It was 6 in the morning and I was out for a jog. Usually I would have dragged Jeremy with me, but I decided to give him a break today, so he could gather all his mental strength to face the following day. It was the first day of school and I could already feel my nerve cells dying in agony with each and every half-assed attempt of everyone at the school to extend their condolences.

It promised to be a lovely day (it was a sarcasm if no one noticed).

I returned from a jog, but somehow didn't feel satisfied enough. Well, I guess I shouldn't have thought about Mr. Tanner's ugly face saying something nasty about my parents or something. Even a memory of him was enough sometimes to piss me off, so I went to our backyard to punch the shit out of my punching bag, hoping it would help me relax. I needed to be calm and collected today, to be able to live through this day without killing or beating someone, especially my history teacher. Oh God give me patience.

A happy smile bloomed on my face when I remembered how I was bitching about the first day of school to Nik all night yesterday and my hybrid was listening to me and comforting me with so much patience, that I even asked him teasingly at the end if he regretted getting involved with a teenager. I missed him so much, I couldn't believe that we hadn't seen each other for almost a month now.

I stopped punching my bag and noticed new stretch marks on it, which made me think about the unnerving fact that I was becoming stronger and stronger lately. I thought maybe it was because of Nik's blood but I wasn't sure. I should be extra careful while sparring on the next MMA practice.

I also decided to sign Jeremy for MMA classes, I would have done the same with Elena too, but, well, she can't even survive morning jogs with us, so... I suddenly burst into giggles imagining Elena sparring with one of my friends from the gym. Nah. That's just too surreal. I should just sign her up for cooking classes as I threatened her to, especially when she would have so much free time after she quits the cheerleading. She didn't know that yet of course, but come on, I am a Seer after all, I know when such things are gonna happen.

After morning exercises I went to my room, took a shower, did my hair and changed into my school outfit. I prepared my school clothes yesterday, so all I had to do was just put them on. I wore some black skinny jeans, crimson red tank top and combat boots, then took my school bag and my favorite leather jacket and left the room.

I went to the kitchen and prepared some toasts, bacon and eggs with some fruit salad. And coffee. Can't forget the coffee. I set the table and went back upstairs to wake everyone up.

First I went to Jenna's room and reminded her about her presentation, which she apparently forgot about, if her panicked expression was saying something.

Next one was Jeremy, I just grabbed something from his desk and threw at him, waking him up with a yell.

"What the hell?! Thalia!" He groaned rubbing his eyes.

"Nice hair bro," I said, chuckling at the bird's nest on his head. "Get your lazy ass up, the breakfast is ready."

"Okay, okay," he said standing up groggily, making me laugh even more. "Get out!"

He probably didn't like me making fun of him for some reason.

Elena was no fun, as it turned out that she was already up, writing something in her diary with a serious expression on her pretty face.

"Stop frowning, you'll get wrinkles." She jumped hearing my voice and looked at me with huge eyes. "The breakfast is ready." I waited till she nodded and left her room.

She looked totally out of it, probably thinking about the same thing as me. It was our first first day of school without our parents. I shook my head, trying to get rid of painful thoughts and went to the kitchen.

I was finishing my coffee with the TV working in the background, the news guy ranting about a couple that was attacked by a wild animal, when Jenna finally decided to grace me with her presence.

"Oh darling, what would I do without you?" She sighed happily after giving me a kiss on my forehead, when I put a plate of food and a cup of coffee in front of her.

"I guess that's a rhetorical question," I said, amused, watching her quickly destroying her breakfast. She finished within minutes and stood up ready to leave, then froze as if hesitating. I could see her worrying about leaving us at the first day of school, so I decided to help her.

"You should go or you are gonna be late. Everything will be fine. I'll make sure of it." I reassured her.

"I know you will." She gave me a proud smile and hugged me, before throwing a look at the watch on her wrist. "Crap. I gotta go!" She grabbed her things and left in a hurry.

"Good luck!" I yelled, but I'm not sure she heard me.

As soon as she left, Jeremy and Elena appeared in the kitchen.

"Where's Aunt Jenna?" Elena inquired pouring herself some coffee.

"She was being late for her presentation, so she left early," I shrugged putting their plates on the table.

They ate in silence, Jeremy with his eyes closed still half asleep, while I sipped my orange juice. I was running and exercising whole morning so I had to stay hydrated.

"Bonnie's picking you up, right?" I turned to Elena.

"Yeah, we haven't seen each other for almost a month now, since she was visiting her aunt."

She finished her meal and stood up to put the dishes in a dishwasher. Not a second later we heard someone honking outside, so she quickly said goodbye and left.

"It's just you and me now baby bro," I said patting his head before putting his plate in a dishwasher and grabbing my jacket and school bag. "Let's go, we don't want to be late on our first day."

"Of course we don't," he said rolling his eyes. "That would be horrible."

As soon as we arrived, Jeremy waved me goodbye and took off to his friends. I went inside, already feeling the stares, but I was wearing my "don't fuck with me" face, so no one approached, thank God. I saw Elena, Bonnie and Caroline standing near our lockers so I went to join them.

"Thalia!" Caroline squeaked, throwing her arms around me, hugging me tightly, and I couldn't help but smile warmly at her and hug her back. We haven't seen each other for a few days, since her dad took her to buy everything for school (meaning clothes, jewelry etc. everything except real school stuff) and came back late yesterday, so her mother didn't let her come to my place.

"Hey, Caroline. I missed you. How was your shopping with dad and Steven?" I asked knowing that she was dying to tell me about everything.

"I missed you too! Shopping was... wow... you guys totally should come over and I'll show you everything and we can have a slumber party, we haven't had those in ages!"

Yeah that was my Caroline, always so enthusiastic.

"Actually I brought you guys something, you and Bonnie," I said gesturing Bonnie to come closer, which she did immediately with sparkling eyes.

I took two little jewelry boxes out of my bag, that I prepared earlier, and gave them to two of my best friends.

They both opened them almost at the same time and gasped in excitement. There were two silver Pandora bracelets, both of them unique in their own way.

"Oh my God, a Pandora bracelet! It's beautiful!" Bonnie gasped in awe while Caroline was squealing happily attracting everyone's attention.

I actually intended to do it earlier, but postponed every time for whatever reason. Caroline's bracelet contained a small amount of vervain in it, saving her from compulsion, I felt that she would need that. Bonnie's bracelet was another story, she didn't need vervain since compulsion doesn't work on witches, but I put a spell on it which was a common thing in my family. The spell was supposed to help little witches who only started to develop their magic, making it easier for them.

"Thank you so much!" Caroline finally was able to put her excitement into words and engulfed me into her usual suffocating hug.

Then we heard someone calling her name and she ran off smiling apologetically. Most people would think that she was arrogant or fickle, but in truth she was an overachiever. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad, in charge of the dance committees, honor student and a lot of other things. And she was really good at all of it. So sometimes she really didn't have time for other things and we, her friends, totally understood that.

"Thank you, Thalia. It's the best friendship gift ever," Bonnie said putting her bracelet on with a huge smile, before hugging me too.

I left two girls alone as I saw Ms. White and went to greet her. The last thing I heard from them was Bonnie exclaiming, "Hold up! Who's this?"

When I returned after discussing with Ms. White our curriculum for the upcoming semester, I found Bonnie alone, watching Elena coming out of men's room and bumping into some guy, who looked strangely familiar.

"Did Elena just come out of men's room?" I asked confused.

"Yeah." Was all that I've got from Bonnie, who was watching the scene in front of us with awed expression.

When Elena finally approached us, my curiosity started eating me alive.

"What was that?" I asked her. "What were you doing in man's room?"

"I heard some guy saying something about Jeremy, but it turned out that... You know what, never mind. Let's just go to the class," she said blushing furiously.

Well that was weird.

Classes passed at an inhuman pace and it was already the last class for the day, not that I mind, not at all. It's just I never really tried at school because I was way ahead of the program. I could have gone to college, but my parents didn't want that for me. They thought that school would help me socialize, and I respected their decision, but the thing is... I was too mature mentally for the people that surrounded me at school. I didn't have many friends actually, just Bonnie and Caroline, and maybe Ms. White as well, if you can consider the teacher as a friend. I had a few people in my MMA class that were friendly with me, but they were like gym buddies, if that made any sense, we communicated only during our training.

I can't say that I felt lonely or something, I was satisfied with what I had. I didn't have much time to spend it on pointless things anyway. The first few years of my life showed me that the world was a very dangerous place, they taught me to fear. So the fear was the main thing that was pushing me forward since my grandma started teaching me magic. I knew that I had no other choice, than to become stronger and stronger, not only to protect myself from them, but to protect my loved ones as well.

The fear actually became even bigger when I realized that I had something to lose, my parents, my brother and sister, my friends.

So I started trying harder in everything be it witchcraft, mundane studies, martial arts and all the other activities that my parents signed me up for. So I really didn't have much time for friends. Caroline and Bonnie were Elena's friends from kindergarten, they used to spend a lot of time together and it so happened that I had to spent the little free time that I had with them as well.

They were too childish to my liking at first. I was always the serious one, "the little adult", like dad loved to call me. But as time passed I suddenly realized that I started to enjoy their company. They taught me a lot too, more girly stuff obviously, but it was fun. I guess everyone needs a time out from time to time. And it would've been much better if I could talk to them about supernatural stuff as well, but I knew I couldn't. They were not ready. The only person who I could talk about that stuff was my grandma, but that wasn't the same.

So I guess the opportunity to be who I am was one of the main reasons why I fell for Niklaus. He accepted me for who I am. And the other reason was the fact that he was different, just like me. I would never have to hide that side of myself from him.

I sighed coming out of my thoughts, and looked at the canvas in front of me. I was in the art class and we were tasked to paint our dreams. It happened to me all the time, as soon as I started to paint, my thoughts always wandered away, so when I really needed to think something over I used to do just that. Paint.

Today's task bothered me a little as I don't usually have good dreams, so I was thinking really hard about what I was supposed to paint without scaring everyone away. Some sunshine and unicorns maybe. I didn't know what people usually dreamt about.

But I knew that I failed the moment I looked at what I had just painted. I felt all the colors leaving my face when I looked at the painting. I never let myself loose to the point when my monsters from the past could slip through my mental defenses, but now...

It was a cage. Painted only with black color. Everything was dark but the small figure could be seen through the bars of the cage. A child, sitting on the floor in the corner, hugging its legs with tiny little hands. The most eye catching thing was the collar on its neck which was linked to the huge metal nail-like thing on the wall by the chain. It was hard to tell whether it was a boy or a girl because of the bold head, but I knew that it was a girl.

Because it was me.

Except for that little episode in art class (which attracted some weird looks from my classmates), school was boring as always, same people, same faces, same attitude.

I was standing in the parking lot, waiting for Jeremy while observing people around me walking carelessly, doing their own stuff and couldn't brush off the feeling that it was just the calm before the storm. But I wasn't scared, I felt the lack of some action in my life and something was telling me that I would get what I want rather sooner than later.

"Daydreaming?" Jeremy asked sarcastically, breaking into my thoughts. He walked to stand beside me and I suddenly noticed that my baby brother was not so baby anymore. He was hovering above me, with all his muscles and broad shoulders, and I was wondering where did all that come from. Maybe it was genetic.

"Yeah a little," I finally answered, snapping out of my thoughts. "Come on, let's go home."

We both got into my car and I drove off.

"Elena said something about barging in man's room earlier. Care to explain?" I asked keeping my eyes on the road.

"Yeah, it was stupid actually. She heard someone calling my name and saying something about weed or something like that and interrogated me in man's room. I told her it wasn't true, and she left."

"Huh, I don't like this," I frowned.

"Thalia, I swear I have nothing to do with it!" Jeremy pleaded in panicked voice.

"Hey, I believe you." I took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I know you better than anyone, and I believe you. Also I always know when you are lying."

"Good, because it was a really weird day. Tyler approached me and threatened to kill me if I go near his girlfriend. Someone told him that I was bothering Vicki and that's some bullshit because I haven't even talked to her since our last conversation," he said furiously clenching his fists. I didn't like where it was all going.

"I bet it was Vicki herself who told Tyler that bullshit, she didn't like that you were ignoring her. Bitch's gonna regret that she was ever born."

I really didn't like this whole situation with Vicki. I mean what did she even want? I know that she slept with my brother (which is disgusting by the way), so what? She wanted to make him fall in love with her and then dump him? To break his heart? That was ridiculous, Jeremy was much smarter than that. And even if he wasn't I would have never let that happen. Not on my watch.

A few hours later I was waiting downstairs for Elena, we were going to meet with Caroline and Bonnie at the Grill. I was scrolling through tv channels, bored out of my mind, when someone knocked on the door. I went to open it and looked at the person with confusion, trying to remember where I had seen him, until it hit me.

"Hey, you are the new guy, aren't you? We have history together." I still had no idea why he was here.

"Hi, um, yeah, I'm Stefan. I was looking for Elena, doesn't she live here?" he asked with confusion, but for some weird reason I felt that his confusion was not sincere. How odd.

Then it occurred to me that he must be the guy Elena bumped into at the school.

"She does. I'm Thalia, her older sister," I said reaching for a handshake.

As soon as he touched my hand I knew that this school year would definitely be interesting. Vampire - a high school student. Who would have thought?

Then I suddenly remembered about an animal attack, and looked at him closely trying to feel if he was dangerous, but didn't feel any recent human blood on his hands.

Interesting.

I was just about to invite him in when Elena came running down the stairs and froze, looking at the new guy. I looked at the way the two were looking at each other and silently retreated to the kitchen.

"Who was at the door?" Jenna asked looking up from her book.

"Oh, just Elena's new boyfriend," I answered casually, pouring myself some cold orange juice and finishing it in a few gulps. Oh I loved orange juice.

I was thinking about having another glass, which my bladder was deeply against, reminding me how I hated going to the public restrooms, when I noticed Jenna's shocked expression.

"Since when...?" She definitely was at a loss of words.

"Oh she doesn't know it yet, but you know me, I'm never wrong," I stated proudly and she nodded accepting my point. See? Everyone knows that I'm always right.

"So, who is that? Do I even know him?" She asked curiously.

"Nope, just some new guy. I only know that his name is Stefan and he is pretty handsome, I can give you more when I get home after Caroline tells me everything that she had found out about him. That girl sometimes disgraces the infamous Sherlock Holmes, I swear," I said affectionately and Jenna nodded with a smile, totally agreeing with me.

Before she could ask another question Elena came into the kitchen with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Um, Thalia, I'm ready to go, and Stefan is coming with us if you don't mind?" She mumbled avoiding looking at us directly.

I exchanged knowing looks with Aunt Jenna, before nodding.

"Okay," I said heading to the front door where the new guy was standing awkwardly. "The more the merrier."

The Grill was crowded as always, I could barely notice Bonnie who was saving us a table. Oops, I could sense the drama in the air, when she and Matt, who was sitting with her for some reason (probably asking about Elena) turned to look at us with shock written all over their faces. Then I saw Matt standing up with serious expression on his face and heading in our direction, so I decided that it was my cue to leave.

I saw Caroline standing near the billiard table and quickly retreated in her direction, even though she was standing with Dickwood of all people (which at the second thought was even better, as I wanted to have a little chat with him), leaving my sister and her new potential boyfriend to have an awkward conversation with her ex.

"Hey Care, Dick," I greeted both of them with a small smirk on my face.

"Thalia, you came!" Caroline hugged me obviously happy to see me, while Tyler just rolled his eyes at me. Rude. I at least had greeted him.

"I became a dick again. Awesome," he said sarcastically.

"Well wouldn't you rather be just called a dick, than suffer from a broken spine? Because I can guarantee you that if you'll ever come near my brother again," I said smiling sweetly at him, making him feel uncomfortable, which was my goal in a first place.

"You are crazy." He huffed avoiding my eyes.

"Oh, darling, you have no idea."

A while later me, the girls and the mysterious Stefan Salvatore were sitting at the table, having a pleasant conversation. Well, it was pleasant for everyone except Stefan himself, as he was being interrogated brutally, by three teenage girls. Oh joy.

I wasn't really listening to them to be honest, as I was texting Nik, flirting furiously with him with dirty smirk on my face, giggling and blushing from time to time. I hope I didn't look insane. Whatever. I was distracted by Caroline's cheerful voice and returned my attention back to the conversation.

"So, Stefan, if you're new, you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"Wait, what? What party?" I asked totally confused.

"Thalia, I told you about it yesterday during our phone call. Weren't you listening to me?" Caroline asked accusingly and I suddenly felt as if I've just dug my own grave.

"Of course I was listening, I just may have missed the part where you told me about the party."

I was trying desperately to save my own ass but it was too late.

"I've been ranting about this party for almost half an hour, Thalia. You got your head in the clouds lately, I totally understand that you are in love, but..." she stopped seeing my apologetic expression and sighed. "Okay, I will forgive you for ignoring me, if you come to the party."

Oh crap.

"Fine," I said grumpily, feeling that I've been punished for all my sins.

I didn't hate parties but I didn't particularly like them either. Drunk teenagers and cheap bear wasn't really my cup of tea. Usually Caroline and her constant nagging was the reason I ever attended those in the first place.

"So Stefan, are you coming?" She turned to the new guy, totally ignoring me.

"Um, are you going?" He suddenly asked turning to Elena, making me raise my eyebrows. Interesting.

"Of course she is!" Bonnie said not giving Elena a chance to utter a word.

Oh Bonnie, Elena's knight in shining armor, I thought trying to hide my amusement and finished my drink in one go.

"Okay, it was fun and all, but I need to go," I told them standing up from my seat. "Bonnie, would it be too much to ask you to drop Elena home?"

"It's okay, I'll drive her home." Bonnie said giving me a small smile.

"Okay, then. See you."

As I was heading out I heard Caroline asking with a worry in her voice.

"She's going as usual?"

"Yeah, she'd been going there a lot lately. I'm officially worried." Elena answered sadly.

Oh dear my sister, you need not to worry, I'm doing just fine.

I was in my meadow as usual, sitting in the Lotus position, meditating.

I wasn't doing fine. I was stuck. I stopped receiving any results whatsoever almost half a month ago now. It was really frustrating. With every bit of the seal destroyed, I had to increase the power of spells that I used. You have no idea how many powerful spells I used on this very meadow, destroying the grass completely.

Don't get me wrong, I tried to regrow the grass and other plants that I destroyed at first, but there was no point, as I've been practicing non stop for almost two months, every day.

And now I didn't know what to do. I felt like I was almost there, that the only thing I needed was the final push. But no matter how many powerful spells I used, it was all in vain. But I still kept trying.

I took a deep breath, and concentrated again. There was no going back.

I was at the party in the woods. Teenagers were everywhere, talking and partying, but most of all wasted or making out. Or both. Pathetic.

When I arrived a few minutes ago, everybody was already here. I wasn't in the mood for partying. I've failed again yesterday, and even if that wasn't enough, I had almost killed our dick of a history teacher. But the fucker was saved by Mr. Salvatore, who I must admit did a very good job making him look incompetent. But I would've handled that a little differently.

I still could feel myself shaking in anger, after what he said to Elena. I needed a distraction but my surroundings were making me even angrier. The music, the smell. Everything. I looked at the beer bottles nearby, wishing to have a glass of a good scotch instead, the one that Nik fancied. As soon as I thought about Nik I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and took it out to see his name on a screen.

"Hello, love." His raspy voice had an almost magical ability to either calm me down or turn me on, depending on the situation.

"Hey! You have no idea how much I missed your voice." I sighed happily.

"We've only talked yesterday, but I know what you mean. I miss you too," he said gently, making my heart beat faster. "How was your day?"

After receiving a good dose of Niklausotherapy, whining non stop about my crappy day, then reassuring him that there was no need for him to come all the way here just to kill my history teacher, I felt much better.

I looked around for the first time, searching for familiar faces and noticed Elena and Bonnie nearby. When I reached them I became a witness of Bonnie's very first premonition, as she suddenly froze holding Elena's hand.

"What?" Elena asked hesitantly.

"That was weird," Bonnie answered looking slightly scared. "When I touched you, I saw a crow. There was a fog, a man..."

That instantly got my attention. I stopped listening, thinking about my painting and my own premonition. The man with a crow was a vampire, and coincidentally a vampire "appeared" in town not so long ago, but I was one hundred percent sure that it wasn't Stefan. So I assumed that we should be expecting another visitor sooner or later. But the thing that bothered me was the fact that I didn't understand what the guy with a crow wanted from Elena.

I snapped out of my thoughts when Bonnie stormed off, obviously terrified by what she had just seen. Elena then turned to me, confused with what just happened but froze seeing my serious expression.

"Ellie, listen to me carefully," I said using the nickname I gave her when we were little to show her that I was being serious. "I will ask you one question and want you to answer it honestly without asking questions." I waited till she nodded and continued. "You told me you met Stefan at the cemetery when you were visiting mom and dad. When you were sitting there, a crow scared you, and some strange unnatural fog appeared, then you saw a man standing behind a gravestone and ran away..." I wasn't even able to finish when she interrupted me.

"How do you know that? I didn't tell you about it," she said panicking before seeing my stern expression. "Yes. It happened yesterday. You described it as though you were there with me."

"I will tell you everything but not now, it's not the time." I saw her pained expression and continued. "Do you trust me?"

"More than I trust myself," she answered instantly, without even thinking.

"Then trust me with this, I will tell you everything when the time comes."

She hesitated for a second then nodded, and I couldn't help but hug her.

"Everything will be okay," I whispered before letting her go as I sensed that we were not alone anymore.

We turned to the right and saw Stefan who greeted us with a small smile on his face but his eyes were mostly on Elena. They started chatting, exchanging longing looks and I decided that it was my cue to leave. It's not that they paid me any attention whatsoever anyway.

I found Caroline and chatted with her for a while, discussing the beginning of a school year and how many girls from the cheerleading squad had lost their virginity during the summer break (don't ask me where she got that information, you don't wanna know, believe me).

All in all everything was going fine until I heard my little sister's voice calling for help. I felt my blood freezing in my veins when I saw my baby brother coming out of the woods with someone's body in his arms.

"Somebody help!" Elena screamed, and not a second later I was by her side.

There was a huge crowd, everyone shouting something, and I noticed that Vicki was lying there bleeding, but the only thing that mattered to me was to make sure that my brother and sister were okay.

I took them both to the side and examined them, looking for any injuries, not listening to their protests, and let them go only after making sure that they were okay.

"We are fine, we just found her like this," Jeremy whispered quietly and I noticed that both of them were shaking. I hugged them both and Elena instantly hugged me back, hiding her face on my shoulder.

The ambulance arrived and left and we just sat there, till Bonnie and Caroline approached us asking if we were okay.

"I'm driving Caroline home, you?" Bonnie asked quietly.

"I called Aunt Jenna, she will be here any minute," I said stroking Elena's back.

"Wait, you weren't drinking, you can drive us yourself, so why did you call Jenna?" Elena asked confused.

"I need to do something. I'll be back in an hour or so," I said and looked at my siblings. "Wait for Aunt Jenna, okay? I'll be right back."

They both nodded and I said goodbye to Caroline and Bonnie and went to my car. Sooner I finish this, sooner I'd be at home with my siblings.

As soon as I arrived to the Salvatore Boarding House and shut down the engine, two figures burst out of the second store window and hit the ground. Well, only one of them did actually, the second just effortlessly landed on his feet nearby.

I silently left the car, trying not to attract their attention and pondering the idea of putting an attention scattering spell on myself. I shouldn't have bothered in a first place as they were too concentrated on each other, which was a little bit careless for two vampires with supernatural hearing.

I went closer and heard the older looking guy making fun of Stefan.

"Yeah, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh?" Stefan asked with a pained expression. So the other guy's name was Damon. Interesting. "But wherever you go people die," he continued stating the obvious. I mean they are vampires, of course people die around them.

"That's a given," Damon shrugged, obviously agreeing with me.

"Not here. I won't allow it."

Wow Stefan, I'm starting to like you. But he was definitely weaker than Damon, so it wasn't much of a threat in my opinion.

"I take that as an invitation." See? Damon understood that too.

"Damon please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan started begging, obviously desperate to convince his friend? brother? to leave him alone.

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word." Wow, that was deep.

"Just stay away from Elena!"

Now that got my attention and I stopped joking around. Those two had something to do with my sister. Well, bad for them.

"Where's your ring?" Damon asked with a mock expression of concern, suddenly changing the subject, which made me and Stefan look at his finger where his lapis lazuli ring used to be. "Oh, yeah, the sun's coming up in a couple of hours and poof, ashes to ashes."

I waited till he returned Stefan his ring and threw him into a nearby wall, and started clapping, making a dramatic entrance. Both vampires turned to look at me in shock.

"Well, that was entertaining, to say the least," I said with a small smirk. "But we need to talk, all three of us. And preferably in the inside." Then I saw Damon whooshing towards me and watched with amusement as he hit an invisible shield in front of me and went flying in the same direction where he threw Stefan a minute ago, landing right beside him with a grunt. "Now, behave yourselves, we have a business to discuss. Follow me."

I turned around and headed to the front door where Zach Salvatore was standing, watching me in shock. As soon as I approached him, I waved my hand in front of his face and he fell down unconscious. I went into their living room and the moment I saw the mini bar I knew that this conversation would be much more pleasant than I thought.

"What did you do with Zack?" Stefan asked cautiously as they both walked in, while I was opening different bottles in attempts to find some good stuff.

"He's fine, just unconscious. He will wake up in the morning, without a single memory about me. I would rather prefer to keep the council in the dark about my powers."

"Who the hell are you?" Damon spat out.

I might have hurt his ego or something, cause he looked furious.

"Stop asking obvious questions, Damon. It's Damon, right?" I asked him mockingly, then continued without giving him any chance to answer. "You both know exactly who I am, as I know for sure that both of you were watching my house for a whole summer now." Shocked Stefan sharply turned to look at Damon, while Damon looked pissed. "And I assume both of you already figured out that I am a witch."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Damon definitely was trying to pretend that I was lying.

"I'm a witch," I said matter-of-factly. "I sensed your presence near my house and decided to find out who was bold enough to bother the peace of my family and found two different sources of attention and both vampires, though one of them was stalking more frequently than the other, but still. And then you two appear in town, leaving dead bodies behind. Animal attacks my ass." I scoffed finally pouring myself something that looked like a very good whiskey and happily taking a sip.

I went to a cozy looking chair and sat down, gesturing the two of them to do the same, but none of them moved.

"I'm not your enemy. I have nothing against vampires, I'm actually happily dating one." They exchanged shocked looks and finally sat down on a couch against my chair, well Stefan did, Damon went to pour himself a drink first and only then sat down.

"So, what do you want?" Damon asked with a frown.

"Well, isn't that obvious? I need you to leave my loved ones alone. I don't care how many people you kill, if you are stupid enough to do that of course, since the council is still thriving. But as soon as you come near my friends and family with ill intent I will vaporize you into atoms. Trust me, I'm not the one to make empty threats."

Seeing their distrustful looks I did what I just threatened to do to a nearby vase, which exploded into dust with a sickening sound, startling them. What can I say, that was the easiest way to convince them.

"I understand, I haven't even intended to hurt Elena in the first place." Stefan said solemnly.

"I know that Elena likes you, so I'm not gonna come between you two, but as soon as you put her into any kind of danger, you are dead. Well, you know what I mean."

"I don't like when someone threatens me," Damon spoke through gritted teeth looking at me angrily.

"Oh I'm not threatening you, I'm just stating the obvious. If I considered you a threat even for a second you'd be dead, and you would've never seen that coming. But as I said, I don't hate vampires as other witches do, so maybe we can even become friends eventually." I stood up drowning my drink in one go. "This stuff is good. Invite me to a whiskey party from time to time and I'm all yours." I started heading to a front door. "It was nice meeting you Damon."

They didn't respond. I didn't even expect them to, so I was cool.

I got into my car and took off, heading home. It was a long night, and I felt really tired. I wanted to comfort my siblings, take a good long shower, change into my comfy pajamas and fall asleep in my cozy ass bed. And I was going to do just that. Exactly in that order.