Woo! I've gotten to the point where I'm rewriting every scene at least 3 times UGH
It's always been the struggle though, right? You have so much freedom in the beginning but the more you write, the more you construct the walls in which your story lives.
Anyway
It doesn't help that I got disctracted with the start of a One-Shot. I was like 'man I wish I was there' and then I was like 'dude, SI?' and I was like 'totally bro' so I started writing and then I had to smack me out of it because I promised myself I wouldn't post any other stories until I finished this one!
Bad me!
Anyway, as always, thank you for the love! I'm soooooo pleased I haven't received any negativity for my baby. Love you all!
Oh! QUESTION: Do you guys even go to a FF author's page, click on their 'favourite stories,' and sort by publish date to see if they still use the account?
I do. And I hate them a little bit when they haven't updated their stories in like 4 years and yet they read a story that was published like 4 months ago lol.
I often wonder if people used to do that to me lol
Anyway!
Enjoy!
Chapter 22"So, what should I know about the new big bad?" Damon asked casually, champagne glass in hand as he scanned the room. It was Saturday; the day of the tea party at Lockwood Manor and Lia was sure if she needed to sleep, she'd be passed out of a couch somewhere.
"He's a self-proclaimed man of honour that believes in family above all, and yet, he's willingly left his eldest brother in a box for 900 years, seen his youngest brother as nothing as a murderous, petulant child and now wants to kill his half-brother for hearsay," Lia summed up dryly, watching the waiters with their trays pass by. She wanted a milkshake. "I haven't been getting much on him and his sister; at most seeing the promise she, he and Niklaus made of 'forever and always.' He presents himself as a word-keeping nobleman but loves to find and make loopholes, and he has fantastic hair. If I see that arrogant smirk directed at me once more after his bullshit attempt to threaten me with Rose and Trevor, I will shove a stake so far up his arse he'll be coughing up splinters 'til Christmas."
Enzo, who still had Caroline's hand tucked into his elbow, grinned wickedly. "Do we have a plan for him today, then?"
Lia scoffed. "No, but if I see him, I'll be telling him what's what. No, I'm here to investigate all the pulsing and vibrating that's been coming from this house."
Caroline blinked. "Are you sexually frustrated? Is that what this is?"
Lia sighed heavily; a deadpanned look sent straight to the innocent-looking blonde. "It's a magical signature."
"Do all magical signatures pulse and vibrate? Sounds more like you've been reading too many romance novels."
"I'd be more than happy to take one for the team," Damon smirked salaciously. "I've been told I'm very good at scratching those particular itches."
"Why do I always have the worst timing?" Jeremy asked rhetorically as he came to a stop just beside Lia who immediately hugged him in greeting.
"Mimi, they're being so crass," Lia despaired. "I fear the vulgarity is contagious."
"A valid fear to have in present company," Jeremy nodded grimly. "I, too, fear that I may not leave these gatherings in the same state I arrived."
"Ugh, you guys are such weirdos," Caroline flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm leaving you to your magical throbbing; I've got mingling to do. Miss Mystic Falls won't win itself," and with that, the blonde flounced away.
Lia let out an incredulous scoff. "Loren, did you hear what your date just called me?" she raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Jeremy. "If she thinks she's getting my vote, she can think again, and then think of a way to make it up to me. She knows what I like."
Damon hummed in agreement. "Yes, I believe we all know what to do if we find ourselves in the dog house. For now, we have company."
Lia's eyes met with the hazel brown of Elijah's as he stepped into the room. His eyes flashed as he saw her, cautious intrigue dancing in their depths.
"Miss Athánatos, Mr Gilbert; a pleasure to see you again," Elijah's eyes immediately honed on the two vampires. "I don't believe we've met."
"Damon Salvatore, charmed, I'm sure you are," Damon smirked as he casually wrapped his arm around Lia's waist, making no move to shake his hand.
"Lorenzo St. John Athánatos. My friends call me Enzo; you can call me Mr Athánatos," the dark-eyed vampire smirked at the Original, raising his glass to his lips.
Elijah simply smiled at the show of disrespect, his eyes finding Lia again. "Friends of yours, I take it?"
"Yes," Lia smiled sweetly, tucking herself into Damon's side. "I don't believe I need to warn you, Mr Mikaelson, but if anything happens to the people I care about, I'll use you to play my latest game. I call it, 'how quickly can I flay a vampire without it's healing factor kicking in?' Of course, as soon as the wounds start healing, I have to start again," Lia sighed dramatically. "It may end up being a very long game."
"No harm shall come to them as long as they do not disrupt my plans," Elijah agreed.
"Mr Smith!"
The group turned to see Carol Lockwood approach with her politician's smile. She sidled up to the vampire-cum-historian before turning to look over the faces in front of her.
"I see you've met some of our townsfolk; Mr Salvatore is one of our founding families, of course."
"Carol, I've told you; call me Damon," he smirked charmingly, his grip tightening on Lia slightly
"My apologies, Damon," Carol smiled fondly. Her gaze turned to Lia, looking over her sleeveless butter yellow lace high-low dress. "As always, you look simply beautiful, Lia."
"'Simply' is not the word I would use," Elijah commented lightly, earning a giggle from the mayor's wife.
"Thank you, Mrs Lockwood. You look so regal this evening," Lia meant it, too. She looked like she was in charge and comfortable there.
Carol winked before moving on, leaving the supes to continue their subtle stare-off.
"Shall we talk privately, gentlemen?" Lia released Damon's arm enough to walk beside him. She led the group to the study she'd been getting the tingles from and closed the door, spelling it with a concealing spell for the time being. "I'm only going to warn you once, Elijah. You may not kill your brother."
"You presume you can tell me what to do?" Elijah sounded more curious than anything, but the anger was present in his gaze as he looked at Lia.
"Of course," she smiled, jumping up to sit on the ledge of the desk. "You see, when an Original dies, their entire sireline dies with them. Of those I love, I've only been able to link three to one of your family members, and that member happened to be Niklaus. On top of that, he's your brother and, regardless of whether you hate him or not, I cannot abide by fratricide."
"I've sought vengeance on Niklaus for years," Elijah's voice was low in both tone and volume. "What makes you think I'll even consider staying my hand?"
"Uh, the fact that I'll hold you prisoner and torture you until you either develop Stockholm syndrome or become catatonic?" she turned to Damon and Enzo. "Was I not clear on that? I'm pretty sure I was clear on that."
"I mean, I thought the flaying thing was pretty self-explanatory but apparently wisdom doesn't come with age," Damon smirked gleefully in the face of the Original's stupidity.
"As the noble one, you'd think he wouldn't be so willing to condemn thousands to their deaths because of one man," Enzo's look was that of a scolding mother. "Honestly, how will you be able to sleep at night, knowing you've killed someone as pure as Damon?"
"Right?" Damon joined in. "You would deprive hundreds of thousands of women the opportunity to gaze upon this face?"
"So," Lia clapped. "If you could just chill for more than 5 minutes, I'll find out how to unbind everyone and, if you still want to be the Cain to your brother's Abel, you can. Away from me. Far away. Seriously, it will make me want to kill you repetitively if I see it."
"Very well," Elijah straightened his blazer by the cuffs. "I suppose it will give me time to locate the witch burial grounds."
Everyone noticed Lia's shifty eyes.
"For the witch burial grounds-"
More shifty eyes.
"-hold the power of 100 witches-"
Shifty eyes and hair tugging.
"-and that is the power I require to send Niklaus to his death."
Lia avoided all eye contact, tugging at the ends of her hair while looking at her feet as they swung childishly above the ground.
"What did you do?" Elijah finally asked with a sigh.
"The witches were being greedy," Lia shrugged, an indignant pout on her face. "They weren't supposed to be here; they were dead and holding onto magic that wasn't theirs anymore. So, I took it back."
"You took it back." Elijah deadpanned.
"Yeah; returned their magic to the earth and their spirits went to where ever they go now that they have no magic. I don't know if they're still classified as supernatural without their magic, so," Lia trailed off with a shrug.
"It seems I must look into other methods to dispatch my brother," Elijah's voice was tight with restrained anger and frustration.
"You could always use a white oak stake."
Elijah was on her in seconds, hand around her throat and her body pushed against the closest wall. "What do you know of that?"
Damon was next to them, his hand gripping Elijah's offending wrist as tightly as he could, his jaw clenched and his eyes bright. "I'd highly suggest backing away, Chuckles. This is a fight you do not want to start."
Elijah didn't look away from Lia as he sent the vampire flying with a swift kick.
Enzo laughed.
Lia was shocked. Not at the position she was in, no; she'd seen that coming a mile away. She was shocked that Damon had tried to save her; going up against someone many times his age.
She met Damon's tense expression with a fond smile before turning back to Elijah.
"Loren did warn me that all vampires were neck people," Lia sighed before grabbing the vampire's arm in both her hands and snapping his forearm in two. He hissed and backed away, grabbing his already-healing arm and watching as Lia skipped around the room, coming to a stop in its centre. "There was a second white oak tree that grew in the area after you and your siblings vamoosed. You're lucky, you know? That the tree stayed in the area. Otherwise, who knows where one would have popped up."
"Impossible; we burned the tree. There should have been nothing left, not even a sapling," Elijah muttered, more to himself than those in the room.
Breeze started to pick up loose papers and flutter against the blazer on the coat stand in the corner. No window was open and no fan to be seen. Emerald eyes twitched in annoyance.
"Ugh! Come on, Side Part! Pay attention!" the frustrated mermaid locked eyes with the insipid immortal as her hair started to lift from her shoulders as the windows rattled. "I told you before; nature's only rule is that all things must die. If it can create the odd phenomenon of doppelgangers, you think it can't bring a tree back into existence? Really, your arrogance is starting to push my patience!"
A loud crack reverberated around the room as the air pressure peaked, rushing away from Lia and ramming against the door and windows, creating lightening-like fissures through each glass pane while the door barely held onto its hinges.
"This morning we dealt with the white oak," and by 'we' Lia meant 'Slater, Susie, Rose and Trevor.' "We made sure to save enough so that nature's still cool with there being no new trees, but the rest was destroyed."
"You think I'm going to trust you with the only weapon in existence that can destroy my family?" Elijah asked incredulously.
"You think we're going to hand it over to the guy that's already declared he wants to off a member of said family?" Damon asked, just as incredulously.
"You're gonna have to sit tight, mate," Enzo smirked the Original's way. "We don't really feel like putting our lives in your hands. A sibling spat could lead to the death of any one of us, after all."
"No better time than the present!" Lia strolled toward the Mikaelson, a wave of her hand correcting the damage her loss of temper caused. "I'm going to examine you. Hold still, if you please."
Elijah narrowed his eyes, seeing an opportunity. "I'll allow your investigation if you provide me with one of your tears."
Lia blinked.
"Oh, darling," she cooed. "It's adorable that you think you have a choice."
Lia's hand shot forward, easily punching a hole into Elijah's chest. Elijah could only gasp as his own came up to try and stop her, but he was no match for her strength. Lia's breath caught and her eyes glowed, the light reaching the walls as her skin met with the source of the vampire's creation magic. His blood was potent; the emotion behind the intention of the spell was intoxicating. The love, fear, anguish, outrage, paranoia, greed, resolution was crashing into her in waves and making her buzz. She'd unknowingly began to sing hauntingly as her mind and magic drove into the 1000-year-old being while her hand slowly curled around Elijah's heart.
Magic pulsed in the air, like the beating of a dragon's wing, like the beating of the heart in her gentle fist. Every vampire in the room felt it pulse through them, from their hair to their toes, as their chests slowly grew warm and tight.
Vampires around the world stopped what they were doing as they experienced the same feeling.
Niklaus raged; his paranoid mind running through the possibilities of who was trying to kill him, wishing he'd kept Greta or Maddox with him instead of sending them both off with those blasted crystals.
Katherine panicked. Had Klaus finally had enough of her fleeing? Was this his doing? Elijah's? An enemy she'd underestimated?
Marcel was alone, waiting for news about the mysterious deity. He was uneasy, focussing intently on the feeling and hoping to simply wait it out.
Even Mikael, as desiccated as he was in a crypt in Charlotte, unconsciously frowned.
Lia was enthralled. She let her magic guide her; trusting it implicitly. She could feel what it wanted to do, feel what it was doing. Her beautiful lyrics reverberated around the room as the magic slowed down to a near stop.
Then it begun.
The air grew dense, an unseen electricity crackling through her and Elijah. Her heart skipped a beat and her soul was pulled and her mind was on fire. She felt the ichor in her veins boil as the magic dove in, weaving and intertwining into her Ionad Troika. Her pupils blew wide, her mouth fell open as lyrics ended and inhuman, echoing siren wails began. Damon dropped to his knees; the warmth, the feeling, the magic, the song, all too much in the small room that felt smaller by the second.
Time seemed to slow and the air grew dense. The joined pair felt the world around them fade as they stared at each other. Black veins crawled over Elijah's form, slinking toward his heart and entering Lia's hand.
Enzo watched in anxious rapture as the dark spidery bolts slithered up his sister's bare arm, traveling up her neck and surrounding her eyes. Her melody never paused as her sclera turned black and her fangs grew. They disappeared in an instant; the veins sinking in and the canines receding as she sung notes that he was sure no human could reach.
With one last crescendo of magic, every vampire in the room and on the planet gasped, the heat behind their ribs turning ice cold before it disappeared completely on the last note of the siren's song.
Gently, Lia removed her hand from Elijah's heart and chest. With an absent wave of her hand, his clothes were sitting, clean and repaired, over freshly-healed skin.
Lia was lost to the sensations that were swimming through her. There was a warmth in her belly, a tingling in her toes, her head was full and her heart was fit to burst. The emotions still rolled through her, strong and fierce, lapping at her soul like waves on the shore and leaving her on a high. She couldn't come down. She didn't want to come down.
Laughing breathlessly, Lia's head lolled back, her glowing, half-lidded eyes finding Enzo easily. Her wide smile grew wider as she held out her hand. He smiled, so very fondly, as he walked over and grabbed her hand. The only sound to accompany their dancing was Lia's beautiful laughter.
Damon was entranced, his body still reeling from the magic shooting through him while his eyes were glued to the dazzling little creature that was spinning on her toes.
Elijah was stunned, trying to process what he'd just bore witness to and participated in. He watched on patiently, knowing that the opportunity for questioning would come.
Lia's laughter soon calmed, her manic grin fading until it was a gentle smile while she waltzed across the study floor. With a final spin, the pair parted and dipped into their finishing bow.
"Your mother is a bitch," was the first thing Lia said, coming to a stand from her curtsy.
"I believe it poor manners to speak ill of the dead," Elijah rebuked, off-kilter, as his hand still subconsciously rubbed his heart. "What exactly did you do?"
"You and your family are no longer the anchors that ties the vampire race to the planet," Lia replied easily, strolling over to the spot in the floor that apparently contained her original reason for being here. The buzzing she'd been feeling had turned into an almost-shriek as whatever was hidden beneath the floor begged her to find it.
"You say that like there's still an anchor," Elijah mused as he watched her like a hawk.
"That's because there is," Lia sighed. "Unfortunately, the method your mother used requires things I'm not able to retrieve. Fortunately, however," Lia grinned impishly, her brand-new vampire face coming out to play before she knelt on the floor. "Your new anchor is much more durable."
Lia ripped the rug away, revealing a safe just as Elijah came to a realisation. "Durable? Not indestructible? You're not a true immortal?"
Lia flopped completely to the floor with a groan, rolling around in frustration and despair.
"Loren!" she wailed; her voice muffled by the floor. "Make him stop!"
Damon smirked wickedly at the stupefied Original.
"Oh, angel," Enzo sighed, strolling over to the safe and ripping it open. "Some people, you just can't help."
With a fierce, vampiric growl, Lia sat up, her legs out straight and her arms crossed, looking very much like an angry doll. "Look, you dolt; I've already said that nothing is truly immortal. Even the 'true immortals' of this earth? Yeah, their immortality isn't permanent. There's a cure for it. I'm just another being on this planet; near-God-like or otherwise. Of course, there's a way to kill me! My life has an anchor, too!"
Elijah didn't move. His thoughts were conflicted; so used to his brother's displays of all things weakness. He was struggling to comprehend that this woman in front of him was so easily telling him her biggest weakness. In a sense, her confidence was understandable; his life and the life of every vampire on the planet was now tied to her, but even so. Surely, she couldn't be that confident.
"And," Elijah began slowly, the possibility of evoking more of her anger high. "Do we need to protect this anchor?"
Enzo snorted. "You may be powerful, mate, but even you don't have to resources necessary to protect it."
Elijah's temper flared. "I assure you; I am well connected."
"You don't have the manpower," Enzo replied confidently, rifling through the desk drawers until he made a sound of triumph while extracting a bottle of amber liquor. "After all, you'd have to protect every drop."
"My life is water; in order for anything to kill me, they'd have to wipe water from existence. Could you dehydrate the planet in an instant? Make it stop raining?" Lia's smirk was justifiably arrogant. "The population would be wiped out before you succeeded."
"I, for one, will be sleeping very soundly from now on," Damon smirked.
"Well, well, well. Hello, pretty," Lia grinned as she stood; a snap of her fingers fixing the damage Enzo had caused to the safe. "Let's get a closer look at you, hm?"
Elijah bulked at the sight of the familiar white stone in her hand.
"Perhaps at home, angel," Enzo walked over to the mermaid, dropping his hand on her soft hair. "We've been gone quite a long time, after all."
"Oh, boo," Lia pouted but easily conceded, handing the moonstone over to her brother before skipping over to Damon. She linked her arm in his and snapped her fingers to cancel the concealing spell. "We'll be off, I suppose. Remember, Mr Mikaelson; behave."
Elijah could do nothing but watch as the formidable woman and her two vampires left the room.
"Oh, there you are!" he heard Carol Lockwood cry as she happened upon the trio. "Unfortunately, we're cutting the tea short; Wickery bridge has been burned down!"
*TVDM*
"Come on in, Soldier."
Damon his step across the threshold stuttered, surprise raising his eyebrows.
She met his expression with a cheeky, knowing smirk.
"Why, thank you, ma'am," he dipped his head in exaggerated chivalry after he came to a stop in front of her.
"But, of course, good sir," Lia curtsied bashfully, her eyelashes fluttering.
"Cute," Caroline rolled her eyes as she barged her way through, dropping onto the couch Trevor was sitting on across from the three-seater that held the rest of the vampire residents. "Now, show me this stone thing. You said it was the cursed one, right?"
"Ooh, it's so full, Care!" Lia skipped ahead to join the blonde in the living room, dropping into one of the armchairs. Damon trailed in behind, pausing when he saw a lot more people than he expected. He opted to lean against the wall, staying in view of the front door and everyone present.
"Now, introductions," Enzo declared, his hands already carrying two glasses of amber liquid in Damon's direction. "We have Rose-Marie, Trevor, Slater and Susie. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Damon Salvatore. Treat him how he'll treat you," Enzo paused to smirk wickedly in Damon's direction. "Poorly."
"I'll have you know, I can be a very agreeable house guest," Damon retorted, taking the bourbon from the dark-eyed vampire. "If I choose to, of course."
"Of course," Enzo rolled his eyes.
"Oh, poor baby."
Everyone's attention was turned toward the frowning Lia. Her eyes were glassy and her lower lip trembled as she looked into whatever she was reading from the magic-coated stone.
"Oh, if I could get my hands on Mother Mikaelson," Lia growled, her vampire face flashing.
"Whoa! OK! Time out! What was that?!" Caroline demanded, grabbing Lia's chin and forcing the mermaid to look at her. "Are you a vampire now? Hybrid? Are you an alien vampiric mermaid?"
"Oh, nah, not really," Lia rolled her eyes. "I'm now the anchor to the vampire race, meaning that the Mikaelsons can die without taking anyone with them. It was essentially a side-effect of that kind of magic touching me. I don't require any blood or anything, I just have the face and I can," her breathing shuttered. "I can feel them."
"Feel who?" Jeremy asked cautiously, knowing the answer but not what it meant.
Lia's eyes glowed, falling to half-mast as a dopey smile crossed her face. "All of them, Mimi. They feel so many things so strongly. I feel like I'm going to burst but I can't get enough," Lia looked like she was on a drug trip. "The hunger, the wrath, the joy… it's…"
Lia was about to start singing again but hands on either side of her face drew her back to the present.
"Welcome back, little songbird," Enzo smiled indulgently at the sister of his heart as her eyes lost their delirious haze. "You with us?"
"Yeah," Lia grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, it's been so long and the brief taste when you guys get super emotional is just… there's no comparison."
"I think I get it," Enzo smiled thinly as he thought of his blood rations in Augustine compared to fresh from the vein with a side of freedom.
"So, you're connected to every vampire on the planet?" Slater asked, no longer able to hold back.
"Oh, yeah," Lia nodded emphatically. "I don't even think a vampire would be able to contain the amount of information I'm currently storing. It's all over the place, of course; I'll need to make a system so I don't keep getting lost, but I'm connected. Give me a few decades and I'll know the signature of every vampire and be able to find any one of them at any time. For now, though," Lia grimaced. "It's a data entry nightmare."
"Fascinating," Slater was riveted, as always.
"Are you OK?" Jeremy asked in concern. It sounded like… a lot. Partial divinity or not.
"Oh, yeah, just, you know, expect me to drift off pretty often," Lia grimaced. "It's… addictive. Especially after being without such a strong tether to emotions for so long. I feel… whole again."
"More on that later, I suppose," Slater sighed sadly as his gaze flickered over to the moonstone. "One thing at a time."
"Oh! Right! Poor guy!" Lia cooed as she held the rock between her hands at eyelevel. "This little thing packs a double-whammy. First curse is binding his wolf, but once that's cracked, it kicks the second curse into gear; he'll be unable to create hybrids without doppel-blood."
"The doppel-blood he needs to drain 'til the last drop to break his chains," Enzo mused, looking into the swirling amber liquid of his glass. "Well, he obviously wasn't the favourite child."
"Oh, how awful," Susie's southern accent was a near-whisper, her face full of sympathy and sorrow. "What kind of mother could do that to her own child?"
"The kind that believes her son to be an abomination," Lia replied grimly, glaring at the stone. "Niklaus is getting a hug and a curse-breaking from me. Mimi, I need a vial of your sister's blood. I need to unbind this little stone from the doppelganger before we use it to break the curse. Unfortunately, she will still need to participate in the sacrifice, but we'll bring her back – good as new – and she won't have to live her life as a blood bag for a hybrid."
Jeremy nodded solemnly, knowing it was the best he could hope for.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"If that's Elijah, shove this up his arse," Lia sighed as she casually picked up the coffee table with one hand, holding it out to Enzo.
She only received an unimpressed eyebrow before he left for the door.
"I thought it was funny," the mermaid grumbled as she set the table back down.
Enzo couldn't contain his forlorn sighed if he'd tried when he saw who stood in front of his house.
"Johnathan. What an unpleasant surprise. Did my neck-snapping not send the right message?"
"You know," John tucked his hands into his pocket casually. "If I hadn't been prepared, a lot of damning information would have been sent to every council member in town, outing your friend and his brother."
"Oh, dear," Enzo grimaced. "What a mess you would've made; it would have been quite the bloodbath. Lucky for you, however, I'd spotted your gaudy little ring a mile away. What do you want?" Enzo asked impatiently.
John barged in without an invite, pausing at the sight of so many in the living room.
"Rude," Lia scowled, crossing her arms from her couch. "Honestly, it's like you humans think you own the planet. What, because there's so many of you? Manners and kindness win more battles than brute strength and blackmail. Look at your nephew; he now has me in his corner because I'm his friend. Who do you have?"
"Jeremy, you're heading home now."
Jeremy just snorted.
"I'm pretty sure that's 'Teenager' for some pretty vulgar language that, simply put, means 'no,'" Damon smirked happily, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
"Find everything you hoped for in the tomb? Or just make some new friends?" John smirked knowingly as he looked at the strangers in the room before settling his gaze on Damon, smirking wider at the sight of his taut neck and tight jaw. "I assume you met Pearl. I want the Gilbert device."
"Ah, you're the co-owner of the music box, hm?" Enzo asked lightly as he strolled across the room to stand behind Lia's chair, his elbows dropping onto its back and his fingers twirling locks of her hair. "Pray tell, what do you want that awful thing for?"
John felt sweat start to bead under his collar. He was thrown that the vampire knew what the device did; that it was a weapon against vampires. It didn't bode well for his and Isobel's plans.
"Thanks to someone, there's a group of revenge-seeking vampires loose in town. I would have thought it was obvious what I wanted," John replied calmly with steel in his eyes.
"They're all dead," Lia looked at him like he was an idiot. "You can have a look for yourself, if you want. I'm sure the smell is going to start attracting people, soon."
Lia was in front of him. She'd been sitting and then she'd been in front of him.
He hadn't seen her move at all.
He didn't flinch, but he couldn't stop the slight tremble in his hands and the dryness of his throat at the display.
"This is what you're here for, right?" Lia held up the pocket-watch-esque gold.
John's hand was forced up and open. He could only watch in horror as the device turned to golden liquid, forming a constantly-swirling ball over Lia's palm. She tilted her hand so that it rolled off its perch and oozed all over his palm. It wasn't hot, thank God, but it was thick, clinging to his hand like a second skin.
It was useless.
"Don't say I never do anything for you," Lia smiled sweetly up at the man, looking like an angel descended from heaven. "Don't let the door lodge itself up your arse on the way out."
"You have no idea what you've started," John stated as calmly as he could. He pulled out a handkerchief and started wiping the gold gloop away. "No idea who you've just made an enemy of."
Lia looked at him for a few seconds. To John, it looked like she was weighing his words to see how serious he was.
In reality, she was wondering why everyone seemed to constantly underestimate her.
Slowly, Lia turned and looked at those in the room with her. She brought her vampiric face forward; her growing smile easily baring her fangs, the black veins and sclera making her already-glowing eyes look poisonous.
John's heartbeat increased as she looked over her shoulder, head tilted back and eyes luminous. His suspicions confirmed that she was a vampire – older than Katherine, judging by her speed – and her eyes revealing that she was somehow different.
"Good luck to them, I suppose. I'm not a very good enemy to have," Lia commented lightly. "Goodbye, Johnathan Gilbert."
He didn't remember walking outside. As he stared at the closed door in front of him, his mind panicked.
Katherine wouldn't be pleased, and for once, he didn't think she'd come out of this on top.
*TVDM*
"You're saying vampires, magic, the supernatural is real?"
Jeremy, Caroline and Lia all nodded as they stared into the unimpressed eyes of Jenna Sommers. Jeremy had ended up going home the next morning. He was going to invite Jenna over to Lia's but they all figured she'd be more comfortable not surrounded by a bunch of vampires if she didn't take the news well. The morning had turned out to be perfect; Elena was with Bonnie and John was out doing John things around town.
"And your proof is you," Jenna's unconvinced gaze fell on the angelically-smiling Lia. Another round of earnest nods met her question.
"You're bullshitting me, aren't you?" Jenna deadpanned.
Caroline scoffed. "I wish. I took normal life for granted. I miss only having to worry about my popularity and my one-sided competition against Elena. Now? Ugh. So much drama."
"As if you don't love it," Lia rolled her eyes and smiled indulgently at the blonde who didn't even try to deny it.
"It's become my morning coffee," Caroline admitted, unashamed. "My day hasn't started until someone has been threatened by something."
"Look," Jeremy shot an exasperated look at the girls before turning back to his aunt. "Lia will show you, OK? Uncle John knows, and he's going to try and subtly rub it in your face every chance he gets."
Before Jenna could respond, Lia held her palm face up. Water instantly sprung into existence above it; the twirling ribbon slowly growing longer until it was the length of a bed sheet. With a wiggle of her fingers, the water danced, contorting into a scene of a running wolf coming to pause to howl at the roof. She snapped her fingers, capturing the image in ice.
"I know," Lia smirked proudly, chin in the air and eyes gleaming at Jenna's wide eyes and open mouth. "I'm amazing."
It wasn't long before the strawberry blonde snapped out of whatever thoughts had been spinning through her head. She blinked, coming to her feet and practically floating into the kitchen. Not 2 minutes later, she returned with a tub of ice cream, a spoon, a wine glass and a bottle of red. She dropped her goods to the table before settling her gaze on the trio again.
"Start from the top."
*TVDM*
"Thank you so much, I'll see you tomorrow."
Alaric Saltzman hung up his phone, keeping the device clenched in his fist as his eyes drooped closed and he sighed. He's got the job.
His gaze once more running over clippings he'd compiled before sending away his application for the teaching position in Mystic Falls, Virginia.
He'd been searching for months, looking for his wife's killer. A killer who didn't even leave him a body to bury.
A killer who was a vampire.
Black hair, blue eyes, demonic face. He'd seen that face damn-near every night in his nightmares. He'd searched his wife's work, finally discovering the vampire he'd seen as he came across a photo from the 1860's.
Damon Salvatore.
Having a name sped up the process exponentially. He'd found that the Salvatore's were a founding family of a quaint little town; a town that seemed to be a constant victim of animal attacks over the years. He'd looked online and had found much more recent attacks, some only weeks ago.
It had to be him.
It had to.
Otherwise, he was back at square one, and that was unacceptable.
Alaric gripped his phone tighter before setting it down and looking around his shabby motel room in Richmond. He'd had to sell the house and almost everything inside it; he couldn't bear to live there without Isobel.
His jaw clenched as he packed up his measly belongings, planning on staying leasing an apartment as soon as he reached the Virginia town.
Hopefully, his hunt would be over soon.