Chapter 5

I don't own Legacies, The Vampire Diaries or The Originals, they belong to Julie Plec (and whoever else). I just own Giulia and any other OC. I'm not making any profit from writing this.

This chapter isn't betaed, any mistakes are my own and English is definitely not my first language. Constructive criticism is much appreciated, flames are not.

This was inspired by the episode with the genie, where Lizzie sees the alternate universe where Hope was never born and supernatural beings and humans are at war.

My spells are the results of using Google Translate to translate from English to Latin so they're probably wrong.

Spells

(Translation) : when there's no translation beside a spell it's because it comes from The Vampire Diaries, The Originals or Legacies.

Thoughts

WEDNESDAY MAY 20th, 2009. DAY.

Giulia munched on her lunch, a tuna and mayonnaise sandwich, while Zach drove his black jeep into the middle of nowhere, Kentucky. They were following old Sheriff Norse, who had been nice enough to offer to drive them to the property - if he found it suspicious that she didn't know how to get there he didn't say anything.

The Sheriff had been able to give her the money from selling Emma's animals. The woman didn't have any savings to speak of, she seemed to live hand to mouth. The property and Emma's personal effects hadn't been sold.

Giulia had signed the deed to the house, it was always useful to have a safehouse ready, and they were now going to the house so she could play the grieving daughter and grab some of Emma's things.

There was a small stable, where she assumed the cows had been kept, beside the small wooden cottage. The inside was quaint and dusty, filled with open boxes full of Emma's things. Giulia pretended to look around, touching the walls nostalgically and sighing like she was sad. Zach and the Sheriff had respectfully chosen to stay at the door but Giulia still made sure to put on a performance.

The cottage had three rooms and a small basement, the kitchenette with the small sitting room, a tiny bedroom and a bathroom. It was small, but with some strong wards it would do in an emergency.

"I think I'll take her clothes and books. Too bad mom didn't own a photo camera, it would've been nice to have some pictures to remember her by." she mused. She didn't need the clothes or the books, but it would be weird if she didn't take any mementos.

The books she'd keep, they looked interesting, while the clothes would get thrown in a donation bin on the way back to Mystic Falls. Wearing the clothes of a dead woman you were claiming to be your mother was just too morbid even for Giulia's 'waste not, want not' mentality.

Zach and the Sheriff placed the three boxes in the back of the jeep while she went around the house, turning off the heating and water in the basement, shutting the blinds and locking the front door.

She left the cottage and walked around the back. The chicken coop was obviously empty, and the fenced in vegetable garden was slightly overgrown. There was a single apple tree in the backyard surrounded by fallen fruits.

She walked around, pretending to be nostalgic while she thought about the defences she'd have to implement on the place. Still contemplative, Giulia jumped back in the car to head back to town and to the cemetery.

She might not be able to do the spell now, but it would be easier if she knew where to go. Plus, it would be suspicious if she left without paying her respects.

§§§

Giulia stared at the headstone that read simply 'Emma De Luca August 1, 1976 – April 25, 2009'.

She laid the purple hyacinths she'd bought down on the grave, it was her silent way of asking for forgiveness from this woman.

Zach laid his hand down on her shoulder, it was trembling. Giulia grabbed it and squeezed, wondering what he was thinking about.

She'd ordered him to believe that he'd met her sometime in early July of 1990, showed him the pictures in the envelope Sam gave her. She wondered, did his brain create fake memories of her?

She wasn't sure she'd be comfortable with it if that was true. Not that she could do anything about it, the potion had no antidote and she wasn't going to waste her time inventing one when she needed him under her control.

Selfishly, a small part of her hoped Damon would still kill him so she wouldn't have to bear the guilt anymore. Another part of her didn't really care about what she'd done, saving the future was more important that one measly human she just met.

It was the same part of her that categorised all possible exits and how long it would take to kill the humans in a room and escape.

§§§

THURSDAY MAY 21st, 2009. DAY.

Giulia sat with the binder in her lap, the Soul Stone in front of her on the bedspread and the garnet beside her to siphon from. They were brainstorming a plan for the 25th.

"So," she told her friend in the stone, "Augustine will gather at Whitmore House on the 25th of July. Enzo will be there, plus the 23 members and their dates. There are three guards and a bouncer with military training, so basically four security guards. There's an alarm but if the guards are already dead then it won't matter much."

"Unless it's really loud or the neighbours live really close." He said in her mind. His voice was much stronger now that she didn't have to ration her magic thanks to the garnet.

"True," agreed Giulia, "I'm going to go and scope out the place beforehand so we'll see."

"What triggers the alarm?" he asked.

"I don't know." She admitted.

"You didn't ask?"

"You know I'm terrible at asking questions. I torture, Penny talks." She complained.

"But now it's just you." He pointed out carefully.

That hurt, but it was true. Giulia was on her own and she'd have to get good at it. "I know," she whispered.

He was nice enough to move on with their planning, "Where will Enzo be?"

"I don't know, but it's not going to matter. Once I lock everyone inside I can just free him if he's in a cell. I'll steal the key from Greyson once he's dead."

"Fair enough," he said.

"Wait." Giulia breathed, horrified, "They're going to drink vampire blood."

"Well. Shit."

"What do I do?! The purging spell doesn't work on vampire blood!" She frantically started paging through the binder, searching for a way to stop a transition.

"You could… stay there and wait for them to wake up then kill them?" he suggested.

"Aha!" she exclaimed, "A human won't turn if the body is too injured to heal, so I just have to cut the head from the corpses and they'll stay dead."

"Easy then," he deadpanned.

"I have just the spell for that," she went on, ignoring him.

"Why do you have a spell for that?" he questioned.

"Adam gave it to me." She shrugged, even though he couldn't see her.

"Ah." He made a noise of understanding. "Of course he did."

Giulia didn't say anything, knowing it was true. Her fellow siphoner always went for the bloodier options, when he could.

"So, what should I do?" she asked.

"Tell me your plan and I'll help you refine it." He countered.

Giulia huffed. "Always the teacher."

§§§

Giulia snoozed the alarm on her phone. "Sorry, I have to go, I have a job interview at the Grill."

"Didn't you already start a business with that Slater?" he asked, confused.

"Not yet, I still have to go to Sam. Plus, what does that matter? Having more money is better and I need something to keep me busy."

"It's also a good way to befriend the Scooby gang." He reminded her.

She shrugged, "That too." She grabbed the stone and kissed it, "Bye, love you."

"Good luck, little sister. Love you too." He told her.

Giulia put him back to sleep, put on her shoes, grabbed her new brown leather bag and left the house. She drove her jeep to the Grill and parked it.

"Hi!" she waved at Matt Donovan once she came in.

"Hey, Giulia." He smiled, "Mr Williams is waiting in the back for you."

"Thanks Matt," she said and walked to the door leading to the office near the bar, on the other side from the entrance.

It had been Matt who'd told her about the open position as a server when she came here to eat with Zach. He overheard her saying she wanted to find a job and offered to put in a good word for her.

Giulia had been suspicious at first, he didn't know her and he was being way too nice. However, she'd come here often for their milkshakes and gotten to know him: he was just a genuinely nice guy who wanted to help the new girl fit in.

Giulia snapped out of her reminiscing and knocked at the door. "Who is it?" was heard from inside.

"It's Giulia, Mr Williams, for the job?" she called out.

"Come in," he told her.

She opened the door and stepped inside the office. "Good afternoon, Mr Williams."

"Please, sit Miss Salvatore."

"It's De Luca actually, but you can call me Giulia." She corrected him.

"Ah," he smiled apologetically, "I apologise Giulia."

"No worries, sir." She smiled. It wasn't the first time someone called her that in this town. She had no idea why they seemed to think she'd take on the surname of a man she just met, allegedly her father or not.

"You wanted to work here as a server, is that correct?" he asked her after she sat down.

"Yes sir. I need something to keep me busy and working here will also allow me to meet my future classmates before I enrol in September." She answered him, with more details than she was comfortable giving to a stranger.

She'd asked Zach for advice, never having done a job interview before, and he told her to avoid short answers. A future employer wanted to get to know her a bit, they couldn't do that if she answered in monosyllables.

"That's a good idea," he smiled kindly at her. "Do you have any experience?"

She smiled back, "No sir. This will be my first job experience, but I'm a fast learner."

"Well," he told her, "I think I'm going to employ you on a trial basis for two weeks and we'll see how it goes from there, alright?"

That was easy. "Thank you, sir! I won't disappoint you." She promised.

They stood up and he shook her hand, "I'm sure you won't. Welcome aboard, Miss De Luca."