It was pretty late in the afternoon when Liesel made her way into the boarding house, the last few days she had given Stefan space so he could deal with the Vicki thing by himself as Liesel knew that was what he had wanted. They had spoken over the phone a couple of times but Liesel figured that it was time to see the man himself and make sure he wasn't drowning in self pity. Stefan had taken the whole Vicki very hard and Liesel couldn't blame him as he had tired so hard to make the vampire thing work with her before being forced to kill her. It was a difficult call to make and to protect Elena and her brother, Stefan had to deal with Vicki. Liesel didn't blame him in the slightest but she knew Stefan was going to place most of the blame on himself which is why she had given him a few days to mope around before she came to and dragged him out of his depressed state and back into the real world. As per usual the front door of the Salvatore boarding house was unlocked, Stefan and Damon seemed to have no concern about home security just because they were vampires. As Liesel walked into the house she found that the living room was empty, not that it bothered her as Damon had called already to say that he was dropping off vervain to Sheriff Forbes as part of their plan to get him onto the council. That was fine but what bothered Liesel was that some how Damon had managed to acquire her phone number as there was somethings that she wanted to keep off limits to him. Liesel had generally wanted to keep Damon at arms length given the vampire's rather unpredictable nature, it would be safer for all involved if Liesel made sure that Damon was kept on the ouside. Although she supposed that went out the window when she invited him into her home. Liesel suspected that she was fast becoming friends with Damon much to her disdain but the upside of it all was that he feared her enough that there was no way he was ever going to kill her. However Liesel would have to deal with that later, her priority was Stefan at the present moment.
"Lees, what are you doing here?"
Looking upwards Liesel saw Stefan coming down the stairs with a blonde hair female companion and the both of them seemed quiet friendly with each other as they had both been laughing and smiling until Stefan had spotted Liesel. This was honestly the last thing that Liesel expected to see when she decided to come over and she wasn't exactly sure of what to make of this whole thing and she decided that it was much better for her sanity if she didn't ask.
"Umm… I came to find you given that you've kind of been M.I.A for the last few days, I just wanted to check in and possibly drag you out of the house for a couple of hours. It's not good being cooped up indoors all day and if I'm saying that to you of all people then something is seriously wrong." Liesel wearily said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.
"I appreciate the concern but I am fine, there's no need to worry about me anymore." Stefan replied with small smile.
"I can very much see that." Liesel stated slowly eying up Stefan's blonde hair companion as the two of them finished coming down the stairs and joined her in the living room. The two of them looked pretty damn chummy together and Stefan was far cry from the miserable, self-loathing and brooding self he was days ago. Liesel could't help but add 2+2 together and get for and realise that Stefan's friend was the reason behind his new happy and cheery mood. This was getting plain awkward now and Liesel was going to leave now, she had done her job. She had checked on Stefan, he seemed perfectly fine so there was no reason for her to stick around. Now Liesel could head back to the comforts of her own home and not have the fear nagging in the back of her head that Stefan was going to do something stupid because he was wallowing about Elena dumping him. It seemed like Stefan had clearly moved on, a bit to quickly but who was Liesel to judge? Especially when she wasn't a fan of Elena Gilbert to begin with.
"Before you say anything it's not what you think Lees…" Stefan began and Liesel couldn't help but narrow her eyes in mild amusement as it seemed that Stefan had seemingly become a mind reader now.
"Is that so? And how do you know what thinking?"
" Liesel-"
" -This is her… Are you being serious? This girl is the infamous Liesel Caffrey that I've been hearing so much about? The new best friend that you've suddenly sound to replace me Stefan? Huh? She's a lot taller than I would have expected, a whole lot prettier too." The blonde hair woman responded and Liesel couldn't help but pull her head back in mild disgust as whilst the mystery woman was clearly teasing Stefan, she had just given Liesel a rather insulting backhanded compliment and Liesel wasn't sure what to make of that. Not to mention Liesel pretty much knew nothing about the woman infront of her to be able to insult her back as whilst Liesel was used to name calling, attacks on her physical appearance were not something she let so easily slide. Liesel was many things, most of them weren't very nice but even she took some pride in her appeaernce and whilst she was no flawless beauty, she knew that she didn't look like a lamppost either.
"No one is getting replaced, both of you are my best friends." Stefan responded with a small sigh and it was only through Stefan's reply to the woman, did things start to fall into place for Liesel and she realized that she knew who this woman was. Well… Liesel didn't technically know her, but rather she knew who she was. More by wrord of mouth and reputation that anything and if Liesel was right and she was dead certain she was right, the long blonde hair woman standing infront of her with hazel green eyes was Lexi Branson; Stefan's best friend. Instantly Liesel felt a pang of jealously and mere moments later she couldn't could't help but grimace as she had no clue when the hell she become so possessive of Stefan. She was going to blame Stefan for this as Liesel hadn't felt normal feelings until Stefan had come into her life.
"I wouldn't exactly call myself infamous, fearsome maybe but not infamous... Lexi, right? Lexi Branson? I may not have heard as much about you as you've heard about me but I know who you are." Liesel said with a small smile which took both Lexi and Stefan by surprise as she had heard about Stefan's other best friend although it hadn't been Stefan was the one to tell her all about Lexi.
"Liesel, you know about Lexi?""
"Duh Stefan! She's a psychic, no doubt Liesel had some kind of vision that told her I was coming to town! Just how cool is it that you know a psychic Stefan? I couldn't believe it when you told me and now I get to see it for myself, I haven't come across a genuine psychic in decades." Lexi stated in a bright offhanded manner, speaking what seemed to be a million miles an hour and Liesel was following for the most part. Until Lexi got to the part about her beign a psychic because then Liesel's attention drifted away from paying attention to what Lexi was saying to trying her hardest not to act her her current urge to throttle Stefan's neck for blabbing her secret.
" -Wait… You told her? Are you killing me Stefan? Seriously… Mistake me if I'm wrong but didn't we agree that we wouldn't let the supernatural genie out of the bottle? You gave me your word Stefan that you wouldn't tell anyone what I was and I thought that this whole trust thing went both ways. You asked me to trust you and I did, I've not told anyone what you are and I believed you when you said you would keep my secret!" Liesel barked in a rather accusing manner as she really wasn't happy about this recent development.
"Liesel it's now what you think… Just listen to me, Liesel Clara Caffrey-" Stefan began and Liesel could see where this was going and she wasn't having any of it. She was not going to allow Stefan to brush over this whole betrayal and convince her that it was no big deal and that Lexi was to be trusted. That wasn't the point. The two of them were in LCPC, otherwise known as the Liesel Caffrey Psychic Club – it worked on the same premise like Fight Club, you did not talk about the whole psychic thing with anyone outside the Liesel Caffrey Psychic club. The only other people who knew Liesel's dark and dirty secret was Sheila Bennett who Liesel hadn't told, that was all down to her grandmother and Damon who found out because he liked snooping in other people's business and evesdropped his way into the club.
"What have I told you about calling me my full name?!" Liesel hissed in annoyance as she hated being called the full 'LCC'. Her full name was only allowed to be used when she was in trouble and had done something so bad that using her full name was the only way for Liesel to understand how bad she had messed up. Which was not the case here! For once she had done nothing wrong!
"It's not what your thinking Lees, I didn't tell Lexi that you were a psychic exactly… Do you remember the day we met? You made an impression on me Liesel and I knew you were different from everyone else from the moment I saw you and that was before I saw your tarot cards. I had spoke to Lexi that day, she called me later that day to check in and see how things went and I told her about you. I mentioned to Lexi in passing that I had my my suspicions that you were a psychic. Since then I've not said anything else to Lexi about you and your abilities, I meant what I said about you being able to trust me Liesel. I know how much you've had to sacrifice by keeping your secret to yourself, I know why it has to remain a secret. I promised I would protect you and your secret Liesel and I meant it." Stefan explained using his special soft voice that he used whenever Liesel was going off the deep end and Liesel sheepishly looked around. She had clearly jumped the gun a bit as Stefan had done nothing wrong. She couldn't exactly be mad given that Stefan did tell Lexi before they had become friends and she confirmed the whole psychic thing to him. So technically he hadn't babbled to anyone.
"Sorry… With this town's history with the supernatural, I've got to be careful. If the truth about me were to ever become public, my family would pay the price." Liesel replied in an apologetic manner, forcing a smile on her face to go along with her somewhar half assed apology.
"You don't ever have to explain yourself to me, I know."
"The two of you are hilarious. I could sit and watch the two of you go back and forth all day! Don't worry about me Liesel I won't tell anyone about you being a psychic Liesel, cross my heart and hope to die… Again! Any friend of Stefan is a friend of mine, so your secret is safe with me." Lexi promised with a bright smile and Liesel could afford to laugh.
"You're a lot different than what I expected you to be Lexi, well I've not really head much as Stefan hadn't mentioned you but Damon had mentioned you in passing, he didn't go into much detail. But what he did say was that you were a major pain in the ass who was also a annoying bitch. Something about harshing out his vibe and he mentioned something about a rooftop but he was drinking scotch at the time so who knows if what he was saying was true. I've learned that you have to take what Damon says with a pinch of salt when he hits the bottle. Either way it was his words not mine but I kind of got the feeling that he doesn't like you too much, then again Damon doesn't really like anyone. I'm currently on major pain in the ass status too." Liesel replied with a small smirk.
"She's funny, I like her." Lexi commented to Stefan and Liesel had to all put forced her emotions down her throat in order to stop herself from beaming like an idoit. Never before had Liesel ever had someone instantly like her. It was a rather new experience for her and she had to admit that Lexi was really growing on her, she was nice and even though Liesel had known her for less than five minutes there was feeling that she got that told Liesel she could trust Lexi with her secret.
"Me too." Stefan added.
"So I know that you being a psychic has to stay a secret Liesel but can I asj you a few things about the whole? It seems like it's a pretty cool thing to be and you must be able to do some pretty awesome stuff, I know you read tarot card which I find amazing in itself but if you don't want to talk about it then it's cool. You can just totally ignore me and we won't mention it ever again." Lexi babbled and Liesel awkwardly laugh and looked over to Stefan who merely motioned that it was up to her. So with a small shug of her shoulders, Liesel walked further into the living room of the boarding house and took a seat on the couch. She was closely followed by Stefan who took a seat next to her followed by Lexi who took a seat in a nearby armchair.
"Cool… Isn't the word that I'd personally use to explain what I can do, it's more like a very annoying burden that's been placed on me. I was born a psychic, I didn't teach myself or anything like that or pretend to be one like those people who spend their days conning people out of their money. I come from a long line of psychic from my maternal relatives but it's complicated as only the women in in my family manifest any abilities and sometimes it skips a generation ot two and which unfortunately decided to not skip another generation which is how I ended up being one." Liesel replied with a grim smile.
"I know psychics are immune to compulsion and that in itself must make you pretty strong and Stefan was convinced of you being a psychic within hours of meeting you." Lexi questioned.
"I had no idea about that until Stefan tried to compel me, he think it's because my abilities are all mental based and rely on my own cognition that I'm immune to being complelled. I still take vervain even though I don't need it but that's just to stop Damon from one day deciding to take a chunk of my juglar vein…" Liesel commented with a small snort of amusement.
"Abilities? You've manifested several abilities?" Lexi demanded her eyes all but shinning with stars with excitement over the subject matter and Liesel didn't know what to think about it all. She had never seen anybody so enthralled over what she was before.
"I wouldn't exactly say manifested but yeah, I've displayed several active abilities but I couldn't tell you when most of them started, I've just sort of been aware of them. One of my abilities is called psychometery, it's not as fancy as it sounds but basically I can find out information about an object or a person by means of physical touch. For example I can touch anything in this room, like that bottle of scotch over there and tell you who the last person was to have touched it. No doubt it was Damon. Basically I can read the imprits that we all leave on things, I can see it's entire history if I want to if that makes any sense although I'm probably not explaining it too well as I've never had to do this before. I don't see everything at once though. It's really overwhelming thing to do and it give me a headache when I try to do that, so insetad I focus on what I'm specifically looking for and by narrowing my scope of field, I don't have twenty million thins running through my head. I'm also clairvoyant, it's the most complicated of my abilities if I'm being trufthful here. It's not too different from my psychometery, but then again it is… My second sight as I tend to refer to it as allows me to see things that others can't. I see things specifically the future, present and the past outside of my own surroundings. It's not something I can control, it generally manifests itself in the occasional dream and premontions. It's all very much complicated and very boring if I'm honest..." Liesel explained and after she did, she had to take a moment to realise how much of a freak she was after explaining everything she was capable of to Lexi. Never before had it seemed so much to Liesel as she never really explained it all out louf to anyone and when she did, Liesel tended to play everything down and never explain it all in detail. All Liesel had really told Stefan was that she was she saw things and never really explained things further than that. He didn't need any further explantion
"You have premotnions and you can see the future? Like the actual future? That is so cool!" Lexi exclaimed and Liesel just wearily laughed as given what she tended to see when she looked into the future, she wouldn't exactly call it cool. "Would you be able to read mine me? I know it sounds weird, the vampire whose gonna live forever asking for their future to be read but I'd like to know what's coming my way."
"Lexi, you really don't want me to have any kind of premonition about your future as the only premontions I have about people dying dying and everything is so bloody messed up that I can't seem to do anything about…" Liesel quietly explained before looking away.
"Am I missing something?" Lexi questioned and Liesel just continued to look at an ugly looking vase.
"Liesel's having some difficulties with her abilities at the moment, specifically her ability to have premontions so she can't really see your future Lexi. When Liesel looks into the future she can see things, somearef little things that aren't important but mostly she see's people dying when she shouldn't be and she can't do anything to stop it." Stefan explained.
"You only see people dying? That's a bit morbid…" Lexi couldn't help point out.
"Lexi…" Stefan scolded.
"Stefan it's fine, Lexi has a point as it is kind of morbid hence why I realised something was wrong with my abilities in the first place." Liesel told Stefan before turning to Lexi with a small smile. "I don't know when I first began receiving premonitions but when I was seven years old I had a vision of my mother dying of a brain haemorrhage on our kitchen floor six months before it actually happened. That trauma has caused me to suppress my ability, I should be able to see much more but I was so young and shaken up about what happened I haven't reached the true extent of my abilities. I should see life and death, the joys and sadness of life and everything in between but I don't. In my premonitions and when I do tarot readings I only see death and I'm never able to stop it."
"Wow, I'm so sorry Liesel…" Lexi began.
"Don't be, we're working on it and it's getting there. I now have a theory about the whole, it's all weird and twisted just like me, but I've been surprising my premonition abilities all these years because I'm sacred of seeing someone else I care about die. You'd think because of that I'd only see people living and being happy and all that jazz but no for someone sick and morbid reason I only see death. Which continues the whole vicious circle of me only being able to see dead people in the future. Then sometimes I'm completely blind-sighted by it." Liesel said in a nonchalant manner, conveniently leaving out the fact that Damon was the only who came up with the theory that she could only see death because she was so scared of seeing someone she loved die. And that she'd be able to control her premonitions and she so much more once she got over the whole dying thing. Like Liesel said it was a work in progress.
"We'll figure it out." Stefan assured Liesel.
"But if you really want me to do it I can read your future instead, my grandmother who was a psychic like me was adamant that I know always rely on using my active abilities as she would say. I can read palms and read tea leaves although I hate doing the latter, I'm really bad at it and I have zero patience for it. Damon seems to think I can see the future by using a crystal balls which I can't. I dabble in some of other stuff but that's about it really.
"Well it makes sense that you can see the future given your eyes." Lexi couldn't help but point out.
"Huh?" Liesel couldn't help but question.
"You may just have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen Liesel, I don't see people with grey eyes that often but when I do they either have cold and intense grey eyes, but you Liesel? Your eyes are so clear and bright, there's something so alluring about them that draws you in. They seem to see everything which is pretty perfect for someone who can see the future!" Lexi explained and Liesel couldn't help but laugh as it was the most bizarre thing she had heard all day. "So tell me, how does the psychic and the vampire become friends? Not something that happens everyday."
"Well personally I didn't want to be friends with Stefan even more so after I found out that he was a vampire and I made a point of making that known. I wanted nothing to so with Stefan and I was a bitch about it although Stefan is too much of a good guy to ever admit that. I've been alone for a long time and so I was used to not having any one outside of my family to depend on, I had never really had a friend so I just kept pushing Stefan away but he would not give up on trying to be my friend. Stefan was so adamant about being my friend that it got to the point where I was just tired of fighting him on it that I just gave in. Normally I'm not one to give into pressure but Stefan would not give up on me despite me telling him several times that him being my friend would not be good thing for him given my standing in this town. I was rather impressed with the amount of backbone he displayed towards me." Liesel explained with a small laugh.
"Your standing?" Lexi asked.
"Mystic Falls and Liesel don't get along." Stefan explained and Liesel just rolled her eyes, as always Stefan was trying to make things not sound as bad as they were.
"I'm the town outcast, the big black sheep of Mystic Falls although Stefan doesn't like saying it, he thinks by not saying it then it won't make it true anymore..." People in this town don't like me and they've ostracised me since I was a kid which is kind of funny since everyone in town loves the rest of my family so when the new star of the football team wanted to become my friend was kind of a surprise to me. I'm not exactly a people person if you can't tell, I like to spend my time by myself being miserable and alone, pondering man's existence and counting down the days till I can leave this town." Liesel replied not missing a beat and pretty much stating everything that Stefan would not sya about her. He refused to ever bad mouth her and Lexi just laughed.
"You remind me so much of Stefan, it's unbelievable Liesel…"
"Me? Remind you of Stefan? The optimistic, bright eyes bushy tail vampire sitting next to me? Are you sure your talking about the right person?" Liesel questioned because her and Stefan were complete opposites of the personality spectrum. He was happy, she was unhappy. He was dead, she was alive amongst other things. The two of them were nothing alive, sure they had a few things in common but apart from that they were like oil and water.
"Yeah, you should have seen him before I got my hands on him–"
"–Which we don't need to be talking about." Stefan quickly said.
"And why not? You know practically everything about me and I know even less about you and clearly Lexi knows some very interesting things about you which I'd like to know. It's only fair considering you had my family tell you all the gory details of my past and childhood when you came over for dinner! I don't think there is anything about me that you don't know." Liesel stated as she was clearly missing something about Stefan's past, something that he really didn't want her to know and that just made Liesel all the more curious.
"Let's move on." Stefan replied and Liesel frowned, she'd get whatever she was looking for out of him later or better yet she'd ask Lexi later when Stefan wasn't around to change the conversation. She wasn't going to be able to let this go until she knew what was tweaking Stefan so much that he wanted to keep it firmly buried. Normally things were the other way round, Stefan was typically the talkative one and it was generally Liesel who was quick to change the subject when something came up that she didn't want to talk about.
"So what brought you to this dreary town Lexi? I know Mystic Falls isn't high on anyone's list to visit for a getaway trip." Liesel questioned, doing what Stefan had asked and changed the conversation.
"Well I came here for Stefan's birthday and I was hoping to convince him to come with me to New York so we could go catch Bon Jovi at Madison Square Gardens–" Lexi began.
"It's your birthday?!" Liesel interrupted as she looked at Stefan in utter disbelief.
"Yes."
"And you didn't think to tell me?" Liesel demanded in shock as not once in the last week or ever did Stefan ever mention that he was coming up and the first Liesel had to hear about it was from his other best friend. Liesel wasn't happy about this. She actually really bad about not knowing this. Even though Liesel had never wanted to be Stefan's friend, they were friends now and birthdays were something that normal friends did. Liesel couldn't believe that Stefan had kept that quiet, but what made it worse was that she was certain that her best friend who was sitting right beside her knew when her birthday was. No doubt Stefan had it circled away on some calender somewhere.
"Lees I didn't want to make a big deal about it given that I've had a hundred and sixty one birthdays before this one. Birthdays tend to get old very quickly when you're a vampire especially when your going to look seventeen for the rest of your life."
"Big deal? Stefan I may be all doom and gloom girl but even I like birthdays although I don't celebrate them much but enough about me. This is about you and after everything we've gone through and managed to survive I think you telling me about your birthday was the least you could do. The fact that I has to find out from Lexi who I've known for about five minutes now is pretty humiliating seeing as I'm your other best friend and I feel stupid for not knowing when your birthday is. Not to mention I feel incredibly bad for not getting you a gift." Liesel lectured in an irriatated tone of voice.
"I'm very sorry that I didn't tell you that today was my birthday Liesel, I'm sorry if that upset you, I never wanted to hurt your feelings.." Stefan said in the soothing tone of voice that he tended to use on Liesel quite often when her emotions were flaring up.
"I'm not upset, I'm mad. You should know by now there is a difference." Liesel pointed out.
"If it makes you feel any better Liesel, Elena doesn't know it's my birthday."
"Hmmm, that is a bit of a consolation." Liesel murmured which caused Stefan to laugh and Lexi looked at the two of them in a rather curious manner.
"I take it you don't like Elena." Lexi questioned picking up on the comments about Elena and how Liesel was kind of happy that she knew about Stefan's birthday and Elena didn't.
"Saying Liesel doesn't like Elena is putting it rather mildly Lexi, Lees isn't a fan of a lot of people in this town especially people from the founding families except for the Salvatore's. Although she has been making more of an effort with Elena on my part which I am very grateful for." Stefan explained.
"Stefan thinks the sun shines out of Elena's ass, I don't see it myself but I'm biting my tongue about my opinions on her since lover boy is still mooning all over her even though they broke up. It's me attempting to be a good friend. I hear it's what friends are supposed to do but I'm still learing the basics of human relationships…" Liesel idly commented/
"So this Elena girl… She'll come around. I'm sure of it. Have you had sex yet?" Lexi questioned Stefan and Liesel couldn't help but pull a funny face as the thought of Stefan and Elena going at it came to mind.
"No"
"Sex always works. I mean you'll rock her world so hard with your vamp sex, she'll be yours forever…" Lexi said in a teasing tone of voice which caused Liesel to laugh, she liked Lexi she really did which was a surprise to her given how she felt about people. But Lexi seemed genuinely nice and didn't think of Liesel as a freak and thought that her being a psychic was pretty cool.
"Yeah, but see, this isn't about sex or... or compulsion or any of our other tricks. She has to want to be with me on her own terms." Stefan replied putting extra emphasis on the fact that Elena had free will in this whole lave saga and Liesel just rolled her eyes.
"Wow. That sounded all mature and grown-up." Liesel said in a rather sarcastic manner as Stefan got up from the couch.
"Well I'm not getting any younger, wisdom is something you'll learn about Liesel when you grow up." Stefan quipped and Lexi opened her suitcase and picked up a blood bag and pieced it with a straw before taking a sip from it. Liesel should have been disgusted by it but she had seen Damon drink Mr. Tanner dry and she wasn't stupid about the whole vampires and their drinking habits. She knew Stefan feed on animals and Damon didn't…
"Want some?" Lexi offered holding out her blood bag.
"No. Thank you." Stefan politely declined but Liesel couldn't help but pick up on some weird look that Stefan was giving Lexi. He really didn't like this topic for some reason which Liesel didn't understand as it wasn't like the whole vampire drinking blood was some huge white elephant in the room. Despite being the only human in the room, Liesel was fully aware of what being a vampire entailed. The time for Liesel to be grossed out by any of this passed by a very long time ago.
"Relax I didn't kill anyone for it. This phlebotomist I went out with a few times, he's my supplier." Lexi explained but Stefan had this disapproving look on his face which made Liesel snort in amusement. She couldn't help but Lexi and Stefan's relationship was the same as hers and Stefan's just in reserve. Lexi was the optimistic and cheerful one with all the advice whereas Stefan was the weird one with all the problems. It was weird for Liesel to watch yet strangely compelling as clearly Stefan was her version of Lexi. "Oh don't judge, ok? Listen I tried the animal diet; lasted three weeks."
"It doesn't matter. Cause if I started again…" Stefan began but stopping his sentence midway as he glanced over at Liesel which kind of annoyed Liesel as she wanted to know what he was going to say. But she had found out that Stefan used to drink human blood was a new interesting fact to add to the Stefan file she had in her head. She had thought Stefan would have been all moral and refusing to touch human blood from the day he became a vampire but apparently not. After all this time Stefan Salvatore was still a bundle of surprise, it only made Liesel more fascinated about his past. For the most part Stefan was pretty open with Liesel about what he got up to in the centuries before they had met but he had never quite told her everything. She knew all the possible dark stuff was locked up in his journals which she wasn't allowed to read.
"I'm just jealous of your restraint. I have none. I delight in hedonism. Speaking of which, what are we doing tonight?" Lexi questioned.
"Funny you should ask."
Glancing up from her seat Liesel saw that it was her kind of friend Damon and she couldn't help but groan, it was like it was a natural instinct to her like breathing.
"Well I wasn't asking you." Lexi told Damon in a rather rude yet somewhat polite manner and Liesel couldn't help but snicker, she hadn't seen anyone handle Damon similar to the manner in which she dealt with the elder Salvatore.
"There's a party at the grill. You'll love it. Banquettes, Tacky wait staff, All of Stefan's friends." Damon replied ignoring Lexi for the most part.
"Yeah, well I don't want a birthday party." Stefan couldn't help but point out.
"Well, It's not for you. It's a party party. No one's gonna know it's your birthday. Caroline's throwing it."
"Damon, I thought I made myself pretty clear on the whole Caroline thing. You need to stay away from Caroline otherwise you'll end up back in the basement and you'll be in there for a lot longer than four days. I'll make sure of it." Liesel threatened, for some reason she was quite defensive about Caroline when it came to Damon given what he had done to her. God knows why since Liesel and Caroline didn't get along but then the world was a strange place. After all she was sitting in a room with vampire and Liesel didn't fear for her life in the slightest, in fact she was a bit too relaxed about this whole situation.
"Relax Little Caffrey… We're friends it's cool. Anyway it's important for the town to see us out and about like normal folk. We need to blend in…" Damon began before glancing over at Lexi's supply of blood. "I prefer mine at 98.6."
"Of course you do…" Liesel quietly muttered as Damon left the room.
"Let's Go. Please?" Lexi pleased with Stefan despite the look on his face which clearly said that he was not up for going to a party at the Grill, that was organised by Caroline of all people. "We can get super drunk, it'll be just like old times but now we have Liesel which means three times the fun! Just think about all the fun two vampires and a psychic can have!"
"Liesel can't drink." Stefan couldn't help but point out.
"Sure she can, the fact that she is underage isn't a problem Stefan I'll compel the bar staff to give her all the free drinks she wants."
"That's now what I mean Lexi, Liesel can't drink because it interferes with her abilities. Her abilities are all mental based and alcohol and effects our cognitive functions. If Liesel injests any alcohol then her abilities go haywire and she has no control over them. Liesel will be inundated with images in her head which will overwhelm her so to avoid that she doesn't drink alcohol. She's teetotal." Stefan explained and Liesel could see that Lexi was trying to think of a way to get past that.
"Don't use me as an excuse birthday boy, I may not like people or parities but I'm willing to make an exception for today. The two of you can get drunk all you like, I'll just be the designated driver and just drag your sorry drunk ass' back here once the party is done and then I can just laugh at drunk Stefan to my hearts content…" Liesel said with a smirk knowing full well that Stefan couldn't make anymore excuses seeing as he had no more excuses left and both she and Lexi were up for going to the grill. Liesel couldn't believe this was happening, her life no longer remesmbled the life that she used to know and later Liesel and Stefan were sitting in his bedroom whilst Lexi had gone to take a shower leaving the two of them alone for the first time today.
"So Lees, what do you think of Lexi? I know she can be a bit full on at times but–"
"I like her." Liesel said interrupting.
"You do?" Stefan questioned.
"I really do which surprises me, when I first walked in and saw you with her I was a bit annoyed at first especially since you didn't tell me abour her but within a minute of talking to Lexi I was won over. You know I'm not a fan of people overall especially of what I am but there's something about her, Lexi knew about me and the fact that I'm a psychic and it didn't bother her in the slightest. She had problem with what I am and the fact that she was so easy going and accepting of it. I'm still not quite used to people accepting me…Lexi is fun and I'm glad she's here because we've been so concerned and caught up with everything that's been going on here that we've forgotten to have real fun. We haven't had too much of that lately and we need to. We can't always hang out here and play scrabble, sometimes we have to go out and interact with other people."
"She thinks your pretty great, you know? Lexi has been dying to meet you ever since I told her about you." Stefan told Liesel which caused her to smile, compliments weren't really her thing but hearing that someone like her for the way she was always good for her self-esteem. Not that Liesel tended to put too much thought into what people thought about her. But sometimes it was nice especially when it came from someone like Lexi.
"I think Lexi is great as wel, you have good taste in best friends." Liesel admitted which caused Stefan to smile, it was clear that Stefan really wanted her and Lexi to get along which only natural. It would be awkward for him if his two best friends didn't get along but Stefan needn't worry about that. Liesel really liked Lexi and she couldn't believe she was saying this but she was looking forward to spending time with her. Liesel and Stefan spent a few more minutes talking until Lexi walked back into Stefan's room only in a towel.
"I'm almost ready." Lexi said in a sing song voice.
"I can't believe you actually think that we should go to this thing." Stefan said and Liesel just rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe she was thinking this but Stefan had been spending too much time with her. It was clear that he had been picking up her negative outlook on life.
"Don't be a Debbie Downer, that's my job Stefan…" Liesel stated with a wicked smirk on her face.
"It's not like I'm asking you to run outside midday without your ring. I mean, seriously, it's a party." Lexi teased.
"A party that Damon wants us to go to. So my question is why? I think he's up to something." Stefan stated and Liesel just rolled her eyes, as Stefan was starting to sound paranoid and whilst she understood as you couldn't trust Damon as far as you could throw him. But Damon didn't always have a hidden agenda.
"What can he possibly do in front of all those people in a public place? Damon does stupid things occasionally but he's not a complete idiot, he knows that we all need to keep a low profile and not draw anymore attention to the whole vampire thing. Plus if we go he won't do anything if I'm there as I've struck the fear of Little Caffrey into your brother. Damon won't do anything to risk pissing me off…" Liesel idly stated as she got up from Stefan's bed and sat down in the chair that he had recently vacated.
"He knows how to keep a low profile. Believe me." Stefan stressed.
"And believe me when I say he'll behave, I may only be 5'8 but your brother is scared of me for good reason as I am a pretty damn scary person and that's without out the psychic thing." Liesel quipped with a knowing smile.
"Come on Stefan, you heard Liesel… One day a year I get you, one day that you're not brooding and existing in your own head." Lexi added.
"It's my birthday." Stefan couldn't help but point out as if that was going to help him which it didn't as Liesel and Lexi both glanced at each other. They had known each other less than an hour but they were united in this whole going out for Stefan's 162nd birthday whether he liked it or not. The two of them were his best friends, they were ganging up on him and there was no way he could get either of them to change their mind.
"It's my day; and that guy that jump naked in the Trevi fountain; and got drunk on the torch of the statue of Liberty; that guy can take a break from all of his worrying for one night and go to a stupid party. So quit your whining and go get ready." Lexi corrected and Liesel could see that Stefan was pretty close to caving and it was nice to see Stefan being forced into doing something he didn't like instead of her.
"Fine."
Liesel was distracted by what was going on by her phone going off and pulling her phone out of her jeans pockets Liesel saw that it was from her dad and excusing herself she went to go and answer. It was a typical phone call from her dad, he was just calling to check in as per usual and see how Liesel was. Papa Caffrey and Liesel spoke to each other two times a day, he liked calling Liesel to see how her day was going. Liesel knew it was because he was always worried about her and liked to remind her that she mattered and that she was loved so she went along with it. So the two of them talked and Liesel told her dad that she was going to be coming home late and then her dad got really excited when she mentioned Stefan's birthday. The phone call ended up taking longer than she expected and so fifteen minutes later Liesel walked back into Stefan's bedroom, both Stefan and Lexi were both dressed in different clothes from before and as soon as she did she could just feel this weird vibe.
"Is everything okay in here?"
"We're fine." Stefan replied.
"That's good because I kind of need a favour from you Stefan, I need you to quickly go over to the fire station and talk to my dad. I know it's your birthday and the last thing you want to do is talk to my old man and I hate to ask…" Liesel wearily began.
"Why is something wrong?"
"Wrong? Not really, it's just that next week will be will be ten years since I had the premonition about my mom dying and my dad always gets worried about me during this time. It's not because he knows about the premonition but every year since mom died, I've kind of emotionally shut down during that time. It's not pretty and it scares the crap out of my dad and well I'm guessing he wants to give you a heads up about it. You know with this being the first year I have a friend, I think Papa Caffrey thinks that since you the apparently greatest thing to ever come into my life, then that will help me not having a mental breakdown this year. I wouldn't ask today of all days now knowing that it's your birthday but you know my dad and I don't like to worry him–" Liesel began.
"Your dad worries about you, I know Lees. I'll go talk to him right now." Stefan replied.
"Really? You don't mind?" Liesel questioned.
"Of course not, but I'd be so much happier if you decided that we shouldn't be going to the grill."
"Never going to happen Stefan." Lexi firmly stated.
"Okay I get it, we're going to the grill… I'll just meet you both there." Stefan said before leaving the room, and not long after he did Lexi turned her attention over to Liesel.
"Now it's your turn Liesel, I think a nice short dress that will show off your very body which you insist on hiding behind lots of black clothes and loud Hawaiian shirts." Lexi began as she started circling around Liesel and based on the tone in the vampire's voice, Liesel knew she wasn't going to like where any of this was going to head.
"Excuse me?"
"We're going out tonight and we are going to look the part which includes you Liesel…" Lexi stated as she made her way over to her suitcase and went through it before pulling out a dark blue dress which looked way to short to be an actual dress and bringing it over to Liesel and holding up next to her. "Put this on, I guarantee you'll be turning heads…"
"Don't need any help with that Lexi, you do remember that I am the black sheep of this town I can't help but draw attention to myself wherever I go despite the fact that people actively try to avoid me. Plus I always wear black, I may not always have my loud Hawaiian shirts but I have worn black everyday for the last six years. It's my thing, it matches my black sheep status and my black heart." Liesel stated as Lexi forced her to take the dress.
"You maybe the town outcast but you can use that your advantage Liesel, you are very beautiful with your dark hair, those grey eyes that I adore, and a body to die for and you need to show it off. So you maybe the town outcast who everyone avoids and you make that your own already with your no nonsense attitude but you can be the hot town outcast and we're going to do that tonight."
"I so should have made Stefan stay instead of getting him to go talk to my dad." Liesel grumbled quietly as she put the dress down on the bed and started getting changed, she was so going to regret this but the whole point of tonight was to have some much needed fun so here she was going along with this. Wearing a dress which she hadn't done in years and in a colour that Liesel hadn't worn in at least ten years.
"I heard that!" Lexi said in a sing song voice.
"You were meant to." Liesel replied as she finished putting the dress on. "All done although I really don't think it's a dress as it seems to be missing half of itself. I have never seen anything so sort in my life…"
"Wow… You look amazing Liesel. There is no way I can ever wear that dress ever again, now that I've seen you in it, you have to keep it!" Lexi said as she turned around to look at Liesel who was standing there in Lexi's dress not sure what to do, Liesel felt incredibly awkward especially since the dress was strapless and her shoulders now felt very naked and bare. It was an odd feeling for Liesel as 80% of the time her shoulders were kept covered.
"Lexi, I can't…" Liesel began.
"Yes you can, just think of it as a gift from one of Stefan's best friends to another… Speaking of Stefan, the two of you are very close." Lexi stated as she took Liesel's hand and dragged her over to the mirror before going back to her suitcase and picking up bits and bobs for Liesel.
"Not as close as the two of you." Liesel retorted as she allowed Lexi to go about her business using her as her own personal barbie doll. Normally Liesel wasn't into the whole dressing up thing as a t-shirt and jeans were what she was generally comfortable with but Lexi was her first female friend and Liesel guessed this is what female friends did together or what she would have done with her mom if she was still alive. And Liesel didn't have her mom anymore and she had never had a female friend before so she wasn't fighting any of this, she was just trying to be a normal teenaged girl for once. Despite constantly saying there was no such thing as normal.
"That's because you haven't known him for like a hundred years like I have but you know what I mean, in the short time you've known each other you've become pretty close and clearly made an impression on each other. I see the two of you with each other and it's like nothing is forced with you guys. Your both so comfortable with each other and you read each other so well, it's pretty amazing given you guys have only know each other forf about two months. Stefan thinks the world of you, you know? If you could only see yourself the way that he sees you. It may seem like I'm blowing smoke up your ass Liesel but I felt like I knew you before I had even met you given how Stefan talk about you. I've never met anybody so young who is so relaxed and comfortable with themselves despite you frequently referring yo yourself as a black sheep. I see why Stefan thinks an awful lot about you as your pretty great from what I've seen." Lexi said with an encouraging smile and Liesel felt her cheeks tinge pink.
"Stefan is the first friend that I've ever had, I never really had a friend until he came along and forced himself into my life and whilst I didn't want him in my life Stefan's been good for me. Being alone for so long had a deep effect on me, my people skills are pretty bad, I'm terrible in social situations but they are improving. Empathy and compassion weren't things I was known for but Stefan is helping me with that. He's a good influence on someone like me." Liesel admitted, swallowing a small lump in her throat.
"Stefan's a good person to have in your life." Lexi added in agreement.
"He knows everything and Stefan doesn't judge me about it, I've never been able to be so completely honest with someone like that before, not even my own family." Liesel said until she noticed a weird look on Lexi's face."What is it Lexi?"
"Your one of Stefan's best friends and he would be so mad if he knew what I was about to tell you but I think you need to know Liesel. After today I'm leaving town and I have no idea when I'll came back as I have my own life and I don't have a daylight ring. But there's something you need to know about Stefan… I didn't realize you didn't know until we were downstairs and Stefan tried to change the subject numerous times when the topic of blood came up. I really shouldn't be telling you this Liesel, I'm sure Stefan just wants to protect you and doesn't want you to see him in a different light but I think you need to know in case the worst should happen and I can't get here straight away as I know I cannot count on Damon with this a lot of the time." Lexi wearily said and judging by her tone of voice, Liesel knew that this was pretty serious.
"Lexi, what is going on?" Liesel slowly asked.
"Has Stefan ever told you why he doesn't feed on human blood?" Lexi questioned and Liesel slowly shook her head.
"No. He's onlu mentioned that he feeds on animal blood, I just assumed he does that because he thinks it's morally wrong for vampires to use humans as their own personal blood banks. You know it sounds like a Stefan thing as he doesn't like hurting people and all that jazz… He's always the moral one."
"That's partly why he doesn't feed on humans but that's not the main reason Liesel." Lexi quietly said and Liesel turned around from the mirror so she could face Lexi, she didn't have to be a psychic to know that whatever Lexi was going to tell her wasn't exactly good. Liesel didn't want to admit that she was slightly worries about what Lexi was debating telling her but she had to know. Whatever it was, Liesel was certaint that there was no way that Stefan would ever tell her otherwise he would have told her by now.
"Tell me. Whatever it is, whatever the reason why Stefan doesn't feed on humans anymore I can handle it. I don't care how bad it is, Stefan is my best friend and he has seen all my baggage and the worst of me, so just tell me…"
"Stefan is a ripper." Lexi announced and Liesel was flat out confused as to what that meant.
"A ripper, what is that? Some kind of vampire?" Liesel questioned.
"Kind of. A ripper is a nickname of some sorts given to certain vampires who are quite simply sadistic and feral vampires who enjoy hunting humans and they far more savage than most vampires. They enjoy the hunt, they get their kicks from terrorising humans and they have no remorse for their actions. They could kill countless people in one night and not even bat an eyelid over what they've done." Lexi explained and Liesel had to swallow a lump in her throat as her imagination was currently very active.
"And Stefan is one of them?" Liesel slowly asked, as she was having a hard time wrapping her around this as if anything Damon sounded like a ripper given all of his actions. But she knew Lexi wouldn't lie about this and it explained why Stefan refused to talk about his diet and why he couldn't drink human blood.
"Was, but yes. Don't let that young and beautiful face fool you Liesel… Stefan is a ripper but it's complicated, he is still the man you know him to be Liesel. That is Stefan's true self, he only becomes a ripper because he has no self control when it comes to drinking human blood. When Stefan does drink human blood, he's consumed by him bloodlust to the point where it's an addiction and he just craves it and the bloodlust overtakes his morality. Stefan has no idea what he's doing and tends to black out when he drinks human blood in large quantities and he won't realize what he's done until it's too late." Lexi continued and Liesel had to admit that she was struggling quite a bit with what she was being told.
"How bad is it?" Liesel asked her voice wavering slightly as she struggled what to do with this information.
"Hundreds, maybe even more… When I first met Stefan he was a ripper but I managed to get my hands on him and got on the animal blood-drinking wagon, but he's fallen off it a few times. The worst was probably back in 1917… Have you ever heard of a place called Monterrey?" Lexi questioned and Liesel shook her head. "It's a city in mexico but it used migrant village and back in 1917 Stefan visited there and he wiped out the entire village, because of that he's infamously known by vampires as the Ripper of Monterrey."
"Oh my god…"