Mystic Falls... I haven't been here since that time. Coming back after so long, I couldn't help but see the differences between then and now. As I walked around I realized exactly how small this town really is. Nothing much here.
I got tired of walking around so I decided I'd go to the "Mystic Grill." Nice name. Very original. Sarcasm included. I walked into the grill and all eyes were on me, but I didn't care. I was too focused on the head of dirty blonde hair, that matched mine, sitting at a table with a slim brunette. He wasn't facing me, so he hadn't seen me enter. That just makes it even better. Time to surprise him.
As I walked passed tables of teenagers, I could hear the quiet whispers of the people gossiping about the new commer. I just continued smiling at the head of dirty blonde hair I was walking towards. It's been years since I've seen him, and I could feel my nerves getting jittery with excitement. When I got to his table, the brunette looked up at me with questioning eyes. I simply smiled at her, winked, and put a finger up to my lips in a hushing motion. She looked at me perplexed, then went to tell him I was standing behind him.
As she began to open her mouth, I put my hands firmly over his eyes and softly whispered, "Guess who?" In his ear. At first he visibly stiffened in shock that someone had snuck up on him. Then a chill ran down his spine when I spoke into his ear. During this, the brunette was giving me a dirty look that screamed, "Get your hands off of my boyfriend!" I laughed at her glare and waited for him to respond. After a few minutes of no response, I heard a silent and disbelieving, "No way."
Next thing I know, I'm being embraced in his tight arms and he is kissing the top of my head repeatedly while he rambled on about how much he missed me. "Okay Steffie, chill out! You're going to crush me," I say in between giggles as I hug him back. "Gene, what are you doing here? Last I heard, you were in Florence," he said after pushing me to his arms-length, taking a good look at me. "You look so gorgeous, as always." I just smiled at him then looked over at the slim brunette who now stood behind him with her arms crossed.
"Stefan, who is that?" Stefan turned to look at her, now remembering that he wasn't alone, and smiled back at me again. "Elena, this is my little sister, Genevieve," he told her as he put his arm around my shoulder and smiled down at me. As I looked over at her, her face was full of shock and wonder. "You never mentioned that you had a sister," she said as she put her arms back down to her side, as she gave a look of guilt for feeling jealous. "I don't like Steffie or Day talking about me. I try to keep a low profile," I said as I looked her over. She was pretty, but her attitude somewhat annoyed me. That could cause some problems. I stepped out of Stefan's protective hold and reached my hand out to Elena while smiling. "Nice to meet you Elena." She hesitantly took my hand and shook it, and when she did I got a flash of a vision.
I saw her and another girl that could be her twin. Then they disappeared and I saw a man with yellow werewolf eyes that also had vampire veins underneath. He was a hybrid. I immediately let go of her hand and stepped back with shock and wonder on my face. Elena looked at me strangely, but Stefan grabbed my shoulders and turned me towards him with a worried face. "Gene, what did you see?" I looked at him and then back at Elena, and stepped away from Stefan. I turned to Elena and gave her a sad look. "You're the doppleganger," I said and she seemed shocked that I knew. "Yeah, how did you..." "Gene gets visions of people and their back stories when she touches them, like Bonnie did," Stefan said as he looked at Elena.
"Yeah... Enough about that! Is Damon in town?" I said with a happier expression as I linked my hands together behind my back. "Yeah, he's at the boarding house. Let's go," he said as he pulled Elena after him and out the door.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Okay, I want this to be a surprise. So just tell him there's someone waiting to see him. I'll hide then jump out and surprise him," I said as we walked up to the boarding house. I watched as Elena and Stefan entered the door, but right as I was about to follow, I stopped and pretended to be blocked by an invisible field. "Umm... Stefan!" I yelled quietly. He came back to the door then seemed to remember something, because he left then returned with Elena. She smiled at me then quietly said, "You may come in Genevieve."
When I walked into the living room, I saw that it still had the 19th century furniture and the fireplace was lit. I quickly looked around for a good place to hide from Damon and simply decided to hide behind the curtains. As I got situated, Stefan yelled up to Damon. "Damon, there's someone here to see you!" I silently giggled as I heard Damon stomp down the stairs. "I don't see anyone here. Stefan, I'm really not in the mood for your little games. So if you'll excuse me I'd like to..." Then I jumped out from behind the curtains and onto his back.
"What the hell?! Get off!" I just held on to Damon as he scrambled around the room trying to get me off of him. After a few seconds, I couldn't contain my giggles any more and began to giggle out loud. Hearing my giggle, Damon immediately stopped, pulled me off his back, and hugged me. "Gene," he whispered as he hugged me tight. I simply stood in his arms hugging him back, and smiling into his chest. Then he held me at arms-length and gave me a stern look. "Arabella Genevieve Salvatore, where the hell have you been?! Do you know how worried I was?! You haven't called or written in five years!"
I looked up at Damon through my eyelashes shyly then looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry Day. I was training and trying to get stronger and learn control. I just didn't want you to overreact." Damon gave me a soft smile before hugging me again. "I just missed my little love. That's all." I smiled up at him then sat down on the couch next to Stefan, with Elena on his other side. "Wait, so if your name is actually Arabella, why do you go by Genevieve?" Elena asked curiously. I froze as that day came back to mind, and I quickly covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. I did this for a few minutes, trying to remove the horrible memory from my mind, as Damon and Stefan watched me with sad faces. "I don't like that name, and I refuse to be called that ever again," I whispered loud enough so she could hear. She looked at me slightly worried but quickly nodded her head in understanding. "So now that the family is all back together, I say we go to the Grill and celebrate," I said with a smile on my face. Elena nodded her head agreeing with me, while Stefan and Damon looked at each other hesitating.
With Klaus making his move soon, they should be planning and figuring out how to save Elena's life. But at the same time, they needed a break, and they finally got their little sister back. After thinking it over, the Salvatore brothers agreed, and the group of four made their way back to the Grill. When they arrived, Elena smiled and waved at a table with two teenaged girls and three teenaged boys. Stefan and Damon followed as Elena made her way over to them, and I slowly followed after.
As I walked up to the group, Elena had already taken a seat next to a dark-skinned girl, Stefan on her left, and Damon sat next to him with an open seat between him and a blonde haired boy. As I took my seat, the group watched me with questioning expressions, then turned to Elena for an explanation, "Oh, guys, this is Genevieve. She's Stefan and Damon's younger sister." The entire group looked at me with surprised faces, and I just smiled at them. "You guys can call me Gene," I said giving a small wave. The group remained looking at me for a few more minutes before the blonde smiled brightly and started introductions.
"Hi! I'm Caroline. This is Bonnie," she said pointing to herself then to the dark-skinned girl next to her. Then the blonde boy next to me introduced the guys. "Hey, my name's Matt. This is Tyler and that's Jeremy," he said pointing to the boy next to him and to the other boy next to Bonnie. "So, are you going to be going to school?" Caroline asked. I was about to answer when I was interrupted by Damon. "Yeah she is. Little love, here, is only sixteen. Gotta get an education," he said smirking down at me, while I glared up at him. I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest.
Stefan began to chuckle at my childishness, while the group just smiled. "Oh shut it Steffie. How's Bambi been?" I asked him with a smirk of my own. He glared at me and I just giggled back at him while Damon hi-fived me. "So I see you're more like Damon," Bonnie said eyeing me. I simply gave her glance and shrugged my shoulders. "Not really. I'm like a combination of Steffie and Day. I'm short-tempered and impulsive, but I'm also loyal and protective." The group seemed to relax at my words, and I figured they had had their share of Damon moments.
The group began to converse freely as they all got to know the new girl. During their conversation, Damon got up and walked to a man sitting at the bar. I tilted my head to the side with a curious gaze and walked over to stand in between Damon and his friend. "Hello, my name's Gene," I said as I stuck out my hand for him to shake. He looked over at Damon, who gave a shrug, and asked, "Friend of yours?" He looked back at me and I still held my hand out for him to shake. "Little sister, actually." The man perked up and looked at me as if I was a new toy. "Well then," he began as he took my hand into his, "my name is Alaric. I teach history at the high school."
When Alaric grabbed my hand, I had a vision of him sitting in a chair with a witch chanting spells around him. Then, Alaric became a man with curly, dirty blonde hair with yellow werewolf eyes that had vampire veins underneath them. I pulled away from him with a terrified expression and backed into Damon. He was taken aback at my sudden change in expression, but seemed to process what had happened. He knew that I knew his secret.
When I had pulled away from Alaric so harshly, the group grew silent and watched me. They watched curiously as I backed away from him as if he were a wild animal that would attack at any moment. Stefan and Damon stiffened, knowing I saw a vision of Alaric that scared me. They all waited for me to say something. After a minute of waiting, I whispered only one question.
"What are you?"
