"Why does it have to roar so loud?' Natanail thinks as he resists the urge to cover his ears. The loud obnoxious rumbling vibrating throughout his head as Damon and the blonde, who's name he cares not to remember take him back to the Salvatore house
He doesn't know what compelled him to even agree to go with them in the first place.
Letting his head rest on the cool glass, Natanail looks out the window examining the world that passes by.
So much change, so much he has missed. So many brights and sorrows have passed as he slept in the tomb. He's missed so much.
This new world is intimidating if he's to be honest with himself, a world that is so strange with its electronics and mundaneness.
Of course once he got over the shock of the vast evolution that mankind has made in his slumber,
"What is this Elena like?" He is still struggling with learning the nuances of modern English. And a way to negate the silence, as it has become unbearable.
Looking up into the small rectangular mirror the vampire uses to look behind as he drives, meeting the bright gaze as Damon looks away from the road to quirk his brow, the action making him nervous as the car is going faster than he's use to wagons going,
"She is an angst-full teen with raging hormones with a martyrdom problem." Damon snarks.
Natanail furrows his brows wondering what hormones are, but doesn't care enough to ask.
"I see."
John seems to give the man a dark look that speaks volumes of their relationship before turning to respond, "She's a good kid, a kindred spirit thrown into this bad situation." He pauses, with various emotions, guilt, pride, and regret before continuing.
"She's been through a lot and still has a good heart, sometimes too good of one." The man ends with a solemn tone. The man obviously holds parental love for Elena. He has to look away as a familiar ache of envy drips into his heart.
"You'll find out in a second," Damon says with a harsh jerk making him jerk in the seat in surprise as he isn't used to the Inertia of a moving vehicle. Natanail glowers at the snickering vampire, side-eyeing the blonde whose shoulders are silently shaking.
"Stupid corpse," Natanail mutters despite knowing the vampire won't understand in his native tongue.
"What?" The irate gleam in Damon at the fact that he doesn't know what was spoken only fuels his grin.
"Nothing." Is all he says stepping out of the vehicle ignoring the low-toned threats coming from the vampire and the slight chuckle coming from the blonde who seems to be finding this situation amusing.
He tilts his head up from ignoring death threats, one doesn't live with a hoard of Viking and not come out desensitized to violence and threats. He can't help but admire the grand home before him. While he's been in ancient castles, from before, nothing has ever been so cut and clean.
"This place is very beautiful." He whispers with an appraising gleam taking in the dark roofs and tan stone, the double door entrance grand.
"I hope that's a compliment Doppel-boy." Damon snark while hooking his arm around Natanail's neck, the feeling of his arm similar to an iron bar, not that he tries to escape.
Natanail has other ways of getting the beast to release him should he desire, but feels playing the naive and overwhelmed witch the vampire seems to think will do him more good. Being underestimated is always the best route to go when you are uncertain of what cards to play.
Plus, you draw more bees with honey than vinegar.
Damon most likely thinks he has the upper hand. The fool seems to have it in his head that his augmented body is good enough to control him.
No one controls Natanail, not anymore.
They don't understand, just yet that he didn't just hang out with wolves he ran with wolves long before this child, his species was even a spec on the universe.
What catches his attention is the achingly familiar ancestral magic pulsing inside the mansion.
'Seems that I'll be meeting descendants of Cilo.' He muses to himself while walking into the salvatore manor, still confused on how to feel about his former mentor, and cause of imprisonment.
He doesn't believe Cilo did this with malicious intentions, but to have lost all he has known and to not even get the chance to understand why he had to be placed in such conditions. She always told him he had a major role to play in the universe but she never would tell him what that was.
Hopefully he'll be able to find out and understand just what has been done to him.
———-
Elena snaps her head up as the front door opens, her tense body relaxing as she sees Damon only to flinch when she sees Kathrin- no, someone who looks eerily like her and Katherine walk in behind him.
"Damon, John, who's this?" She asks warily, subtly glancing at the boy who looks like her if she had been born male. She can't help but find the awkward smile that breaks out of the boy's face endearing.
'He's so pretty.' Elena thinks as he speaks, too busy admiring her male form to scowl at Damon for being an ass as he ignores her in favor of going for a glass of his favorite bourbon.
"Is she alright?" The concern in his accented voice breaks her out of the trance she seemed to have got lost in guiltily looking down at Bonnie who is asleep in her lap having fallen asleep after their cry session.
'I killed Bon's grams.' Elena feels her heart ache as she caresses her dear friend's face wincing at the puffiness around her eyes. If only she hadn't been so weak.
Unlike Bonnie, who is such a strong woman, to still be by her side, to deal with Damon's presence despite her hatred.
"She-" she clears her throat.
"Her grandmother Sheila died,"
'Opening the tomb for no reason', but don't say it out loud.
"Way to be so callous Damon." She says glaring.
"Oh," is all the new boy says, she catches as guilt passes through the stranger, but she doesn't know enough to push on it.
Damon claps, gaining their attention "Now now, let's stop with the mussy mopey shit and get down to the real business." He says receiving two equal glares from the Doppelgänger. At their glare he mockingly raises his arms relenting
"Alright, sheesh it was bad enough when there were only two of you." He mutters the last sentence loudly, clearly wanting them to hear.
Though, fortunately for him, before she can concede to the urge of throwing a wooden stake at him they are all interrupted as the sound of Stefan entering the room saves Damon's ass.
Again.
"Stefan!" She can't help the relief in her voice as her boyfriend walks into the house feeling a blush creep up as he walks up to her and gently kisses her before turning to the newcomer, his body between her and the new boy. 'So protective' she thinks fondly.
"Brother," Stefan says with the same hint of disdain that usually transpires when they are in the same room.
"Who is this?" He asks his gaze never leaving the bright blue eyes of Damon. This has her looking towards the newcomer wondering the same.
Damon shrugs his eyes widened before narrowing "That I don't know, all I know is he's a Doppel-reject of some kind." He says unrepentant at the foreign curse thrown at him by the boy he just mocked.
"Doppel-reject," the boy sneers at the words with a halfhearted glare before he walks over to her and gives her a kind smile. ignoring the threatening stare of the two Salvatore's in favor of kneeling beside her and Bonnie who miraculously remains asleep
"Hello, little one," Elena feels a flush build up at the endearment.
She pushes the feeling down in favor of listening to the words.
"My, it's been so long since I've been in the presence of a Bennett, let alone one this powerful." He says as he nears her kneeling slowly as to not seem threatening he reaches lightly caressing Bonnie's cheek with a finger causing Elena's eyes narrow as she sees a slight red glow emit from the tip of his finger before she can question him she feels bonnie melt into her lap. Looking down the furrow in her brow soothes as Bonnie lets out a soft sigh.
She looks up with questions in her eyes meeting his mischievous smile, "Natanail Petrov, at your service."
Petrov? Like Kathrine Petrova?
"Damon what is going on." She stresses glancing at him with confusion, feeling anxious.
"That's what I'd like to know." Stefan says as he pushes his way between her and natanail, such an old sounding name.
Is he a vampire?
'What about the red glow? Perhaps a witch?'
"Jeez, would you two calm down? You act like I've tried to kill you or something." Damon says, breaking her train of thought, waving his bourbon about as swishes his hand.
"Okay, maybe that was in bad taste…" he relents, waving his hand to the doe eyed Natanail, "This here is Natty boy, and he is- well actually I don't know what he is other than the doppelgänger shit." He ends up taking a big gulp of his drink.
Elena grimaces as Damon lets out an obnoxious burp, going by his smirk he throws towards her to irritate her, "Ah that hit the spot." He says rubbing it in like the dick he is. Why does she even try- No she won't go down that train of thought right now.
"I'm not sure myself." Natanail says drawing their attention back as he seemed to find himself comfortable on the loveseat opposite of Damon who took the chair.
She wonders if it is narcissistic of her to find him so beautiful. The intricate braids and feathers woven into his hair only add to the nymph-like aura he seems to have. Even his voice has a sultry tent to it as it goes distant. His voice fading in and out with emotion as he reiterates his story. she can see as he looks down at his hands, looking closer she notices that there are a lot of intricate tattoos etched into his skin. A lot of them look like the runes that Bonnie has used for her spells only more. She catches the tail end of his conversation as the words tumble out of his mouth."The last thing I remember was my mentor and I talking under the stars enjoying the night time and brief time of peace that our coven had."
"Moons before we had just finished battling a brutal, but short war."
"A war!?" She says in shock looking at his slim figure and not being able to imagine him in a war. He gives her a solf grin, she looks at Damon as he shifts and sees a gleam of respect at the mention of a war.
"Yes, we called it a war, but I guess in modern terms it would be more of a skirmish. But I don't know if human wars can equate to supernatural ones when one wolf on the full moon is equated to ten of your best hunters"
He waved his hand leaning back, the feathers in his hair lifting at the movement "But I digress, my point is we were talking about how we were going to move forward, and as I drank the tea my mind started to slip until I was in a comatose like state."
"Though they didn't account for my being conscious the whole time, blind to everything as my eyes were closed and my body frozen." Looking down she sees him playing with a ring on his middle finger, "It took a while for me to realize that I was not going to wake up."
"I'm sor-" she stops knowing that wouldn't do anything to help.
"Well damn that sucks, but it doesn't explain what we are going to do with Kathrine." Damon spits out her name like venom. Elena can see that he's using his usual diversion tactics to get away from all the feelings.
She turns back to Natanail as he talks, "I know you guys have history with Kathrine… I'm not asking you to forgo your grudges or even forgive her for the transgressions she has made towards you. I just want to meet her, I know it's stupid. I'm not blind to the reality of her nature or what she is capable of." He trails off.
"I just want…." He seems to struggle with his emotions.
Damon scoffs,"So what? You think she'll even listen, I mean come on. What are we to do? Just send her an invite and expect her to come? What do we say? Oh hey Kathrine, thought you'd like to come over for some tea. And visit with your ancient witch doppelgänger who looks like you but with a dick-." She cuts him off with a scowl throwing a pillow.
"Damon!" Elena yells feeling embarrassed as he so casually says such vulgarity and the fact that Natanail seems to wilt at his words.
"I'm sure she'll show up on her own, why don't we focus on making sure when she does she doesn't have the chance to harm us?" She gives Stefan a grateful smile as he placates the situation.
"Speaking of protection," Damon says, lifting his glass to Natanail. "What fancy ancient magic do you have in that feathery braided head of yours?"
"Anything that could be useful in making my home more, let's say secure." He ends with a mocking leer.
Natanail seems to snap out of his thoughts, blinking before shaking his head.
He gives Damon a searching look before finding whatever it was he needed as he gives Damon a simple nod saying, "I may have something, but I need to study your vampirism to understand just what I need to protect against."
A/n:
I'm not sure what's planned for this fic or if I even will bother keeping to canon.
Who would you like to see pine for our dear doppel boy.
I like the thought of Kol being enamored with the Natanail or at least the concept of him. As kol is a witch fanatic so it would make sense for kol to know about him.
I'm also of the opinion that immortal beings are generally bi-curious. Purely because I don't think anyone could live for ever and not experiment at the least