Hey! I'm sorry this took longer than I thought it would. I've been dealing with an unyielding teacher that is making this current class a living nightmare. But I finally got it done and wanted to post it even if it was the middle of the night for me.
Thank you to everyone that favorited/followed and a special thank you to the people that took the time to review! You're definitely a big motivation to me. Let me know what you think will happen next? I'm going to start changing some more things starting the next couple of chapters so keep a lookout for that!
Now onto some replies to the reviews I got
Softrocks: Sadly no Enzo in this chapter but there is a blip of Lissa and Jeremy's relationship that I really wanna explore more. Thank you for saying you don't think Lissa is a mary sue! Its definitely a fear of mine that she'll become one. I won't let you know how the original family is going to react to Lissa, as they'll all meet her at different times, but hopefully you like how that turns out.
SoManyDaysToLive4:Thank you so much for the compliment! It made my day. And hopefully you like the new chapter since Lissa definitely shows her more forceful side again!
Xenicanaan: You're right, Jenna meant well but she needs to think about her words more, especially since she is planning on getting a psych degree. I'm not sure how Jenna and Lissa will make up or even if they will.
Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'
Slipping the lock closed she decided enough was enough for one day. She'd look over her finds tomorrow. It was a weekend she wasn't required to do anything on her weekends. Jumping in her shower she quickly washed the mud off and got out. Lissa didn't even bother putting anything on, saying fuck it and going to bed nude. If anyone tried to wake her up tomorrow, they could deal with her naked body.
Still fuming at Jenna's words the next morning, Lissa decided to look at her finds from yesterday before even attempting to head downstairs.
Lifting the bag up to her bed, she set aside the crystals to put with the rest of her collection later. Separating the herbs as best as she could, she realized there was actually a decent amount in the baggies. There was everything from rose petals to chamomile, to mug wort and vervain.
Mouth stretching into a grin as her bad mood faded, she put the baggies of herbs by the crystals. She wasn't a witch by any means but over the years with much experimenting, she's found that she could do some things as long as the main component to the spell is either her own blood or her soul.
Sadly, once Sheila Bennett realized that that was the only magic she could do, she'd stopped teaching her since she'd perceived that as a sign Lissa was meant to do bad things. The judgmental bint. She could see why it took Bonnie so many seasons to grow as a person if that was the only parental influence she had growing up.
Now onto the thing she'd been most excited for, an actual grimoire from a complete stranger. Unable to stop it, Lissa squealed. Looking around despite knowing she was alone, she then turned her attention to the worn leather beneath her fingers. She could tell something had been stamped into the leather long ago but age had worn the leather down to the same level as the stamp so whatever was there was lost to time. With the stamp gone, the front of the grimoire was as plain as the back. The only thing of interest about the cover was the thick braided leather that was sewn into the spine, holding the whole book together.
Not able to get any clues to what type of witch had written the grimoire from the cover she, very gently as to not rip or damage the old book, opened it.
And was smacked in the face that the whole thing, besides the spells themselves (those being in Olde English), was written in elder Furnik, an incredibly old runic language. So old that she was certain whoever wrote this had to have lived at least 800 years ago, if not more. Why the hell was this just sitting in an old rotting house outside Mystic Falls? Was this a joke?
She was suddenly incredibly grateful she'd spent so long learning as many runic languages as she could, solely because most runic magic was blood-based. Her Furnik wasn't exactly good, or even close to good really, but she could at least get an idea of what was written about the spells.
Quickly jumping up to grab her runic dictionary she'd been consistently working on since she had realized runic magic was going to be her focus, she settled down with the grimoire, her dictionary, and a random notebook.
Wanting to focus on the spells more than anything else she flipped through the pages and attempted to categorize what spell did what and what type of magic it would involve using. The first thing she noticed was that these spells were mostly darker magic. The witch that wrote this having a clear preference towards more violent spells, or this could have been their offensive grimoire, Lissa wasn't sure.
The next few hours were spent translating the spells and their descriptions, she'd read the maker's commentary on them later. She also spent the time finding the spells that would work for her. Sadly, it looked like most of them were more actual witch spells and not runic or blood magic. Though there were a couple that she could do. One spell seemed like it would allow you to create a mindscape. Though there was a warning that it was 'created' with Kol, as in Kol Mikaelson.
When she'd finally gotten that part of the description translated she'd dropped the grimoire as if it had bitten her. She knew that Kol liked hanging out with witches since he loved magic and everything it involved, but to see verifiable proof that he actually developed spells, even if it was centuries ago, had blind-sided her for some reason.
The amount of time she spent staring at that spell, Kol's spell, the more she was convinced she had to do it. Was it stupid? Yes. Did she completely understand the spell? No. Was she still going to do it? Absolutely. Getting the list of ingredients she would need, she realized she would need to go to The Brewery and grab some calendula.
She sighed at the fact she was going to have to get dressed today after all. She had been hoping to just mope around in her robe all day.
Getting ready didn't take much time, she didn't really do much makeup and only wore a pair of jeans and a crop top. Taking the stairs 2 at a time she almost ran smack dab into Jeremy who was standing in front of the opened door.
"Whoa, fuck dude! Why are you standing in front of the doorway? Don't you know that's dangerous?"
Jeremy glanced behind him at his sister before pointing to the guy in front of him. "That's why."
Tyler glared at the two of them. It was fitting they were siblings. They were both beyond irritating. "I'm not here to start anything. My mom wants me to pick up some stuff."
Lissa leaned out from behind her brother to glare back at Tyler. "We don't want to give your family anything of ours. Bye-bye" She wiggled her fingers at him in a mock goodbye.
"Actually, we are. Mrs. Lockwood asked Mom to lend her some family stuff before…everything." Elena said, coming to stand next to her siblings. "This is the box, Tyler. It should all be there."
Lissa glanced in the box and almost had a heart attack at the fact the Gilbert Device, the supernatural headache maker, was still in there. Meaning Jeremy hadn't stolen it. Before she could even think about it her hand reached into the box and jerked the device out from between some other things that was being handed over.
"Lissa? What are you doing?"
"Hmm, can't hand this over. It's important."
Elena pursed her lips at the fact Lissa felt like she could just decide things like this. Their mom had promised Mrs. Lockwood that they could borrow this stuff for the Founder's Party. "Then it needs to go to Mrs. Lockwood, Lissa. If it's important it should be put on display."
Lissa rocked back on her heels as she slipped the device into her bag, picture of nonchalant at Elena's annoyance. "Hmm, nope. They can have everything else. But I'm holding this one back. Sorry."
Elena turned to Tyler, who had been watching the two sisters argue in silence, a slight smirk on his face. "Take the box to your mom Tyler, I'll talk to Lissa to get whatever she took out of it before tonight."
"Have fun, Psycho." Tyler snickered as he walked down the front steps.
Lissa shot him the bird even though he wasn't looking. "I hope you fall down a flight of stairs and snap your next like a brittle twig, Mr. Anger Management."
Jeremy laughed at his sister's insults. "Not very creative but nicely descriptive. I give it a 6.5"
"Damn, I'm losing my touch. I'll do better next time."
Elena threw her hand up at her siblings and walked away, completely done with their attitudes towards other people.
The two troublemakers grinned at each other. It didn't matter how many times they've done it over the years, getting Elena so frustrated she just gives up on lecturing them was always funny.
"Are you going somewhere?" Jeremy asked.
Lissa nodded. "Yeah, The Brewery. Gotta grab some calendula for some stuff I'm doing later."
"What about the Founder's Party? Aren't you going to that? Caroline normally forces you into the town balls and parties." He said leaning against the doorframe.
Head hanging as she realized Jeremy was right, Caroline would kill her if she skipped this. She was fine with her missing house parties and things like that but town events? No, she was expected to turn up to those. If it was anyone else she'd tell them to fuck off, but Caroline had her respect and did happen to be her best friend. She tended to listen to Caroline when she asked her to do stuff.
Lissa let out a groan as she left the house, not even replying to Jeremy. As she started her SUV she called Caroline. She didn't even say hello once Caroline actually picked up. "I'm stopping by The Brewery and then you're going to help me find a dress for the Founder's Party you forgot to remind me was tonight, you bitch. You know I don't pay attention to when these things are. That's your job. I just turn up and judge all the people and their terrible fashion taste."
"Hi, Caroline. How are you? That's great! Oh, me? I'm good! Will you please help me pick a dress for the Founder's Party that you told me about two days ago?" Caroline answered pretending to be Lissa. "That's how a normal person would ask for help. Not whatever you just did."
"First off, not normal. Second, you did not tell me about the Founder's Party two days ago." Lissa trailed off. Maybe she did. But Lissa didn't really have any memory of it being mentioned.
She could hear the eyeroll in Caroline's voice in her reply. "Yes I did but whatever. You're lucky. I just got a gorgeous black sequined dress but I'm too tall for it. The slit up the side falls at the wrong place and my ankles show when they aren't supposed to. It'll be perfect for you."
Lissa grinned. She knew she could count on Caroline. "Good. I'll be there in a bit."
"Oh, grab me a coffee please! Also, Bonnie is coming over too. She doesn't have anyone to go to the party with since Elena is going with Stefan, so I said she could come with us. Please be nice? Please?"
Her grin fell as quickly as it came at the knowledge she would be spending the night around Bonnie. Bonnie who still hadn't apologized for her comment. "Ugh, Care, do I have to? Isn't not punching her being nice enough? She basically said I was the one who attacked Vicki, which is fair, but I'd own up to it at least!"
"She feels bad about that! She told me so herself. Give her a chance to apologize when you get here and if she doesn't you can be your bitchy self." Caroline begged. She wanted her two friends to get along. Bonnie and Lissa had never been the closest but Lissa hadn't ever had too big a problem with the girl, just thought she was a bit judgy. So having them arguing like this made her sad. Yeah, she'd pick Lissa over Bonnie any day but she didn't want to be forced to choose.
Lissa parked her car in the half full parking lot in front of The Brewery, her favorite local spiritual shop that doubled as a coffee shop, a good coffee shop. "Fine, but I swear if the first words out of her mouth aren't 'I'm sorry' I'm going to be an absolute cunt to her the rest of the night."
"Yay! Thank you" Caroline cheered, clapping loud enough Lissa could hear it though the speaker. "Bye bye! I'll see you soon!"
Lissa put her phone up with a shake of her head. Annoyed at the fact not only would she be missing out on performing the spell she was wanting to try out, she would be stuck with Bonnie Bennett all night, she stalked into the shop. As annoyed as she was she still took the time to wave at old Mrs. Lila, the shaman lady that ran the place, though. Always be nice to old shamans, who knows what they could do to you. It didn't take her long to bag up the amount of calendula she needed, grabbing some more rosemary and mugwort too just in case. Lissa ordered their normal coffee and made it to Caroline's in less than 15 minutes.
Not even knocking, she'd been by the house way too many times to actually feel the need, she just walked in, waved at Liz, Caroline's mom, and made her way, coffee in hand, to Caroline's room. She could hear Bonnie talking to Caroline from the hallways, it seemed like she beat her here.
"Coffee?" She asked, holding up the two cups of coffee in her hands. "Well, Caroline gets coffee. I didn't get you anything, Bonnie."
She could see the influence she'd had on Caroline even in her room. On one of her shelves were the multitude of horror movies she owned, her closet had a lot more black or darker clothes instead of bright and light colors; even her bedding was a bit darker, a navy with black stitching, than she thought the original Caroline would have had.
Caroline shrugged at Bonnie, not really surprised at Lissa's action, before sipping the frappuccino she'd been handed.
Bonnie sighed. She deserved the hostility, she had implied Lissa was capable of attacking Vicki. Looking over at Lissa, who sat down on Caroline's bed, sipping her own frappuccino. "I wanted to apologize for what I said the night of the party, Lissa. It was wrong of me to say you attacked someone."
Lissa just stared at her, not angry, not really anything. Her face was just blank, as if she was searching for something. The eye contact didn't last for long, barely 30 seconds but to Bonnie it felt like a lifetime had passed. Finally Lissa opened her mouth. "I wasn't mad you implied I'd attack someone. Hell, I've proven time and time again over the years I'm capable of violence. It was more because you thought I wouldn't own up to it."
"See, told you Bonnie! She doesn't mind people thinking she's violent because she is." Caroline called over from where she was fixing her hair.
Thinking that the intensity would be over at Caroline's words, Bonnie blinked when she realized Lissa hadn't even twitched. Goosebumps broke out on her arms as she realized she was being judged on something a lot more important than some misspoken words. "So am I forgiven? Because you're kind of terrifying me."
Lissa stayed still, staring at Bonnie with that same soul piercing look, before nodding, causing Bonnie's shoulders to sag and her to let out a sigh. "Though don't think I'll forgive you a second time. Be mindful of what you say, Bonnie. Not just to me either. Past judgments have ways of coming back to you."
That warning was sent with just a touch too much knowing in the tone for Bonnie not to take it seriously. But why did Lissa say it? What did she mean by 'past judgments'? Confusion rattling her brain, Bonnie sat on Caroline's bed and watched as Lissa went over to help Caroline get her hair into an updo and then sit so she could get her own hair done.
Lissa looked over at Bonnie through the mirror, making eye contact and smiling. "What do you think, Bonnie? Updo or left down?"
Bonnie shook her head, clearing away the weird thoughts and feelings that were left from the words Lissa had spoken. "You always wear your hair in some sort of pigtails or at least half up half down. Let's leave it all down for the night."
"You heard the girl, Care, let's keep it down tonight."
Once all of them had gotten ready they agreed to take Lissa's SUV since it had more room and she was the least likely to get drunk. Though considering her mood lately she wasn't too certain on that one herself.
Since they were taking her car that meant they'd have to wait in the long line to get in. There wasn't any way the Lockwoods were going to be letting her in earlier than they had to. While Mr. Lockwood thought his son getting attacked by a girl and losing was shameful and thus hated her for putting that shame out into the public, Mrs. Lockwood hated her for hurting her son. Her hatred was at least understandable but it made getting into the events they put on a living hell.
After waiting around for about 10 minutes they were finally let through the door but not without the doorman giving his normal spiel to her about not causing a scene, no property damage, if she hurt anyone…blah blah blah. She'd heard the thing every event she went to at the Lockwood's home since she was 12. At this point she had the thing memorized
Bonnie and Caroline, like every time before, snickered at her personal greeting.
"Mrs. Lockwood's hatred of you is always funny no matter how many times I see it." Caroline said.
Lissa rolled her eyes at the blonde, giving her a soft shove towards the dance floor. "Yeah, yeah. You and Bonnie can leave me with the food and drinks now. Let me judge people in peace."
Bonnie, wanting to go talk to Elena, nodded at her and thanked her for the help getting ready before heading towards where Lissa saw Elena was standing with Stefan. Damon was a bit further away but he had Kennedy, who was wearing an atrociously neon pink dress, wrapped around his arm, so that meant she wasn't going to be going anywhere near the guy.
"You sure? I can stay and talk shit on people with you?" Caroline offered. Though with the way her eyes were flicking back towards the dance floor and her, she could tell that she really just wanted to go mingle and be a social butterfly.
Lissa made a shooing motion with her hands, clearly giving Caroline the go ahead to leave her. This wouldn't be the first event she'd spend sitting in the corner not talking to anyone. It probably won't be the last either.
To pass the time, she waved down one of the waiters, Bradley if she remembered right, and grabbed one of the things of champagne he was carrying. Mrs. Lockwood used the same waiters every time so they were used to her sneaking a couple things of alcohol every event she comes to.
Sitting there for not even 10 minutes she'd already counted 15 people that had clearly gotten their dress off the sales rack at Sears, which wasn't a bad thing of course, but it is when those dresses look like that. One even had a weird stain on the back. Like, save your money but don't be trashy about it. Before she could continue, her line of sight was blocked by Damon and his neon girlfriend. Or pretend girlfriend, she wasn't too sure about that.
"Oh god, if you wanted to talk couldn't you leave the eyesore of a girlfriend back where you guys came from?" She moaned.
Damon shrugged, arm coming away from where it was locked with Kennedy's. "She wanted to come say hello, didn't you?"
"No? Why would I want to talk to the orphan freak?" Kennedy said before glancing over at her. "No offense."
Lissa just stared at her, face deadpanned. "Yeah...just because you say no offense doesn't mean I'm not still offended, you walking LSD trip. Offense intended."
"Alrighty, girls, let's not have a cat fight in the middle of a party. Kennedy, why don't you go spend time with your friends? They were trying to get your attention earlier." Damon said, smirk firmly on his face.
Kennedy shot a glare over at her but still listened to Damon and walked over to the group of girls that also wouldn't be amiss at a rave.
"Real classy girl you got there, Damon." Lissa said voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now what did you want? You didn't come over here just to let Kennedy insult me."
"Come over to the registry with me? I wanna be annoyingly vague about vampires towards your unknowing sister with Stefan there." Damon crooked his arm towards her in a way that said he expected her to grab hold. "If you're there Stefan will be even more panicked about you two finding out about the big family secret."
Lissa tilted her head but ultimately decided to wrap her own arms around his. "You didn't tell him I knew about you two?"
"And waste all that blackmail potential?" Damon shook his head at her, "No, your secret is safe with me, Snow Princess. Though I do wonder how you found out about vampires."
"Hmm, you'll find out soon enough. Though don't wanna ruin that surprise." She smirked. Enzo would be in Mystic Falls within a day or two and there wasn't any way he'd put off the confrontation with Damon.
Before Damon could question her further, they'd came up behind Elena and Stefan who were looking over the old 'founder' stuff. Lissa had already checked everything out over the years of helping the families research their heirlooms since she liked history. It was why, despite her violent reputation, everyone respected her to an extent. The only ones that would be new to her would be the Lockwoods, for obvious reasons, and, honestly, the only thing interesting about that family is the werewolf gene.
"The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration." Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?" Elena looked over at the two brothers once she'd gotten to their names.
Damon spoke up, voice just the right amount of sly that it made Stefan's fist clinch. "The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. It's a tragic story, actually."
"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past, Damon." Stefan gritted his teeth together.
Lissa smirked, "Actually, I'd love to know. I'm a bit of a history buff. And knowing my sister, she likes learning about you."
Elena furrowed her brows at Lissa, not sure what she was planning. But she was right, she did want to know more about her boyfriend.
Just as Damon was going to continue, Kennedy came up on his other side whining about not getting to dance.
"I'm busy, Kennedy. Ask someone else." Damon said, eyes tight.
Kennedy stuck her nose into the air before she zeroed in on Stefan. "Fine, Stefan can dance with me. Elena doesn't mind, do you?"
"Uh. I don't…"
Stefan grimaced at the idea of dancing with Kennedy. "I don't really dance."
"Oh, sure he does." Damon chuckled. "You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all."
Lissa 'ooh'ed matching Damon's smirk. "Damn, seems like you're quite the dancer Stefan. Kennedy, better snatch him while you can."
Kennedy did just that, wrapping her arm around his and pulled him back towards the dance floor. Stefan shot Damon and her a glare as he went along with her.
Damon wiggled his fingers at his brother in a mock wave before glancing down towards Lissa as if to say she was next on his list of puppets. His face contorted into a grimace though, as Lissa shoved her elbow roughly into his side once she noticed what he was implying.
"No. If you even try to make Stefan think you're using me as a blood bag or anything like that, I will set you on fire. "She whispered barely loud enough for herself to hear but plenty loud enough for the vampire right next to her too. "You and I both know he'll feel obligated to 'save' me from you."
Damon side eyed the short girl but ultimately decided to listen to her. He still wasn't sure if being burned alive killed a vampire or not, and he didn't particularly feel like finding out.
"I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse." Damon looked towards the girl that was the spitting image of the only woman he'd ever loved. "My therapist says I'm...Acting out, trying to punish Stefan."
Elena furrowed her brows at the older man. She knew there was tension between the brothers but Stefan never implied that he was the one in the wrong. It was always Damon. "For what?"
"It's all in the past I don't even want to bring it up." He shrugged, jolting Lissa as he did so. "Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers."
Lissa stayed silent as she listened to Damon and Elena talk. Hearing the story from Damon out of his own mouth, she could hear the longing and grief in his words. He truly did love Katherine. It was a shame she just used him and then dropped him the minute she could. As much as Lissa appreciated Katherine's ruthlessness, she doubted she could be friends with the girl. There wasn't any sense of loyalty in her body. Lissa was psychotic and didn't care about murder or torture or anything of the sort but she did require at least some loyalty. If you looked at any of the people she cared about you'd find the one trait that followed all of them was they all had a large capacity for loyalty.
It didn't take Damon long to finish his story and gain Elena's sympathy, she was such a gullible person. She could see right through Damon's 'Oh woe is me. I'm truly trying to better myself' rigmarole, yet Elena was eating the shit right up. She kept her thoughts to herself though, knowing that Damon had his own plans and goals, and honestly, she didn't really have much of sustenance to add. The only reason she stayed was so she would have an excuse to know about Katherine without seeming suspicious.
Lissa kept a hold of Damon's arm as they met up with Kennedy and Stefan, even when Kennedy shot her a look that would put her 6 feet under if her glares could kill. It was fun to play with the queen bitch like she was. Plus Damon didn't care. She could see him chuckling out of the corner of her eye as she met Kennedy's glare head on.
"And you say you're not attracted to me." Damon leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"I'm not, you leather fetish asshole. Now shush, and play arm candy." She shot back, smirking in a way that made anyone think the two of them were trading flirts instead of insults.
Stefan held up a glass of champagne to the three that had made their way over to them. "Drink, Damon?"
"No thanks. I'll pass, but Lissa could use one." Damon smiled at Stefan. Him giving the drink to Lissa let Stefan know that he wasn't compelling nor drinking from the pale girl. Something he knew Stefan was almost 100% certain of.
"Ooh, yes. I've only had one glass tonight and I need more." Lissa said, reaching across the small table and snatching the glass out of his hand. Downing the bubbling liquid as if it were a shot, she smirked at the confused look that flew across Stefan's face. She didn't know how much vervain was in the alcohol but it was enough that there was a floral aftertaste.
"Stefan, you have another dance in you?" Elena asked before anyone could start something. She recognized the mood her sister was in and wanted to circumvent the impending disaster.
"Absolutely."
Watching the couple, Damon just pursed his lips. It was just like back when they were human. Stefan had his girl on his arm while he's stuck on the sideline.
"You know, they are pretty cute together." Kennedy mused.
"Shut up."
Lissa, seeing that the mood had become a bore, walked away with a wave to the now pouting man. Kennedy had done much of the same once she realized that Damon wasn't going to be dancing with her anytime soon.
She had been wanting to just grab Caroline and Bonnie to just leave. They could grab some junk and watch some of Caroline's creepy movies.
"Lissa, can we talk? Please?" came Jenna's voice from behind her.
She turned around face made of stone as she locked eyes with her aunt. "Nope. You're my aunt and I respect you but currently I feel an unrelenting urge to rearrange your face."
Jenna's face scrunched up but ultimately took the insult on the chin. She deserved it. She knew what words could do. That's what her whole degree was about. She looked at her niece, really looked, and realized she'd been missing signs of her stress simply because her other wards emotions were more noticeable. Taking in the slumped shoulders and eye bags that even Caroline's makeup skills couldn't cover, she felt her stomach tie itself into a knot. "I'm sorry. I know my words hurt you-"
"Jenna, quite frankly, I don't give a fuck about your apology." Lissa could feel her anger rising. It was easier to admit to anger than it was to admit Jenna's words did actually hurt.
Jenna's eyes went wide; she'd never really had her niece's anger focused directly on her, and was suddenly aware of what her sister had once tried to explain to her. That Lissa's anger seemed to surround and suffocate you, leaving you breathless with a pounding heart. "Lissa, I-"
Lissa held up her hand, not willing to listen to a word that came out of Jenna's mouth. She was still too emotional to deal with it. And the fact that she seemed to not understand that was just plain annoying. "I. Said. No. Leave it at that."
Her good mood gone, Lissa went to sit in a dark corner where she could see the whole party including the courtyard outside the window. As much as she wanted to grab Bonnie and Caroline to leave, she knew she needed to stay and see if Stefan actually ended up drugging Damon. She didn't think she'd changed anything to the point he wouldn't but it was better to make sure.
So she sat and nibbled on the plate of stuffed mushrooms she'd had one of the servers leave next to her until she heard a scream. Not one of fright, or even anguish. Nope this was one of a friend on a rampage.
"Damon Salvatore!" Ooh, that's something different. Seems it wasn't Elena that found the bite marks that more than likely littered Kennedy's body. Nope this was Kennedy's best friends, a tall Arab girl named Aisha. Now Aisha has been one of the only people that had ever stood up to her besides Tyler and her sister. So this was going to be good.
Looking around she saw Damon not very far away from her, but completely across the room from Aisha. His eyebrows were furrowed clearly not really knowing why a random girl would be yelling at him, especially one he knew he hadn't wronged before.
She let out a quiet snicker at the confused looks on everyone's faces. No one other than probably Kennedy and her knew how badass Aisha could be, so her yelling and confronting Damon like this was hilarious. But, as Damon's ally, she needed to go over there to try and defuse the situation. Though how she was going to do that she didn't know.
As she walked up to him, she saw Stefan and Elena also make their way over to Damon too. Even Bonnie and Caroline had made their way to the entryway where everything was taking place. Kennedy was nowhere to be found though, probably still in the bathroom or wherever Aisha had seen the marks.
"Can I help you?" Damon asked, voice silky as he tried to talk himself out of whatever had angered the girl.
Aisha, despite her anger, still spoke in her soft articulate way. "Yes, actually. You can explain the multitude of bite marks on my best friend."
Damon smiled, clearly fake and covering for his annoyance, but still answered the girl. "Ahh, what happens between two consenting people should stay between those people."
Lissa let out a quiet 'yikes'. As much as Damon entertained her, that was exactly what a guilty party would say. Way to make yourself even more suspicious. Even if he had done it, and she had consented, Damon has really dug himself into a hole. She let out a silent sigh at her thoughts. She was going to have to play the middle ground, get him off the hook, at least for a bit. "Aisha, as much as I don't wanna be that person, cause trust me I also want to punch him, but he's right. When I realized he was dating a high schooler, I made sure he'd gotten consent and everything from her."
Aisha deflated at her words. While they'd never gotten along she knew her stance on sexual assault and knew that she wouldn't defend someone that she had even an inkling that he'd taken advantage of someone. "You're sure? Those bites looked brutal."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Now go comfort your best friend. She's probably just a bit embarrassed right about now." Lissa said, poking fun at the spectacle the other girl had made. It was nice not to be the reason people are staring for once.
Aisha blushed deep enough you could see it on her dark skin once she'd taken in the amount of people around them despite being off the dance floor. Spinning around fast enough the loose edge of her hijab fluttered behind her, she walked back to where Lissa would guess Kennedy was.
"Ahh, thanks, frie-" Damon began before letting out a soft 'oomph' as Lissa reared back and punched him straight in the peck. "What the hell was that for?"
"Because you're a dumbass." She said, face screaming her annoyance at having to stick up for him. "Come on Caroline, Bonnie. I think this can mark the end of the party for us."
"Oh, I think I'll go home with Elena, but thank you for the offer."
She shrugged. She didn't really want Bonnie to come with them anyway, so this worked out great. When she passed Caroline, she linked their arms and walked out of the party with her. Sure she could have stayed to see what Stefan or Elena thought of what had just went down, but honestly she didn't want to deal with their self-righteous act tonight or any night really. So, once she'd seen the determined look on Stefan's face, she decided to end the night positive that Stefan would be certain to lock Damon up in their basement.
The drive to Caroline's house was filled with her telling Caroline half truths on how she'd met Damon. Basically telling her the whole story on how they met but leaving out the vampire and magic stuff. And his stalking her at her own home. She didn't want to lie to Caroline but she also didn't want to come clean about the supernatural just yet. Caroline could still have some time as a normal person and she didn't want to take away from that.
She dropped Caroline off, and fended off her pleas for her to stay the night, she made her way home. It seemed like since Elena didn't have to comfort Caroline this time around, she'd made it home earlier.
Since the Lockwoods never really had anything to drink at their parties besides alcohol or shitty punch, Lissa stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of water when Elena cornered her, again.
"Lissa, I wanted to say I'm sorry about ambushing you with Jenna. I'm sure that didn't feel good."
She just continued to sip her water while staring at her sister. Silence reigned in the kitchen while she thought about what to say. Sure, she could keep the peace and just accept the apology. But if she was being honest she was tired of having to play the good sister. She helped her through her grief as much as she could, even put up with Elena dismissing her grief. With that thought, she shook her head at her sister. "Elena, I love you, but man you're a self-righteous bitch."
Elena opened her mouth at her sister's words. Self-righteous bitch? Really? She'd thought they were getting along, "How could you think that? I just try to be a good person! Unlike you."
"I'm not a good person. I never claimed to be. But Elena, I could deal with it when Mom and Dad were around, but since their deaths you've tried to become Mom. And not in a good way. This is your one and only warning from me," She stepped closer to her sister, voice lowering as she stared her sister down. Her sister took a step back, hitting the island counter with a jump. "If you try to 'parent' me or order me to do something that I do not want to do, it'll be the last thing you do."
Not expecting, nor waiting, for a reply, Lissa walked away.
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