Prologue:

She didn't want to move again. Granted she'd picked the location by literally throwing at dart at a map, but still. She'd made a semblance of roots in D.C, had friends, had a job, and now she had to leave it all behind. Again.

The constant moving was becoming exhausting for the young girl, she understood that it was a necessity, that moving around was the only way for her to remain safe, but she didn't like it. She felt aimless, having no family to speak of, no one who would care if something were to happen to her. But she had to keep herself safe, she'd promised her mother, after all.

And so, as the sign declaring she'd entered Mystic Falls, Virginia passed her, she sighed and willed herself to be ready. Because come hell or high water, Althea Lune Montgomery would survive.

1. Pilot:

Althea wished she could say she was nervous, but the truth was, she'd stopped getting nervous her third time doing this. Now cue three years later, she's in the secretary's office trying to establish her twelfth transfer. Trying being the operative word here, because the secretary isn't being cooperative.

As she sits at her desk, typing away, she looks up at the young girl and asks, "This is your third transfer this year?" Thea internally rolled her eyes, she thought the answer to that particular question was quite obvious, seeing as it was clearly laid out in her file, but she held her tongue and merely nodded her head. At her action, she notices the lady giving her a pitying stare, the sort that spells out oh, you poor thing. The young girl feels herself tense-up at. That, she doesn't want pity, nor does she need it. In fact, she'd much rather the secretary not feel anything concerning her, as she wants to avoid having to answer unnecessary questions, the unnecessary questions she just knows she's about to be asked. And as she looks into the older woman's eyes, she subtly pulls on a small hangnail on her thumb, and mutters "mens cogere" under her breath. It's a spell, one of the girl's own creation, that allows for the recipient's mind to be compelled into doing whatever she asks them to. She didn't particularly enjoy using it, but she found that for situations such as these, it certainly comes in handy.

Looking at the older woman, she simply says, "Everything in my file is in order, you just need to give me my schedule." The older lady's eyes become glassy, only to clear again, and she simply hands her schedule with a small smile and an overtly exuberant "Welcome to Mystic Falls!"

Thea gives her a grateful smile and turns to leave, only to walk straight into what feels like a wall. Her whole body feels engulfed by a familiar iciness at the contact with the stranger, a feeling she can only equate to death itself, and she quickly squeaks out a hurried "I'm so sorry" before speeding to find make her way to her locker.

Christ, she just had to pick the one town where she'd meet a vampire on her first day, didn't she?

—

Thea had been trying to get her locker to open for the past ten minutes, and the goddamn metal box was refusing to cooperate. It was either jammed, or someone had given her the wrong combination, or the fucking curse that followed her around had decided to start fucking with her day in idiotic, little ways. As she continues pulling on the small handle, she hears a small laugh, before a friendly voice advices her, "try banging on the door once really hard. Some of the lockers are more finicky than others."

The young girl turns towards her saviour, only to find herself face to face with a stunning young woman, with the skin the colour of chocolate milk, and eyes of the softest hazel. She gives her a smile, and does as she's told, only to have the locker door spring open immediately. Thea laughs loudly, and turning back to the girl after having picked up her books, she says "it seems my theory that violence is the solution to most of life's problems has once again been proven true." She thrusts out her hand, "I'm Thea Montgomery, and as my ignorance has shown, I am very new here."

The two girls made their way to class. Bonnie Bennet, as she'd discovered her saviour to be called, was giving her a simplified tour of the halls, as they hurried to the history classroom. They'd discovered that they shared practically the same schedule, the only difference being Thea took French, whilst Bonnie has chosen Italian.

They seemed to get along like a house on fire, with a certain bluntness to their words and a biting wit to follow. Upon shaking her hand, Thea had realised that the girl was a fellow witch, yet she seemed ignorant of that fact. She knew the Bennet line practised ancestral magic, and thus, she had to be patient and wait for the spirits to deem Bonnie ready to learn, even though, she really wanted to tell her because patience had never been her forte.

As they walked into the history classroom, Bonnie made her way to an empty desk in front of a brunette girl, while Thea went up to the teacher. He looked at her, before announcing to the class, "It seems we have another newcomer this year, Miss Althea Montgomery." Looking to her, he directed her into the only remaining seat, which she noticed, to her absolute luck, was right beside the vampire from this morning, "Have a seat next to Mr. Salvatore. Perhaps you two can help each other catch up."

The young girl silently made her way to her seat, rolling heroes at the teacher she already knew she'd dislike immensely. She really disliked being underestimated, besides, it was literally the first day of the school year, how much catching up would she have to do? Besides, history was her favourite subject and having an eidetic memory certainly helped when it came to remembering dates and events.

Actually, having an eidetic memory helped when it came to remembering everything.

As Tanner (the history teacher), began his lecture on the tensions between the south and the north in the 19th century, which again, why would you start off the first day of class with the civil war, as opposed to handing out syllabi and the like? Thea drifted off into her own head, waiting for this boring class to finish.

The bell soon rang, and Thea picked up her book bag and made her way towards her locker. She had English next, and frankly, she was not excited to see which books had been picked to be on the syllabus this year, as chances were, she'd have already read them. A hand tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned around, coming face to face with Bonnie and the brunette girl from class. Thea hadn't found her name out, but looking at her up close, she realised that she was incredibly beautiful, with long straight brown locks and brown does eyes framed by thick lashes. She was a little shorter than her, but then again, Thea was 5'11, so most people were a little shorter than her.

"Hey you, this is Elena." Bonnie introduced.

Elena looked at her and smiled, raising her hand to shake, "You're Althea right? Welcome to Mystic Falls." At the sound of her full name, the young girl cringed slightly and said with a laugh, "Oh God please, just call me Thea, Althea makes me sound like a celebrity's kid, or a hippie, not sure which one is worse."

The brunette laughed, and nodded her head, further introducing herself and making conversation. She was really nice, Thea noticed, really nice and incredibly friendly. And as she showed her schedule, Thea realised that she also shared every single class with her. They made their way to their remaining classes together, getting better and better acquainted along the way. By the end of the day, both girls had asked her for her number and made her promise to join them at the Mystic Grill (she wasn't going to even attempt comment on how unoriginal of a name that was) later.

And as she made her way home, Thea smiled. Perhaps she'd made some new friends after all.

—

Later on that day, the young girl was getting ready to go meet her new friends at the grill. She was standing in front of her mirror, trying to put some makeup on. Her choppy black hair fell to her shoulders in artfully messy waves, and the wispy bangs she'd recently cut framed her face well. She had a smattering of freckles on her nose, and big pouty lips. She'd lost weight, she realised, as she noticed the sharpness of her cheekbones and the lines of her jaw. Her defining feature though, at least according to her, were her eyes. One of them was a brilliant green, the colour of emeralds in the sunlight, whilst the other was a bizarre gold. Not hazel, as most eyes ought to be, but a brilliant, glowing gold. She always thought them to be unique, and if anything, they made for an interesting talking point. They were framed by thick black lashes, and seemed to perpetually hold a mischievous look.

She was dressed as she always was, black ripped jeans and a v-neck in the same shade. She'd simply thrown on her leather jacket, and switched out her old converse to a pair of heeled booties.

Giving herself a final cursory glance and deeming her look acceptable, Thea made her way to her car and towards the Grill, ready to get the evening under way.

Pulling up, she could immediately tell that this was the local hangout. It made sense, she supposed, the town was so small that there was no space of nightclubs or concert halls, and for a fleeting second, she found herself missing the dizzying atmosphere of D.C.

She could see Bonnie and another blonde girl at the door, and quickly locking her car, she called out her friend's name. Bonnie turned around and gave her a smile, gesturing to her companion, "Thea, this is Caroline. Caroline, this is Thea." The raven-haired girl could feel the blonde's appraising gaze, and met her with one of her own. She was beautiful too she realised, and christ, was everyone in this town fucking gorgeous or what? She gave her a smile and said, "You're cheerleader, right?" Caroline gave her a suspicious look, and snakily retorted, "Why? Just cause I'm blonde?" Thea could tell that there were layers of insecurities hidden under the attitude, and vowed to make this girl realise what she's worth. Giving her a soft smile, she shook her head, "Actually, it had more to do with your confidence and beauty. No one who looks like that can be anything less than a cheerleader." Throwing a smile at Bonnie, she added, "Right?" She could see the relief in her witchy friend's eyes, and a certain softness in Caroline's. Gesturing towards the door, the raven-haired girl said, "Shall we find a table and wait for Elena ladies?" Only to be met with laughter and the nodding heads of her companions.

They'd been seated at a small table, and had ordered coffees whilst waiting for their missing friend. In the meantime, Caroline had bombarded the young girl with questions, and whilst normally, she'd have found that annoying, there was something about the inquisitive blonde that tugged at her heartstrings. She reminded her of Meda, of the innocence her sister used to have. They'd moved on surely enough though, with the blonde's newest topic being the other new arrival at Mystic High.

"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a gemini, and his favourite colour is blue."

Thea looked at her in wonder, whilst Bonnie said, "You got all of that in one day?" Laughing, Caroline replied, "Oh, please, I got all that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." With wide eyes, Thea said, "Serious question, have you ever considered working for the CIA?"

It was only a couple of minutes later that Elena made her way towards the group of girls. Bonnie had gone to talk to Matt, the tall blond who according to Caroline was Elena's pinning ex, but was making her way back as well. Thea turned back and greeted her friend, before noticing her companion, the vampire from her school. Deciding to play nice, as she held no bias towards other species, she raised her mug and said, "Stefan, I presume?" At the young man's nod, she continued with a laugh, "I'm Thea, it's nice to meet the other fresh meet around here, maybe you could also get a taste of Caroline's prisoner of war interrogation tactics now." The blonde girl smacked her on the shoulder softly, as the rest of the table dissolved into laughter. Stefan took a seat between her and Elena, before turning to her and saying, "I cannot wait to experience that."

She was right, not even five minutes later, Caroline had the poor vampire by the metaphorical balls.

"So, you were born in mystic falls?"

"Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"Parents?"

"My parents passed away.."

At this, Elena laid a gentle hand on his, and said softly, "I'm sorry. Any siblings?"

The young man replied, "None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

When no sign that the interrogation was going to stop appeared, Stefan gave the raven-haired witch a look that screamed help me! She'd been withholding her laughter throughout the questionnaire, having just gone through something similar herself, but she took pity on the poor guy, and redirected Care's attention, "Hey, what's the deal with party tomorrow?" The blonde jumped to attention, answering with a quick smile, "It's the annual bonfire party, happens on the beginning of every school year." Turning to Stefan, she added, "Seeing as you are new, you probably didn't know about it." The young man nodded slowly, and turning to Elena, he asked, "Are you going?" To which Thea laughed, "I'm gonna pre-emptively answer with that an enthusiastic, of course she is!"

The rest of the night was spent jovially, and as she payed for her coffee, she heard Stefan say that's he'd walk home, to the boarding house. "I can drive you, if you want. My house is on the same road." She offered. It wasn't simply a cordial offer, Thea liked Stefan, she thought he was a nice guy, but she wanted to let him know that she knew what he was, and to inform him as to her own peculiarities. She figured if they were going to be friends, they might as well get the awkward truths out of the way. Besides, she was curious as to what the bunny diet was like, having ascertained his weakness when she shook his hand earlier.

As they got seated, she gestured towards her radio, "Fell free to pick the music, anything but Taylor Swift though." The young vampire laughed, and flipped to a old-school rock channel, to which the watch nodded her approval. She made her way down the road, making small talk with her companion before she asked, "So what's it like surviving on animal blood?" At the complete silence she received for an answer, she looked at Stefan only to notice his incredulous eyes. Parking at the side of the road, she turned to him and said, "Hey, no worries, I'm not gonna tell anyone that we have a vampire in town. I was just curious. You seemed weaker than others I've met previously of your kind, so I just figured you didn't feed on humans." Stefan turned to her and said, "How?"

"Well, I'm a witch. I knew what you were from the moment you rammed into to me in the secretary's office. I just wanted to talk to you first before I made any decisions on whether you're an asshole or not."

"And the verdict?"

"You're definitely not an asshole Stef, in fact, I'd like it if we could be friends. That's why I told you I knew what you were. I figured we might as well get the dramatic discoveries over and done with early on."

At this, her companion stuttered out a laugh, "You're definitely the strangest person I've ever met. You want to be friends with me? A vampire? Don't witches typically think we're evil?"

A sad smile crossed her face, thousands of terrible memories flashed behind her eyes before she shielded them all with a sardonic grin, "I've met evil, and sorry to tell you big guy, you definitely ain't it." Turning back to him, she asked, "You never answered my question though, would you like to be friends?"

Stefan nodded with a smile, she could tell he felt accepted, and a part of her pitied him for that. How long had he been alive, feeling like a monster? As she continued to drive, and pulled up to the boarding house, she turned to him and said, "Hey Stef, just remember, not all humans are humane, and not all monsters do monstrous things. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

—

The next day, Thea woke up to the incessant ringing of her alarm, accidentally breaking it, again. She got dressed, poured a gallon's worth of black coffee into a portable thermos, and made her way to school. She hadn't slept well the previous night, her dreams invaded with images of fog, a crow, and the most mesmerising eyes she'd ever seen. Even now that she was awake, and seated in the history classroom, she couldn't get that icy gaze out of her mind.

Tanner droned on, and on, and on some more about the history of the town, and Thea once more wondered why the history classes were so incredibly biased. She didn't exactly rejoice at the thought of being tested on her knowledge of Mystic Falls' history, that held no interest to her.

She was snapped out of her daydreams when he said, "The battle of willow creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" Bonnie looked bewildered, clearly having not been paying attention either, "Um...a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Turning to Matt, he said, "Mr. Donovan. Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's okay, Mr Tanner, I'm cool with it."

He directed his next question to Elena, who also seemed to have not been paying attention, and Thea couldn't blame her, the man's voice sounded robotic at best, and amnesia inducing at worst. "Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

"I'm sorry, I- I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break."

Christ, the man was a raging asshole. Surely a teacher couldn't be this insensitive, could he? As she prepared herself to answer the question, because yes, she had read her history textbook and knew the information, Stefan's voice piped up, "There were 346 casualties, Unless you're counting local civilians." Tanner looked at the boy impassively, simply raising a brow and asking, "That's correct. Mister…"

"Salvatore."

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant."

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner."

A raging silence filled the classroom, as everyone was looking at Stefan in a form of awe. Thea giggled slightly, for someone who wished to fly under the radar, playing knight-in-shining-armour was surely not the way to do that. Tanner's expression was majestic though, he looked to Thea as though he'd swallowed a bowl full of used needles, as he simply uttered an embarrassed "Hmm," before dismissing the class.

She softly bumped her shoulder into Stefan's once they were out the door, "Look at you, Mister White Knight, embarrassing the school's most hated teacher and making waves in the gossip mill before lunch could even start."

He laughed, and shook his head, "He shouldn't have been an ass then." Thea nodded her head, before stating, in a very matter-of-fact way, "I've decided class that he's not just a normal asshole, but prolapsed one, he doesn't have nearly enough self-awareness to be a normal anus." Her friend busted out in laughter, shocked at the girl's foul language, and she looked at him and winked, saying, "Right, I keep forgetting you're a fossil and were raised in an era where women kept their mouths shut."

The rest of the day had passed relatively slow, she impressed her teacher with her knowledge on Shakespeare's Macbeth, had a couple boys and girls swooning over her native French accent and lost a little of bit of her mind as she realised that high school algebra was incredibly easy. How dull.

—

Later that day, she made her way to the bonfire, having changed out of her jeans and into a casual black dress. She figured she may as well show off her legs for however much time she's got left before winter came, and frankly, she was hoping to find someone to occupy herself with by the end of the night.

As she made her way towards the fire, she heard her name being called out, and spotted Elena and Bonnie, hanging off to the side. She slowly made her way towards them, hearing the whispers of the gathered students around her, knowing she'd succeeded in making an impression.

"Holy shit, you look hot." Was the first thing out of Elena's mouth once she reached them. The raven-haired witch bashfully smiled, nodding her head at her friend and saying, "Good, it's what I was going for," with a saucy wink. The two girls dissolved into laughter, before Thea asked, "So what were you two talking abut before my apparent hotness rudely interrupted?" Bonnie replied, "We were talking about Elena and Stefan's mutual attraction." Thea made a noise of agreement, "Ah yes. The sexual tension is strong there." Turning to her brunette friend, she said, "Can you ask him out and get over with? It's getting a little exhausting watching from the sidelines, and I'm fully invested in your burgeoning love story."

Elena giggled and shook her head, saying, "People look up to me. I have to set an example." Bonnie groaned in response, "Just admit it, Elena." The brunette girl sighed with a smile, "Oh, ok, so he's a little pretty."

"He's got that romance novel stare."

Thea added with an impish grin, "And let's not forget those victorian cheekbones." She put on a swoony voice, and exclaimed, "I can already see it. Stefan looked deep into her eyes, piercing her very soul." The girls laughed, until Bonnie interrupted, "So where is he?" Elena looked at her friend, "I don't know. You tell me, you're the psychic one."

"Right, I forgot. Ok, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate."

"Wait!" Said Thea. She ran to a nearby bench, and picked up an empty beer bottle, bringing it back to her friend. "Every psychic worth her salt needs a crystal ball." As Bonnie reaches out to take it, their hands brush against each other, and images fly behind Thea's eyes. A crow, and those damned icy eyes she keeps dreaming of. Bonnie flinched in surprise, and acting ignorant, Thea looked at her, "What?"

"That was weird. When I touched you, I saw a crow."

"A what?"

"A crow. There was fog, a crow and blue eyes." Shaking her head, the startled witchling stuttered, "I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Ok, I'm gonna get a refill." before walking away.

Thea turned to Elena, who raised a questioning brow, as though to say Yeah, I don't know either. Looking around, the two girls continued making mindless conversation until a voice interrupted them, "Hi!". Turning, Thea saw that Stefan had finally made it. She gave him a welcoming hug, before looking at Elena and winking, "I'm gonna leave you two lovebirds to chitchat whilst I try to find myself a good lay for tonight." She walked away, hearing Elena's laughter and Stefan's "I didn't need to know that!" Fading behind her.

She walks around the forest, making mindless conversation. There is no one interesting around here. No one catches her gaze. At this rate, she thinks, she's not bound to get laid until college. As she makes her way deeper into the forest, she hears a scream, "Oh, my god!" She quickly makes her way there, noticing Elena and her brother on the ground next to a figure. She runs towards her friend, kneeling on the forest floor next to her, and sees the girl with the bleeding neck. She recognises the vampire wound for what it is, and quickly rips the hem of her dress, folding it into a square and leaning. Over the prone figure. "I need to staunch the bleeding, keeping pressure on it is the best way to do that." Looking at Elena's brother, who seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack, she called out, "Hey Jeremy! Jeremy, I need you to slowly lift her up, just so the wound is above her heart." She knew giving the boy something to do would lessen his panic, make him feel purposeful. Turning to her friend, she said, "Call 911 El, I don't know how long she's got."

She could hear Matt and Tyler in the background, screaming in panic, but she tuned them all out, focusing only on keeping the pressure on Vicky's wound. She wished she had a bobby pin and a lighter, she probably could've sterilised it and created a makeshift clasp to clamp the artery and lessen the bleeding, but oh well, she was working with her environment.

Thea stayed in her position on the ground, applying pressure to the fallen girl's neck, until the paramedics came and carted her away on a gurney. Elena turned to her and gave her a hug, telling her that she had to wait with Jeremy until their aunt Jenna came to pick them up, and that Bonnie and Caroline had already gone to the Grill to sober up. Looking at her friend, the raven-haired girl nodded silently, before telling her that she'll go home, and that she'll see her tomorrow.

As she drives back to her house, her phone begins ringing. She picks up to the sound of Bonnie asking her if she's okay.

"Yeah, I'm alright." She replies, "Just exhausted. Did you and Care find your way to the Grill alright? Do you need me to pick you guys up?"

"No, it's alright. I'm just waiting for her to sober up, and then I'll drop her home."

The line went quiet. For a minute, before Bonnie softly says, "Elena called, she said the paramedics told Matt that what you'd done saved Vicky's life. Expect him to be at your beck and call for the foreseeable future."

The girl groaned softly, "I don't want that, I literally did what anyone else with that knowledge would have done. I just hope she's okay."

"Anyway, I just wanted to check on you. And Thea? There's no way I'm psychic. I know that. But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling…"

"What is it Bonbon?"

"That it's just the beginning."