Chapter 2

Nova

I stretched out on the towel on the deck of the yacht, putting my black sunglasses on. Penelope was lying down on the towel next to me in a black bikini, her face turned up towards the sun. "Can vampires tan?" She asked. I was at one of Penelope's infamous yacht parties and I just wanted to relax, but she wanted to ask ridiculous questions.

I laughed. "I have no idea. Have you ever tried?" I was able to go out in the sun, like Penelope, thanks to the lapis lazuli ring around my left middle finger. It was a nice ring, a silver band with silver vines entwining an oval lapis lazuli stone. It wasn't the only jewelry I had on, because I had two necklaces around my neck, one had a silver 'L' and the other had an amethyst.

"No," she snorted "but I don't need to get a tan like you, since you are pale compared to me." She was right, I had a much fairer complexion while she had bronze skin.

I sighed at her words as a young man with sandy blonde hair came over to us. 'Human.' I thought. I could smell the human blood rushing through his veins and all of the sudden I felt a pang of hunger. I shook it off. "Hey." He greeted us.

I nodded while Penelope smiled and sat up. "Well hello there." Penelope replied. 'Oh god, now Penelope is going to go all flirty eyes.' I silently thought, rolling my eyes behind my glasses. I tried tuning out there conversation when my phone rang. I looked at it, but I didn't recognize the caller I.D., so I just answered it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Nova?" A voice said from the other end. It was a woman's voice, one I recognized.

I sat up and turned away from Penelope and the human. "Sophie? How did you get my number?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you need to come back." She replied.

I swallowed hard, afraid of what she was going to say. "Come back where?"

"New Orleans."

'Oh, wonderful.' I thought, sarcastically. This was the last thing I needed.

xXx

"Nova! Hey!" I turned around from where I was putting my suitcases in the trunk of my silver Eclipse to see Penelope running towards me, her hazel eyes frantic and brown hair flying crazily behind her and a box in her hand. "You can't leave without saying goodbye!" She said, coming to stop in front of me.

I smiled and pulled her in for a hug. "I will most likely visit, of course." I said when I pulled away. Penelope smiled, then picked up my last box and put it in my car. I shut the trunk and I turned back to her, to see her studying me, her eyebrows furrowed. "What?" I asked, confused. The expression on her face made me very uncomfortable.

"You seem happy and anxious. I thought you hated New Orleans." She replied, her expression changing back into a neutral one. "Anyway, I brought beer!" She lifted up the six- pack in her hand, before taking one from the box and handing it to me, while grabbing one for herself.

"Ah, just what I needed" I said, taking the beer from her hand and taking a deep gulp. "And I don't hate New Orleans, it's just that the last time I went there, I made a cruel, evil, lunatic fall for me." I told her, shuddering as I thought of Marcel. 'I hope he can forgive and forget.' I thought. When I saw Marcel almost a decade ago, he fell in love with me, but I just left without a word. I think it probably pissed him off a lot. I almost laughed at imagining how his face must have looked when he saw my apartment empty. I just had to get away from him and how strange New Orleans was. Marcel was a sadistic vampire, and I could not stand seeing him do all of the terrible things he did. I couldn't tell the vampire standing in front of me all about New Orleans, or else she would go there because she is nosy and curious.

As I thought of my destination, I mindlessly twirled a piece of my hair, something I only do when I am nervous. "You know you shouldn't be nervous going there." Penelope said, leaning against the back of my car and staring at the finger that was twirling my hair. My eyes followed to where hers was, and I stopped. "You are a very powerful vampire that can kick ass." I laughed along with her when she said that. She was right when she said I could kick ass. It was silent for a few seconds as I breathed in the night air. "What do the witches want you for, exactly?" She asked, taking a drink from her beer.

I kept my eyes forward, silently cursing her for asking because she would scold me. Penelope was much older than me, by almost two hundred years. "They want me to turn the supernatural creatures there, mostly the vampires, against Marcel and side with Klaus."

From the corner of my eye, I could see that Penelope was indeed scolding me. "You have to manipulate them?"

I nodded, a little annoyed. I had to do it, I had to do anything if it meant beating Marcel. He deserved it for what he did. "Just think of it as convincing them." I looked back at her. "Marcel's rule must come to an end, and I have observed Klaus before. He seems to be much more sane and reasonable than Marcel." I shrugged as I said the last part.

Penelope stared at me, before she started laughing. "So now you are stalking people?" She asked, jokingly. I lightly punched her on the arm.

"I just wanted to see why everybody is so scared of the big, bad, hybrid." I replied. "I went to Mystic Falls to see what he was like. Compared to Marcel, Klaus is a saint." I looked back at Penelope, who was staring up at the night sky.

"Why are you so interested in Astronomy? It's just a bunch of stars and space." The blonde said, her face blank.

I scoffed. "It's more than that! There's comets, planets, moons, black holes, constellations! Just so many different and beautiful things!" I exclaimed. Penelope was always bored when it came to anything in space, but I loved it.

"I remember when you came here almost a decade ago." Penelope suddenly said, while turning towards me and giving me a smile.

I threw my head back and groaned. "Now you want to stroll down Memory Lane?" I asked as I rolled my eyes. When I first came to Miami, Penelope hated me for the simple fact that I was new and I didn't follow her rules exactly how she wanted me to. I hated rules and I couldn't help but break them.

"Well, since you are going to New Orleans, you might not want to take the vampire who rules there mad, like you did with me!" She warned as she flipped her hair.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, but I am going to love making Marcel angry. I should probably get going, now." I handed her my half-empty beer. "Finish that for me, will ya?"

She nodded and took the beer, her expression hopeful as she asked, "Will you at least tell me your real name?"

I opened my car door and paused to look at her. "One day." I winked before getting in and driving away. I was going to miss Penelope, but I knew I would have to visit Miami one day. In the meantime, I was finally going back to the one place I never thought I would go to so soon.