Author's Note:
Just a small TW of sorts! There is insinuated abuse in this but it's incredibly brief. Elowen also has a small PTSD attack but nothing too drastic. I will always put warnings in the beginning of chapters whenever stuff like this is featured. Just a PSA :) Hope y'all enjoy this chapter!
A man and a woman are out camping in the forest. The man leaves the tent and the woman follows, discovering her boyfriend dead up in a tree. The woman runs towards the car in terror, though the car is locked and she's left tugging helplessly on the car door. Suddenly, the car beeps and unlocks. The woman looks up and nervously scans the area, before someone jumps down from above and kills her.
Elowen woke up with a loud gasp, disoriented. She quickly sat up and looked around, not realizing where she was due to the dream premonition. When she finally calmed down and saw she was just in her room, she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Sweat was dripping down her face from the dream. Dropping her hand back down to her lap, she finally noticed her bed was empty. Stefan was gone. She tried to push down the sad feeling that bubbled in her chest and instead started getting out of bed so she could shower.
After showering and getting dressed, Elowen walked back into her room, still drying her hair. She slightly jumped when she saw Stefan standing in her room. "God!" She exclaimed, putting a hand on her chest. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry," he apologized, watching as Elowen tossed the towel on her bed. "I had to leave to get changed and get my bag, by the way," Stefan informed her, setting his school bag on her bed. "That, and I heard your mom wake up about an hour ago and I didn't want to get caught."
Elowen started to crack a smile, grabbing her brush. "She probably would've, to be honest. She's an empath, so I'm surprised she didn't sense that I was, um… content, last night," she chose her words carefully, not wanting to embarrass herself. "And if she did, she probably just thought I was happy we saved Vicki."
There was a ghost of a smile on Stefan's face, finding her hesitant choice of words amusing as he thought back to last night. "You're probably right," he said back quietly, watching as she brushed her still damp hair. Silence fell between them while Elowen messily combed through her hair, deciding to just let it air dry however it wanted.
Setting her brush down, she turned back toward Stefan, crossing her arms. "If you want to walk to school together, you should probably go down and knock on the front door," she advised. Stefan mirrored her stance, nodding.
"Esmeralda seems like a nice person, but….. I don't want to get you in trouble," he lightly chuckled, and so did Elowen. He grabbed his bag and headed for the window, jumping out. Elowen closed it behind him, then went to finish getting ready.
She had just gotten her shoes on when she heard the doorbell ring. She couldn't help the smile that creeped onto her face even though she had just seen Stefan minutes before. Grabbing her bag, she slipped her phone into her pocket and exited her room, heading downstairs.
"Oh, Elowen! Look who decided to join us for breakfast." Her mother motioned her head in the direction of the dining room, where Stefan was seated across from Josiah. He was adorning a bandage on his forehead from his fight with Damon the night before.
"Oh, hey, Stefan," she greeted, sitting next to him.
Esmeralda walked over and set a plate of waffles in front of her daughter. "You sure you don't want any?" She asked Stefan, and he politely shook his head.
"Really, I'm okay. I already ate," he declined, and Esmeralda shrugged as she walked off. Elowen knew he ate when he went home, so she didn't push anything as she started cutting into the waffles.
"Originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 145 years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration." Tanner informed the class, before noticing Elowen and Stefan weren't paying attention. They kept stealing glancing at each other, smiling. Even though they hadn't known each other long, last night definitely changed how they saw one another.
"Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore, Ms. Ramirez?" Tanner interrupted them, causing the two to break eye contact. The bell rang shortly after, and in the hallway, Bonnie swooped in and threw her arm around Elowen before Stefan could catch up with her.
"So," she began. "You and new guy."
Immediately, Elowen groaned and shrugged Bonnie's arm off of her. "Bon, before you ask, there's nothing to tell." Bonnie didn't drop it, though, bumping her hip against Elowen's.
"You sure? You two have been all buddy buddy since school started."
"Talking about me?" Stefan questioned, catching up with them.
"No," Elowen said, while Bonnie replied, "Yes," at the same time.
"Bonnie!" Elowen whined, pushing her as she and Stefan laughed. Caroline caught up to them as well, turning to Elowen.
"Hey," she caught her attention. "Um," Caroline pushed her hair behind her ear. "Your brother is….. Cool. Can you tell him I said thanks for last night? I probably would've done something stupid if he hadn't been there."
"Yeah, sure," Elowen shrugged one shoulder, but then she saw the light blush that developed on Caroline's face. "Wait a second, are you into my little brother?" She asked loudly, eyes wide as Caroline clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Not so loud, Elle! God!"
Elowen pushed her off, causing her to collide with Bonnie. "Ew! Of all people for you to develop a crush on, it just had to be my brother. He's literally a child."
"He's 16! It's not like he's a baby or anything!" Caroline defended, but Elowen rolled her eyes. "Yes he is, but I'm done having this conversation!" She covered her ears with her hands. "La, la, la, la, la!" She started yelling, drowning out anything Caroline had to say.
Elowen had to admit, maybe she had read Caroline wrong if Josiah was able to have such a friendly conversation with her. Stefan pried her hands away from her ears, shaking his head. "Alright, alright, calm down and be quiet, Ramirez."
"Why don't you make me, Salvatore?" She challenged, stopping to turn to him. He stopped as well, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe later," he replied at last, smirking as he walked off to his next class. Elowen stared at his retreating form as Bonnie's mouth dropped open and Caroline squealed.
"Oh my god! He just dropped a makeout hint! He wants to makeout with you! This is huge! You better spill the details later," Caroline gushed. Elowen hadn't quite caught up yet, still surprised that they were now at the flirting stage. At least, not counting when they first met.
"I guess now would be a good time to mention that he spent the night at my house last night?" Elowen questioned weakly, and Caroline grabbed her arm to shake her, exclaiming, "What?!" in surprise while Bonnie raised her eyebrows.
"You liar!" she accused. "You said there was nothing to tell!" Elowen helplessly shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm sorry! Even if I did, Stefan was right there. Now come on," she quickly changed the subject. "We're gonna be late for class."
Later on, after school, Elowen was at The Grill with Stefan, Bonnie, Elena, Caroline and Josiah. Him and Caroline were in their own little world, while Elena and Stefan were having their own conversation. Elowen tried her best not to feel jealous as Elena looked at him with interest. Instead, she distracted herself by turning to Bonnie.
"Hey, Elowen?" She called out, looking up from the table. "Has your mom said anything… odd to you lately?" Elowen tilted her head, her eyes questioning.
"Odd how?"
"It's just….. Recently, Grams keeps going on and on about how I'm psychic and how because my ancestors were witches from Salem, it makes me a witch, too." Elowen had picked up her drink to take a sip and choked when Bonnie finished talking. Josiah had even stopped talking and looked over to her.
"What?" He blurted as Stefan (who was sitting next to Elowen), made sure she was okay. Bonnie looked between the siblings, finding their reactions suspicious.
"Um, y-yeah," she stuttered at last. "But I can never tell if she's looped up on liquor when she goes on about it. Maybe it's just the alcohol talking?" She looked over at Josiah, who stared at her a few seconds before finally shrugging.
"Uh, I dunno, dude. Maybe you're right."
"It's your Grams, of course she was looped up on liquor," Caroline butted in, rolling her eyes. "No offense," she added as an afterthought.
Elena lightly winced, shrugging one of her shoulders. "Caroline's right, Bon. Your Grams has always said some weird stuff when drunk."
Bonnie sighed in the end, although she did glance between Josiah and Elowen again. Josiah had cleared his throat and began his conversation with Caroline again, while Elowen looked down and bit her lip, pretending to check her phone.
"Oh," Stefan looked over, reaching into his own pocket to pull out his phone. "We haven't exchanged numbers yet," he said, turning away from Elena with a newfound spark in his eye. Elena's shoulders slumped, as if just realizing he was already taken, whether he knew it or not. Bonnie rose her eyebrow in the brunette's direction, as if telling her, 'I told you so.'
Stefan took her phone and put his number in while she did the same. When they gave each other their phones back, Stefan turned back to Elena, who didn't seem as into the conversation as before.
"So, um," she started, awkwardly clearing her throat. "Are you going to the comet thing later tonight?" She asked. Stefan's eyes immediately flickered over to Elowen.
"I don't know. Will you be there?"
Elowen sat up straighter, but before she could answer, Caroline butt in. "Of course she will." Elowen looked over at her, confused, but Caroline just gave her a knowing smile.
Stefan smiled. "Good. Then yes, I'll be there."
About an hour or so later, Josiah dragged Stefan out of The Grill, claiming they needed "guy time," but Elowen knew Josiah just didn't want to be around when they started having "girl talk." She mentally sighed. He was such a baby sometimes.
"Well, I was talking to Grams, and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity," Bonnie explained, talking more about how recently her Grams had been convinced they were witches. Elowen frowned at this new revelation, quickly reminding herself to ask Stefan to see if he knew anything when she saw him again. She was brought back to the present when Caroline scoffed.
"Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens. So then what?" She question, changing the subject as she turned her attention onto Elowen. The girl in question squirmed under all the attention she was suddenly getting. Clearing her throat, she decided to answer the question as nonchalantly as possible so she wouldn't embarrass herself.
"So then nothing," she shrugged, and Caroline gave her and over exaggerated look of disbelief.
"Stefan spent the night at your house, in your bed with you, half naked, and you're saying nothing happened? I call bullshit." Caroline leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. Elowen just shook her head, sighing.
"I swear all we did was cuddle. A lot happened last night and the thing with Vicki really freaked me out. He was there to comfort me, that's all."
"So there was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline pressed, moving forward once again, so she could properly watch Elowen's expression to see if she was lying.
"Define touchy feely," Elowen dared to ask, watching as Caroline bobbed her head from side to side.
"Y'know….." she trailed off, then lifted her hand and made a crude jerking motion with it.
"Caroline!" The other three girls chorused at once. Both Bonnie and Elowen reached over to hit her on the shoulder.
"Ow!" Caroline cried, her hands flying up to rub both of her arms. "That hurt!"
"To answer your question, no, there was none of that. I promise," Elowen once again swore that she was telling the truth, and Caroline finally dropped it.
"Well, at least you two cuddled." Then, the blonde suddenly gasped, looking straight at Elowen. "You better share the details when you two finally have the makeout session he invited you to." She wiggled her eyebrows. Elowen groaned and buried her head in her hands, blushing.
"Wait, he what?" Elena quietly questioned from beside Bonnie. Caroline, oblivious, immediately began to explain what happened earlier that day, but Elowen smacked her again to silence her.
"Ouch! What did I do this time?" Caroline whined, but Elowen rolled her eyes and gestured to Elena.
"She obviously liked him, duh."
Elena sunk into her seat, trying to make herself smaller. "Um, it isn't that big of a deal," she mumbled, trying to get the attention off of her.
"I don't want to pry open old wounds but, isn't he the first guy you've showed interest in since…..?" Elowen trailed off, not wanting to say anything triggering in front of Elena.
Elena started fumbling with her fingers, before nodding. "Yeah…. He was new and mysterious and….. Nevermind. He's obviously got a thing for you and I don't want to ruin that."
A silence fell over the group of girls, but Elowen didn't let it last very long. She sighed and reached over to grab Elena's hand. "Hey, give it some time. I'm sure another new and mysterious guy will show up in your life. You're only 17, after all," she encouraged, watching as a smile spread across Elena's lips.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks."
Elowen meant those words because, really, her witchy senses were tingling and she was positive someone else would come along. She opened her mouth to continue the conversation along when her phone buzzed. Picking it up, she saw she had a text from Josiah.
Think you can pick me up from Stefan's place? I'll text you the address.
Sighing, she quickly texted him back and then started putting her things away.
"I have to go pick up Josiah. Guess they walked to Stefan's and he has no way home," she rolled her eyes. "I'll see you guys at the comet thing?" Once the others nodded, she turned and made her way out of The Grill.
She punched the address Josiah sent her into her gps and set off, slightly annoyed her brother didn't have his license yet. She wasn't his personal taxi driver.
The farther away she got from town, the more confused she got. How far away was Stefan's house? Finally, it came into view and Elowen pulled into the driveway. She grabbed her phone to text Josiah.
I'm outside.
He texted back within seconds.
Just come inside.
Elowen scoffed, shutting the car off and getting out. It wasn't until she reached the door that it hit her how cryptic and vague and un-Josiah it sounded. Her fist was raised to knock but she was frozen now, eyes darting back to the car. But her brother could be in danger.
Before she could think any longer, the door opened by itself. Elowen took a step back in surprise and her hand flew to her pocket to pull out her phone so she could dial Josiah's number. In a few seconds, she could hear his ringtone going off somewhere in the house. Taking a deep breath, Elowen made a split decision to go inside, following the sound of Josiah's phone.
"Stefan? Josiah?" She called out loudly, trying to figure out which direction the sound was coming from. Eventually, the phone stopped ringing when she reached the parlor. She was getting ready to redial when a crow soared into the house. Spooked, she tried yelling out again. "Josiah! Stef-" She was cut off when she turned around, coming face to face with Damon Salvatore himself.
Noticing the phone in his hand that was obviously Josiah's, Elowen snapped. "What the hell did you do to my brother?"
Damon, not exactly in the mood for her to cast some witchy joojoo on him, raised his hands in surrender. "Relax, your little brother and Stefan are both okay. Honest. You can even call Stefan to make sure." There was a beat of silence as Elowen stared Damon down before sighing. She unlocked her phone once more so she could call Stefan. He answered after the second ring.
"Elowen," he greeted. Damon rolled his eyes at how he could obviously hear the smile in his baby brother's voice. "Hey. What's up?"
"Nothing," she breathed into the phone, relief flooding her body at the sound of his voice. "Just wondering what you've done to Josiah. My mother will kill us both if he goes missing," she joked. "Seriously, though. He's not answering his phone."
"Aah, sorry about that. He wanted to explore the property so I decided to take him up a hiking trail near my house. Must've forgotten his phone. But I promise you that he's alive and well," Stefan explained and a second later she heard Josiah yell in the background, "He's lying!"
"Oh, will you shut up," Stefan scoffed and Elowen facepalmed as she listened to them begin to bicker.
"Alright, alright, break it up. Just remind him to take his phone next time; if it had been mom looking for him, she probably would've panicked so badly she'd do a locator spell so she could yell at him for not answering her calls."
"Will do. See you later?"
"See you later," she echoed, then hung up. Once her phone was back in her pocket, she put her hands on her hips and turned back to Damon. "So, what the hell do you want?"
"What makes you think I want something?" He asked innocently, putting a hand on his chest as if to act hurt or offended. Elowen wanted him to cut the bullshit, so she did the only thing she could do. She concentrated and Damon was on his knees the next moment, clutching at his head.
"Don't play dumb with me, Damon. You lured me here on purpose, so tell me what I'm doing here before I turn your brain to mush," she threatened. She probably didn't actually have the power to turn his brain into putty. He didn't need to know that, though.
"I'm going to release you and if you attack me, you're going to regret it. Understood?" He nodded and Elowen broke her concentration, allowing Damon to stand once more.
"I'm a vampire who can kill you in a heartbeat, but you came waltzing in as if you were God and attacked me without even thinking because you were irritated. Impressive," Damon complimented. "But risky. You're lucky I'm in a good mood or else I would've killed you."
"Don't continue to beat around the bush, asshole. I'm not helping you." Elowen stated, crossing her arms as she stood in the middle of the room. She watched as Damon poured himself a glass of bourbon. Pausing at her words, he stared at her for a few seconds before picking his glass up and taking a sip of the liquid.
"Help me with what?"
"Getting into the tomb, obviously," Elowen addressed the elephant in the room (well, elephant to her, at least). In the blink of an eye, he had her pinned against the wall, his hands around her throat.
"How the hell do you know about the tomb?" He hissed. Choking in his hold, Elowen attempted to cast the pain infliction spell but couldn't due to the lack of oxygen. She began to get lightheaded, her head lolling to the side as spots colored her vision. Damon, realizing he wouldn't get an answer if she were dead, released his hold on her. He watched as she dropped to the floor in a heap of limbs. It took her a minute to recover, coughing a bit as she attempted to sit up. Memories of her mom covering up marks on her neck surfaced, and Elowen felt her chest tighten. Now was not the time for a panic attack. She took a few long deep breaths to calm herself, trying to keep it as steady as she could. When she was sure she had it under control, she looked up at Damon from behind her bangs.
"What was that for?" She croaked out, going into a coughing fit again. The vampire in question rolled his eyes as he walked back over to his forgotten glass of bourbon.
"Enlighten me, little witch. How do you know about the tomb?" He ignored her, deciding to go back to his initial question. If she could scoff, she would have.
Elowen had started climbing her way back to her feet when she felt stable enough. She didn't answer him until she was seated safely on one of the couches in the room. "Well, Mr. I've-Been-Alive-For-Over-A-Century, you're aware that there are two types of witches, correct?"
"Of course. Traditional and Elemental. And you're an Elemental, that much I know."
"Ding, ding, ding! Give the winner a prize. You're a lot smarter than I thought," she sarcastically quipped.
"But I thought Elemental powers were exactly that, elemental. As in, the elements of the earth."
"Aha," Elowen sat up a bit, her voice beginning to return as Damon refilled his glass, seemingly interested in the conversation. As long as he wasn't threatening her life, she didn't care what he was doing. "That's how it started out. But as we progressed and evolved, so did our powers. Eventually, other powers started to manifest. Telekinesis, molecule manipulation, levitation, teleportation. Just to name a few."
"Huh," Damon mumbled, moving to take a seat on the couch across from Elowen's. "So, what power did you get saddled with?"
"Premonition and Knowing. Basically, I touch things and get visions about the future. It never works in my favor, though." She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "The knowing part is just… me knowing things without a premonition. It's incredibly random and not always useful."
"You knew about the tomb because that's what your power is. Noted," Damon downed the last of his drink and sett the now empty glass on the coffee table. "So why won't you help me?"
"Why do you want my help?" Elowen retorted and Damon sighed.
"Because you're a Ramirez. I don't know any bloodline stronger than yours and I need a witch to open the tomb."
"Wait, how do you know about the Ramirez bloodline?"
"Sorry, little witch. That's a story for next time," Damon picked his glass back up and raised it in her direction before walking off into one of the halls. Elowen gaped at his retreating form, before snapping out of it.
"That's not fair! What do you mean-"
"Elowen?" Stefan's voice sounded from somewhere behind her. Elowen whipped around to find Stefan standing just outside the parlor. Josiah was wiping the bottoms of his shoes by the front door, oblivious to his sister being there for the time being. "What are you doing here?"
"Mom was starting to worry so she sent me to come get Jo," Elowen easily lied on the spot, shrugging her shoulders. "She's really overprotective." Stefan seemed to buy the lie, however….
"But, um, how did you know where I live?"
"Stefan," Elowen laughed (albeit a little nervously, though Stefan didn't seem to notice). "You're talking to a witch. C'mon now."
"Not to mention a witch whose power is to literally know everything," Josiah sighed, seeing his big sister as he walked into the room. Elowen lightly bumped shoulders with him.
"Awww, you know you love me," she ruffled his hair before patting his head. "Now come on, let's get you home before mom calls."
Josiah walked over and picked his bag up off the couch, before stopping as his eyes landed on his phone that was laying on the ground. "Huh, that's funny. I could've sworn I left that on the table," Josiah bent down to pick it up, mumbling to himself. "Weird….."
Elowen cursed in her head, remembering that Damon dropped it when she cast the aneurysm spell on him earlier. Oh well, she'll probably explain the whole thing when she gets home anyway. Until then, "Alright, let's go."
As they turned to leave the house, Elowen smiled at Stefan and he smiled back. "See you later?"
"See you later," he echoed. And with that, the two Ramirez siblings got into Elowen's car and went on their merry way.
Damon came back into the room, whistling to get Stefan's attention once they were gone. "Great gal. Whoo. She's got spunk," he half taunted, thinking back to how Elowen didn't hesitate to disarm him earlier. Stefan immediately got annoyed, turning to glare at his older brother.
"Stay away from her, Damon."
As the older Salvatore poured himself another drink, it finally hit Stefan. "Did you lure her here? Is that why Josiah's phone was misplaced? What do you want from her, Damon? Huh?" Stefan demanded, but Damon simply ignored him as he took a sip from his drink. There was a long moment of silence as the two brother's stared at each other before Damon spoke.
"You should keep her around, Stef," he stated, then turned around and walked away, leaving Stefan in a stunned stupor at the seriousness in his brother's voice.