A FEW GOOD MEN.
"She misses you." Leya commented softly into the phone as she stared out her window across to the Gilbert household where Elena sat outside looking forlorn.
It was silent on the other side of the phone before a small voice spoke. "I know."
"What's wrong, Bonnie? "Leya asked, hesitantly adding as an afterthought. "Do you hate her? For what happened to your Grams?"
"No." Bonnie groaned, and then went silent.
"I hate the Salvatore's." Bonnie seethed. "Grams was right," She sniffled. "You were right, we should've said no. We were used and for what, Leya? Katherine wasn't in there, Damon's still here, vampires are still here and my Grams is dead."
It was silent again, Leya knew from experience that all Bonnie wanted, no, needed right now was silence and space.
There was another sniffle before Bonnie spoke again, this time her voice didn't shake, it was concise and controlled. "I have to go, my dad's home."
"I'll talk to you later, bye." Leya spoke gently.
"Bye." Bonnie's small voice rang through, and then all Leya heard was the dial tone ringing in her ear as she watched Elena walk into her house with her aunt.
A few hours later Stefan knocked on her door.
"I'm beginning to think you are the bearer of bad news, Stefan Salvatore." Leya said half teasing before she turned serious. "What happened this time?"
"I'm sorry, Leya." Stefan said as he walked in. "I know you probably don't want to see me right now. Elena said you looked really upset at Bonnie's grandmother's funeral."
"It's okay, I'm fine now. I can't really say much about Bonnie though." Leya said forcing the lump that suddenly appeared down her throat as she watched Stefan look guiltily when she uttered the last sentence.
But Stefan could see through her, no matter the tough façade she put on he could still see the hurt in her green eyes.
"If you wanna talk, just know that I'm here." Stefan said softly, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly.
The lump in her throat swelled and her eyes started to sting. She hadn't once talked about what happened to her, about everything she's seen. Everyone was always so preoccupied with the ongoing war and so was she that she just bottled everything up and tried not to let it out.
She was being weak now, she hated being weak, being pathetic. It reminded her too much of the words Voldemort often spoke to her.
So she swallowed the lump, blinked away her stinging eyes and shoved her emotions down and walked away from Stefan's caring eyes.
"So, are you just gonna stand there or tell me what's happened?"
Stefan sighed disappointingly.
"Jenna found out some things about Elena's birth mother." At the incline of interest of Leya's head Stefan continued. "Elena said her mom's name was Isobel."
"Isobel?" Leya asked shocked. "Her mum's name is Isobel as in Mr. Saltzman's Isobel?"
"Yeah, the same one." Stefan pacing slightly. "I told her about that, what he told us in the classroom after he attacked us."
When Leya widened her eyes he hastily added. "Everything except the fact that he thinks Damon killed his wife."
"So what are we going to do?"
"I talked to Damon." Stefan said as he came to a stop in front of Leya. "He said he doesn't remember but I don't know, he spent a 145 years trying to open the tomb only to find out Katherine wasn't there. He might remember but not right now when he's staggering drunk and high off blood."
"High off blood?" Leya asked a little tensely, her dislike for Damon grew even more after Bonnie's grams died.
"Don't worry about it, the girls will be fine." Stefan reassured her.
"Stefan, if he's hurting people -!"
"Leya, they will be fine. They'll wake up and not remember a thing. I know that you're a Witch and you feel obligated to help them but this is the only way Damon can deal." He paused letting it sink in. "A few pints of blood from a couple of girls is a lot better than a massacred town."
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
"I know, but you know it's true." Stefan replied.
Leya let out a very long frustrated breath. "We should talk to Mr. Saltzman."
"He thinks so too, he called me."
Leya kicked the small pebble in front of her as she stood beside Stefan in the town square waiting for Mr. Saltzman. She watched it bounce off a nearby park bench and fall flatly onto the ground.
She took a peek at Stefan. It was quiet between them, no words flowed out of their mouths to make interesting conversation, not even about the current situation. It was awkward.
Leya supposed this had something to do with the fact that she hadn't at all opened up to Stefan about her being a Witch, in fact she actually passed it off and ignored his pushing. She was pushing him away, just like she pushed away Hermione and Ron in fifth year.
She had to do something about it.
"Hey, thanks for meeting me." Alaric said interrupting Leya's train of thoughts. "Something's come up."
"Jenna told you." Leya stated, she could tell by his bothered demeanor.
"Yeah."
"So it's true, your wife Isobel is Elena's birth mother." Stefan said sighing. This was exactly what he didn't want, Elena would be pained and even more distraught to know that it was Damon who might have killed her.
"What does Elena know?" Alaric asked.
Letting out a large breath, Stefan asked. "About you wife?"
"About everything, about you, your brother -"
"She knows what I am and she knows that you know about the vampire's." Stefan replied.
"Does she know about Damon and Isobel?"
"No, we couldn't tell her. Not until we were sure." Leya said.
"You said you'd help me. The both of you."
"I asked Damon without saying too much. He doesn't remember." Stefan explained, it wasn't like he could when he was stumbling around the boarding house drunk.
"Ask him again." Alaric pressured.
"Damon's not stable right now." Leya said. "If we push him, he might retaliate and do something rash."
"You know he murdered my wife, or at the very least made a meal out of her. When has he been stable?"
"We're telling you not to push this." Stefan tried to calmly tell him.
"Give me a reason not to."
"Your survival. How's that for a reason? We'll handle it, but for now I need you to let it go." Stefan retorted.
"Is that what you tell Elena? Let it go." Alaric snapped angry that they didn't seem to take his wife's death seriously.
Leya closed her eyes lightly and exhaled through her nose. Bad mistake, insulting a vampire's girlfriend, Leya thought Mr. Saltzman was more intelligent than that, then again people tend do a lot of rash things when given the situation, she would know.
Stefan took an intimidating step forward. "Leave Elena out of this." He said threateningly.
"I need to know what happened. I think you would too."
Stefan took a step back and sighed, he didn't want to admit it but he was right. If he were in Alaric's shoes he was sure he would do anything at this point. He shared a glance with Leya, she agreed.
"I need something more than just your wife's name. A picture, something I could show Damon." Stefan said reluctantly.
Alaric wasted no time and fumbled to get the photo he kept always in his wallet. As he handed it over and watched the two rush off, he couldn't help but feel like things were finally moving forward.
"Do you… wanna… talk about it?" Leya asked clumsily as she drove to the boarding house, Stefan in the passenger seat beside her.
"About what? The fact that Damon killed Elena's birth mother?"
"No." Leya sighed hesitating. "About me. About the fact that I'm a… you know… Witch."
"I don't know what to say, Leya." Stefan replied drumming his fingers on his leg as he avoided her eyes.
"Just talk to me." Leya said desperately looking back to the road. "I know you feel betrayed, Stefan. That I didn't tell you I was a Witch, even though you told me everything about what you were. And I'm sorry, being betrayed sucks. Trust me, I would know."
"So why didn't you? Why didn't tell me?" Stefan asked looking at her.
"I couldn't, Stefan. Everything I said at Bonnie's was true, my kind we keep ourselves a secret because we don't want to be used. We keep it a secret because muggles are afraid of what they don't know."
"And you didn't tell me because you were running." Stefan said, making Leya look at him in surprise. "Because you are running. I've been alive a 162 years, Leya, I know when someone's running from something."
"I want to tell you." Leya said in barely a whisper. "I do. But I can't. It's a very long story and…. I really don't want to talk about it."
"Well then, how about you tell me about the happy memories? You could start with your friends."
Leya looked over at him, Stefan had an encouraging smile and his eyes twinkled with interest.
"Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley." Leya said as they pulled down the road to the boarding house. "I met Ron on the train to school, we hit it off right away and since then he's been like an older brother."
A nostalgic smile tugged at her lips as she continued. "Ron and I weren't friends with Hermione until later, she was bossy when she was younger. But, they are the best friends anyone could ask for. They're more like family to me."
She parked the car.
"Thank you for telling me. I know it's hard but know that you can tell me anything." Stefan said.
"Same goes for you." Leya said quietly with a smile. "I can see it, Stefan. What everyone else can't, just like how you can see mine."
Stefan breathed in deeply as he got out of the car. He underestimated her, he didn't think she could see it, he didn't think anyone could see besides Lexi and maybe Damon. He walked slowly to the door. Maybe he could tell Leya, it would be weight off his shoulders. Then again, he didn't think Leya would tell him much either, there was an air of mystery around her, one that was similar to his.
"Tickets for the raffle are now on sale. All proceeds benefit the annual Founder's Day Celebration." Mrs. Lockwood said from the stage at The Grill.
"He's already been hit on 35 times, he is total cougar bait." Caroline said boastingly as Leya stood with her, Matt and Elena.
"Impressive." Elena teased.
"More like embarrassing." Matt countered with an awkward chuckle.
"Oh, hi Mrs. Donovan." Caroline said perking up.
Leya turned around to see an older woman walk towards them. Mrs. Donovan who was obviously Matt's mother eyed Caroline critically and ignored her turning to Elena.
"Elena, honey." She greeted warmly.
"Hi, Kelly. How are you doing?" Elena responded affectionately hugging the older woman.
"Some old. Oh, Matty tells me you broke his heart." Mrs. Donovan said with a faux pout.
"Mom." Matt interrupted discomfited, especially since Caroline was standing right next to him.
"Just kidding, calm down." She said eyeing Caroline again before turning to Elena. "He found his rebound girl."
Leya watched as Caroline's smile faded and hurt flashed across her face.
"And who's this?"
"I'm Leya Potter, I just moved here."
"England, huh?" Mrs. Donovan said with an eyebrow raised and an impressed smile. "Should've stayed there, bet it's a lot more impressive than it is here."
Leya didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult that meant to get the hell out of Mystic Falls. So she smiled instead.
"Well, here you go, sweetheart. However many that'll buy." Mrs. Donovan said handing Caroline some money to pay for the tickets she was selling.
"I just hope I don't get bachelor number 3. Dated him in high school. Not impressive, ha. In any way." She said whispering suggestively towards the end. Matt shook his head embarrassed and Elena giggled at the innuendo.
"Very exciting." She said taking the tickets from Caroline as she left.
"She's… interesting." Leya said once Mrs. Donovan was out of ear shot.
"Yeah, you could say that." Matt said.
"Uh, we'll see you guys later?" Elena said to Matt and Caroline as she grabbed hold of Leya's arm.
With a nod from each friend she dragged Leya off to a secluded place. Elena already knew Leya was up to date, since she was with Stefan when he went to visit Mr. Saltzman. It made Elena a little jealous, but she knew Leya wouldn't try and steal Stefan from her or anything.
"I went to visit Trudie Peterson, my mom's friend from high school."
"You did?" Leya asked surprised. Why hadn't anyone told her. "How'd it go?"
"She served me vervain tea, so she obviously knows about vampires." Elena said. "Stefan told me that a vampire might've killed her, do you think so too?"
"I don't know, Elena. We don't have all the facts yet." Leya said neutrally, she knew what happened when you made assumptions, she's done it too many times to count.
"Hey, the raffles starting." Jenna said as she walked over.
And soon enough Jenna, Elena and Leya all sat at a table as Carol Lockwood began to interview the contestants.
"Hoping for a bachelor yourself? Preferably number 4?" Leya asked Jenna slyly.
Jenna scoffed and playfully elbowed the girl next to her. Jenna didn't think she had it in her to make a joke like that, but Leya was already here for at least a month or two now. She supposed Elena had already corrupted her.
"You should've bought a ticket; it's more fun knowing you have a chance." Jenna said back teasingly.
"Ok, A.) All the bachelors are way too old for me, and B.) None of them are my type."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." At Leya's confused look Jenna elaborated. "Damon's looking your way, actually more like checking you out."
Leya's lips tugged into a frown as she looked up to see Jenna was right. Damon was looking right at her; it was unnerving how intently he was staring at her.
"And what do you do bachelor number 3?" Carol Lockwood voice rang out in The Grill as she stopped in front of the contestants.
"Yeah, I'm a plumber."
"Well isn't that wonderful? We could always use more plumbers . . . moving on." Mrs. Lockwood said rudely.
Next Mrs. Lockwood walked to stand by Alaric.
"Number 4, Alaric Saltzman. Wow that's quite a mouth full." She commented. "What do you do Alaric?"
"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High." Alaric said calmly, glancing around the room.
"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper." Carol said winking at the audience. "What do you teach?"
"History."
"History, oh well give us a fact about Mystic Falls… something crazy." She said smiling brightly.
Alaric didn't speak; he only looked over to Damon who was holding his hand up by his ear, acting like he couldn't hear him.
"Uh, well uh. . ." Alaric mumbled unsure of what to say.
"He's probably saving the best stories for his date." She said turning back to the crowd and walking to where Damon stood, "And last but not least, we have Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you."
"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card." Damon replied, smirking.
"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Mrs. Lockwood asked.
Leya saw as Damon's grin widened.
"Oh yeah, LA, New York, and a couple of years ago I was in North Caroline. Near the Duke campus, actually." He said turning to look at Mr. Saltzman. "I think Alaric went to school there? Didn't you Ric? Yeah, except I know your wife did."
"I had a drink with her once. She was- she was a great girl. Did I ever tell you that? Cause she was… delicious." Damon finished as smirking at Alaric.
Leya gasped quietly and looked to Elena to see her nearly in tears.
"Are you okay?" Jenna asked Elena concerned.
"I just need some air." Elena said and bolted up from the table and practically ran out of the door.
Leya tried to follow her but she soon lost Elena in the crowd, it was shortly after the raffle ended did Leya find Elena walking out of the bathroom.
"Hey, are you ok?" Leya asked softy as she walked with her.
"Yeah, I just wanna get out of here." She replied lowly and walked to the entrance of The Grill where Stefan was waiting.
"Whoa! Easy there, buy a ticket like everyone else." Damon said smirking at Leya as she bumped into him.
"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it into Alaric Saltzman?" Leya snapped.
"What?"
"I don't like you, Damon and you know that. But for some reason I thought that maybe this heartache you're suffering for Katherine might change you into a better person." Leya ranted angry that he so bluntly admitted to killing Isobel not only in front of Mr. Saltzman but in front of Elena. Granted he didn't know Isobel was Elena's birth mother, but she digress.
"Am I missing something here?" Damon asked confused.
"Elena's birth mother? The one that gave her up? Her name was Isobel. So go ahead, reminisce about how you killed her. Just know that you lost any chance of Elena befriending you."
Leya said no more and she walked away and out of The Grill. The was commotion as soon as she stepped foot outside, someone was hit by a car. Jesus, and it was Hermione who had repeatedly said that this was a town that flew under the radar, where nothing ever happened.