if she didn't know about the cure?"
Damon's frustrated expression remained on his face, his voice rising. "What are you insinuating? That she doesn't care? That she turned her emotions off with a switch that doesn't exist?"
"No." The teacher's voice was sober, despite the amount of alcohol he'd consumed. "I'm saying she might be dead."
*LIT*
Drive By by Train floated throughout the entire house as Ziela continued moving in. When it got to the chorus, she sang along, ignoring the cell phone that was vibrating on the bed. "I swear to ya, I'll be there for ya, this is not a drive by-y-y-y-y. Just a shy guy looking for a two ply hefty bag to hold my-y-y-y-y-y love." She hummed along until the end of the song before checking her phone.
Three New Messages from Jeremy Gilbert
She raised an eyebrow. Why was her sister's quasi-not-boyfriend texting her? Hesitantly, she opened the first message.
Hey, it's Jer. Tyler gave me this number so I have no idea if it's right. If this isn't Ziela Pierce, I apologize.
Ziela read the next message, sent two ten minutes after the first one.
So, Z, since I'm currently assuming that's who you are, have you heard from Lilith at all? Or do you know anything? Because your dad is seriously broken. I have never seen him like this and it's really worrying both Elena and me.
The last message was sent thirty seconds after that one.
How awkward would it be if this was the wrong number?
Ziela let out a laugh and turned the radio down, dialing as she went. She didn't get an answer until the third ring. "Hello?"
"Jeremy, it's Ziela."
She could hear the relief in his voice. "So Tyler did give me the right number?"
The dhampir nodded though he couldn't see. "That he did." There was a quiet roar of conversation in the background and she could hear the bass sound of a song being blasted through the speakers. "Hey, where are you?"
"I'm at Elena's party; hold on a second, I'll step outside." A minute later, the background noise disappeared. "Alright, I can talk now; but Caroline will kill me if I miss cake, so it'll have to be quick."
Ziela stepped out of the bedroom and headed for the kitchen. "Okay, I'll just tell you all you need to know. You cannot let my dad go after her – it'll throw off all of my mom's plans – and she's okay; she's alive, if you can really call it that. She's not in danger. That's all I can tell you."
She could practically hear the frown on his face when Jeremy spoke again. "What? What do you mean "if you can really call it that"? Ziela, where is she?"
His voice was more concerned than demanding and Ziela sighed. "I can't tell you; you'd go after her and it would ruin everything." There was a minute and a half of quiet; just Ziela's thoughts and a barely audible radio playing the Barenaked Ladies' Have You Seen My Love. "Jeremy?"
"I understand that you shouldn't tell me, and I probably wouldn't tell me either, but I really care about her, and a lot of other people here in Mystic Falls do too. You haven't seen what it's doing to Damon – and believe me when I say that you don't want to. If you change your mind about telling me, call me. Okay?"
He hung up before she had a chance to properly respond, and Ziela has stuck listening to the quiet music, the lyrics oddly fitting. Have you seen my love? Have you seen my love? Have you seen my little girl, oh, have you seen my love?
*LIT*
The silence in the building was eerie, only broken my Damon Salvatore's quiet footsteps. He couldn't hear anything and the lights were mostly out, leading him to believe that Andie had found some other way to get to the party. Caroline would be pissed if he missed cake because of a simple miscommunication.
Then his phone rang. Expecting it to be Andie about the ride arrangement, he answered in his usual flirty voice. "Hello, you're reached the man of your dreams; how can I help you?"
"Damon? Where are you?" Elena was annoyed – or angry, one of the two – and Damon didn't want to get into that right then.
Holding back the urge to snap at the doppelganger, he settled for an obvious lie. "I'm by the punch bowl."
Unfortunately, that only made her more upset. "Damon, don't lie to me anymore." After a pause, she spoke again. "I know about the closet."
The words made him freeze; Damon Salvatore was almost struck speechless. He spat out another obvious lie – "I gotta- gotta go break up beer pong" – and hung up. He'd just about given up on finding Andie and was about to go home when something changed his mind.
"Damon?"
The syllables echoed through the air, making her hard to locate. It was when Damon had turned in a full three sixty that he caught sight of anyone. Who he saw was very unexpected. "Stefan."
"Hello brother." Stefan's green eyes held Damon's own blue ones with confidence, his voice calm. "Andie, why don't you say hello?"
The girl's gasping breath could be heard from above and Damon's head snapped up. "I can't move." Andie was sobbing. "He told me not to move."
Stefan smiled coldly. "Klaus sends his greeting along with a message: back off. You're only getting in his way, Damon, and that will only get you killed." Damon growled and opened his mouth to speak, cut off by his brother continuing. "How is everyone, by the way? Though you're not really the one I should be asking. I mean, Ziela's in Colorado, I'm sure you didn't know that; Elena is at her party, probably sulking because you didn't tell her about the closet, whatever that means; I know I can't ask you about Lilith."
The elder Salvatore frowned. "What do you know? Where is she Stefan?" He was on the verge of exploding if he didn't get the information.
His younger brother's cold laugh echoed through the large room. "Of course I know where she is; I'm the one who killed her." Damon's hearing only received snippets after that unless he concentrated. Stefan's words were something he needed to hear. "She knew too much, brother; we couldn't have her running to daddy dearest and spilling all our secrets. So I killed her."
The only sounds for a moment were Andie's strangled breaths and Damon's muttering to himself – "no, no, no, no, no…"
Stefan took a step forward. "Andie?"
Damon's eyes widened. "Stefan, don't." His words were pleading, a point far past begging. "Don't do this." The words did nothing, only fuelling Stefan's resolve from reality. For the first time in over a hundred and fifty years, Damon Salvatore was ready to drop to his knees and beg, throwing his pride and dignity out the window. "Please Stefan. Don't do this." Stefan's eyes never left his brother's, but his words were directed toward the girl up on the catwalk.
"You can move now."
*LIT*
Southern Comfort's patrons ate, drank, and were merry – oblivious to the conversation between the hybrid and the vampire by the dart board. Klaus was frowning. "Your uncle shouldn't be back for a few hours, and I'm bored."
The young vampire rolled her eyes. "Then do something." She stood and twisted a dart in her hand. "We could play a round." Her ebony waves tumbled from their perch on her shoulders as she bounced forward.
He should his head. "Darts is your thing, love, I prefer more artistic activities." The hybrid put his feet up on the table in front of him. "From what I've seen of you, you aren't very artistic."
Lilith frowned and threw a dart at the board. "I've played bass guitar for twelve years, I can play the piano by ear, and I had a role in the first stage production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Still think I'm not artistic?"
Klaus blinked. "I apologize for my inaccurate assumption; you simply don't appear artistic." A moment later, his frown returned. "I'm still bored."
She shrugged. "There's not really much to do." After thirty seconds of silence, she grinned. "Wanna' play truth or dare?"
The hybrid blinked; for the second time in five minutes, this young vampire had taken him by surprise. "Not really."
Lilith's face fell as she nodded. "Yeah, that's probably smart." Another dart flew toward the board and Klaus sighed.
"So, Little Miss Darkside, truth or dare?"
*LIT*
Ziela had tried to call Jeremy back three times. He hadn't answered. He's probably drunk, she thought absently. He said he was at a party. Or he just can't hear his phone over the music. The thoughts didn't help; she knew he was ignoring her.
Granted, she hadn't changed her mind about telling him anything, but he did say she could call. For once, she just wanted to talk to her sister's boyfriend without trying to steal him for herself. She was about to dial the number again when her phone rang.
"Jeremy?" she asked, he voice hopeful.
It wasn't Jeremy. "Ziela, why would your sister's boyfriend be calling you?" Her mother paused. "You didn't tell him anything, did you?"
She took a deep breath before replying. "I told him she was okay, and then he got mad at me for not telling him more."
There was a minute of silence as Katherine gathered her thoughts. "I'm actually calling because the situation has changed. Stefan's told Damon about Lilith's death, but not her transition. This, of course, changes my plans. When you speak to Jeremy, tell him you lied – that she's dead. Everyone needs to think she's dead so that I can go through with my plan, okay?"
Ziela opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by a quiet beep from her phone – call waiting. She sighed. "Yeah, okay. I've got someone on the other line; it's probably Jeremy. I'll feed him the story and call you back." Her mother wasted no time with a reply.
"Don't bother calling me; I'll be enacting my plan."
Then she hung up.
The dhampir answered her other line, trying not to sound nervous. "Hello?"
"I'm assuming there's a reason you called three times." Jeremy sounded tense, and a little angry. "Part of me is hoping that it's because you've changed your mind, but the rest of me knows that you won't be saying things I want to hear."
She felt like all she'd done in the past five minutes was sigh and try to explain herself, and here she was doing just that even more. "Jeremy, I lied."
When he spoke, he sounded confused. "What? What do you mean you lied?"
Ziela sighed again – how many sighs was this now, five? "I didn't tell you the truth. My uncle, Stefan, he- he had to get the cure for the werewolf bite." She paused, waiting for him to comment.
Jeremy stayed silent.
"Well, he had to make a deal with Klaus to get it. Part of the deal was to stay with him for ten years. He has the job of being the Original hybrid douchebag's minion; he does most of the dirty work. Stefan's first, I guess you could call it an assignment, was something he did not want to do. He still regrets doing it-"
The human on the other side of the line interrupted her. "Ziela, what did he do?" It wasn't really a question; it was more of an accusation. It wasn't what did Klaus make him do? He asked it as if Stefan had chosen what he'd done.
After a few minutes of tense silence, she whispered into the receiver. "He killed her. Klaus sent him out when she was hunting. It was the night you were shot; it's why she never came back."
"Oh my God." Jeremy's voice was barely audible with the barrier of over a thousand miles on the telephone wire. "So earlier, when you said she was okay?"
"I lied. I've got to go Jer, but I'll- I'll call you tomorrow, alright?" Ziela pressed end before he could reply and wiped the tears from her eyes from how much she'd believed her own act. "One day," she said to herself. "I'm going to get an award; because I am a damn good actress."
*LIT*
The door to Southern Comfort swung open, causing Lilith Salvatore to look up from the piece of paper she had been frowning at. Stefan walked over to the table and sat next to his niece. "What did I miss?"
"Truth or dare," she growled back, twisting the pencil in her hand just as she'd twirled the dart hours before.
Klaus lazily threw a dart at the board before perching on the table. "I've dared the artistic half of Little Miss Darkside to draw the Eiffel Tower without the use of a visual aide." The grin on his face lacked its usual predatory gleam.
A short glare was sent his way before the younger vampire pouted and voiced her complaints. "I can play bass guitar; I can play piano; I can act at an Emmy-worthy level. I cannot, however, draw to save my life."
The original's grin grew, satisfied with the challenge he'd provided. Stefan rolled his eyes. "I really can't leave you guys alone for more than five minutes, can I?"
"That's not true!" Lilith half-yelled. "We didn't start truth or dare until a few hours after you left." She put the pencil to the paper, beginning to sketch. "It was after Ray passed out. I also made fun of his accent." The vampire smiled and turned her attention back to her sketch.
Klaus frowned and muttered sarcastically. "Isn't she kind?"
The Ripper laughed. "And who's the one who shaped her into the cold, heartless being who can't draw that she is today?"
"My mother," she spoke without looking up from her paper, now half-way done with what looked more like the Space Needle in Seattle than the Eiffel Tower.
The bar was nearly empty when she finally looked up from her drawing. "What," Klaus asked her as he eyed the crudely drawn lines warily, "is that?"
Lilith shrugged. "You never said it had to be drawn well." She put the pencil down and turned to him. "Truth or dare, Mr. Overlord, sir?"
His frown returned almost immediately. "Mr. Overlord? Is that your revenge for me calling you Lili and Rippah's Niece all summer?"
She shrugged again. "Maybe it is, maybe it's not."
Stefan, who had remained quiet for most of the conversation, looked between the two of them. "Is this what you two do when I'm not around? Argue and play truth or dare?"
"Hey," Klaus protested. "We tortured Ray, too; it's not all fun and games." He turned to Lilith. "It's your turn, love."
She nodded, resisting the urge to mimic his accent again. "Hence why I already asked, Mr. Overlord."
He frowned again, pondering all the questions she could ask him if he chose truth before making a decision. "Dare."
Lilith grinned. "Alright, I dare you to-"
"Wait," Stefan interrupted. "I don't wanna know. I'll be outside."
He headed for the door and his niece spoke again. "Okay, I dare you to kiss Stefan." Klaus stared at her, dumbstruck. "On the cheek," she amended. "That way it's not too weird."
Klaus nodded, thinking it over. "Alright, fine. I'll do it. As soon as he comes back."
The grin remained plastered on her face. "Perfect."
*LIT*
As soon as he stepped out of the car, his thoughts were drowned out by happy chatter and blasting music. It was exactly the opposite of what he was feeling. He walked into the house mechanically, barely hearing the annoyed "you missed cake" from Caroline Forbes as she practically smashed the bottle against his chest.
He only caught it so that he wouldn't have to clean it up later.
Damon Salvatore was numb. Not the kind of numb like right before you get a tooth pulled or when you're about to have surgery, but the kind of numb you feel after something traumatic has happened to you.
Paramedics would call it shock.
He only remembered feeling it once before – the night he'd staked Rose. He'd lashed out, pushed Elena away, and killed a woman who didn't deserve to have her life ended so soon. What was her name again? Jessica something?
Of course, tonight would be the night Elena confronted him about the closet he'd reserved for his Stefan tracking. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she demanded. Did she have to do this now? His day had already gotten worse than he'd imagined. "I could have helped; we could have found him."
Damon shook his head. "It was never just Stefan that I was tracking, Elena."
She continued, not even truly listening to what he was saying. "I could have helped; we wouldn't be dealing with what-"
"We'll always be dealing with what Klaus has done, Elena." He stood from his seat on the bed. "The repercussions of what he's had Stefan do will always haunt me. He killed her." He collapsed back on the bed, not looking her in the eye. "He made Stefan kill her." The silence almost seemed louder than their raised voices, closing in and suffocating them. Finally, when breathing became almost impossible, Damon broke the silence. "We can't go back and change everything. Nothing will be the way it was before." Elena opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Can you go, please? I don't feel up to doing anything right now, let alone argue with you."
She nodded silently, turning and closing the bedroom door behind her as she abandoned him to his thoughts in the empty house.
*LIT*
Lilith almost fell out of her chair laughing when Stefan walked in the door and slipped his phone in his pocket, mostly and the image her mind had created. Klaus reluctantly walked forward, sent her a glare, and met the ripper's cheek with his lips. "We are to never speak of this," he growled as he walked away, his face tomato red.
Stefan blinked and walked back out the door. This is what he got for letting them play truth or dare.
*LIT*
Somehow, Damon ended up in his brother's room; the lamp lay broken on the ground, the bed was a mess, the books scattered on the floor. The guitar was raised and he was ready to smash it – or at least was until he remembered why the guitar was in his brother's room in the first place…
"Lilith!" Stefan yelled as she played a tune from upstairs. "Either stop playing or teach me!" He laughed and Damon looked up from the episode of BONES he'd been watching.
Her laughter from upstairs floated down as the music stopped. "After the dance I will."
The hidden promise in the words was never fulfilled because of arguments or life threatening situations, and so the guitar had been stashed in Stefan's room for future use. That was four months ago; now, the owner of the guitar was dead, killed by family. Why did that remind him of something?
For the first time in four months, Damon Salvatore muttered old Shakespearean language - his own personal kind of closure.
"She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word." His voice was barely above a whisper, too weakened from the emotional toll to speak louder. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day. To the last syllable of recorded time and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; signifying nothing." The quiet words hung in the air for a moment before he translated it for himself. "She would have died later anyway. That news was bound to come someday. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The days creep slowly along until the end of time. And every day that's already happened has taken fools that much closer to their deaths. Out, out brief candle. Life is nothing more than an illusion. It's like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. Life is a story told by an idiot; full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning."
That's what his life was now. He was the idiot telling the story; noise overriding his consciousness until he's unable to think straight and everything that can go wrong does. But nothing matters.
The saddest part is the he doesn't even know when he finally broke.
*LIT*
Dried tears streaked down Ziela's cheeks; it didn't feel right to lie to Jeremy, no matter what the reason was. She'd done everything her mother had ever told her to do, no matter who it hurt, and she was done. First thing in the morning, she was going to call Jeremy and tell him the truth, unless for some reason she didn't have access to a phone.
She stuffed a few t-shirts into a bag and hung it on her shoulder, slipping her newly charged phone into her pocket and walking out the door. As she sat in the car and slammed the door, she put her head against the steering wheel. When did everything get so out of hand that she had to go behind her mother's back like this just to do the right thing?
It's always been like this, really; she'd do what her mother said and she'd be her mother's favorite. Her sister, on the other hand, had better morals; she would hardly ever do what their mother told her to. She sacrificed feeling good about herself and having her mother care about her so that others wouldn't fall apart because she was just following orders.
Then Ziela remembered something from history class. "The excuse of just following orders didn't work for the Nazis, so why should it work for us?" Sure, she'd just been doing what she'd been ordered to do, but that didn't make it right. If anything, it made it worse; it showed that she was too weak to stand up for herself against her own mother.
Now that was changing.
A memory hit her; it was a time when Katherine still controlled her – could make her to do anything she wanted her to.
"Mason!" She giggled, putting her plan into action. "If my mom comes home and sees-" his lips on hers cut her off. It had been her mother's idea, actually, another way to get back at the rebellious daughter who never listened.
Ziela had let Lilith believe that it was all her, that she wasn't just covering up for the plan their manipulative mother had constructed. Why did she take the fall? That one event had bridged a gap between the girls; they'd barely spoken to each other since. And that was ten years ago. For ten years, she'd been paying the price of just following orders. Why should she? It was never her intention to do that again, especially after Lilith had finally gotten over Elijah.
She'd get back at her mother soon; that was for sure. A mother shouldn't be the reason her two daughters stop speaking to each other. A mother should be the one who brings them together, not the one who tears them apart. Someone as manipulative as Katherine Pierce shouldn't even be considered a mother – only a guardian. Not even that, really; she'd never done anything for them. Anna had done everything while she went out and manipulated other people until her children were old enough to mold into mindless machines.
She'd known this all along; Ziela simply chose to ignore it.
The truth is cruel, but the lies she had been feeding Jeremy were worse than the truth. Is the plan really that important? No. It's not that important. Nothing is that important. She was done hurting people because her mother promised a hug and a kiss before bed. She was done following the orders that had caused her to indirectly steal a life away from another. She was done doing everything her mother told her to.
New, salty tears dripped down her face; she'd lost her sister long ago, it was only recently that the physical sense applied too. Her vision became blurry and she relaxed against the seat, tilting her head back. When the moisture from her eyes finally disappeared, she pulled out of the driveway and drove east.
A/N
Did you like it? Hate it? Think I should go die in a ditch? Well, if you're part of the last group, you're not in luck (sorry). Oh, and I'm a Leo - my element is fire - flames only make me stronger. You know what I haven't done in a while? This:
Me: Elijah?
Elijah: *is daggered*
Me: Oh yeah. *undaggers him*
Elijah: *gasps* You... undaggered me?
Me: Yes.
Elijah: Why?
Me: Disclaimer please?
Elijah: But-
Me: I undaggered you; you owe me.
Elijah: *sighs* Fine. TheDhampir doesn't own any of the Vampire Diaries characters; nothing in this story is hers except for Lilith, Ziela, and half of the storyline.
Me: Thank you! I'm going have to dagger you again though.
Elijah: Why?
Me: I'll need you for later. *redaggers Elijah*
Awesome. Thank you Elijah. Since the chapters will be so much longer in this fic, updates will be shorter - once, maybe twice a month if I can get into a good writing groove. More reviews will make me write faster though!
One more thing: I have a twitter (WritingDhampir), Lilith's twitter has changed (FallenVampiric) and I made a twitter account where I will post information about upcoming chapters of this fic (StoryOfLili). You don't have to follow them, but I wouldn't complain if you did. Thank you so much for reading and leave your thoughts in a review!
Peace In!