a/n: not dead! pls lemme know what you think, comments keep me alive during these trying times. i hope you all are staying hydrated thank you for reading! small recap below, to jog everyone's memory since it's been so long.
Previously on Supernova….
The elusive comet that showed itself in Mystic Falls every 100 years or so would be passing over the town tomorrow…. "You must be Elena. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." Damon introduced himself…. "I understand that you girls getting yourselves tangled with them will lead you both down a steep hill. One that only leads to a dark path and an early grave. I already lost my baby girl and my sister to vampires. I'll be damned if I'm losing my grandbabies too."
CHAPTER SIX: STARRY NIGHTS & KEROSENE DREAMS
The comet was beautiful — for an omen of doom.
Nova held her candle in one bandaged hand and her phone in the other, her feet wandering from the crowd. She had run out of energy very quickly, it was a goddamn miracle her feet were still moving given how little she had been sleeping. She pressed on in spite of everything, slowly moving through the town square on autopilot.
As tempted as she was to join her sister and friends at the Mystic Grill, her lumpy bed, soft sheets and fluffy baby were waiting for her back at home. She could only hope that they would understand her ditching them. In case they got worried, she sent her group chat with the girls a few memes.
That would reassure them right?
Right.
Tired brown eyes took in everything in around her, fighting the urge to zone out by some fucking miracle. As familiar as these streets were, she was very much aware that with the arrival of the Salvatore's came danger.
As though the universe was reacting to her thoughts, her shoulders tensed for some inexplicable reason. Fingers tightened tightly around the candle she had forgotten to abandon, eyes constantly wandering around mostly empty streets for the reason for her unease.
Never ignore your instincts baby, her grandmother's words rang in her mind like a bell.
She noticed a person crossing the street towards her too late, their figure only seen because of bright street lights. They were taller than her, with a strong form but their face was covered by a dark hoodie.
Warily she took in the stranger, her instincts telling her to run. run. run. the closer they got to her frozen figure. Chills ran down her spine like sudden cool water down her back. Sleep thoroughly removed from her mind, she was now painfully aware of everything including her own increasingly loud breathing.
Nova swallowed down her fear enough to face forwards, her pace speeding up until her feet burned with every step. She hastily pulled out her phone out of her pocket, briefly catching sight of them in the reflection of a freshly cleaned truck parked near the pavement, their dark figure closer now than she would like given her fast pace away from them.
She tilted her head up when a hazy glow of the Mystic Market caught her eye and didn't think as she ran inside. The cashier gave her a strange look when she burst through the doors, her heart hammering in her chest a stark contrast to the tired, almost bored look on her face.
It was when he gave her a pointed look towards her hand that she realized why he was still staring at her oddly.
Oops, she thought, staring at the the flame she could've sworn she had blown out. She inhaled and then exhaled strongly enough to blow the candle out.
Nova ran her sweaty palms on her jacket, peering out the doors and seeing no one outside loitering which did nothing to reassure her. It could've just been someone walking in the same direction as her… it also could have been a vampire, or with her luck Mystic Falls had a human serial killer.
She tugged on her ends of hair, quietly worrying her ends until they began to tangle. She loitered around for a few minutes, unsure on what the protocol was for waiting out potential kidnappers. Eventually her stomach led her farther into the small convenience store. She stared blankly at the snacks for a while, circling the store twice until the cashier gave her another weird look and she was forced to pick lest he called the cops on her.
Nova picked up a giant bottle of root beer, a ham and cheese sandwich, Takis and a variety of candy that was guaranteed to both give her a much needed sugar high and a potential stomach ache and cavities.
She said goodbye to her pocket money with a frown so deep it made the teenage cashier exasperated. At least she had brought her bag with her today, so she didn't have to fork over more money for shitty plastic that wouldn't last the walk home. She hovered near the automatic doors for a moment, tentatively making her way back into the thankfully empty streets.
Eating her garbage meal happily, she walked down the thankfully empty street, Takis between her lips like a cigarette while she put up her change and the balled up receipt. She let a sad whine escape her lips when both her Taki fell out her mouth and her change fell out of her hand. Change dropped onto the sidewalk one and then two at a time.
Damnit, her coin purse was on its last damn leg. She noticed a little too late the hole near the embroidered skull's eyes.
She knelt down and began picking up the change in the streetlight, hoping no one would shiv her in the back. Her hand stilled on a penny she really could've abandoned when the streetlight got just a little bit dimmer.
Blocked.
The hazy light was blocked out by a shadow.
She noticed the tall shadow standing in her light a little too late, and the black boots in her line of vision even later. She moved with a quickness previously unknown to her as she stood up, defenses raised once more.
"….vampire," she greeted easily enough, the word an insult on her tongue. Hackles still raised even as she tried to force her shoulders down to at least attempt to seem calm.
"Witch." Damon replied back, if his self satisfied smirk was anything to go on he was probably enjoying the sound of her racing heartbeat. Asshole.
Fucking Christ, she would kill for a way to put a bell on every vampire in town. Tired and slightly hysterical giggles spilled from her mouth, smoothing out some of the tense atmosphere like soft butter on toast.
She hummed in barely suppressed joy at the spark of confusion in his eyes that he tried so hard not to let slip onto his normally dumb smug face. Maybe her laughing at absolutely nothing made him wary of her mental stability?
She could work with being the unhinged witch in town.
He held her silver dollar in his hand, holding it between his fingers with a smirk ? Maybe it was some weird "alpha male" behavior, but he could honestly have it. It seemed like it was making him really happy.
"You can hold this too while you're at it, Spike reject," she said, handing him her heavy bag without another pause. She pressed her lips together to suppress more laughter, her brown eyes sparkling with mischief as she took in the pure unfiltered irritation that bled onto his face.
She half expected him to drop her bag and try to bite her face off or whatever it was that vampires did, but she supposed she had made him curious enough to play her juvenile games.
"People are so trusting these days." The derisive note to his voice aside, he didn't look too torn up about it. "But I have to say this takes the cake for stupid." At first she kept up with his lackluster pace as they walked but eventually she sped up because JesusfuckingChrist. Wasn't he supposed to have super speed? Why was he so slow?
She ignored the unsubtle insult towards her intelligence, for this to work she couldn't match his antagonist words with her own. Not now at least.
"I'm not like normal girls," she said as seriously as she was capable of, which wasn't much at all given the chuckle that escaped her mouth. She was quiet for only a moment, quickly breaking it by biting into a lollipop. Mm, cherry. "I can see the past, present and future." She punctuated the announcement by turning around dramatically to face him once more.
She frowned when she saw that he had gone through her bag and pulled out her Sour Patch Kids. She saw the disgusted face he made as he bit into one and could only hope it burned his uncultured mouth like vervain to his soul. As upset as she was, she nearly missed the assessing look on his face but it was all too obvious to miss.
"Alright, I'll bite. Prove it."
Nova sighed and turned back around to face mostly empty streets and freshly cut lawns, her steps slowing until they matched his more casual pace. She ignored those stupidly pretty eyes and began counting down in her head until the urge to give up all of her plans faded.
"You're obsessively," Embarrassingly, she added in her head, "in love with your brother's so-called ex, Katherine."
Damon made an obnoxiously loud buzzing noise that gave her flashback's to Family Feud night with her grandmother and sister. Her eyes twitched, her Taki stained fingers rubbed her forehead to lessen the oncoming headache.
"Bullfuckingshit." She whipped her head around, sending him a heated glare, unphased by the cold look he sent in return. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that I'm wrong?"
"Too easy," he said, running his free hand through his black hair and turning his gaze elsewhere. "Stefan could've told you that one, you two seemed pretty chummy last time I checked."
"Peas in a goddamn pod," she said absently, trying and failing not to sink into her thoughts while thinking of something that not even Stefan knew about his brother.
Nova would kill to have her journal near her, her fingers began itching to fly through its coffee stained pages. It was honestly embarrassing, the details she knew about him and his brother, and the foggy memories of how she had obtained her knowledge in a past life. All she had on her mind were things of the future though, not the past. Fuck. She had spent the better part of most of her past life obsessing over people and things that weren't real, and now, when she actually needed it.. her mind went empty.
"Clocks ticking, wannabe Willow." She could almost hear the cocky look he must be wearing on his face, as though her silence was some kind of win for him.
She had placed her bets on her knowledge of his fucked up obsession, sorry, love for Katherine being enough like an overconfident idiot instead of the paranoid bitch she needed to be. She inhaled and exhaled, letting go of her anxiety for one moment to think on her fading mess of memories.
Katherine. Giuseppe. Sage? No, she wasn't sure if the name was enough proof and she admittedly knew even less about the woman even with her journal.
Another friend maybe?
Something itched at the back of her mind, and so she dug deeper.
Oh.
There was that, she thought but refrained from blurting it out and instead turned it over in her mind. This could go so very wrong if she didn't spin this right, a careless slip of the tongue might get either or both of them hurt or killed by each other's hand. She needed to be, ugh, gentle and sympathetic.
"..I saw the darkest parts of Whitmore and what they do to vampires," she said, slowing to a stop when he did and she did her best to not flinch back from making eye contact.
He gained this cold and far away look in his eyes for a moment, looking unnervingly through her, so obviously remembering things that might've been better left buried in the past.
There were words of understanding fucked up pasts and even apologies began floating in her mind. She didn't let them go past her thoughts, patiently waiting until the look in his eyes became a little less clouded. The messed up fuck that he was, he would probably try to kill her if she tried to comfort him.
"Neat trick. Bet you would be a real hit at kids birthday parties along with the likes of Taylor Swift and killer clowns," Damon replied, a sardonic smile on his face that she could not help but match. "You stick your nose into everyone's business, wannabe Willow? Or am I special?"
She watched him more carefully out of the corner of her eye, scratching her nose when her hair blew into her face. It must be killing him, she thought — her entire existence. She was a total stranger that knew things about him, things he had probably never planned on willingly sharing with anyone. She couldn't blame him for watching her just as carefully. She would do the same in his shoes.
"Both. I can't control what I see, but my visions seem to like focusing on you and your brother." She wasn't exactly lying. Although her head was filled with knowledge her visions hadn't given her, they were always there filling in missing pieces or helping her remember things she had forgotten. Her mind never stopped, not for a moment.
"It must be hell in that brain of yours, Bennett."
She could only smile tiredly.
She somehow made it home in one piece, albeit with a new stray at her heels, this one less cute than her fluffy companion.
Damon was almost suspiciously quiet as they traveled the rest of the distance to her home. It was clear to her that whatever he had wanted to do tonight had been put on hold for the time being by her own more genius plans. She would pat herself on the back if she wasn't still wary on how badly this night could go.
The night was still young.
Nova was in the middle of opening the backyard's off white picket fence when he finally spoke up again. Any hint of vulnerability that had been seeping through cracks was now gone underneath the horrible facade he called a personality. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but telling me about your little witchy magic ball trick was just about the dumbest mistake you could make."
She pulled off her shoes the moment she got the broken latch on the gate to open for her, holding them in hand, settling her butt onto the thickest patch of grass. She would kill to be able to go inside and hold her pillows, maybe even snuggle up to her familiar. Sadly, they needed to talk.
Responsibility rested heavy on her shoulders, making it harder to breathe.
"Mistake, opportunity. Tomato, tomahto." She shrugged easily enough, watching him join her on the grass out of a lack of places to sit. She looked up at the comet still visible in the night sky, biting her bottom lip before she began her second part of the plan. Beating around the bush would get them nowhere. "I can help you get into the Tomb."
He didn't try very hard to feign ignorance on what her gifts might mean for him. She wouldn't pretend like she wasn't offering her magic up on a silver platter for him. It was a treat with a visible trap set in place.
"You, a Bennett, would help me unleash starving vampires into your hometown? Aren't you witches supposed to be a stickler for upholding your goody two shoes rules?" He seemed darkly amused by the thought and she hated to burst his bubble but well, actually no she didn't.
"I've got a fuck ton of problems, but I'm not that fucked up dude." Unlike him, she thought, finally taking back her bag that he had so carelessly dropped. "And I wouldn't be doing it without rules and payment." Her eyes lit up as bright as the comet above her at the thought of all the money she could make.
Operation: Take money from vampires is a now go.
"Payment?"
She rolled her shoulders, leaning back on her hands and fixing him with a blank look. "I'm doing something for you that could get me killed if done wrong. I want money and rules to keep me and mine safe from any sudden impulse you might have."
Something that resembled respect shown in his pretty blue eyes, it was quickly snuffed out though by his snarky default setting. "What's your price, witch?"
Huh, well, she hadn't been expecting to get this far.
Nova was painfully aware that he was indulging her at the moment due to the need to use her and her magic and possibly curiosity over her abilities. Her knowing things might become a disadvantage when the Tomb was finally open and Katherine was revealed to be, y'know, not fucking where she was supposed to be — which she was trying very hard not to think too hard on at the moment.
Her main point being that she was waiting for him to be a dick and snap, maybe threaten to kill her. It's been what? Almost an hour? This had to be a goddamn record for him.
In her mind she rewarded him a gold star for such an amazing feat.
"Five hundred up front, another five hundred after it's open." The price slipped from her big mouth before she could think much on it. What? It was a perfectly reasonable price given the circumstances.
Damon chuckled outright, apparently finding her fucking hysterical. "What makes you think I would hand over that much money to you?" He didn't say it out loud, but he was so clearly thinking that she wasn't worth the money.
Considering his family reeked of the worst kind of white privilege, and the fact that he was a fucking vampire with compulsion.. she doubted there was much he couldn't afford.
Nova wasn't short of money in this life, but she wasn't exactly rich either. It didn't help that she was a child of an unstable family that could fully fracture at any moment. As hard as she might try, she still had nightmares that one day she would wake up with no family alive. It could just be her anxiety controlling her actions, but considering everything that this universe could throw at her, it was such a real possibility that she didn't think she had any other choice other than to be prepared for the worst.
She took a glance at the shiny watch on his wrist, up towards the soft genuine black leather jacket adorning his shoulders and then dared to look him directly in the eye with a smile.
"I have a spell in mind that will keep us both from breaking our ends of the deal," she replied, hoping her smile came off polite and not as tired and strained as it felt.
When was the last time she had gotten more than a handful of hours of sleep? She was so fucking tired. A month's worth of sleep wouldn't be enough, maybe a year of rest.
"There's just one tiny problem with your little idea," he replied, leaning in like he was about to reveal a big secret. "I don't trust you."
She scoffed, staring at him with an insulted frown scrunching up her face. "Have you seen this face? I'm an angel." She smiled big and bright until her cheeks hurt.
He didn't seem to be fazed by her disarming smile, it was actually quite insulting. "An angel that just asked for a suspicious amount of money for a high school student."
"I'm probably gonna be swimming in student debt in a few years, might as well get a start on saving money." And then she dropped her smile when he still didn't seem convinced, adding tiredly. "If you don't want my help, fine. I'm perfectly capable of opening the Tomb without your help."
He needed her.
She didn't need him, not now anyway, and she could always find someone else to help her.
Nova looked away and up at the comet burning brightly across dark night skies. Her eyes blurred at the edges for a moment, struggling to stay open. She promised to her body that if he didn't give in to her amazing charms in five minutes, she would just go to fucking bed and go onto her backup plan. She would've preferred to strike a deal and build a common ground with him, but she was this close to saying fuck this shit.
Talking was so difficult.
"And why would you need to get in?"
Why couldn't everyone just listen to her?
"Whether you agree to this or not, I will be dealing with the ticking time bombs that are inside." Her light tone aside, it was very obvious what she meant by dealing with them.
Dying was less frustrating than trying to talk to stubborn ass white men.
"Is that a threat, sweetheart?"
"No, of course not! My threats are much more creative than that. I'm telling you what's going to happen to any vampire left in the Tomb after I open it. I won't risk them hurting my family or friends."
It— burned.
Pain.
It suddenly radiated throughout her body, shocking her enough to briefly expel any tiredness from her body. She struggled to breathe, could hardly think, the pain blossomed from her neck down to her bones.
Fucking bitch was all she could think, her back pressed uncomfortably against the only tree in the backyard. Her hands were weak and limp by her side as she was smooshed chest to chest with her attacker. His sharp knife-like teeth were attached to her neck, burning into her skin and drawing life from her body with every harsh pump of her heart.
Her eyes blurred over, mouth struggling to even let out words let alone any spells. Her head knocked against his shoulder against her will, fresh blood dripped down her cute coat her grandmother had just bought for her last week.
Grams.
Grams would fucking kill her if she died by a vampire's hands. She was supposed to be taking vervain everyday to avoid this mess. With that thought in mind, she carefully tugged at the warm feeling she always carried with her. Her magic was slow to rise, colder than it had ever been, resembling a windy summer's day compared to the usual blazing sun.
It was still there though, and it always would be if she had anything to say about it.
Nova could feel her eyes closing against her will, and there still were no spells she could think of, instead there was only a sense of overwhelming urgency that flooded her body. She untangled the web of careful control she usually kept on her magic and like a grenade losing its pin. She let go.
Though it was only one large burst of magic, she let out a low hum when her magic was free to do whatever she wanted. Her entire body felt like a livewire, buzzing until it felt like she could take on another hundred vampires. Her neck still felt like a bitch, but pain had taken a backseat in the face of the sweet relief that flooded her stressed body.
Nova's legs nearly buckled but she bit down on her bottom lip, forcing herself to stand and using the tree behind her for balance until she could stand on her own. Shaking hands held together her bleeding neck, her blurry vision eventually honed in on the groaning vampire now at her feet.
Bitch had almost killed her. "No gold star for you, dick." She mumbled incoherently.
His hair was a disaster from clutching at his head and skin seemed to be scrubbed red, as red as the blood, her blood, that still dripping from his mouth. Long story short, he looked like fucking shit and a lot less terrifying all things considered.
"What the fuck did you do to me?" He groaned out between gritted teeth, his skin still healing embarrassingly slow.
She didn't know.
She didn't know that had been. Other than her pure uncontrolled magic.
Like hell was she going to say that to him though, a healthy dose of fear of her doing that again could do this asshole some good.
"Oh you know, it's a spell called suck my massive magical dick you asshole." She said, spitting out her words and tamping down on any fear that her body wanted to show.
God was she gonna puke? She felt like she was going to fucking puke, or pass out.
"Long name for a spell." He replied glibly, coughing up blood onto the lawn her dad had just cut. Despite him being obviously still not at his strongest, he was sadly already pushing himself up off the ground.
Later, she told her body. She tensed up, watching him with narrowed eyes and swiftly letting go of her bitten neck and balling her fists up instead. This time she would be prepared for him, a spell was already on her tongue by the time he pulled himself up.
"Looks like you've got yourself a deal," Damon said, stumbling over to her and holding out his hand with a bloody grin that she trusted about as much as she suspected he trusted her.
"Cool," she said dryly, and after a pause she grabbed his hand and then refused to let go, her grip tightened over his still healing hand.
She watched impassively as he winced and felt a twisted sort of pleasure from seeing him in pain. Ignoring his questioning glare, she grabbed his other hand and held on tight though to his credit he didn't try to throw her or ask what she was doing. And with all the power she had left inside of her, she summoned the only force powerful enough to keep both of them in line.
Nature.
The spell had been something she had found in an unknown relative's grimoire that Grams had let them look over last year. It was a simple spell that witches used to help mediate deals that needed to be kept. Promises were fickle things that could be broken depending on the person, this spell however, made sure that such a thing was nearly impossible. All she had to do was let her magic seek out its natural source.
She coaxed the feeling out, letting her magic trickle out once more, her toes curling into the earth beneath. She sighed when she felt the way that it flooded her body, wrapping her around her shoulders like a warm and heavy hug.
Nature was comforting as much as it was constricting, healing and destructive, beautiful and deadly.
Damon shifted on his feet, visibly uncomfortable in a way that told her he could feel it too.
"I'll get you in the Tomb as long as you pay me, and don't kill nor hurt me or anyone I care about during our deal. Do you promise to uphold your end?" She asked, her fingers sweaty, sticky with blood and tightly wrapped around his own bloody hands.
She needed one hell of a shower after this.
He rolled his eyes, flippantly agreeing. "Yeah, yeah, I promise. Can we hurry this up, I've got a hot date— ."
She watched with a malicious grin as his words cut off, his hands twitching in hers until they wrapped around hers just as painfully. His heart began constricting just as painfully as hers.
Summoning Nature meant being at its mercy should either of them try to break the deal. It wouldn't spare her any pain even if she was a witch. At its core Nature was merciless as much as it was a warm comfort.
Nova let go of his hands, wiping off the sweat and blood on his very nice leather jacket. She smiled up at him, her brown eyes struggling to stay open.
"Oh, by the way! If either of us breaks this, we get painfully killed by an unforgiving and undestroyable power!" She cheerfully said, and then turned around and began walking away.
Nova didn't know nor care if he said anything in reply to that sudden revelation, her eyes were set on the side door that would lead her into the kitchen floor that would be a much safer place to collapse than —
Her vision blurred and everything went alarmingly pitch black.
Fire consumed a building. Screams greeted her ears — Knives, they shined brightly underneath moonlight. Fireconsumedher. No, no, no not again —
She was calm. She was safe. She blinked and suddenly her brown eyes met someone else's equally brown eyes, the words washed over her but it sounded like static when she tried to focus on the strangers words — Their hands met, and for a moment she felt safe, at home in a way that she usually associated with her Grams and sister.
She looked down at their brown hands linked together and screamed when she saw blood dripping from their hands.
She jolted up with panicked eyes and open mouth, grabbing hold of her throat that felt almost raw from screams that hadn't been real. It hadn't been real… had it?
No.
Just a dream, she thought unconvincingly, but when she looked down at her hands, dried blood greeted her blurry vision.
"Rise and shine!" A sing-song voice registered in her foggy head, causing her temples to throb and eyes to twitch.
Belatedly she realized she wasn't in her home, somehow someway she had found her way into the boarding house again. Awesome, she thought sarcastically, her nose flaring when she met the eyes of her kidnapper.
"You." She spat out, her hand flying up to her throat where she could feel tender flesh that burned at her touch. She quickly took stock of her surroundings — Bedroom. Not Stefan's room. Her top and jacket were in bloody ruins. She was dumped on top of expensive sheets. Sitting right next to the douche-bag who had ruined her clothes. Her wound wasn't bleeding, but it wasn't miraculously healed either. thankfully. — and then quickly she turned her glare back on him.
"Sweet dreams?" Damon asked, an irritatingly knowing look on his face.
"Why the fuck am I here?" She ignored his question when they both knew the truth.
He rolled his eyes, shifting back on the bed until their shoulders bumped together, holding a mug filled with something that smelled absolutely divine. She inhaled, yeah that was the drink of the gods, her ambrosia. Caffeine. Her mouth watered at the smell but the knowing smirk on his lips kept her from asking him for it.
"You must've hit your head pretty hard if you don't remember," he said, tapping his knuckles to her forehead.
She slapped his fingers away with scrunched her eyebrows, struggling to remember anything that happened after she had gotten her throat attacked by Mr. Rottweiler.
"I fainted," she said hesitantly, her memory still hazy but clear enough to remember her struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Like a southern belle." Damon replied, immensely amused with this fact.
Dick.
"Again, why did you bring me here?" Nova wiped the sleep from her eyes and trying very hard not to just say fuck it and go back to sleep.
"You looked uncomfortable eating dirt. I was being a gentleman." He replied, and then ruined his retelling of his faux-chivalry. "You owe me a new set of sheets by the way, you got blood on Egyption cotton."
She threw a pillow at him with all of her strength, glaring even more when he caught it easily with one hand. "You're the one who treated my neck like a chew toy and tried to kill me."
"You're still alive, ergo I didn't really want you dead."
She ignored his bullshit for a moment to look around for her phone, her eyes roaming across the room frantically until she found her phone dangling in front of her face. Instead of saying anything, she just grunted and snatched the phone from his hand.
"So ungrateful. Shame really, you were almost adorable when you were sleeping."
Nova paused when she thought about that for a moment — had he been watching her sleep like a fucking Cullen? — before shaking her head. She decided to think about that later, instead she rested her still woozy head on the headboard behind her and opened her phone, quickly scrolling through her messages.
The Hoes over Bros group chat was filled with messages asking if she was okay and wondering where she had fucked off to and then nothing but an influx of personal text messages and phone calls from then on.
Hey, you OK? — Lena
? Where did U go? — Bon
Here if you need me. — Lena
Covered with Grams 4U & fed Merlin, come home soon — Bon
Ur not at home or school? — Carebear
OMG did you get fucked last nghtLOL ? — Carebear
Just don't be late for practice OK? — Carebear
Nova looked at the time and jolted up once more from the bed, rolling over until her feet were on the floor and she was stumbling out of the admittedly soft bed. Her head swam at the fast movement, but she forced herself to stand up and walk on jello legs. She was halfway out of the room when she smacked face first into a sudden wall.
"And where do you think you're going?" The wall asked, tilting his head and watching her.
"Oh, right, forgot." Nova chuckled, rolling her eyes in a silly me manner and holding out her hand, looking up at him and waiting. And waiting.
He stared blankly down at her, unamused and clueless as to what she was waiting for. His brow raised as he waited for clarification.
"I accept cash or credit, no checks." She explained slowly, the look on her face making it very clearly what she thought of his intelligence. "…Unless you want to deal with nature itself for not keeping your end of the deal?"
She chose to ignore the pissed off look on his face and shot off a few apologetic texts while she waited for him to open his wallet. Her fingers wiggled when it was open, her lips curling upwards when soft paper landed on her palm and the smell of money greeted her nose.
It was enough to perk her up without caffeine.
"This isn't five hundred." Nova pouted, staring forlorn at the crisp hundred dollar bill in her hand.
"I'm not a bank. I don't have that kind of money on me," he scoffed, shoving his wallet in his back pocket before she could see if he was a lying liar who lied.
Nova swallowed down any arguments that wanted to rise up, and fuck did she have plenty of them in mind. She didn't have time for this, a very scary blonde was going to rain hell on her if she wasn't out of this place within fifteen minutes.
"I… we can talk about this later. I've gotta get out of here before I miss cheer practice." She stuffed the money in her pocket along with her phone, quickly spotting her shoes and shoving her feet into them.
Damon smirked and his eyes lit up, sparkling in a concerning way. "Never pegged you as the ra ra go team type."
She stopped frowning at the blood stain on her clothes — she would need a new wardrobe by the time this town was done with her — to look up at him. "..and I never thought you would be such a wasteful eater. We've known each other for less than a day, we don't know each other."
He hummed, watching her with this weird look on his face. As though she was a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out. Great, now he was seriously curious about her. As if she didn't have enough on her plate.
She had said enough to him to last them years, her social battery quickly drained by arguing so much, she walked away from him once again without so much as a goodbye. She almost made it half-way out the door before the snarky bastard just had to say something else.
"You sure you want to go outside looking like that?"
Nova looked down at her outfit once again, crusted with blood and then slowly turned around to look at him with an alarming smile on her face.
Convincing him to let her borrow clean clothes was surprisingly easier than getting him to drive her to school. A very soft sweater was turned into a sweater dress that went past her knees with the help of the belt on her dirt and blood smeared shorts.
Thankfully, it didn't take very long to find a tempting enough reason to drive her to cheer practice. Annoying his brother was a good enough reason for him.
As much as she hated putting herself in the middle of their weird brother vs brother bonding, if she could use it to her advantage it was well worth it.
She looked at her neck in the side mirror, tilting her head this way and that way. She made a face at herself in the mirror before leaning back and closing her eyes. Vampire bites were much less erotic than the movies made it seem like. She felt disgusting and exhausted.
Curiously enough she couldn't bring herself to be upset about almost fucking dying. Oh, she was of course going to milk up any and all opportunities she could get to complain but … she couldn't muster up the anger she knew she should be expressing. She had almost died.. again. And at best all she could think about was how happy she was to have her plan working. And at worst, how stupid it had been for him to go for the throat and not tear her heart out of her chest.
There was something deeply wrong with her.
Her musings were cut short by the car coming to an abrupt stop, her eyes opened and immediately spotted the whole cheer squad, blatantly looking at the car. It was actually embarrassing being seen with her chauffeur, with his stupid looking sunglasses and obscure music playing loudly.
"Don't die before I get the rest of my money, cheapskate."
"Well aren't you just as sweet as a peach, my little leech."
"It takes one to know one." She said that last part underneath her breath, well aware that he could hear her and then quickly got out of the car.
She took several deep breaths in and out, wondering how the hell she hadn't died. She quickly hid the bite mark behind her hair that she had put in a carefully placed side ponytail with the help of the old hair band she had found in her jacket pocket. Running over towards her sister, she was quick to lay on her outstretched legs until her head was resting on her sister's lap.
"Whoa!" Bonnie huffed, jostling her slightly as she shifted her legs from their stretching pose into something more comfortable for the both of them.
"Was that who I think it was?"
She quietly nodded.
"Did you ditch movie night for him?"
Oh.
Oh fuck, she had completely forgotten about watching movies with her sister and dad. And to top it off, everyone clearly thought she slept with a vampire who had nearly killed her. Although it couldn't be any farther from the truth, and no matter how insulted she was by their assumptions… it was probably for the best she decided. Better than her sister figuring out the truth, that would be an argument she couldn't win.
She looked up at her sister, her eyes big and wide and as sad as she could make them.
"You're the best sister ever and I'm so sorry I ditched you for an annoying white man."
Bonnie huffed out a laugh, her hazel green eyes sparking in amusement against her will. "I would've rather been with you and dad watching corny movies." She added softly and sincerely. That amusement dimmed so suddenly she almost got whiplash, her sister avoided looking her in the eye.
Nova didn't get the chance to ask what was wrong, a person began loudly clearing their throat, and she turned her head to meet the eyes of her captain. Caroline. She sat up straight, her knees hitting the grass and dry dirt somewhat painfully in her haste.
"You're late! Go change and then get your butt back here." Caroline squinted in the harsh sunlight, hands on her hips and a frown on her lips.
Uh oh, looks like she had another person to apologize to.
Elena gave her a sympathetic pat on the back, the only person who wasn't upset with her at the moment. Her sweet, kind and beautifully understanding friend even let her borrow her PE uniform from her gym bag, which she would have been happier about if Elena wasn't smaller and taller than her.
Between the exhaustion of last night, ill fitted borrowed clothes that were quickly becoming her style for the year, and her best friend working them all through the fucking paces — let's just say cheer practice was less than cheerful. And to top it all off, she got her fucking period the moment they hit the showers.
Nature fuck her she couldn't catch a break.
"Here," Caroline said, her face fresh and pink from the shower and looking everywhere but at her even while handing her a tampon.
"..thanks," she said, accepting it with a small smile.
After they had finished, the two of them quietly made their way out of the locker rooms together, a slow shuffle inching towards the school's exit. The blonde's silence was telling, she was still upset. Usually she would be complaining about how bad some of the girls were or talking about some new hobby she wanted to conquer.
Nova didn't want to leave things awkward between them, not while her friend was so obviously hurt, it took a second for her to gather her thoughts enough to figure out a good enough verbal apology. They usually didn't fight, not anything beyond playful bickering.
"Listen," she started, coming to a stop and watching as a blonde ponytail swung around until she was face to face with her friend.
Caroline seemed to be perfectly fine, to anyone else her very obvious polite listening yet air of having other more important things to be doing would be of the norm. It stung to see, because she wasn't just anyone, they were best fucking friends. She was the best friend she's ever had in any life and to be treated like just anybody hurt more than anything any vampire could do to her.
She shifted awkwardly on her feet, playing with the sleeves of her borrowed sweater, a pitiful frown on her face. "I'm sorry I ditched you guys last night and got here too late to help set up for practice."
"And..?" Caroline's grip was tight on her bag, her shoulders relaxing but she was still obviously upset.
Her mind went blank on what else could be bothering her.
"And … you look really pretty today?" It was blatant flattery, but it was true.
Caroline looked good everyday to her, even when she was drunk and rambling.
"Well, duh, obviously," the blonde girl said, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. "But aren't you going to apologize for being a backstabbing skank and stealing mystery guy?"
"Hey, rude! No slut shaming me before dinner, bitch!" She frowned, upset and confused and quite frankly she was getting a headache. But that might've been because she hadn't eaten all day.
She could worry about her body later, right now she was more concerned with what the fuck her friend was talking about.
Mystery guy? Who—
"Are you seriously pissed off at me because of a dumbass we barely even know? What the fuck happened to hoes before bros?" Nova ignored the other cheerleaders that gave them a wide berth, so obviously eavesdropping as they passed by.
Caroline became even more upset at this, scoffing and rolling her eyes.
"God, I'm such an idiot! You made me think you weren't attracted to him when you would have to be dead not to find him attractive. And then you ditch me only to show up with him the next day. Clearly you just wanted to warn me away so you could have him!"
Nova had been trying to save her ungrateful ass from the vampire's scarily toxic, manipulative and abusive grip that he would've had on her. Instead of getting a pat on the back, she was being blamed for stealing a guy like he was a fucking blouse. She didn't even want him, whatever attractiveness the elder Salvatore had was usually ruined the moment he opened his mouth.
She gave in to the urge and rolled her eyes too, giving the blonde a deadpan look. She couldn't believe that they were seriously arguing over this of all things.
She counted down to ten in her head and reminded herself before she spoke that her friend couldn't read her mind and didn't actually know all of that. The blonde just assumed she was being manipulative and breaking their own private girl code.
"I — look, he's a grandpa and a fucking asshole to top it off. I clearly wasn't feeling well, it was a lapse in judgment that I will regret until I'm dead. I'm not Tiki or Amy, okay. I don't play mind games with you. Not over anything, but especially not dumb boys. You mean the world to me, I couldn't do that to you."
Caroline pursed her lips, looking at her and just staring quietly for a heartbeat or two until she visibly deflated. "I know. I know you're not a bitchy hot mess like them. Like me. It's just been driving me crazy. You've been acting weird lately, Nova. Weirder than normal. You're already secretive enough on a normal day, but why do I feel like you've been hiding yourself from me lately?"
Nova blinked and couldn't even come up with a decent excuse — read: lie — in response. Her words made it very clear that she wasn't talking about secret imaginary lovers anymore. She was silently caught off guard, and couldn't get her brain to work let alone move her mouth.
She had thought she was being her normal, sarcastic, depressed self.
"What's going on?" Elena asked, startling them out of their conversation. The brunette was hovering behind her and staring between them with a worried look on her face.
Bonnie soon joined her, inquisitive eyes taking in the situation with a frown on her face that had been painted on her face since practice.
"Sleepover," she blurted out, to the confusion of them all.
"What?" Elena had that scrunched eyebrow thing going on that meant she was beyond confused.
Impulsive as it has been, the more that she thought about her sudden idea, the more she decided it was a fucking brilliant idea. She hadn't spent time with all of them in too long, probably since the funeral.
"We're having a fucking sleepover."