Iris and Cedric crashed landed on to the grassy ground
"Where are we?" Iris asked looking around they were in a graveyard
"Not sure" Cedric muttered tightening his grip on her hand
"It's not part of the tournament?" she questioned as she was hulled to her feet, slightly dwarfed by the tall teenage boy
"No, it can't be" he muttered, Iris felt her scar prickle causing her to pale her hand clutched her temple feeling a burning pair
"Iris" Cedric asked
"I'm fine" she gasped forcing her eyes open "wands out you think?"
He nodded, Iris hand gripped tightly onto her wand she was breathing heavily terrified when a familiar figure was approaching them, her eyes widen in realisation
"Wormtail?" she gasped recognising the traitor he was holding a bundle of rags even more terrified when she heard a high cold voice
"Kill the spare"
"CEDRIC NO" Iris screamed there was a flash of green light, her eyes full of tears when she saw the teenage boy spread eagled his eyes staring unseeing in to the sky, the light in them dying out. Iris fell besides him, her soft hands caressing his face
"Cedric, no" she sobbed her small form shaking, she wasn't aware of herself being dragged away her eyes were focused on Cedric "I'm sorry"
Iris gasped her eyes shot open, she was panting it took her a moment to calm her breathing she ran her trembling hands down her face. Cedric's death was the catapult for Iris losing all of her childhood innocence however tarnished it had become from her relatives. It made her realise that people were going to die in this war however much she didn't want them to. Iris groaned and rolled on her stomach pressing her face into the fluffy pillow.
Her shaking had calmed down and looked through her thick hair and glanced at the time, it was nearly ten. Jenna had mentioned that lunch would be at 1 pm, giving her more than enough time. She pulled the covers over her head and closed her eyes relaxing.
Iris giggled and ran through the forest
"Iris" she heard a frustrated voice call "Come on love"
"You have to catch me first" she laughed her small feet speeding up "and no-" she didn't get to finish her sentence feeling strong arms wrapped around her small waist, she tumbled back sending him crashing to the ground with her on top, she landed with a grunt and then found herself pinned beneath his muscular body "super speed, you cheated" she pouted at him, making him chuckle
"Honestly sweetheart, you don't think I could catch you?" he asked, she sighed feeling his large hand gently caressing her face "you're mine love" his full lips murmured against her skin making tingles erupt all over her body.
He ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek "I will always be with you, whether you want me or not" she opened her emerald green orbs meeting his dark blue ones.
Iris slowly opened her eyes, now that was a pleasant dream she thought. She sat up making her duvet and sheets pool at her waist. She attempted to recall her dream but all she could remember was a pair of dark blue eye. Iris swung her slim legs out of her double bed and seeing that it was nearing eleven now. She stretched her arms above her head and walked out of her bedroom to her bathroom.
Iris stripped out of her clothes and turned the shower faucet on. She stepped under the warm spray of water and felt herself relax as the hot water poured down on her, she lathered up the wash cloth and scrubbed every inch of her skin, it was becoming a sort of ritual every time she would have a bad dream she would shower as if washing off the memories. Iris washed and conditioned her hair and stepped out drying herself of, she headed back into her bedroom and slipped on some underwear and her bar. She pulled on shirt that had a printed flower design on it and a pair of light wash denim skinny jeans, the petite girl brushed her hair and fish braided it.
Her curls and bags framed her face. Iris pulled on some white ankle socks and her worn out pair of converses.
Iris sighed and thumped her head against her desk, she chucked her pen on to the table wanting nothing more than to grab the thick Algebra textbook and chuck it in the bin. She groaned and looked at the time, and saw that she had about two minutes before she was meant to be at Jenna's.
Iris jumped up off of her chair and grabbed her house keys and made sure that the door was locked behind her, she strolled down her driveway and within a couple of seconds she was on the Gilbert's porch, she raised her fist and knocked twice waiting.
The door was soon opened revealing a smiling Elena
"Hi" she stepped aside allowing her in, Iris followed her into the fairly large kitchen
"Hey Jenna" Iris greeted the woman, who smiled back at her
"Hi, make yourself at home"
Iris nodded and sat down on a stool her elbows on the tops of the counter
"So Iris, did you hear?" Elena asked placing a soda in front of the small raven head
"Heard what?" she asked popping the top, and taking a sip of the fizzy beverage
"Oh, you mustn't have then" Elena said earning a cocked eyebrow from Iris
"Well are you going to tell me"? she asked looking at the brunette who nodded
"Hmm well Mr Tanner was attacked last night" Elena told her "they found his body in the car park"
Iris's eyes widened at that
"He's dead?" she asked thinking who could have done it, she recalled the fact that Stefan had disappeared after the game and ditched her when he was supposed to drop her off. But she knew that the vampire wouldn't have done, he mentioned that he liked being around here thus he wouldn't kill anyone since that would bring attention towards them. It must've been Damon, Iris thought.
"Yeah, Caroline's organising something for him though, a fundraiser I think" Elena told her as Jenna set a plate of food in front of the,
"Wow" Iris actually felt her mouth salivate when she felt the aroma of food wash over her
"This smells delicious" she muttered grabbing her fork
"You're literally drooling Iris" Elena teased getting an eye roll from the raven head.
The next two hours were filled with chat and laughter, Elena had learnt more about Iris which what she was aiming for, she had learnt Iris went to a boarding school in Scotland and had met a good few friends, but had now lost touch with them.
Elena felt Iris was hiding something she hardly ever mentioned her relatives and her pass throughout and when she did she looked extremely uncomfortable. Both Jenna and Elena had come to the same conclusion that Iris was literally on her own and with no other family members.
"So Iris" Elena said "You said your parents had a trust fund with some properties as well as your godfather, when did you learn about them?"
Iris sipped her water, she was about to leave but mulled over her questioned
"My parents vaults and will I learnt about it when I was 11, and my godfather when I was 13" she said stretching her arms above her head, she glanced at her time
"I should get going, I have errands to run" she smiled at them
"Yeah, I'm going to see Bonnie she mentioned something about her grams and wanted to tell me something"
Iris nodded "Thanks for lunch Elena" she smiled heading out of the hallway
"No problem it was fun, do you want to come to the grill tomorrow around six?" Elena asked
Iris nodded
"Yeah, I'll see you there" Iris grinned as Elena held the door open for her "Thanks again"
Elena smiled and shook her head "No problem"
Iris was back at her house and was currently scrounging up all of her dirty laundry. She plucked up several of her jeans and dropped it in the basket, she grabbed the loaded basket and skipped down stairs her radio blaring out music and shoved open the basement door where the washer and drier was. Her footsteps echoed down the concrete stairs she pulled the string that turned the switch on.
Iris sung under her breath and piled the clothes into the washer, after the dull process of separating them into the correct piles and turned the machine on and sat down on the steps reading the book she had brought down with her to pass the time.
Her thoughts were soon turned to the vampires and Elena, she knew that the girl resembled a person from Damon's and Stefan's past which was odd, she had no doubt that this was only the beginning. When she heard the beep from the machine she got back on to her feet.
Iris sighed and had now exited the basement with her clean load of clothes and placed them on her coffee table, and decided to start dinner, she opted to cook some chicken pie. Iris started the stew part first and while that was cooking she headed upstairs to put her clothes away.
She raced back downstairs and saw that it was about time for her to make the pastry.
Iris finally settled back down onto the couch with her dinner, she turned the television on and dug into her food. She licked her lips and chewed on her food slowly.
She was lying down on the couch facing the television, drifting in and out of sleep she decided to head to bed since there was nothing else to do.
Iris sighed and rolled over, she peeked beneath her thick lashes and saw that it was around ten in the morning. She had several assignments to do for the day that was most likely carry her to her meeting with Elena and the other girls at the grill. She yawned and stretched out like a cat on her bed and rolled off of it.
Iris headed downstairs and looked through her fridge and opted to make pancakes, soon enough she had the batter cook and poured it into the pan, she had just flipped it over when there was a knock on the door startling her, she wondered who could that be since she was expecting anyone, there was another knock causing her to sigh and padded barefooted towards the front door, she opened the door and frowned seeing who it was
"Stefan really?" she cocked an eyebrow leaning against the frame "you're a bit too late"
He ran his fingers through his hair
"Iris, I'm so sorry I left you there, it's just that-"
"You was cleaning up Damon's mess?" she asked licking her lips, he nodded and grimaced slightly
"Yeah"
Iris cast a look at him and saw that he really was apologetic, she smiled at him
"It's fine, I shouldn't blame you" Stefan smiled at the small raven head "So do you want to come in I made pancakes"
"Iris I-"
"Ergh, just come in" she grabbed his wrist and tugged him into the house; Stefan was slightly amused at someone so small pulling him a vampire along.
Iris let go of him as they entered the kitchen, he inhaled the aroma of food and felt his mouth water
"Smells good" he said, she gestured for him to sit down which he did and placed a mug of coffee in front of him
"I'm an accomplished cook" she laughed lightly and placed a plateful of pancakes in front of him, she grabbed the syrup and whip cream and a bowl of fruit in between them.
"You really love syrup" he chuckled seeing her drench her pancakes
"My guilty pleasure" she grinned and chomped down her food "So Katherine is Elena's double or something?" she asked casually he spluttered his food out making her scrunch up her nose in disgust
"How the hell do you know these types of things?" he asked as she chucked a napkin at him
"I read Stefan" she rolled her eyes taking a sip of her juice "so who is she?"
Stefan sighed knowing that he could confide in the petite teenager, since she also seem to have some dark secrets, he could easily see through Iris and could tell that she had been treated terribly, most likely abused by her relatives which alarmed him and made him what kind of person could do that to such an innocent little creature.
"Katherine Peirce was a vampire, that both Damon and I fell in love with" Iris's eyes widened at this "she compelled us so we wouldn't tell each other what was happening, she made us fall in love with her"
"What a bitch" Iris muttered, making the grim expression on his face disappear and transform into a smile
"I know" Stefan laughed he then sombre "anyway our father was a vampire hunter and he found out that there was actually several vampire roaming Mystic Falls, me and Damon both teamed up to warn Katherine but our father found out, he shot me and then Damon when he found out that we were helping her" Iris gasped quietly at this "me and Damon both had Katherine's blood in our system and when we was killed we came back as vampires, but we had to have human blood to transition, I killed my father the bloodlust was far too great, I always had problems with it"
Iris bit her lip "that's why you're sticking with animals?"
He nodded "Yes, I turn into a completely different person if I drink human blood"
"What happened to Katherine?" Iris asked, the female vampire was manipulative she was sure of
"Apparently she was entombed with the other vampire here in Mystic Falls beneath the church ruins, it been spelled so no vampires could escape" Iris saw his expression
"You don't believe she's there in the tomb do you?" she asked after a moment of processing all the information
Stefan sighed and took a sip of the warm coffee "Katherine wasn't a fool, I don't think she would let herself get so easily taken" he admitted "I moved on and I'm happy with my life now"
"With Elena?" Iris cocked an eyebrow; he smiled and nodded "What about Damon?"
"He still believes she is here, and I think is trying to find a way to open the tomb"
Iris's eyebrows shot up to her hairline
"How can he break a spell put on by witches?"
"I'm not sure" Stefan sighed "but be careful of him Iris; he told me you can't be compelled?"
"Yeah that's true, I didn't know what he was doing at first but when I did I called him out on it" she ran her fingers through her messy hair "Is he going to hurt me?"
Stefan could see the vulnerability in her eyes she looked so young and innocent there, making his resolve turn to steel, and he reached over and gently but firmly squeezes her hand
"Iris, I promise I will protect you, he won't hurt you" he said seriously his words warmed her heart. She hadn't been taken care of for a long while.
"Thank you Stefan, it's nice to have a friend" she smiled at him, he grinned at her in return
"I must say the same, a friend who knows me like you do" he announced "I wanted to ask you Iris was your relatives…" he trailed off not knowing how to word it, she caught his eye and saw that they were focused on the scar of the back of her hand
"Abusive?" she asked softly he frowned but nodded "yes they were, but that's all in the past, I'm happy here"
She nodded; Stefan smiled gently at her and stood up, "I should get going"
She followed him towards her front door "Bye Stefan" she called
"Goodbye Iris" he smiled and headed off her porch.
Iris spent the day in, finishing up her essays as she settled down to do her English essay and was currently looking through her numerous novels to get quotes and what not her mind wondered to who would now be the new history teacher would be.
Iris sighed and stood up, she had about forty five minutes to be at the grill so she headed upstairs to get change out of her current attire; she freshened up and changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a camisole where she wore a buttoned up sweater. Iris slipped on a pair of ballet flats and brushed her hair and placed a head band on but framed her bangs in a way so that it covered up her scar. She grabbed her jacket and messenger bag and keys and ran out of the house. She glanced over to the Gilberts house and saw that Elena's SUV was gone; she shrugged it off thinking that she must've left,
Iris slammed her car door shut and buckled herself in and drove off towards the grill.
Iris parked out front of the busy bar/restaurant and unbuckled herself she slammed the door behind her and headed inside, she entered the busy hang out spot and looked around she didn't see any of the girls and decided to wait in a booth.
"Hey, Iris" Matt smiled at her with his notepad
"Hi" she grinned at him and tucked in a stray curl "how's Vicki doing"?
Matt sighed and scuffed his sneakers "she's acting normal which is good since she was pretty out of it after the attack" he told her
Iris nodded "Well that's good"
He smiled and held up his note pad "On your own?"
"Nope, waiting for Elena, Caroline and Bonnie" she said tapping her nails against the table
"So can I get you a drink?" she nodded and ordered a soda. Now all she had to do was wait.
Iris sighed and glanced at her watch for the fifth time this evening, safe to stay that weren't going to show up its been about two hours, she looked at her cell having managed to get use to using one, they hadn't even called
"Iris?" Matt asked having watched her for the last two hours "you want to order?"
He could see the hurt in her eyes and felt a pang go through him; she plastered a smile across her face
"No, it's ok, I think I'm going to home" she stood up and grabbed her jacket and bag "how much was that soda?" she asked looking through her bag keeping her eyes away from
"It's on the house" he answered trying to catch her eyes but she avoided his gaze
"Thank you" she said softly
"Iris I'm sure something came up" he told her watching her leave she looked over her shoulder
"It's fine, they probably got family stuff to do" just as she walked through the door she brushed past Damon
"Hey flower" he called but she shook her head and sped up her pace making him frown.
Damon noticed that the blond waiter was staring after her
"What's up with shorty?" he asked sitting at the bar
"Who Iris?" he cocked an eyebrow, the vampire rolled his eyes
"Who else?" he ordered a scotch "so?"
Matt frowned at this "She got stood up by her friends, waited for two hours and they didn't show"
Damon paused thinking back he had saw Elena and Barbie as well as Bonnie out in the town centre
"That's weird"
"Hmm, I think she's upset you know" he muttered,
Damon sipped his drink, he had learnt from Stefan that Iris was on her own and probably wanted to have some company.
Iris pulled up to her house and slammed her car door shut; she unlocked her front door and shut it behind her. She dumped her bag and keys by the door and went around turning the living room and kitchen lights on, she rummaged through the fridge and pulled out a drink.
She sighed and uncapped the bottle of water and headed outside and sat down on her porch swing, she placed her foot on the railing and gently swung herself and looked up to the starry sky, she was lost in her thoughts and was unaware of a figure approaching her, until they cleared her throat.
Iris jumped and looked startled
"Damon?" she asked wondering why on earth he was here
"That's my name" he said cockily but sighed when he saw her and sat down beside her, internally cringing at himself, knowing she was afraid of him and he didn't blame her since there last two meetings he had made her uncomfortable and scared.
"What are you doing here?" she asked watching him carefully
"Thought you could do with the company" he shrugged his shoulders and was surprised when she smiled at him.
"So how was the 18th century?"
He chuckled at that.
For the rest of the night, Damon and Iris ended up chatting surprisingly to him she ended up more than being good company.
AN: Thanks for the reviews the faves and alerts, another chapter done so please REVIEW