Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries and I'm not gaining any profit from writing this.

Constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not.

Telepathy

§§§

The following days were spent at the lake house, eating small meals as often as possible and sleeping outside (I don't want to be trapped within four walls anymore).

Jeremy and Tyler practically ordered me not to move from the front garden, they brought me food, drinks, everything I asked for (for now it's fine, but if they kept this up I'll hit them, I'm not an invalid). One or both of them were always with me.

Enzo compelled one of our neighbours, a writer in search of inspiration, to become his personal blood bag. The only other option was an old married couple or stealing blood bags from the nearby hospital (he'd find us, blood bags getting stolen right after we got free? We have to regain our strength first, then confront him). William was the better option.

On May 23rd, Carol Lockwood called Tyler to tell us the Monster (and Mom) was dead. They went to pick up Elena from a party and drove off Wickery Bridge. Elena survived, the elder Gilberts didn't.

Enzo was angry we didn't get to torture him, so was I, but the relief of knowing he was dead, that he could never hurt me again made me feel light-headed. I cried happy tears when I heard, and Tyler got booze for everyone, we threw a small party.

Me, Jeremy and Tyler went back to Mystic Falls, Enzo chose to stay at the lake house and get used to this century. He'd been a prisoner for so long that he knew next to nothing about it, only what I'd told him or he'd observed from his torturers over the years.

The funeral was a bore, I had to use eye drops to fake tears (I'm a horrible actress) and pretend to care about Elena's and Jenna's grief. I liked Jenna, but her grieving for the Monster angered me. Elena I just couldn't care less about (he knew, he knew what she was, why not her?! Why just me?! She wasn't even his daughter!)

We went back to school after that and I was forced to play catch up with everything I'd missed. With Jeremy's help, I managed and wasn't forced to repeat the year. I received lots of condolences and well wishes from everyone. The official story was that I had cancer and the Monster sent me to another clinic because Mystic Falls Hospital didn't have an Oncology department.

The Monster hadn't faked any papers, and if someone went digging they'd easily be able to tell it was a lie. I couldn't risk attracting the Council's attention.

Lucky me, Vicki Donovan was a great hacker and very susceptible to compulsion. We chose a clinic in New York whose resident oncologist had recently passed away and Vicki forged the records saying I'd been his patient.

As a thank you, I asked Enzo to compel her to stop doing drugs and start studying seriously for her senior year, she was now aiming for a scholarship in Computer Science at Boston University.

§§§

I spent the summer at the lake house with Jeremy, Tyler and Enzo.

Me and Jer were 'grieving' and Tyler was being a good friend and 'comforting' us. The Lockwoods and Jenna were satisfied with phone calls and once a week visits. Jenna was too busy dealing with losing her sister and Elena's depression to worry about us.

Not that she didn't, but she knew Tyler and trusted him to watch out for us. On the other hand, our cousin had locked herself in her room once school ended, and only left to eat and visit the cemetery.

Tyler always went back to town for football practice at around 3 p.m., 2 hours every day except for Sundays. The three of us got bored with nothing to do, so we decided to take self-defence classes three times a week with an ex-marine who taught us how to fight with a knife and shoot a gun too (Enzo compelled him for the last two and to make sure we didn't have to pay).

Jeremy was a badass with a weapon, while I could barely aim right and Enzo somehow always cut himself with the knife.

The rest of the week consisted of different crafts classes like woodturning, weaving and stone carving (the disaster of a ceramic class shall never be mentioned again). Enzo picked up baking as a hobby, I discovered a talent for guitar playing and Jeremy learned lots of new techniques for painting and drawing.

The attic became Jeremy's art studio while Enzo took over the kitchen, his sweets were orgasmic and he was the only one who could cook worth a damn. How he managed to do better than us, when he just learned and didn't really need to eat in the first place, was a mystery (Maybe he was a cooking genius… or we're just hopeless. We're totally hopeless.

Cooking disasters aside, I learned how to make the potions in Grandma's diaries (How? How could I brew and not cook?),light candles with my mind and how to anchor my illusion to gemstones to keep them going even without me there. They just had to be recharged once a month.

As soon as I learned that, I embedded an alexandrite gem (it made illusions stronger against vampires) in a wooden trunk to ensure no one could see it nor touch it, they would instinctively shy away from it. The only ones keyed in were the four of us. The trunk contained: Grandma's diaries, the Gilbert journals, the watch/compass and music box of doom, four white oak stakes and six small bottles filled with white oak ashes.

We hid the theft by setting Wickery Bridge on fire with cigarettes and motor oil (for the police) and magic (to really set it on fire). Jer and Tyler thought I was crazy, so I had to tell them about the Archive.

The Archive of Tasmàr (fae world) wasn't a secret exactly, but… well, it only exists because fae are the worst gossip. We love knowing people's secrets, we hoard knowledge, and everything we think is important (which is everything someone somewhere wanted to be kept secret) ends up in the Archive. I really mean everything, from how witches were born to what vampire fucked better.

During one of my nightly research binges in the Archive (I had just discovered the supernatural was real and I was curious about everything) I came upon a sketch of Elena in the oldest section (no one knew why, but fae knew all languages so Ancient Greek was no problem).

Well, I thought it was Elena, but it turns out it was Amara. From there, I studied the history of Silas, Amara and Qetsiyah, the creation of the doppelgangers by Nature, so they could die in the immortals place, a list of known doppelgangers (I added Elena to the list) and what their blood could be used for.

From somehow destroying Spirit Magic, to the last doppelganger pair being able to break the Travelers' curse, to the most recent "Sun and Moon" curse. Said curse was pure bollocks, Nature 'cursed' vampires and werewolves to keep the balance of power (even fae, nature spirits that we are, are 'cursed' with iron. You don't see us complain!), so the idea that doppelganger blood could break it… was completely idiotic.

Which is how I found out about the Mikaelson family and Klaus' curse, hence the stakes and ash for when he inevitably came to town looking for Elena. Burning Wickery Bridge was a new plot I came up with after befriending Enzo.

The Fae knew that killing the Originals would kill their vampire descendants, and we didn't want that. Vampires kept the human population within tolerable limits and limiting their pollution (if Nature didn't want them, Esther's spell wouldn't have worked. Arrogant witches, thinking they knew Nature better than us).

That, and their shenanigans were amusing, some of the stories… better than a telenovela.

Personally, I just didn't want white oak within easy reach of vampire-hating witches when I knew the Mikaelson would come and likely piss them off (they're not known for their diplomacy, the Mikaelsons, not even 'noble' Elijah). If they found out they just had to kill them all to destroy the vampire race… I wasn't risking it.

It didn't help that there was a lunar eclipse when we burned Wickery Bridge. Blood Moons always tripled the fae's bloodthirsty/protective/possessive instincts.

My first Blood Moon had been on the 9th of February, I think that's when the Monster became suspicious. Fae get wilder, stronger, more bloodthirsty on those nights. The instinct to hunt is irresistible.

Fae can't hurt children, nor rape, our instincts will never allow it. So on those nights, we kill those that do. Or anyone who killed our kin. Only when the Blood Moon comes can we recognise them, it's like a dark glow around them. There was no one like that in my Lasmàr (territory), so I danced with the trees and animals of the forest. The Monster probably saw me.

I went through two Blood Moons this summer, one at the beginning of July and one the first week of August. Wickery Bridge on the first one, hunting with Enzo on the second. Old Mrs. Blair believes her husband ran off with his whore. We burned his corpse and threw his ashes in the lake.

Near the end of August we went to a party, we wanted to take advantage of the time we had before school started. I was having a bad day, nightmares all night and a panic attack in the morning (I couldn't move, I was back there, I never got free) and another one in the afternoon (I was fine if he saw them, but Jeremy tried to touch my wings from behind. I didn't see his hand coming).

I drank a lot to forget my weakness, hoping to pass out and not dream. I was so drunk I couldn't protect myself when a jock tried to 'take me home'. I couldn't focus enough to keep up an illusion and I couldn't even walk straight, much less throw a decent punch. I called for help in Jeremy's mind, Tyler was dancing with him, so he came too. My best friend lost it (my fault, my fault, I was too weak), Enzo dealt with the body.

I refused to let Tyler suffer through the transformation every month, so I learnt how to make moonlight jewelry. I thought it would be easy, making a daylight anklet (much less eye-catching than a ring) for Enzo had been.

It wasn't, it took Grandma five tries to make a ring for Andrew Lockwood, and she was more experienced than me. It took me several nosebleeds, a blinding headache and twelve failures to get it right, but Tyler was now the proud owner of a moonlight ring (he refused everything else as too girly).

He would never have to go through another transformation. I say 'another' because that masochist wanted to experience it at least once, to know what other werewolves went through every month. Enzo and I thought he was crazy (he had definitely been hit too many times on the head during football matches) but Jeremy supported him.

My brother spent the whole night outside the hidden cell in the basement (our Gilbert ancestors were seriously fucked up). I made wolfsbane grow around the bars to burn Tyler if he tried to escape, he tried, but he stopped after burning his jaws.

After that night, Jer and Ty became much closer, until the werewolf punched a guy for flirting with my brother and kissed him in front of everyone. Those two made a surprisingly cute couple, they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

The Lockwood parents approved of the relationship, the Mayor wanted to look open minded to the next generation and Carol was just happy her son didn't have a crush on Vicki Donovan anymore. That Jeremy was one of the 'genius' kids and from another founding family helped.

It is now September 6, junior year starts tomorrow.

Enzo had taken this summer to recover from his imprisonment and get used to the 21st century, but he was now hunting down Augustine members. He checked in telepathically every day, so I knew he was safe, but I still worried.

I understood though, the Monster may be dead, but Enzo had been tortured by more than just him. The men themselves might be already deceased, but their descendants still lived. He wanted to prove to himself that he was stronger now, that they could never catch him again. The only way he could do that was killing them, on his own. I didn't like it, but I understood.

If he got hurt though, Augustine would burn.

§§§

"Jeremy, the alarm" I complained, pawing at my brother's shoulder.

He shrugged my hand off, "You turn it off."

"I'll blast it, see if I don't." I mumbled, refusing to open my eyes.

With a long suffering groan, Jeremy slipped out of bed and turned off that awful noise.

The point of putting the clock on the desk near the door was to force us to get out of bed to turn it off, the fact that I could just make wind push it to the floor, hard, meant that Jeremy had to do it. We lost quite a few clocks before my twin resigned himself to his fate. So stubborn.

"Come on, sis. Shower."

Jeremy picked me up and carried me out of our bedroom and to the bathroom we'd shared since forever. My bedroom had become Jeremy's studio. Painting needed both space and light which our basement lacked (I couldn't sleep alone, another body wrapped around me helped me remember I was free, it kept the nightmares at bay).

He abandoned me in the shower and went to get dressed. We took turns in the shower, the night was his and the morning was mine, bar parties or special occasions.

I showered, put on my red lipgloss and eyeliner, brushed my snow white hair (Jenna and Elena thought it was dyed, bitchy Elena threw a fit for some reason) and double checked the glamour on my ears and brown eyes (gold was so much prettier). I put on my black cotton underwear and went back to our room.

I knocked (just because we were comfortable changing in front of each other didn't mean I should ignore common decency) and stepped inside our room. Jeremy was putting on a black t-shirt.

I skipped over to my wardrobe, Jeremy's clothes were in the dresser, and grabbed black skinny jeans, the blouse I bought last week and black leather ankle boots with a low heel from our shoe cupboard. The blouse was purple with a lacy scoop neckline, spaghetti straps and half sleeves. I paired everything with my silver locket (there was a picture of Jeremy and Tyler on one side and Enzo on the other) and my brown off shoulder bag with my school things already inside it.

"How do I look, Jer?"

"Sexy. Are you trying to seduce someone?"

"And if I was?" I teased my overprotective little brother ("By eight minutes Jazzie!").

"Good luck and know that me and Ty will stalk him to see if he's worthy."

I laughed, it wouldn't be the first time. My last boyfriend broke up with me because they scared him. Good riddance, I refused to be in a relationship with a coward. Any boyfriend of mine had to survive Jeremy and Tyler, Enzo too now.

Still laughing, I grabbed Jeremy's arm and dragged him downstairs for breakfast.

"Elena's still sleeping?" Jenna asked as soon as she saw us.

"Good morning to you too, Aunt Jenna" we chorused, peeved.

"Yeah, sorry. She's just been so depressed lately, I don't want her to skip her first day."

Jeremy sighed, "I'll go wake her up."

"Thank you!" Jenna yelled at his retreating back, before going back to working on her thesis.

I started heating up a pot of milk and three pieces of toast. Jeremy always ate chocolate cornflakes in the morning, but I prefered toast with strawberry jam or Nutella. The pitcher of orange juice was already on the table.

Jeremy slipped into the kitchen, looking pissed off.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." The usual.

Ah, Elena's newest complaint.

The problem with our adopted sister was that she hated, really hated not being the center of attention, and anyone who showed her up. Her younger siblings skipping a grade and getting higher grades than her? "They're cheaters. They're always mean to me." (What being mean to her had to do with our grades I still didn't know. Not that we were, we just ignored her.)

The car accident? 'O woe is me, I went to a party instead of family night because my siblings weren't there, and my parents died picking me up.' Yep, she totally blamed us.

Forget how (as far as she knows) Jeremy and Tyler were picking me up from the airport. Forget how (supposedly) my cancer just healed. It's our fault she went to the party, because we weren't there to entertain her and keep her in the house.

She was stupid enough to express that opinion only once, over the phone. I gave her nightmares of the Monster and Miranda blaming her for their death. It took a week before she gave in and apologised.

Her newest grievance against us was how we "didn't grieve for long enough" hence we were monsters who didn't love our parents (we didn't grieve at all, but she didn't know that).

We didn't care and everyone else thought our behaviour was healthier than hers (she still spent half the day in the cemetery. Who does that?).

She noticed, and just yesterday she decided to… well we didn't realise what she was doing at first, not until she accused us straight up of being "incestuous". I just told her that I had nightmares after staying in a different state, going through chemotherapy, not knowing if I would live or not while thinking my family had abandoned me (Elena didn't even try to visit me. I mean, not that she could've in the cell, but she thought cancer was killing me and still didn't try).

That shut her up.

A clackson distracted me from my thoughts. Me and Jeremy quickly scarfed down our food and hurried out of the house. Tyler was waiting for us in his car.

"You took your sweet time," he teased.

"Sorry love." Jeremy sat down in the passenger seat and kissed him.

On the way to school, we finalized the details for the back to school party. Caroline had been organising every school ball since freshman year, with Tyler providing the alcohol, but the three of us had fought her until she promised to leave the 'Back to Hell' party, plus the New Year one, to us.

There would be a food stall, rivers of beer and Tyler's special, non-alcoholic (and secretly alcoholic) drinks and a dj. The ticket cost $15, drinks were included but food wasn't (unlike Caroline school balls, we got to keep the money. She had to give it to the Principal).

Those driving had to wear a red bracelet and stay sober, a policeman in the designated parking lot would check their alcohol level when they left. The last rule was the only way to avoid Sheriff Forbes coming down on our heads for underage drinking (I was pretty sure the 'Back to Hell' party had been her responsibility back in the day. It was practically a Mystic Falls tradition at this point).

Tyler parked the car and we walked to the entrance, me hanging off Jeremy's arm while Tyler had his arm wrapped around his waist. We loitered around our lockers (they were assigned in first year and never changed) with Tyler's football team.

They were nice guys, easily accepting their captain's bisexuality (there had been bets about which twin Ty would hook up with for years, so no one was too surprised).

I mean, it's not like their sexuality was new. Jeremy was not Tyler's first boyfriend or vice versa. Tyler and Scott, a teammate, used to be a couple, and so were Jeremy and Evan, but Evan moved away and Scott has a thing with Bethany now, the new druggie after Vicki got off that wagon.