A/N: I honestly think I'm getting worse at updating, sorry about these last few updates. I honestly forget that other people besides me are reading my shit. Anway, this chapter had to be split into two, again. I was just gonna do one super long chapter to end the Tomb arc, but it ended up being like 12k and I didn't think anyone wanted to enter that wormhole.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter, thank you for the reviews and follows and favorites!
If you want to see Nova's outfits, hair, feline companion, car, etc, go check out my Polyvore; randomfashionsxoxo, it's all in a collection for your convenience.
The twins let out a sigh of relief when it became clear that their father wouldn't be following them up the stairs.
Nova abruptly paused on the way to her room, her sister halting with her when she randomly went into the bathroom.
Bonnie watched in idle curiosity while she flicked a switch that turned on the bathroom ceiling light and turned on the shower, she made sure it was only cold water before shutting the door behind her with a soft click. It wasn't Nova's best work by far. In fact, it was downright shoddy - but it would have to do, she thought with a determined frown.
Bonnie stared at her curiously but didn't question her odd actions, too preoccupied trying to soothe Nova's hissing Familiar.
Merlin had jumped out of her grip with a loud meow when he heard the sound of the water hitting the bathtub. He was a total baby about getting his shiny black fur wet.
Nova sighed with a fond roll of her eyes at the sight of hiding from her between Bonnie's legs. She slowly bent down to look into his forest green eyes. "Would you go find Grams for us, please?" Nova requested softly, still leery about ordering around her Familiar.
Merlin tilted his head adorably - she wasn't fooled by it, he could be a total menace and was probably working on world domination whenever her back was turned-, his gaze trailing to her boot-clad feet as though he was contemplating refusing the request.
After that unnecessary pause, he meowed in response before leisurely making his way down the steps and towards the living room door's catflap. Such a fucking diva, she thought fondly, watching his tail flick up in the air.
Nova shared a tired but amused smile with her sister before opening her bedroom door, she waited until Bonnie was inside before promptly closing and locking the door for extra measure.
Nova turned in a swift motion, only to start blinking rapidly at the odd sight, rubbing her tired eyes for good measure.
"What the hell am I looking at?" Nova mock-whispered, leaning casually on her sister's shoulder. Bonnie shrugged with a bewildered frown at the comical scene they were currently gawking at in amused bewilderment.
Damon, no doubt about it, found himself bored of listening to their family drama and started to snoop - but that wasn't what they were confused about.
When she had heard the floorboards creak she had suspected that the Salvatore's had decided to sneak into her room - if the situation wasn't so urgent she would have been annoyed by the fact -, she had also predicted that Damon would go through her shit. She hadn't been worried by the thought, mostly because anything of value was either not of interest to the snooping Vampire, or securely locked away.
What confused the ever living shit out of the twins was the fact that it looked like Stefan and Damon had started fighting over - get this - her fucking bra.
The Bennett twins share another glance before moving closer. Damon smirked mischievously, and that was the only warning his brother got before he abruptly let go of the bra strap, leaving an irate Stefan stiffly holding onto her bra.
"I don't think it's your color," Nova quipped dryly, snatching the hot pink bra from his feeble grasp, she waved off whatever apologies Stefan opened his mouth to spew.
Nova giggled at the stray thought of Stefan brooding forehead Salvatore actually wearing her lacy hot pink bra - he could totally be into dressing into lacy lingerie and she would never judge him - just laugh at him... and take pictures because the attractive asswipe would probably look better in it than her.
Disregarding the wary looks her slightly hysterical giggle granted her, she carelessly tossed the bra away from her.
She didn't watch to see where it landed, she was too busy moving her assorted collection of candles off her bedside table - technically, it was a wooden trunk, but, schematics - and carefully opening the Magically sealed trunk. She played oblivious to the prying eyes to look for a few items in particular.
"Locator spells aren't working. They probably have the talisman. And we just got grounded." Bonnie decided to list their very many problems, though she was probably just uncomfortable with the silence - and the Salvatores, fucking pretty boys.
"What are we going to do? Besides opening the tomb and hoping it'll attract their attention," Bonnie added slightly scathingly, reminding her twin that neither of them had their morning coffee in two days, the horror.
"Well, I vote for opening the tomb. And when they decide to show their faces, we kill them." Damon declared as though it was such an obvious solution, and maybe it was - to his problems.
"If they show," Stefan reminded his brother, the frown he was sporting right now was fucking audible.
"Even if we open the tomb, which we will, would they even let them go after everything was said and done?" Bonnie questioned incredulously, she was visibly startled when her twin suddenly turned on her heel and pointed at her with a pleased grin.
"Finally, a smart question!" Nova exclaimed with a hint of exasperation, ignoring the annoyed look Damon gave her, she shoved Emily's Grimoire towards her sister. "I think I have a vague idea of where this 'mysterious vampire' might be. I just need a little time to confirm it." She continued more seriously as her twin gingerly took the Grimoire because it was old as shit.
Nova could feel practically feel Damon's eyes narrow on her when she unthinkingly used quotation marks. Stefan was giving her the same look, although way less hostile and more on the side of curious suspicion.
They were more than likely speculating that she knew something they didn't, and they'd be correct, she knew a lot that they didn't.
But everyone was just going to have to fucking suck it up and accept her beautifully fucked up brain because her foreknowledge was going to save all of their stupidly attractive asses.
"While you're off doing that, I'll go help Grams prepare for the spells. I guess we'll have to walk..." Bonnie spoke up before anyone could ask her sister questions that were probably on everyone's minds.
Nova was grateful for her sister intervening, and let her know with a single glance. Bonnie shot her back a look that basically said; 'This plan better work. And you better tell me everything after this, or else.'
Nova knew it wasn't fair and that Bonnie was just as worried as she was about their friends, if not more considering she didn't know as much about the situation. And Stefan would probably want to confront the person who took someone he obviously cared about.
But she really wanted, no - needed to handle this herself.
She acknowledged the fact she had fucked up big time by leaving town just because she was stressed. The least she could do was fix it - and she would get her friends back, there was no other alternative.
"Why walk when you could hop on the Salvatore train?" Nova couldn't help but joke even though she was a bundle of impatient nerves, her thoughts weren't helping calm her.
The suggestion had been a serious one despite the joking tone she had used. Although they could easily spell the keys back into their grips with a whispered incantation - it would be a waste of time and energy. And those were both things they couldn't waste any more of today.
She also found the thought of piggybacking through Mystic Falls on either of the Vampires backs to be highly amusing, but she kept that little tidbit to herself.
"I feel like that wasn't supposed to sound as dirty as it did, so I'm just going to... ignore it," Bonnie stated after a moment of just staring at her with narrowed eyes.
Nova huffed at her sister's suspicion but didn't get to protest at the accusation, as the twins' dad decided to knock at the exact moment she opened her mouth. "One second!" Nova requested at the third knock, she hushed any protest and urged Stefan and Bonnie towards the already raised window.
The sight of Bonnie clinging to Stefan's back like a spider monkey was more than amusing but she didn't have time to take a picture. When she saw them safely land in the backyard, she immediately started pushing an amused Damon into her closet.
"Not a fucking word," Nova warned with narrowed eyes, he mimed a zipped lip despite the smirk that had to be permanently fucking attached to his face.
"Yeah?" Nova replied to the knock while unlocking her door, she did her best to appear like a moody teenager that didn't get her way as her dad stepped inside her cluttered yet still organized room; it wasn't very hard, considering she was technically a moody teenager.
"I called your Grams. She said she's more than happy to look for your friends," Rudy explained as he took in the room with curious eyes - she doesn't think he's been in here since she finished painting it, to be fair it had taken her a while.
"Awesome..." Nova dryly dragged out the word sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She glanced at the closet and tried to remain nonchalant as she kicked her closet door closed when it started to creak open. Asshole, she thought while glaring at the door.
Nova met her father's wary gaze with a deadpan gaze, she was relieved when he didn't question her odd behavior. She probably should be grateful she had always been a smart, but weird, smartass of a child.
She busied herself with picking out another outfit to avoid furthering the conversation - if it could be called that with all the awkward pauses - because although the outfit Lexi let her borrow was amazing, it was not made for hiking out into the woods during late autumn nor opening Tombs that contain hungry Vampires - though she doesn't think they actually make outfits for that last one.
"Where is your sister?" Rudy questioned, as predicted, he walked too close to the closet for the comfort.
She hid her discomfort as best she could while pulling galaxy leggings out of her wardrobe, trying to make it seem as though she was simply grabbing pajamas. "In the shower," Nova replied nonchalantly, grabbing her phone out of her jacket pocket. She was relieved he never took away their phones, if only because they needed it for emergencies.
Nova cringed at the amount of missed calls; ten from Grams, five from Jeremy, three from Jenna and one from Sherrif Forbes - huh, maybe she had noticed her missing daughter after all.
She pondered on that fact she might have to take care of all the missing calls and come up with a good cover story just to avoid the disaster it would be if the police, and inevitably the Council, decided to interfere.
Nova valiantly ignored her father hovering in the background and quickly selected Jeremey's icon picture - he was eloquently named emo dud(e) - and she texted him quickly; 'Where are u? - Nova'
She hesitated to turn off the screen off, her phone's background was doing shit to her heart that she didn't want it to, it was the first picture the girls had taken as high schoolers.
Elena had terrible bangs - all of them had terrible acne - but was still adorable as she smiled brightly at her friends instead of the camera. Caroline was caught mid-laughter, blue eyes bright as she looked at the camera. And Bonnie had tried to hide her own laugh with her hand but had given up mid-shot.
Nova - standing in the middle of Caroline and Bonnie while smiling sheepishly at the camera - had been the one to take the picture. She had been forced to stand on her toes to take the picture, considering both Elena and Caroline had both grown taller than her, hence the laughter.
"I thought I heard the shower running," Rudy's voice jolted her from her melancholy mood, prompting her to finally throw her phone on the bed.
Nova lowered her head to hide her pleased smile behind her mountain of curls when his words finally registered. She knew shouldn't be this amused to get one over her dad, of all people, but she was - seeing as it seemed like everyone else was doing the same to her.
"Hey," Rudy drew her attention with a gentle hand on her tense shoulder. She hesitantly turned towards him, curious despite her still simmering ire at their previous argument.
"I know you both think what I did was unfair. But everything I do, I do it to protect the both of you." His words practically pleaded with her to understand. And she did understand, but sometimes understanding someone else's motives doesn't mean she has to like them.
"Magic is apart of us in a way I can't even explain, dad. And it's not something you can protect us from, sorry," Nova responded lightly, her apology halfhearted as she would never change her heritage.
Rudy just nodded with a tired and resigned sigh at her words, as though he expected them but had been hoping for anything but those words.
"I'm going to go check on Bonnie. And maybe later we can talk more about why the two of you decided going out of town was so important." Rudy was quick to change to subject, just the word Magic made him visibly uncomfortable.
It saddened her that an important person in her life could so quickly reject something that was apart of her as much as the blood in her veins. But she bottled up the hurt near the anger as she leaned into the hug he gave her.
"Maybe," Nova echoed the word softly with a wry smile, watching as he left the room. She knew they would go back to avoid talking about anything that would cause conflict in the already fractured home.
"And I thought I had family drama," was the first thing out of Damon's mouth as he flung the closet door open. Nova turned to grant him a faux smile, he allowed her to pull him out her closet by his shirt.
"Trust me. You and your brother still win in the fucked up family department." She reassured him with a sarcastic smile, receiving one from him in return.
Nova had already abandoned all of her minuscule modesty around Damon and immediately changed her clothes. She ignored the intense and slightly impatient stare aimed at her, she carefully grabbed a leather satchel from the back of her closet, it was filled to the brim with everything she regularly used for her craft.
They left right before her dad could figure out that both of his children managed to sneak out the house right underneath his nose.
Nova let out a stuttering breath, clinging to Damon's shoulders while he jumped out of her window. She doesn't think he would be stupid enough to kill her before he got into the Tomb, but she didn't dare loosen her grip in case he decided to drop her for shits and giggles.
And there was that paranoia popping up again, with just a hint of trust-issues, yummy.
Nova only relaxed her grip when they landed in the backyard without any fatal accidents. "Tell me again why we can't just take your car," Damon's voice was tinged with irritation as they passed by the car in question.
"Because my dad now has the keys to my car," Nova replied gloomily, sending a loving look towards her cherry red car.
"And you can't magic them back?"
"Not if I want to be still breathing after we get the tomb open,"
"Hm...I'll write you a nice eulogy,"
Nova tightened her legs around him to the point it'd be painful, for a human, she rolled her eyes at his over-exaggerated grunt of pain.
"Just use your superman speed to get us to Grams' house... Actually, let's make a pit stop at the Mystic Grill," she changed her mind after she reached to pull her vibrating phone out her boot and saw the reply to the text she had sent to Jeremy.
'MG. Y? - Jeremy'
Oh, Jeremy, ever the lazy texter, she thought while slipping her phone back into her boot, not bothering to reply to the question, he would find out soon enough.
"Got a craving for Mystic Falls' finest cuisine?" Damon questioned with a sarcastic lilt to his voice as they made their way towards Mystic Falls' forest so they could avoid the prying eyes of nosy neighbors she flicked off with a smile.
"Just checking my hunch," Nova responded vaguely - and it was the last thing she got to say before she was forced to start clinging to the Vampire with her strongest grip when he decided to speed through the forest.
Damon got them to the town square in what seemed like a blink of an eye but what was really around five minutes. It took them a few extra minutes to walk through the town square and towards the Mystic Grill, but it wasn't long before the restaurant was in sight.
Nova slowed to a stop as they approached closer the doors of the restaurant, she involuntarily shivered when a sensation she wasn't entirely used to, washed over her and took hold of her.
And then, just as suddenly, everything was bigger and less colorful as she saw through what she could only assume was Merlin's feline eyes, her vision quickly filled over with grays and drab blues.
His movements were quick on the concrete sidewalk, he leisurely climbed up the steps and quickly started scratching on wood, much to her confusion. The wood was apparently a door, it opened instantly, revealing a pair of legs.
Any confusion left in her vanished when Merlin looked up at Grams. Then there was an odd sensation of seeing, but not exactly feeling Grams picking Merlin up with gentle hands, her smile soft and eyes knowing.
She blinked rapidly as her vision bled back into colors, shaking off the sensation, she focused on Damon who had paused when he noticed she wasn't walking next to him.
"Do you trust me - okay, fuck that, you have more trust issues than I do - but do you trust my knowledge?" Nova felt like she'd asked this question before, and maybe she had, but it needed to be asked again. She walked closer to him, scowling at anyone who knew her and thought she wanted to chat - honestly, small town problems.
"What's this about?" Damon avoided the question, she bit down on her irritation because whether she liked it or not, she would have to tell him why they were here because she needed him on her side before they went in.
"If my suspicions are right, which they usually are, an old acquaintance of yours will be in there. They're probably stalking Jeremy as we speak," Nova admitted with only a small amount of hesitance, folding her arms defensively.
"Who?" Damon questioned with a piercing stare that was more distantly curious rather than hostile, but there was no doubt annoyance at the secrets she kept with an iron grip.
Nova softly spoke the name into his ear just in case someone was listening in on their conversation. She waited for a moment to watch his reaction before walking into the restaurant.
The Grill was apparently having a busy day.
And, despite the fact she spotted Jeremy and his little date almost immediately, she found herself dodging through busy servers for several minutes before she finally reached the table.
"Hey, Jer," Nova announced herself to the table's occupants by sitting down at their table, uninvited.
"Nova?! Hey, is Elena here with you? Where've have you guys been?" Jeremy recovered from the minor shock of her presence, questioning her relentlessly.
"We were out of town, girls night. Who's your friend?" Nova answered the questions vaguely, too occupied meeting the eyes of someone she had clearly underestimated - shame on her.
"Oh, this is Anna. We met yesterday, she's new in town. Anna, this is Nova, the friend who's been helping me study, she's cool." Jeremy introduced them, watching them both carefully as he caught them glaring at each other despite their smiles, which were fake as a boob job.
"Cool," Anna repeated with a stiff smile, but despite how startled she seemed by Nova's appearance, she didn't seem to be overly concerned.
That just wouldn't do, she mused while eyeing the seemingly harmless girl. Nova needed an emotional reaction, she needed the Vampire to slip up and reveal something because at this point so much had changed that the only thing she knew about the girl was her main motive; her mother.
"You move fast," Nova commented idly as her eyes flickered towards four stacked journals laying on the cluttered table, the Vampire was clearly returning them instead of borrowing them - how had she missed that. And though she had said it while facing Jeremy - who seemed embarrassed, but covered it up with a typical teenager eye roll - it was meant for Anna, who got the subtle message if how her smile turned slightly smug was anything to go by.
Although she was irritated by the smug smirk, she was confused by everything else.
The Grimoire wasn't exactly needed since Anna was in possession of the talisman, so the question was why was she searching for it?
If anything, Anna should've been focusing on kidnapping one of the Bennett Witches to open the Tomb. But trying to kidnap one of them did become a big risk, with how much more confident and powerful Bonnie was as a Witch than she was in canon.
Taking their friends at least guaranteed cooperation - at least for normal kidnapping situations it did.
Nova's thoughts moved to Anna going through so much trouble to get the Grimoire - seducing Jeremy, decoding a madman's Journals, digging up a grave - only to find a cheap vegetarian cookbook. Now it was her turn to smirk, amusement clear in her eyes, annoying Anna, who now watched her with narrowed eyes.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" Nova questioned abruptly, watching the teenage boy with a raised brow.
"It's lunch," Jeremy replied pointing towards his burger and fries, he didn't point out that she was the one who had missed two days of school, knowing it was her weird way of mother-henning.
Nova was skeptical about why he wasn't eating in school, as it would take him twenty, maybe fifteen minutes to get back to school, cutting his lunchtime in half.
The cafeteria food wasn't that bad -
Okay, nope, that's one lie she couldn't even think about, that food was fucking offensive to her inner chef. But that's what the vending machines and homemade lunches are for, so she concluded this little lunch was more of a lunch date.
"Hmm... That looks good, mind getting me one?" Nova ordered more than asked because date or not - seriously, this kid has got the worst luck with girls - she needed Jeremy away from the table. She would prefer him out of the restaurant, but getting him away from the table was going to have to do for now.
"But -" Jeremy closed his mouth when she shot him her best puppy dog look, it thankfully worked like a fucking charm.
Jeremy sighed in resignation, sending Anna an apologetic smile before he went to stand in line at the bar as it would be nearly impossible to flag down a waitress during rush hour.
"And a large coffee to go!" Nova shouted at his retreating back, she simply grinned when he flipped her off in response.
Damon, with impeccable timing that was definitely planned, sat down in the now unoccupied chair next to her. "Damon Salvatore," Anna greeted him, still irritatingly calm.
"Annabelle Zhu," Damon spoke her name, charming smirk in place despite the ire that showed in his eyes as he took in the Vampire who he'd thought was in the Tomb, or dead.
"Nova Bennett," Nova mockingly said her own name, drawing attention to herself. What? She could hardly help it that they stepped into a cliche that had begged to be mocked.
"And here I thought you were in the tomb," Damon stated questioningly while gesturing at her to emphasize how she, you know, wasn't rotting in a Tomb.
"Well, you thought wrong... I escaped, but my mother wasn't so lucky," Anna explained very little, dashing any of Damon's expectations of getting a more detailed explanation of how she managed to escape.
Nova kept silent for the moment, busying herself with stealing the rest of Jeremy's fries as she thought on the fact it was clear to everyone at the table that Anna considered Damon more of a threat than little ol' Nova Amelia Bennett.
She was honestly a little relieved at the fact, she mused after she quickly got over herself and stopped being insulted, if only because it meant that Anna didn't know about her being a reincarnated Soul.
"Mm... So, that's why you stole... something that belonged to me," Damon stated lowly, narrowly avoiding sounding insane as a giggling couple bumped into their table.
Nova was tempted to remind both of them that the talisman technically belonged to Emily and her sister. But, instead, she stuffed fries in her mouth and checked on Jeremy's progress in the line of people waiting near the bar. Time to speed this shit up, she reflected while she watched Jeremy get closer and closer to the hassled bartender who was forced to take the orders the waiters couldn't.
"Okay, while I'm having such a blast listening to this riveting conversation," Nova drawled sarcastically, only continuing when she had both Vampire's attention. "Anna, I'll be opening the tomb, with or without you there. But if I'd like both of my friends back by that time, or else..." she trailed off, thinking about her many different threats she had thought on the way back to Mystic Falls.
"Or else what?" Anna seemed amused more than anything else, her amusement would be wiped off her face when she heard the rest of the threat - Nova would make sure of it.
"Let me make this very clear to you Anna-banana," Nova began mockingly, both her and Damon watched in mutual amusement when Anna's eyes narrowed at the frankly disgustingly cute and insulting - to a centuries-old Vampire - nickname.
"I want them back safely in their homes, unharmed. And if you dare hurt them - I'll personally make sure nothing is left of your mother but a rotting corpse." Nova finished her threat idly, ignoring the highly amused Salvatore on her right she watched as her goading worked.
And more importantly, she did succeed in wiping the smirk off from Anna's face, and in its place came the anger.
Logically, Nova knew that Anna was just doing whatever she could to get her mother back, and she couldn't find fault in that. In fact somewhere deep down past the anger, she thought it was sweet how much Annabelle was doing to get her mother back.
But, emotionally, she quite frankly didn't give two shits as it seemed that Anna thought that kidnapping her friends would bring her closer to getting her family reunion.
This wasn't a good versus evil scenario, this was just two people doing whatever it took to get the people they loved back.
"...Or I could go and tell your little friends what you two did to get the council off Damon and Stefan's backs," Anna eventually spoke up, anger in her eyes which were now faintly crimson.
Damon stilled beside the teen, suddenly not so amused by the verbal fight going on as it became clear just how much Anna had been stalking them.
"Yes, Damon," Anna had seen him tense and continued with an intense glare aimed at both of them, her words came out low and threatening. "I saw you turn that poor unsuspecting couple, only to kill them in mere hours. Tell me, Nova Bennett, how willing do you think they'll be to be your friend after they find out it was your idea?"
Everyone at the table was silent for a moment, it was a tense silence that was only cut through by the many noises in the hectic restaurant.
"Did she just threaten us?" Damon suddenly broke the silence, turning to look at Nova in utter bewilderment.
"I think she just did," Nova replied while a smile that was all teeth broke across her face. She watched as Anna eyed them warily, confused and unaware of what she had unintentionally given away.
Nova leaned closer towards the perpetual teen, remaining in eye contact, she began to mentally chant, anger fuelled her Magic as she carefully bound Magic behind the unspoken words;
Sanguis currit per Annabelle Zhu scriptor venis, veni foras
"I don't care what they think of me and my very loose morals," Nova replied steadily, keeping her teeth bared and her heartbeat calm as she could despite the fact she was lying her ass off.
Sanguis in venas, lamia, veni foras
"What I do care about, is my friends being alive. And you and your mother leaving town - tonight, if everything goes as planned." Nova continued, the parody of a smile gone. She watched impassively when Anna raised her hand to her mouth and started to cough.
Sanguis currit per Annabelle Zhu scriptor venis, veni foras
Anna's relentless cough got the attention of everyone nearby, but luckily all they did was shoot pitying looks at her and avoid sitting next to their table. Never let it be said that small towns didn't have its uses, Mystic Falls was rarely known to be welcoming to strangers.
Sanguis in venas, lamia, veni foras
"You sure doing this here is smart?" Damon questioned casually, but his smirk told her he was thoroughly amused by the misfortune of the older Vampire.
Nova was past caring about discretion at the moment, the lid she had carefully kept on her rage had shattered and the Magic running through her veins begged to be used. "Don't care," Nova responded shortly, the hexed Vampire glared at her, the threat clearly still in her eyes - and that just wouldn't do.
Sanguis currit per Annabelle Zhu scriptor venis, veni foras
Anna hurriedly drank some water before trying to speak, only to cough the water back into her glass. And then start furiously coughing up what would be an unhealthy amount of blood if she had been human.
It wasn't a pretty sight. Then again, the spell itself wasn't very nice, it was normally used on Vampires, but since it didn't simply subdue them it wasn't used as much as the pain infliction spell.
The idea was that once the spell was cast, the Vampire would then cough up some - if not all of the human blood they had consumed within the past twenty-four hours.
The twinge of pain that made its way into her skull reminded her that it was time to stop the spell. She let the words stop echoing furiously in her mind and her Magic gradually sank back into her veins.
Nova casually went back to chewing on fries while watching Anna used almost all the napkins at the table to cover up the sight of the blood. "Here you've got a little..." Damon trailed off, helpfully pointing at the blood on her mouth with a suddenly procured handkerchief.
Nova snorted in dark amusement as Anna glared at him, but ultimately she snatched the handkerchief from his grasp. Anna wiped the blood from her mouth just in the nick of time as Jeremy walked over, food and coffee in hand.
"Thanks, Jer!" Nova exclaimed with false enthusiasm, she swiftly stood to take the food and coffee in to-go containers from Jeremy, ignoring when he glanced at the three of them suspiciously.
"It was so nice meeting you, Anna-banana, I hope we can do this again! Come on, Damon." Nova nodded at the entrance of the restaurant, hoping her eyes conveyed her need to speak with him.
She didn't wait for him to follow, deciding to start walking away from the table before she did something stupid - like kill someone within public view, prison orange wasn't her color.
"I hope you feel better, you should get that cough checked out." Nova's coffee cup hid her smile when she heard Damon speak to Anna in badly hidden false concern.
"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Damon stated while they walked out the restaurant, making her chuckle softly.
"Too late," Nova quipped without a beat, grabbing her phone, restless energy making her movements appear frantic, which she was, and her phone nearly paid the price when she almost dropped it twice.
Nova abruptly paused near an empty outdoor table, nearly bumping into Damon while she set her food and coffee down.
"Okay.. so, I have a question," Nova started hesitantly as they sat down, she glanced at the door to the restaurant, rationally paranoid, but the coffee probably didn't help.
"Shoot," Damon responded easily, his hand moved to touch her liquid ambrosia but she viciously slapped it away.
Nova held her coffee to her chest protectively, ignoring his mock hurt look, she continued quietly, "What Anna said about her seeing you turn those people... Where did you exactly turn them?" She didn't say it outright, paranoid about being overheard.
Blessedly, Damon wasn't a total idiot and caught on to where she was going with this, his eyes lighting up into a realization of his own. "The bed and breakfast," Damon answered simply, rudely starting to eat her food.
But Nova ignored everything but her cell phone, hurriedly calling her sister. She practically vibrated in the chair, impatiently listening to the ringing. "Did you find anything?" Bonnie wasted no time questioning, confirming Nova's suspicions that the tracking spells still weren't working.
Nova would love to know how Anna, a Vampire, managed to block two Witches from tracking her best friends. She would like to how Anna knew it was her that planned that little show to keep the Council off the Salvatores messy trail. She would love to know a lot about the differences about how Anna was doing things - but the information she had right now was more important.
"Yes," Nova replied immediately, she heard her twin sigh in relief and internally agreed with the sentiment before she began quietly explaining exactly who took them and why.
"We think that Anna might have gotten a room at the bed and breakfast. It's a long shot that she would keep them there, but it's worth checking out." Nova spoke absently, glancing over at the sound of doors opening, she only relaxed when she saw it was only a waiter.
"Got it. I'll let you know if we find them. See you at the church?" Bonnie questioned with the sound of hurried movement in the background.
"Yeah. See you." Nova confirmed simply before hanging up, staring blankly at her phone. She sighed tiredly, reaching over to take her food back before the immortal asshole ate all of it.
Now the waiting game, she thought with an impatient frown, biting furiously into her burger. She wished she could be there to rescue her friends, but she knew they were better off keeping a look out for when Anna decided to go back to wherever she was staying.
She had no doubts about her sister's power, but she would rather not risk it with a centuries-old Vampire who happened to hang out with Katherine fucking Pierce back in the day.
Twenty minutes later, she glanced around in time to catch the sight of Jeremy running out the restaurant and in the direction of the school and a few minutes later, Anna exited at a more sedate pace, thankfully going in the opposite direction.
Nova immediately grabbed her phone and sent off a warning text to her sister, urging her to hurry up if she didn't want to have to fight off a centuries year old Vampire - she couldn't even remember how old Anna and Pearl were, but really fucking old sufficed as accurate.
Nova was exhausted in more ways than one, but when Anna's eyes locked onto them, she couldn't resist wiggling of her fingers at the other girl, adding another teeth-baring smile. She saw from the corner of her eye that Damon was also waving mockingly.
Ah, so brilliant minds do think alike.
Hiking was a bitch.
Repeat, hiking is a bitch and an asshole.
It wasn't the earth itself that bothered Nova - no she loved the earth as much as she did her Magic, which was a lot. It wasn't the bugs that kept finding its way into her hair - although that was annoying and somewhat disgusting to her sense of hygiene.
No, it was the physical part that made her want to tear someone's throat out with her teeth.
Other than the occasional run when she was stressed and cheerleading - which she hasn't done in a while because apparently without the football team cheerleading was deemed useless, ironic considering they cheered better than the team played but getting the principal to actually see cheerleading as a sport was proving impossible for even Caroline Forbes - she actually wasn't a very athletic person.
Sure, she explored the forest as every other kid in Mystic Fall did because what else was there to do in a small town?
But she was an art person, a nerd person, a lazy person who could and would lay down and read Grimoires all day if it weren't for her much more sociable and active friends.
Not to mention, she internally added while glaring at the leather jacket wearing asshole in front of her, Damon had decided to set a grueling pace that was determined to kill her, again. "Why can't you just give me another piggyback ride?" Nova didn't whine - that was a blatant lie, she totally whined like a child who didn't get the last scoop of ice cream.
"We might miss it if I use my 'superman' speed, the church isn't exactly brand new - besides that, I'm not a mule," Damon added with a pointed glare, which she shrugged it off with an unapologetic smile that turned into a grimace.
Damon paused when she slowed down to readjust the heavy bag on her shoulder for the millionth time. He sighed dramatically before striding over and snatching the large satchel from her grip.
Nova groaned in relief, feeling five pounds lighter, she started rolling her shoulders as they started walking again. She paused again three minutes later as her phone buzzed in her combat boots, she groaned leaning down to grab it. She stared blankly at the text her sister sent her, her eyes roaming over the text message for a solid minute.
"What is it now?" Damon questioned with an annoyed frown when he was forced to turn stop, again.
"They found them," Nova heard herself reply, still staring at the text before a genuine smile broke out across her face.
'We found them! I'll tell you the details later. - Bonnie'
With renewed energy, that was only fuelled by her happiness, they continued at a much faster pace, the sunlight illuminating the way through the autumn trees.
Thank fuck, she thought thirty minutes later, speeding up even more when she spotted crumbling stone walls in the distance.
"Know where the super secret entrance is?" Nova turned to question the Vampire when they were right next to the crumbling structure, she didn't dare step on the fragile ground of the church, randomly remembering Bonnie falling into it in what now had to be another universe.
Turns out he did, in fact, know where the entrance was - she really should have expected nothing less from the guy who has been obsessed with opening the damn thing for quite literally a hundred of years. Nova followed him towards the entrance, she took her satchel back from him while he quickly cleared the debris blocking the stairs.
She carefully walked down the unblocked stairs, looking around the Tomb in fascination while she settled down next to the stairs in a loose lotus position on the dust-covered stone ground.
"I don't think I've asked. But what are you planning on doing with the other vampires in the tomb?" Damon interrupted her musings, she looked over to see him lazing on the steps like a cat.
She turned back to her brown leather satchel, slipping the leather from the buckle from it she flipped it open, answering dryly, "Didn't think you cared about anyone other than Katherine."
"Just curious,"
"I'm going to sacrifice them to my pet demon," Nova deadpanned without breaking eye contact, her face deadly serious and voice unwavering.
She burst out into giggles when he narrowed his eyes at her in actual suspicion, her laugh caused him to roll his eyes when he realized she was in fact joking. Though, she did technically have a pet, one that was considered a demon Spirit in animal form in like nearly every culture.
"Not gonna miss that when I finally leave this town," Damon stated over the sound of her continued laughter.
She exhaled and tried not to show how hard those words hit her over her head like a hammer, she was forced to hide her panic with a words had reminded her that Katherine was in fact not in the Tomb and she would be dealing with a heartbroken and possibly furious Damon after tonight.
She was such a fucking idiot sometimes, she thought furiously but was outwardly calm, for the most part, but it could be blamed on about a thousand other things going on in her life. "I'm fucking amazing. Of course, you'll miss me and my lame ass jokes." Nova scoffed loudly, she smiled softly when no protests or denials reached her ears.
She set down her grey and black granite pestle and mortar in the middle of her legs, lamenting the fact she didn't think to ask Bonnie to do this at Grams house. Damon hovered curiously behind her while she added the ingredients in the mortar based on memory alone since her sister currently had the Grimoire.
Lapis lazuli pigment would protect them from the corruption of the Soul as it protected them from the sun, she thought skeptically while pouring all of the blue power into the mortar. She was mostly only skeptical because not only was it expensive - it had been a dick and a half to find online and when it finally did arrive it was only a pinch full, she felt swindled.
Hyssop for the cleansing of the Spirit, she mused twisting the cap off the bottle, she inhaled the scent the herb gave off before sprinkling the carefully cut purple herb on top of the vividly blue powder.
Dead but not yet crushed flowers that represent Vampires undead state, she pulled the flowers from their protective paper and proceeded to carefully pull the flowers from their stem, letting them drop into the mortar.
Thyme to give the Souls safe passage to the afterlife, she spat out the large cork on the vial and poured out half of the thinly cut herb.
Lavender oil to give the Soul peace, humming in content when the smell reached her nose she carefully squeezed four drops from the oils eye dropper.
By the time she finished grinding it all together, her wrist was sore, her butt was beyond numb and legs were definitely asleep.
Damon had grown bored of watching her silently grounding shit up and instead watched the boulder that blocked the entrance of the Tomb like the lovesick fool he is - watching what Katherine does to him without even trying made her want to word vomit, or just vomit.
Nova kept quiet, knowing it would be easier to believe Katherine's lies if he saw it for himself. She struggled not to sigh at her thoughts, gathering the mortar in her tired hands she peered down at the color to make sure she had gotten it right.
Was it supposed to smell so good yet look so disgusting, she mused staring at the purple and green mush it had turned out to be.
Nova was startled out of her musings by the sound of someone coming down the uneven stone steps. She hurriedly untangled herself from the floor, wary yet eager she watched the entrance, from the corner of her eyes, she spotted Damon cautiously coming to stand next to her.
"Settle down, it's only me." Grams announced her presence as she finally stepped down into the cave-like area, sensing the tension.
Sheila eyed the Vampire that stood next Nova with a hostile glare that melted when she set her eyes on her granddaughter, "Hi, honey." Grams' greeting somehow managed to casually knock down all of her emotional barriers.
Nova's Soul was older than her body, she was more mature than all of the kids in her school put together. But she had always and will always be just a little starved for attention. And despite the facade she wore, she wasn't used to this 'Live or Die' life. She was better at the dying part than making sure she and her loved ones got out of this shithole alive part.
After the day she's had, could anyone really blame her for collapsing into Grams open arms?
Grams held her with a firm and reassuring grip, the scent of jasmine and red wine washed over her and comforted her in a way she hadn't needed to comforted since she was nine. Nova was surprised when a few tears escaped - she was seriously emotionally repressed, okay? - but she was too tired to fight them and instead watched through blurred vision as they rapidly hit the elder woman's cardigan.
After who knew how long, Nova heard something shift in the background and suddenly remembering where she was and who she was with, she reluctantly pulled herself away from the warm hug.
"Sorry about your cardigan, rough day," Nova tried to make light of it all, but she thinks the sniffling and stray tear ruined her tough girl image - oh well, it was a lost cause anyway she lamented with feigned sadness.
"I'm more concerned about your wellbeing than this old thing. Now, tell me, how are you holding up, sweetheart?" Grams asked with stern eyes that told Nova wouldn't be getting away with anything less than an honest answer.
Both Bennett women ignored the Vampire shuffling behind them, "I feel terrible - but I'll be okay once this is all over with," Nova replied simply but honestly, glancing down she noticed she was still holding the mortar in a death grip.
Nova smiled sheepishly when the elder Witch followed her gaze, she idly wondered if she had gotten the recipe right - that would be even more embarrassing.
"I'm sure you'll feel better when you see your friends," Grams replied with a knowing smile before changing the subject, "You mixed it up perfectly, and without the Grimoire too. Have you spelled it yet?"
Nova was totally back to being convinced Sheila Bennett was a mindreader. "No, not yet," Nova shook her head, following Grams like a lost puppy when the elder Witch walked towards where the teenager had set up her stuff.
"Well, then. We'll say it together then?" Grams offered, taking the mixture from her hands and placing it on the nearest flat surface which happened to be a loose stone jutting out of the wall.
Damon got tired of being ignored and cleared his throat and that had to be a record, she thought he must really be afraid of Grams because it usually only took him seconds to invite himself into a conversation.
Nova turned to face the Vampire, snorting when she saw her Familiar had somehow managed to wrap himself around Damon's neck. "When can I expect this thing to actually get opened?" Damon questioned with a scowl that was absolutely demolished when Merlin casually smacked his face with his fluffy black tail.
Nova moved forward with undaunted steps at Damon's venomous glare when she started chuckling. She let Grams answer while she successfully coaxed a stubborn Merlin from Damon's shoulder and into her arms.
"Nightfall. We should be able to cast the spell easier with the added power of the full moon tonight. Patience is key to dealing with magic, vampire." Grams added almost chidingly when Damon made a face at the thought of staying here for hours.
"I think I'll go get a snack," Damon bravely - in her opinion - announced to the two Witches, moving up the steps when he was finally free from the fur that had decided to try to take a nap on his shoulders.
"Try not to kill anyone - or get yourself killed!" Nova added, shouting at his retreating back, she rolled her eyes at his dismissive backhanded wave.
Lifting her messy curls up with one hand so Merlin could climb onto her shoulders, she idly wondered if she was bipolar with how many mood swings she's had today.