Disclaimer: All rights go to S.M. and L.J. Smith

I had to compel the bartender to give me the whole bottle of whiskey after my 35th shot because he didn't think I could hold my liquor. I just scoffed at the idea; I am not by any chance a light weight when it comes to drinking. This was more than half an hour ago and I'm on my second bottle of whiskey now.

The doppelganger and her group, or at least part of the group, walked into the Grill some time ago. They were sitting in the corner as far away from me as possible. The one I needed to get close to right now hadn't come to the bar as of yet. It was getting quite annoying just waiting for him to come over to the bar since I heard that he's a notorious drinker around here.

After what seemed like forever, which was really only 10 minutes, he got up and went to the bar.

At last, I thought before he came to stand next to me as he ordered a scotch. I could see him looking at me from the corner of his eye and I could only smirk as I continued to stare at him.

He looked at me for a while, waiting for his drink, before I saw the realization spread across his face.

So I guess he does remember me.

"So what brings you here to the Mystic Grill?" he said blatantly, not beating around the bush.

I smirked slightly before I turned to look at him fully, "Thought I should get a feel of the place that the Mikaelson's are calling home right now and the place that so many of you seem to gather about around here."

He turned towards me with a raised an eyebrow, "And why would you want to do that? There is nothing special here."

"Thinking of staying here a while. The Mikaelson's are letting me stay with them if I want, so I'm debating to see if it's worth staying here," I said before taking a drink of my whiskey. I looked thoughtfully at the waiter that Aunt Rebekah had taken to the ball the other night. If I remembered correctly, his name was Matt.

That seemed to get his attention, "The Originals? As in the Mikaelson's that are letting you stay in that mansion with them?"

I chuckled quietly to myself; If he only saw what they all kept as a house back then, they were castles, they make what we are living in now look like nothing in comparison.

I smirked around the rim of my cup, "Are there any other Original vampires around here with the last name of Mikaelson?"

"I guess not," he smirked back, "So how do you know the Mikaelsons?"

I looked at the wall as I thought of how to answer him without giving too much away. I decided on only saying part-truths so if he asked, he really weren't know anything was off, "You can say that I ran into them one day, I liked them and they liked me and we decided to stay in touch. Though it has been a long since I've seen or talked to them, until recently however."

He looked thoughtful as he processed what I just told him before he grabbed his shot of scotch and sat in the seat next to me, "Damon Salvatore," he introduced himself.

"So I see," I eyed him for a bit as I remembered him being with the doppelganger and the boy at the ball, "Izzy."

He shot me a look, "What? No last name?"

"Oh I have a last name but my father always said to never trust strangers," I smirked and turned around in seat to look around the Grill; I wanted to keep tabs on the doppelganger at all times.

"But your father isn't here," He urged.

"Your point? The meaning is the same, no trusting strangers, so in other-words," I paused and looked at him from the corner of my eye, "No last name."

He sighed, "I'll get it eventually."

We stopped talking for a while after that. We just sat in comfortable silence, in each other's company, with him just drinking his scotch while I discreetly looked at the doppelganger as I nursed my whiskey.

I kept on seeing the doppelganger shoot glares at me from time to time. At first I thought it was because of what happened the other day but as time went on, I saw her looking at Damon, as well, in anger.

Is she his girlfriend? I started wondering because if he was then it would put a real damper on my plans. I really didn't want to make a new one.

"Is she your girlfriend?" I asked while pointing at the doppelganger to show him who I was talking about.

I saw the doppelganger start a conversation with one of her friends next to her when she saw me point at her. Her actions alone were enough to confirm to me that she was looking at us.

Damon looked at her for a moment before he shook his head at me as he turned back around. He was now hunched over his drink stiffly, "No, she's not my girlfriend."

"Then why does she keep on glaring at me?" I inquired while knowing that I'll have to be careful about saying her name from here on out if he was to trust me.

Damon's head shot quickly around just in time to see her look away from us again, "It's complicated." He said while looking at her for a bit longer before he looked at me.

Even though he tried to hide it, I could see that he was pleased that she was looking jealous when it came to him talking to me. Though I know that part of the reason she was staring daggers at me was because I had tried to put her up in flames the last time I saw her.

I finished the last of my glass of whiskey before I turned to Damon. I pushed the rest of what's left of the whiskey bottle toward him, "Have it," I told him, "Think of it as the start of a new friendship for you and me."

I stood up and started to leave when I felt a hand grab a hold of my wrist before I was turned around.

"Where are you going? I was thinking we could go to my place for a while right now," He smiled seductively at me.

I only blinked at him blankly before I looked around, only to see the doppelganger coming towards us angrily.

Well more like heading towards Damon, I rethought to myself.

"I was heading out," I then leaned into him until my lips brushed against his ear and breathe out, "And besides, I think your complication wouldn't like that very much."

I heard him take in a shaky breath as I moved away from him. I quickly left the Grill as the doppelganger closed in on him while demanding to know why he was talking to me.

I hope he trusts me soon so I can start giving information to Father on what is going on with the newest doppelganger, I thought as I moved out of sight.

I hope all of you liked the chapter, tell me what you think and review please! :)

I just started reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer a few days ago and it's really good, who else has read it before? :D