A/N: Hey guys, gals and nonbinary pals, look who done updated in the same year - THIS GIRL!
First off, HOw DarE yOU pEOPLe MaKE Me teEary eyED?
But seriously, you guys made my fucking year with those reviews, you have no idea how much it means to me that you guys like my writing. I keep worrying about boring you all with how much I haven't been going off the scripts at all lately.
I swear I planned on being finished with season one by now, but things should be picking up again plot-wise in the next couple of chapters.
This chapter was going to be like 11k, but I needed a lot more time to write and edit the other part, so I cut it so I could give you guys something before the month is over.
You can ask me anything on Tumblr, my username is Randomfandoming1, blog name is musings of a fangirl. I make edits/collages/gifsets for this story and upload them on there.
There's also this website called Shoplook, it's kind of like Polyvore, so if you want to see Nova's style go check me out at the same username, Randomfandoming.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!
Reviews feed my muse!
Nova was grateful for the fact it was only below fifty as she rode her bike around town, the harsh winds blew her hair around her face despite the hat she wore for this exact reason.
A month had passed.
It had been a busy month, but also kind of normal, with the twins going back to juggling studying witchcraft and regular school work - but they were also adjusting to the new chapters of their relationships.
Turns out having healthy and somewhat honest conversations with her loved ones really helped ease some of her insecurities, it also evolved and improved relationships into something new.
But it was the twin's relationship with their father that had changed the most.
He was still in town, for one, and he was planning on staying for a while - it had shocked them when he had told them.
Since their conversation, he had started working on accepting the twins Magic, starting with being okay with them to practice their craft at home; being able to use their Magic at home without the fear of being caught was freeing in a way they hadn't known it would be.
In return, the twins tried to respect his wishes and didn't break the rules that were set in place for the duration of they were grounded.
...Well, at least, not all the rules.
Nova slowed down her pedaling before breaking, looking up at the Salvatore boarding house she felt the smallest measure of guilt that she tried to squash.
She got off her sky blue bicycle, carelessly laying it on the perfectly manicured lawn before walking towards the front door.
Nova was supposed to be picking up the takeout they had ordered from the Grill and celebrating the momentary freedom that was winter break with her family; but instead of picking up dinner, she was visiting the town's resident asshole, also known as Damon Salvatore.
A month hadn't changed their relationship much.
That was mostly because being grounded didn't give her a lot of room to hang out with anyone who wasn't a high school student.
And so their interactions were limited to phone calls, most of the time he was drunk - on alcohol or blood, she would never know -, entertaining himself at some party out of town.
But he hadn't picked up his goddamn phone in a couple of days, and despite living in the same fucking house Stefan hadn't seen him in a while either - she was blaming the fact he was always with Elena for that one - , so this morning she had decided to look for him to make sure he wasn't dead.
Once she reached the door, her hand immediately reached out to push the door open, but amazingly, someone had locked the fucking door. "The one fucking time you fuck faces decide to lock the door," she muttered to herself with a roll of her eyes.
Nova didn't bother pulling the old-fashioned rope doorbell, and instead, she laid her palm on the lock and closed her eyes. Ignoring the chill of the metal, she concentrated on the radiant warmth of her Magic before slowly rotating her wrist clockwise and then counterclockwise until she heard the telltale click of the door unlocking.
She grinned when the door successfully creaked open, stepping into the boarding house her eyes were filled with boredom as she surveyed the seemingly empty place.
Not deterred by the lack of sound, she shrugged her black leather backpack onto the floor with a loud thud before wandering around until she found the staircase. She went up with hurried strides, passing by a few empty rooms until she found the one she vaguely remembered was Damon's room.
Nova walked into the room unannounced, her eyes immediately focusing on the lump that was hidden in the sheets of the king-sized bed; a mischievous grin grew on her face as she pulled her phone out the pocket of her leather jacket, going into her contacts, she chose Damon's number.
It wasn't long before the persistent sound of a phone ringing echoed throughout the room.
"Oh good, your phone works," Nova said with sarcasm dripping from her tone as she stared at the figure rising from the bed, who was definitely not who she was expecting.
She politely averted her eyes up towards the person's brown eyes, but not without getting flashed by the other woman's breasts.
Nova wasn't surprised to see Damon on the rebound, though she seriously wondered if it could even be called a rebound when he's already been fucking everyone his little black heart desired?
"...Who are you and... where the hell am I?" the very naked woman asked as she looked around the room with dazed eyes before settling on staring at her.
"I'm Nova… and we're in Mystic Falls boarding house, it's currently infested with vampires," Nova answered honestly, somehow managing to keep her voice calm despite the slight blush on her face.
Why are women so pretty, she internally questioned, calm on the outside but panicking on the inside.
"...You're funny, very funny," of course, the other woman didn't take her words seriously, and instead of running away screaming, she chuckled as she slid out the bed, taking the sheet with her as she searched for her clothes.
She hadn't been trying to be funny, but, oh well.
She hoped one day that someone would be able to tell the difference between her sarcasm and her being serious.
"I wasn't expecting to see you here. Aren't you supposed to be on house arrest?"
Nova turned towards the sound of Damon's voice, looking him over for any changes as he strolled out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
Physically, he looked fine - attractive as ever with a cocky smirk on his face that never failed to make her both horny and vaguely annoyed - but when she looked into his eyes, she noticed he still looked as miserable as the last time she had seen him.
And suddenly, his smirk seemed a lot less casual, the corners of his mouth twitched down as though he was struggling to continue his usual careless facade.
"You wouldn't answer your phone, dickwad," she replied in a biting tone, covering up her worry and giving him an annoyed look.
He wouldn't want her pity.
In fact, she was pretty sure if he saw even hint of pity in her eyes he'd try to kill her.
"Do you see a blue dress anywhere?" the still very naked woman asked, completely ignoring their exchange in favor of searching for her clothes.
Nova sighed but picked up the requested article of clothing when she spotted it on the floor, she gave it to the still unnamed woman before turning her attention back on the Vampire who walked past her and towards his dresser.
"I mean, I know you're older than sliced bread, but it's pretty simple to pick up a phone nowadays," she continued, following him at a leisure pace, her eyes lowering shamelessly when his towel hit the floor.
"I was busy," he replied as he rummaged in his drawer for something to wear; he pulled out a pair of black jeans and began pulling them on, thus ending the nice view.
The woman that had probably kept him 'busy' made her escape as they bickered.
"You mean you were busy eating and screwing every college student within a miles radius," Nova said with a roll of her eyes, leaning heavily on the side of the dresser.
"Why? Are you jealous?" Damon asked, sending her a teasing look as he slipped his arms through a dark purple button down shirt that somehow looked more expensive than her entire outfit.
Expensive little bitch, she thought as she took a peek inside the drawer that was filled with neatly folded shirts.
"Oh no, you've found me out. I'm unbelievably jealous of your revolving door of one night stands. Please fuck me." Nova gave him a deadpan stare as she struggled not to roll her eyes.
"Someone's been speaking with Lexi." Damon recognized her choice of words, he began to struggle with the buttons of his shirt - and when he buttoned it wrong for the third time it helped clue her in on how sober he was, which was not at all.
"I mean, yeah, she's pretty awesome - and we always come up with the best insults for you when we're talking," she admitted with a wide smile, ignoring his eye roll as she gushed about her new friend.
Growing tired of looking at his sad drunk attempts at dressing himself, she lightly slapped his hands away and took over.
"Hm… so did you come all the over here to test out those insults, or did actually need something?" Damon questioned, observing her curiously as she started buttoning his shirt.
Oh, right, she had nearly forgotten.
Tyler's parents were out of town for a couple days and he decided to take advantage of his parent's reluctant trust by throwing a party; the twins had gotten permission to go as long as they didn't drink booze and got home before it got too late.
So basically, as long as they didn't have fun.
Nova wasn't so attached to alcohol that she couldn't have fun without it, but she could admit it made her more outgoing. And if she wasn't at least a little tipsy, loud parties ended up boring her and turned her back into a wallflower, which ultimately left her wanting to go home.
"My friend is throwing a trashy holiday party tomorrow night. I need someone to keep me from dying of boredom and you need to be around more people you aren't going to eat for dinner." Nova answered, leaving two buttons near the collar open, she patted his shoulder once she was finished.
"You know, if you wanted to go on a date with me, all you had to do was ask," he said, a sly smirk growing on his face, this one seemed less forced as his eyes sparkled in barely contained amusement.
Just the thought of going out on a date was enough to make her grimace in memory of the last time she went on one - never again, she thought with a disgusted frown.
"...Is that a yes or a no?" she asked, not responding to his previous words.
"Well, I was planning on dining out of town, but... for you, I guess I could settle for the local menu," Damon said as though it would pain him, giving her a look that said he thought he was being charitable.
"Wow, just what every girl secretly wants to hear," she said sarcastically, looking at him with an over exaggerated infatuated smile.
"I aim to please," he replied without missing a beat.
"Okay then, Spike, I've gotta go pick up my own dinner - I'll text you the details later, try not to drown yourself in cheap college liquor until then," she told him, despite knowing it was futile and he was definitely going to drown himself in bourbon.
He only confirmed her thoughts when the only response she received as she left the room was an uncommittable hum.
Nova closed the door behind her with her foot, both of her hands tangled in the plastic takeout bags.
She eyed the empty living room as she toed off her loosely tied converses, switching all of the bags to one hand she tried to shrug off her black leather jacket, the faux fur around the collar tickling her neck in the process.
She was about to give up and put the take out on the floor but was saved by her dad walking out of the kitchen.
"We were just about to call you, was the line at the Grill long?" he said in greeting, taking the takeout bags from her hand.
"Yeah," she replied with an innocent smile on her face - what? he hadn't asked where she had been, and it was true, the line at the Grill had been long.
Nova threw her jacket on the couch before following her dad into the kitchen where she could hear R&B music softly playing.
She received distracted greetings from her grandmother and sister, both of them preoccupied, Grams with her book and Bonnie with icing the holiday cookies the twins had made earlier.
Nova sat down at the table, absently fixing her hat, an amused smile grew on her lips as she caught sight of her grandmother's pinched expression as she gritted out a thank you to her dad when he set her food on the table.
Around the holidays and on birthdays they had rules, one being that if all of them were present, Grams and dad couldn't argue like cats and dogs. And of fucking course, they sometimes fail to follow said rule but an effort was made not to ruin holidays and birthdays.
Grams pursed her lips in annoyance when she caught the grin on her granddaughter's face, the older woman glanced up at her inappropriate hat with a raised brow - it was a black bucket hat with the letters that spelled 'fuck' printed all over the hat in white.
"Hats off at the table, sweetheart," the older woman scolded her.
Damn it, she guessed that this is what she gets for taking amusement in her grandmother's suffering. She pulled her hat off and laid it on her lap with a resigned sigh as her twin joined them at the table.
She was distracted from her pouting when her sister passed her the takeout container that was filled with enough chicken cajun pasta and garlic bread to make her forget every bad thing in the world, for at least ten to fifteen minutes.
"So, uh, I think I correctly translated another page from the...book," Bonnie spoke up after a few minutes of them silently eating, she glanced at dad as she visibly hesitated on her words.
Nova was confused for a solid two minutes before she realized what the fuck her sister was talking about. "Oh, you mean the book on familiars that's in that cursed language?" She grimaced as she remembered the long nights she had spent trying to translate Russian.
"...There's a cursed language?" Rudy asked with wary confusion written all over his face as he paused in eating his Mystic burger.
"Yeah, sure - it's called Russian," Nova replied before promptly shoving a big fork full of pasta into her mouth.
"It's not cursed, she just dumped the work on me when she realized I could figure out the grammar faster," Bonnie was quick to reassure their father, sending her twin a look filled with exasperation.
"Pretty much," Nova admitted with a shrug of her shoulders, absently untangling her curls from her star hoop earrings.
"What did you find out, baby?" Grams questioned, directing the conversation back on track.
"Well," Bonnie hesitated for a moment, her eyes straying towards dad, who saw her hesitance and nodded in reassurance as he paid more attention to his food than the conversation -
Which, big fuckin mood.
"The page was mostly about the bonding process between the witch and the familiar, and how, when you do bond with your familiar, your souls become so connected your lifespan becomes theirs."
Nova stared at her sister in shock, her mouth stuffed comically with pasta and bread, the only thing she could think to say was - "Wa' the fuck?"
"Language, Nova."
"Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetheart."
Both of the adults in the room scolded her - honestly, that was mild sauce compared to the shit she's said and done before, but she swallowed down her food and censored her words for their sakes.
"Wait - does this mean that if I live until I'm like super old, like - I don't know, forty, Merlin's still going to be kicking it with me?" She questioned her sister, pointing her fork at her sister with narrowed eyes.
"Forty isn't... that old," Bonnie said, glancing meaningfully at their dad who looked a little amused but mostly insulted by the unintended dig at his age.
Grams could barely hold in her chuckling as she took a sip of water, amusement shining in her eyes.
Honestly, forty would be a fucking milestone for her, she thought but didn't say, instead she sent an apologetic look at her dad, who accepted the silent apology with a smile.
"You didn't answer my question," Nova reminded her twin, eager to know the answer - she even ignored her food in favor of paying attention to her sister.
"I mean, yeah, I guess? Merlin's purpose is to aid you, and so as long as you're alive, he will be too." Bonnie explained before biting into her chicken salad, her eyes showed mild regret that she even brought the topic up while she was eating.
"Okay, but what happens if some douchebag, I don't know... hits him with a car? - would he get back up again because I'm still alive or would he just be dead?" She started to question in earnest because, again, what the fuck?
How the fuck was she supposed to hide the fact her cat wasn't fucking dying from old age?
"I don't know, Nova. They didn't go into detail about it," Bonnie replied, sending her twin an apologetic glance.
Nova sent her sister a glance that basically said; 'I'm upset by this fact, but that's okay because it's not your fault, and don't blame yourself because if you do I'm going to annoy you until you admit it's not your fault'.
And fuck, did they have good twin telepathy because Bonnie understood the look and gifted her with a smile before going back to her food.
There were so many more questions she had, but she could see her dad getting a little bit uncomfortable with all the casual talk of Magic and death.
And so she bit down on her questions.
The twins were trying to slowly get him used to them talking about this kind of stuff in front of him, but they didn't want to overwhelm him with it all at once.
After eating dinner, they all sat down and watched a couple of movies before it got too late, but it wasn't long before the twins said goodnight to Grams as she left to go home.
The twins left their dad with tidying up the living room because fuck that, Nova had questions that needed to be answered, and so she followed her sister into her room and restarted her line of questioning.
"What if I was turned into a vampire? Would he become some weird familiar vampire hybrid, or would he just stay dead?" Nova immediately questioned her twin for more information, leaning on the now closed door of her sister's room.
Bonnie looked up at her from where she lounged on her bed, laptop already opened and placed on her folded legs, there was an uneasy suspicion in her eyes.
"Hypothetically," she amended, for her sister's sake.
Don't get her wrong, she fucking adores being a Witch and couldn't think of a world where she gave up her Magic for a halfbaked version of immortality - but she wasn't stupid.
She knew that with so many fucking Vampires around it would hardly be surprising if she ended up dying with Vampire blood in her system.
"Right, well, hypothetically," Bonnie repeated the word with a skeptical look in her green eyes, she continued despite her fear of this 'hypothetical' scenario.
"Merlin probably wouldn't come back if you died and came as a vampire because you would no longer be a witch, familiars aren't known to bond with someone who isn't a witch."
Nova nodded frantically, her mind racing as she tried to think of one question at a time instead of a million questions at once.
"What if I... drowned, and someone did CPR on me?" she questioned, just barely resisting the urge to run her fingers through her loose hair.
Bonnie's eyes focused on her laptop as she scrolled through her playlist. "...Merlin would probably come back alive around the same time," she said, hesitating on the surety of her statement.
Nova still had a list of question longer than her arm, but instead of asking them, she couldn't help but keep repeating the words 'what the fuck', over and over again.
"Thank you for translating it, you rude little shit!" Nova yelled at the closed door after getting kicked out after her fifth 'what the fuck', it was fair, but also, how fucking rude.
"No problem!" Bonnie yelled back before turning up her music.
Nova caught her dad's eye as he walked up the stairs, he was giving her a look that seemed a little too judgemental for her taste. "What? She knows it was said lovingly," she spoke up in her defense.
"...Goodnight, Nova," he seemed like he had been about to say something else, but he settled on wishing her goodnight.
"Night, dad," she replied, a slightly sheepish smile on her face.
She shuffled into her room and immediately began throwing off all of her clothes before tiredly pulling on some grey cotton shorts and a white and red cherry bomb t-shirt.
The moment she was dressed in her pajamas, she turned off all of her lights before face-planting on her bed, too tired to pull back the covers. But she eventually got chilly and managed to pull herself underneath her mountain of covers, her eyes were drawn to where her Familiar lay, sleeping on his favored pillow on the other side of the bed.
"Guess we're stuck with each other, huh?" she whispered to him, wrapping her arms around her pillow as she looked at her sleeping feline companion.
Nova had always known the two of them were tied together, in a way she couldn't properly explain, it was just something she could feel in her Soul and it's been there ever since they had reunited in this universe.
Finding out that Merlin's life was tied to her own should have made her over the fucking moon because how many people would love to have their pets live as long as they could?
But instead of reassuring her, it scared the hell out of her.
Nova wasn't planning on dying anytime soon, but she could admit she could be a bit reckless with her own life, and being a Bennett Witch in this town was a sure way to get herself killed.
Point being, his life being tied to hers was more likely to cut his life in half than make him live longer.
She fell asleep with those heavy thoughts weighing on her mind.
It really shouldn't have surprised her, when she was jolted awake up hours later by twisted nightmares, screams were echoing in her still half-asleep mind, her heart skipped several beats as she looked around her room with panic in her eyes.
Nova slumped back into her pillows when she realized she wasn't in any immediate danger, but her heart was still racing from the images her mind had conjured for her tonight.
It was the same nightmare she's been having all month.
It always started where she died, near the foot of her bed in her old apartment, with fire and smoke surrounding her, the usual bullshit. But this time, instead of Merlin by her side, the room was filled to the brim with random people who stared her down accusingly as they burned with her.
They stared at her as though she had killed them.
Nova wasn't ready to analyze what she knew her subconscious was trying to tell her, or rather what she secretly beginning to blame herself for. And so she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to get rid of the image of burnt hands reaching towards her to pull her further into the fire.
"Fuck," she cursed under her breath when she looked at her phone for the time; 3:37 AM.
Nova was careful not to wake up her still sleeping Familiar as she slowly eased out of bed, slipping on her panda slippers before pulling her window open. She leaned out of the window slightly, closing her tired eyes, she took in a stuttering breath as the cold air hit her face.
Nova left the window cracked, the wind lightly blowing her curtains as she used the sparse amount of moonlight in the room to help her find her easel light, she adjusted the light before flipping the switch.
She pulled out her paints and jar of paintbrushes from the basket at her feet - grimacing at the stale cup of coffee she had accidentally dipped her paintbrush in the other day - before sitting down on the stool.
Nova looked over her half-finished painting, she was trying to paint something to give to the only friend who hasn't received one of her paintings as a gift, Damon.
It was cheesy as fuck but the only thing she could think of to paint was the night sky from the night they officially met.
She muffled a tired yawn but began to liberally pour the blue and black onto her wooden paint palette, mixing the colors together until it was a dark blue.
The moment her paintbrush hit the canvas, the echoes of her nightmare were mostly quiet and the rest of the world melted away as she tried to focus on finishing the tiny details of her painting.
Nova finished around the time the sun was rising, and to be honest, she was just glad she finished at all because her head was pounding, her eyes burned, and her hands were starting to shake from lack of caffeine - well, lack of sleep, really.
She abandoned her finished painting in favor of moving closer to the window, it was a rare moment in which her mind was quiet as she watched the stars slowly disappear as the sun rose from its slumber.
The earth never ceased to remain magical to her, she watched in quiet fascination as the sky turned a lighter shade of blue mixed with violets and oranges.
Merlin brushed up against her legs, the feeling of his tail lightly bumping into her ankle jolted her out of her trance.
She leaned down and reached down to pick him up only to stop short of touching his spotless black fur, her face scrunched up in dismay when she realized her fingers were stained with drying paint.
"Sorry," she whispered to him, giving her Familiar a look of apology when he gave her a pitiful look; she opened her door and let him out of the room to find someone else to give him morning pets.
Shivering as a gust of cold wind blew into her room, she shut the window and locked it before moving towards her bed in a sluggish pace, uncaring of the paint literally all over her body, she fell onto her bed -
And she's pretty sure she fell asleep before her head even hit the pillows.
Nova woke up an unknown amount of hours later, her eyes felt like they were glued shut but she forced them open when she heard a creak in the previously dead silent room.
Bonnie was in her immediate line of sight, squatting in front of her trunk/bedside table, a pen poised in her hand as she wrote something down on a sticky note, but she paused when she realized her older sister was awake.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," she said softly, sending her an apologetic look as she balled up the paper in her hand and stuck the pen behind her ear.
"'S fine, what time is it?" Nova asked her twin, frowning in confusion when she realized her sister's hair had been curled to hell and back.
"Four...pm," Bonnie added with a slightly worried look on her face, she stood up and sat next to her on the bed.
"Oh," she replied, quickly realizing that was why she still felt like shit, she was fucking dehydrated.
"We were going to wake you, but Merlin kept hissing when we tried so I figured it was his way of saying you hadn't gotten much sleep," Bonnie explained, playing with the corner of the obnoxious holiday quilt Grams had given her a couple years ago.
"My hero," Nova said, a fond smile on her face grew on her face when she caught sight of Merlin napping on the floor, soaking in the last of the afternoon sunlight that spilled through the open curtains.
"We ran out of eggs, and milk, so dad and I are going to stop by the grocery store before we go to the party - did you want anything?" Bonnie inquired as she stood up from the bed.
And suddenly her sister's curled hair made so much more sense.
Fuck, the party had completely slipped from her mind.
"Yeah, some Oreos would be great right about now," she said, wincing as her head swam when she made the attempt of getting out of bed.
"Ok, I'll add it to the list." Bonnie sent her another worried glance but eventually leaving the room when someone, supposedly their dad, sent her a text.
"Oh! And get ice cream too!" she shouted, wincing at her own volume.
"Are you sure that's healthy!?" Nova heard her sister yell back, making her roll of her eyes at her sister's concern for her health - it was definitely hypocritical of her to be annoyed by someone being concerned about her eating habits when she was the same way with her friends.
But seven fucking hells, all she wanted was a good sugar high - was that too hard to ask for?
"No! But could you get anyway, mom!?"
"...Fine, but don't complain to me when you get a stomach ache to go along with your headache!"
Nova sighed heavily but her lips twitched into a smile, her amused brown eyes locked with her Familiar's irritated green eyes. "Can you believe her?" she said, finally having the strength to move, she slid out of bed.
Or, at least she thought she had the strength, her body seemed to disagree with her as her ankle tangled itself in her sheets and instead of stepping the fuck out of the sheets, a wave of dizziness struck her and her body dropped face first into the floor.
She was too tired to move and so she just laid there.
Maybe she could just stay here, on the floor.
It was a nice floor, she idly thought, though it was a little dirty she noticed the dust laying underneath her bed, it was the one place she always forgets to clean.
Nova felt sharp nails digging into her hand, making her wince and abruptly ending her overdramatic thoughts, her head snapped up to meet Merlin's judgemental stare.
"Why the hell is everyone so judgemental today?" She complained under her breath, reluctantly getting up off the floor and dusting herself off.
She was covered in acrylic paint, so she grabbed her toiletries and the only clean robe from her closet before going into the bathroom downstairs.
It had baby blue tiles covering the floor, cream walls, a white toilet and a matching ceramic sink that stood next to the light grey freestanding bathtub. It was also cramped compared to the bathroom upstairs, but she's gotten dressed in worst places and the tub was calling her name today.
Nova made sure the water was just the right temperature before putting in the tub stopper in place, her brown eyes were drawn upwards as she poured a shit ton of lavender and vanilla bubble bath in.
Merlin was meowing softly, staring at her with big pitiful green eyes as he sat in the doorway but didn't dare enter the bathroom.
"Don't worry, it's not for you, you big fucking baby," she told him dryly, rolling her eyes when he immediately calmed down.
So much for being an intimidating Demon Spirit, she thought, watching with a small smile on her face as he still ran away from the sound of rushing water.
Throughout the time she spent brushing her teeth, her stomach wouldn't stop growling, not to mention she still felt like she was going to collapse from the lack of sugar and water in her body.
And so she left the bath to fill up with warm water and went into the kitchen.
Nova pouted when she remembered they were out of eggs and milk, but she eventually settled on making herself a few sandwiches. As she waited for the pepper jack cheese to melt on homemade bread, she curiously opened one of the books Grams had left for the twins to read over for the month.
She turned the page extremely carefully when she noticed it was one of the many spell books of her great-grandmother.
Grams didn't talk about her mom a lot but considering when she did talk about her it wasn't in scorn, she could take a guess that it was less about a shitty relationship and more likely about the fact that most Bennetts die young and horribly.
She quickly noticed that most of what was written in Amelia Bennetts spellbook was about Traditional Magic, with some elixir/potion recipes and runes thrown in here and there.
The spells were interesting and she would look at them in detail later, but the latter two had piqued her interest more.
Potions because, well, they were fucking potions and her nerd brain always went straight to Harry Potter when thinking about potions.
And runes because it turns out making a rune that helped turn Vampires to fucking ashes didn't make her wary, it just made her even more interest in the subject; it always gave her a fucking headache trying to figure them out, but it was still fucking awesome to try and learn.
There was one rune, in particular, she was interested in right now; it was essentially a runic compass spell for magical objects.
All you have to do is draw the rune anywhere on your body, think of the magical object you want to find while chanting the spell that activates the rune and the rune will heat up depending on how close the object is -
It was basically a more painful game of hot and cold.
Nova gulped down her third glass of water before sliding her grilled cheese sandwiches out of the frying pan onto the only clean plate in the cabinet.
She slowly flipped the pages with her Magic while she ate, her amazing multitasking skills aside, she barely finished reading two pages before she was finished eating.
"What do you think, Merlin? - would Grams kill me if I took this in the bathtub with me?" Nova asked rhetorically because she definitely knew the answer was a resounding fuck yes - especially considering all the times she's dropped her phone in the tub.
Merlin had somehow managed to climb up into the kitchen window sill, once again soaking up the sunlight; the way he looked at her made her come to the conclusion that even though he couldn't speak, the little shit would find some way to rat her out.
And so she groaned, leaving the book on the kitchen counter where she found it.
Nova sank into the bathtub with a sigh, bubbles surrounding her from all sides as she relaxed into the warm water with music playing from her phone.
Well, she tried to relax, but ten minutes later her eyes darted towards the closed door when she heard a door slam, her shoulders were tense as she heard floorboards creak.
Nova only relaxed when she felt her sister's Magic, sighing in annoyance at her own paranoia, she sunk further into the tub, closing her eyes as the door open.
"You know there's this thing called knocking, I hear it's polite to do before entering a closed door," Nova snarked at her sister in greeting, opening one eye when her sister snorted.
"And you don't do the same thing whenever I'm in the shower?" Bonnie questioned rhetorically, her eyebrow raised high.
"I never said I was polite," Nova said with a shrug her shoulders, unapologetic as she was called out on her hypocrisy, she knows.
"Did you get the goods?" she asked, a deadly serious expression on her face as she made grabby hands at the bag in her sister's hand.
Bonnie rolled her eyes at her sister but walked all the way into the bathroom and handed her the reusable grocery bag with a tiny smile on her face.
Nova looked inside, her heart bursting when she saw it was filled with two things of classic Oreos and a small tub of vanilla bean ice cream.
"You're my favorite twin sister," Nova declared, already pulling out the items and setting them on the wooden stool that she had placed her phone on.
"...I'm your only twin sister," Bonnie reminded her, sitting down on the floor next to the tub before handing her one of the big silver spoons in her hand.
"Technicalities aside, thanks for giving me sugar," she said with an eager grin as she accepted the spoon, using her hand to crush some Oreos on top of the vanilla ice cream.
Bonnie chewed on an oreo, watching with regret in her eyes as her twin devoured two spoonfuls within seconds.
"...I feel like I'm going to regret it later."
"And I feel like I should be insulted, but - same, Bon. Same."
Bonnie grabbed a spoonful of ice cream and a few more Oreos before leaving the bathroom to help their dad with the rest of the groceries.
Nova stopped herself once she finished almost two rows of Oreos and actually started cleaning herself. But by the time she got out of the tub the bubbles were long gone, the water was cold and her fingers were pruned.
Wrinkly fingers aside, she was ten times more energetic, her headache was gone but she knew she would eventually have to deal with the sugar crash she would definitely be having later.
Nova quickly put an outfit together once she was in her room, but by the time she was finished flat ironing and curling her hair, her twin, having caught a ride with Elena and Stefan was long gone.
And no doubt suffering as she was reduced to a third-wheel for the duration of the car ride.
Nova had declined her sister's offer for them to wait for her to finish getting dressed for that exact reason. She would rather ride her bike to a party and risk looking like a loser to a bunch of drunk and immature teens than suffer being a fourth-wheel to Stelena.
Nova took a quick picture of the dress she had picked out and sent it to Caroline, who had been ranting to her via text about how everyone seemed to think that the only colors available during holiday parties were red and green.
And of course her blonde best friend wanted to check to see if Nova was going to be wearing any of those colors, so she could roast her to hell and back no doubt.
'proof i can't wear anything that isn't black ;P - Nova'
Nova slipped thick black lace leggings on before sitting down at her vanity and taking a look at herself in the mirror, there were dark circles underneath her eyes and more than a few acne bumps on her cheeks.
It was times like these that she hated being a teenager again.
'At least u will stand out in the eyesore of red/green - Caroline'
Nova snorted in amusement at the reply before covering up her dark circles as best she could with concealer and pressed powder. She put on a lot of stackable rings as she waited for her makeup to dry.
Dry enough, she thought impatiently before tugging the dress over her hips, sliding the spaghetti straps over her arms and onto her shoulders.
As she straightened her dress out in the vanity mirror, she noticed with a sly grin that the bodycon dress fit her perfectly - thank fuck, ordering online was always a hit and miss and she hated wasting money.
Well, she hated wasting her own money, others people money were fair game.
Nova shrugged on a button up black cardigan over her dress and started applying a dark maroon lipstick when the doorbell ringing startled her; the sound almost caused her to smear lipstick on her chin, she winced when it hit her teeth instead.
She rubbed it off her teeth with a grimace, rolling her eyes in annoyance when the doorbell rang again, figuring her dad was in the bathroom or something, she ran down the stairs to answer the door.
Nova swung open the door with a mildly annoyed look on her face that only increased tenfold when she saw who was at the door.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she practically hissed at the Vampire at the door, her shoulders tense as she tried to listen out for her dad.
"Just picking up my date," Damon replied with a casual smirk on his face, completely unconcerned with her panicking state as he slowly ran his eyes up and down her figure.
"Not a date," she automatically denied, resolutely ignoring the flush in her cheeks.
Whatever he was going to quip in response to that was cut off when she quickly slammed the door in his face as her father walked out of the bathroom and into the living room.
"Who was that?"
"No one important, just a cab that I called to drive me to the Lockwood mansion," she was quick on her feet to find a suitable lie, a strained smile on her face as hoped that the asshole didn't try to open the door.
Why did she invite him into the house again?
Oh, right, to gain his stupid trust and show she wasn't afraid of him.
Fucking stupid idea.
"Oh, I didn't know cab drivers rang doorbells nowadays," Rudy said carefully, looking at her a little suspiciously.
"Uh, yeah, it's a new thing called... Uber," she continued to lie, praying to every deity known that Uber was invented now - hell, she fucking hoped it fucking existed in this universe.
"Never heard of it," he remarked, but he no longer staring at her suspiciously as he sat down on the couch and unpaused the movie he was using as background noise to help get through paperwork.
Thank Nature that actually fucking worked, she thought, just barely withholding a loud loud sigh.
"Give it a couple years, it'll be all the rage soon enough," she told him, amusement clear in her voice before she ran upstairs to grab her things.
Nova quickly strapped on a pair of black high heels, a matching clutch with her valid items inside - phone, keys, lipstick, etc - and pulled on her black leather coat with faux fur lining before she ran back down the stairs.
"I'm expecting you and your sister home by eleven!" Rudy reminded as she practically ran out of the house, surprisingly fast for someone who was wearing four-inch heels.
"Okay! Love you, bye!" she replied quickly, shutting the door behind her.
Nova walked down the steps, looking around the quiet streets with narrowed eyes, her eyes were eventually drawn to where the asshole was, leaning on the hood of his car.
"Someone's in a bad mood," Damon speculated when he noticed her glaring at him.
"No shit, Sherlock," she replied back scathingly, opening the car door without another glance in his direction.
She was forced to meet his eyes as he held the door hostage, casually keeping it open with one seemingly relaxed hand on the door.
"Come on, Willow. Tell me, what's got your panties in such a twist?" Damon asked her with a teasing smile on his face as he watched her cringed at the idiom.
Folding her arms over her chest, Nova inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth before she said anything she would regret. Looking at him, she thought to herself that he surprisingly seemed patient as he waited for her to answer.
"I know it's probably useless, but I... I want to keep my dad away from vampire bullshit - and, full offense, you and your brother classify as vampire bullshit," she explained, carefully eyeing him for a reaction.
Dad knew more now than he did a month ago, but he knew the footnotes version of events and he isn't involved as much the twins are and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as she could.
"Keep papa Bennett in the dark, got it," he quipped with an understanding look in his eyes as he let go of the door and signaled for her to get in the car.