Marcel listened to Jeremy talking Vinny through the life she'd lived just before this one. After she'd passed out in the grill from stress and not eating, they'd moved her upstairs to the guest room and waited for her to wake up. It hadn't taken long to catch up to her, but by the time he arrived at the grill Damon was stumbling out the front door, clutching his puffy and tear filled eyes.
"I think she's fine." He groaned, and began stumbling home to wash out his eyes. "The mace agrees with me on that. Thanks, old buddy." Then Marcel went upstairs to wait outside, and was currently listening to Vinny explaining the vague sense she just knew Damon had put his teeth in her throat and she had died.
"That makes sense. Tell me, do you remember Vicki?"
There was a pause. "Donovan? I...I think she was there when we all got attacked and...Did she make it?" Vinny took a breath and sounded worlds more confident when she spoke again. "Tell me you two ended up together. I hated that prick Tyler. I only put up with him because I wanted to make sure he didn't do something to her I needed to avenge."
There was a moment while Jeremy processed this. "Vicki turned into something we refer to in the supernatural community as a ripper. Well, she almost did. She was really toeing the line, there. She...had to be stopped."
"No." Vinny said quietly. "Don't...don't tell me that, Jeremy."
"Messed me up too. But I eventually moved on. I'm happy and I think she'd want that for me. Vicki came to your funeral. She cried." Vinny herself was crying softly. The feeling of grief beat at Marcel's heart. Alphas were made to respond to such biological cues, after all. He stayed seated and silent, listening to the conversation he couldn't physically see.
"Did...did my parents...Are they alright?"
There was another long, hard pause and Marcel had to close his eyes; wondering how Jeremy would handle such a sensitive subject. "I'm sorry." He finally said. "Chase's parents...they couldn't handle losing you. They just kind of...stopped about a year after you died."
"I don't understand how you're all so chill with Damon." Her voice was dark, bitter with newly opened anger. "He killed me. He killed our friends. He...he basically killed my parents."
"He atoned. I'm still not best buddies with the guy, but plain and simple...Damon atoned." Jeremy didn't sound happy, true to what he uttered.
"I'm sure that's consoling to all the people he murdered." Vinny answered, a black pain in her voice. "It's alright, he did his time. You don't have to be angry your life ended violently and was cut short."
"Well...not to shift blame, but Vinny your alphas are so much worse on the murder front. I mean, Klaus drowned Tyler's mom on Christmas and it totally sent him off the deep end." Jeremy seemed at a bit at a loss. "Don't get me started on Rebekah's jealousy."
"I'm angry at Klaus, too." She said shortly. "He killed my best friend and I have a strong suspicion his siblings helped him cover his ass on that one." Well, guess she figured that one out on her own.
"But you want to go back to him eventually? To all three of them?"
There was some clearly uncomfortable shuffling on the other side of the door. "Of course. Now I know I'm an omega. It's...half the fact I don't think I can help but crave their affection and half that I've always felt unfinished as a person. Knowing what I do now...I realize its because on a metaphysical level, they complete me. It doesn't mean I'm thrilled about the fact or even the things they've done. I'm really salty about the apparent repeated deaths, after all. But...I think I could love them. I have a very, very fuzzy sense I used to. Several times. Love them, I mean. I've just forgotten why I love them."
"Hmmm." Jeremy shifted something and then cleared his throat. "Why did you come here, Vinny?"
"Because my nonno Vincent told me to and I know it was him, even if everything else is doubtful. I know my nonno. He said there was something here I left for future me's. To protect myself, and then he mentioned I shouldn't really trust anyone."
"What are you looking for? If it can protect you, I know several people who will want to help." Jeremy sounded relieved for the change of topic.
"No, I think the point is I need to find this myself." Vinny sighed. "I'm sorry. That's really rude. I should apologize to Caroline and Matt too, while I'm at it. Damon...eventually. For now, I hope it feels like his face is melting."
"I understand. I'll tell everyone to stand back. Sheriff Donovan will watch from afar, in case a supe gets some nasty ideas. Is that alright?" Jeremy was giving her the illusion of choice here, but Marcel was aware he and Gilbert both knew she'd have escorts following from the shadows even if she expressed disdain. Klaus would burn this town to the ground if something happened to her on our watch. Again.
x
After Vinny had eaten, she took a bath in the spare room and then she took to the streets. She dug around in her travel goodies and pulled out a face mask that she had stuffed with miniature cotton balls soaked in essential oils. It wouldn't keep her from getting scented, but hopefully she wouldn't smell any alphas and lose herself. Hopefully people think I'm horrendously ill and stay the fuck away from me. Again, Vinny found herself moving without any true sense of direction but a vague sense of correctness.
She did take time to enjoy the sights as she was traveling. Mystic Falls was a nice change of pace from the French Quarter, after all. There weren't half as many tourists choking the streets and the whole place was a fair bit more sleepy for the fact. Vinny could've relaxed even, if she hadn't known the town was full of supernatural creatures. He didn't just say vampire. Which means I'm probably going to remember that there's more than one way to get my throat ripped out. I hate this not knowing crap. Vinny realized she had come to a stop in front of a window and peered in.
The girl who stared back was neither her, nor Inga. "Hello Chase." Vinny said it softly, a private greeting between her and...well herself. Chase was far less tanned than Vinny, and had coppery-blonde ringlets. She had eyes such a dark blue they seemed like deep pits in an ocean at night. Chase waved sadly at her, and dissipated away. "Well that's depressing." Vinny continued up the street until she realized she was coming to the edge of town and turned back to pick up her car from the grill. It was a much shorter drive than a walk and soon she was on her way into the nearby countryside. After driving for fifteen minutes, Vinny pulled up outside a large, rather old looking building. Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. Of course. I wonder if Damon is inside teaching a generation of children how to get away with murder.
The the right of the much older, much larger looking building was a museum. Musuem of Supernatural History. Open to students, alumni, and staff only. "Fuck." Vinny swore softly to herself, looking at the two buildings beyond the gate. This was definitely where she'd been heading; this museum. Biting her lip, Vinny surveiled the fence line for weakness and caught movement toward the back of the property. A couple of students were moving through a gap where it would seem one of the more hidden bars had been pried from the tall, wrought-iron fence. Ah. Sneaking out, I see. Perfect.
x
Kol Mikaelson was enjoying a lunch with his niece Hope and his wife Davina when Hope pointed at the fence line closer to the museum. Following Hope's gesture, he observed a young woman climbing through the hole where students commonly snuck out to go sightseeing in the nearby town. "Well, she's not a student." He said with a dry hint of humor.
The trio watched the interloper cross the grass between the fence and her destination. "She's breaking into the museum." Davina's brow creased in worry.
"It's not exactly locked, love." Kol actually chuckled.
"There are dangerous magical artifacts in the museum." Hope shot him a look to see him shaking his head bemusedly as he stood and wiped his mouth with a fancy napkin.
"I think Klaus' omega bunny will be fine. She's usually a witch. Or she has been a lot of the time. Let's go see what she came for. Davina, love...Could you tell Beks for me that we've caught her lover doing this?"
x
Vinny walked with confidence after seeing the front door was unlocked. None of the students gave her a second glance. She paused at each exhibit. None of the weapons had called to her, or any of the books. She was beginning to grow rather confused at this point when she stopped dead in front of a large exhibit in the middle of the room nestled at the back wall. It was a cottage, a very old cottage. It looked as if it had been painstakingly moved brick by brick to where it sat now.
That's my old house. It was Inga, and she seemed intrigued. Vinny walked closer, a sort of numb auto-pilot over taking her. The placque she spared not even a glance as she lifted the velvet rope around the outside of Inga's house and stepped inside. It was lit by a means Vinny couldn't determine, but then she wasn't really looking because her eyes had fallen upon a locked box sitting on the table. It was covered in marks as if many had tried to force it open. That's ours. Inga was proud this time. I started that and the me after continued it.
Vinny took the box into her hands and felt for a moment the warmth nonno Vincent had afforded her within his presence. It changed as she was blinking into a book, which practically fell open on its own to the first page. There on the inside of the front cover was nearly two dozen signatures in different inks or dyes, of varying ages. Chillingly, all appeared to be written in an identical hand, undeniably similar to her own.
This wasn't what caught her eye. No. Vinny's eyes were pulled readily to the sheet of music that lay on top of the first page. It had been written for a piano and would appear to be a love ballad. For the light of my heart. May the next we meet come quickly. I love you, always and forever. It's never long enough even so, is it?
Vinny brushed a hand over the sheet and when she opened her eyes, she was someone else in another time and another place.
x
Cosette Allard leaned against the back of the man behind her, writing feverishly in her grimoire. She didn't want to die again after all. None of her previous selves had either, but Cosette was at an advantage none of them had been lucky enough to have. She was a trained and practiced witch and she had perfected her craft until the others of her kind all acknowledged her as a young genius of arcana. "Elijah?" She spoke without lifting her head from her own work.
"Cosette?" He sounded warm, amused and relaxed. He always did once he'd had enough to get a breather apart from his siblings' squabbles.
"Will you play the song for me again?" She blushed a little, turning her head from her work at last to meet his gaze as he stood fully up and smiled down her.
"Oh no. Is someone getting stuck on a spell and feeling overwhelmed?" He kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm just teasing." He walked over the grand piano in the corner of her penthouse and lifted the lid before settling down in front of it.
When the sound of him playing the keys to the wonderful song he wrote just for her began to drift through their room, Cosette stood from the bed and started to dance. She flowed and swayed, letting herself feel the music down to her toes. The playing stopped and she arms wrap around her, a gentle hand tipping her chin up so Elijah could press a skillful kiss to Cosette's lips. "I love you, always and forever."
Cosette's heart fluttered as she looked into his eyes. "Elijah...when will you take me to meet your family? Things are getting serious between us. You've been talking about bonding bites and...I'll be honest. I'm starting to think about having pups."
Elijah picked her up and spun the two of them in circles. "Pups? I... Alright. For you, anything. I'll call them in the morning. For now, let's go work on that." Cosette squealed laughing as he lay her upon the bed and began to feather her with ticklish kisses all down her neck and onto her chest, just above her shirt line.
x
Elijah was tuning the piano in the courtyard when his phone made a quiet ding. He picked it up and opened his messages, a slow smile spreading across his face as he read.
Look, I don't appreciate the way things were handled with opening my eyes to the supernatural, but as I remember certain things...I can't deny the hole in my heart. I found the sheet music. I remembered a day we spent together when I was Cosette. And Elijah, I want more. I want that feeling back. It is beginning to hit me how lonely I am. I am scared of death, but I think I'm even more scared of dying alone. I was going to ask you...Can we just...start to talk? Just us, for now. haven't forgiven Klaus yet.
Elijah began to write out his response, his lips curved upward at the warmth spreading in his chest.