Cold... it was so cold that I couldn't feel my toes anymore. I pulled my knees closer to my chest with the slightest sound of moving chains and hugged them tightly with my little hands.

It was dark and silent for now. No one was screaming, cursing or crying for mommy.

Mommy. I didn't know at first what that word meant. The ones who were as little as me, and the ones who were bigger, all of them called for her, so I thought they were calling for someone to save them and sometimes found myself wanting to do the same, cry for that mystery mommy to come and save me from this hell. But when one of my involuntary "neighbours" told me what it actually meant... no more! The word that I pronounced in my head with so much hope as I heard the others doing, lost its appeal, instead filling me with hatred and spite.

Mommy was the one who put me here!

Mommy was dead!

I had no one to call for. No one knew about my existence. And no one would come and save me.

Because I was nobody. And nobody didn't deserve to be saved.

A ray of light pierced through the darkness of my cage, making me shudder. I closed my eyes in defeat, preparing myself for what would come next. And listening to my warden fumbling with the keys to my cage I couldn't escape one simple thought.

I was completely and utterly alone.

I woke up with a quiet gasp and looked around in panic. I was confused for a second by my surroundings until I remembered where I'd fallen asleep in the first place and rubbed my face tiredly, trying to get rid of the remains of the nightmare.

I looked out of the window at white fluffy clouds floating by and could feel a small smile appearing on my face.

I was going to see him again.

The nightmare was forgotten instantly, replaced with excitement of an upcoming meeting. Niklaus was back in NY, so I decided to surprise him and booked a plane ticket to the nearest flight. I told Aunt Jenna that I needed to fulfill some formalities regarding matters of inheritance due to my approaching 18th birthday, which wasn't half a lie, because I really needed to do that, but I lied about the part where that required my presence. I felt bad lying to Jenna, but I didn't have another choice, I needed to see him. And since Damon was out of the picture for some time I was able to do just that.

My thoughts wandered back to the night of the Founder's Ball when I had to take care of Katie Fell. She had wounds on her neck, which would hint the council about the vampire attack if I didn't do anything and fast.

I removed the hair from her neck, exposing two little wounds from the fangs, held my hand right above them and concentrated. Healing magic was kinda one of the things that Black witches were good at, except we couldn't heal ourselves and though I wasn't the best healer, I wasn't the worst either.

It was dark but the light of the moon was enough to see her flesh slowly knitting back together and after a few seconds it was like nothing was there in a first place. The blood on her neck and dress was another problem, but a little cleaning spell fixed that as well.

I was about to wake her up, when I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and saw Elena and Bonnie approaching me with worried looks on their faces, which turned into terrified ones when they spotted the body lying in front of me.

"Oh my God!" Elena cried out as they both rushed to my side. "What happened? Who's that?"

They fell on their knees and gasped again when they saw Katie's face.

"I found her like this when I was looking for Stefan," I grumbled, unhappy that they witnessed this. Why couldn't they just wait in the car like I told them to? "I think she just fainted."

I returned my attention to the unconscious girl and gently patted her cheeks to wake her up. It worked instantly, as she groaned and made a weak attempt to slap away my hand. I rolled my eyes at her antics. This was Katie alright.

"What happened?" she mumbled, finally opening her eyes and looking at our worried faces. "Why am I here? Where's Damon?"

"Well, I don't know where your boy toy is, I just found you lying here unconscious," I answered helping her to stand up carefully. "What happened? Are you pregnant or something?"

I was trying to distract her in case she remembered what Damon did to her, and by the killing gaze that she threw at me, I was doing just fine.

"What the hell are you talking about, Gilbert? Of course I'm not pregnant," she huffed pushing my hands away, when I tried to hold her in case she would fall again. What a bitch! "I was just exhausted, that's it. Now excuse me, I need to find my boyfriend."

She looked at us like we were insects and stormed off in the direction of the Lockwood Manor. The girls watched her leave with gobsmacked expressions, while I just sighed tiredly.

"What a bitch!" Bonnie exclaimed disgustedly and turned to us as if about to say something else, when she suddenly looked down and furrowed her eyebrows. "What's this?" She asked picking up some cheap looking necklace, looking at it with confusion.

"I don't know, she must've dropped it or something. I don't really care." I rubbed my temples in attempt to contain the growing pain, feeling mentally exhausted. "Let's go home, you can return that to her at school tomorrow."

They followed me silently, both of them deep in their own thoughts. I had no clue of what they were thinking about, I personally was thinking about the opportunity that fell right into my hands. With Damon being out of commission I could safely leave town for a few days without worrying about him doing anything stupid that would end up hurting my family in some way or the other. I just needed to make sure that he would be away for long enough time.

I went to the Boarding House the next day and talked to Stefan. He showed me the cell, where he was holding his vervained brother and reassured me that he would hold him there for a few years, which was a little too cruel to my liking, especially doing that to your own brother.

I remember what Nik told me about it after I saved him, about going through unimaginable pain all the while being conscious, feeling your body desiccating slowly until it turns into the one of a mummy. Even Nik wasn't that cruel to his siblings, they felt nothing while daggered.

I didn't say anything to Stefan. Something told me that it wasn't going to go as he planned. So I left with a peaceful heart knowing that Damon wouldn't be there for long.

All the while I was driving to Nik's house I couldn't contain my excitement. How would he react, when he sees me? What would he say? I couldn't get rid of the smile that threatened to split my face in half.

When I reached his house I paid for the ride and rushed to the door, longing to see his face. I had just a backpack with me as I planned to visit just for a few days.

I knocked and waited a little, then knocked again.

He has a supernatural hearing, for God's sake!

Filled with impatience I was about to knock again, when the door finally swung open, but not by the person I expected to see. I looked at the young African-American woman with raised eyebrow, trying to understand who she was supposed to be, but from the look on her face she knew exactly who I was and wasn't pleased by my arrival.

"Hi, I'm Thalia. Is Niklaus at home?" I asked politely, despite the fact that I didn't like the girl. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was some unknown girl in my boyfriend's house. Nothing at all.

"He is not. Come back later," she said rudely and tried to close the door right in front of my face, but I was faster and threw my hand forward, holding it in place.

She looked at me furiously and pushed harder, but it didn't bulge. I frowned at her, trying to understand what was going on, when I vaguely remembered that Nik once told me about a witch and a warlock that were at his service, Maddox and Greta, if I wasn't mistaken.

So this must be Greta.

I threw the door open, startling her and walked inside as if nothing happened. She tried to step back but I was faster, so I quickly caught her hand while capturing her eyes with mine so it would be easier to look for what I wanted to know.

"What are you doing?" She hissed furiously trying to pull her hand away from my grasp, but I could still sense her fear.

I was silent for a few seconds, looking straight into her eyes, until I've found what I was looking for. I was afraid that they might have had something going on with Nik, and was right, they have indeed, but it was before he met me.

I sighed with relief when I realized that he kicked her out of his bed when we started dating. And by the looks of it she wasn't happy with that fact at all.

I let go of her hand and she instantly started rubbing the spot where I was holding her and I noticed it was bruised a little. Oops, I might've squeezed it too hard.

"You must be Greta", I sighed walking past her into the living room. "It was a little bit rude of you to close the door in my face, especially when it's not even your house, don't you think?"

She looked at me furiously, and shut the door with a loud bang. Wow, someone has some serious anger issues.

"You shouldn't have come," she spat, still rubbing her hand. "No one wants you here."

"Speak for yourself, honey," I rolled my eyes at her. "Where's Nik? I know he's at home."

My words apparently enraged her even more, as she suddenly raised her hand at me throwing some nasty spell, but I was expecting something like that, and put on a protecting shield as soon as I realized that she was a witch and a potential threat, so her spell didn't do any harm, much to her displeasure.

She growled surprising me and cast another spell even nastier than the previous one, but my protection handled that as well. I frowned trying to figure out what was her problem. I mean obviously she hated me because Nik chose me over her, but that was something different. She was unstable.

I thought maybe she would calm down seeing that both of her attacks didn't bother me in the slightest, but apparently she lost any signs of sanity as she started chanting again.

I became completely serious when I realized what she was doing. I felt her magic suddenly change. To me it felt like it became dirtier, as she was without any doubt performing a dark spell. I wasn't able to tell which spell it was exactly, I wasn't that versed in dark arts, but it looked really serious. I tried to cast another layer of protection, much stronger this time, but wasn't fast enough, damn my damaged magic.

Her spell hit me in the face, throwing me into a wall across the room. It hurt like a bitch. She was definitely counting on that considering a satisfied smile on her face, but she had another thing coming. I was used to physical pain, so it took me no time to recover and strike back.

I raised my hand and grabbed her neck with my magic, choking her and lifting her body in the air. I took a few steps in her direction and stopped, watching her writhe in pain, trying but failing to shake off my grasp. I felt something warm on my face so I touched it with my left hand and looked at it with confusion, only to find blood on my fingers.

The spell she used was really powerful and even though I still had a protection on, I didn't manage to stop all of it. That was expected as she took me by surprise. I didn't expect her to go crazy all of a sudden. That was my mistake. I needed to be better than that.

I sighed, displeased with myself and squeezed her neck even harder.

"There's something seriously wrong with you," I said watching her face turning red as she started losing consciousness. "Take a little rest."

I waited till her eyes rolled back and she stopped struggling, then loosened my hold letting her fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" I turned around to see Nik storming in furiously, until he saw me and froze in the place, looking at me in shock. "Thalia?!" he asked quietly, and I could see the confusion washing off his face, turning into joy and I gave him a small smile, waiting patiently until he finally processed my presence and hugged me already. But then his expression turned into the one of rage and second later he was right in front of me, cupping my face with his hands and turning it to the side, which totally confused me.

I mean, what the hell was he doing, I thought he was about to kiss me?! But then I realized that he must've seen my wounded face.

"What happened? Who did this?"

He was so mad demanding answers from me, but the only thing that I could think about was that he was so focused on me that he didn't even notice his witch lying unconscious right beside me.

I must have zoned out thinking about the precious man standing right in front of me and didn't notice his expression becoming more worried with every second of my silence. So I did the very thing that I was dying to do for a long time.

I put my hands on his shoulders and jumped up his body, hugging his waist with my legs and kissed him passionately. He instantly cupped my behind in support even when I took him completely by surprise.

He was still for a second before he finally processed what was going on and kissed me back with the same passion, burying his right hand in my hair to pull me closer. It was like a spark fell on a dry grass. Instant fire.

I caressed his face with my fingers as if remembering his features again after all this time.

"Wait," he gasped breaking the kiss, "you're hurt, we need to..."

"I don't care."

I didn't let him finish shutting him up again, pulling him closer with my hand tangled in his hair. I nipped at his bottom lip asking for entrance, while my fingers slipped under his shirt caressing his abs, making him shiver. I completely forgot about the witch, about my annoyance at the fact that he let her into his house even though he knew that she had feelings for him, those thoughts flew out of my head at supersonic speed as soon as I got a taste of his lips.

He pulled on my hair breaking our kiss, and I moaned at the feeling of emptiness. He slightly chuckled at my behavior, and before I could ask him what the hell he was doing, he suddenly changed his face, baring his fangs and slowly pierced his own tongue with them. I gasped, shocked with his sudden action and he instantly kissed me again, entering my mouth with his bleeding tongue.

I froze for a second, unsure of the meaning of that action, but there was so much blood that I was forced to swallow it to prevent myself from choking. As soon as I did that I felt the wound on my face slowly closing and felt the urge to hit myself for my stupidity.

He was healing me. That realization made butterflies stir in my stomach.

I slowly started sucking on his tongue, sensually caressing it with my lips, slightly bobbing my head as if sucking on the other part of his body instead. He growled instantly getting my message and squeezed my behind, pulling my lower half closer to his groin and making me moan in pleasure.

I pulled on his shirt, eager to get it off, when we heard a quiet groan.

We broke the kiss, confused, and turned to look at the source of the noise. What we saw was Greta stirring on the floor showing the signs of regaining consciousness. I bit my lip and turned to Nik, unsure of his reaction and saw him looking at her with raised eyebrows. He turned to me as if asking "what the hell?" and I put on my most convincing innocent face.

"She... fell," I finally said, batting my lashes innocently. He looked like he was trying to hold his laughter, not believing me in the slightest. Then he turned serious once again, and caressed my now healed cheek.

"Did she do that?" He asked quietly, and I could hear the hint of a growl in his voice. Someone just got in trouble and that was definitely not me.

"Well she... went crazy all of a sudden as soon as she saw me. I don't know what her problem is." I didn't want to let him know about my jealousy, that would be embarrassing. "That's Greta, I presume?"

"Yes, I will talk to her, this will not happen ever again," he said clenching his jaw, his expression dark.

"Hi, by the way," I smiled sweetly at him, caressing his soft hair. "I didn't get a chance to greet you properly. I missed you."

"I don't know, love," he said teasingly, giving me his signature smirk. "It was the best greeting in the world for me." He planted a gentle kiss on my lips, then looked at me again. "This is truly a pleasant surprise, because I've missed you too. More than you think."

We stayed like that for a moment, looking into each other's eyes and smiling like idiots. I still had a hard time believing that I was finally hugging him. That bitch ruined our reunion.

Talking about bitches, she groaned once again, louder this time, and I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I didn't want to see her again.

I gestured him to put me on the floor, but he shook his head and hugged me tighter to his body as if saying that he didn't intend to do that in the near future.

"I don't want to have anything to do with her, so I'll let you handle this. Besides, I would really like to take a bath." He took a deep breath and planted a soft kiss on my forehead, before letting me slip down his body. I reached my hand to the side and summoned my backpack that I dropped in the middle of this madness. I guess I just didn't want to walk past the witch to grab it. "Is my old room still available?"

"It is, but I thought you moved into mine last time you visited," he said furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Okay," I chuckled and kissed him for the last time before heading upstairs.

I was at the top of the stairs when I heard Greta's confused voice, but I couldn't make it out, not that I even wanted to.

I walked into Nik's room, smiling at the memories that the place was filled with and went to his wardrobe. I remembered leaving a few of my things here and yep, there, on the lowest shelf, were some of my shirts and shorts. I was gonna pick some of them to wear, when my eyes fell on the shelf filled with his t-shirts.

I hesitated for a second before grabbing the biggest one and some of my clean underwear. I put it all on his bed and headed to his bathroom to fill the bathtub. I turned on the hot water and searched through the shelves until I found a bubble bath with a caramel scent.

I poured some of it into the tub until I was satisfied with the amount of bubbles and took my clothes off. I would have lit the candles as well but unfortunately I couldn't find any, so I just turned off the lights and cast a little spell that I learned when I was 11. It created little fireflies that would glow in the dark until the magic that I put in them wears off. It was alright though, they would last for three hours give or take, which was more than enough.

I pulled my messy hair up in a large bun and got into the tub, sighing with pleasure as the hot water caressed my skin. I didn't even notice that I was a little cold until that moment. It would've been even better if I had a glass of a cooled red wine as well, but I was too lazy to actually go and grab it.

My mood changed a little as I caressed the spot where Greta got me with her spell. I was too careless. Sure, I didn't know that she would go nuts all of a sudden, but I should have been prepared nonetheless.

The thing is, I was never satisfied with myself. Always overworking in attempt to become better, faster, stronger. In everything whether it's studying, training or witchcraft. I was doing it all my life and eventually I didn't even realize that it started taking up all my time. My family thought that it was because of my past, that I was just trying to distract myself as it was obvious that I wasn't over it. Of course I learned how to ignore my nightmares but it didn't change the fact that they were still there.

And today, some regular "ancestors worshiping" witch got me with her spell. Don't get me wrong I wasn't being cocky, I just knew that I was stronger than her, even with my damaged magic. And the fact that she was older than me didn't change a thing. There were times when age was equal to strength but those times have long passed.

And today, first the nightmare (one of my most hated ones) then the unknown woman in my boyfriend's house, the one that he slept with in the past... Yes it was before me, but that didn't change the fact that she still wanted him.

Horny little slut!

I shook my head and rubbed my temples tiredly, trying to get rid of murdering thoughts. I succeeded eventually, but those thoughts were replaced with even more unpleasant ones.

I clenched my jaw thinking about that place. I was surprised how I didn't become claustrophobic after four years spent in that cage. I gave up everything to become stronger, dreaming of the day when I would come back and tear all of them to shreds, but in the end, I was late. For a month or so, judging by the condition of their bodies, but still. I promised myself that I would come back. And I broke that promise. I should've been the one to put an end to their miserable lives.

And when it seemed like I could finally relax and start to live for myself I realized that I couldn't. Seven years of training, of fear, of my sweat and blood. I didn't know how to change and after some time I realized that I didn't even want to. I mean, the world was a dark and cruel place to live in. They weren't the only bad guys out there. There would be others that would mean harm to my loved ones, and I needed to be prepared. I mean that was my legacy from the both sides of my family.

I remember the moment when I learned that Gilberts were vampire hunters from their ancestors' journals. I mean come on, what were the odds?

I thought about telling them my story at first, but then I remembered that my torturers were no vampires. And the reason they tortured me in a first place... I mean most of the reasons why they experimented on me were false ones, but still. Gilberts hated and feared anything supernatural for generations and I was supernatural. I could never tell them.

I sighed caressing my forehead tiredly. The first attempt to distract myself didn't work. An attempt number two then.

I took my phone that I left previously on a little table near the tub and turned on the playlist that I put on exactly for chilling in a tub, which consisted of my favorite slow and sensual songs. And just in the matter of seconds I found myself purring in pleasure as Nina Simon's breathtaking voice filled the bathroom.

"I put a spell on you..." I sang along even though my voice was nothing compared to Nina's, but who cares?

The room was filled with fog, creating a small amount of sweat above my upper lip and the fireflies added a little magic to the atmosphere, but to complete the picture I needed something more. Or someone.

I smiled with my eyes still closed when I heard the door opening quietly. I didn't need to look, I knew it was Nik. I could have never mistaken his presence with anyone else's. It seemed like the very air around him was humming with power, which probably intimidated the living shit out of everyone else. But never me. Instead I felt the goosebumps of pleasure running down my body, every freaking time.

I felt the water being bothered as he climbed into the tub right across from me. He took my legs and put them above his hips while sliding his own under mine. I was covered in bubbles but still could feel his gaze lingering on my body as if it was completely exposed.

My breathing instantly became shallow. Damn this man! He could make me all hot and bothered without even moving a finger. He took my foot in his hands and started massaging it, making me release quiet moans.

I finally opened my eyes and looked at the most handsome man in the world licking the drops of water from my lips. He was watching me intently, no smirk on his face this time, just intense dark gaze. His hands moved on their own as if he had no idea how much pleasure he was giving me with those.

"So? What was her problem?" I asked quietly, sounding slightly out of breath, damn his amazing hands!

I noticed a bucket full of ice with a bottle of wine in it and two glasses on the table near the tub. Both of them were filled already, so I picked one up and took a sip, rolling my eyes as the cold liquid went down my throat. The difference between chilled wine and my hot body was amazing.

"She, uh, she's a strong ally, but she's also a little bit..." he fell silent as if trying to pick a suitable word to describe his nut job of an ex.

"Nuts?" I suggested helpfully.

He snorted and picked up my other leg, caressing my ankle in the process.

"Well yes, you could say that. She's a little bit unstable but she's doing her job."

I took another sip from my glass, watching him doing a miracle job on my tired feet while lazily caressing his thigh underwater with my other hand.

"You know she's obsessed with you, right?" I asked quietly and saw him frown.

"She's not gonna harm you again." His blue eyes became darker promising years of torture to anyone who would dare to touch me.

"Please. She took me by surprise, I didn't expect to find some crazy witch in my boyfriend's house," I huffed downing the remaining wine in one go. "I didn't choke her to death only because I knew she could be of some use for you."

"I'm sorry," he said apologetically and poured me more wine before picking up his own glass. "If I knew you were coming I would've sent her away. She came to report about her family allying with my brother. It's not that she's welcomed in my house like she was before. Not anymore." He moved forward and planted a gentle kiss on my lips.

"I know," I sighed returning the kiss. "To be honest, I made sure to check that you two were not together as soon as I came in. I know that you kicked her out of your bed... Wait, did you just say her family's allying with Elijah?" I asked in confusion completely forgetting about my jealousy towards Nik's ex.

"Yes. Her brother and father are warlocks and quiet powerful ones at that. They were looking for her since she joined me. Apparently they found Elijah and asked for his help which he obviously granted, as now they are working together to find a way to destroy me." He tried to sound casual, but I could see that it hurt him, knowing that his brother wanted him dead.

"Hey," I said leaning closer and clumsily making an attempt to sit on his lap which didn't end up in a complete disaster only because he helped me by lifting me up with his strong hands. I cupped his cheeks with my hands and continued. "He's your brother he would never do such thing. Of course he's hurt, he thinks you threw your siblings into the ocean, but you are still his brother and he loves you."

He took our glasses putting them away and hugged me tightly, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

He looked so vulnerable and lonely that I could feel my heart aching for him. I delved my fingers into his silky hair, massaging his skin, while caressing his back with another hand. I felt him planting small kisses on my neck and tilted my head to give him more access. Kisses turned into small bites and I smiled with my eyes closed. He knew I loved it when he left his marks on me.

"So, what are you planning to do?" I asked slightly out of breath, scratching the skin of his head with my nails just the way he loved.

"With Elijah?" he asked trailing kisses up to my ear.

"Mhm..."

"Nothing," he breathed right against my lips. He nipped at my bottom lip and I parted my lips allowing him to deepen the kiss. I started slowly grind myself against his groin, swallowing his delicious groans. I could feel his fangs growing while we were kissing, and scratched my tongue slightly until it bled. He growled hungrily and sucked on my bleeding tongue, as one of his hands found its way to my breasts, and started massaging them.

All the things that I wanted to ask him disappeared, leaving my head empty of any meaningful thoughts, as he lifted me up and slipped inside of me with one swift movement, making me roll my eyes and part my lips in silent scream.

I was leaning against Nik's chest, we both slightly out of breath after our marvelous "reunion". I picked up my glass of wine and took a long sip, feeling him planting soft kisses on my temple.

It's a good thing that I didn't fill the tub to the brim or else we would've ended up splashing the water everywhere, after our... "activity", I thought amused, caressing his hand that was hugging my waist.

"Have I told you, that I'm happy that you are here?" he asked quietly, and I could feel him smiling against my skin.

"I don't remember, have you?" I asked him teasingly and laughed when started to tickle me.

"Well, I am. Very, very happy." We were silent for a moment, enjoying each other's company until he spoke again. "I couldn't help but notice, how sad you were lately on the phone. I assume you didn't have much luck with your little... "problem"."

He hugged me tighter as if saying sorry for bringing up an uncomfortable topic. I sighed closing my eyes and rested my head on Nik's shoulder, before telling him about my pathetic attempts to break the seal on my magic. All the while I was talking, he didn't stop rubbing my skin in comfort and I was really thankful for that.

"So, you gave up?" he asked quietly, when I finished.

"No... uh, I didn't, it's just... I don't know what to do anymore. I channeled the power of a freaking comet through myself and it didn't work, I have no idea what else I need to do to break it". My head hurt from the amount of thinking that I've been doing recently, so I decided to change the subject a little bit. "You know, I've been rewatching "Interview with the Vampire" recently... " I started saying and he burst into a loud laughter, so I had to raise my voice a little so he could hear me, "so I realized, that I never even asked you about that time."

"What time, love?" He asked, still having a hard time containing his laughter.

"The time of Kings and Queens, the Courts, the Balls and etc. I find that time really fascinating, well except for the disgustingly poor personal and public hygiene. Did people really used to pour the contents of their chamber pots onto people who were passing under their balconies?"

That was it. That was all it took for him to throw his head back and start laughing his ass out. I turned my head and watched him amusedly. God, he even started tearing up a little bit, that's how hard he was laughing. His body was shaking and I with him too, as I was lying on him, he even spilled a little wine in the tub.

"Wow... you managed to go from Kings and Balls to the contents of chamber pots really fast there, love," he finally managed to say, wiping away the tears of joy, though he was still slightly out of breath.

"Stop," I whined, slapping him slightly on the shoulder. "Better tell me if you ever attended the real Ball."

"I did, actually, more times than I could even remember," he finally said and downed his drink

"Tell me about your very first time, then. Surely you still remember it, old man." I was teasing him and he knew it, if the mischievous glint in his eyes was telling something. He took my glass and finished it too then put our empty glasses back on the table, while I was watching him cautiously. His hands wandered to my waist, then to my stomach and oh so slowly to my breasts, caressing my skin as he went. I expected him to react, sure, but not like that, so I wasn't able to stop myself from moaning and though I couldn't see his face, I was pretty sure that there was a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Old man, huh?" he whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my body with his hot breath. "If I'm old then there's something wrong with you, sweetheart, because you're enjoying this "old man" way too much."

I was about to give some witty reply, but then one of his hands moved south and I forgot my own name.

We were in the kitchen trying to cook something to eat, since we were starving spending way too much time enjoying ourselves in the tub. Not that we regretted that, though. Not in the slightest.

I was just in my panties and one of his t-shirts, while he was just wearing a pair of washed jeans that were hanging loosely on his hips, giving me an access to the delicious sight of his abs. So you can say that cooking was progressing not so fast and well, since we got distracted way too many times in the process. So Nik took matters in his own hands and decided to order a take out before we burned down his kitchen.

That's how we ended up on the couch in front of his huge tv with three boxes of pepperoni pizza. He went to bring us drinks while I was picking a movie for us to watch. That's what couples usually do right? Anyway, I was scrolling through his large collection of DVD's when I stumbled upon one particular movie and could almost see the image of devilishly smiling Grinch in my head, when I was putting it in the player. Oh, this was going to be so much fun!

Nik came back with two cans of coke in his hands and I quickly erased the mischievous smirk from my face and looked at him innocently. He sat down beside me resting his arm on the back of the couch, almost hugging me.

"My very first Ball happened not long after me and my siblings were turned." I was about to take a sip when he suddenly spoke, so I froze with the can of coke halfway to my mouth. I put it on the table and turned to him eagerly. I loved when he told me stories of his past. "Me and my siblings were running from Mikael when we stumbled upon the small caravan. We still had problems with blood thirst, so we pretty much drained all the people who were there. Then we started arguing about what to do next, me Rebekah and Elijah insisted on sticking together but Finn being a coward wanted to split up, and Kol, well, Kol wasn't sure. So eventually we decided to stick together and disguise ourselves as people who we killed and hide from father in plain sight, when we discovered that there was a survivor. His name was Lucien and he turned out to be the servant in the castle where the caravan was heading. Apparently the people who we wanted to disguise ourselves as were the nobles and Lucien, in a desperate attempt to save his life, told us that he could teach us how to blend in, so we decided to let him live. Then we were introduced to the de Martel's court and there we all attended our first Ball."

"Wow," I managed to say, looking at him with awed expression. "That's... that's amazing! Were you dancing? What were the clothes like back then? What...?"

"Easy, love," he laughed, throwing his hands up in defeat. "I'll tell you everything, but later. Now I assume we have a movie to watch. Come on, pizza is not that tasty when cold." He picked up one of the boxes and opened it letting the incredible smell surround us like a blanket and I instantly agreed to let the topic go for a while. Pizza was more important. "Did you pick a movie?" He then asked and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from smiling.

"Yeah, I did. You will love it!"

I took the remote control and pressed play starting the movie.

"What's it about?" He asked curiously, taking a bite of his pizza while I did the same.

"Umm it's about vampires," I said nonchalantly and he raised his eyebrows, amused by my answer.

"Really? Am I going to regret this?" Oh, you know me so well, I thought, shrugging my shoulders. We looked at the screen as the movie started with showing a lot of greenery. It looked like he never watched the movie as I thought he didn't, but I was waiting till the title would appear on the screen wandering whether he even heard of it. And then...

"What the bloody hell is a "Twilight"?"

We spent three marvelous days together, talking about his past, laughing at the ridiculous stories of me and my friends, painting in his studio and even reading silently while sitting in each other's arms by the fireplace. We didn't go out, not even once and we were both okay with that, we had too little time and too much hunger for each other's company.

I almost cried when it was time for me to leave. I hinted him a few times to come and visit me in Mystic Falls, but he didn't give me a straight answer, asking me to come visit him again, instead. I assumed that he wasn't ready to take our relationship to a new level by meeting with my family, so I let it go for a while. I knew that he loved me, though we never told those words to each other, so I was okay with that.

The way back went smoothly, in fact I slept the whole flight as he didn't let me sleep last night, saying that he already missed me, not that I was complaining, mind you.

As soon as I arrived in Mystic Falls, I felt like there was something wrong. It was like I suddenly came to my senses after spending three days in mind numbing pleasure. I remembered Elena calling me the day before, sounding a little off, but I shrugged it off as nothing, when Nik came out of the bathroom wearing only a tiny towel, so...

And now I was cursing myself while pleading the taxi driver to drive faster, trying to call Elena and Jeremy, but they weren't answering their phones. As soon as the car stopped in front of my house, I paid the driver and ran to my house, worried sick about what I was gonna find there. I stormed in and immediately spotted Jeremy standing at the kitchen entrance, looking lost and helpless. As soon as he heard the door opening he turned to me as if expecting to see someone else, but he didn't look disappointed at all.

"Thalia!" He cried and ran to me, looking so relieved that it scared me even more. "I didn't know what to do! She just came here looking like she was high or something and started behaving really weird. I called Matt, but he still didn't..."

"Hey, hey it's okay," I said soothingly, rubbing him on his back to help him to calm down. I was about to speak again when I heard the noises from kitchen as if someone was throwing things around in anger.

"Could you just not talk so loud?! My head hurts!"

I ran into the kitchen and saw Vicki Freaking Donovan emptying our fridge, looking like a huge piece of shit. The moment my eyes laid on her the world around me literally turned red. She had the guts to storm into my house while being high as I don't know what, wreak a havoc in my kitchen and scare my brother to death.

"What the hell are you doing here, Donovan?" I hissed, yanking her up from the floor, where she was sitting surrounded by the contents of the fridge. As soon as I touched her I knew what this was all about. She was in transition. I cursed under my breath and tilted her head to look into her eyes, I needed to see what happened.

"My gums my gums hurt so much... and the noise... just turn it off!" She was rambling like a mad person, and tried to shake my hands off, which she did with ease as she was stronger than before, besides, I wasn't holding her that tightly. I already saw what I wanted. Fucking Damon.

I grabbed her arm again and dragged her to the living room.

"Stay back Jeremy, don't come near her," I said when Jeremy made a gesture to help me, and threw her on the couch. "Sit here."

The next second Matt came running into the house, looking like he ran a mile. He looked around until he saw his sister and ran to her.

"Hey, Vic. How you doing?" He asked gently, falling down on his knees in front of her, and I thought that it probably wasn't the first time when he had to deal with her when she was high.

"Not good Mattie. I hurt," she whined and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Okay, where's it hurt?"

"My gums, my jaw... there's something in my gums... and this noise," she shrieked covering her ears with her hands. "Just turn it off!"

"Turn what off?" Jeremy asked confused and we all looked at the only source of noise in the house, the tv that was on, but barely audible. It was on the news channel, showing some place in the woods with bodies lying around covered with white blankets. I returned my attention to Vicki, as there was no way in hell I would let her complete the transition by biting my brother... or her brother, but Jeremy turned the volume up for some reason and we heard the news guy speaking.

"...horribly. Three bodies were found dead in what is believed to be a drug deal gone awry. The bodies are yet to be identified. They were discovered earlier today over at the old Mystic Falls cemetery."

"Isn't that where you told me you were last night?" Jeremy asked, looking at her with huge eyes, and I could finally put the pieces together. She must have been hanging out with her fellow druggies when Damon stumbled upon them, and considering that he probably was dying of thirst after four days in the cell, he must have sucked them dry. But for some reason he left Vicki alive and even more than that, he fucking turned her into a vampire. That bitch just can't die!

"What happened, Vic?" Matt demanded suddenly, sounding really serious.

The news guy went on again: "...homicide and are fast under way looking for suspects. They are asking anyone with information."

"I'm calling the cops," Matt said again, taking out his phone.

"No! Don't," she pleaded, but he was having none of it.

"What happened there, Vicki?" Jeremy asked again, taking a few steps in her direction. That turned out to be a mistake as she lunged at Jeremy, but never reached him as I was on alert and caught her arm yanking her back and throwing back on the couch. Everyone froze looking at me in shock, but my eyes were only on her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Donovan?" I asked coldly, squeezing her arm even harder. She let out a quiet whimper and tried to shake my hand away, but I didn't even flinch. I was so pissed at all that situation that I could barely control my anger. If my magic wasn't that damaged I'm sure it would already be affecting the world around me by blowing up light bulbs and throwing things around.

I was angry at myself that she even got through my protections on the house, but I couldn't do anything about it. There's no such thing as an absolute protection. I protected my house from the ones with ill intent, like harming my family, feeding on them, kidnapping or killing, but there was nothing I could do with annoying people.

"Damn, Vic," Matt breathed, obviously shocked with his sister's behavior. He wasn't able to say anything else as Stefan and Elena walked inside the house and looked at us confused.

"What's going on?" Elena asked cautiously, observing my angry expression and strong grip on Vicki's arm.

"She's really messed up," Matt muttered rubbing his forehead tiredly, and I suddenly felt really sorry for what he would be going through in the future because of his sister. He so didn't deserve this.

"Stefan, you need to fix this," I said calmly, looking straight into his eyes and he frowned confusedly, before turning to look at Vicki, really look this time. I was sure that he immediately recognized all the symptoms as his eyes went huge and he rushed to her side in panic.

"Vicki, look at me. Focus. You're gonna be fine. Guys take her up to bed. Shut the blinds. She's gonna be okay. Come on. Come on." He hurried them up, and they both led her upstairs while I watched them helplessly.

"What the hell you think you are doing?" I hissed making him flinch. "That's not what I meant when I told you to fix this! You are not gonna leave her alone in a room with my baby brother while she's... like this. Get her away from here!"

Elena was still in the room so I tried to watch what I was saying.

"You know what's wrong with her?" She asked Stefan, and I could tell that she too didn't like the fact that our brother was in one room with the bitch.

"Yeah," he simply answered throwing cautious looks at me and I could see a knowing look appearing on Elena's face. It all looked like we all were implying different things.

"What is it?" She asked again.

"She's in transition," Stefan suddenly said and I could feel the room spinning around me, as I looked at him shocked. My expression was warning him to shut the hell up, but he didn't listen.

"Transitioning to what?" Elena asked acting confused, but I noticed that she knew exactly what he was talking about and I felt myself becoming sick in my stomach. It was not how it all was supposed to happen.

"A vampire," he simply said, but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at me, and it showed that he had some sense of self-preservation as I'm sure I looked like I was about to murder him.

"What," Elena gasped, shocked, and now I knew that she was shocked not because he said that someone was transitioning into a vampire, but because he said that in front of me. The way she called me yesterday sounding as if something was off, the way she looked at him when he told her that Vicki was in transition... she knew.

"Thalia," he tried to say something but I didn't listen, simply making my magic lunge at him, throwing him into a wall behind his back. I could hear Elena gasp in shock but I didn't even look at her, I was too concentrated on Stefan. He fell on his knees holding his head and grunting in pain, as I made the veins in his brain pop, giving him an aneurism.

"You had no right to tell her!" I spat, increasing the amount of pain. He let out a quiet cry and Elena rushed to my side looking like she didn't know what to do.

"She... figured... it out," Stefan grunted. "I didn't... tell her. I swear!"

I released him then as I knew instantly that he was telling the truth, and rubbed my eyes tiredly.

"I was gone for three days Stefan. Three days and you and your idiot of a brother managed to screw up so bad, that I don't even know whether I should applaud you or rip your heads off!"

I turned to Elena, who was looking at us gobsmacked and my expression softened.

"How... how did you...? What was that?" She breathed out, sounding almost inaudible. She looked so lost that I wanted to hug her. So I did just that.

"It's not how I planned to do this," I whispered in her ear, rubbing her back soothingly. She was still for a few seconds, and when I thought that she wasn't going to hug me back, I felt her body relaxing a bit as she sneaked her hands around my waist, hiding her face in a crook of my neck.

"You knew," she simply said and my heart squeezed in pain when I heard her voice break.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to start this conversation. Mom and dad wanted to do it eventually, and then it fell upon me and I just..." I didn't finish as I didn't know what else to say, but she suddenly jerked her head away, looking at me shocked.

"Mom and dad knew too?" she asked with huge eyes, but I didn't have the opportunity to answer her as frantic looking Vicki ran downstairs with Matt and Jeremy right on her tail, and stormed out of the house so fast that we couldn't even react. Jeremy looked at us helplessly while Matt kept shouting after her.

"She was fine, and then she just... she just freaked out," he mumbled and I pulled him closer, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

"I'm gonna go look for her. Call me if you hear anything," Matt quickly said before running away too.

"Stefan, this mess is yours and your brother's fault." I looked him in the eyes and he nodded.

"I can track her."

"Go," Elena simply said and he took off too.

Suddenly I realized that I was left with two really confused teenagers, that were definitely going to ask a lot of questions. I looked at Elena and saw her looking like a panther ready to strike its prey, the way she always looked when she wanted some answers, and couldn't help but shudder, she looked really dangerous at that moment But then I looked at Jeremy who looked like a lost puppy, and couldn't help but feel that I was trapped.

He deserved to know too.

Oh, I was so screwed.

A/N: This chapter took really long to write. I almost had to squeeze each word out of myself. It was hard to connect Klaus and everything that was going on in tvd. Thalia had to visit him as he keeps refusing to come to Mystic Falls since he knows that Elena is a doppelganger and he wouldn't be able to hide that fact from Thalia.

Also I wanted to say thank you guys for all of your reviews, it really means a lot. This idea was in my head for a while, and when I finally decided to write it down I realized that I need to start from the beginning, so it was really hard to connect all my crazy thoughts so everything would make more or less sense.

Now about the "Klausotherapy" ))) To be honest that idea was on my mind originally because I really like the name Klaus/ Niklaus, but when I started to write, I had to make him introduce himself to Thalia as Nik, because if he said that his name was Klaus or Niklaus, she would've immediately recognized him, as she obviously knew a lot about the originals. And while Thalia is a badass and obviously isn't afraid of vampires, Klaus is too powerful and at the time when they met she had some huge problems with her magic, and there was no way she could've managed taking him down if he turned out to be a threat, and she is not crazy enough to go for a walk with an original while she wasn't at her strongest (if you know what I'm saying). She is too cautious and even if her instincts told her that he wouldn't harm her she would still turn down his offer.

This story means a lot to me, since it's my very first attempt to really turn my crazy ideas into something readable, especially writing in English since it's not even my mother tongue. I know my "brushwork" is a little tense so I will be constantly changing some little things, adding something more and stuff in previous chapters too, so feel free to check them out from time to time, if you really want to)))

That's all I wanted to say. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter.