Irritated, Amara opens her front door. Her head was tilted to keep the telephone clamped between her ear and shoulder. In her free hand, she held a bottle of vodka, a drink she was always in need of when talking with her delightful ex.
"Brad, if you ever show up at my work again, I'm going to rearrange your organs and not in a fun way." Amara threatens. She rolls her eyes upon hearing his stammered reply, he was once more trying to make up excuses to come near her.
This had been the third time he had sneaked into the club. She had warned the bouncers to keep him out, but he somehow kept finding his way in.
Finally taking notice of the group of people, Amara lets her eyes go over them. They looked like an odd bunch, and she wonders briefly if these were 'customers' of one of her neighbors. Such people often found themselves lost.
"Just stay away, or better yet, go find yourself another college student to bury your sorrows in." Amara replies, her tone less bitter than she would have hoped. After receiving no response, she ends the call, tossing the phone into her living room, not caring where it landed. The prepaid phone was nearly indestructible anyway.
Amara turns her attention back to the group of strangers at the door. They were staring at her as if she had grown an extra head. Amara assumed they had come with a purpose, and she would really appreciate it if they got down to business, seeing as they were currently wasting precious minutes of her free time.
"Yes?" Amara makes an impatient gesture with her hand.
"Good evening, my name is Elijah, and I was wonder-" One of the men steps forwards, halting just in front of the doorstep.
"Great, let me stop you there. Did you see the sticker? " Amara cuts the man off whilst unscrewing the lid of the bottle she was still holding.
"Pardon?" Elijah gives Amara a confused look.
"No sale at my door." Amara points at the bright orange sticker that she had stuck to her door a few days ago. "I've already dismissed four Jehovah witnesses this week alone. Just read the stickers, man. Have a nice evening." Amara snaps, losing her patience. This man had some nerve trying to hold a sales pitch at this ungodly hour. She takes a step back to close the door in the man's face.
"No, wait! We're not selling anything!" Another man spoke up.
Amara halts in her movement and eyes the young man suspiciously. "If you're not selling, then what do you want?"
"We would like to use your phone if that's alright." A third man spoke up, gazing intently into Amara's eyes.
"Yeah you know, it's late, I'm tired, and I've got some more yelling to do, so I can't help you." Amara was close to slapping these intrusive strangers. They could have gone for any door in the street, but it had to be hers, of course.
"But-umm, feel free to try it with my neighbors, they have dogs, I'm sure they can help you. Good luck buddy." Amara waves her hand dismissively in the direction of the house on her right. She shoots them a fake smile before slamming the door shut.
• • •
"Did she just call me buddy?" Niklaus asks, looking incredibly offended. "Did she just-I'm not a buddy, I'm the Original hybrid!"
"I think we have bigger problems at our hands than your bruised ego, Nik. For example, that we all landed in the middle of nowhere after Finn here tried to get us all killed!" Rebekah shouts. She was ready to slam Niklaus' head against the nearest wall, prioritizing had always been a bit of an issue for the hybrid.
"People fear me, cower at my name! No one cowers at the name 'buddy'!" Niklaus rants, uttering the name as if it was something rather unpleasant.
"What about the fact that the rude woman who just slammed the door in our faces is apparently my soulmate." Elijah deadpans. He had imagined several times what it would be like to find his soul mate. In these dream scenarios, his mate was often already waiting for him and overjoyed to see him. He had never pictured his mate to be a woman in her early twenties, grumpy and most likely tipsy.
"See, that's where you're wrong, Eli. She's my mate." Niklaus points out, looking ready to tackle the older Mikaelson for even suggesting such a preposterous concept. He was already experiencing enough stress about the transportation situation and the rather rude treatment of the woman behind the door, he would not add Elijah's delusional depictions to his list of grievances.
"You're both wrong." Kol interjects. "She's obviously my mine, I felt that connection the moment she cut Elijah off." Kol boasts, already looking forwards to the prospect of both him and his mate pestering Elijah.
Elijah rolls his eyes at Kol's remark and turns to face Finn, who hadn't said a word upon laying his eyes on the woman.
"This might become a problem." Finn mumbles, grimacing at the thought of sharing his mate with his little brothers.
• • •
Amara is almost in the kitchen when the doorbell rings again. She groans in annoyance and decidedly ignores the bell. Surely the strangers would take the hint and eventually give up.
She searches her fridge, eyes squeezed close as the ringing noise is now non-stop. Remarkably enough, she could hear the bickering of the people outside through the ringing noise.
"Kol! Knock it off!"
"I just want to see her again!"
"She's not going to like you any better if you abuse her doorbell!"
"She might-"
"Ow!"
"Morons!"
The bell has finally stopped ringing, and Amara flops herself onto the couch with a content sigh, a late-night snack in her hands. This moment of peace is short-lived as she is now being disturbed by a thumping noise. "Have those idiots gone completely mad?" She mutters as she reluctantly abandons her couch.
"Why are you still here?" Amara shouts as she tears the door open. She grimaces as she sees one of the men lying slumped on the door. She suspected him to have been leaning against the door and hadn't expected it to be opened. This must be Kol.
"Please let us in. We need to use the phone." Kol begs, still lying on the ground and looking up at Amara with what must have been his puppy eyes. "And I really need to use the loo, please!" He adds as an afterthought, believing that the human would take pity on him.
"No, you could be serial killers." Amara deadpans. Although the chances were slim, it was still a possibility and her life was already shitty enough without taking the unnecessary risk of letting these psychos into her home.
"If we were, we would have already killed you. " Niklaus points out, smirking at Amara.
Amara shrugs. "Fair point." She walks back to her couch, leaving the door open for the group to enter her home.
The Mikaelsons stare at the girl, awkwardly waiting for a bit of a warmer welcome, or better yet, an invitation.
"I thought you needed to pee?" Amara asks as she sees the group still standing outside, huddled near her door.
"I do..." Kol nods, blushing a little.
"I'm not moving the toilet to you." Amara snickers, now flicking through the magazine she had bought herself earlier, a little treat for putting up with another week at her job.
"Perhaps you could invite us in? We are very keen on manners." Elijah suggests, awkwardly tapping the door frame. So far, he wasn't very successful in charming his mate, and he hoped matters would improve over time.
Amara blinks, dumbfounded at this obviously false statement. "Keen on manners?! Keen on- That one," She points at Kol. "Almost broke my door. How is that for being keen on manners?!"
"Yes, and he is very sorry." Elijah adds, bowing his head to display his regret, whilst elbowing Kol in the ribs."
Kol takes on a remorseful expression, copying his brother.
"Alright, come in."
"Elijah."
"You seriously want me to invite you in one by one?" Amara deadpans. Who the heck did this guy think he was, the queen of England? "Fine, please come in, Elijah."
"Well, no need to beg, dear." Elijah replies smoothly. He shot the rest of his siblings a smug little smile before stepping over the threshold.
Amara looks thoroughly underwhelmed at Elijah's remark and is close to pushing him right back out again.
"I'm Kol, and I want to use your bathroom." Kol blurts out, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. He hoped his mate would still let him in after his little incident with the door. "Please."
"Come in, Kol." Amara sighs, rolling her eyes at the fact that she had actually given in to their ridiculous demand.
Kol steps inside and immediately walks into the hall, as if he already knows the layout of the house. He starts to open random doors.
"Rebekah." The blonde woman offers, looking expectantly at the human.
"I'm Finn." Another man adds at the same time.
"Come in, Rebekah, Finn." Amara was already regretting her newfound sense of hospitality.
The two walk inside and Rebekah instantly collapses on the couch, kicking her heels off in the process.
Rebekah had had a horrible night, she was almost killed by her own mother and had to spend an evening with the doppelgänger of all people. She thought with delight of the fit of anger Elena would have when they were to return, alive and well. How wonderful it would be to rub their triumph in the face of the doppelgänger before finally ending the girl's miserable little life.
Finn also takes a seat, far more controlled than his sister, and lets his gaze roam the room.
"Niklaus." The last man mutters, annoyed with being the last man standing outside.
Amara frowns. "Niklaus." She lets the name roll over her tongue. "I have heard that name before." She wonders if she had seen him in the club before. "What's your last name?"
"Mikaelson." Elijah replies, whilst curiously gazing around the living room. This woman was quite cluttered.
Amara blinks for a moment, racking her brain trying to remember where she had heard the name before, when it clicks and a look of contempt crosses her face. "Oh god. You're those assholes from that TV show."
"Assholes?!" Niklaus shouts, looking deeply insulted.
"Sorry, I mean the villains." Amara quickly corrects herself upon seeing the unamused expressions of her 'guests'. Her apology was far from sincere, but there was an attempt.
"Don't take it to heart, the whole show kind of sucked. I only watched it because there was a character with my name in it." Amara admits, smiling sheepishly.
"We are in a TV show?" Rebekah asks carefully, hoping she had misheard or that this human was delusional. There was no way they were in their own world. Rebekah would have certainly known if her life had been some sort of reality show. She would have bloody directed the show if that were the case.
"Yeah? You should know this, seeing as you acted in it? I'm just wondering why you guys are in character? And why you can't afford your own phone? Did your careers go downhill this quickly?" Amara asks, eyeing the people suspiciously.
"Why didn't you enjoy this TV show?" Finn asks, trying to distract his mate from asking difficult questions. Whatever was going on, he secretly hoped she had liked his character.
"It just wasn't my thing. With the whole 'I'm Elena and I can't choose between Stefan and Damon' storyline." Amara replies, using a whiny voice.
Rebekah laughs. "That does sound like her." She decides on the spot that she quite liked this coarse human.
"Could you, maybe. I don't know, invite me in as well?" Niklaus asks, looking close to snapping someone's neck.
All of his brothers, even Finn, got to enjoy being in close proximity to his mate. Niklaus was almost certain that his brothers were mistaken in thinking they shared a mate. Niklaus didn't share, and he would make sure they would also know this.
"Ah, yes. You were the one with the daddy issues." Amara comments, looking quite pleased with herself for remembering. It had been over five years since she had last seen the show and didn't remember much, which she was thankful for.
"Excuse me-" Niklaus asks, indignation clear in his tone.
"Hey, no need to be ashamed. We can exchange stories about our horrible fathers." Amara deadpans, grinning at the supposed hybrid. She gets up from the couch to grab her laptop from her room.
"Hello? Invite? Please?!" Niklaus calls, growing a little desperate. Surely, she wouldn't leave him out here, right?
"Invite yourself in, this isn't the TV show." Amara calls over her shoulder. She's been playing their game long enough, the fact that there were a bunch of actors in her living room didn't mean much to Amara.
"I. Literally. Can't." Niklaus grits out.
"We're not actors." Elijah says, clearing his throat awkwardly. He was starting to take pity on his brother. The Original had hoped to postpone this conversation until their mate was a little more accustomed to their presence, but desperate times...
"If you seriously claim to be vampires, then I'm a unicorn." Amara says, shooting Elijah an epic bitch face.
"I've never met a unicorn before." Kol replies, grinning at his mate.
"Prove it." Amara demands, not in the mood for jokes. She wasn't sure why she was even indulging in this nonsense.
"No, I'm not showing you my fangs." Kol protests immediately, covering his mouth with his hand. He didn't want to scare his mate in their first moments together. This was supposed to be romantic and memorable.
"Worried about the size of them?" Amara asks in mock concern, giving Kol an extra friendly smile whilst pinching her index finger and thumb together.
Kol is about to shout that his fangs are a perfectly normal length, maybe even above average, when he is being pushed aside by Rebekah.
"Let me." Rebekah offers before elongating her fangs, dark veins webbing under her eyes.
"This is insane." Amara mutters, taking a step toward the blonde.
Without further thought, Amara leans forward and pokes one of the fangs with her index finger. "Ow." She retracts her finger, looking sadly at her pierced finger. She hoped the vampire didn't happen to have any STDs.
"What did you expect to happen?" Rebekah deadpans after her face returned to normal, decidedly ignoring the scent of Amara's blood.
"I don't know." Amara mutters. "They looked a lot less sharp on the show. Do you guys ever bite your own tongue?" She now looked a little more excited with the company of the Mikaelsons.
"I'm still outside!" Niklaus snaps, waving his arms up and down to gain their attention.