25: Maybe It's Fear That Leads Your Rage.
"Good day for a midlife crisis. 164 years, I'd say you're due."
Stefan sighed and sat up on the motorcycle he was fixing. "Elena's transition to vampire has been a little depressing. I'm gonna help her have some fun."
Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh. Those who can't do, teach."
"Okay, what's your deal? Whose body did you bury this time?"
"That hunter jacked Tyler Lockwood of his werewolf venom last night, so basically, he's got vampire poison in a bottle. And I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna eat him."
Stefan nodded slowly and cleaned off his hands with a rag, getting off the bike. "Alright, there's the kindling; where's the gasoline on the fire?"
He groaned a little and rolled his eyes again. "Fine. I...I didn't expect Nova to ever settle back down in Mystic Falls. In case you didn't notice, because I certainly did, her cute house in the woods? Same exact layout as our childhood property about a mile or so deeper in the woods."
"There's no way it's exact, Damon."
"Yeah, there is, because she has the most ridiculous photographic memory I've ever seen. Her music room is the damn parlor. Map it out from there."
Stefan thought for a moment comparing the two houses before realizing that his brother was correct. As a matter of fact, her bedroom was in the very same spot as the one she spent the most time in - Damon's. Across the hall where Lethia had thrown most of her belonings would have been Nova's old room. "It's still better than setting it up like Vasile castle I'd imagine. It's just somewhere she always felt comfortable."
"Comfortable enough that she's super hung up over being Elena's sire. She might as well have made an entire curriculum layout for the girl; Intro to Vampirism 101 with Miss Nova or some shit. It's worse than when Rebekah teamed up with Lethia and Nova. I don't think Lethia is the only one linked to her anymore."
He sighed. "That's been a concern of mine. I don't think Lethia's been the only one linked to Nova to begin with, I think Elena's just joined. Her blood immediately created the link to you and it just extended to Elena. I've been trying to look more into what Nova's parents might have done to her in case Elena shows the same."
"Put vervain in her drink." Damon groaned at his brother's face. "Nova's immune to vervain and wolf venom. If Elena is too no harm no foul." He shrugged.
"I've been putting vervain in yours, actually."
His eyes widened and for a moment they both just stared at one another. After too long of silence Damon spoke again. "I hope you're prepared for when she finds out about Klaus."
Caroline groaned as she looked at her phone. "Rebekah is back at school."
Nova rolled her eyes and they took their coffees from the cashier at the counter of Nova's favorite cafe. "I regret allowing Elena to pressure me into letting her go."
"Apparently she's throwing some anti-curfew party or something."
They turned to head out and Nova bumped into a young woman just a hair shorter than she. The girl had glossy black hair and domineering blue-green eyes. Had Nova been human she might have submitted beneath eyes so strong. Caroline looked between the two ravenettes locked in an intense stare down and waved her hand around. "Do you two know each other or something?"
"No," Nova drawled, emerald eyes never leaving the other girl's. "Just bumped into each other. My bad." They nodded stiffly to each other and walked in opposite directions.
"Okay that was like an eleven on the creep scale. What the hell was that about?" The blonde questioned as the cafe bell dinged with their exit.
"I'm not sure, Care. Keep an eye out for that girl, something in her eyes doesn't sit right with me." Her phone pinged with a text from Elena; Rebekah had been harassing her in class and told everyone about the party. Caroline offered to go pick her up from school and her phone pinged again, that time with a message from Damon who requested her immediately. She sighed and sipped her coffee. "You go get Elena. My idiot used the words 'please' and 'hurry'."
Caroline laughed and dashed off to her car to get Elena. Nova started to walk briskly down the street and drink her coffee. She was in the middle of a reply to Damon when her eyes caught sight of a sleek, black Cadillac in the rear of the cafe.
"You're ridiculous," Nova chastised when she found Damon caught in a trap in Connor's RV. "Why shouldn't I just leave you here for a bit to freak out a bit?" She smirked with a hand on her hip.
Damon grinned sweetly. "Because then there goes your Mystic Falls wedding and bestest friend of all time."
"Oh you think so huh? You think you rank higher than Lethia?"
"Pftt, I know I rank higher than Lethia. You two may have had your drunken or drugged up nights but she's still never made-"
"Alright, alright!" She waved her hands around dramatically. "Gods you kill me brutally inside." She started checking out the trap and the bomb. "Why didn't you call your brother?"
"Because I'm proud, and stubborn, and...oh, look! You're already here." He grinned and she glared up at him. "Come on, you're not gonna get hurt. All I need you to do is be doctorly and cut out the arrow. I'd do it myself, but if I move…" He gestured towards the string on the arrow deep in his thigh and she slapped his hand.
"Don't touch, dumbass. I'm not a doctor, Damon."
"But you were an emergency room nurse for a couple of months after studying everything you needed and compelling yourself a license."
She stopped abruptly and looked up at him with wide eyes. "How do you know that…? That was in-"
"1999 after Columbine. The tragedy made you want to help and you figured the best place for that and a rush would be a big city emergency room like Lenox Hill in New York."
She stared at him for a moment before taking her job to do more seriously. She started poking around carefully and took one of her sai blades out of her boot. "How did you get stuck on hunter duty?" She asked quietly.
He smiled softly. "Stefan had a physics test. Nova, be honest with me, what happened at the farm?"
Nova let out a heavy sigh before digging around with her blade. "I persuaded Pastor Young to set the fire and kill them all."
"How, if he was on vervain?"
She shrugged small enough as to not disturb her work. "I don't know," she told him quietly. "My gut just told me to go for it and it worked." She slid her blade back into her boot and stood, touching his cheek gently. "You really are a good brother."
He smirked down at her. "I'm the bad brother." Without looking away Nova released him from the trap without detonating the bomb. He kissed her forehead. "That's why I called you."
"Hope you plan on cleaning this up."
Elena turned around, startled by Damon. "I need bourbon to get through Rebekah's party. Yours is better than Stefan's." She lied.
"Top drawer in the dresser." He returned the lie.
She checked the drawer, furrowing her brows when she found underwear. "You keep alcohol in your underwear drawer?"
"No, but you weren't looking for alcohol, were you?" She looked at him guiltily. "Do you think I'd actually leave the last remaining white oak stake where any vampire could just walk in and take it?" A remotely loud knock at the front door caused him to roll his eyes. He bounded back down stairs with Elena in tow and found a dark haired young woman at the door.
She smiled coyly, her blue-green eyes menacing. Elena casually took out her phone and read over a text she had gotten from Caroline earlier, mentioning a strange girl with 'rude blue eyes' that Nova reccomended watching. Carefully she pulled up the camera and snapped a picture. "Zarya Deighton; I'm just passing through town," the ravenette spoke calmly, "and needed a place to crash for the night."
Elena forced a smile and slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Well the boarding house is the closest thing to a hotel in town. If you'll excuse me though, I've got to go get ready for a party." She hurriedly passed by the ravenette. Once she was out of sight she sped off into the woods until she came to Nova's home in the woods. Walking up the stairs she realized just how close the place was to the old Salvatore ruins.
Walking closer she found the front door open and screen door shut with the sound of a piano flowing through the house. She walked in and followed the piano music closer until she heard Nova's voice singing softly.
"...Good enough,
I feel good enough.
It's been such a long time coming, but I feel good.
And I'm still waiting for the rain to fall.
Pour real life down on me.
'Cause I can't hold on to anything this good enough.
Am I good enough for you to love me too?
So take care what you ask of me,
'cause I can't say no…"
Elena couldn't help but smile and clap when she found the Romanian vampire at her piano bench. "That was beautiful." She commended, having completely forgotten about the stranger at the boarding house.
Nova's cheeks turned pink when she smiled. She waved the brunette over to sit beside her. "It was actually the first song I ever wrote and publicly sang."
"Seriously? When?"
She laughed a little when she thought about it. "1864."
[Flashback; Mystic Falls, 1864]
"It appears Miss Nova Vasile of the Salvatore household has joined after all," someone announced to the crowd.
Katherine instantly scowled. Damon choked a little on his drink and started scanning the crowd to find her. When she arrived, however, everyone knew it. The crowd practically parted so everyone could see Nova Vasile. She had been ill so long that most started to think consumption was going to take her next. Instead, she walked into the ballroom with her head held high and emerald eyes twinkling. She didn't even look like she'd been sick at all.
Her gown was magnificent, flowing in flawless crimson and black with silver designs on the front of her corset spanning down into the skirt. She bravely showed off her chest with a lower and more scandalous cut sweetheart line, small cap sleeves just brushing her shoulders. By some miracle she was actually wearing black flats beneath.
Her eyes met Damon's first, as she expected they would. She had grown quite used to finding him in a crowd. He started to walk towards her but she smiled shyly and wagged a finger at him, stopping him in his tracks. She walked over to the grand piano in the back of the room and sat down on the bench. No one had really touched that piano in years; Giuseppe smiled softly having known that the girl would often sneak in and practice. Some whispers started to make their way through the crowd as the ravenette started off slowly. Katherine started to seethe when the girl opened her mouth and sang.
"Under your spell again.
I can't say no to you.
Crave my heart and it's bleeding in your hand.
I can't say no to you.
Shouldn't let you torture me so sweetly.
Now I can't let go of this dream.
I can't breathe but I feel...
Good enough,
I feel good enough for you.
Drink up sweet decadence.
I can't say no to you,
And I've completely lost myself, and I don't mind.
I can't say no to you.
Shouldn't let you conquer me completely.
Now I can't let go of this dream.
Can't believe that I feel…"
The second she finished the crowd erupted into claps and cheers. She started to stand, embarrassed but proud of herself and legs shaking. Damon ran right up and swept her off her feet, doting on how fantastic she was. She didn't even look like she'd ever been sick at all. He could feel himself getting caught in the moment and kept going. He took her face gently in his hands and kissed her in front of the crowd, earning another response of cheers and joy. Katherine stormed out of the hall absolutely furious.
[Present]
"Come on, let's try to look not like we could snap and murder someone at any given second," Nova teased, tugging Elena upstairs.
"You two used to be friends once…"
She shrugged and sat the brunette down on her vanity chair to brush her hair. "Then let me handle her at the party."
Elena sighed. "She made me so angry today in school...I was afraid I was going to snap and hurt someone. Matt let me feed on him so I wouldn't. That's not right."
"It's not going to be easy. Dealing with your emotions heightened is the worst. There was a really dark period of time for me in 1877 in particular when it felt like my chest was going to explode and no amount of human blood would make me feel better or even satisfy my hunger."
"Wh-what happened that made you stop?"
"Only one thing did because I hadn't yet gotten into drugs. And trust me, cocaine numbs everything when it's just right." She made a face. "And you blow 20 lines in five minutes." She shrugged off the thought and bit into her palm. "The blood of my sire. Closest thing I can compare MDMA to."
Elena's face contorted a little. "Isn't that Ecstasy?"
Nova smirked. "And it's fucking fantastic."
She looked at the slowly closing punctures on her sire's pale hand for a brief moment before deciding to drink the blood again.
April smiled when Elena offered her a drink. "You know, you used to read me bedtime stories."
"And now I'm offering you beer. Sounds about right."
Nova sipped her silver flask and rolled her eyes. She remembered quite quickly why she couldn't stand high school parties and why she avoided all of Elena's birthday party the night she arrived in town. Elena asked the girl how she was doing. "I'm trudging through my denial phase. Dreaming up conspiracy theories," she answered.
"So, you-you don't think that it was an accident?"
Nova's emerald eyes watched April carefully as she answered. "I know there's no investigation, that everyone's calling it an accident. But, the shooting at the church? It just feels like…"
"Like something wicked this way comes?" Came Rebekah. "I know, right? It's like this town's cursed or something."
The ravenette clapped April on the shoulder gently, making eye contact with her. "Why don't you go mingle around the party kiddo?" She compelled her.
"Did you blow up her dad's house to get revenge on the council?" Elena snapped with April out of earshot.
The blonde rolled her eyes. "I don't give a damn about some dodgy, middle-aged Council. You come into my house, throw around false accusations and then you have the nerve to drink my beer?" She swiped the cup from Elena's hand. "And you," she looked to Nova, "what are you doing stuck at the bloody doppelganger's hip?"
Nova slowly slid the flask back into her jacket pocket. "That's what happens when you make a promise to a dying man and the girl you're supposed to protect gets turned with your blood in her system. You sort of form a last minute, unexpected bond."
"I don't very much like your tone, Nova."
She stepped in front of Elena protectively. "And I'd like to wipe that smug, self-righteous look off your face." She smiled threateningly. "Elena is my progeny. She's a branch of my blood."
Rebekah scowled. "I was only trying to help you and Damon."
"I know that, and I'm still grateful. But it gave me a responsibility that I must care for just as I know deep down you'd still do anything for your brothers. Klaus especially, I'm sure."
There was a pause and the two started going blow for blow. Elena threw herself in the middle in an attempt to help Nova and/or break up the fight but Rebekah found an opportunity and ripped her daylight ring off her finger. It went flying through the kitchen under the fridge and Elena fled to the shadows when the sun scorched her. That fueled Nova's anger and she started mercilessly pounding on the blonde. Rebekah noticed her daylight necklace dangling in her face and didn't think twice in ripping it off too. Nova and Rebekah both leaped backwards as the necklace crashed to the floor. The ravenette looked at the light on her skin but it didn't even hurt. The most that the light bothered were her eyes. Rebekah noticed and sped out of the house in a flash.
Stefan ran into the kitchen in a panic. He saw Elena trapped in a dark corner and Nova in the middle of the kitchen with her chest bare without the necklace. He caught sight of the necklace on the floor and looked back up, immensely confused as to how she wasn't burning at all. Nova reacted fast, swiping up her necklace and fleeing after Rebekah.
She caught up to the blonde outside and tackled her onto the grass. A mass of people moved for the 'cat fight' and Rebekah started going for hair. Nova snarled, despising the cheap move, and rammed her skull right into the Original vampire's twice until she let go of Nova's raven locks. She pulled her fist back and was ready to launch when she was swiftly pulled off by the waist by Damon. Rebekah stood and spat a mouthful of blood, eyes quickly finding Stefan and Elena in the crowd as well. "Leaving the party so soon? Pity."
Damon set Nova delicately on her feet and Elena nodded her head at something, making her smirk. "No, not just yet." She and Elena kissed their beau's cheeks and fist bumped, the two of them going to the two kegs. "We never got a proper drink." She gave a wink and the duo simultaneously flipped upside-down on the kegs and did keg stands with the crowd cheering.
They both stopped at the same time and wiped their mouths. "Now we're ready to go," Elena smirked.
Nova decided on returning to the boarding house with Damon running errands and Stefan having taken Elena out. She threw her jacket on the rack and found a note on the table she was putting her keys on. It was from Damon earlier in the day in case he forgot to mention to it because he just didn't care but they had a temporary boarder - Zarya Deighton. She took out her phone and called Lethia for the 19th time since her drive home. At last, she answered.
"I'm fine, don't shoot me," she laughed dryly. "Just a really nasty migraine. What's the SOS?"
"I was hoping you could find some information on someone for me, a stranger in town."
"Oh come on, like we don't have enough trouble in town right now? What's the name? Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be a coincidence, just some rando really passing through with no beef."
Nova laughed a little. "Yeah, I wish. But you know Gibbs' rule - there are no such things as coincidences. Her name is Zarya Deighton."
There was a brief silence followed by fast typing and a ping. "Alright, so she's from Pike Creek, Delaware, waitress, good parents, only child, no visible record, good kid, long time best friend; on the surface she's just a normal human."
Nova made a face and sipped on a blood bag she had gotten from the fridge. "On the surface, though. I saw this girl in person and something in her eyes was just not right."
Another ping came to Lethia's computer. "What's not right is that she's a fucking missing person."
"What?"
"She's been missing for a couple of years now, her long time best friend just a couple of months longer than that. Her friend, Nick, went missing and she got so sick and bruised out of no where but doctors called it severe depression. Next thing you know she's just up and gone too. You're right, I'll dig deeper and call you back. Keep an eye on her."
After they hung up and she finished the blood bag, Nova's ears picked up the quietest heartbeat upstairs. She tossed the bag in the trash and silently headed up the stairs. Zarya's door was only two down and the door was cracked open; she could see the ravenette on the bed inside. Carefully she peered inside and found Zarya out cold, seemingly having a nightmare. Nova stepped forward more to check on her when she awoke suddenly, launching forward and smashing heads with the vampire.
When Zarya's eyes opened, the latter ravenette noted how her eyes were much less blue than earlier, a magnificent green mostly taking over. The girl's entire aura had changed; she even looked up at Nova admiringly. "Forgive me, I don't mean any harm. I'm Damon's fiance and help manage the property when the brothers are out."
Zarya stared up at Nova with massive eyes. She was jealous of the way the vampire's glimmered and glowed a perfect emerald. Thoughts plagued her deeply, deep enough where she could ignore the archangel screaming in her head. She couldn't even enjoy the fact that she got control of her own body back because she was staring up at Nova freaking Vasile. She wondered if what her copilot had told her was true; if it was, she certainly wondered why her eyes were so washed with blue instead of brightly green. "You don't need to lie to me, I know you're a vampire."
The Romanian chuckled. "That's fantastic but I wasn't lying." She held up her left hand with her engagement ring. "Who exactly are you, kiddo? How'd you end up in Mystic Falls?"
She sighed a little. "My name is Zarya Deighton. And you're not going to believe how I got here."
"There isn't a lot left in this world for me to not believe, Zarya."
She shrugged. "Okay, fine then; I'm bound to the archangel Lucifer. A couple of hunters put him back in the cage in Hell but our bond gave him a special doorway into being my copilot and he dragged me here. Literally."
Nova licked her lips, staring in disbelief at the other ravenette. Her phone chimed in her pocket and she took it out without looking away from the girl. "You just might fit in around here if you stick around." She checked her phone to find a frantic text from Stefan requesting that she hurry to Elena's house and she vanished out the door back into her Firebird.
Lethia called before she could put her phone down. "So get this, digging through the supernatural and monster worlds, Zarya Deighton comes up again. Shortly before she vanished she was visited by two fake FBI agents - brothers, monster hunters."
"No relation to the Brotherhood of the Five?"
"None at all. Humans who hunt monsters because they're suicidal or some shit. Going deeper, it turns out her birth certificate was faked and the real one is some hidden treasure. The Deightons were distant relatives of her best friend Nick. No names on her parents but when she was seven the were all in a nasty car accident. Right into a rapid, freezing river. All three DOA. Just before they mark Zarya's in ink she springs to life and from there it's all about a blue eyed angel trapped in a cage in Hell."
"Fuck," Nova cursed, still speeding towards Elena's. "So she's not just bat shit crazy; I had a brief conversation with her just now and she mentioned being bonded to fucking Lucifer. Guess the Devil really does have blue eyes."
"It gets better...or worse, however you want to look at it; the Deightons had her compelled and documents forged so she'd never mention the angel or her parents or anything of the sort again. They don't want who her birth parents are getting out and I want to know why."
"That's got to be why she's in Mystic Falls - she's searching for information on her birth family. The cat must be out of the bag. I don't even want to know what could bring her here though. Thanks Thea, keep me posted." She ended the call just as she whipped into the driveway of the Gilbert residence and found three missed calls from Stefan she had missed talking to Lethia. "I'm coming, I'm coming, fuck," she muttered as she hurried out of the car and into the house. "I'm here, what was the SOS?" She shouted through the house as she rounded the corner into the living room. Elena looked just fine where she sat on the couch, albeit rather...guilty?
Stefan sighed heavily. "Elena had been poisoned with werewolf venom."
Nova blinked with confusion. "She looks just fine though." She grinned suddenly with a thought. "You're immune like I am, aren't you? That's fucking awesome! Do you think-"
"No," the young Salvatore interrupted her, "she's...she's not immune, Nova. I wasn't sure if you'd be able to help or if you'd make it in time so you weren't the only person I called...I tried calling you again to tell you you didn't need to come but you didn't answer…"
She stood upright with her guard entirely up suddenly. "I was on the phone with Lethia and didn't get anything else until I got here…"
"Realistically, luv, you shouldn't have been on your phone while driving in the first place." Her eyes widened with horror and wandered slowly until they met Klaus' in the doorway. "I thought I did you a favor when I broke it the last time."
Her heart started to beat faster and harder inside of her chest than she was used to. She took a frightened step backwards and started to shake. Zarya might have the real Lucifer as her copilot but Nova was positive that she was the one staring into the Devil's blue eyes. "What the actual fuck is going on?"
Klaus smirked at her fear. "Just doing my civil duties since I've been given yet another shot at life."
Elena had risen from her seat, practically feeling her sire absolutely seething and terrified. She couldn't blame Nova for being angry. The more she thought about and looked into the eyes of her maker, the angrier she found herself becoming. Matt had slipped in from the back, completely oblivious to what was happening until he was in the middle of it all. Klaus brushed by Nova with a wink and her emerald eyes turned with wrath onto Stefan. They paused for a moment, gaining extra hatred before she sniffed out the only human in the room. As her eyes made their way hungrily towards Matt, Elena jumped first, unable to take the tension anymore.
Nova raised her brows with a hint of pride. Stefan was starting to unhinge. "Aren't you going to do something?" He made the mistake of asking her.
"Yes, Stefan," she grinned, her face changing as it spread, "I thought I'd help."
In a flash she was latched onto Matt's other side. Stefan ran forward and managed to easily get Elena off but neither dared touch Nova. She let Matt fall to the floor just barely breathing when she chose to. Just before he could kiss Death she released him and licked her lips, walking briskly past Stefan back out of the house.
Chapter Titles:
(pfftt forgot to do these since chapter 10 oops lmao)
11: Sexual Hallucination - In This Moment
12: You're Mine - Disturbed
13: Together - Avril Lavigne
14: Prelude 12/21 - AFI
15: In the Name of Love - Martin Garrix ft Bebe Rexha (or the Pop Goes Punk cover by Too Close to Touch)
16: Eyes on Fire - Blue Foundation
17: Fallen Angel - Three Days Grace
18: Don't Let Me Down - The Chainsmokers
19: Welcome to New York - Taylor Swift
(I apologize, I realize now that in the chapter bar I screwed up and wrote "I've" instead of "It's" Been Waiting for You like I did for the chapter itself and let me tell you that just fucked me all sorts of up trying to figure out what song this was LOL)
(featured song: End of the Dream - Evanescence, Synthesis version)
20: Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
21: Whatever It Takes - Hollywood Undead
22: Fractured Fairytale - Blackbriar
Part II title: Like You - Evanescence
23: Monster - Vocaloid, GUMI
(featured song: See You Again - Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth)
24: Blood On My Name - The Brothers Bright
25: Natural Born Sinner - In This Moment
(featured song: Good Enough - Evanescence)