Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries in any shape or form. But I do own my OC.
A/N: So, here's part 2 of Memory Lane. I know it's been like forever since I've updated and I'm really sorry about that. Real life caught up to me and I just couldn't work on fanfiction at all, not just story. There's some more Tonnie scenes and a lot of Nikliyah and Alijah in the New Orleans flashbacks. And definitely some more extended scenes between Jenna and Aliyah, maybe finally even having that drink!
Reviews: As always, I've put the replies at the end of the chapter, so you guys don't have to muddle through.
Warnings: Sexual Content, Language, Dark Themes.
Stormdancer
Chapter 17
Memory Lane: Part II
"You brought wine and tequila!" Jenna crowed, snatching one of the bottles away from Aliyah, as she strode through the door. She observed the bottle, shaking it slightly. "And expensive wine too!"
Her eyes raked over the see-through white shirt that hung off one of Aliyah's toffee-skinned shoulder, turned modest by only a halter-neck, yellow bikini top. She wore a pair of jean shorts and white sandals to combat the heat that had worked its way to Mystic Falls.
Aliyah shrugged. "Like it says in the Bible: eat, drink and be merry." She grinned, leaning forwards and kissing Jenna's cheek, following her into the kitchen.
She watched out of the corner of her eye, as Caroline joined Elena, seemingly happy. She nodded, approvingly, observing the white lacy shirt that Caroline was wearing, with a black, spaghetti-strap slip on top, tight black jeans and high-heeled combat boots. She placed the bottles on the kitchen table and turned around when she heard footsteps approaching.
Mason laughed, walking into the kitchen. "Good news! I found the shot glasses!"
Jenna shook her head. "You're here for ten minutes and I'm already back under the bleachers at the pep rally." She grinned.
Mason smirked. "Like old times, huh? Only I didn't swipe this bottle from my old man."
Jenna choked, suddenly, remembering that Aliyah was standing next to her. She pulled the other woman against her side, gesturing towards Mason. "Mason Lockwood, this is Aliyah Bennett, Bonnie's cousin." She said, proudly, her eyes turning on Aliyah with wickedness, making Aliyah roll her own black ones.
"We've met." Aliyah explained to Jenna, sending a winning smile at Mason. If he weren't so easily fooled by that Petrova bitch, she may have even flirted. She did so admire a handsome man, and she did have a thing for wolves. Just enough teasing to make Niklaus angry. "At the carnival, Bonnie and Tyler introduced us."
"And the lovebirds are finally together." Mason grinned.
Jenna smiled. "Well, it's about time. I was sure those two would take forever." She shook her head.
Aliyah licked her lips. "Well, I guess they both needed some extra push." She shrugged.
Alaric opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen. He spotted the bottle of wine and tequila that Aliyah had brought and winked at her.
"Oh, the expensive stuff! I like you already."
Aliyah shrugged. "What can I say? I have entirely too much alcohol in my house and I have no one to drink it with." She waggled her eyebrows.
Jenna gestured to Alaric. "Thank Ric, it was his idea."
Mason raised an eyebrow, covering his suspicion with a knowing smile. "Really?" He asked, pouring a generous helping of tequila into each shot glass.
Alaric shrugged. "Yeah, you know, I thought it would be nice to meet some of Jenna's high school friends. Dig up a little dirt."
Mason chuckled. "I've got dirt. I've got dirt."
Aliyah grinned and nudged Jenna in the side. "Now, this I simply have to hear."
Jenna shrugged. "I have no secrets. Only dirty shame." She said, determinedly.
"To dirty shame." Alaric crowed and all four of them clinked their shot glasses, just as Damon arrived.
"Hey." Damon sauntered over with a cocky smile.
Aliyah could practically feel the air around Jenna chill with the force of her displeasure.
"Damon." Jenna said, coldly.
"We were just doing shots. Let me get you a shot glass, buddy." Alaric murmured.
"Here." Jenna smiled, tightly, and strode forwards, slamming the shot glass into Damon's open palm. "Use mine." She said, coldly, leaving the kitchen.
Alaric rushed forwards, following her in an attempt to calm her down.
"She doesn't like me very much." Damon commented.
Aliyah snorted. "No one likes you very much." She said, snidely.
Mason hid a smirk and nodded at Damon. "We haven't met. Mason Lockwood." He held out a hand.
Damon shook it, nodding to himself, shooting Aliyah a meaningful look. "Oh, sure. Damon Salvatore."
Mason pursed his lips. "I know. I've heard great things about you." He remarked.
Aliyah raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that, love?" She looked at Damon, baring her white teeth in a blinding smile. "'Cause he's a real prick."
September 25th 1864, New Orleans
Aliyah was walking through Mystic Falls, after dumping the two boys in Steven's Quarry. She pursed her lips, remembering that was the very sight where Esther had bound Klaus' hybrid nature over nine hundred years ago. She resisted the urge to scream at the injustice and stamped down on any possible emotional reaction to her memory. It wouldn't do well for her to act out of the ordinary in the town, especially since the Founding Families were on a hunt for any vampires.
She let her muscles relax and her senses stretch out as she searched for any possible indication as to Katherine's whereabouts. She frowned, as she felt a strange presence assault her senses. It was as if the human's blood was deliberately calling out to her. She frowned, having only felt this feeling a few times over the centuries.
There was a Bennett witch in Mystic Falls.
And by the scent of petrichor that accompanied that familiarity of the Bennett witch's blood, werewolves were also gathered in this very small town in Virginia. Of course, she wasn't one to complain. The town had a rich history that predated the founding of Mystic Falls. The first vampires were created here and one of the oldest werewolf packs in all of history made their home in the neighbouring village.
She approached the two equally interesting scents, fury rising in her as she watched carefully. There was a woman pinned to a wall, dark curly hair hidden by a white bonnet on her head. She had a wide forehead and dark brown eyes, her dark skin contrasting against her simple white dress. There was a handsome man in a sharp suit, dark straight hair and strong jaw, trapping her against the bricks.
Aliyah tensed, her muscles locking together, and she lunged from her vantage point. Her forearm slid against the werewolf's throat and she tore him off the witch, and into the opposing wall. She spun around, just as quick, and before he could make a single move, her fingers had curled around his throat, pinning him there against the wall. She bared her fangs at him, her eyes bleeding crimson, and she dove forwards, tearing into his jugular and draining him of his blood until he collapsed to the floor, pale and dead.
"What is your name?" Aliyah asked, coldly.
She could hear the woman shake, slightly. "Emily. Emily Bennett."
"Hello, Emily." Aliyah purred, spinning around, her lips still stained with werewolf blood. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Emily's eyes narrowed and Aliyah could tell by the sudden pressure that was assaulting her head that the woman was attempting to give her an aneurism. She smiled, licking the remnants of the werewolf's blood off her lips, nothing about her affected by the witch's assault.
"Now, don't be rude, Emily. I have done nothing to warrant such violence from you." She chided, gently. "I saved you from being violated by that… dog." She hissed, shooting the corpse at her feet a disgusted look and giving him a good kick in the side which made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
"You." Emily murmured, her eyes widening as she took a step back and plastered herself against the wall. "You're one of the Old Ones. The Original Vampires. You're Aliyah Mikaelson. The Bennett-Mikaelson witch-vampire."
Aliyah laughed. "Oh, I'm hardly a witch, nowadays, darling. I haven't been one in nine hundred years." She smiled to herself, remnants of an old pain flowing through her veins.
"What do you want with me?" Emily stammered, knowing that her magic would be useless against the vampire in front of her.
"Nothing." Aliyah smiled, sweetly. "Nothing at all. You see, I make it a point to keep track of my descendants, Emily."
"Descendants?" Emily stammered. "I don't-"
"Oh, we are related in some complicated way, but you are a direct descendent of my brother's children." Aliyah cocked her head. "And I don't hurt my family. But I would like some information."
"Like what?" Emily bit her lower lip.
"I'm looking for someone." She said, simply, her hands clasped behind her back. "A small thing, brown curly hair, olive complexion, brown eyes. She may go by the name Katherine?"
Emily's eyes dawned with realisation. "What do you want with Katherine?" She asked, curiously.
"She knows something… that I would rather she kept to herself." Aliyah said, slowly. "I know she has left this quaint, little town, but I heard around town that you were acting as her handmaiden while she was in Mystic Falls. Perhaps you know where she would be?"
"No." Emily shook her head. "Katherine never told me where she was heading next."
Aliyah's eyes searched Emily's brown eyes until she was sure that the witch was telling her the truth. She nodded, sighing in disappointment.
"By the way," Aliyah's eyes lit up. "There are currently two boys undergoing their transition in the quarry. I could smell Katherine on them."
Emily pursed her lips and nodded. "Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Katherine… took a liking to the both of them while she was in Mystic Falls."
Aliyah chuckled. "Yes, that does sound like Katherine."
"She asked me to make daylight rings for them. She was always planning to turn them. I could give them to you, if you'd like." Emily offered.
Aliyah smiled. "I don't mind explaining to them what is happening." She murmured.
But her kind words did nothing to detract from the rage that was currently burning in her stomach.
Katerina was gone and apparently, her descendant – a Bennett witch – had been reduced to that Petrova bitch's tool.
Caroline pursed her lips, walking out the front door of the Gilbert house and onto the porch. She tensed, seeing Elena on her own, sitting in one of her chairs on the porch, and remembered how Aliyah had asked her to go ahead with Katherine's plans for her, for the time being.
"Is that Stefan?" Caroline gestured to the phone that was clutched in Elena's hands.
She was still unsure of how to act around Elena and Stefan. Elena had been her best friend since the sandbox, however she was finding it hard to forgive the girl for lying to her for months. Not to mention, Elena continued to befriend the vampire that had spent weeks using her as his own personal blood bag, whore and servant. Elena had lied to her, had forced her to forget what Damon had done to her and didn't even have the decency to apologise to her for it. She didn't understand why Elena thought it was her place to involve herself in everyone else's business and make decisions on their behalf without any authority whatsoever. At least, she could say that Stefan did regret what had happened between Damon and her.
Elena nodded, chancing a quick look at Caroline. "Yeah, he hasn't called me back. I'm trying to decide if I should be worried."
She remained uneasy around Caroline. She knew Caroline was her best friend, but with the blonde girl's sudden vampirism, not to mention Aliyah's proud declaration that her newest fledgling – what does that even mean? – was drinking human blood, she felt like the outsider in their trio for the first time in years. It used to be her, Bonnie and Caroline, but now it felt as though Bonnie and Caroline were avoiding her and preferring the company of that vampire bitch to hers.
Caroline shrugged. "I'm sure he's fine." She threw a few potato chips in her mouth. "God!" She shook her head. "I cannot stop eating. It's horrible just fighting the urge for blood every minute of every day." She smirked. "Thank God… and Aliyah… for blood bags."
Elena grimaced at the thought of human blood. "I know that Stefan really hates that part of himself." She said, pointedly.
Caroline snorted. "Yeah and he hates that you're a constant temptation." She retorted, not too pleased that Elena had the audacity to question her diet choices when she had never experienced being a vampire herself.
Elena frowned in confusion and hurt. "He said that?" She asked, her voice smaller than usual.
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "The desire to rip out your jugular every time he's with you? Trust me, it's there. It's why I had to break up with Matt." She said, meaningfully, hoping that her innuendos were enough to throw a few wrenches into Elena and Stefan's relationship.
Alaric walked out onto the porch and looked over at Elena and Caroline. "Hey! Food's ready, come get it."
Caroline threw her hands up in the air. "Finally, I'm starving." She said, rushing back inside.
All of them were sitting in the Gilbert's living room, playing a round of Pictionary. Damon stood in front of the easel, his pen drawing a shoddy picture of a wolf wearing a tutu. Aliyah rolled her eyes, unable to prevent that insidious thought that rose in her head.
Niklaus is a much better artist than this fool.
She closed her eyes.
I have to stop thinking about him.
"Dress! Ballerina!" Jenna called out.
Caroline's eyes widened, her hands gesturing wildly. "Puppy! Puppy with a tutu!"
Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, no."
"A dog! Hound-dog!" Jenna exclaimed.
"'Dances With Wolves'" Mason said, slowly, his face not changing the slightest as to give Damon any ammunition against him.
Damon smirked and placed down the marker. "Mason wins… again."
Jenna snorted and looked at Aliyah. "How is that a wolf?"
Aliyah watched with concealed amusement as Damon placed a pie on the table, the knife slid under the dessert, made of silver. She rolled her eyes, knowing that Damon was attempting to out Mason's lycanthropy in public by forcing him to touch the silver. She smiled to herself, realising that it seemed the foolish vampire was acting based on information that starred in bad movies and television shows and silly teenage fiction where vampires and werewolves didn't simply slaughter humans, and believed himself to be in a world where vampires sparkled in sunlight and werewolves did nothing but take their shirts off all day.
Damon must not know that if a werewolf is hurt by silver, they simply heal themselves.
It was a fact that continued to irritate Aliyah to this day, since 1114 AD. Otherwise, she would have simply stabbed Klaus a few times in the heart until she felt better and then everything between them would have been fine and she could have continued to stay by his side.
Instead, she was forced to run from the man she loved more than anything else in the world, as she was deathly scared that one day would come where he would dagger her yet again and shove her into her coffin.
Damon looked at Mason, meaningfully, waggling his eyebrows. "Mason, why don't you start us off?" He said, determinedly.
Mason smirked, barely blinking at the sight of the silver knife. "Sure." He decided to play with the vampire for a little bit. He turned the pie around so that the knife was facing Damon instead and his hands slid into the pie, cupping the flimsy dessert in his palms. He tore of a piece of the dessert with his bare hands and snatched a piece off the piece into his mouth, chancing a look at Alaric's suspicious glare. He laughed at the strange looks he received from everyone but Damon and Aliyah. "I apologize, I'm an animal." He said, licking his fingers.
Aliyah looked at Mason. "So, Mason, you and Jenna never went out?" She asked, a curious smile playing on her lips, while her eyes remained cold and a promise of violence if Mason acted out.
Mason stared at her and he could see what it was about this woman that scared the likes of Katherine Pierce.
Mason shook his head, chuckling. "She was always lost in Logan Fell land."
Jenna groaned. "My first mistake. Mason was a catch; he had girls lining up." She waggled her eyebrows, nudging Aliyah in the side, meaningfully. She pulled her away to the kitchen, under the guise of helping with the cutlery. "Come on, he's hot, why don't you give it a go?" She whined at Aliyah.
Aliyah shook her head, feeling nothing but fondness for the strawberry blonde aunt of Elena Gilbert.
It had been so long since she had a true friend.
"What part of 'married' escapes your understanding?" She hissed, smacking the woman, lightly, on the arm.
Jenna shrugged. "What, you got a couple of weeks before your husband comes into town?" Aliyah nodded. "Perfect time to have a fling, before you become all suppressed by the hubby." She said, pointedly.
Aliyah snickered. "You're barking mad, Jenna Sommers." She shook her head. "I swear, you've completely lost the plot. Tell you what, between you and me, the bloke's good looking, I won't say anything against that, but I'd be an absolute cow if I cheated on my husband." She said, apologetically.
Jenna nodded, sombrely. "Maybe he isn't your type after all. I mean, he knows how to have a fun and you're a killjoy." She said, mockingly.
"Oh, well, if you were planning on taking cheap shots at me for the rest of the afternoon…" Aliyah pouted.
Jenna giggled, wrapping an arm around her waist and dragging her back to the table.
They came back just in time to hear Damon's reply to something Mason had said. "Really? I always pegged you for a lone wolf." He said, meaningfully.
Aliyah resisted the urge to groan.
Bloody morons. What did he think would happen? That he'd just wind the bloke up with all these wolf puns and Mason would just act out?
Mason snorted. "I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were." He said, pointedly, placing an extra emphasis on the word 'killer', making Aliyah smile into her beer bottle, as Mason took a swig of his beer.
Damon gave a small nod, his mouth closing, as he conceded that round to Mason.
"How about a toast? To new friends."
Alaric, Aliyah and Damon exchanged a wary look with each other, none of them liking the picture Mason was painting for them.
Something had to be done about the wolf, and soon.
"Cheers!" They all called out and clinked their beer bottles together.
Elena was pacing around the living room, taking quick looks at her mobile.
"Would I be the worst friend in the world if I abandoned you and went to Stefan's?" She asked Caroline, hesitantly.
Caroline tensed, but hid under a blank face. "You want to leave?" She asked, innocently, quickly plotting different ways to keep Elena from Stefan.
Elena nodded. "It's just that he hasn't gotten back to me and I'm starting to get this bad feeling." She explained, forlornly.
Caroline swallowed hard and shook her head, determinedly. "I don't think that's a good idea, Elena." She suggested.
"Somehow I think Damon and Aliyah have it under control here." Elena said, dryly, referring to Mason Lockwood.
"Take it from me, there's nothing worse than a clingy girlfriend." Caroline said, pointedly.
Elena pouted. "I'm not being clingy, I'm just concerned. You understand, right?" She looked at Caroline, nervously.
Caroline bit her lip and her blue eyes lit up. "How about I drive you?" She offered.
Elena nodded, furiously. "Yeah, okay, that'll be great, thanks."
"Just give a second. I'm gonna go and tell Aliyah where I'm going."
Caroline made her way back to the kitchen, snatching Aliyah away from the other adults and pulling her away to a far enough distance that neither Mason nor Damon could hear their conversation.
"What's wrong, pretty girl?" Aliyah asked, worriedly.
"I'm gonna drive Elena over to Stefan's." Caroline said in a rush. "What do I do?" She stammered. "Katherine told me I had to break them up. But I don't know-"
"Don't worry." Aliyah said, reassuringly.
She looked down at her phone.
I have Katherine vervained in my basement. She says she wants to talk to you. You better come over.
"Stefan sent me a message." Aliyah explained, slowly. "He poisoned Katerina with vervain and he has her chained up in the basement of the Salvatore Boarding House. I was just about to head over there myself. You can take my car and take Elena towards the Boarding House, but deflate one of the tires. That way you'll stop just before you get to the Boarding House and it'll keep Elena away from Katherine and Stefan, while she does her little seduction."
"Where are you going to go?" Caroline asked, worriedly, taking the keys from Aliyah's hands.
"I'm going to go to the Boarding House and talk to Katerina." Aliyah smirked.
"But, it's Katherine, what if she-" Caroline protested, her hands reaching out for her sire, trapping Aliyah's in her own.
Aliyah ducked her head, hiding a fond smile at Caroline's protectiveness. It had been so long since she had been near one of her fledglings that she had forgotten what it felt like to have someone genuinely care about her. The last time she had turned someone had been in the 1950s, and while she still kept in touch with Isha and Anirudh, she hadn't been able to meet up with them in quite some time, due to her fear that Klaus would use them to get to her. She had met up with Alexia back in the 1990s, but that had been short-lived as well.
She had kept herself away from people with the singular thought that Klaus may use them in a bid to find her in her head, that she had forgotten what it was like to have sweet girls like Bonnie and Caroline in her life. She truly did adore them.
"I'll be fine, pretty girl." Aliyah said, reassuringly. "Remember? I'm an Original. There's nothing that Katerina can do that can hurt me."
Caroline bit her lip. "Fine." She huffed. "But, be careful." She said, sternly, much like a mother would warn a child.
"I will." Aliyah pecked her on the cheek.
"Aliyah, I'm not sure I can-" Caroline trembled, visibly.
"You can." Aliyah said, determinedly. "I hate this. I truly do, Caroline. I wish to the Gods I didn't have to ask you to do this, but I give you my word that Katerina will not be a problem for you for much longer. I just need you to bear with me for just a little while." She pleaded.
Caroline took a deep breath in and her face visibly changed, turning strong and confident, her eyes shining with determination, and Aliyah felt a stab of pride at her fledgling being so tough in the face of danger.
And they both walked inside, Caroline going back into the living room to rejoin Elena.
The two teenage girls went outside and moved towards Aliyah's car. Elena pursed her lips, marvelling the sleek black coating of the Lamborghini Reventón. Elena slipped into the passenger seat, wondering why Aliyah was so quick to let Elena in her car despite her obvious dislike for the teenage girl. She was so consumed with her thoughts that she didn't observe Caroline coming the other end and twisting a knob in one of the tires, letting all of the air out.
Aliyah strode into the kitchen, finding Mason on his own.
"I think we're being set up." Aliyah whispered, conspiratorially.
Mason chuckled and ducked his head down. "You're the woman that Jenna wanted me to meet." He said, knowingly.
Aliyah shrugged. "It's nothing personal, but I'm married." She explained.
"Well, that's too bad." Mason flirted. "I was looking forward to getting to know you." He waggled his eyebrows.
Aliyah sighed, mournfully. "If only I wasn't married…" She trailed off, shaking her head.
"So, tell me something, what's Damon trying to get at with the innuendos?" Mason's eyes flashed.
Aliyah grinned and shrugged her dainty shoulders, delicately. "I have absolutely no idea, darling. He's kind of an idiot and I had no play in it." She explained, slowly.
"But… you know what I am." Mason nodded at her.
Aliyah smiled, slowly, ducking her head down. "I've been around a long time, darling. I've run into my fair share of…" She bit her lip, her teeth dragging over her lower lip. "People like you." She said, pointedly.
"People like me? Werewolves." Mason nodded.
Aliyah licked her lips, which were curled up in a smile. "I suppose we can say 'bygones'?" Aliyah raised an eyebrow and Mason spun on his feet. "I mean, I didn't mean anything by what I did last night. You have to understand, I was just protecting the kids." She smiled, slowly.
Mason nodded, a smile on his face. "I like you, Aliyah. So, yeah, bygones. Last night… was a mistake."
"Is that so?" Aliyah raised an eyebrow.
"There was confusion; I couldn't chain myself up in time. I have no control once I shift." He explained.
"Look, Mason, I have no intention of sparking this stupid feud that doesn't concern either of us." Aliyah strode towards him, slowly, her heels clacking against the linoleum on the floor. "You lost your brother and your nephew lost his father and I am very sorry for your loss." She said, sincerely. "And if that truly is the reason by your sudden return to Mystic Falls, then I can appreciate that. After all, that is exactly what I did for Bonnie." She bit down on her lip.
"It is." Mason said, reassuringly.
"I quite like you too, Mason." Aliyah said, sweetly. "So, you get one warning. And that's it. Make sure you're here for Tyler and nothing else. If I get the idea that you are here for the moonstone, whether you want it for yourself or plan to give it to someone else, I have absolutely no problem with adding you to the list of casualties I am prepared to create in order to protect the people I care for." She said, darkly. "So, take this as the best piece of advice you will ever get. Be a good uncle to your nephew, make sure he's dealing with your brother's death, mourn your brother, but don't get involved in anything beyond your grasp because I'd hate to see that pretty face get mauled in a fight."
She patted him on the chest and walked away.
Caroline was driving towards the Salvatore Boarding House with Elena in the passenger seat.
"Thanks for this, I appreciate it." Elena said, sneaking a look at Caroline.
"Here we come, to the rescue." Caroline muttered under her breath.
Elena frowned. "Why are you being so snippy?"
Caroline snorted. "Well, I'm sorry my sudden transformation to the undead isn't exactly complimenting your sudden need to angst about your relationship." She snapped. "But that's my own drama. I'm sure that you two will beat the odds. Not that there is any study to pull odds from. What is the ratio of success vampire-human coupling? I'm guessing nil." She said, mockingly.
"Okay, Caroline." Elena said, harshly.
"Look, Elena. I'm not going to be nice about this and frankly I'm kinda pissed off at you." Caroline said, coldly.
"About what?" Elena snarled, fed-up with Caroline's change of behaviour. "Because you've kind of been a bitch since you… transitioned. I mean, you completely ignored Stefan's attempts to help you and you shut him down pretty rudely. You spend all your time with Bonnie or Aliyah and now you're just getting grumpy with me for no reason."
"Oh," Caroline raised an eyebrow. "So now I have no reason? Here's a reason for you, Elena, I got into a car accident because you, your boyfriend and my rapist let twenty-seven vampires out of their cage and you had to save the town from them. How about this reason, Elena, I was murdered by some insane bitch who looks exactly like you. Maybe a good reason is because I woke up and I started to remember all of the awful things Damon did to me when he first got to town, things that you helped him hide from me, things that you knew about and did nothing, despite the fact that I'm your best friend. Or, wait, how about the fact that my rapist almost killed me the night I transitioned. Or, maybe a good reason is that I was almost freaking murdered by a werewolf last night." She snarled.
Elena swallowed hard, a little stunned by Caroline's vitriol. "Okay," She said, slowly. "Maybe we should turn on some music." She said, turning up the radio.
Caroline swallowed back the shriek that threatened to slip from her lips. She couldn't exactly call herself a would-be actress if she wasn't able to fool Elena. Elena had to be shaken by things she said. She had to dial it up a notch if she was to make sure that Katherine didn't become suspicious of her. Just for a little while longer, until Aliyah could deal with Katherine.
"Sorry." Caroline muttered, half-heartedly.
Elena turned up the radio. "I love this song." She commented, offering an olive branch.
Caroline pressed a button on the steering wheel. "What's playing?"
"We Radiate by Goldfrapp." The radio intoned.
Caroline grinned and shook her head. "I love Aliyah's car."
Suddenly, the tire burst and Caroline was forced to pull over, quickly hiding a pleased smile at the turn of events.
"Oh, crap." She said, apologetically.
Elena sighed.
"No more takers for drinks at the Grill? It's like I am with a bunch of adults here." Mason shook his head with disbelief.
Jenna and Aliyah exchanged a nervous look.
"I think I prefer the term 'role model'." Aliyah murmured.
Mason sighed. "Okay. Well, thanks for having me, it was awesome. Alaric, catch that game next week?"
Alaric nodded. "Yeah, I look forward to it."
Mason looked at Aliyah and winked, noticeably. "See you around, Aliyah."
Aliyah ducked her head down, hiding a smile. "Yeah, definitely." She sighed and looked over at Jenna. "I should probably leave too. I have some work to do for my book." She murmured.
"You know, I should probably head out too." Damon commented, watching as Mason walked out the door. He turned to Jenna. "Jenna, you are a wonderful hostess." He took Jenna's hands and raised it to his lips, placing a kiss on her knuckles in an attempt to charm her.
Jenna snorted. "And you are a terrible artist."
"Is that the only thing that makes me terrible?" Damon asked, waggling his eyebrows.
"I'm still deciding." Jenna retorted.
Damon made a face. "Good enough for me. Alaric, let's not catch that game next week." He waggled his eyebrows, before walking out the door.
Aliyah rolled her eyes and looked at Jenna, both of them having matching, displeased looks on their faces.
"I don't like him." Jenna said, adamantly.
"Oh, darling," Aliyah patted Jenna on the shoulder. "No one does."
Elena and Caroline were standing by Aliyah's car in the middle of the road, waiting for the tow truck.
"Are you sure the tow's coming? We've been waiting forever." Elena commented, hurriedly.
"I know, it's weird. They said they'd be here by now." Caroline murmured, innocently.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm just gonna call Jenna."
Caroline's eyes widened. "No! Let me try the tow people again. And I'll use my mad girl voice."
Elena sighed. "Can we just walk from here?"
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "I can't just leave Aliyah's car." She said, slowly.
"We'll come back for it." Elena said, reassuringly.
Caroline snorted. "Yeah, right, Elena… this car's worth over a million bucks. Aliyah may just kill me if I let anything happen to it." She had just lied straight through her teeth to her best friend and didn't feel bad about it at all. "Just give me a minute, Elena"
Elena rounded on her, her face furious. "Caroline, what part of "I'm worried about Stefan" didn't sink in?" She snapped.
Caroline rolled her eyes, determined not to let Elena's tone get to her. "What's the rush? Why are you hurrying to get to a relationship that will never work?"
Elena let out a frustrated growl. "Okay, look. I know that you're upset over Matt, but will you stop projecting it onto me and Stefan, please?" She growled.
"I'm not projecting anything!" Caroline snapped. "You're human, he's a vampire. You're gonna be seventy and in diapers, and he's still gonna be smoking hot and you will never have his children, Elena! And you are too maternal to not have children!" She shrieked.
Elena looked confused and hurt. "Where is this coming from?"
Caroline shrugged, half-heartedly. "I'm just trying to be your friend."
Elena rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, do me a favour and stop trying." She growled.
The tow-truck finally pulled up beside them.
"There's the tow, I'm gonna walk." Elena told Caroline.
"No, Elena, don't!" Caroline called out, catching Elena's arm with just a bit more force than was necessary
"Caroline, you're hurting me." Elena hissed.
"Don't leave me alone." Caroline whispered, trying every single trick in the book to keep Elena with her.
Elena frowned in confusion. "What's wrong with you?"
"Hey, there, someone called about a flat tire?" The tow guy called out.
Elena looked over at Caroline. "She did."
And she walked away.
Aliyah walked up the stairs, meeting Stefan at the doorway of the Boarding House.
"Good on you, Broody, for getting the jump on a vampire that's got almost four hundred years on you." Aliyah smirked. "It makes me wonder what you had to do to get that close to Katherine and whether your little girlfriend would be okay with what you had to do." She said, calculatedly, her eyes glinting.
Stefan frowned at the strange vampire, ignoring the comment she made about Elena. "She said you know who she's running from. Who is it?"
"No, you were running from something. What was it?" Stefan asked.
Katherine grinned despite the pain coursing through her body. "Why don't you ask that pretty vampire who always seems to know what's going on before all of you?" She spat.
Aliyah smiled, slowly. She leaned into him as she passed by on her way inside. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it." She purred, patting him mockingly on the cheek.
"Well, well, well, Katerina Petrova. In chains. I must say, I've been waiting for this sight for a very long time."
Katherine chuckled, hoarsely, looking over at Aliyah's shadowed form in the doorway to the basement. "I didn't know you swung that way, Aliyah."
Aliyah grinned. "Oh, I swing many ways, darling. I just didn't want to offend your fifteenth century sensibilities in 1492."
Stefan came up behind her, walking into the basement in front of her. "I was just asking Katherine why she came back to Mystic Falls."
A smile curled on Aliyah's lips. "Now that's a doozy of a question." She murmured.
Suddenly, much to Katherine's surprise, Aliyah reached out and gripped the sides of Stefan's neck and twisted sharply, a crack ringing through the basement as Stefan's neck snapped and his body collapsed to the floor, temporarily dead.
"Well, something tells me he shouldn't be a witness to this conversation, don't you think?" Aliyah asked, a mocking smile curling on her red lips.
Katherine chuckled, harshly. "He was asking me about the moonstone." She explained. "And George Lockwood. Back in 1864."
"George Lockwood. George. Lockwood." Aliyah looked thoughtful. "Was he the one who had a thing for Emily?" Katherine nodded, weakly. Aliyah grinned. "Oh, I did kill him. Drained him of all of his blood when I caught him trying to force himself on Emily. I really do have problems with rapists." She turned to Stefan's dead body, a beautiful, painted smile on her face. "I should really tell his brother about that, but I'm sure he knows."
"Something tells me he already does." Katherine muttered under her breath and winced.
"I already know why you're here in Mystic Falls, so I don't need to ask you that question." Aliyah said, lightly.
"So, let me out." Katherine said, weakly.
Aliyah snorted. "Now, why on Earth would I do that?"
"We were friends once." Katherine pointed out.
Aliyah nodded. "You're right, we were." She smiled.
"Why did that stop?"
Aliyah smoothed down the dark mauve silk of her dress. "Sometimes, I truly wish that corsets did not exist."
Katerina laughed and nudged her in the side. "I do not believe that such sentiments have never before been expressed, Lady Aliyah."
"Oh, please do not refer to me as that." Aliyah groaned. "Please call me Aliyah, Katerina. It irritates me when people refer to me as royalty when I was nothing more than a commoner once upon a time." She muttered.
Katerina flushed. "I cannot believe that you were ever a commoner, Lady-" She ducked her head down when she saw Aliyah glare at her. "Aliyah." She amended.
"Oh, I was." Aliyah said, wistfully. "A very long time ago, of course. But I was a commoner once upon a time. But then I married my husband and my entire life seemed to change so quickly."
Katerina bit her lip, looking away briefly. "Do you… miss your previous life?" She asked, curiously.
"Sometimes." Aliyah confessed. "Sometimes I remember how life was so much simpler back then. Now, there are always sentiments that I must remember, feelings which I must never hurt. I must remain quiet and stand by my husband's side as if I am nothing more than his pretty doll. It is not much of a life."
Katerina pursed her lips, hesitating, before placing a hand on Aliyah's hand. "I believe that you are worth more than just some trophy to a man." She confessed. "I may not have known for you that long, but you have been immensely welcoming to me, an orphan girl with no family to speak off. You have taken me into your home and treated me as one of your own and I cannot express my gratitude."
"Katerina-" Aliyah looked uncomfortable by the turn of the conversation.
"I apologise, my lady, if I am speaking out of turn. But from what I have seen, you are nothing like a doll. A doll is empty. You are brimming with life."
"You know exactly why that stopped." Aliyah said, coldly. "You tricked me. You tricked Elijah. Good, sweet, honourable Elijah, who cared about you so much. He trusted you; all he wanted to do was to help you." She quelled the rising jealousy as she remembered the way Elijah's eyes had softened when they looked upon a human Katerina. "We both believed you to be some sweet, naïve Bulgarian girl who didn't deserve to die because of Niklaus' ambition and obsession, but you were always more than that, weren't you." She shook her head, bitterly. "I looked at you and I complained about all of those women who simply married men for titles and positions and favours and money and you agreed with me, but that was your endgame, wasn't it?" She snarled. "To use Elijah or Niklaus and get what had been denied to you your entire life." She gritted her teeth. "I have to say, dear, no one has ever fooled us the way you managed to do." She gritted her teeth. "You pretended to be my friend and my confidant and you didn't trust me enough to protect you when you needed my help. I would have done my best to save you from Niklaus, Katerina."
Katherine laughed, harshly, and shook her head in disbelief. "Am I seriously supposed to believe that? Your loyalty to your husband is legendary, Aliyah." She smiled, coldly. "You've spent the last thousand years fighting to the death for Klaus and you were going to help me escape him?"
Aliyah pursed her lips. "Yes." She said, sincerely. "You want to know how you can trust that, Katerina?" Katherine tensed. "I was the one who convinced Trevor to help you escape. He was sitting in a tavern, drunk out of his mind, whinging about the fact that the girl he was in love with was going to be used in some bloody sacrifice that would make the most powerful vampire in the whole of creation even more powerful. And then I simply suggested to him that perhaps he may want to sneak her out of the castle before the full moon." She shrugged.
Katherine's eyes widened. Clearly, she had never heard this story before. She had been convinced that Trevor had helped her out of some misguided feelings of love and guilt for the girl he had brought directly to Klaus.
"Why… why would you-" She stammered.
"Because you were my friend." Aliyah shrugged. "And I cared about you." She shook her head. "You looked like the exact image of the woman who made my life a living hell when I was a human, but out of the three Petrova doppelgangers I've met, you are definitely my favourite." She grimaced. "I wanted to help you. But you spat in the face of that when you stole from me." She snarled, her fangs descending. "When you deceived Elijah, the one person other than myself that genuinely wanted to save your life. One of the most important people in my life and I have never been able to stand it when people hurt Elijah." She spat, her eyes flashing with hatred, flaring a bloody crimson, which sent shocks of fear running down Katherine's spine.
"You want to know why I played Elijah, Aliyah?" Katherine spat, looking at her through her thick, chestnut-brown curls that hung in front of her face. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes." Aliyah said, coldly.
"Because of you." Katherine hissed. "Because I could've fallen in love with Elijah, but I couldn't. Do you know why that is? Because I could have loved him and maybe he would've loved me. But, I figured out something pretty quick."
"And what was that?" Aliyah raised an eyebrow.
"Elijah would die loving you more." Katherine leaned back, satisfied, the remnants of an old hurt burning in her deep brown eyes. "The poor thing, that was always his curse. You would always be his greatest love. So, you're right. I could have made that decision. To be honest with Elijah, to let myself go there with him. But I couldn't. Because even if I were to have fallen in love with Elijah, I would've had to look into his eyes, every fucking day, knowing that he would much rather be in your arms that mine." She spat.
Aliyah stood there, in the doorway, as still as a statue, her muscles locked and her face completely devoid of emotion. But her eyes betrayed the pain that currently wracked her body.
"You know, they look down on me for screwing with Damon and Stefan over a hundred years ago. What would they say if they found out that you've been leading Elijah on for a thousand years?" Katherine smiled, mockingly.
"My relationship with Elijah is none of your business, Katerina." Aliyah said, coldly. "It was set in stone centuries before you even born and it works for us. You're forgetting your place." She warned. "You should show me some respect, I am still an Original and I am the wife of the man who has hunted you for five hundred years. Don't think I won't just simply rip your pretty little head off if you make me angry." She growled low in her throat.
Katherine chuckled, despite the vivid fear that flashed on her face at Aliyah's threatening words, and shook her head. "You can't look me in the eye because you know you did this to me. You and Klaus and Elijah. You made me Katherine Pierce and now you feel bad."
"I don't." Aliyah said, coldly. "I don't feel bad." Katherine swallowed hard. "Do you honestly believe that you are important enough to me that I regret what happened to you? I may have mourned the girl you once were, but I quickly forgot you the second you turned into a vampire. You outlived your usefulness."
Katherine flinched, realising that she may have pushed Aliyah just the slightest bit too far by bringing up Elijah.
Sometimes, she remembered the woman who had taken the poor orphan Bulgarian girl into her home and confused her with the savage vampire who wouldn't hesitate to rip her heart out if it meant protecting those she cared about.
"So, back in 1864, you gave George Lockwood the moonstone." Aliyah said, knowingly, striding into the basement.
"Yep." Katherine said, hoarsely. "How did you figure it out?"
"Well, Mason Lockwood's been sniffing around. He asked Tyler about the moonstone, Tyler told Bonnie, Bonnie told me. You see how the chain of custody works?" Aliyah asked, mockingly.
Katherine chuckled, wryly. "So, tell me something, what is it about the little Bennett witch that makes the big bad Original bitch all warm and fuzzy inside?"
Aliyah smiled and shook her head.
"No, seriously," Katherine's voice grow soft. "I've seen you kill indiscriminately, Aliyah. I was there in New Orleans a couple of times over the centuries you were there. Call it keeping my enemies close. I know what you're capable of. I know what you can do. You convinced Trevor to save me and then you turned around and you hunted me for five hundred years, so what is it about this girl that makes you all soft?"
"Let me preclude this by saying that if you ever think about laying a finger on Bonnie, you will die a most painful death, one that not even my husband can give you." Aliyah said, coldly, leaning against the wall. "Aren't you sick of it yet, Katerina? All you've done the past five hundred years is save yourself and sell out others. Aren't you tired? Maybe I am. Maybe I'm tired of being the she-wolf who tears peoples' heads off."
"I heard you almost killed Damon when you first came to town." Katherine smirked.
Aliyah chuckled. "One of my more pleasurable moments, I'm sure."
"That boy really does have the ability to piss people off."
Katherine quietened and swallowed hard, looking up at Aliyah, and Aliyah was sure she was looking at the sweet human girl that she had befriended back in 1492. This was Katerina Petrova and not Katherine Pierce.
"Do you think I could do it?" Katherine asked, quietly. "Do you think I could find my Bonnie Bennett somewhere in this world?" She chuckled, harshly. "Klaus will hunt me till the day I die."
Aliyah looked away, ignoring the comment about Klaus, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "I think you could find her, Katerina." She said, honestly.
"Why do you call me that?" Katherine huffed.
"Because you were born Katerina, you made yourself Katherine." Aliyah pursed her lips. "Perhaps that was partly our fault for what we did to you. But I liked Katerina. She was my friend. I'd like to see her again." She shrugged, before flashing out of the basement.
Caroline was just washing her face in the mirror, when she happened to look up and catch Katherine standing behind her. She jumped and closed her eyes, her hands tightening noticeably on the porcelain sink.
"Katherine." Caroline said, lightly, quelling down her fear at the sight of the woman who had effectively murdered her.
Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Care to share how you couldn't follow through with one simple task?" She asked, coldly.
Caroline almost threw her hands up in the air. "I tried, okay? But I couldn't exactly kidnap my best friend." She said, pointedly.
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Occupy her. That's all I asked."
"I told her that her relationship was doomed and all that mortality stuff. I think… I really think that I got to her." Caroline said, quickly, tensing.
Katherine smiled, coldly. "I hope so, because let's not forget. I already killed you once; I can easily do it again." She warned.
Caroline was sitting alone at a table in the Mystic Grill, when Stefan and Elena entered together.
"Elena." Caroline waved her over.
Elena smiled, shyly, at Caroline and walked over. "Hey." She greeted.
Stefan went over to a table, while Elena spoke with Caroline.
"Oh, my God. I am so sorry about earlier today. I don't know what came over me." Caroline said, sweetly.
"It's okay, Caroline. Everything that you were saying was right. It's just hard for me to hear, you know?" Elena murmured, reassuringly.
"So… you're not mad at me?" Caroline asked, eagerly.
"You were just being a good friend… in your own way." Elena shrugged, nonchalantly.
"My own head case, horrible way. Elena, I really am sorry." Caroline said, apologetically.
Elena smiled at her and joined Stefan at the table he had taken. Caroline watched as the couple started off by talking, quietly, and then their tempo began to grow, ascending into a harsh argument. Caroline let her senses stretch out the way that Aliyah had taught her and listened to Stefan and Elena argue about what Katherine's threats meant for their relationship. Caroline wondered if they were just playing a ruse or if her concerns had actually gotten to Elena. She had known Elena her entire life and the one thing she had observed about her best friend was that Elena was inherently determined. If she saw something she wanted, she didn't stop until she got it.
If that was Elena, why was she allowing Katherine to mess up her relationship with Stefan?
When Caroline and Bonnie reached home, they both came home to the sight of Aliyah sitting on her own in the dark, nursing a bottle of scotch. Caroline and Bonnie both frowned at each other and rushed over to Aliyah, falling on either side of her on the couch.
Bonnie placed a cautious hand on Aliyah's arm and Aliyah was suddenly jarred from her thoughts, as she turned to look at Bonnie with a great degree of surprise, having not even noticed their entrance into the house.
A realisation that both stunned and terrified her at the same time.
"Lee-Lee, is everything okay?" Bonnie asked, hesitantly.
Aliyah took a long swig of the scotch and slammed it down on the coffee table. "You remember how I said that I hated Katerina because of what she did to Elijah. She used him. She saw him nothing more than a viable meal ticket." She laughed, a harsh and cold sound that sent chills down Bonnie and Caroline's spines.
They had never seen her this distraught, not even Bonnie, when she had read the letter Klaus had left for her in their old apartment.
"Well, it turns out that she hates me for pretty much the same reason. She hates me… because apparently I am Elijah's greatest love." She whispered, almost burying her face in her hand. "She hates me because Elijah has to live the rest of eternity with the greatest love of his life married to his brother."
Caroline placed a hand on the small of Aliyah's back, rubbing gently. "I'm so sorry, Lee-Lee." She said, softly.
Aliyah cleared her throat, shaking her head, sniffling back the tears.
She would not cry.
She was a Mikaelson and the blood of Qetsiyah and she would not cry.
She pressed the cool glass against her cheek, letting the bite of the cold glass and scotch calm her burning cheek. She took in a sharp breath and forced herself to calm down, compartmentalising her emotions just as she was used to.
She would not break.
She licked her dry lips and swallowed hard, wetting her dry throat. She turned to Bonnie and Caroline. "So, how were your days, then?" She asked, hoarsely, her voice light.
"I told Tyler about everything." Bonnie looked away, determinedly, leaning back on the sofa, looking ahead.
Aliyah round on her, her limbs seizing up with tension. "When you say 'everything'…" She asked, trailing off.
"I told him I was a witch – which he took it very well, by the way – and I told him about vampires and the Salvatores – which was taken with disbelief, I have to admit. I told him about the werewolf curse and what he needs to do to trigger it." Bonnie tensed. She looked at Aliyah, nervously. "I also told him about you." She said, quietly.
"You did what?" Aliyah asked, coldly.
"I told him you were a vampire, nothing else." Bonnie said, hurriedly. "I swear."
Aliyah closed her eyes, her mind running a mile a minute. "And Caroline?"
"No." Bonnie said, reassuringly. "I didn't tell him about Caroline."
Aliyah handed her the scotch bottle and Bonnie took a large swig of the alcohol. Bonnie then handed it to Caroline across Aliyah and Caroline tipped her head back, downing a large gulp of the golden liquid.
"So, what about you, Caroline, what happened after I left the barbecue. How did you stall Elena?"
Bonne frowned. "Why did you have to stall Elena?" She asked Caroline in confusion.
"Remember, Katherine told me I had to break up Stefan and Elena." Caroline sighed. "So, Elena wanted to go and see Stefan during the barbecue because he wasn't answering her calls. But then Aliyah told me that Stefan had Katherine vervained in his basement, so Aliyah snuck off to go and talk to them. So, I let the air out of one of the tires in Aliyah's Lamborghini – by the way, you'll have to get that fixed – but I kinda failed, because the tow-guy came to pick Elena and I up and Elena walked off towards the Boarding House. You know, she really is stubborn." She shook her head.
Aliyah huffed, letting her head loll against the back of the couch. "It's a Petrova trait." She murmured. "Anything else happen that you guys should be telling me?"
"Katherine found me in the Grill." Caroline confessed.
Both Bonnie and Aliyah straightened, staring at Caroline with vivid amounts of worry.
"I'm fine." Caroline said, reassuringly. "But she must have escaped from the Salvatores." She murmured.
"That makes sense." Aliyah agreed. "Katherine's been drinking vervain for over a century. She's developed quite an immunity to it."
Bonnie frowned. "Why would she be drinking vervain? I mean, isn't it poisonous to you guys?"
Aliyah nodded. "It is, but Katherine drinks vervain to protect herself from my family."
Caroline shifted in her seat. "Why would vervain protect her from your homicidal husband?"
Aliyah snickered. "Because an Original can compel a vampire." She explained, the alcohol finally loosening her limbs.
Bonnie and Caroline looked at each other before turning to Aliyah with various degrees of fright, disbelief and worry.
"Um, Aliyah, you do realise what you just said, right?" Caroline asked, quickly. "You can compel other vampires?"
Aliyah took another long swig of the scotch and jumped to her feet. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. One, Bonnie can't be compelled by any vampire. And two, we'll just get you on vervain. That way, Nik can't use you against me when he rolls into town." She tipped her head back and downed the entire bottle of the scotch, a few drops spilling off her lips, which she quickly licked up. "Everything will be fine." She slurred.
She stumbled and would've tipped over the coffee table, if Bonnie and Caroline hadn't seen her stagger coming up and quickly held onto her before she could fall. They swallowed hard and looked at each other, both realising just how much Aliyah's talk with Katherine had affected her. Clearly, the topic of Elijah and Aliyah's relationship was a sore spot for the Original vampire, a spot that made her want to drown herself in alcohol.
"What did Katherine say to you, Caroline?" Aliyah hummed, rubbing her eyes in a vain attempt to dissipate the booziness she was currently experiencing.
"She just said that I had to break Elena and Stefan up or she'd kill me." Caroline shrugged. "I'm pretty sure that Elena and Stefan are close to breaking up. I spun some ridiculous story about how Stefan has to stop himself constantly from tearing Elena's throat out-"
"Which, knowing the Ripper, is definitely true." Aliyah shook her head. "That boy definitely has problems with his bloodlust." She tipped her head back.
"And I said something about how their relationship was never going to work because Stefan was like over a hundred and Elena didn't want to be a vampire and how Elena has to have children because she's so maternal and I tried to make it seem like I was broken-hearted because of my break-up with Matt." Caroline said, in a rush.
"Well, I think you did wonderfully. And who cares what Katherine thinks. We hate her." Aliyah muttered. "But it does bring up an interesting point."
Bonnie frowned and looked up at a swaying Aliyah. "And what's that."
Aliyah looked clearer than she had been all night. Her eyes were bright and wicked and flashed with something that worried the other two just the slightest bit.
"I'm going to teach you both how to fight." She purred.
September 26th, 1864, New Orleans
It was very late when Aliyah reached New Orleans that night. She flashed into the bedroom she shared with Niklaus and smiled upon sight of what was in the bed. Her husband lied there, the sheets bunched up to his waist, naked and on his front, his head burrowed into the pillow, his dark blonde curls contrasting against the darkness of the décor of the room. His face was soft and clear of anger, a sight that was few and far between, looking very much like the mischievous young man who had stolen her heart almost nine hundred years ago. She swallowed hard, feeling a pang of hurt and regret for what had happened to them over the centuries. But what truly made her soften was the way his arm reached out onto the other, empty side of the bed, searching for the usual warmth or presence that her body gave him, which was being denied to him by her absence.
She, hurriedly, undid the buttons of her navy blue coat, shoving it onto a nearby chair, while she unbuttoned the simple silk shirt she wore under it. Her hands reached behind her back and tore off the laces of her corset, not even taking the time to bemoan the loss of such a constricting garment. When she had finally slipped off all of her clothes, she smiled at Klaus' sleeping form and she crawled into bed with him, slipping under the silk sheets.
When she felt Klaus' hand slid across the small of her back, she snuggled into his warmth, her hand curling into a fist over his muscled chest.
"You're back." Klaus hummed, his hands sliding around her waist and pulling her against his chest. "How was your trip, hellcat?"
His blonde curls tickled her skin and she giggled, her hand curling around his neck. She whimpered, tipping her head back, as his lips lapped at her pulse point. She moaned when his fangs descended and nipped at the sensitive skin of her neck, drawing just the slightest amount of blood, which he licked off, lewdly.
His hands tightened around her and his warmth blazed through her like an inferno as his lips moved down her body, the tip of his nose grazed her stomach, his lips curving into a crooked smirk which made her thighs spread, automatically.
"It was… interesting, to say the least." Aliyah hand weaved through Klaus' blonde curls. "But disappointing in the end." She smiled down at her, her lips curling into a devilish, knowing smile. "Did you miss me, sweetling?" She crooned.
Klaus hand curved around her hip and, much to her surprise, he slid back her up body, her legs wrapping around her waist. Her arms slipped around his neck, her fingers tugging on the blonde curls, pulling him down to slant his mouth over hers, making her moan into his mouth, his chest moving deliciously over her bare breasts.
Klaus hummed in agreement. "I did, Liya, my love. Very much. Now, let me show you much."
He growled low in his throat and any sounds she made were quickly silenced by the delicious things he did with his tongue.
A/N: Oh, my God. You have no idea how long this chapter took. This chapter, plus the one before, took me pretty much five days to write, and parts of it I was very pleased with and other parts not so much. I have this annoying habit of imagining scenes and quotes and completely forgetting the words when I sit down to write. It's the most irritating thing I go through.
I hope you guys liked the Jenna-Aliyah interaction in this chapter as well, because I really dig the idea of those two as friends, and I like the idea of Jenna trying to set Aliyah's unhappily-married self up with Mason. I hope you guys liked the Mason-Aliyah moment as well. Aliyah's determined to not let Mason ruin what she's planning here in Mystic Falls, especially if he is plotting something with Katherine.
But I hope you guys liked the chapter. We had heaps of flashbacks in this chapter. In 1864, the Originals would have been in New Orleans and Marcel would have already been turned into a vampire and Rebekah would have been daggered. I had Klaus undagger Kol during this time, so in the future, we may see some Koliyah interaction in the past.
I hope you guys liked the pseudo-smut because it was awesome to write and I hope you liked the flashback of Aliyah being very savage. She does have quite a bit of a dark side and I hope that showed in this chapter. I hope you liked the characterisation of Katherine and Aliyah's relationship. I like the idea of them being friends when Katherine was human and then Aliyah feeling all betrayed when Katherine ran away and got herself turned. And I also like the Elijah issue being between them, some jealousy on both sides. I will expand on what happened in 1492, because there were other things that affected that foursome. So, I hope you enjoyed the camaraderie between the two.
And I hope you guys understand a bit more of the relationship between Elijah and Aliyah. If there's one thing that Aliyah regrets, it's what happened between her and Elijah back when they were first turned. When we see Elijah in Rose, we'll see how they act around each other. I have some very special plans for what happens in the latter half of Season 2.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review or leave me a line on Tumblr (I'm always there!).
Reviews:
slexieotpforever: Fair enough, I know that not everyone will ship Tonnie as much as I do, and I can understand that. I hope this chapter satisfied your need for Caronliyah goodness though. I hope there was enough badass Aliyah moments in this chapter too, she really did bring out her inner bitch with Katherine. We may have some more Elijah flashbacks in the future, especially during Rose, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see...
Guest: Glad to be back, darling!
PracticallyCharmed: Thank you so much! I love Tonnie so much too, and their nicknames are so adorable. I'm also glad you're enjoying the Nikliyah.
LadyDV011: Thank you so much! I can't wait for their reunion, either. It's going to be pretty intense, I can promise you that.
jordanjanellejoy: Oh, you're so sweet! I'm a big fan of the supporting characters. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of Elena and I'm a total Caroline stan, so it was really fun for me to spend time exploring Bonnie, Caroline and Tyler's characters in more detail like this. And I'm so glad you enjoy Aliyah as an OC. I know a lot of people aren't fond of them, but I'm glad Aliyah can bypass that. She definitely isn't flawless or perfect. She does make mistakes - pretty big ones, and she can be pretty self-centred (as in acting in the best interests of herself and her family). And yeah, she's definitely a Bonnie stan. I think I wrote this fic partly because I haven't seen another OC that was Bonnie-centric. I've seen a lot of Elena's sisters, Caroline's sisters, even a Lockwood girl I think. But I'm so happy you like Aliyah. She's like my baby.
HPuni101: Thank you so much, love! Hope you're enjoying your 2016.
XBubblegumBitchX: I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I think Caroline and Bonnie really need like an older vampire that fights for them. Cause Bonnie lost Sheila ages ago and Liz (while gone now) couldn't do much before as a human. Aliyah's definitely capable of protecting them. And I totally agree with you on your assessment. As you can probably see, I'm not the greatest Elena fan and I definitely stan Bonnie and Caroline way more. I really do want to write some flashbacks with Rebekah and Kol. Hopefully, as we proceed into the end of season 2 and season 3, we'll see more.
zabieLOL: Thank you so much! Yeah, I'm really anxious for Klaus' arrival too. Aliyah's reaction... well, she kind of assumes he's on his way so she's aware that he'll be turning up sooner or later. But I can't imagine some great suspenseful reveal or anything. But it will be pretty intense, that is The Last Dance will be pretty hectic. As for a flashback between Elijah and Aliyah, there will be some when Elijah shows up in Rose.
VampireRose48: Thank you so much! Honestly, I'm keeping my version of the baby plot on the down-low. Don't worry about Hayley, though. She's not going to be a major threat in my version. And I think honestly if it did happen to her, Aliyah would kill Hayley, but who knows?
originzlhybrid: Thank you so much! And I agree with you. Part of the reason I wanted to write about Aliyah was because I found that Caroline and Bonnie had no screen time and I wanted to explore their characters further. And yeah, as you can probably see, I hate Damon, most of all because of what he did to Caroline and because everyone just treated him like some ordinary vampire when he's a rapist. So, I was really happy to deal with that in this fic. Aliyah's interactions with Elijah and Klaus will be interesting once they show up, I can promise you. And don't worry, your English is fine, darling.
AnneAC: I'm so glad you're enjoying Tonnie. I was a bit nervous about introducing this pairing, but I'm glad you received it well. They are lovely. I'm really anxious for Elijah's entrance. Well, they've pretty much patched up all their problems, but there is still some unfinished business and I'm sure we'll see it go down once Elijah shows up and Aliyah meets up with him. I miss Klaus too. I really can't wait for their reunion, but I'm sure you're enjoying the flashbacks with him.
Catarina Persephone: I'm so glad you're enjoying the flashbacks. They're definitely fun to write, especially since they give us an insight into Klaus and Aliyah's relationship even before Klaus shows up in real time.
AshleyEvans306715: I love the Nikliyah flashbacks too. They're so awesome to write. Yeah, poor Elijah. Unfortunately, I imagine that would be a regular occurrence considering he stuck it out with his ex-wife who married his brother for a thousand years. He does need some love, who knows where he might get it from? As for Klaus, yeah, I don't ever imagine him as the lovey-dovey, chocolates for Valentine's Day kind of guy, ever. Plus, I rather like writing him as this controlling bastard, cause both Klaus and Aliyah are pretty edgy, dark individuals, so their relationship is deliciously toxic. Aliyah can definitely hold her own against Klaus, otherwise she probably wouldn't have left him, but yeah, in some circumstances, she will defer, especially since he is the physically stronger one and when it concerns the safety of their family. I'm so glad you like the Tonnie scenes too and hopefully you liked this chapter just as much! And don't worry, I don't plan on abandoning this story anytime soon. I did get caught up in real life, so I neglected fanfiction in general, not just story. But yeah, I'll keep writing this as long as I can. Thank you for checking in though!
mattdombast: I like to write OCs of different races only because I find that we get stuck in a Caucasian rut sometimes. Not that I have a problem with Caucasian OCs, but sometimes it's nice to have someone different to relate to. As for Elijah, I've already settled his pairing, but I plan on keeping my mouth shut until I actually write it into the story.
Audrie-13: Hi there, Audrie! Hopefully you're enjoying Stormdancer as much as you enjoy TDOTAY!
Leah Tatyana Nicole: Lol, who knows?
Wikked: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the Nikliyah so far and I'm glad you're not getting frustrated. It does take Klaus awhile to actually appear, but I wanted to give some background to their relationship before he actually jumps into the storyline, so you all can see exactly what their relationship is like in peacetime. Considering war will probably start when Klaus lands in Mystic Falls. And thank you so much for letting me know. I know I have a tendency to focus on Aliyah more (because she is easier to write) but I never wanted Caroline and Bonnie to seem weak. I have a feeling you might change your mind as we delve deeper into Season 2, only because these episodes currently are kind of the prelude to most of the action, so it doesn't seem like they're doing much right now. But thank you so much for telling me that!
Skendo: Thank you so much! I pronounce Aliyah like Ah-lee-yah. Ali is just how you would probably see Ally though.
vampires are awesome: I know, I love writing threatening Klaus. It's so fun! And yeah, I like the dynamic of Tonnie, especially when compared to Nikliyah. They are very similar. As for kids, we'll have to see in the future, they're a bit too young for that right now.
Guest: I totally agree. I hate Elena too. Actually, that's partly why I started writing Stormdancer in the first place.
Saffronellen: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying Aliyah and everyone else. And yeah, the Klaus-Aliyah reunion is something that I'm waiting for too. It probably won't be happy though, fair warning.
allylovesklaus: Aww, you're so sweet! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story and the relationship between Bonnie and Aliyah. I've seen a lot of OCs related to Elena and Caroline and Tyler or the Originals, but not many, if any, that are related to Bonnie. I wanted to write her because I felt like someone needed to look out for Bonnie's interests, especially in a Season 1 context when she was pretty lost and grieving. I feel like Aliyah gives her reassurance and a purpose, and probably helps her think more deeply about things. And the Klaus-Aliyah reunion will be eventually, during The Last Dance. It'll be pretty intense; I can promise you that.
Guest: Aww, honey, there's no shame in admitting that you liked smut. I do it all the time. I'm so glad you're enjoying this so far. Yeah, I haven't seen a lot of Tonnie fics so I thought they would be an interesting ship to explore. Caroliyah is definitely one of my favourite brOTPs too. Especially since I think Caroline also needed that protector in season 1 and she didn't really get anyone for a while. There wasn't really anyone who worked in her best interests except for Liz and there was only so much she could do as a human, and that's only after the end of season 2 when she accepted that Caroline was a vampire, so I felt like there was a space in Caroline's life that needed filling.
LokiLova: Don't worry, darling, no plans on abandoning this story!