Wow, so it's been a while. Like 4 years. Not gonna lie, I may or may not have stopped watching Vampire Diaries in Season 6 (I just got busy) but I heard the final season was crazy so I am determined to finish it. And I kind of miss my favourite characters. And I really want to finish watching the Originals (I also have so much love for them).
I will never abandon the story. Never. I adore Alice. She's one of the first OCs I ever officially made (childhood ones don't count, I never wrote them down) and I'm still proud of her, even if I have other characters that I'm more proud of just because I've developed as writer. I mean, we're approaching the 6 year anniversary of this story, and I reread my first chapters… rough is an understatement.
I would also love give a formal apology to everyone whose been here from the start. TBH never had any idea where this was going, other than a vague outline, I just knew I needed to get this girl out of my head. And you all loved/liked her, so I hope you continue to. I apologize again to anyone who follows me and sees me starting story after story and posting one-shots and never updating this fic. You guys are the real heroes.
To everyone that still now favourites, and follows, and READS a story that hasn't updated in 4 years, you guys are superstars.
As a treat, here's two chapters (including two flashbacks) before I drop off the radar again. BUT I WILL FINISH. Eventually.
Read. Review. Enjoy.
Song for the first part of the chapter is New Rules by Dua Lipa. I listened on repeat during my final draft.
Song for the alley scene is Attention by Charlie Puth.
Song for the post-Alaric scene is Crawl Outta Love by Illenium and Youngblood by 5sos (best song ever.)
The only reason Alice volunteered to attend high school was to spy on everyone. She only wanted to go keep an eye on Stefan; be on hand to threaten Rebekah; get away from Damon for 15 minutes since he clearly thought she was going to disappear into the mist for another 150 years (she couldn't blame him for that, she guessed). She honestly had no idea what was going on in most of her classes.
She did not sign up for high school in order to make friends and she especially didn't sign up for school to attend some inane dance. She didn't care if the theme was from a good if admittedly blurry time, she thought the idea of a decade dance was ridiculous. Alice told Damon as much.
So, she watched with resignation as her brothers got ready for the ridiculous, inane event. She even took polaroids of them in the most awkward positions as they got ready (Damon with a drink almost on his mouth, eyes rolling back into his head; Stefan with his chin tucked awkwardly and eyes almost crossed as he attempted to tie his tie). Alice promised that she'd check on Ric and be waiting for the moment that everything would go downhill. Because it would. This was Mystic Falls, there was no possible way this evening would end without at least a minor tragedy.
The bell rang over Alice's head as she crossed the threshold of the Mystic Grill. Like the good Salvatore she was, Alice had chosen the bar as the lookout point when she bailed on the dance. Her excuse was that it was closer to the school than the boarding house if something went wrong. It had absolutely nothing to do with a tall, dark, cryptic vampire she wished was a stranger.
The place was pretty dead, it's usual underage occupants all at the dance. Alice ordered a martini with a wink and a charming smile at the bartender from her first night here (who rolled his eyes with a grimace), and enjoyed the peace and quiet that settled in the absence of her brothers.
Alice was in the midst of enjoying articles off some trashy celebrity gossip site when the familiar feeling of being watched whispered across the back of her neck. She wrapped a springy curl around one finger, then twisted her barstool until she was staring back at a man who wasn't unattractive but who was unattractively drunk.
Alice checked her phone: 8:00 pm. She could avoid a confrontation now; could just leave and check on Ric. That was the best option. Before she could catch the asshole bartender's attention and implement her new plan, the drunk idiot sat down next to her. The stench of stale alcohol burned Alice's nose. She sighed internally; she really hadn't wanted to cause a scene.
"Now, who's left such a pretty lady all alone on a Friday night?" he asked, leaning in too close with slightly slurred words.
"I'm actually meeting my brother," Alice lied. If she had to use the Big Brother Card to get out of this without breaking this dumbass' hand, then she would. "He's a moody dickhead, so you probably shouldn't be here when he arrives." Alice couldn't decide which of her brothers she was describing.
"He's very violent— dangerously so," she added when the man didn't budge.
"Another martini?" he asked, hand brushing her wrist as he gestured to her glass.
Alice's other hand twitched, but she stopped herself from ripping his arm out of its socket. "Actually, that violence runs in the family. Run while you still have a chance."
"I like a girl with a little spice," the man grinned.
"How very 80s movie of you to say," Alice said, her smile more a flash of fangs.
A much more familiar presence appeared at her back; it definitely was not the one she'd been waiting for.
"I have to agree with him, Love. 'Course, that's because I know exactly how you get."
"Brother?" the man paled. Alice only briefly enjoyed the look of panic that crashed over his face.
"Not quite," smiled Alice. She was most definitely not enjoying the protective edge to Kol's voice. The second it turned possessive though, she was out of there. Allessandria Salvatore had not been anyone's possession in a century and a half.
Kol placed a hand on the man's wrist and squeezed. "The lady's said she's not interested. Now run along, mate, before I show you that violent women tend to like violent men."
The man stumbled theatrically away in his haste to leave.
Kol took the seat on her other side. "Next time someone speaks to you that way, I'm going to rip off their every extremity."
Alice scoffed and signaled the bartender for another drink. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"But I never miss a chance for bloodshed," Kol smirked into the glass he'd brought with him from the far side of the bar.
Alice scoffed again. "If you honestly thought I was going to stand by while you slayed humanity then you're a bigger idiot than that idiot was."
"Complacency kills humanity, Dia." Kol's bright, dark eyes were serious; they reminded Alice of fanatics she'd met in her time, the ideologues and cult leaders. The people who shaped the world, usually for the worse. "Humans forget the thrill of really living; they forget and they fret and they die anyway. I much prefer my way of living. We both know security is mortals' chiefest enemy."
"Double double, toil and trouble. Don't you dare quote Macbeth at me," hissed Alice. She didn't quite know how the conversation had gotten there, but it pissed her off that he remembered that Macbeth was her favourite Shakespeare work.
She took a long sip of her newly arrived martini. "And how could you possibly think I want anything to do with you, hmm?" she challenged, hoping to get back on the familiar footing of animosity. "Especially after Oklahoma."
"Kansas, Love," he corrected. His eyes were still burning bright, now with amusment.
"Who's the American here?" she snapped. Kol's amusment only seemed to grow with Alice's irritation.
Alice downed the rest of her drink and ordered another. She stewed. She stirred her third martini with the little spear of olives before she bit them off with snarling, snapping teeth. The crinkle around Kol's eyes deepened for every action she displayed. Alice knew from experience that the fathomless pits of his eyes were emptying, becoming shallower by the second and inviting her to take the plunge. It was the trick he used to soften his entire countenance, a trick that coaxed Alice into relaxing and accepting his presence.
"Stop it," Alice ordered.
"Stop what, Dia? What could I possibly be doing other than sitting here and admiring you?"
He was teasing her, baiting her, and some part of Alice was falling for it.
"Well, for one, you can stop that. And for two— just, just top whatever Original bullshit you're pulling on me," she huffed.
Kol laughed and Alice knew why. They both knew that this had nothing to o with vampire magic.
"Are you referring to my particularly blessed genes?" he smiled innocently, "I will admit my siblings and I had a certain luck in the genetic lottery-"
Alice slapped a hand over his mouth. "For the love of God, hold your tongue."
She waited a moment before slowly removing her hand and shifting back fully onto her stool.
Kol's smile was dangerous. "There are many ways to hold a tongue, Love. I could demonstrate, if you like."
"I could cut yours off, if you like," Alice retorted.
"Then how would I be able to tell you the phenomenon you were searching for, Dia, is lust?" He drew the words out in just the right way to dissolve Alice's next retort off her lips. Kol was all suggestion and flirtation and danger. Alice loved danger.
There was a 75% chance of her doing something stupid tonight.
Alice was overwhelmingly aware of him shifting closer, twisting to face her. She'd be lying if she said she didn't think of leaning towards him, just a little.
Kol, Alice decided, was like a rumball— coated in nasty bitterness with a smooth, rich centre that left you just the littlest bit drunk. Unfortunately, Alice was a dessert person.
"Prove it." The words tumbled out of Alice's mouth without consulting her brain. She avoided looking into the eyes that made shallows seem infinite. Her mind was preoccupied with chocolate coated words, tongues, and whatever smoky cologne Kol had decided was necessary for this meeting.
(It was working. Alice wanted to take a bath in that cologne. With him. Yes.)
There was an 80% chance she was about to do something she regretted the second it ended.
The world narrowed as Kol's hands slid up the sides of her legs; palms slowly scraping up against denim. Fingers hooked into her pockets, her belt loops. Her jeans pulled down on her hips.
"Enough evidence?" Kol whispered.
"Not quite." Alice was glad the bar was deserted. No one was around to hear how embarrassingly breathy she sounded.
90%. There was a 90% chance. And, oh, it was growing.
One of his hands slid up her leather jacket and splayed against the bare skin of her back. Maybe the backless t-shirt had been a bad idea. As Kol's fingernails pressed lightly into her back, Alice changed her mind— it had been a very good idea.
95%.
"And now?"
Kol's face was far enough away from hers that Alice could focus on the entirety of it. Something was off about it, something delicate about it that related to the sudden unsureness in his voice.
If only you knew.
She wanted to. She wanted to know what he meant and why it made him look delicate and lost.
"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes," Alice muttered. Her hands slid up his chest to grab his collar.
The wickedness manifested in Kol's grin. "Now who's quoting Macbeth."
The brick wall pressed into Alice's spine as Kol pressed against her. Alice hadn't been in the alley behind the Grill since she'd had a crossbow and a death sentence aimed at his brother. Since she'd thought of Kol and frozen like an ice sculpture in Central Park.
One of Kol's arms was balancing them against the brick and one of Alice's legs was hitched over his hip. She'd lost track of whatever his mouth was doing in the same instant his other hand had slid past the underwire of her bra. Whatever it was, Alice was sure it was lovely.
Alice was content for the first time in a century. Her eyes were closed, hands migrating from Kol's exceptionally nice shoulders to his exceptionally soft hair. Her body was humming with the overwhelming rightness of it all; something she'd written off for entirely too long as a silly, lonely girl's interpretation of being loved. But no, it was still there. Alice could live in this moment, in a dirty alley that smelled like death, for the rest of her immortal life.
A cell phone rang. Alice felt the vibration against her hip, where the disheveled state of her leather jacket had moved it. Kol continued to kiss her like his life depended on it.
Dependent lives. Shit.
Alice fumbled with the pocket opening, the zipper catching at her wrists as she plunged her hands in. Of course, she had to answer this— the fate of her world could be at stake.
She broke her lips away from Kol's and lifted the phone to her ear. Unbothered, Kol's hand drifted to Alice's back pocket as she lowered her leg to on her own for the first time in twenty minutes.
"Someone better be dying." Alice doubted Damon missed the croak in her voice.
"Isn't someone always," muttered Kol into her neck. Alice suppressed a sigh when something suspiciously like a fang brushed against her artery.
"Mother Gothel is back from the dead," announced Damon. "She has Elena. You need to meet Busboy and Little Gilbert at our mausoleum. Bring weapons."
"Our mausoleum?" Alice adjusted the phone, leaning away from Kol. "What kind of sick joke are our lives?"
Damon sighed over the line. "Go, Alice. Everyone else is stuck at the school from some bullshit spell and Klaus is gonna snap and kill Bonnie's new boy toy, so we can kiss her help buh-bye."
Alice pushed Kol away firmly and shrugged her jacket back into place. "If I end up dead, I'm haunting you."
"Get Elena and the humans and get out of there, Als."
Alice ended the call and shoved her phone into her back pocket. Damon was begging her and the only thing in the world she couldn't resist more than her brothers' begging was currently staring at her with a cocky smirk and those damn delicate eyes.
"Right. Where were we?" Kol stepped forward.
Anticipating the hand reaching for her belt loops, Alice twisted and ducked under his arms, coming up behind him.
"Rescuing the world, Kol. Unless you want to die. Permanently."
Kol turned towards her, taking his sweet time, ignoring that she had a timeline. His laugh was bitter. "Like hell I'm going with you."
Alice shook her head. Like she could depend on him to do something. She started walking up the stairs out of the alley, not bothering to fumble for her keys. Obeying traffic laws would only slow her down.
"Stay at the edge of town," she said over her shoulder, "if I screw up, you're going to want as much of a head start as you can get."
"Dia!"
Alice stilled, but didn't turn.
"Kill the bitch."
"Call Elijah. I'm sure everyone else forgot."
Alice smiled. For Kol, that was basically a 'Don't Die' which was equivalent to a 'Come back to me.'
"I can't stop!"
"Dude, you're going to shoot me!"
"For the love of-" Alice muttered, throwing herself between the two human idiots. Two of Matt's vervain-laced bullets burrowed into her shoulder. Jeremy's wooden crossbow bolt embedded itself into her stomach.
"Holy hell in a handbasket!" groaned Alice groaned from the ground before rushing to rip the weapons away from the idiots. The bullets burned like a mother, but at least the bolt was a minor, if painful, nuisance at most.
Esther Mikaelson stood across from her, proud and very much not dead, pressing a knife against Elena's throat.
"Allessandria. My, this is unexpected."
Alice groaned as she jammed a palm against the handle of the bolt, driving it out her back and ripping through her leather jacket. She reached behind her and pulled it out with another groan, avoiding the barbed end she'd assumed was there. One of the boys gagged behind her.
"See, last I heard, there was, like, a 60% chance you were dead. Excuse me if I thought you would stay that way."
"This is all they sent to stop me?" challenged Esther, gripping Elena tighter. "Breakable boys and a foolhardy girl?"
Elena's eyes were glassy and Alice's heart clenched. Somewhere along the line she'd started to like her.
"Stop you? Lady, I really loved this jacket, and thanks to your little spell, it's ruined. I was sent to kill you, and now I really want to." Alice smirked, trying to ignore how her shoulder was on fire and her right arm was getting heavier and heavier. The bolt in her left hand was slick with her own blood. Her eyes searched the scene for a way to stop the witch before things escalated.
"I will right my wrongs, Allessandria. My children's terror has reigned for far too long." Esther's grip on Elena loosened as she droned on. "Is this really the world you imagined? One full of monsters and abominations?"
There was movement behind Esther, a jerky motion in the doorway of the mausoleum.
"Depends. Am I a monster or an abomination?" Alice asked, head titled mockingly and eyes avoiding fixating on Alaric as he stalked behind the witch. "Lady, the only monster I see here is a reincarnated witch who's having trouble admitting her mistakes. Now, let Elena go, and maybe I won't kill you."
Esther snarled at her. "It's too late. Killing me won't end this."
"Yeah, alright." Alice rolled her eyes.
She darted forward, the bolt outstretched in her left hand. As it made contact with Esther's side, it burst into flame. The tendrils raced up Alice's arm as she reeled back, flesh bubbling.
The distraction was enough. Elena jumped forward, straight behind Alice and into the newly arrived Damon and Caroline. Alaric was behind Esther; the dagger he'd brandished was sticking out of her chest.
"Everyone alright?" asked Alaric, letting Esther's body crumple to the ground. Alice hoped this would be the last time they would have to deal with her. She doubted it; the spirits were vengeful, determined beasts, but she could hope.
Alice groaned. "Busboy. You shot me, therefore you get to pick these fricken bullets out of my shoulder. I can't feel my arm."
Alice screamed as she threw an empty wine bottle at her wardrobe. She barely registered the shatter. She was too busy storming around her room, throwing over chairs and flipping an ottoman older than she was.
How could she have been so stupid. Alice hadn't bothered to check on Ric. She'd assumed it would be overkill: he was taking his special herbs, they'd confiscated most of his vampire killing arsenal, and Damon had basically barricaded the poor guy inside of his loft.
God, she screwed up.
She'd been too busy getting felt up in an alley by the devil incarnate to check on someone who had shown her only kindness. She'd basically helped kill her brother's best, and only, friend. She was such a shitty sister; a shitty, slutty sister with really bad timing.
She slid to the ground at the foot of her vanity and kicked away an empty whiskey bottle. Canadian Rye— now that had gone down smooth.
Alice swallowed the remnants of a bottle she'd nicked from behind a vase in the corridor— brandy by the taste of it. Her family had a serious drinking problem.
"Alcoholism is a rather unprecedented side-effect of immortality, is it not?" Kol had materialized in her room, perched on the chaise lounge at the foot of her bed. Alice threw the brandy bottle at him, partly to make sure he was real. The bottle shattered against the arm he held up to block it, amber liquid dripping down his sleeves. Real then.
"Get out!" Alice screamed. She didn't worry about the noise— Damon was mourning at the mausoleum and Stefan was… anywhere else. "I'm blaming you for this! This is your fault! I had one thing to do and you, you distracted me!"
For good measure, Alice chucked the rye bottle at him too. This time he dodged and it shattered against the post on her four-poster bed.
"You say that as if the whole thing wasn't instigated by you," Kol challenged. "I barely even had to touch you and you were begging for more."
Alice didn't think, jumping at Kol to strangle him, kiss him, something. Just like in Kansas, he anticipated her rage; catching her wrists and twisting her around until her back was pressed firmly against her chest.
"I hate you! God, I hate you!" Alice hissed, struggling more against the rising emotions in her chest than him. They were choking her, and Alice wasn't sure if she was talking about him or herself anymore.
"I know," Kol whispered, "I know, Dia."
Alice's scream ended in sob and she collapsed into Kol's arms. He maneuvered them onto the chaise, arms tighter around Alice than strictly necessary.
"It's all my fault," she gasped. The guilt was suffocating as she cried. "I screwed up. IscrewedupIscrewedupIscrewedup."
"It's no one's fault but my mothers. Death made her angry and powerful," Kol reassured her. For once, Alice could hear his years in his voice. His arms loosened around her.
Alice ripped away from him. For a second, his arms hung there, open and unsure. Struggling to push back the sobs, Alice rounded on him.
"No. No, it's your fault. You make me careless. And stupid. Stupid, and careless, and reckless," she accused him. "You make me just as screwed up as you are."
Kol stood before she blinked, gripping her shoulders before she could breathe. "We're all screw ups, Allessandria, or we wouldn't be here."
Alice shoved him back a stumbling step. Because he was right. There was something in the water here, in the air and the people, that attracted the crazy and the dangerous.
She shoved him again. The crazy and the dangerous. Including him. Including her.
Alice shoved him for the last time. Kol's back banged into her bedpost. Stepping close until they were chest to chest, Alice hadn't yet decided whether she was going to kick his ass or grope it.
He stared at her, one eyebrow raised. A leading question. A (correct) assumption. Alice stared back, ice-blue eyes fragile as broken glass and twice as sharp.
If only you knew.
He'd searched her out. Twice. Climbed through a window she had most definitely not left open for him. Held her like she was precious and not the selfish girl she'd been for 150 years. Attempted to comfort her when they both knew he was better at chaos.
Alice wanted the contentment from the alley back.
She slid her fingers into his belt loops. Grope him it was.
She kissed him— teeth and tongue and arms tangling around his neck as he collided with the bedpost again from the force of it. Kol's hands wasted no time ripping into her ruined jacket.
"You'll have to remind me where we left off," Alice breathed against his lips. "I've had a very busy night."
"Right. About. Here," he whispered as he kissed her neck, a fang definitely pressing against her artery and a shiver shooting up her spine. One of his hands brushed against the bloodstained hole in the front of her t-shirt and the other slid up her back. Alice barely noticed the swift tug that had the tattered pieces joining her jacket on the floor. She wrapped one leg around his waist and lost patience, jumping and latching her other leg around him as she crashed her mouth against Kol's. He flipped their position, slamming her against the bedpost.
The sense of rightness clicked back into place, even as the world crumbled around them. And for what had to be the millionth time, Alice broke her promise to herself, and let him get entirely too close.
So... This was not the plan initially but Alice was feeling slutty and who doesn't love some angst. Be prepared for guilt in future chapters (when I get to them).
This wasn't exactly how this episode went, especially towards the end of the chapter but I was too lazy to rematch it again. And I couldn't even try to recreate the Goodbye Scene, guys. No freaking way I could match the emotional tensity that still makes me tear up a bit and I know Ric comes back. And like the scene with him and Damon… Dies.
The Macbeth additions have literally been planned since the 11th grade. Thats like 3 years ago, now. I actually had the rough draft of this on my phone down like a year ago, but then i wore it out on paper and added a ton of scenes, which was done like 5 months ago. And then I had to type it up. which I did like a day ago. I am not an organized writer. Ever.
Alright. See you when I see you guys.