A/N; heyoooo, so how are you?
just wanted to let you guys know that my laptop is in purgatory until i get repairs on it, so i'm typing to you on my phone.
also, for everyone who asked for my update schedule; it's normally once or twice a month, but it really depends on my mental health and if i have writer's block or not.
i kind of felt like my heart wasn't in the last few chapters, i just felt oddly disconnected from nova at moments and with some of the things i wrote.
i think i found my passion again with this chapter, so you should expect the next chapter sometime in the next decade.
just kidding.
i feel like an obnoxious YouTuber for doing this, but here are my social medias you can bother me on;
My tumblr is randomfandoming1, blog name is the musings of a fangirl.
to see nova's style, go on shoplook dot io, my name on there is the same, randomfandoming.
for my spotify look up the playlist named supernova, under the username bluestarlings1.
thank you all for the amazing support, i might edit this again on my brother's computer, but for now, here it is.
hope you enjoy!
Caroline was right, she soon realized, eyeing the people who lingered near the entrance of the Lockwood mansion.
Nearly everyone was wearing some varying shade of red or green; all they were missing was some tinsel and lights and they'd be fully fledged Christmas trees.
Nova and Damon, in their all-black attire, stood out like a couple of goth kids in a preppy school - or maybe Santa's workshop was more appropriate?
"Nova!"
Caroline was quick to find her, walking over towards her as fast as she could in her heels.
Nova smiled brightly, greeting her friend with a tight hug, but as they pulled away, she felt the blonde tense.
Caroline's smile disappeared when her blue eyes caught sight of Damon behind her; the blonde didn't bother acknowledging him with anything other than a dismissive glance.
"Hello, Caroline," he greeted her anyway, smirking in idle amusement despite her icy stare.
"Damon," the blonde bit out a greeting in return.
Nova looked between them and had the urge to back away as she was hit with the sudden feeling of being put in the middle of something.
Caroline grabbing hold of her hand kept her from acting on her thoughts.
The blonde turned back towards her friend with a completely different look on her face, her face lit up as she went back to ignoring the Vampire.
"Wait until you see everything!"
Caroline began pulling her further into the darkly lit mansion where more people were hanging out; some passing around freshly rolled joints and others chatting whilst they nursed drinks in red solo cups.
"Them being raging dicks aside, Tyler's parents still have, like, the best alcohol stash in town! And we ordered pizza and tacos, how freakin amazing is that?!" Caroline's words were a little slurred and her grin was wide and lopsided.
"How are you drunk already?" Nova asked with an amused smile on her lips.
"They're having drinking contests in the kitchen. Caroline decided to join one." Matt explained as he walked towards them; greeting them with a nod as he handed the drunk girl a bottle of water.
"Ugh! You'll never believe what happened!" Caroline scoffed as she accepted the bottle of water, a look of annoyance on her face as she continued.
"Some frat boy said I had the alcohol tolerance of a toddler! Which is so not true! But I was totally was going to let it go because, you know, who cares about his opinion, the loser. But when I opened my mouth I ended up challenging him to a contest instead."
Nova smiled throughout the blonde's ramble and ignored the Vampire by her side as he shot her a pained look.
She wasn't surprised at all by the other girl's lack of restraint, it was common knowledge that anytime you told Caroline Forbes she wasn't capable of something she would do just that to prove them wrong.
And honestly?
What at a fucking mood.
"Well, blondie, did you manage to beat him?" Damon asked, but he was visibly uninterested in her story as he casually stole a shot glass from a guy who was apparently too high to notice.
"Yes, I did, actually," Caroline snapped in reply, a proud grin appearing on her face.
"Color me impressed," Damon quipped, a mocking edge to his tone that absolutely no one missed.
Nova decided to ignore the badly veiled hostility coming from the both of them and instead stole the shot glass from Damon, who allowed it if only because he spotted full bottles of alcohol on a nearby table.
"To proving dickheads wrong!" Nova made a toast, knocking the glass against her friend's bottle water and hurriedly gulping down the tequila.
Hopefully one little drink wouldn't hurt, she thought, wincing as she remembered her father's rules for tonight.
Caroline giggled with a beaming smile on her face as she took a drink to that, leaning on Matt's shoulder when she nearly stumbled on her heels.
Nova let her eyes stray around the party as the pair began talking to each other with disgustingly cute grins on their faces; her eyes were drawn to where Damon was talking with Stefan as he poured himself a drink.
After making sure they didn't look like they were really going to kill each other, she took the opportunity to get a moment to herself, slipping away to find a somewhat less crowded area.
Eventually, after a few embarrassing - for the people who got caught with their literal pants down - fails, Nova found an empty room that was being blocked by a couple making out.
She squeezed her way past the oblivious college girls after throwing the couple a jealous look - gods, she'd kill for a good orgasm, but she had more important things to deal with tonight than her clit.
The annoying music was barely muted as she shut the glass doors behind her.
Nova threw her coat off before sitting down on a cream and gold armchair, propping her heeled feet on top of the expensive looking coffee table without a care.
Quickly opening her black clutch, she pulled out a folded piece of paper and a sharpie.
Hopefully using a sharpie wouldn't fuck with the outcome, she thought with a concentrated frown, carefully drawing the rune she had copied from her great-grandmother's book onto her palm.
It was basically a compass; a north star with half circles drawn around the sides, straight lines connected the star to the half circles.
Nova went over the spell she had written on the other side of the paper before closing her eyes.
She pictured the object she wanted to find in her mind with as much clarity as she could, her Magic expanding and strong as she began chanting:
"Quaerere obiectum quod habet tenere in animo."
Nova opened her eyes as she felt the magic make its way to the rune. She flinched when the rune heated up to an almost unbearable level before abruptly cooling.
Nova exhaled when the rune showed no signs of heating up again, but her shoulders tensed again when the door suddenly opened.
Throwing the marker back in her open clutch, she hurriedly snapped it closed before clenching her fist to hide her marked palm.
She hoped it was dry, the rune had been a dick to draw correctly.
"So this is where you disappeared off to," Damon said as he waltzed in the room, glancing around the room as he handed her a drink.
"The shitty music was giving me a headache." Nova fibbed smoothly, accepting the drink with a thankful smile.
She only took the barest of sips - it tasted like syrup, pineapples, raspberries mixed with almost too much whisky.
"It does seem to kill the brain, doesn't it?" Damon quipped, his fingers lightly trailed over the books that were left to rot as pure decoration in its aesthetically pleasing bookshelves.
"Kids these days don't know what good music sounds like."
"If you say so, old man," she teased him, but despite her carefree tone she didn't stop noticing things.
She noticed he was barely glancing at the book he pulled from the shelf.
Instead he stared at her out the corner of his eye, considering her with poorly veiled suspicion in his eyes as he began circling the small room in faux curiosity.
She really fucking hated his eyes.
They never failed to make her feel exposed in a way she hadn't thought was possible.
Still, despite the discomforting feeling of being circled like prey, she couldn't help smiling at him mischievously, daringly.
Catch me if you can, her smile said.
He accepted the challange with a small smirk of his own.
Abandoning the book on a nearby table, he slowly made his way back towards her, trailing his fingers on the furniture he passed along the way.
Nova bit her lip, tilting her head up as he came close enough to brush his fingers on her stocking clad legs.
Her mind instantly went to other places he could stick those fingers.
She quickly beat the fucking shit out of those thoughts.
"Have you spotted the food yet? I'm starving!" Nova announced, abruptly ending the staring contest by standing, swiftly brushing past him to leave the room -
Only to be stopped by a hand on her wrist because of course he wouldn't let her win that easy.
"You wanna tell me why we're really here?" Damon inquired when she turned around to face him, holding up her hand that had the rune drawn on it.
"Not really, but you can have fun trying to figure it out," Nova replied with that playful and daring grin back on her face.
Inwardly though, she was groaning as she realized the fucker wouldn't fucking let this go until she told him what she was fucking doing.
She was trying to steal the moonstone.
Keyword, trying.
Nova would have stolen it earlier, years earlier, but a few things had stopped her, her laziness for one -
What?
It wasn't like she was looking for a tee-shirt in her closet, it was a small object in a fucking mansion.
Not to mention, the moonstone going missing around the same time she went snooping around would raise some suspicion - even if she could find an excuse if she got caught.
The other reason was more of actual concern, her stealing the moonstone meant she would eventually have Vampires and Werewolves out for her neck - which she did not want.
She liked her neck.
Damon's chuckle knocked her out of her derailing thoughts, but she noticed he looked more annoyed than amused as he finished studying the rune on her palm and stared into her eyes.
"Or you could just tell me?" And like always, his suggestion sounded more like a demand.
"But...where's the fun in that?" she asked him, her smile turning genuinely confused.
"Come on, Willow - we both know you wouldn't have invited me to this shindig if you didn't want my help," he said with raised brows, not letting go of her hand as he stared her down.
Nova mouthed the words 'shindig', looking at him with judgment clear in her eyes.
He rolled his eyes, lightly squeezing her hand to remind her of their current conversation.
And, well… as much as it physically pained every inch of her Soul to admit it, even to herself, he wasn't wrong per se.
Nova hadn't even been planning on coming to this party, but the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood were both out of town had made it too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Add on her finding a rune that helps find magical items on the same day of the party and it was basically the universe yelling at her to; 'Make a move you lazy bitch!'
And yes, maybe she did need his help; not with the finding part, but with making sure she didn't get caught part.
Because she admit to being oblivious of her surroundings sometimes, when she was too deep in her thoughts.
And if just one person knew she had the moonstone she would be really screwed.
It was also that exact reason that had Nova deciding she didn't want Damon involved because asshole Vampires can be compelled by asshole Original Vampires.
But now that he knew something was up…
She groaned into her other hand as he continued to stare at her, waiting for her to contradict his earlier statement.
Nova only remembered the object in her hand when the cool glass made contact with her forehead.
Still avoiding his gaze, she gulped down the rest of the drink in seconds.
Dropping the glass onto the nearest surface, which happened to be a tall end table with an ugly vase on it - rich people and their fugly shit - she exhaled before looking back up at the ass who still held her wrist.
"Okay, Spike, you win," she said, ignoring the pleased look on his face, "I'm looking for a magical object, it's here somewhere and this rune will help me lead me to it."
He finally let go of her hand when he got the answers he wanted.
What a smug little shit, she thought, aiming a half hearted at him as he continued to silently gloat.
"And what do the Lockwoods have that you want?" Damon further questioned, unfortunately noticing her lack of explanation.
"It's a powerful stone that a lot of people want... your sire included," Nova told him the last part hesitantly, watching as the pleased look on his vanished.
Now it was Damon's turn to avoid eye contact as he finished the rest of his drink.
It was wrong of her to bring up Katherine, she knew, but Katherine was the only thing that would motivate him enough to help her and keep quiet at the same time.
Curiosity would only get her so far with him.
Damon set down his tumbler next to hers with a loud thud that made her flinch.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find us a magic rock," he said with a painfully fake smirk on his face as he held open the door for her.
For the millionth time, she wanted to ask him if he was okay, but she already knew the answer.
And so she bit her tongue and walked out of the room.
They didn't speak as they walked around the crowded mansion, trying the main floor first before they even attempted to go upstairs.
The silence was an uncomfortable one, made even more uncomfortable for her by the rune that now felt like a piece of ice was permanently glued to her palm.
Nova clenched and unclenched her palm, glaring at it in distaste as she elbowed her way through a crowd of humping - sorry, dancing couples.
"You getting anything on your witchy compass?" Damon leaned down to speak in her ear as a really bad remix of 'I Gotta Feeling' by the Black Eyed Peas played throughout the mansion.
Seven fucking hells, she'd kill for some more future music in her life.
"Nope," she replied simply, inwardly hoping the low lighting was hiding her embarrassment.
Nova couldn't believe her body was reacting over something as vanilla as someone whispering in her ear - stupid goddamn hormones, she thought angrily.
She was just going to blame it on the fact she hasn't had a really good orgasm in a few months and leave it at that.
They continued their trek through the drunk and or high crowd, but she paused near the ornate staircase when another five minutes went by of her palm remaining freezing.
"This rune is colder than the North Pole, meaning wherever it is, it isn't on this floor. Let's try upstairs." She said the Vampire at her side, thoroughly done being jostled around by shitfaced people.
Damon nodded at her words, but he was more preoccupied with the bottle of alcohol he had stole five minutes into this boringly mind numbing search.
Thankfully, everyone was too wasted to pay any attention to them as they walked up the staircase.
It was a little quieter upstairs, she thought with a relieved sigh as the sound of loud drunks was slightly muffled.
Nova trailed her temporarily tattooed hand along the off white walls. Her mood was eventually lifted by the fact she could feel the barest amount of heat returning to the rune.
Of course her pleased mood disappeared as fast as it came.
"Seven fucking dicks in an asshole," she hissed, her palm heating up even more when they halted in front of a double door.
Damon looked at her with a vaguely impressed look on his face at her curse, but didn't comment on it as he pointed towards the closed doors with the bottle in hand.
"Magic rock?"
"Magic rock," she confirmed, clenching her hand as it heated up to the temperature of hot bath water; it would only stop hurting when she had the object on the rune.
Damon listened out for anyone who might be wandering the halls as she used her Magic to open the locked double doors.
Shutting the doors behind them, she warily stepped further into the room as she hovered her scalding hot hand over every object in the ostentatious office.
Damon snooped around as she did so, taking sips from his stolen bottle of bourbon as he searched in the giant drawers of the cherry wood desk.
He probably wasn't even trying to be helpful so much as he was being a nosy little shit.
Nova halted in her search as her heel got caught on one of the many rugs on the dark wooden floor.
A violent shiver went down her spine when she reached down to untangle her heel, her fingers brushing against the fabric.
She stared into space, zoning out as a Vision of the past bled over her normal vision.
A relatively young Mr. Lockwood locked the door behind him as he walked into his office, his quick stride abruptly halting as he leaned down.
She was confused until she Saw it.
Mr. Lockwood lifted the luxurious rugs back and then pulled on the floorboards until it lifted and revealed a safe hidden within the depths of the wooden floor.
He then reached into the inside pocket of his tailored suit and pulled out something, a stone.
The infamous moonstone, she dimly realized as she watched the past play before her eyes.
The Vision shifted slightly.
The safe numbers flashed before her eyes as he typed in the four-digit code -
9
7
5
3
- she rapidly blinked as she came back into the present.
She sent a quick mental thanks to Nature for the help, before using the now free heel of her shoe to kick back the mountain of rugs.
Nova carefully lowered herself down on the floor before pressing her fingers against the polished wood until she found the part that was slightly raised.
Grimacing at the sight of her already chipped black nail polish, she used her nails to lift up the raised floorboards, revealing the safe from her Vision.
Damon whistled behind her, suddenly closer than he had been before as he took a look at what she had found.
With the Vision still fresh in her mind, she entered the code: 9, 7, 5, 3, it softly beeped twice as it unlocked.
Now that she was closer to the object, her hand instinctively gravitated towards a box.
Nova reached in and grabbed the wooden box with a confused expression that cleared once she opened it.
There it was, sitting on a small black cushion, the moonstone.
She let out a deep sigh the moment her hand wrapped around the moonstone; the palm of her hand went back to its normal temperature as the Magic unwound itself from the rune.
"I'd be a fucking awesome thief," she said to the Vampire behind her, who rolled his eyes at her words, albeit with a tiny smirk in place.
"Alright, Catgirl. What's gonna happen when Papa Lockwood comes back home and notices something of his is missing?" Damon questioned her with a raised brow, raising a good point but -
How fucking dare he question her awesomeness.
"First of all, it's Catwoman you uncultured swine -" he rolled his eyes at the very real scandalized look on her face. "And second of all, I'm not an idiot - that's why I brought this."
With a sly smile on her face, she produced a different yet identical moonstone from her clutch.
At least, identical enough to fool anyone that wasn't Klaus, or a Witch.
Nova did a quick swap, placing the real one in her clutch and the fake one she bought online for like twenty bucks inside the box and then back in the safe.
Damon tilted his head and raised the bottle still glued to his hand towards her, conceding that she had shit handled.
"Not bad, for a rookie," he admitted.
"Rookie? - did you suddenly become a world-class thief when I wasn't looking?"
"Well, I don't wanna brag, but -"
"Oh please, Spike, you love to brag -"
They had stopped bickering long enough to see the door open from the corner of their eyes.
Well, fuck, she thought, shooting her partner crime a look.
'You were the one that was supposed to be listening out for anyone coming, you asshole!' The withering look she gave him said.
He mostly interpreted the look, well enough to mostly understand she wasn't happy with him, but he simply shrugged and let out a careless, "Whoops."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Too lazy to get up from the floor in her heels, she just turned her head to the door.
Nova's eyes zeroed in on the heavily breathing couple, who obviously had stumbled into the first unlocked room for a quickie.
The guy - oh god, she could smell the entitled rich white boy from across the room, literally and figuratively - was staring at the still open safe with wide eyes.
The vaguely familiar woman, however, was too busy staring at her.
Nova eyed her curiously for a moment before sending Damon a warning look.
He ignored it.
And continued to stare at the couple with a hungry look in his eyes, and not the 'I wanna take this couple back to my place to fuck' kind of hungry.
More like in a 'I could use a human blood bag, you'll do' way.
Ugh, she really didn't want this to get unnecessarily bloody.
She had enough faces haunting her nightmares already.
"Nova?" Surprisingly, it was the other woman who broke the silence.
Nova recognized the voice almost immediately.
"Kaya?" Nova said in disbelief, giving the woman in front of her another glance up and down.
Her outer appearance had changed, a lot.
Gone were the obnoxiously bright outfits and heavy black eyeliner, in its place was what Caroline would probably call 'classy chic' or 'business casual'.
And she cut her curly black hair, it only just reached her chin now.
But her kind brown eyes were the same as ever.
"Nova what… what are you doing here?" The girl asked, unmistakably tipsy as her words came out slow.
Thankfully she was still blind to open the safe as she kept her shocked eyes on her.
"Tyler Lockwood lives here, remember? - you know, my childhood friend?" Nova replied, pursing her lips as she took another look at the guy.
She usually wasn't one to judge a person by who they slept with, but.. he looked so entitled and boring.
"I didn't mean… I meant to say why are you here, in this room," Kaya continued to question, hazy eyes still firmly on her.
Nova briefly glanced up at the eerily quiet Vampire - only to realize he was staring at her.
Ugh, he was going to want an explanation after this was over - she sighed before looking back towards the couple.
She had a sudden fit of inspiration when she noticed her kneeling position on the floor.
She smiled brightly.
"...I was about to give my boyfriend a blowjob," she lied, her innocent smile almost as disarming as her words.
The silence was fucking adorable as much as it was pathetic.
Damon seemed to find the whole thing amusing as he waved his fingers teasingly at the embarrassed couple when they looked at him.
Weren't they coming in this room for a quickie?
Yet they blush at the mention of a blowjob?
But she supposed not everyone could handle her filthy mouth, in more ways than one.
"You feel like clueing me in on the plan, sweetheart?" Damon muttered as he helped her stand when she held up her hand in askance.
Nova leaned her body against her supposed boyfriend in hopes of them hiding the safe from the couple's hopefully too drunk and or high gaze.
She ignored her body as it reacted to his hand on the curve of her spine, warm despite the unexplainable feeling of death it held.
"The plan is to get them the fuck out of here without anyone dying - and for your own sake, never call me sweetheart again," she whispered back, a faux sweet smile on her face.
Grams was the only one in the universe allowed to call her that, as the older woman was the only one who didn't… always make it sound patronizing.
"...Daniel, let's leave," Kaya said softly, trying not to draw attention to herself and ultimately failing.
Nova started to feel a strange mixture of guilt and pleasure at seeing the hurt clear in the other woman's eyes.
Okay, so maybe she wasn't only trying to distract them from the open safe.
She could admit to herself that seeing the first girl she's ever sort of dated brought up unpleasant memories, and so she lashed out in a way she knew would hurt.
Jesus fucking shit, she could be such an immature bitch.
"Wait a minute, babe," the dude spoke up, stumbling further in the room, his eyes zeroing on the safe again.
"Well damn, I really thought it was gonna work," Nova said, but didn't look nor feel too torn up over her failure.
"Any other great ideas in that brain of yours, babe?" Damon asked, mocking the endearment, his eyes fucking sparkling with amusement.
"You're the one with mind control, snookems," she cooed, a sharp mocking grin on her lips.
"Will someone please explain to me what's going on - !" Kaya broke up their banter, moving towards her - one night stand? fuck buddy? boyfriend? - companion.
"Their trying to steal from the Lockwoods, Kaya! That's what's going on!"
The thieves in question shared an exasperated glance at the grating whine of the guy's voice.
Kaya's eyes widened when she finally caught sight of the open safe, her brown eyes immediately looked back towards her.
"I.. I'm sure there's a... good explanation for this," Kaya said, her brown eyes pleaded with her to clue her in on the big joke.
But there was no explanation or joke to tell and she didn't bother coming up with one.
Nova saw the guy's hand reaching for his phone at the same time as Damon -
And it was then that she realized that if she didn't fucking do something at this very moment more innocent blood would be on her subconscious.
Acting quickly, she called on her Magic before rotating both of her wrists, willing the phone to fall from his hand. A wave of her hand and another twist of her wrist and the door slammed and locked behind the panicked couple.
She could feel a headache forming, the kind that came with putting too much power behind something.
Panicking was never a good emotion to have when using Magic, she reminded herself, forcefully trying to calm herself down.
Speaking of panicking...
Kaya looked like she was two seconds away from screaming her lungs off.
Damon sped over to them before she could, casually holding her boy toy by the throat.
"Please don't scream. We wouldn't want lover boy over here -" his grip visibly tightened as the other guy struggled to pry unnaturally strong fingers from his throat - "to get his head removed from his body in a very unpleasant way."
Nova wanted to be worried about his threat, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was even a pleasant way to die by decapitation.
Kaya stilled at his words, silent tears running down her face as her eyes moved between the nonchalant Vampire, and the Witch who stood visibly unphased in the middle of the room.
"What.. what are you?" Kaya asked quietly, nervously tripping over her words.
"Well, just between the two of us, I'm.. bored and annoyed by your little interruption. And it's making me hungry." Damon spoke casually as dark veins appeared beneath his now crimson eyes, his sharp teeth were shown as he grinned at the now truly terrified couple.
Nova rolled her eyes - and people thought she was a dramatic hoe - as she approached the Vampire and unplanned hostages who were whimpering at his features.
"C'mon, Spike. Compel them to forget so we can get the fuck out of here." Nova told him in a bored tone that was only mostly for show.
For a second, it looked like he was thinking of ignoring her words of wisdom just for the hell of it.
But he just sighed in an overly dramatic way and let his Vampiric features melt away.
Damon kept up the tight grip on the other guy, grabbing his jaw and forcing him to make eye-contact, his iron grip never wavering despite how much the other squirmed.
Nova watched in morbid curiosity as he compelled the guy whose name she couldn't remember.
"You're so wasted and high that you couldn't get it up. Now you just want to go back to your buddies and forget it ever happened. In fact, you've already forgotten everything that's happened in the last ten minutes."
Nova covered her amused snort with her hand when she caught the other woman's horrified glance as - Derek? David? Dan? - D-something repeated the words back to him in a monotone voice, before doing as told and leaving the room to find his friends.
Kaya's eyes pleaded her with something different this time, for her to save her from the Vampire who was no doubt about to do the same thing to her.
And for a moment Nova thought of doing just that - saving her old friend from an invasion on her mind because maybe there was a better way.
But Damon was already moving on to compel her and Nova -
Well, Nova was turning away from the scene, grabbing the forgotten bottle of bourbon from the desk.
Nova took one giant gulp when she heard him compel her, and - ignoring the horrible burn of the first gulp - took another when she heard the woman blankly repeat the words back to him.
Nova only turned back when she heard the click of the door closing behind the other woman.
She leaned on the desk behind her, watching with a purposefully blank look on her face as he approached her.
"You look like shit, Bennett," he said casually, looking her over as he deftly stole the bottle from her.
He leaned on the desk next to her, taking a long look at the scarce amount in the bottle before he took a sip.
"I look fucking hot and you damn well know it, Salvatore," she shot back, flipping her curled hair over her shoulder and looking at him with an overly insulted look on her face.
Damon's eyes slowly ran across her body, the look he gave her told her he agreed with her words.
"That's not what I was talking about, but you already knew that," he said, calling her out on her bullshit.
Which is so uncalled for.
But, surprisingly, he didn't push her to talk, he just silently passed her the bottle -
And used the distraction of alcohol to snatch up her clutch.
"Hey, fucking rude much?"
Nova reached over to take her clutch back from him, but he had already found what he was looking for; the moonstone in his iron-like grip.
Nova, too tipsy to actually give a fuck, just hauled herself up on the desk and let her head drop heavily onto his shoulder to get a better look at the cursed thing.
Damon glanced at the casual contact, but soon he resumed his inspection of the object in his hand.
The pain of the spell and then relief from said pain had distracted her from any examination of the thing.
At first glance it looked, well, to be fucking blunt it looked like any ol' moonstone.
Nova stared at it more, digging in deep and - her breath caught in her throat -
Right, there.
Magic.
It was such a small object, but the power it held was anything but small; it felt ancient - probably the oldest Magic she's come in contact with -, it also felt overwhelmingly powerful.
That heady feeling of power rushed over her like it wasn't a moonstone, but a comet.
But… it also felt suppressing, heavy in a way she couldn't properly explain.
"Are you gonna clue me in on why Katherine would want something that looks like a bar of soap?" Damon inquired, trading her back the moonstone for the bottle when he didn't find whatever he was looking for.
Nova snorted as his words jogged the faintest memory of him - television show him, hiding the moonstone in a mother fucking soap dish.
"It's magic," she said lightly, lifting her head from his shoulder to meet his gaze; hoping her gaze asked him not to push for answers.
Which, of course, he ignored.
"But what does it do?"
She could tell he was hungry for any knowledge that would bring him closer to Katherine, his obsession.
She regretted telling him that little tipbit, it helped motivate him to help her - but seven hells was he annoyingly persistent.
"I guess you could call it a key," she responded, trailing her fingers over the moonstone as old Magics radiated from it.
"Mm, could you cut the vague witchy talk for a sec and just explain?" Damon asked, looking at her in exasperation.
"What's it like?" Nova asked, abruptly changing the subject, uncaring of subtlety at the moment.
"What's what like?" Damon allowed the change of subject, if only because he was confused by her words.
"Being in love," she said, dropping the moonstone back in her clutch.
She knew he wouldn't want to answer a personal question without equal footing, and so she shared some of her cards.
"I thought I was in love when I met Kaya - the girl you just compelled," she confessed, her words gaining his attention.
Nova shrugged, a rueful smile on her face as she remembered how hopeful for love she had been back then.
She knew she was technically still young and was free to continue try to find it; but she was always felt like there was an invisible clock over her head as she waited to die young again.
"She was funny, intelligent, sweet... and a great kisser," Nova said the last part to lighten the mood, she failed.
"If you liked her so much why the hell was she with that little twerp and not you?" Damon asked, raising his brow as he looked at her questiongly.
Nova decided she was done sharing without anything in return and slid off the desk.
"We should go before someone else finds us in here," she simply said, carefully placing everything back where they had found it.
"I -"
Nova turned towards him with a confused expression on her face as he abruptly quieted.
"Elena." Was all he said in answer to her confused gaze.
Nova ran down the steps as fast as she could in heels, following Damon as he purposely walked through the mansion.
Honestly fuck the universe for making her friends danger magnets.
She twisted the ends of her hair nervously, her heart beating fast as she power walked through the crowd. Her Magic started to flare around her, shattering a few bottles of alcohol as she passed by them.
Nova took a few calming breaths to keep her turmoil inside her body, before hurrying after the Vampire as he walked out of the mansion.
The fresh air calmed her racing heart, though it did nothing for her racing thoughts.
Stefan was already there when they made it outside, he held a clearly shaken Elena in his arms as he whispered to her.
"Hey, Stephanie! Mind clueing me in on why your girl screamed like she was in a horror film?" Damon asked as they approached the couple who stood next to Stefan's car.
"If this was a horror movie wouldn't we all be the monsters?" Nova couldn't help but whisper, mostly to herself, but the Vampires nearby overheard it.
Stefan kept his eyes on his girlfriend. But Damon shrugged lightly in response, making a face that said she might have a point.
Two Vampires, a Doppelgänger and a Witch at a party hosted by a untriggered Werewolf sounded like a horror movie to her.
But now probably wasn't the time to contemplate on how much her life was a continuous horror movie.
Fuck her constantly derailing thoughts.
"It's not your problem Damon, go back inside," Stefan curtly replied, not taking his eyes off his girlfriend.
Elena didn't seem to be aware of anything that wasn't Stefan as she clung to his shirt like a life raft.
"Lena?" Nova called out her friend's name, making the teen face her with a shaken look on her face.
Elena didn't have any visible wounds or bruises, but her face looked like she saw someone kick a puppy - no, she looked like she was the kicked puppy.
"Whose crotch do I have to kick?" the reincarnated teen continued, looking around with narrowed eyes.
Stefan wasn't the culprit, as she doubted her friend would cling to him as much if Ripper Stefan was around.
But there was no one else around and no human could outrun Stefan so it had to be another Vampire -
Elena soft chuckle knocked Nova out of her racing thoughts, but she noticed the other girl's heart didn't seem in it, it didn't reach her eyes.
The girl extracted herself from her boyfriend's hold enough to turn to face her worried friend.
"It was nothing. I'm fine." Elena tried to reassure, but no one believed her words, least of all Elena herself.
"Really? Because the ringing in my ears is telling me the exact opposite," Damon said, a look of annoyed disbelief on his face.
"Leave her alone, Damon." Stefan stepped in, giving his brother a warning glare that did nothing.
Nova rolled her eyes at the idiots before pulling her full attention on her best friend.
She knew her friend was probably remaining quiet because she didn't want to bother anyone with more Drama after everything that had happened last month.
But, fuck that.
Nova's always been a curious little shit and despite her concern over her friend, she was fucking curious.
But she knew being a nagging shit like Damon would get her nowhere.
An idea popped in her head.
"You wanna ditch these asshats and go find Bon and Care?" Nova asked, offering her hand with a flourish and a small grin.
Elena bit her lip, glancing over at Stefan as she thought it over. She whispered something to Stefan, who nodded in response, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Nature help her, her friends were killing her with all this cute coupley garbage, she thought, sharing a disgusted look with the Vampire by her side.
Her disgust was mostly fake, his looked very real.
Elena accepted her still outstretched hand.
"Sorry, babe. I'm a sucker for long legs." Nova turned to Damon, a mischievous smile on her face as she dramatically pressed her lips to her friend's hand.
"Understandable, sweetheart," Damon replied as he unsubtly began checking out his brother's girlfriend.
It earned him a glare from said brother.
Nova gave him a glare herself for using the endearment she remembered telling him not to fucking call her.
Elena sighed heavily and rolled her eyes at their antics, sadly pulling her away before she could reply.
"Asshole," she muttered anyway, knowing he would hear it.
Nova glanced out of the corner of her eye at her friend, noticing how tense she was as they walked up the steps.
She abruptly stopped on the third step, tugging on her friend's hand to get her attention.
"Yeah," Elena said, sighing out the words and looking at her expectantly.
"I just..look I'm not going to force you to talk to me, Elena," she said, shooting a quick glare at the couple who sat on the steps, unabashedly staring at them.
"I promise," the reincarnated girl added firmly.
Elena visibly relaxed at her last words, her shoulders slumping in relief and jaw unclenching.
"But if you do wanna talk...We're all here for you, okay?" Nova added, softly squeezing her hand to reassure her.
"Okay...Thank you, Nova - for being so understanding," Elena replied, gratitude written on her face.
"You know me, understanding is my middle name," Nova couldn't help but quip.
The pair shared a smile before running up the rest of the stairs.
The Lockwood Mansion had gotten more crowded in the main area as more people decided to dance.
The overwhelming smell of all the different perfumes, colognes, alcohol and weed slapped the girls in the face twice as hard than before.
Nova kept a strong grip on Elena's hand as they searched for Bonnie and Caroline through the dancing crowd.
Thankfully, Elena was as tall as a giraffe and had sharp elbows; the combination helped keep away most of the handsy drunks away.
Nova's death glare helped too, mostly because it was always accompanied by her stepping on their feet with her sharp heels.
They eventually found her twin by the snack table, playing with a slice of pizza as a boy talked to her.
More like at her, she noticed, sharing a sympathetic grimace with her friend as they walked closer.
Bonnie's eyes were glazed over and an unimpressed frown was on her face as she slowly lost all her patience.
The guy flirting with her seemed oblivious to all of this as he continued talking at her.
Nova settled a mostly fake murderous look on her face, before tapping two sharply manicured nails on his shoulder.
"She's obviously not into you, could you go fuck off somewhere else!" She demanded rather than asked when he turned around to face her.
Gods, he looked four - okay, maybe not four, but he was probably a little younger than Jerbear.
She bit her lip to keep herself from asking where his parents are, that'd be mean, even for her.
The young boy stuttered out an apology towards her sister, before stumbling away without a backwards glance.
Well at least he had the decency to apologize, she thought, watching him leave.
She felt a little disappointed at the interaction though - she had been half hoping for a fight, verbal or otherwise.
"I had it handled, but thanks!" Bonnie had to yell to be heard over the music, relief on her face.
Bonnie quickly became aware of Elena's quiet distress - her brown eyes kept darting around as though she was expecting to get attacked any second - and opened her mouth no doubt to ask what was wrong.
"I know! But you know me, Bon! I love fucking with people!" Nova said, giving her twin a look that said now wasn't the time.
Bonnie got her message loud and clear, thankfully letting it go, simply telling them, "I'll go grab, Caroline!"
Bonnie gave their friend a concerned glance before running off to find their blonde friend.
Nova thought about it for a second before shrugging and grabbing the slice of pizza her twin had cruelly abandoned.
"You're disgusting," Elena told her as she stuffed the remaining pizza in her mouth.
"I'm starving," she corrected, her mouth still stuffed with pizza crust.
Nova only smiled at the look of disgust on her friend's face.
Bonnie eventually came back, with Caroline in tow and the four of them quickly decided to hangout outside, away from the growing crowd.
Shoes were abandoned as they sat in various positions on the stone fountain; stolen snacks shared between them as they chatted.
Matt had apparently gotten suspicious by Ben's disappearance and had told Caroline his worries.
"It was just so awkward because I couldn't exactly tell him his coworker became a vampire who tried freaking to eat me! And I definitely couldn't tell him he got killed by his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend, who is also a vampire!"
The three other girls shared a knowing look as they watched their blonde friend ramble.
"So, instead you know what I did?" Caroline said, and ignoring anyone who opened their mouths, she continued.
"I pretended I didn't know Ben's name and then told him that I thought he was an old washed up highschool football player - which he totally was, but Matt took it the wrong way and now he thinks I think he'll be like Ben after high school and I tried to tell him I didn't think he'd end up like the psycho who nearly ate me - but he's still really mad, which I totally get but -"
"Breathe," Nova gently reminded her, a small amused smile on her face that she hid behind the can of her lemon-lime soda.
The blonde was so frustrated she would have probably strangled her if she had seen the smile.
Caroline did as told and took deep breaths, her eyes closing as she tried to relax and stop panicking.
"Honestly, it sounds like it might be more of a personal problem for Matt than your fault." Nova pointed out, lightly trailing her bare foot along the surface of the fountains cold water.
Bonnie hummed in agreement, grabbing another taco from their snack haul before looking at their still unsure friend.
"You couldn't have known he would react that way, just give him some time." Bonnie advised, a sympathetic smile on her face.
"I just don't want him to think that I think that way about him," Caroline said as she stared at the mansion where the party was still growing strong.
"Well, for what it's worth, Caroline, I think he'll come around. He seems to really care about you," Elena said, leaning forward to be seen behind Bonnie and giving the blonde a smile.
"Thanks, Elena," Caroline said, returning the smile with one of her own.
Elena had noticeably calmed down since the four of them had sat down; the presence of the three of them were enough to distract her from her paranoia, just as Nova thought it would.
Nova, however, was anything but calm as her own paranoia was kicked up a couple notches as she waited for whoever attacked Elena to come back.
She didn't let any of her paranoia show on her face, but she could tell by the occasional looks thrown her way that her twin was picking up on at least some of her anxiety.
Caroline shifting forward next to her pulled her from her thoughts.
"So, when are you going to tell us why you were acting super weird earlier?" Caroline asked, either oblivious or outright ignoring the looks thrown her way.
Elena's wide brown eyes reminded Nova of that doe she had nearly run over one night.
The twins exchanged a hesitant look.
They both wanted to save her from the blonde's unrelenting curiosity but well, they were just as curious.
Elena took a long look at them and sighed, before she began to explain.
"I went to get something from Stefan's car when I heard someone behind me. A vampire. He, uh, grabbed me by the shoulders and just stared at my face... telling me how much I looked like Katherine. I screamed before he could do anything more and he disappeared before Stefan arrived."
They girls were all quiet as they thought about what they had just been told.
"What did he look like?" Nova questioned, swinging her legs from the inside of the fountain and placing her damp feet on the grass.
"Brown hair, brown eyes. I.. I don't know it all happened so fast," Elena said, pushing her hair behind her ears as she struggled to remember more details.
"I'm just sick of how much trouble looking like her has gotten me in," she continued, staring off into the distance with a pinched look on her face.
Nova felt an unbelievable amount of resentment grow inside her.
They were all so young, herself included, yet they would forever be burdened by the continued mistakes of their ancestors.
"We'll figure it out, together, right guys?" Bonnie said, giving them imploring looks as she pulled the other girl into a side hug.
"Of course."
"Well, duh!"
The other two girls immediately agreed, scooting closer together until it was one big side group hug.
Elena gave each of them a grateful look, her shoulders slumping as she fully leaned into the hug.
Nova share a glance with her sister, silently telling her that they would talk later.
For now, the girls silently comforted their friend.
Soon Caroline and Elena went off to find their boyfriends, leaving the twins to talk alone.
"Who do you think it is?" Bonnie asked as they watched the girls walk back towards the party.
Nova was silent for a long as she thought about it, her head tilted in thought, she replied, "I have a couple ideas, but confirmation will have to wait until tomorrow."
Bonnie nodded, eventually taking her eyes off their friends as the two walked into the mansion.
"How much do you do know...about Katherine and why she looks so much like Elena?" Bonnie tentatively asked, looking at her sister.
"Magic," she replied simply, getting an exasperated look for her glib answer.
"I'm not joking, Bon - name the one supernatural being that's born identical to someone else?" Nova looked at her sister encouragingly, patiently waiting for her to work it out.
"...A doppelgänger," she replied, shock visible on her face.
"I know, right?" Nova said, leaning over to their abandoned food haul to grab the last taco.
"That's… it takes a lot of magic to create a doppelgänger… why the hell would someone do that?" Bonnie asked, her facial features contorted in confusion as she looked at her sister.
Learning about Elena's doppelgänger status was small fries - and honestly not very hard to figure out - but opening the whole can of worms wasn't an option.
"We both know big magic has even bigger consequences. Unfortunately, Elena was the consequence, not the magic," Nova said, finally settling on something vaguely informative to say.
Bonnie pressed her lips together as she thought on her words, but whatever conclusions she had drawn, she didn't say out loud.
"We should tell her tomorrow, when everything's calmed down," Bonnie said instead of asking for more information.
"Okay." Nova, not for the first time in her life, felt relieved that her sister was so understanding.
Bonnie could always tell when she knew more than she was letting on, yet she never asked for more than was given willingly.
Nova had the burden of knowing, but the silent understanding between them made that weight more bearable.
"I'm gonna go find Stefan, ask him to take me home. Did you wanna come?" Bonnie questioned, standing and picking up their trash from the lip of the fountain.
"I'll be fine with the currently less stable Salvatore, but thanks," Nova replied, placing her taco wrapping on top of the tower of trash in her sister's hands.
Bonnie gave her an unamused look at the reminder she was leaving her sister alone with an unpredictable Vampire.
"I'll be fine - but if it'll make you feel better, you can send texts to check on me until I get home." Nova offered, a soft reassuring look on her face as she stared up at her sister.
"Alright...I'll see you at home," Bonnie eventually said, giving her a tired smile that was returned before she began the trek back towards the mansion.
Nova watched her go for a moment before grabbing her black clutch and pulling out the moonstone. She couldn't help but smirk at the thought of what would happen.
While she had the real moonstone in her possession, everyone looking for it would be chasing after the fake. And while the thought pleased her mischievous side, she knew it was also a good bargaining chip, one she fully intended to use.
Nova placed it back in her clutch before reclining back on the lip of the fountain, her eyes drawn to the night sky above her.
Dark clouds covered most of the moon and a lot of the stars, yet even the sparse amount seen were more than could be seen in the city.
Nova took in the beauty of the night as a rare and serene calm washed over her.
Damon soon found her - whether it was minutes or hours later, she didn't know -, still laying in the same position, nearly dozing off.
Nova turned her head when she saw him approach out the corner of her eye. She greeted him with a lazy smile before going back to getting lost in the sky.
She remained tranquil as he lifted her bare feet, placing them in his lap as he sat down on the fountain.
Despite the loud noises coming from the mansion, it was a peaceful moment.
Eventually though, the Vampire broke the silence, "...Being in love isn't as sweet or pure as Hollywood tries to sell you."
Nova carefully and quietly listened to him speak, but kept her eyes on the stars in fear of her gaze being the thing that made him clam up.
"At least it wasn't with Katherine."
He was quiet for a moment after that confession, but eventually he spoke again.
"God, being in love with her sometimes drove me insane. She was always so selfish, possessive, and manipulative. And I wanted to be with her forever. I wanted her passion, her beauty, her ruthlessness, I craved and worshiped everything about her and yet..."
And yet it still wasn't enough, she heard the unspoken words anyway.
Nova had to briefly ask herself what she would do if it was any of her other friends that were feeling the way Damon felt in this moment.
She quickly pulled herself up, scooting towards him until she was essentially in his lap and, before he could react, she gave him a firm hug.
At first she thought he was going to chuck her off, deny the feelings he spilled and run off to do something stupidly violent to reclaim his manhood.
But he didn't.
Don't get her wrong, for the first three minutes of the hug he was so still she was pretty sure she could get more of a response from hugging a tree.
But he eventually relaxed, and even more eventually, he returned the hug; wrapping his arms around her tightly, with his chin resting atop her head.
She wrapped her arms around his waist even tighter in response.