I'm sorry, I'm gonna have nothing left soon aha! I just can't help it; I keep thinking about how impatient I get when I'm reading a story and knowing that the author is working on many future chapters and I just.

Yeah.

Anyway! I've just started on chapter 7 and have finally reached the pilot episode! I'm doing it all off memory because ugh I don't think I have the patience to watch it all again though if I get lost I'll probably youtube. Or hop on Stan.

Shrug

Anyway! I wanted to thank Vampires are Awesome for my first review!

Let me know what you think 😊

Chapter 4

"I mean, I get it, I do, her parents died and its tragic and sad but really, is it too much to ask to be told that she isn't coming? I planned everything, I had allocated slots of who did what, where and who was leading that squad, you know? Elena was supposed to be my second in command and she couldn't let me know that she was going to bail so that I could organise someone else to take the newbies? Ugh, I say all of this with sympathy and sensitivity and respect for the dead, yada, yada, but come on! Camp had been planned since January! It wasn't like it was last minute!"

Lia nodded as she slurped on her thick shake – strawberry with white chocolate shavings – listening to Caroline get her frustrations off her chest. While Lia was still a little confused as to what the point of cheerleading was (mainly because she hadn't come across any cheerleaders other than Caroline and her YouTube findings had simply shown her that cheerleaders cheer. Like, was that it?), she could still sympathise with plans going up in smoke. Her own plans, while not going pear-shaped, were taking longer than she'd hoped because she'd underestimated how much her poor Enzo had to learn. He'd apparently been at Whitmore for 60 years! The injustice rankled her, but she couldn't do anything about it now. Sheriff Forbes had contacted her regarding the police case they'd finally found regarding her 'parents' deaths. They didn't have a current mobile number on file for Enzo so he was taking a little longer to track down, though he would make his appearance in the next week back at the station he'd filed the report with, telling them he'd had no luck looking at all the regular places they used to go and that he'd lost his phone not 2 days after he'd filed his report, completely forgetting in his grief to let the police know.

Slowly but surely, everything was coming up Milhouse.

"You should join."

Lia blinked before raising her eyebrow at the blonde in disbelief.

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea," she giggled, stirring her straw around the half-empty cup. "I may not look it, but I'm quite heavy. Your girls wouldn't be able to lift me, and it would look ridiculous having me lift them." She gently pushed her black locks behind her ear before meeting Caroline's sceptical eyes across the table they were sitting at in the Grill. "Ok, look. If you can lift me, I will 100% join the team."

"No take-backs," Care immediately stated, nose raised high and eyebrows jumping in victory as she smirked at the shorter girl. No way would she lose. Her competitive streak was already rearing its aggressive head.

Lia took another sip of her drink, smirking internally. She was a mermaid; when they were in their true forms, they weren't light. If they were, they'd get swept up by the currents too easily and dragged away from their homes. Of course, her human form was much lighter, but she easily weighed 200-250 pounds as she was right now. Not heavy for the average human, but for a flier on a cheer squad?

Yeah.

"How much longer do we have of summer, anyway? When does school start?" It was nearly the end of July. Lia genuinely couldn't wait until she didn't have to eat food anymore. It still settled funny in her belly and ugh holidays made food multiply. She officially promised herself never to accept an invite on July 4th again.

By the Gods, though, she would never give up ice cream in any of its forms.

She'd taken John Travolta's curiosity to heart and had to know what a $5 milkshake tastes like.

It's a pretty fucking good milkshake, indeed.

Pop culture was the shit.

"Ugh, don't even talk to me about school starting back. I'm not ready yet."

"Wow, Care, tell us how you really feel."

Caroline's head snapped to the side so quickly, her growing blonde hair whipped itself across her eyes. Vision clearing, she rolled her eyes as she saw Bonnie with an unimpressed eyebrow raised in her direction.

"Oh, please, no one wants to talk about school yet," Caroline scoffed, her haughty expression immediately turning an odd mixture of angry and concerned. "How's Elena?"

"She's doing about as well as she can be," the brunette dropped into the seat next to Caroline before turning to the teen that her Grams couldn't stop grumbling about. As crazy as her Grams was, with all her talk of mystical energy and witches, even Bonnie had to admit there was something other about the girl across from her. Too pretty, too bright, too much.

"Hey, sorry we haven't met yet, I've been tied up with the cheer camp and also trying to be there for Elena. I'm Bonnie," sticking her hand out, she offered a small smile to the newcomer.

Lia was curious. She knew Bonnie was a witch, no matter how young and untrained, and thus far no witch had actually touched her. So, offering her best smile, she reached out to shake the witch's hand while introducing herself.

Chilling frost. Sweltering heat. Calming waves. Raging storms.

Old. Power. Eternal.

And just like that, Bonnie was both in awe and terrified of the woman that looked to be no more than an inch taller than her. Bonnie saw nothing but the deepest blue and felt too much.

Leaving the Bennett witch to come back into herself in her own time, Lia turned to Care with a carefree smile.

"Oh, hey, our shopping trip tomorrow; I'm thinking somewhere new, or at least somewhere not Richmond. Is there anywhere new?"

Another thing that was brilliant about Slater; he had factored in money. Lia was now a very rich orphan thanks to very rich parents and life insurance. Vampires were so nifty and Slater was awesome.

He'd totally introduced her to the wonders of Johnny Depp.

The girls discussed their trip with Bonnie awkwardly joining in toward the end, adamant that she couldn't join the pair. Noticing the time, however, Lia decided it was time to get back to the boarding house before Zach got back, the man having been called out to another council meeting – the 4th one in as many weeks, in fact, no doubt regarding the 'animal attacks' that had been becoming a tad too frequent as the summer progressed. From what she'd overheard, if the attacks got any closer to Mystic Falls, the whole town would be given a curfew.

With one last slurp of her very empty cup, Lia reached over and kissed Care on the cheek, waved to Bonnie before skipping out the exit, leaving the two friends to their drinks, Bonnie's having just been delivered by Vicki who was glaring after the joyful girl.

*TVDM*

As soon as bouncing raven waves and curls were out of sight, Bonnie immediately rounded on Caroline, looking serious, disbelieving and a little scared all at once.

"Caroline, how well do you know Kaliope? Are you sure you should be hanging out with someone that literally stumbled into town?"

Caroline, visibly startled by how serious Bonnie sounded, was immediately offended for both herself and Lia as soon as the words registered.

"Wha-? Bonnie, that's so rude! She doesn't know where her last remaining family member is! Her parents were murdered. Mum said a hacker was obsessed with her and did his best to delete everything relating to her old life, wanting to hide her away in a real-life Rapunzel type situation. They only just found out that her brother is still out there looking for her. I can't believe you!"

Bonnie tried to backtrack immediately, feeling a little bad that she'd jumped to conclusions about the now-orphan. "No, Care, that's not what I meant. She's… different."

"Are you jealous?" Caroline scoffed while tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I know she's prettier than, like, everyone on the planet, but you don't need to hate her on sight, Bonnie. You have Elena, why can't I have Lia?" and with that, Caroline grabbed her purse and threw some bills on the table before strutting out with every intention of heading home. She would plan her outfit for their shopping trip tomorrow to cool her head. With an assuring nod, she picked up her pace, already sorting through colours in her head.

*TVDM*

Lia knew how to get to the vervain.

She wanted to make sure that she could switch the plants out in a wink for when Enzo rocked into town. She should have done it sooner, but she was a little busy wanting to be a teen with Caroline. Since Slater had cast his magic spell, she hadn't been able to stop shopping because books were amazing and she needed all of them but more importantly, a laptop, because the internet was truly a gift!

Lia had been not-so-secretly learning everything. She'd catch the exasperated looks sent her way by anyone that was in the vicinity when her head was buried in pages or scrolling through them. YouTube was obviously a god-made invention, mortals weren't that clever, but oh did they utilise it well!

Digressing. Vervain. She'd already pinched some and had it tucked away in the back of her closet in a zip-lock bag that was in another zip-lock bag just in case. The problem was that didn't know what she could swap it out with, she didn't know what could replace the taste, but she knew it looked kind of like lavender.

Bottom line, she didn't have much to work with.

At all.

Holding a frustrated sigh in her cheeks, she released it with a huff, turning from where she'd been staring down the not-so-secret door to make her way up to her room when the doorbell rang. Startled and curious, Lia skipped over to the door, near-ripping it open and seeing someone she'd never met before. Droopy blue eyes, sandy brown hair that swept over her forehead, age seemingly ranging in the early to mid 20s, shuffling his converse-clad feet while constantly changing his grip on the bag he had slung over one shoulder, wearing a very familiar ring while smelling distinctly of vampire. Lia's welcoming smile broadened, her mood going from polite to delighted as she took in her first glance of her immortal Ravenclaw.

"Slater!" she gushed, reaching out and gripping his hand between both of hers. "I'm so very happy to meet you in person! Oh, but where are my manners, please, come in!"

Slater smiled in childish wonder, taking one last look at the sun behind him before walking over the threshold. Though she did not have her name on the lease, this place had become the permanent residence of a divine being meaning that she had marked it as her place of worship, add to that her bond with the earth and vampire's bond to the earth and, well, bottom line was that, because of complexities, she could invite vampires inside.

She was da bomb.

"It's really good to meet you, too, Lia," Slater shyly scratched the back of his head, letting himself be dragged by the girl he had no idea would be this pretty. "I wanted to thank you, again, for, you know, the payment for my services. It's-" he released a huge breath, still finding it surreal. "It's awesome walking under the sun again. I was wondering if your witch contact would be willing to make another ring for my girlfriend? I kinda wanna-"

"Oh, Slater, no," Lia sounded regretful as she stopped, turning to face him. Slater startled, taking in the vastness of the library they now stood in before his attention snapped back to the siren, registering her words with a frown. "I'm so sorry, but your girlfriend - Alice, is it? - She's using you. What I am, it is steeped heavily in emotions and I can feel the lack of love given to you. Please, don't do that to yourself. She doesn't deserve it, and you deserve so much better."

Slater blinked before offering a sad smile to his new friend. He wanted to be angry, to defend Alice, but honestly, Lia was only repeating the thoughts that constantly swam through his head every time he spent any amount of time with his human girlfriend. Even though he knew in his heart it was true, it was still upsetting to hear.

Lia didn't like that smile, however, and immediately wrapped him up in a cuddle, softly singing a soothing song in a way that only a siren could and soothing an ache that he hadn't realised he'd been carrying. He immediately dropped his bag – full of a second set of clothing, his laptop and 6 external hard drives – and glomped her right back.

They stood like that for longer than either realised, Slater soaking in the supernatural sounds and Lia content to comfort her friend. Words weren't needed, not when one was friends with a mermaid.

Before too long, the song ended, Slater's tears had dried before he'd even realised he was crying and, with a newfound peace, Slater was raring to go.

With a final squeeze, Slater scrubbed his face with the sleeve of his thin hoodie, snatched his bag back up and threw an impish grin over his shoulder as he made his way to the sitting area.

"I didn't come here today for a song and a snuggle," Slater fiddled with his MacBook, lining up his hard drives while the laptop turned on. "I was hoping that you'd be willing to answer my questions about your species. Also, I couldn't not come, even if just to visit you, because this is Mystic Falls, and I'm currently sitting in the Salvatore boarding house, as in, Damon and Stefan Salvatore, turned by Katherine Pierce in 1864. Just, whoa."

"Stefan's back in town, by the way," Lia laughed, walking over and falling into the seat next to him. "Just don't ask me where he is. Seriously, who knows with that boy."

"Really?" Slater's breath left him momentarily, an excited smile gracing his face before he cleared his throat once more, turning to the water sprite with a mockingly serious expression. "Stop it, or I'll have to move out here. Now, Miss Kaliope, please tell the class, how does The Little Mermaid differ from the truth of merfolk?"

A tinkling giggle escaped her before she rolled her eyes. "I'll start by saying that being a siren means wanting to know everything. Think toddler learning how the world works. Coming here, having access to the internet, something that isn't a thing on my home planet of, essentially, swords and magic, is enthralling. Us merfolk all have our own collection of whose-its, what's-its and thing-a-ma-bobs. We don'tneed a sea witch to give us legs, though." Lia further proved the point by wiggling her black-tipped toes before wiggling her black fingernails as well. "One of the side effects of shifting; our nails, they keep to the colour of our tails. Our ability to shift, much like all our abilities, come with age. My mum, for instance, when she hit 2,500, she gained the Sight, you know, glimpses of what could be. Drove her near insane for a century trying to make sense of it all; despite popular belief, the future is not set in stone, but rather, has many paths that could be taken at any given time," Lia ran her hand through her hair, puffing out a sigh as she reflected. "Yeah, she spent a lot of that century living in her head. Human shifting happens sometime around our 800th birthday. I was a late bloomer, nearing my 847th name day by the time I could shift, though I was 860 years old by the time I had mastered the art of using the blasted things."

Slater laughed, half incredulously and half at the blush that painted her delicate cheeks at the admission. "So, what other abilities do sirens have? Is there a limit to how many one can get? Are you immortal? What exactly do you do with souls? You said before your kind was 'steeped in emotion,' what does that mean?"

Lia blinked at the influx of questions before smiling, entertained by the very mer-esque interrogation.

"There's not really a limit as far as I know, though we can develop our own abilities to an extent, and that's because we are descended from the copulation of Calliope, the voice and mother of the muses and Achelous, a river god. We are inventive, curious, creative immortal creatures of water. We could never wield fire for instance, we simply do not have the connection, but just over 1,000 years ago I figured out how to manipulate the air," the smug tone of Lia's voice drooped along with her shoulders. "Kind of wish I'd kept that to myself, though. Some of the more… unfriendly merfolk learnt how to create storms with that knowledge, causing so many shipwrecks. Just, ugh, finding dead bits in the water was a near-daily occurrence for months." Scrubbing her hand over her face in an oddly elegant display of exasperation, Lia continued on. "Anyway, water creation and manipulation are a breeze, anything from steam to ice I'm able to create and use and can wielf air to create anything from a gentle breeze to a catastrophic tornado."

Lia paused, shifting in her seat a little while looking anywhere but Slater. Frowning, Slater thought he caught a pink tint to her usually pale cheeks. "I, uh, will admit, I'm currently teaching myself how to make wind blades," embarrassment slid off the siren, her gaze meeting Slater's with a burning passion. "Naruto is an inspiration. I'll be damned if I don't try at least that much. Could you imagine if I mastered any of the Jutsu that Naruto could teach me?" Lia blinked a few times, clearing her mind of whatever image she'd conjured before clearing her throat and hurrying along. "Uh, I'm stronger than you vampires, faster and then there's my voice."

Lia paused, trying to think of the best way to describe the power that only a siren could truly understand.

"It's… well, the first thing you have to understand is that our voices come from divinity. As much as I say I'm a divine being, its really more along the lines of my vessel was made divine to hold the divine voice that resides in it, a voice that truly shines in the water. Souls are immortal, they are the product of the gods when they touched the world, and even though this is not my planet, it doesn't change the fact that at least one Godly being had a hand in its creation. Otherwise, I would not be able to affect anyone that lives here, regardless of my new bond to this world. I will say that vampires are interesting on the soul-front," she turned her gaze to Slater, studying him with a calculative gleam. "I cannot remove anything from a vampire's soul, and that, I feel, has everything to do with your 'switch' that you proclaim you have. You see, a human being has 3 main parts; a heart to keep the vessel living, a brain to keep the vessel going, and a soul that keeps them feeling; 'moral' or 'human' as they so love to proclaim. Vampires have an extremely odd ability to… disconnect their own souls, and thereby 'turn off their humanity.'"

Slater blinked in surprise, his mouth dropping open slightly as he processed that bit of information. He closed his eyes with a frown, finding his own switch and studied it. He'd never really thought about what it was actually doing. It honestly looked like a door more than a switch, something that was left open to keep the emotion flowing. It was… fascinating, thinking that this simple design was literally the doorway to his soul.

"While my voice can affect a vampire's emotional state, adding to it, I will never be able to use it for my own gain as it seems that the blood magic that makes vampires is very possessive and doesn't like being taken from." Rolling her eyes slightly at the cliché that was a possessive vampire, Lia continued. "My voice doesn't affect anything except the soul. Sure, it would sound pleasant to someone with no soul, but it couldn't affect them emotionally because they don't have the piece of them that makes them feel; that houses all the love, hurt, peace, hate, anger, sadness, happiness, all of it. A soul is where your true heart lies. When I sing, I do not manipulate emotion, I can't 'change' them; I'm giving and taking actual feelings. Its why sailors are so willing to walk off their ships to find us; they spend weeks, months travelling the seas, missing family, friends, watching fellow crew members get sick and perish and then, when a siren sings their song of love, hope and comfort, their souls cry for that kind of relief. The man is lost and the soul takes over, tired of their miserable mortal lives and in desperate search of the Elysian Fields, or Heaven. I may be manipulating you into feeling something else, but it is in no way false… ugh, does that make sense at all?"

"Yeah," Slater breathed, shaking fingers making sure that his MacBook was still recording. "Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. How do you think a vampire would react with their switch flipped? Going by your logic, even though you can't take the memories imprinted on it, you can still affect it. How detached do you think a vampire truly is when they flip their switch? Would it be enough for the soul to reopen the connection rather than waiting for the brain?"

Frowning in thought as she stared at the table in front of her with her arms crossed, Lia finally looked up at the curious vampire, her lips pursed to the side.

"I really don't know."

*TVDM*

Bonnie wasn't in a hurry to get home.

She'd sat in the Grill for another 40 minutes after Caroline had left, eating her lunch while her thoughts bounced between berating herself for what she'd said to Caroline and wondering what Kaliope had done to Caroline, if anything. But that was a crazy thought and so backwards and forwards her brain went.

She'd then gone to check on Elena for a couple hours, tried visiting Caroline only to have a door slammed in her face, and, finally, she was back in her car, slowly making her way back to her Grams.

Slowly.

She wanted to talk to her Grams, but she really didn't. Knowing the old woman, though she loved her as her only real parental figure, she just knew she was probably already on her 6th glass of scotch.

But with all the 'you will understand your power soon, child,' her Grams had been spouting, she really wanted to know if this was part of it.

Her hand still tingled and aftershocks were sparking down her spine whenever she recalled Kaliope. The sheer weight that simply shaking her hand had added to Bonnie's shoulders made her feel like a goldfish faced with the vastness of a blue whale.

Slowly pulling into her Grams' driveway, Bonnie shut off her car, took a deep breath before squaring her shoulders and ploughing ahead.

"Grams, I'm home."

"By the TV, child," was the raspy response, coming from exactly where Bonnie thought it would.

Bonnie dropped her keys into her bag and dropped it on the dining table as she walked through the house, pausing slightly at the sight of the half-empty scotch bottle on the table beside her Grams' favourite armchair. Sighing, Bonnie dropped into the love seat next to her, ignoring the TV and just watching the woman who had raised her for the majority of her life.

"What is Kaliope?" Bonnie asked in a rush of breath, coming out too fast in her effort not to lose her nerve. She really didn't buy into what her Grams slurred when heavily into her drinks, but there was just no other explanation and God! She hoped this didn't make her insane!

"Now, why would you ask me that?" Sheila gave her a side eye before raising her glass to her lips once more, focussing back on the television. "What did she do?"

"What? No, nothing. She didn't-I, I just shook her hand and, just- you know what? It's probably nothing," Bonnie rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She had felt like nothing in Kaliope's presence; a feeling that probably had more to do with her self-esteem, now that she thought about it.

A surprisingly strong wrinkled hand shot out and held Bonnie in her seat.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing," Bonnie breathed, startled by the intensity of her grandmother's gaze. "I didn't see anything. I felt, Grams. I felt too much."

"Was it death?" Shelia demanded, her grip tightening.

"No. It was burning hot and so, so, cold and-and tranquillity and rage and love and hate and just too much."

Aged eyes widened in surprise at the awe that filled her granddaughter's voice, at the glazed look that had come to her eyes, at the shivering she felt travel through her hand where she still held the teen and up her arm.

Slowly, Sheila released Bonnie and sat back, turning her gaze back to her show and raising the glass till it was empty, a worried frown on her face. It was worse than she'd feared. Kaliope wasn't a vampire.

She was an unknown.

*TVDM*

When Zach tiredly pulled up to the boarding house that afternoon, he frowned at the sight of an old Toyota Corolla hatch, looked to be stuffed to the brim with clothes and computer stuff, parked in the driveway. Quickly throwing his own car in the garage, Zach made his way to the library, his long strides faltering slightly at the sound of laughter. He hadn't seen Stefan stick around for more than a minute since the pair had met, meaning Lia was here alone with a possible stranger. Raising an eyebrow, he continued to his destination at a calmer pace.

He blinked in surprise at the boy that was sitting next to her, a laptop with an external hard drive plugged in on the table between them as they watched something on the screen, giggling like children. The boy looked no older than his early 20s, faded jeans tucked into worn converse and a thin hoodie covering a rust-coloured shirt. Zach hadn't been here to invite him in, so he wasn't worried about a supernatural threat, but he was stumped as to whether he should be stepping into the role of a proper guardian by talking to Lia about having boys over without a chaperon.

"Mr. Zach! I didn't hear you come in!" Lia beamed, lying through her teeth. Both her and Slater had finished their interview near 2 hours ago; plenty of time for Slater save his recording (3 times between the laptop and 2 hard drives 'just to be safe') to run home, leave a note for Alice telling her he was breaking up with her and packing all his stuff into his car before returning. They'd been having a thrilling debate about the existence of werewolves and how extinct they truly were when they'd heard Zach pulling up, leaving Slater to quickly open his laptop back up and hit play on the first episode of the first season of 'The IT Crowd.'

Genuine. Gold.

"Lia, how has your day been?" Zach smiled slightly at the girl before going back to his examination of the young man, parental pride rearing its head as his gaze made the boy squirm.

"It's been fun! OH, I'm sorry! This is my friend, Slater. We met the other week at the college and have kept in touch. He's my very own Ravenclaw!" Lia gushed, so pleased that her and Slater were now friends. She'd never had many. Some sirens just didn't appreciate her uniqueness; besides, she could be serious.

Sometimes.

She was beginning to realise why it was her that had come to this planet and no other merfolk. They were all the worst combination of Slytherin and Ravenclaw, they probably would have done everything in their relatively vast power to get back home.

Lia was having the time of her life.

Plus, Harry Potter rules!

She would be a badger going to snuggle city in the Hufflepuff burrow fo' sho'.

"I see. Are you staying for dinner, Slater?" Zach asked politely, still not sure what to think of the nervous boy. He didn't want Lia to get in over her head after just getting over being the victim of an obsession and finding out that her parents were murdered. They'd had a long talk when Liz had delivered the news, and he completely understood where Lia was coming from. As she said, she barely remembered them, and the idea that a couple that she knew were her parents, but didn't feel were her parents, were dead… that was sad, but she just couldn't truly grievefor people she didn't know much about. She did cry for her missing brother, though.

"Actually, Mr Zach-uh, I mean, Mr Salvatore, sir," Slater wiped his hands on his jeans and stood to his full height, shorter than Zach by at least 3 inches. "I was actually wondering if I could rent a room in your establishment for the next few months. You see, classes have finished for the semester and my lease is finishing up in a week and I-uh, kind of broke up with my girlfriend because she was, uh, kind of using me, and so I was hoping that I could hide, I mean, stay here for a while."

The poor boy was squinting, as if bracing himself for laughter or impact. Zach sighed, smiling slightly even though he was uncomfortable with the idea of having another human here while Stefan stayed in town. It wasn't Stefan that he was worried about, per se. It was Damon. Stefan had been adamant that he hadn't seen his brother in 15 years, but all generations of Salvatore's knew that Damon liked to torment Stefan. He had a feeling he wasn't too far away.

"Yeah, that's fine, kid. I'll show you to your room. It will be in the same wing as Lia's so if you get lost you can just knock on her door." He started to lead the way to the stairs but paused, turning his head to look at the stunned expression on Slater's face. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about you ex."

"Wow." A gust of air blew past Slater's lips, his cheeks ballooning at the thought of sticking round the Salvatore Boarding House for an extended period of time, something that he would have never thought he'd be able to do. He struggled to swallow down his excitement. "Thank you, so much, just- yeah, thanks."

Turning away from the mortal, he picked up his laptop and backpack, grinning at Lia's thumbs up before jogging after the man.

This was so freaking cool.