Mordant: def. biting or sarcastic in thought or manner

Chapter 24: Info Dumps Consequently Lead To Headaches.

"I won't repeat myself again, D," I bite out harshly, very irritated that the one mystery I have been avoiding refused to let me have any fun. Yes, I was well aware that not having all of the information together was dangerous, to say the least, but I really didn't want to have to deal with my personal timeline.

Me not existing in the original timeline was something that had been pretty terrifying at first, and it could still get me riled up sometimes. Knowing how everyone would function without you there, seeing first hand the pain your loved ones experience because no one's there to comfort them.. it makes a person a bit nihilistic after a while.

I mean, what's your existence really worth if you aren't in that timeline? Sure, things were going pretty swimmingly trying to rig the game for my team, outside of the recent jump scares, but someday my somewhat omniscient knowledge would be useless and this exact mystery was a direct threat to that. A lack of answers, a lack of knowledge.

Who was Lettie to me? A relative? If so, why isn't she in the original timeline? Was she expendable, too?

Jesus Christ, what was the point of knowing all of this if I was only going to be armed with just enough information to get me in trouble? Or worse, dead?

Hush, girl. My brain chides in a voice that I recall vaguely.

Lovely. Now, I'm actually losing my mind.

You're losing focus, Alessia. Ask Damon what you need to know. All will become clear.

Welp. If I'm going absolutely deranged, at least the prim voice in my brain gives good advice.

Damon struggles against my magic, calling my attention back to the fact that not only had I made out with the Salvatore, I was also holding him against his will. Quickly dropping him, he straightens his wrinkled shirt roughly as he death glares at me.

"Sorry, D," I shrug sheepishly before remembering why I was mad in the first place. "Wait. No, I'm not. You and Stefan lied to me! Get your brother up here this instant before I hex the house pink or something!"

Stefan appears with a gust of wind in front of my now open bedroom door. His dirty blond locks are sticking every which way adorably, like a hedgehog, a pair of sleeping pants hanging low on his hips with no shirt, and his green eyes are hazy, clearly still in a daze from sleep. He stumbles slightly to the left before coming to a stop, and I have to clap my hand over my mouth so I don't burst out laughing at the adorable display of sleepiness.

Running a large tired hand through his locks, along with a deep inhale, he looks around wildly, clearly looking for a fight. "Alessia? Damon? Where's the stranger—, I mean danger, I—," he stops his sleepy drawl seeing me and Damon staring at him from opposite ends of the room.

I desperately cling to the growing irritation at my own existence so I don't laugh. Sleepy Stefan is a very wholesome Stefan. His green eyes slowly clear up as he takes in the obvious tension in the room, glancing briefly at me before glaring at Damon. This gives the elder Salvatore justification to roll his eyes, before gesturing towards me.

"You keep those judge-y little peepers to yourself, Fabio. This is all Glinda. Actually, since you're here, why don't you answer her question?"

Stefan's green eyes falter in their strength, confusion clearly setting in when he turns to me in question with a thick brow raised. "Question? It's like one in the morning, Alessia, can't it wait?"

A quick stern shake of my head is my immediate, mature response. There was no way they were dodging my questions that easily now. Since everyone's problems have been keeping me up since forever, they can deal with my problems at an inopportune moment for once.

"No way, Stefan. You guys have been hinting at this shit since I met you, and now we're gonna deal with it before I get any other 'powers that be' chasing after me and my sister," Pausing briefly, I put a finger up to my chin thoughtfully. That didn't come out quite like I wanted. "Or.. just any other surprise problems that like to find our crew. Anyway, whatever, moot point. Who the hell is Lettie and why do we all know her?"

Stefan's green eyes grow cartoonishly wide, and I can't help but wonder if Elena saw a similar reaction when he told her about Katherine. He looks like he would rather be anywhere else besides right here in front of me. "Uh...," he stutters, clearly stuck and almost laugh at how awkward he is.

Almost.

Damon is clearly enjoying watching his brother sweat alongside him, a small grin tugging his lips in amusement. But, he must've gotten bored a split second later, because now he's sighing dramatically.

"Ugh, fine. Come on, Stefan, let's go tell Aly who Lettie is. I'm sure you remember where the photo is, so let's move this party downstairs."

Well, that's foreboding emphasis if I've ever seen it. Hopefully, I've learned from Elena's mistakes and whatever news the Salvatores have to offer on my photocopy will leave me relatively unbothered.

But judging by the ever moreso broody look on Stefan's handsome face, I didn't believe that it would.

*

And so, the pair of brothers sat on either side of me on the couch, all three of us holding tumblers full of whatever is in their decanters. Seriously, there's a lot of them and you can't really tell what expensive, old liquor is gonna rock your shit when there's no labels.

Taking a baby sip, I quickly learn that I'm drinking some kind of very strong whiskey. My lips purse at the awful taste and I feel a rumbling from my left. Glancing up at Stefan Salvatore unamused, I proceed to watch him for a couple seconds as he tries not to chuckle.

"Got something to say, Stefan?"

You can see how hard he's trying not to laugh in my face. I don't know what expression I made from that strong liquor, but it must've been hilarious for Stefan to be unable to keep it together. Damon's left arm moves from its position laying along the back of the couch, smacking the back of Stefan's chuckling head once. Annoyed green eyes snap to their blue brother's as he rubs the back of his head.

"Later, Giggles," Damon drawls, sipping some of his drink without any reaction, the badass, "Grab those diaries of yours. And as for you, Aly, time for an info dump."

Raising my hand, I stall Damon's story-telling momentarily as Stefan reaches onto the table to grab the stack of books from when we all originally came downstairs.

"Pause," I quickly state. Clinging to an iron will, and knowing it'll make the next couple hours go by a little easier, I down the rest of the strong drink. Instead of letting Stefan get seconds of my goofy expression, I cover my face and rub my forehead softly. A little mental prep never hurt anyone.

Nodding, I glance between the pair, and the two brothers make eye contact, clearly non-verbally offering the other to go first. Or at least this is what I guess from the eyebrows raised in challenge at each other. I swear, they might not look related, but if you hang out with them both for ten minutes, it becomes obvious what the relation is.

Sighing, it's clear that Stefan is the lucky loser who gets to tell me. I turn to face him, and his eyes are soft on mine. "Alessia, before we dive into this, you need background information on who she is, how we knew her, and when we knew her," he pauses, taking a quiet breath as he hands me her picture upside down, I turn it over and look at myself as he continues to speak. "Her name is Loretta Bennett, and she was Emily Bennett's sister.. In 1864."

There's a beat of silence after, the tension in the room thick enough to cut through, and I can't seem to figure out what I'm forgetting to do here. Like, it's important, and I have to do it often...

Oh SHIT, act surprised at my- I mean our face!

My eyes flutter quickly in an attempt to make it look like my pause was just from shock, glancing quickly between the two brothers in a way that I hope says 'I'm not quite hysterical yet, but I'm freakin' out'. Stefan's expression is unreadable, his jaw pulled tight, and eyes focused on me. In fact, his stare is so warm on me that I feel my heart stutter at how intense it is. Like he was very much not looking forward to discussing the rest with my being there.

I quickly turn back to look at Stefan, only to see him looking down at the hardwood floor tensely. Clearly, this wasn't a fun subject for either to discuss. Trying to move the conversation along, I quickly snatch the picture from Stefan's hands, closely analyzing my double.

"What.. the fuck, guys?" I ask quietly, moving both my hands behind their heads and smacking as hard as I can. It clearly didn't hurt them like I wanted it to, but it got my feelings across.

"You idiots! Did you learn absolutely zilch from not telling Elena about Katherine for so long?? You guys are lucky I'm so awesome, otherwise I'd give you the silent treatment."

Stefan and Damon both blink at me owlishly, confused at my response like they expected me to behead them. I wouldn't do that.

At least not until they tell me what I need to know.

Then, we'll see how I feel.

"Okay, why does she look like me? And talk fast," I say, standing from the couch in a huff to look down at the pair. Crossing my arms, I wait for Stefan to continue, but he doesn't. I glance over at Damon. "Talk to me. I told you both, I'll hex the shit out of this house, I don't even care."

He groans, the vampire clearly not wanting to, but my firm glare prods him to mosey on.

"Look, Lettie Bennett was someone me and Stefan met wayyy before Katherine, like two or three years prior. She was a widow at the tender age of 18, lost her husband to a fever, and lived alone in this creepy house on the outskirts of town. Or, at least that's what she had convinced everyone else in Mystic Falls.

"She was tempestuous, loyal, and a self-proclaimed protector for the town. Obviously, she's a Bennett, so she could do the whole magic shebang. Needless to say, witches were kind of frowned upon in my time so she kept her supernatural status hidden. Long story short, Lettie disappeared. She had been going nearly out of her mind with the idea that something horrible was going to happen."

Pausing, Damon takes another swig from his tumbler, pursing his lips at the taste as a flash of grief shined in his blue eyes. "She had a knack for being right the majority of the time, and to no one's surprise, she was right again that time. Katherine showed up a month later, and Lettie's body was found in the woods a month after that."

I breathe a sigh of relief at her confirmed death, but when thinking over his words, something doesn't fit right. Confused, I arch an eyebrow at him as I feel my stomach start to warm from the alcohol. "Wait. You didn't say how you both knew her?"

Biting his lip, Damon downs the rest of his drink, turns away from me, and turns to the fire instead. Jerk. I turn to get Stefan to answer me, but I can visibly see the awkward tension in his shoulders as he stares firmly at the floor. Rolling my eyes at their childishness, I huff and glance down to space out on my lap for a few moments.

What could they not want to tell me about how they know Lettie?

Really, this is all so immature. I'm not Elena, I won't freak out. The only thing they could be nervous about would be me getting angry at whatever they say, and there's not much that could make me angry on that front. I mean, unless they— oh... No. No fucking way.

Straightening up in a flash of anger, I glare down at the two brothers and see them audibly sigh at my currently fuming form.

"You absolute idiots fell for the same girl TWICE?!!"

Damon shrugs at me nonchalantly, and Stefan's head dangles between his legs. Oh my god, they're absolute morons. I'm working with people with no brain function, complete fucking vegetables. Oh god, I almost slept with one. Pinching my nose with one hand, I groan loudly.

"Okay. You know what? This is fine. Everything's fucking fine. I just have to deal with it, it's whatever," running my hands through my hair in a stressed motion, I play with the dead ends as I mutter my disbelief. Glaring up at Damon, who'd already been looking at me, I ask bluntly "How the hell did that start?"

Sighing, Damon swirls his glass before looking back towards the fireplace. "Lettie," he starts, and I can hear the fondness in the nickname, "was a spunky little firecracker witch who happened to be related to Emily. I met her in 1863 when I was home for leave for the first time. She had been reading on a tree branch as I was coming back home, clumsy little thing ended up falling when it broke. Ran over to see if she died, found out she was hot, and promptly introduced myself. Fell for her in a week, she was my first biggie, but then my time was up. She said she'd write me letters, and she did, up until about two months before she died. I never got to say goodbye to her."

There's a long pause, one of grief and disbelief. His first love looked like me? That's a crazy concept to think about.

Stefan moves to stand after abruptly downing his drink, quickly reaching for a refill from the decanter on the table behind my calves. Sighing as he takes another sip, he glances up at me with sad green eyes.

"I met Loretta when I was fifteen years old. Damon was off fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War, and I had just started making new friends my age. It was a hot summer, and I had been playing in a watering hole with my friends when a rock slipped under my foot and I fell unconscious. I woke up on the grass hacking water with this young, pretty girl above me pressing against my chest like it was a stress ball. My other friends had gotten so scared when I was hurt that instead of trying to help me, they went to go get an adult."

A small nostalgic smile appears on his face as he glances down at the hardwood. "Loretta said that the second I hit the water, she didn't hesitate at all to dive in after me. But that's the kind of person she was. We became close friends soon after, which had me sneaking out of the house to come and see her garden, her finally telling me about her magic, and eventually, I fell for her. Loretta Bennett was my first big love, and one of my best friends as a kid.

"She was loyal, fierce, and one of the most brutally honest people I've ever met. But, Alessia, there's something you should know."

Frowning at his not-so-positive tone, I furrow my brows at him, getting more concerned at what it could be by the second. Crossing my arms, I pin Stefan down with my stare. "Could you please hurry up and tell me what I need to know? Preferably before I hit both of you again for dragging this out so long?"

Rolling his eyes at me in a rare spark of Stefan Sass, he looks at me pointedly before saying, "I'm not sure I think you're a doppelgänger. Katherine and Elena are very different people. You and Lettie on the other hand.."

Damon cuts him off as I feel my pulse start to race at the obvious answer. "You are a carbon copy of Lettie. Weird little mannerisms and all."

Oh my god, my previous lives.. I'm a fucking idiot.

I had assumed for absolutely no good reason that my other past lives had been in different universes or timelines, and that's why I had prior knowledge on what happened to the other timeline. I hadn't even started to think of if I had lived my lives all on this version of the world.

Yes, you are, I hear a very posh, nineteenth-century accent say in my head. All will be clear soon..

Absolutely nothing is fucking clear right now, and that's all I care about.

I take a seat back on the couch with a groan, elbows on my knees and head in my hands. It'd been my fault for assuming in the first place. If Lettie is really just me from back then, then why can't I remember what she did or who she was?

Maybe there was a key to unlocking my past life's memories. Who knew? There were so many questions and not nearly enough answers. Doing a deep inhale through my nose, I jump slightly when I feel a large, cool hand on my shoulder.

Glancing to my left, I see Stefan looking down at me sympathetically, and even though Damon's trying to hide it by giving me major side eye, I can see a bit of concern in those pretty blue eyes.

Sighing dramatically, I decide to save my meltdown for later when it's not two in the morning. "Why do you two have so much drama? I'm the teenage girl here, Jesus Christ. Respect my position."

Damon rolls his eyes, "Oh, shut up, Aly Cat. You're the weirdest teenage girl ever, you can't apply for the normal girl positions."

Turning my head to the side, I stick my tongue out at Damon before giving him a quick glare. I needed to make it clear that he wasn't off the hook for trying to use me as my own reincarnated rebound.

That's going to get confusing.

Ugh, my life is so hard. Yawning, I stretch slightly and realize just how draining this news has been. I'm exhausted. Stefan moves to speak, but I hold my hand up, non-verbally asking him to pause momentarily.

"I'm all gossiped out. Very sleepy. I think we should finish talking about this with everyone tomorrow."

Stefan nods in the affirmative, moving to collect the books. On the other hand, Damon's face itself is oddly expressionless, but his gaze is harsh on mine. What's his problem? We're letting him off the hook for tonight, so what's got his nipples in a twist?

Mentally shrugging, I ascend the staircase and turn into my bedroom. After closing the door, I jump when I find Damon behind me leaning against the opposing wall. "Jesus Christ, Damon! Are you trying to kill me? What are you doing in here?"

D is silent for a few moments, eyes frequently scanning over my face as if looking for something in particular.

"You know," he sighs as he pushes himself off of the wall, taking a slow step towards me. Something in my rib cage wants me to take a step back away from him, and I'm frankly surprised that those biological survival instincts haven't died yet. "I'm telling you, those mannerisms are nearly identical."

Swallowing, I look at him suspiciously before putting my hands on my hips, "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Damon?"

He takes another stride closer, making my heart pump faster for some reason. Is this what my chicken nuggets feel like when I watch them from the oven? "Well, for one, you and Lettie share an affinity for being annoyingly perceptive."

Another step forward.

"You both like to make up words when you can't express something properly."

Another step forward.

"You both rub your nose when you're angry. Very adorable." He's mocking me.

He's close enough now that if he reached out, he could grab my hand, but instead he stops right there, looking so intensely into my eyes that I swear my heart rate goes up ten notches. Even though there's a conservative amount of space between us, it's nearly suffocating, and I find myself puffing my cheeks up in annoyance that he has any effect on me in the first place.

A soft smirk appears on his darkly handsome face, his gaze still overwhelming, but slightly patronizing. Is he trying to make me mad on purpose?

"Piss off," I growl out, quickly getting very irritated that he's talking to me like I'm a child.

"Ooooo," he coos, taking another step closer until we're a foot apart, "I forgot just how cute you both are when you're mad. Very threatening."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, Damon," I huff, glancing off to the side and preparing to turn that way since Damon wasn't getting any tonight. I start to move when there's suddenly a firm grip on my elbow pulling me backwards. I move back to my original position, glaring at him.

"I don't have time for your games, D. I'm super tired right now, and if I don't get enough sleep for school I'll rip someone's head off tomorrow," I snap, glowering as hard as I can at his very not-distracting blue eyes.

His gaze has changed, it's deeper somehow, like he's trying to figure something out. Damon gently lets go of my arm, but I cross my arms in front of him, waiting for him to find whatever it is he's looking for.

He looks down at me curiously before shaking himself out of it, his smirk turning back to his typical one.

"Get some beauty sleep, Aly Cat."

I raise an eyebrow at him not asking what he wanted, but he just brushes past me to head towards my door. Shrugging it off, I start to walk to my bed when I hear Damon's footsteps stop right in front of the door.

Damon sighs through his nose before turning to look back at me out of the corner of his eye, and they look so... soft. So much kinder than they usually do.

"Do you remember anything from back then?"

My body stiffens slightly, but I shake my head. "Sometimes," I mutter, "I see her, D. As clear as day."

A small, self-deprecating grin appears on his face as he mock-salutes me on his way out.

"Try doing it for a month."

*

A/n: Yay!!! We're finally getting into Alessia's past lives, super exciting! Thank you for all of your amazing comments. Love y'all, I hope you're all well!

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