Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries
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Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it!
Oh, and a few people asked me how you pronounce 'Rei', it's (Ray).
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Rei peered up at the large three storey house through narrowed eyes.
"Nice place," The Taxi driver whistled appreciatively, "You living here all alone though?" He gave her a doubtful glance and Rei raised her eyebrows at him silently. "Sorry," He apologised sheepishly suddenly realising how that might come off. "Um, that'll be fifty five dollars."
She reached into the pocket of her jeans and counted out the money before handing it over with a polite smile.
"Have a good day!" The man called through his half rolled down window as he performed a tight u-turn so that he could go back down the private drive.
She nodded with a fake smile and watched until she could no longer see the car.
"It would be going much nicer if the freaking weather could make up its damn mind." Rei grumbled crabbily.
Turning back around, she noticed that the late dusk light had coated everything in a light, dusky pink. The white pebbles that made up the small circular courtyard in front of the house looked more like faded rose right now. The entire property gave off an impenetrable sense of privacy; trees encircled the area while delicate looking daffodils, tulips and other varieties of spring flowers were growing in the small flower bed that was framing the house's right side.
Rei glared resentfully at the ordinary front door before shuffling forward, keys in hand.
The courtyard was clearly designed with a practical bent; she couldn't imagine that any car or truck wouldn't have amble space to swing back around so it could travel back down the drive.
Slotting the key into the lock Rei pushed the door open without hesitation and stepped inside.
It was beautiful. Hermione, in an effort to make this move as easy as possible had spent countless hours trying to find her best friend a home she could conceivably find some happiness in living in. It suited her perfectly.
A little out of town, to get to the property you pulled off the highway onto a well maintained white pebbled drive which went on for at least three kilometres, probably so you didn't get any of the traffic noise now that she thought of it. The drive was private and thin, clearly a one-way system, but it was lined with giant oak trees on either side interspersed with whatever native flora was in bloom that season.
Rei sighed loudly, no smile on her face as she took in the interior.
Bay windows that she knew continued upstairs flooded the house with sunlight; the windows enormous and strategically placed so that the sun would never glare through their panels at dawn and dusk but rather filter the light so that it created a far softer effect. It was charming.
Standing in the entrance, the front door wide open behind her Rei let the carry-on bag slide down her arm and connect loudly with the timber floorboards at her feet.
This structure had probably never witnessed a sad thing in all its time. That was the feel of the place. Well loved and well looked after.
"Urgh," Rei grimaced with disgust and spun sharply on her heel, scooping up the new car keys that were lying in a small bowl on the floor as she stalked back outside closing the door behind her with a loud bang.
…
Rick stared morosely into his empty glass. This day could not get any worse.
"Another one?" The bartender pointed to his glass in explanation.
"Yep," He pushed the glass forward before sitting back and letting his eyes drift over what was left of the Mystic Grill's dinner crowd.
He tipped his head in thanks as his glass was returned, this time full of bourbon.
"Your wife is a bitch," The snarky comment was impossible to ignore, especially when the person who made it dropped uninvited into the bar stool beside him a second later.
"Too true," Alaric muttered lowly raising his glass to take a long drink. "How's Elena?" He asked with concern. Meeting your birth mother for the first time would be a big deal for anyone but to have to meet the monster that she'd become? With no memories to measure it against? God…
Icy blue eyes threw him a loaded look, "How do think?"
"You'll look out for her?" He had no reason to feel a responsibility towards the female Gilbert, but knowing it and not feeling it were two very different things.
Damon looked at him for a long moment before he turned away to signal the barman, "You know I will," the vampire promised.
"Excuse me?" A lightly accented voice drifted over to them, "Is the kitchen still open? I was hoping to get some dinner and this seems to be the only restaurant in town."
Alaric turned around and blinked at the sight that greeted him. Matt, the only waiter on shift, was staring at whoever had spoken seemingly stuck for words. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed a small red tinge spread across the tops of the quarterback's ears and cast a speculative glance at the turned back of the woman who had spoken.
"Y-yeah, of course." Matt recovered quickly enough from whatever had stumped him and nodded, handing her a menu that was lying on the table he'd been wiping down moments before. "Take a seat and I'll come get your order." He smiled kindly.
Alaric leaned closer to Damon, "I thought that the kitchen closed ten minutes ago?"
"It did," Came the vampire's drawling reply.
"Thanks," When the woman finally turned around, jacket thrown over the small bag swinging at her side, Rick couldn't help the chuckle of laughter that rose in his chest.
The young woman was painfully petite with a mass of loose raven black curls that reached down to her mid-back. He suspected her accent was British from the little he'd heard of it but when he noticed the exceptionally pale shade of her skin he was almost certain that that was where she was from.
Ah, but he couldn't blame the guy. If he was still seventeen and had turned around to find a girl that looked like that smiling at him so hopefully he was certain he'd have answered that the kitchen was still open as well.
"She's a looker," Damon smirked suggestively; Alaric immediately tensed and shot him a warning look. "Don't think I've ever seen her in town before," the vampire mused.
He rolled his eyes, "Seeing as how the girl seemed surprised to realise that this was the only place you could eat out in Mystic Falls, I'd consider that a fair assumption."
"Do you know what you want?" He heard Matt ask.
"Is the vegetable soup here any good?"
"Yeah, well, I like it," Matt laughed with an uncomfortable sounding chuckle.
Rick let the amusement he was feeling bleed into his eyes when Matt's wandering gaze accidentally met his own.
"The soup it is then," When she looked up to hand the menu back to his student Rick got his first good look at her eyes and suddenly felt guilty for silently teasing Matt a moment ago.
He didn't think he'd ever seen such captivating eyes. Enormous and doe like in amongst delicate white features, their unique emerald colour only seemed to stand out against the stark contrast that her black hair provided.
"Nothing to dink?"
"Just tap water, please." She smiled.
Matt went to turn away before he suddenly paused his face twisting with indecision, he turned back around, "I'm Matt by the way," He introduced himself.
Wow, Alaric thought. That took some confidence.
"I'm Rei," The girl laughed as if it just occurred to her that she should have said this sooner. "Sorry about my manners. If you'll accept the excuse, I'm experiencing my first ever feeling of jet lag and am finding that the experience isn't one that suits me."
Matt grinned at the friendly reply, "No problem," He assured. "I'll just get your order."
"Don't you dare!" Alaric hissed at the elder Salvatore brother as the vampire slid off the bar stool, his blue eyes focused on the alone girl with a predator's gaze.
Damon rolled his eyes at him, "Would you relax? I'm just going to talk to her."
Rick eyed the innocent looking vampire suspiciously, "No compelling her," He demanded hotly. Isobel's visit today had used up all his patience with the blood sucking creatures; he wouldn't allow Damon to use that girl like a toy, not today.
"Fine," Damon raised both his hands, palms out. "Not that I'll need it," His black eyebrows lifted up and down suggestively and a confident grin spread across his lips as he turned around and walked the three steps that separated them from the girl.
"Is this seat taken?" The vampire didn't wait for a reply before sliding cleanly into the unoccupied seat opposite the petite beauty.
…
Rei looked at the handsome man smirking at her and let a slow smile pull up the left side of her mouth, "Would it stop you if I said no?" She asked.
"No," He grinned and leaned forward so that one elbow was resting on the tabletop, "I'm Damon Salvatore."
"Here you go, Rei." Matt interrupted, sliding the steaming bowl of soup and a small plate with two slices of toast into the space in front of her. "Did you want anything else?"
She noticed that his eyes slid to the guy who'd invited himself to sit with her when he said that, and realised that the blonde was concerned that she was feeling uncomfortable.
Rei sighed quietly, the ache in her bones was only now beginning to leave but she knew her body would need time to heal from the stress it had been put under. Dr Bryant had made that very clear.
Normally, just removing oneself from whatever was causing the problem, in this case magic, would result in an immediate halting of all physical symptoms. But horcruxs were far from the norm. Her body would need to recover, to heal itself from any internal evidence of the pain she'd been experiencing, and that would take time.
"No Matt, I'm fine, thank you." She tried to keep the exhaustion out of her eyes, picking up the spoon in a silent hint for him to leave.
He was a nice enough guy but right now, if pushed, Rei was almost certain that she might rip off someone's head.
She didn't even feel like eating but the healer from St Mungo's had told her that she would feel that way and she would have to force herself to eat despite not wanting to. She'd considered just ignoring his instructions but Ron had known her too well and made certain to ask the healer whether not eating would hinder her body's recovery. Surprise, surprise, it would. But it was enough to force her to get in her newly bought car and drive into town in order to get some sort of meal.
"So, are you just passing through?" Apparently, her unwanted company wasn't as good as her waiter at taking the hint that she wanted some peace and quiet.
Not bothering to hide her exhale of aggravation, Rei purposefully placed the spoon back down beside the bowl and looked up into icy blue eyes. "I just moved here actually," Her tone wasn't rude…yet. But it was short.
Mr tall, dark and handsome just smirked. "Really?"
She tilted her head to the side. The amused expression on his face told her that he hadn't missed her hardly subtle signs to go away; in fact, he seemed to find humour in her wish for his departure. "Yes, today, in fact." Rei informed crisply, not amused or…charmed, as she was sure Mr blue eyes believed he was being.
"Well I was born here, I'd be happy to show you around town."
Rei stared at him for a long moment, letting the suggestive comment hang there until even he was beginning to look slightly uncomfortable before turning sideways to face the man she'd noticed was watching them from the corner of his eye.
"Excuse me," She called sharply. The guy at the bar looked surprised to be called on; glancing at the now confused Damon sitting opposite her before looking at her hesitantly. "Do you know two know each other?" Rei asked, indicating between them with a single finger.
She already knew that they did. She'd noticed the chummy pair up at the bar when she'd walked into the establishment; cranky and feeling exasperated with this town's lack of food places. The war had left a lot of scars and Rei didn't think she'd ever stop taking inventory of the types of people that surrounded her, or the instinctive way she always searched out a room's exits.
It was too ingrained in her now.
"Um…yeah?" He said it like it was a question.
Rei smiled sweetly, "Do you think you might like to explain to…Damon, wasn't it?" She asked the redundant question with a swift glance at icy blue eyes, "The meaning of the term 'striking out'." She looked pointedly at the guy who obviously didn't have a clue what to do, ignoring the smothered laugh of the bartender.
She wasn't usually so mean but Merlin, she was not in the mood and he wouldn't take a hint.
"Confident little thing, aren't you?" Damon drawled with a taunting voice, but Rei was pleased to see that there was a look of slight bewilderment in his eyes this time.
Picking the spoon back up she used her other hand to dip one of the slices of toast into the soup. "It was nice to meet you Damon." Rei stated with finality, taking a bite of the bread.
Mr blue eyes surveyed her for a long moment a broad smirk slowly spreading across his lips, "Charmed."
She looked up to see ice coloured orbs, twinkling with humour, staring back at her as he got up.
Pushing the chair under the table he gave her one last suggestive wink before turning around, making his way to the exit. "See you later, Rick," Damon called over his shoulder.
Rei dipped her spoon back into the soup, fatigue beating at her; it was all she could do to keep her eyes open by this point.
"Sorry about him," The man at the bar apologised with a crinkled brow.
Rei blinked a couple of times, forcibly pulled her wandering thoughts back to the present as the words finally registered.
"Oh, there's no need." She waved a hand in the air as if to brush aside the comment. "Besides, I get the feeling that for him that was pretty tame." As soon as she swallowed a mouthful of the soup, Rei found herself having to force back the frown of distaste that desperately wanted to twist her mouth.
She hoped it was just her mood that was making this soup taste so bad, because if this was considered good in Mystic Falls, she was going to starve to death long before she got anywhere with her magic.
...
"…You'd be right…" Alaric chuckled.
Looking at her, he realised that the girl couldn't possibly be long out of high school, if she even had graduated that is. He bit his lip in thought. It might be more of a personal a question than was strictly allowed by social convention for a stranger to ask, but he'd seen from the way she'd dealt with Damon's advances. He doubted that the raven haired girl would answer anything unless she wanted to.
"Do you mind if ask you what age you are?" When emerald eyes suddenly flashed up to pierce him, Rick quickly explained himself. "I'm the history teacher at the local high school," He said quickly. "I was just wondering if I might be seeing you in my class, you don't look too far off in age to most of my senior students."
She smiled at him putting down her spoon and lifting the napkin resting on her lap to wipe her mouth. "I'm seventeen, but I finished school early back home. I'm taking more of a gap year…years." Rick noticed that she didn't look exactly excited by the prospect.
He got the feeling that to ask anything else right now might be pushing his luck.
He smiled at the obviously tired looking girl kindly. "Well, at the risk of sounding like Damon, but in no way intending it to come across in such a way," he prefaced himself, and saw that his awkward way with words had pulled a small smile of amusement from her. "Being a relative newcomer to this town myself, I'd be happy to show you around or answer any questions you might have."
Any girl that could shoot down Damon without screaming the words 'back the hell off!' at the top of her lungs was alright in his book. The girl obviously had spirit and…well, he'd seen that look of loneliness in his own eyes enough times since Isobel left him to recognise it, he wouldn't wish it on anyone.
She tilted her head to the side and fixed him with a surveying look. "I've heard so many horror stories about the small town American serial killers; funnily enough a lot of the stories started an awful lot like this one."
Rick choked on the liquor he'd just swallowed. Coughing and spluttering he still endeavoured to raise his hands in some effort to defend himself, horror flooding through him.
The girl's face immediately fell.
"Oh Merlin," She jumped up and rushed over to him, thumping him solidly on the back. "That was stupid of me, I'm so sorry, sometimes my mouth runs away with itself and I start thinking that everyone has my sense of humour." Finally able to breathe again she cringed at the disbelieving look he shot her. "Yeah," She drew the word out, "I was teasing you...sorry." She brushed the hair that had fallen over her shoulder back behind her ear harshly and shrugged with an adorably sheepish smile, "British humour?"
Rick couldn't help laughing, "Fine." He coughed once more. "British humour then." He accepted the excuse in the same good humour that it was meant in.
She stuck out a hand, an easy smile on her lips this time. "I'm sure you heard, but I'm Rei, Rei Potter." The difference between this smile and all the others he'd seen her wearing tonight was stark and Alaric realised with some surprise that it was because this was one genuine and real.
"Alaric Saltzman," He shook her hand. "I know, it's a mouthful-" He started the usual apologises he normally gave whenever he introduced himself but a scoff from the young woman in front of him cut him off.
"Oh please," Emerald eyes rolled, "You think you have a unique name, trust me, where I come from, you'd fit right in," She assured.
He didn't even know that he was grinning. "Well, most people call me Rick?" It was almost a question and Rei looked at him with a quirked eyebrow.
"Do you prefer Rick?" She asked slowly, "I ask because I want to know if you honestly have a problem with me calling you Alaric, because I prefer that name." She said in a clearly put on snobby tone, the nose in the air was the thing that did it though, and he couldn't stop the laughter that escaped him a second later.
God, he hadn't laughed like that in a long time, he realised.
Rei smiled at him and again he couldn't help noticing the difference between this one and the one's she'd been using earlier. He hadn't even realised that they weren't genuine.
To be honest, the fact that he hadn't noticed irritated him. He prided himself on being a good judge of character and being able to accurately read people. Still, he was glad that the tired girl looked more at ease now.
"You can call me Alaric," He assured her.
"Rei, can I get you anything else?" Matt suddenly appeared behind them.
When he turned around to see his student looking between the unlikely pair with confused look, Alaric couldn't help rolling his eyes. Sometimes, he really did miss living in North Carolina.
In such a small community, where friendship groups were often established before one could even talk and everyone knew everybody else, to see a friendship sprout up between people of different ages had to be something of a novelty. It probably looked very strange to Matt that they were chatting together amicably.
"No thank-you, Matt." Rei walked over to her table and grabbed the jacket and bag slung over the back of the chair she'd been using. "The soup was quite enough."
Alaric raised his eyebrows when he noticed the soup was barely half gone. Apparently, Matt noticed the same thing.
"Didn't you like it?" He stepped forward with a small worried frown crinkling his forehead. "I can get you something else? I think I saw some sandwiches out back, do you like chicken?" He was already walking away to retrieve the food item when Rei called him back with an assurance that she was fine and the soup had been perfect.
Rick smothered his snort of laughter behind the glass tumbler he had raised to his lips. Matt was a good worker, he was always attentive to his customers and tried hard to be kind to everyone. But even so, the level of attention he was giving the beautiful petite seventeen year old wasn't exactly normal for him.
After giving her goodbyes to Matt and leaving what seemed to him a very generous tip, she turned back Rick. "I'm still in the process of moving into my house, but I think I might take you up on that tour of the town offer, Alaric."
"Sure, I'm a regular here so-"
"Just come by." She finished for him.
"Yep," He nodded.
"Alright, well I should get home. It was nice to meet you, Matt," And with that she was gone.
Alaric looked at the blonde quarterback that was still staring at the closed door she'd just disappeared through and rolled his eyes. "Honestly Matt, someone could mistake you for Tyler Lockwood right now. Don't you have a girlfriend?"
His student spun around to face him with an open mouth, his cheeks red and embarrassed. Alaric laughed under his breath and forced his tired body off the stool. "Have fun at the parade tomorrow, Matt."
As he walked out the door and the cold air hit him, Alaric realised for the first time that the depressive weight that had been pressing down on his shoulders since Isobel had said goodbye at the high school had lessened. His thoughts weren't so dark anymore.
He actually thought that he might have made a friend tonight. Shaking his head, Alaric smiled ruefully at how pleased he was with that notion. Rei Potter wasn't from Mystic Falls, she hadn't grown up with every single person within a fifty kilometre radius, and she wasn't a vampire.
She was normal.
"Thank God," Alaric sighed with relief, pushing his hands into his coat's pockets to ward off the chill.
…
I've always liked Alaric and he becomes so integrated with the rest of the group and important to so many different people that I thought to have him and Rei build a strong friendship, at times a father/daughter love between them, that it would give Rei a good foothold in the group. :D