A/N: Hey guys! This is a story I have been meaning to write for a while :) I've always really enjoyed reading Character x OC fics so I thought I'd have a go. I'm planning for this to be a lengthy fic, and I hope you enjoy it! Any reviews would be much appreciated and I can't wait to really get into the plot... it's a doozy!
"You gonna get up at any point today?"
She frowned. "I think I'm capable of looking after myself, Damon."
"I'm sure," the dark-haired man conceded, travelling over to the woman sprawled across the cotton sofa and raising an eyebrow, "but you're boring when you're moody."
"I am not moody!" she argued, sitting up and glaring at his back as he sauntered away into the kitchen. "I've been travelling with Stefan and Enzo all week- for the love of all that is holy, let me take a nap."
Hearing only the response of pans clattering against surfaces, she threw the blanket off her torso and trudged towards the door. "Everything aches; those two don't seem to remember the limitations of humanity."
"You know what will make you feel better, Mia?" Damon questioned over his shoulder, "Hanging out with your gal-pal Liv and not sucking the life out of me with your boring human problems."
"Minus the offence I take from that, maybe Liv's company won't make me want to bury myself alive," Mia grimaced, grabbing the keys from the counter before childishly sticking her tongue out at the unamused vampire sorting through condiments, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "What are you doing, anyway?"
"Attempting to cook a very special meal for a very special lady."
"Ketchup doesn't exactly scream sophistication, buddy," she chuckled, crouching down to sit on the tiled floor beside him and pointing towards a packet of basil. "Unless you want your evening to end with a very unamused Elena, I'd stay clear of that. You know, 'cause she's pretty allergic."
"I knew that," Damon grumbled, hesitantly pushing the herb away from the rest of the containers.
"Of course you did."
"Don't you have a whiny witch to diminish your never-ending sass on?"
"Don't you have a meal you should be attending to?"
"At least take your sass elsewhere."
With a final grin, Mia pushed herself off the tiles and travelled over to the door. "She likes eggplant, by the way."
"Knew that."
"Sorry, the number you have called is temporarily unavailable. To leave a mes-"
"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me," Mia groaned, collapsing back onto the sofa and pulling the blanket back over her legs. "Come on, Liv!"
The sound of muffled conversation caught her ear.
"Hey Mia," Caroline greeted, dropping an alarming amount of bags onto the living room table.
"Hey Care, been shopping recently?" she questioned, amusement on her face as she heard a groan from behind her.
"I never knew shopping could be so intense," Stefan cringed whilst rubbing his eyes, "that was not a fun experience."
"Neither was clambering through the woods for seven days. At least you had rest-breaks." Mia quipped, patting the vacant side of the sofa for him to sit.
"Actually Gorgeous, she didn't let us have rest-breaks either," Enzo grumbled, moving past Stefan and sitting down instead. Mia pushed him off with her feet.
"Come on, guys! We got a lot done," Caroline beamed, skipping over to force Mia into a standing position. "We've got almost everything!"
"Everything... for what?" Mia frowned, plodding over to inspect the bags more closely.
Caroline raised a brow. "Hello?! It's Bonnie's birthday next week!"
Mia pulled out a colourful party hat. "I can't believe she's turning six already," she simpered.
Caroline snatched the hat away. "Haha, very funny," she frowned, snapping her head around to glare at the snickering boys who were now lazing on the sofa. "I'll have you know party hats are fun for all ages. Now help me set up the streamers, would you?"
"Where's the other Salvatore?" Enzo inquired, batting Stefan's feet off of his lap.
Mia absent-mindedly pointed towards the kitchen. "Cooking for his lady love," she answered, withdrawing a packet of balloons from one of the bags.
Stefan jumped to his feet and sauntered over to the kitchen door. "Hello, brother."
Damon continued to stir the contents of an over-boiling pot, a chequered hand towel hung over his shoulder. "Little busy, junior- go help Snarky and Perky with the festivities."
"Snarky?" Stefan chuckled, crossing his arms in amusement. "I'm guessing Mia must have out-sassed you."
"No one out-sasses me."
"Then why do you look so defeated?"
"I'm not as good at cooking as I am at being sassy, apparently."
The contents of the pot spilled over the edges. "Clearly," Stefan concurred with a smirk before travelling over to Mia. "It's barely one o'clock and you've already pissed him off. Bad day?"
"Everything hurts and it's all your fault."
"Hey! What did I do?"
Mia scowled and motioned towards her entire body. "Human. I am human. Walking for seven days to investigate animal attacks that actually turned out to be animal attacks did not put me in the best of moods." She forcefully pushed her blonde hair behind her ear and sighed irritatedly at the amusement on his face.
He laughed and slung an arm over her shoulders, motioning them both back over to the sofa which Enzo had yet to remove himself from. "Sorry, Mia. I needed my bestie with me... I would have ended up staking him."
"Pretty optimistic thinking there," Enzo remarked, sinking further into the cotton whilst fiddling with a streamer that Caroline threw at his head moments earlier. "If it makes you feel any better Darling, you were welcome company. Well, until you started whinging."
"I don't whinge," Mia nagged, stepping out of the way of the bustling blonde. "Need any more help, Care?"
"Now that you mention it, I forgot the invitations back at home. I'll be five minutes- could you carry on with the banner? Oh, Stefan- didn't you need to drop in to see Alaric? I can take you," she offered, placing her jacket back on and walking towards the front door before fixing him with a slightly impatient glare.
"Ah, yeah thanks. Be back in a bit, Mia." Stefan simpered, patting her head as he strolled towards Caroline. "Please don't annoy my brother, Enzo."
The door slammed shut signalling their exit.
"Well," Enzo chirped, "I'm gonna go annoy Damon for a bit."
"I could use a little help with this- and you're gone." Mia sighed, laughing at his retreating figure and placing her hands on her hips. "Guess I'll just do this by myself, then. Thanks buddy!" she hollered.
Reaching up to the vacant side of the wall, Mia secured the banner and stepped back to observe her work. The words 'Happy 23rd Birthday!" were written with perfect calligraphy, shocking amounts of glitter and feathers decorated the remaining space, and Mia wondered to herself how long Caroline had spent on making it.
"Yeesh, a bit flashy for my taste. And my birthday isn't for another four months."
Mia yelped and jumped forward, turning around to see an unfamiliar face. A man wearing a long, black coat with a Nirvana t-shirt continued to stare up at the gaudy banner with a grin.
"Who are you?" she inquired, tilting her head in confusion at how she didn't sense someone in the room.
"I guess it's the sentiment that counts, really."
"...Hello?"
The man's amused eyes lowered from the banner to rest on her face. "Hiya." he greeted casually, waving his hand before falling down gracelessly onto the sofa behind him. A large grin was plastered on his face as he continued to stare at her.
Mia stared back, brow creased in utter bemusement and pulse racing- her entire being was screaming at her to be cautious, and as a result her breathing steadied, her body tensing. Awkwardly shifting her gaze away when she lost all hope on him speaking first, she reluctantly shuffled over towards another bag and continued decorating, shoulders falling back into rest from the thought that if he were planning to attack her, he wouldn't be twiddling his thumbs and humming to what she identified as Pearl Jam. "If you're trying to creep me out, you're going to have to try a lot harder; I'm associated with an...interesting group of friends. Could you at least help me decorate? You're as bad as Enzo."
The man rolled off the sofa in as little grace as he used to fall on it before sauntering over to the bags and pulling out a handful of party blowers. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess this party isn't for me."
Mia laughed. "Pass." She stretched her hand out to him, eyes still trained on the fairy lights draped over the wooden interior. Staring at her hand for a moment, the man passed the party blowers over and glanced around the room.
"I wasn't aware the Mystic Falls Gang included a six year old," he observed, playfully tapping the balloons away with his finger.
"I like you," Mia concluded, briefly looking at him with a grin, but turning away when the uneasy feeling festering in her stomach pulsed uncomfortably. "You know these guys?"
"Oh yeah, Damon and I go way back," he smirked, returning to the sofa and perching on the arm. "Met him in 1994, actually."
She blinked. "Wouldn't you have been like two?"
"How do you know I'm not a vampire?" he questioned, hissing comically, canines bared, holding an invisible cape across his face in crude imitation.
Her eyes flickered over to him, one side of her lip quirking upwards in an amused smile. "...I live with enough of them to be able to tell- you don't give me that sorta vibe."
"You're a clever one," he praised, his grin growing wider. "Long story short: Stuck in a Prison World, didn't age, met Damon and Bonnie, now here I am."
Mia glanced at the kitchen door and bit her bottom lip anxiously. Why hadn't Damon picked up on his voice?
"Oh, I put a muting spell on us. You were right! Not a vampire, just your standard witch. Those two can't hear a thing." he answered, as if he could read her mind. "What's with the face?" He moved closer to her.
"Why'd you put a muting spell on us? Who are you?" Mia repeated, edging away from him with wild eyes willing him to stay away. The tension that had since settled into nothing more than a slightly disturbing ambience was fuelled by every step he took.
Her back came into contact with the wall, but the man kept treading towards her. He came to a halt directly in front of her, eyes glancing down playfully. She observed that he was tall, around six foot- dark hair coupled with even darker eyes. Every nerve in her body went into high alert, and the aura of magic surrounding his body was so tangible she felt like she was choking. His face dipped close to hers, dark eyes calculating and amused, brows creased in suspicion, and in the next second- after reaching a hand towards her wrist- he was suddenly thrown against the opposite wall with great force by an irritated Stefan. The Salvatore stepped back as Caroline rushed in, chucking the invitations on the table and stopping in front of Mia.
"What are you doing here, Kai? Shouldn't you be in Portland?" Stefan frowned, watching intently as the man sat up and dusted himself off, chuckling.
"It got boring without you guys, I got homesick. Those invitations, Care?" Kai queried, leaning his body to the side to glance at the table that was now carelessly littered with envelopes. Caroline merely rolled her eyes in response, immediately turning her attention back to Mia.
"Are you okay, Mia? Did he touch you? Where's Enzo?!" she fumed, running a frantic hand through her locks.
"Present," he responded, striding out of the kitchen with Damon following closely behind. "I'm gone for five minutes and a magical serial killer breaks in. Typical."
"I'm sorry- serial killer?" Mia spluttered, eyes widening in alarm. Kai shrugged in response.
"Labels, labels. How sucky- you murder people one time-" Damon raised a brow. "Okay, a couple times, and you get labelled for life. How is that fair?"
"What in the Hell are you doing here, Kai?" Damon snarled, stalking towards the man sitting on the floor complacently.
"Would you believe I'm here for some brother-sister bonding time?"
Kai pushed himself from the floor, opting to lean back against the wooden wall and flash Damon a smirk when he saw his annoyance grow. "No, seriously! I have some business to talk about with my sisters. Any ideas where they are? I tried to use a locator spell but they were dumb enough to hide their locations from me."
"What makes you think we'd tell you even if we did know where they were?" Caroline spat, continuing to check Mia for possible injuries. When she was certain there were none to be found, she clasped the girl's hand and ventured over towards Enzo. "You're not exactly Brother of the Year."
"Rude." Kai glowered, "Look, I'd love to sit here and hear all the things you are itching to say about me but sadly, the conversation I need to have with my sisters? It's a doozy. Kinda need to know where they are, unless you want them kidnapped- or, well, tortured to death." He laughed at their fierce expressions before adding with a half-hearted wave of his hand, "Not by me this time!" He swayed on his feet, hands in his pockets as he awaited the information he came for.
"What are you talking about? Why do you care if they get killed, anyway?" Stefan interrogated, glancing towards his brother. Damon shrugged in response before returning his gaze to the man who was even more impatient than before.
"None of your beeswax. Hey, what about you? Mia right? Any information would be more than appreciated."
"Who are your sisters?" she asked steadily, intrigue overcoming her urge to flee. She chose to ignore the enraged stare that Damon was blazing into her skull.
"Josette- tall, dark hair. Looks like me, being my twinsie. Er, but she's like forty." He smirked at her confusion. "Prison World, remember? My other dear sister actually looks my age, but she's got crazy blonde hair. Name's Olivia, goes by Liv- and judging by your face, I assume you know both of them. And me."
"You're Malachai Parker?" she shrieked, clambering backwards in terror. Her face contorted as she continued to stare at the man whose story she recalled hearing long ago by none other than his twin herself.
"The one and only," he smiled, and the proud look worn across his face made her feel nauseous. "Now we're properly acquainted, I'm gonna have to rush you for that information Mia. Time's a-ticking." he tapped his wrist as he stalked towards her.
She staggered back accordingly, raising an arm to stop him. "That's as close as you're getting. From the things I've heard, I find it pretty impossible to comprehend what would possess you to care for the well-beings of your siblings."
"I wouldn't say I care about their well-beings per se, it's more that I care about preventing my entire coven from becoming extinct. As the leader of the Gemini, it's kind of expected of me to not have the entire coven wiped out. What a drag, right?"
"We don't have time for chit-chat, Kai- either you tell us who's targeting the coven or I personally mail you back to Oregon." Damon challenged, fingers twitching in the alluring notion of stuffing the freak of nature in a crate and shipping him to the Western coast.
At long length, Kai turned his gaze from Mia to Damon, eyes narrowing as his voice lowered. "Ever heard of the Umbravis?"