Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries in any shape or form. But I do own my OC.
A/N: Now, here we have Plan B. Some Tonnie and I'm sure there'll be some Nikliyah as well. I hope you guys are counting down to Elijah. There are two chapters left!
Reviews: Down at the bottom, guys.
Warnings: Language, Dark Themes, etc.
Stormdancer
Chapter 20
Plan B: Part I
Bonnie and Caroline were sitting at the dining table, while Aliyah worked at their breakfast in the kitchen. The older vampire had insisted on treating the two girls to a full breakfast, only a part of her wanting to show off the cooking skills she had perfected over the course of over a millennium. Bonnie and Caroline swallowed hard, gazing at the plates upon plates of bagels, French toast, pancakes, hash browns and crepes, coupled with copious flagons of tea.
Bonnie smiled, softly, at Aliyah as she appeared in the doorway to the dining room. "You're insane." She said, slowly.
Aliyah rolled her eyes. "Eat," She ordered. "You're both too skinny."
"You remember how you keep insisting you're not a mom," Caroline raised an eyebrow. "You can't keep saying that when you say things like that." She said, pointedly.
Aliyah's hands fell to her hip. "Are you sassing me?" She asked, incredulously.
Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a glance and looked at Aliyah with scepticism.
Aliyah grimaced and her shoulders slumped. "Okay, fine." She grumbled. She pointed at the pile of food. "Now, eat." She said, sharply.
The dining room was suddenly filled with the sharp noise of Bonnie's phone ringing. Bonnie looked at both of them, sheepishly, and her hand slid into her pocket, pulling out her sleek phone and looking at the display.
"It's Tyler." Bonnie said, absentmindedly.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Of course it is." She muttered. She looked over at Aliyah. "Those two don't quit, I swear." She said, conspiratorially, a sharp stab of jealousy sinking into her heart and muddling the warm feeling in her stomach at the thought of her best friend being happy.
A smile curled on Aliyah's lips. "They're in their honeymoon phase, all they can see is how mad for each other they are." She mused, remembering what it was like to be young and in love, her eyes never straying away from Klaus' for longer than a moment.
She shook her head, clearing herself of those dangerous thoughts, and walked over to stand behind Caroline's chair, her hands falling onto her shoulders and squeezing. She leaned down, the few curls twisting around her face tickling Caroline's skin.
"I can assure you, pretty girl, that you will find a bloke that will worship the ground you walk on." She murmured, earnestly.
Caroline's hand came to cover Aliyah's, squeezing. "Thanks, Aliyah." She said, softly, her eyes wearier than any seventeen-year-old girl's should be.
"You did what?!" Bonnie shrieked and both Caroline and Aliyah turned to look at her, inquisitively. "No, I can't believe… Just wait, I'm coming over." She snapped into the phone and pressed the button to end the call, aggressively. She turned to look in Caroline's and Aliyah's direction, her eyes trained on Aliyah in a nervous manner.
"We have a slight problem."
"So, let me get this straight, you gave your uncle the bloody moonstone?" Aliyah growled, advancing on a shaken Tyler.
"Aliyah." Bonnie said, warningly, jumping in front of Tyler and forcing her back.
"Well, you can't blame me for being just a little cross." Aliyah spat.
"Aliyah, he didn't mean it." Bonnie said, softly. "He didn't know what he was doing."
"Maybe he didn't," Aliyah said, coldly. "But it doesn't gloss over the fact that Katerina finally has everything she needs to give Niklaus for the sacrifice." Aliyah said, dangerously.
"What sacrifice? What are you talking about" Tyler asked, confused. He looked at Bonnie, incredulity and hurt shining in his eyes. "What the hell is going on here, Bonnie? Why do you both care that Mason has the moonstone?"
Bonnie's face fell and she looked down at her feet, her hands slightly shaking.
Aliyah's shoulders slumped and she looked over at Bonnie, defeated. She turned to Tyler, her eyes turning sharp and black. "You know I'm a vampire, correct? She must have told you that much, at least." She raised an eyebrow and Tyler gave a hesitant nod. "I'm not just a vampire, I am one of the Original vampires."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I was one of the very first vampires to be created. Over a thousand years ago, my husband, his family and I, along with my mother, lived here in Mystic Falls – of course, it wasn't actually called Mystic Falls back then. Anyway, we were plagued by an obstacle every month – the men from the neighbouring village had the ability to turn into a wolf on the full moon and tormented us every month." Aliyah said, grimly.
"Werewolves." Tyler's eyes dawned with realisation, swallowing hard as something changed in his eyes.
Bonnie bit her lip and her hand hesitated before reaching out and taking Tyler's hand in hers, feeling herself soften and relax, and the timidity fade, as Tyler's fingers stroked hers in a comforting rhythm, letting her know that while he may be angry at her, he loved her beyond belief.
Aliyah gave a tense nod. "Anyway, after one particular full moon, my youngest brother-in-law, Henrik, was killed by one of the werewolves." She blinked away any sort of emotion that swelled up at the reminder of Henrik's death. She had the errant thought that she could live for another thousand years and Henrik's death would still make her feel sick to her stomach in a unique way. "In an attempt to stop any more of her children being brutally murdered by the wolves, my mother-in-law sought to turn us into creatures that would far surpass the werewolves in terms of power. She stole a particular spell from my mother that one of our ancestors had created over a thousand years before that and she used it on us, turning us into vampires. But, my husband… he was fated to be more than just a vampire." She murmured, running her hands through her hair.
"What do you mean?" Tyler asked, curiously, his eyes narrowing at the woman in front of him.
It was still hard for him to comprehend that Aliyah – a woman that his Bonnie Rabbit had thought of, at the very least, as a sister, if not the aunt she was pretending to be – was over a thousand years old. Her rounded cheeks, sweet smile and dark eyes gave the impression of someone who was innocent and worldly, and not someone who had lived in bloodshed and pain and death for over a millennium.
"When my husband made his first kill as a vampire, due to the bloodlust, he activated the werewolf curse he had been born with." Aliyah said, coldly.
Tyler's brow furrowed. "So, what does that make him, a vampire or a werewolf?"
"Both." Aliyah sighed, feeling the anger drain away from her as she settled on the chair. "It means that he's both."
A part of her curse was not being able to think straight when she spoke of Klaus to anyone or even thought about him to herself. Her eyes would dim, her skill would start to tingle – as if her nerves guessed that Klaus was in her thoughts – and her mind would immediately go to times when she felt the happiest with the man she loved more than anything in the universe. The times when he was her Niklaus and not Klaus, the man who existed in a never-ending state of paranoia, anger and jealousy until a cold, bitter shell of her husband remained. But what she hated most of all was that she couldn't bring herself to hate him for becoming a poor excuse of the boy she had fallen head over heels for. She loved him, despite everything he had done to her and those she loved, and she could exist like that, away from him and remaining madly in love with him, if it meant never confronting him and herself with her conflicted feelings.
"In the simplest of terms, my mother-in-law had an affair with one of the men from the neighbouring village, a werewolf, and my husband was the product of that affair. And you of all people should know how a person triggers the werewolf curse." Aliyah said, pointedly.
"So, he killed someone and he what? What happened to him?" Tyler leaned forward, eagerly.
It wasn't every day that he finally received some answers for the many questions that appeared with each and every passing day.
"He activated his werewolf curse and he became a hybrid… a vampire and a werewolf." Aliyah said, grimly. "Let's just say that neither his stepfather nor his mother were pleased by what happened and my mother-in-law cast a spell on Niklaus to bind his hybrid nature. She used the moonstone – the one that everyone in this town is currently up in arms over – to bind the curse and the moonstone, along with a few other ingredients, is needed for Niklaus to break the curse."
"So, who's this… Katerina… and what does she have to do with my uncle?" Tyler asked, confused. "Why would she have the moonstone if I gave it to Mason?"
"Because Katerina is a spiteful little bitch that uses pretty men to do her bidding." Aliyah said, simply. "Mason was only looking for the moonstone because Katerina wanted him to." She hissed.
"So, who is she?"
"In layman's terms, she's the doppelganger of your friend, Elena Gilbert." Aliyah muttered.
"Wait, what?" Tyler yelped. He looked at Bonnie, alarmed. "What does she mean by 'doppelganger'?"
Bonnie licked her lips and glanced at Aliyah, briefly, before her eyes focused on Tyler. "The girl that you invited into your house at your dad's wake, thinking that she was Elena?" Tyler nodded. "Well, she wasn't really Elena."
Tyler frowned. "What are you talking about, Bonnie Rabbit?" He asked, slowly. "That was Elena. Come on, she's been your best friend since you were in kindergarten. That was Elena."
"No," Bonnie shook her head, grimly. "That was Katherine." She swallowed hard. "When I touch someone, I can sense what they are: a human, a witch or a vampire. When I touched that girl the day of your dad's wake, I sensed that she was a vampire. That means it wasn't Elena. It was Katherine. She attacked me later that day. If it wasn't for Aliyah, Katherine probably would've killed me." She chewed on her lower lip.
Tyler looked at Aliyah and Bonnie with disbelief. "You know what you're saying is crazy, right?" He dragged his hands over his face, his eyes weary. "I mean, werewolves are one thing and hell, so are vampires, but you're telling me that a girl that I grew up with has some evil twin who happens to be a vampire. None of this can be true." He said, adamantly.
Aliyah huffed and stalked over to him, Tyler leaning away as she approached him. She took his larger hand in hers, her eyes closing as she focused, allowing him to flashes of her memories of both Tatia and Katerina.
"The first girl… she was someone I knew when I was human. Her name was Tatia. Her blood was used in the spell to turn us into vampires, and later, my mother-in-law killed her and drained her all of her blood to bind my husband's hybrid nature. In order to break the curse, Niklaus must sacrifice a vampire and a werewolf, and he must channel the power of a full moon that bound the original curse. Then, Niklaus must drain the human doppelganger to the point of her death and he will have broken his curse, which he had the chance to do in 1492, when Katerina was human. But Katerina escaped and turned herself into a vampire, and Niklaus has been hunting her for over five centuries. So, in an attempt to get her hands on a pardon from my prick of a husband, Katherine is determined to acquire all the necessary ingredients, so she can deliver all of them on a silver plate for Niklaus."
"So…" Tyler swallowed hard. "I gave Mason the moonstone, and you think he gave it to this Katherine chick?" He pursed his lips. "What makes you think that?"
Aliyah shrugged. "Because he told me." She said, pointedly.
Bonnie shifted in her seat, her eyes widening. "When did this happen?" She asked, curiously.
"At the Volunteer Picnic yesterday." Aliyah answered. "You know, the one that the two of you were mysteriously absent from." She said, slyly.
Tyler flushed and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, yeah… about that… um, Aliyah, I was just-" He stammered.
Aliyah waved him off. "Don't worry about it, darling. I'm over a thousand years old. I can assure you, the two of you did nothing I didn't do when I was your age, and trust me, when I did it, it was actually a crime." She grimaced. "Anyway, Mason pretty much confessed to me that he was working with Katherine."
Bonnie groaned, burying her face in her hands. "This is bad. This is really bad."
"You can say that again." Aliyah growled. "She has the moonstone; she has a werewolf, if it isn't apparent that yet another man is enthralled by a Petrova doppelgänger." She spat. "A vampire is easy to come by. All Katerina has to do is turn some unwilling human to be Niklaus' lamb for the slaughter." She mused.
"And Elena's… this doppelganger that your husband needs?" Tyler clarified.
"I showed you images of them from my memories – and yes, that is an ability for some vampires." Aliyah said, pointedly. "The first one was Tatia. She was the original Petrova doppelganger. We met Katerina in 1492 and she turned herself into a vampire after escaping Niklaus." She explained.
"And Elena makes the cut for the ritual." Bonnie said, grimly.
"And, frankly, she is just ripe for the picking." Aliyah said, absentmindedly. "She poses no visible threat to any party wanting to gain favour with Niklaus. And Damon and Stefan will not be an obstacle for anyone older than their considerably young age. If they make problems, Niklaus will simply cut their hearts out of their chests," She paused. "If he's feeling altruistic at the time."
"Wow," Tyler muttered, ducking his head. "You said that so easily."
Aliyah's smile was razor sharp. "I'm over a thousand years old, darling. I've had a long time to get used to the idea of senseless murder."
"And is that what you're going to do to me?" Tyler asked, challengingly. "I mean, I gave the moonstone to Mason and I probably spoiled all your plans, so are you going to kill me?"
"Tyler, no-" Bonnie began to protest, hotly.
"I'm not going to kill you, Tyler." Aliyah said, slowly. "There's no reason for me to. I know you don't really know me, but I try not to kill people. I have a special distaste for the Salvatore brothers, especially Damon, and that stems from what they've done to Bonnie. Trust me, if you knew what they had done, you'd be up in arms over their death as well. In fact, you'd bury the stake in their hearts and smile while you do it." She purred, her eyes lighting up with violence.
"Why?" Tyler's eyes were trained on Bonnie. "What did they do?" He asked, carefully, blood roaring with dread and rage.
"Well, they're pretty much the reason behind my Grams' death." Bonnie said, quietly, rubbing the back of her neck as she avoided his searching gaze.
Tyler's eyes widened and he shuffled closer to Bonnie, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side, a gesture that made Aliyah smile in fond remembrance of happier times with her husband and then curse herself for allowing her mind to stray.
Damn him.
"What are you talking about, Bonnie Rabbit?" Tyler asked, softly.
Bonnie swallowed hard. "Well, if it weren't for them, my Grams never would've died. I suppose, if they hadn't come to Mystic Falls, so many people wouldn't have died. But my Grams, she died opening the seal that prevented the vampires from leaving the tomb under Fell's Church. She only did that because Damon was in love with Katherine – or Katerina – and thought she was trapped in the tomb and Stefan just let his brother run wild, killing innocent people in Mystic Falls. If Damon and Stefan hadn't been stupid enough to go inside the tomb, my Grams would never have tried to open the seal." She bit back the growl that fostered in her throat, her fingers tingling as her magic reared up around her.
"Stefan doesn't seem like that kind of guy." Tyler shook his head in disbelief.
Bonnie licked her lips. "He's not what he seems, Tyler. He took a bite out of Amber Bradley at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. He almost killed her. He doesn't have a good control over his bloodlust. He has a drop of human and he goes freaking crazy." She said, earnestly. "He's the one who convinced my Grams to open the tomb. I hate him, Tyler, him and Damon. They've… done nothing but hurt people since they came to town." She shook her head, stunning Tyler with the ferocity of her vitriol.
"Tell him about Damon." Aliyah crossed her arms over chest.
"Aliyah." Bonnie said, sharply.
"No," Tyler interjected, his brown eyes hard. "What did Damon do, Bonnie Rabbit?"
Bonnie bit her lip and shifted slightly. "He… uh, he bit me." She said, awkwardly.
She was sure that Tyler would stop breathing soon with the way his face turned apoplectic. The veins in his temple throbbed with the force of his fury and Bonnie felt a thrum of power in the air as she could swear Tyler's eyes flashed a brilliant gold before softening into the dark chocolate brown she loved so much.
Tyler jumped to his feet, his fists clenched at his side in absolute fury, his cheeks a blotchy red as the anger hummed under his veins, feeling stabs of fury attacking him on all sides. He ran a hand through his jagged, black locks and he knew for sure he could do it. Break the curse, he meant. Killing someone, preferably staking Damon Salvatore in the heart for laying his hands on his sweet baby, would come so easy to him at this moment. He could imagine his hands transforming into claws, much like Mason's on the full moon. He remembered how Bonnie had told him that a werewolf's bite was fatal to a vampire.
It would be the most satisfying thing he had ever done in his short life if he managed to sink his teeth into Damon Salvatore and watch the bastard die from a slow, agonising death.
"And he's still alive?!" He snarled, turning accusing eyes onto Aliyah. "Aren't you like some badass vampire? Why the hell haven't you killed him yet?" He spat.
Aliyah grimaced. "I tried, I broke his collarbone and I take every chance I get to beat the living daylights out of him. But Damon Salvatore serves a purpose for the time being. Once he becomes useless, I will personally rip his heart out and watch him desiccate with a smile on his face."
"So will I." Tyler grumbled under his breath, his nails digging into his palms.
"Well, tell you what, you end up triggering the werewolf curse – which I sincerely hope you won't, because it is an unimaginable hell – you can have first go at it on the full moon. How's that for a compromise?" Aliyah waggled her eyebrows.
Tyler looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded. "I could go with that." He frowned. "So, why aren't you going to kill me?"
"Because I like you and Bonnie is in love with you." Aliyah shrugged. "You remind me a lot of my husband… before he turned into a raging sociopath." She mused. "You did what you felt was right in that moment and you didn't know anything that would've prevented you from giving the moonstone to your uncle. While I am a little irritated that I have make a new plan, I don't fault you for it." She shrugged.
"So, what do we do now?" Bonnie leaned back in the couch, looking up at Aliyah, curiously.
"Well, let me see," Aliyah licked her lips. "I could kill Katerina… Nik would dagger me for a couple of decades." She mused. "I could kill Mason-"
"Hey!" Both Bonnie and Tyler protested.
"Don't worry," Aliyah waved off. "That would be useless in the end. Nik would just find another werewolf to use in the sacrifice. It's not that hard for him." She muttered. "I could steal back the moonstone and hold it for ransom against Niklaus, ask him to wait another five centuries for another human doppelganger – assuming that Elena decides to forego the vampire lifestyle. But he'd dagger me for a few centuries and I don't know whether he'd speak to me again." She murmured, rubbing the back of her neck. "Vampires are quite easy to create, so that part of the ritual is not exactly negotiable here."
"I'm not seeing an approach that we can work with, Lee-Lee." Bonnie said, tersely.
Aliyah sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "You're right." She shook her head, the heels of her hands pressing against her eyes. "Well, there is one option, but it is quite drastic." She murmured.
"What's that?" Bonnie frowned.
"I could turn Elena into a vampire." Aliyah said, simply. "But I can't – no, I won't do that." She said, darkly.
"Why not?" Tyler asked, curiously.
"Despite him being an absolute arse, I do love my husband very much, Tyler." Aliyah murmured, her black eyes glinting with unfathomable pain. "I may not want a young girl to die in his efforts to break the curse placed on him, but that does not mean I want him to suffer without his werewolf half for the rest of eternity." She explained, dryly.
"That's understandable." Tyler said, softly, his eyes warming when he saw the way Aliyah tortured herself.
The woman was stuck in an impossible position and she was willing to go against the man she loved for Bonnie. Tyler could appreciate that more than anyone else in the world. He meant what he said when Bonnie had confessed to him about everything that had been going on behind the scenes in Mystic Falls. He would help Aliyah and he would stand by her, because she was Bonnie's family and both of them loved Bonnie and he cared about Aliyah, he honestly did – despite everything he had learnt today about her and what was in store for them. He knew she was capable of tearing his heart out without breaking a sweat, but she had a sweetness to her that allowed her to take Bonnie (and him, as a result) in as her own and he wanted her to know that he did genuinely care for her.
He still remembered how honest she had been with him at his father's wake, letting him know that he had her sympathies but her eyes had told him that she knew more about his relationship with his father than he understood. Her words that day, coupled with what Bonnie had told him about her, had softened him, as he realised that perhaps he had been a bit quick in his judgment of her. Underneath that entire 'badass vampire' image that she portrayed to the world was still someone who had been dealt a bad hand in life and he genuinely wanted to get to know her better.
"So, what do you need, Aliyah?" Tyler asked, determinedly. "Tell me what you need."
Aliyah cocked her head, her thumb running over her lower lip. "Tyler, do you love Bonnie?" She asked, slowly and suddenly.
Tyler's brow furrowed. "What? What does that have-"
"Do you love Bonnie?" Aliyah asked again.
Tyler swallowed hard and gave a firm nod. "I do." He looked at Bonnie and squeezed her hands, his brown eyes earnest. "I do."
Bonnie chewed on her lower lip, her eyes softening as her eyes searched his handsome face, her fingers rubbing his.
Aliyah smiled, fondly. "That's good." She murmured. "And you'd do anything to protect her?"
"Yes." Tyler said without hesitation.
"I feel the same way." Aliyah said, simply. "I apologise if my earlier reaction frightened you, it wasn't my intention, I was just a little annoyed that Katerina had the moonstone, but I'll get over it. But I love Bonnie. She is my family and I will fight to the death to protect her and I think you will do the same, because you love her just as much, if not more than me." She murmured.
"Not just her." Tyler's corrected and a smile quirked the corners of Bonnie's lips. "You're Bonnie's family," Tyler said, sincerely. "That makes you mine, as well, Aliyah. I'll help in any way I can."
Aliyah nodded, gratefully. "First thing's first, I don't want you to trigger the curse." She said, adamantly. "Mostly because I don't want to take the chance that Niklaus will end up using you in the sacrifice if he has no one else. So… you know… don't kill anyone." She shrugged.
"He won't." Bonnie said, determinedly, squeezing Tyler's hand. She turned to her, her moss-green eyes warm with her adoration of him. "I won't let anything happen to you, sugar." She said, sweetly.
Tyler leaned across and pressed his lips against her, slowly. Bonnie's whimper was muffled and her small hand rose to cup his jaw, her fingers stroking against his cheek. Aliyah cleared a throat, a fond, affectionate smile on her face, and Tyler and Bonnie broke away, sheepishly, matching flushes on their cheek.
"Sorry about that." Tyler said, mortified, embarrassed to be caught kissing his girlfriend by her aunt.
Bonnie rubbed the back of her neck. "Um, Aliyah, we-"
Aliyah rolled her eyes. "The two of you are like rabbits, I swear." She muttered, shaking her head. "Now, before I leave you to it, is there anything else that either of you want to tell me… just so we're all on the same page?" She raised an eyebrow.
Tyler's eyes widened and he visibly shifted, both Bonnie and Aliyah turning their eyes onto him in the strangest synchronised movement he had ever seen.
"Well, Jeremy Gilbert came to see me last night-" Tyler began.
Bonnie groaned and shook her head, giving him a withering glare. "Oh, come on, Ty, don't tell me you picked a fight with him!"
"I didn't," Tyler protested. "I swear, but he knows." He looked at Aliyah, squaring his shoulders. "He had his sketchbook and I saw some of his drawings and he was drawing wolves, so I got angry and he told me that he knew. And he was with these girls, Aimee and Sarah, and I was showing Jeremy the moonstone and she snatched it off from me… I think she was drunk." He mused.
Bonnie growled low in her throat, jealousy burning in her stomach.
"Nothing happened. They weren't even here for me. They were with Jeremy." Tyler was quick to reassure Bonnie. "Anyway, I tried to take it from her and we were at the top of the stairs and I accidently pushed her-"
"Is she dead?" Aliyah asked, coldly, her shoulders tensing.
"No." Tyler shook his head, grimacing, burying his face in her hands. "She hit her head, but then she woke up." He pursed his lips, a guilty look forming on his face. "That's the reason why I gave Mason the moonstone." He explained, softly.
Aliyah swallowed hard and nodded, knowingly. "You don't want to trigger the curse. A part of you wanted her to die and you never want to feel like that again." She said, simply. "So, you gave your uncle the moonstone, thinking that if he left after he got it, all of this werewolf mess would go away." She murmured.
Bonnie wrapped her arms around Tyler, resting her head on his shoulder, pressing her lips against the warm skin of his neck. Aliyah chewed on her lower lip and walked over and placed a comforting hand on Tyler's shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Fair enough," Aliyah said, softly. "I don't want either of you to be a part of this." She said, sincerely. "You're children, you should… go to school, drink and do stupid things, have sex, do the things kids do at your age. You should have fun. You shouldn't be a part of this, it will only get you killed." She said, grimly. She ran her hand through her black curls. "Jeremy Gilbert knows because Elena knows, because they found out when they went to see the research assistant girl in Duke University." She mused.
"What are we going to do, Aliyah?" Bonnie asked, quietly, looking up at Aliyah with frightened green eyes that wrenched at Aliyah's heartstrings.
Aliyah took a deep breath. "Nothing." She said, slowly. "You're going to do nothing until I can figure out where to go from here." She murmured. "That… Masquerade ball is coming up, right? You both should go and have a ball." She said, softly. "Let me deal with this."
"Promise me you'll tell me when you've figured it out?" Bonnie asked, gently, taking Aliyah's hand in her own.
Aliyah smiled, slowly, and squeezed Bonnie's hand. "Of course. You'll be the first one I tell." She said, firmly. And Caroline. She turned to Tyler and looked him square in the eye. "I won't kill your uncle, Tyler. Not unless he makes the first move." She said, slowly.
Tyler sighed and nodded. "I suppose I can accept that." He muttered.
Bonnie rubbed the heels of her hands across her eyelids. "Something's coming. Something bad." She muttered, Tyler's arms tightening around her.
Tyler smirked, suddenly. "So, husband, huh? And here I thought you'd marry my uncle one day and we'd all be one, big, happy family." A mischievous grin worked its way onto his face.
Aliyah gave him a warning glare. "Don't start with me, Lockwood." She said, sternly.
Tyler held his hands up in the air, while Bonnie rolled her eyes. This was one thing she had feared, allowing Tyler and Aliyah to interact with each other on a more frequent basis. She hoped, with all of her heart, that Tyler wouldn't use his undeniable ability to piss people off against her aunt, because God knows the consequences would be catastrophic, if she knew Aliyah as well as she thought she did.
973 AD, Mystic Falls
"I hate it." Klaus spat, looking down at the milky-white rock clutched in his fist. "I want the bloody thing gone."
"We need it." Aliyah pointed out, draping her arms over his shoulders. Her hand covered his, clasping the moonstone between their hands, the coolness of the stone brushing against her warm hand. "It is strange to think that such a vicious curse is contained inside such an ordinary rock." She mused.
"It is a living reminder of this curse on me, that is what it is." Klaus growled, shaking her head, his mouth set in a hard line, his eyes drawn and angry.
"For that reason alone, we cannot simply destroy it. The moonstone could be the key into understanding how to break the curse on you, sweetling." Aliyah said, soothingly, her fingers stroking through his shoulder-length blonde curls, resting her chin on top of his head.
"We have to find a witch." Klaus said, bitterly, his fingers tugging at her silky curls, the scent of her enveloping the air around him.
Aliyah felt a pang of pain strike her in the heart as she realised that she couldn't help him solve the problem on her own. In another time, in another world, had she not been turned into the same creature that Niklaus was, she would've been able to help him herself. She could've stopped Esther on her own, figured out how to remove the curse placed on his hybrid nature and removed it herself. But, alas, her lot in life was to simply help him with whatever strength she had, her powers useless to him and herself now.
She trailed her hand across his shoulder blades as she walked around him. She curled onto his lap, feeling his arms come around to hold her tightly. She draped one of her arms around his neck and felt him rest his head against her collarbone, his nose digging into the valley between her breasts.
"I hate her." Klaus bit out. "I hate her still, despite what I did to her." He scowled and his hands visibly tightened on her skin, blatant pain flashing in his blue eyes. "How could she do this to me? How could she claim to be my mother and hate me so much?" He whispered, his lips pressing against the smooth curve of her breast, peering out of the neckline of her dress.
"She doesn't deserve you, Niklaus." Aliyah murmured in his ear, her lips brushing against the indent of his skull behind his ear.
Klaus scoffed.
"She doesn't." Aliyah said, earnestly, shifting in his lap, rubbing the locks of his hair between her fingertips. "She could never deserve someone like you as her son. It was her own weakness, her sin, not yours."
She slipped off his lap and knelt in front of him, her hands clasping his, much like she would if she were swearing fealty to a king.
"I am sorry that she turned her back on you," Aliyah said, quietly, pressing her forehead against his. "But I swear to you, I will never do that."
"Ugh, thanks for reminding me about this. After the day we have ahead of us, I really need this morning pick-me-up." Jenna grumbled into her Martini.
Jenna wore a silk, button-down, tan-brown shirt dress, with a considerably low neckline and a black belt tied around her waist, sleeves coming up to her elbows, while she tapped her matching demi-wedge boots, which rose half-way up her legs, against the bar stool.
Aliyah raised her Margarita glass up in reply, clinking her glass with Jenna's. "Well, like I said at your barbecue: we should eat, drink and be merry." She licked her lips. "Especially if all hell is about to break loose." She muttered against her glass.
"What was that?" Jenna asked, curiously.
Aliyah sighed. "Nothing. I'm just bemoaning the fact that everything's about to change." She said, dryly.
Jenna's eyes dawned with realisation. "Your husband, right!" She pursed her lips. "When's he coming to town?" She asked, curiously.
Aliyah chewed on her lower lip, biting down until she could taste the sweetness of her blood on her tongue. "I have no bloody clue." She sighed. "He keeps changing his mind. But it should be soon. Unfortunately." She grimaced.
Jenna swallowed a gulp of her Martini. "I've been meaning to ask you, but I didn't know how to. Especially because we haven't known each other for too long and I didn't want to pry. Look, it's a sensitive issue and I didn't want to offend you-" She started to babble.
Aliyah patted her hand, comfortingly. "Just spit it out, darling." She snickered.
"You just seem so unhappy that he's coming to Mystic Falls," Jenna licked her lips, visibly hesitating. "Every time you mention the fact that your husband's coming to see you, you kind of… seize up." She said, awkwardly. "At first I thought it was because he was a major buzz kill, but there's something else going on, isn't there?" She said, seriously.
Aliyah sighed and took a sip of her Margarita. "My husband and I have a… complicated… relationship, unfortunately." She licked her lips. "We're pretty much separated at this point though." She murmured.
"Are you… are you going to get a divorce?" Jenna asked, hesitantly. "I mean, if you're separated, that seems like the next logical thing to do." She mused.
"It does, but I could never do it." Aliyah confessed. "I love him too much to completely remove myself from him. That's… an extreme I'm not willing to do just yet. Plus, he'd never go for it." She murmured, thoughtfully.
"Does he… I mean, I don't want to assume…" Jenna rubbed the back of her neck, sheepishly.
Aliyah licked the sourness of the Margarita off her lips. "Let me guess, you're going to ask me whether he abuses me?" She said, knowingly.
"Well, yeah." Jenna grimaced.
"No. He's never hit me and he never would. That's… not him." Aliyah said, adamantly.
"Well, there are other forms of abuse. It doesn't need to be physical." Jenna said, pointedly.
Aliyah smiled into her glass. "That's right, you're getting your Masters in Psychology, aren't you?" She grinned.
"What can I say," Jenna shrugged, swallowing down the rest of her Martini in a single gulp. "I'm intuitive." She smirked.
Aliyah cracked a smile, running her hand through her dark hair. "He never puts me down, he never insults me, he loves me more than anything in the world, but…" She licked her lips. "He can be controlling." She confessed. "I just… when I left him, I needed some time to just figure out who am I without him. I was so… scared… that I would hate him, and I don't-"
"Think you have it in you to hate him." Jenna finished, nodding.
Aliyah swallowed hard. "Yeah." She said, weakly. "I sound pathetic, I know." She shook her head. "The way I talk about him, it's like he's some monster – and I know that's what others think of him – but I left him because I can't hate him. I had to walk away before that could happen. People think he hits me or he puts me down or he manipulates me, but he doesn't. Actually, he can be quite sweet around me when he wants to be." She mused.
She slid a hand down her off-shoulder, silky purple shirt with an intricately drawn jacaranda tree emblazoned on the front, and her dark skinny jeans, digging the heels of her black lace-up combats boots into the rung of the bar stool, self-consciously.
"I don't think you're pathetic." Jenna murmured, laying a hand on Aliyah's and squeezing, comfortingly. "You remember when we met and I had just told Ric that Isobel was Elena's birth mother?" Aliyah nodded. "You told me that no one has the right to tell you that your pain means nothing." Jenna said, pointedly. "That's exactly what I'm going to say to you now, because you love your husband and frankly, love hurts like hell. No one has the right to tell you that your pain means nothing." She said, sternly. She softened. "Any time you wanna talk, you can come to me, Aliyah. We're friends and friends are there for each other." She patted Aliyah's hands.
Aliyah smiled, weakly. "Thank you, Jenna."
"There's no need to say thank you." Jenna waved off. "We all have boyfriend – or in your case, husband – problems and that's what friends are for. We can bitch and bitch and feel better after we've had a lot of alcohol." She shrugged. "I'll come to you when I have problems with my practically non-existent relationship with a commitment-phobic, ready-not-ready Alaric and you'll come to me when your husband pisses you off to the point where you're just about ready to throw a wine bottle at his head."
Aliyah chuckled. "That sounds like fun." She smirked. "So, what's going on between you and Alaric?" She asked, curiously.
Jenna sighed and shook her head. "I don't know, it's all a little hazy at this point. We were on a kind of break and he wanted to start up again before you guys when to Duke, but I shot him down, because, you know, that was for Elena and she deserved to get to know her mother without my relationship drama getting in the way. And then you guys came from Duke and Alaric kissed me and we've been going on a few dates here and there, but I don't know where any of this is going. I mean, I really like him. He's hot and sweet and funny, but a part of me is still worried that he's not ready to move on from his ex-wife, that Isobel screwed up him up more than he realised." She murmured.
"Women always have the ability to screw men up." Aliyah mused. "That being said, men do also." She dragged her teeth over her lower lip. "Maybe… you should take things slow. I mean, do you want to be with him?"
"Yes." Jenna nodded, adamantly.
"Then, isn't it better to go slow and figure out where you want to be with each other." Aliyah said, slowly. "I mean, I know the whole 'taking scraps from men' thing pretty much sets feminism back fifty or so years, but if you both really want to be with each other, it's better to go slow. Less feelings are hurt if it doesn't work out." She shrugged.
Jenna shook her head, a small smile curving her lips. "You know, I never thought about it like that." She mused.
"What can I say, I'm very good at relationship counselling. I have a sister-in-law who has a lot of bad luck with men." Aliyah said, dryly.
Jenna raised her glass in reply. "I'll drink to that." She said, sarcastically.
Aliyah chuckled. "Considering I am mourning my separation from my second husband, I think I will also." She said, wryly.
Jenna and Aliyah clinked their glasses together and dissolved into laughter, brought on by their shared moment of misandrist camaraderie and the alcohol coursing through their veins, their heads ducking down and resting on each other's shoulders as the giggles rocked their bodies.
Jenna wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and settled her empty Martini glass back on the bar table. She tucked a strawberry blonde curl behind her ear and gave Aliyah a winning smile.
"I think we'd better stick to water for the next hour. Because…" She looked down at her phone. "We have to be at the Lockwood Mansion in an hour and if we show up there, completely buzzed, Carol Lockwood will burn us at the stake." She grumbled. "Not to mention, all of the kids are there right now. If they saw us like this…" She trailed off.
Aliyah groaned, throwing her head back. "We have to be a bunch of swots nowadays."
Jenna exhaled, shaking her head. "What happened to the good old days where we could have drinking problems and not feel guilty about it?" She asked, mournfully.
A smirk curled on Aliyah's lips. "We started taking care of impressionable teenagers who are going to think that it's all well and good to show up at a commitment after stopping by at a bar for a bit of an afternoon pick-me-up." She said, pointedly.
Aliyah jumped to her feet and steadied Jenna on hers, the latter clearly affected by her two Martinis that Aliyah was by her three Margaritas, her vampire metabolism working for her in this case. Aliyah gripped Jenna by the forearm and kept an eye on her as the woman walked into the female restroom and splashed her face with water to sober her up.
"Can I get a glass of water?" Aliyah asked the bartender, cheerfully, who nodded and handed her a tall glass of ice water.
Just as Jenna was about to stumble her way past Aliyah, the vampire shoved the glass of water into Jenna's hands, forcing her to down the whole glass in a few, wet gulps, some of the water dribbling onto her chin in her haste. Jenna shook her head, clearing much of the wooziness that the Martinis had left on her body and placed the empty glass back on the countertop. With an initial fragility, Jenna managed to straighten herself and she and Aliyah walked out of the Grill with as much dignity as they could muster, being two women in their twenties drinking alcohol before it was two in the afternoon.
Amidst the numbers of people helping to set up for the Masquerade Ball to be held in a few weeks. Inside the entrance hall, Carol, Jenna and Aliyah were talking.
"Jenna, thanks for helping wrangle the volunteers." Carol said, cheerfully, glancing down at her clipboard. "And Aliyah, you've been such a godsend since you came to Mystic Falls. I must apologise. I haven't been able to give you the attention to assist you with your book. How's it going, by the way?" She asked, curiously.
Aliyah's smile turned tight. "Oh, it's going great. Just finished the chapter on the Founders' Day traditions." She shrugged. "If all goes to plan, I should be done soon." She looked around. "And to be honest, I'm enjoying the culture here too much to leave Mystic Falls so soon. It's been years since I've been to a good Masquerade Ball." She mused.
Jenna grinned, rocking back on her heels. "I have always been a sucker for the Masquerade Ball." She said, wistfully.
Carol's face fell and her smile turned sad at the corners. "So was Richard. This was always his favourite party of the year." She said, thoughtfully, the line showing in her otherwise pretty face.
Just then, Matt and Tyler were carrying an antique table into the main hall, Tyler cursing as his grip on it loosened and his fingers slipped, the table almost crashing to the floor had he not caught in time.
"Wait, wait, wait, Tyler!" Matt shouted.
Carol looked over at them and her eyes widened, comically. "Boys!" She called out. "Be careful with that! It's from the 1800s." She gave Aliyah and Jenna a second glance. "Excuse me." Her eyes shifted to her son. "Tyler!"
Tyler rolled his eyes and graced Aliyah with dry smile, winking over at her. "Mom, we got it." He groaned.
Tyler and Matt continued to carefully move the table, their grip on the antique wood tightening until it was firm, just as Carol walked over to them, intent on supervising their transportation of the table.
"You know, I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but the only reason that Richard Lockwood liked the Masquerade Ball was because he loved seeing teenage girls showing everything off." Jenna said, dryly.
Aliyah snorted. "You're telling me, I'm pretty sure he was looking down my dress the first time we met."
Jenna grinned. She spotted Stefan, nudging Aliyah in the side, and walked over to him in the other room, Aliyah following at a much slower pace.
"Stefan, hey!" Jenna called out, cheerfully.
"Hey." Stefan said, awkwardly, giving Aliyah an awkward yet respectful nod.
"I'm cooking dinner tonight. Ric will be there, you should come." Jenna said, meaningfully.
"You know, Elena and I, we're kind of taking a-a pause." Stefan stammered, rubbing the back of his neck, sheepishly.
"Really?" Jenna raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Stefan nodded.
"Because that's not what it sounded like this morning." Jenna waggled her eyebrows.
Stefan bit his lip, attempting to must a face of confusion, but it fell at the last moment, failing to fool Jenna's intuitive light eyes.
"Light sleeper." Jenna explained, teasingly. "You know what? I heard nothing." She waved off with a bright, playful smile that showed off her glistening white teeth.
"Oh, you're good." Aliyah said, nudging her in the side as they walked away from a sheepish Stefan.
Jenna grinned. "I am good." She said, smugly, nodding to herself.
Bonnie was walking outside, lifting a box into her thin arms and making her way over to the house. She supposed there were downsides to being Tyler Lockwood's girlfriend – something that she hadn't thought about earlier, she had been to excited about having her Stray in her bed that anything else had kind of faded away. Unfortunately, as she realised, it couldn't all be amazing, mind-numbing, toe-curling, furniture-mashing sex, sweet words, romantic dinners and the hottest body that she had ever seen. Sometimes she had to help her boyfriend's mother set up for some Masquerade Ball at her house.
She was jarred out of her thoughts when Elena touched her arm and she spun around, shifting the box slightly in her arms in an attempt to steady herself.
Elena swallowed hard. "You're here." She said, lightly.
Bonnie sighed. "I'm here."
"Bonnie, I-" Elena sighed, ducking her head down. "Look, I just want everything to be okay with us." She said, earnestly.
"Elena…" Bonnie sighed. "Look, I said a month ago that I wasn't interested in putting you in a position where you had to choose between Stefan and Damon and me. I meant it then and I mean it now. But, just because I said I didn't want you to choose between us, doesn't mean that everything can be okay between us either." She said, gently. "Maybe we were just meant to grow apart." She mused.
"I can't accept that." Elena protested, shaking her head. "We've been best friends since the sandbox, Bonnie. I can't just stop being friends with you just like that. It isn't that easy.
"Well, maybe we just have to take some space away from each other." Bonnie murmured, mournfully. "I mean, it's obvious that we aren't going to be able to agree on anything that's happening around us, so maybe it's just better that we put our friendship on standby for now." She whispered.
Elena cleared her throat. "So, where's Caroline?" She looked around, purposefully, deliberately trying to change the subject.
"She's… not here." Bonnie said, slowly. She pursed her lips in disapproval. "You may not have realised, but she's had a pretty hellish couple of days." She said, pointedly. Not that you made it better by accusing her of sabotaging your relationship on purpose. She thought, spitefully."She's at the house with her mother. Aliyah went and got her from the Boarding House and brought her over because Caroline wanted to talk to her mother and she didn't want to be anywhere near Damon."
"I can't believe you moved in with her." Elena shook her head in disapproval.
"Yeah, what of it?" Bonnie asked, defensively, placing down the box and crossing her arms over her chest.
"You've known this woman for a grand total of three months and you trust her enough to live with her. Did you forget that she's a vampire?" Elena asked, incredulously.
"As opposed to Stefan and Damon, who are freaking unicorns." Bonnie said, dryly, shaking her head.
"She could hurt you, Bonnie! You're the one who told me that your magic doesn't work on her. She could seriously injure you and there's nothing you could do about it." Elena said, harshly.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I've been living with Aliyah since my Grams died and I didn't see you utter a single word in protest then. I moved into the big house in the woods with her the day of Mayor Lockwood's wake and you didn't even bother to find out." She scowled.
"Stefan and Damon are on our side, but we have no idea what Aliyah's motives are." Elena protested.
"No, Stefan and Damon are on your side," Bonnie corrected. "There's a significant difference." She said, pointedly. "The only reason that you're willing to trust them is because they'd sell out anyone and everyone to save your life and you thrive on that kind of loyalty." She shrugged, ignoring the way Elena's face softened with hurt in favour of the sharp stab of anger in her stomach. "And I know exactly what Aliyah's motives are and I trust her a hell of lot more than most people in this town." She said, meaningfully.
"Bonnie, you're one of my best friends-" Elena whispered, tucking a brown lock of hair behind her ear.
Bonnie laughed, harshly. "See, you say things like that but then you go and choose Stefan and Damon over me all the freaking time. You forgot my eighteenth birthday, your boyfriends' are the reason why my Grams is ten feet under, you only come to me when you need me to do something magical for you. And the only reason why you don't like Aliyah is because she's pretty much the first vampire – hell, probably person – you've met who doesn't like you." She snapped.
"That's not true." Elena protested.
"That is very true." Bonnie murmured.
"This is Aliyah talking. This isn't you, Bonnie." Elena pleaded. "The Bonnie Bennett I knew would never turn her back on her friends, in favour of some stranger that she barely knows."
"I don't 'barely know' Aliyah!" Bonnie said, hotly. "I know her plenty. She's one of the best things going on in my life right now, Elena, and if you can't accept the fact that she's in my life, then that's your problem and frankly, it's none of your business." She snapped.
"I don't trust her, Bonnie." Elena said, sharply. "She knows more than you think. How do you know that she's not working against us?"
"Well, first of all, I don't care what you think about her, Elena." Bonnie said, coldly. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't need you to vet everyone that I care about. You do not get a final say about whom I live with and I really couldn't care less if you don't trust her. Second of all, there is no 'us' in all of this. You've made that pretty clear by going out of your way to keep Caroline and me out of your life, Elena. If there was an 'us', you wouldn't have allowed Stefan and Damon compel Caroline to forget everything Damon did to her. You wouldn't have accused Caroline of spying on you for Caroline the night that her mother pretty much disowned her. You wouldn't have pretty much ignored me those two months after my Grams died. You wouldn't have gone on with Stefan and Damon as if they weren't responsible for every bad thing that has happened in this town since they arrived. And you wouldn't have actively hid the fact that Mason Lockwood, who happens to be my boyfriend's uncle, is a freaking werewolf." She hissed.
Elena paled and she visibly swallowed, her muscles in her throat flexing. "How do you know about that?" She whispered.
"Aliyah doesn't keep secrets from me, Elena." Bonnie said through clenched teeth. "She doesn't hide things from me. If I ask, she answers. That's how it works between us."
Bonnie rubbed the heels of her hands over her eyes, wearily.
"Look, I didn't come here to fight with you, Elena," Bonnie sighed. "I came here to help out Mrs Lockwood and spend some time with my boyfriend. You know, the one you didn't even bother to find out about. So much for being my best friend." She said, mockingly, before picking up the box with a huff and storming away.
Liz was sitting, stiffly, on the plush, leather couch in the middle of Aliyah's lounge. She tensed, hearing Caroline walk in and over to her, looking down at her still full tray of food.
"You didn't eat much." Caroline said, thoughtfully. There was an awkward silence and Caroline licked her lips. "Good news, Doctor Aliyah said the vervain is almost out of your system. So with any luck, you'll be freshly compelled and back in your own bed by tonight." She shrugged.
Liz decided to keep her mouth shut and her eyes away from Caroline.
Caroline sighed and closed her heads, tipping her head back. "Are you really just gonna pretend like I don't exist?" She asked, hurt.
"Yes." Liz said, sharply. "So, please, go."
Caroline snatched the tray off the table and started to walk away. She shook her head and chuckled, harshly. "As usual, you don't care." She snarled. "Got it. Just like before I was a vampire. It's not like I died or anything." She said, spitefully, her fists shaking at her side as she approached the door to the kitchen, opening it with a bang and about to walk out.
Liz finally looked in Caroline's direction. The girl had a few blonde curls pinned behind her head, letting a few float around her face. She was wearing a stark-white woollen, button-down sweater, with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and a red shirt underneath, dark blue jeans and a pair of low-heeled dark boots.
"Are you…?" Her throat was dry and her eyes were wet. "Are you really dead?" Liz asked, hesitantly.
Caroline grimaced and turned around. "Yes and no." She replied.
Liz shook her head. "How is it possible?" She asked, incredulously.
Caroline shook her head, her face falling as she realised that her mother's change of heart was only brief at the most. Her heart ached with the feeling and she felt her stomach churn unpleasantly. She clenched her fists at her side and walked back into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.
Mason's eyes widened when he saw Aliyah approaching him. "Hey, Aliyah."
Aliyah greeted him with a smile. "Hello, Mason."
Stefan approached the two, cautiously, his movements slow and sure.
"Hey, Stefan." Mason bit out.
Stefan pursed his lips. "Hey, Mason."
Mason placed the box he was carrying down on the table, clearly shocked to see both Aliyah and Stefan alive. His eyes were wide and his shoulders tense, clearly holding back a great deal of emotion.
"Wasn't expecting you here. Or anywhere." Mason said, darkly.
"Yes, well, next time that you decide to out us to the Founders' Council, you should probably know that I have absolutely no qualms about killing everyone who knows my secret. Including you." Aliyah said, cheerfully.
Mason graced them both with a chilling look. "What did you do to Sheriff Forbes?"
Stefan shrugged. "Oh, she's fine too, but from now on, you'll have to do your own dirty work." He explained.
Mason smirked. "Not a problem."
Just as he was striding away from her, he accidentally ran into Bonnie, who was coming from the other direction.
"Sorry about that, Bonnie." Mason said, apologetically, before walking away, not even bothering to wait for a reply from Bonnie.
Bonnie continued to watch Mason as he walked away, a strange look passing across her face, which both Aliyah and Stefan noticed with interest. Aliyah and Stefan approached her, carefully.
"Is there something wrong, Bonnie?" Aliyah asked, curiously, placing a warm hand on Bonnie's shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Stefan asked, hesitantly, knowing that Bonnie wouldn't take it well if he spoke to her too much.
Bonnie shook her head, visibly swallowing. "When I touched him, I saw something." She said, pointedly.
Aliyah nodded, knowingly. "A vision." She answered.
Bonnie nodded. "I saw Elena."
Stefan frowned in confusion. "You saw Elena?" He asked, his brow furrowing.
Bonnie nodded. "He was kissing her." She grimaced,
Stefan shook his head. "No, Bonnie, Elena wouldn't kiss…" He looked as though he was considering this for a moment and his face changed from confusion to understanding. "You didn't see Elena, you saw... Katherine." He said, grimly.
Aliyah and Bonnie exchanged a look as Stefan walked away from them.
"I saw something else." Bonnie said in a hushed tone, in case Stefan was keeping an eye on their conversation.
"What?" Aliyah raised an eyebrow.
"Mason dropped the moonstone in a well near the Lockwood ruins." Bonnie muttered.
Aliyah pursed her lips. "Stefan and Damon will find this out pretty quickly, Bonnie." She said, quickly. "We have to get to the moonstone first. You have to take me to these ruins." She said, earnestly.
Bonnie frowned. "What do you mean? How will Stefan and Damon find out?"
Aliyah tensed. "Bonnie… I can't, not right now. I promised you that I'd keep Mason safe and I will. But I need to know that the moonstone is in safe hands and if Stefan and Damon have it, all hope is lost. They can't be trusted with it. They'll do something stupid. I need to have the moonstone. If Damon and Stefan take it, they'd do something stupid to protect Elena."
"Stupid?" Bonnie asked, confused. "What does this have to do with Elena? Damon and Stefan don't know anything about your husband, Aliyah."
"Do you remember how I told you about that Aztec curse that Niklaus, Elijah and I invented so that vampires and werewolves would be on the alert for the Petrova doppelganger?" Aliyah murmured. "When we went to Duke University, Isobel's research assistant clued them onto the curse. The curse that we invented explained that vampires burned in the sun and werewolves could only turn on the full moon because of a curse placed on them by a shaman. But, we both know that's a load of rubbish, because vampires were created with the unfortunate side effect of burning up in the sun." She grimaced. "But if Stefan and Damon find out that the Petrova doppelganger is the key to the fake curse, they will hoard the moonstone and do something infinitely tragic and self-serving to protect Elena. At the cost of everyone else in this town." She said, firmly. "Including you."
Bonnie squared her shoulders and nodded, determinedly. "What do you need me to do?" She asked, resolutely.
A slow smile curved on Aliyah's lips, which was matched on Bonnie's full, pink ones, black and moss-green eyes exchanging a tender, unquestioning look that said so much more than mere words could.
A/N: There was the end of the first chapter of Plan B. A few things happened and I'm setting up for a little bit of canon change in the next chapter. It's not anything massive, but still important nonetheless.
Did you like how Bonnie defended Aliyah to Elena? I hope you're starting to see the cracks in the Barolena friendship. Because they are getting wider and wider, as Bonnie begins to see that maybe Elena isn't as selfless and compassionate as she portrays herself to be. Trust me, the next chapter is going to be a doozy with this one. Bonnie's not going to take the Mason thing very well. I know people have been asking if the Bonnie/Elena friendship will get better. As far as I know, it'll get somewhat better and then it'll deteriorate, mostly because I'm not a huge believer in the whole 'high school friends are friends for life' kind of thing. And I think Bonnie gets a short straw when she's with Elena, and I really like her character on its own.
There was a Nikliyah flashback in this chapter. It was set right after Klaus kills Esther and he gets the moonstone into his possession. They have no idea what to do with or where to even start to break the curse. But it was sweet to see Aliyah comforting Klaus after being betrayed by his mother. I wanted to show that Aliyah is inherently loyal to Klaus. She had to prove to Klaus that even if everyone left him, he would still have her. But even so, she still has heaps of misgivings about what he's willing to do to break the curse, but her conflict will play out in later chapters.
And I finally had Aliyah and Jenna have that drink. I really want to expand that relationship, but I don't know what I want to do with Jenna at the end of Season 2. I think Aliyah also needs a friend who's closer to her age and I think Jenna offered her some great advice about Klaus and Aliyah offered her good advice about Alaric.
Tyler and Aliyah bonding over their mutual protection and affection for Bonnie. How sweet is that? I want Tyler and Aliyah to form this close relationship as well. Like big sister, little brother kind of thing. I think it would be adorable. Not to mention, Aliyah has a wealth of information on how to deal with Tyler (especially when he becomes a hybrid) because Tyler's compared with Klaus a lot in this story. Their relationship will start developing more after the next chapter, but I wanted to show their feelings – mostly Tyler's feelings – about each other.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it and if you did like it, feel free to leave me review and let me know how much you liked it! It would be so awesome to hear from you!
Reviews:
LadyDV011: Thank you so much!
NicoleR85: I'm so glad you liked it! Yeah, I just thought Elena sounded way too much like she was blaming Caroline for spying on her and Stefan for Katherine, and I was like, for Caroline, Katherine must be fucking terrifying and it's unfair that Elena would expect for her to do differently in those circumstances. And throwing it back in her face that Stefan's been such a good friend to her, well, Stefan finally doing something in season 2 to help with Caroline's transition (which he inadvertently caused) still doesn't make up for his inaction when it came to her and Damon. So, yeah, I thought Bonnie was already really close to the edge on that one, so it was easy to have her snap and go off at Elena.
AndrianaWarrior7: I'm always up for Elena bashing lol. And I agree with everything you said. Her self-righteousness and fake-compassion is definitely the reason why I dislike Elena. I'm glad you enjoyed the Caroliyah and Bonliyah moments too. The way I see it, the relationship that Bonnie and Caroline are forming with Aliyah is helping them to kind of move away from Elena and her toxic friendship. I am trying to focus more on Bonnie and Caroline in these chapters, and hopefully that can be seen. And rambling's definitely my jam, babe. As for Caroline's ship, I think it would be more interesting to see your reaction when I actually get to the point where her beau or belle's introduced. One, very small hint is that he won't be entering in what's left of season 2. I will be giving Finn a storyline of his own, mostly because Aliyah's very protective of the Mikaelsons as a whole and she won't just let Finn fall away. Plus, the existing relationship he has with Aliyah will definitely help him with his self-hatred, so he'll be a bit OOC when he's first introduced. I'm hardly a master lol, I just dislike so many interesting characters taking a backseat to Elena and the Salvatores and their never-ending drama. Hell, even when Nina Dobrev left the damn show, they couldn't focus on Bonnie and Caroline properly as characters. But thank you so much! I love long reviews!
tvtaughtmehowtofeell: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the Tonnie and yeah, there are definitely parallels with Nikliyah, and we'll definitely see more of that, once Tyler's werewolf storyline comes into play. And yeah, Bonnie going off at Elena was definitely the best part of writing that entire chapter.
Guest: Whatever role Hayley has in this story, she will definitely not be pregnant with Klaus' baby.
slexieotpforever: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying Caroliyah and Bonliyah. And Aliyah threatening Damon is definitely a favourite of mine too. Mostly because she can be so very creative with her threats. As for Elijah flashbacks, we're definitely getting to one of them in a few chapters, and hopefully the Nikliyah flashbacks in between can tide you over for a while.
mattdomblast: As you can probably tell, I'm not an Elena fan myself. And if I had to choose between Elena and Katherine, I'd choose Katherine, only because, while she has done bad things, she at least owns up to her sins and nature, whereas Elena pretends to be a good person but does all kinds of morally-sketchy shit.
CrystalVixen93: Thank you!
Katherine Sparrow: Aww, you're so sweet! Thanks for the review!
SilverLuckCharm: I can't wait for their reunion either. Honestly, I've written bits and pieces of it already and the whole The Last Dance episode is seriously dramatic. But to tide you all over, I may have another message or phone call or something from him soon, but hopefully the flashback in this chapter helped. Oh, and the Aliyah and Elijah reunion is very, very soon and it's going to be pretty good, if I do say so myself.
LunaEvanna Longbottom: Aww, that's so sweet and so funny. Honestly, I love writing the A/Ns and the replies to the reviews I get too.
Toad-sage66: Thank you so much for the review! I know that the whole first marriage to Elijah does make Aliyah sound like some Mary Sue, but I do want to stress that their relationship is clichéd at all. I tried to go about the whole leaving-your-husband-for-his-brother in the most realistic way I possibly could and hopefully you'll see it that way too once we see Aliyah and Elijah interact.