The war council was gathered at the Gilbert residence. Elena, freaked out by the threat note, called Stefan and he arrived a few minutes later with Damon on a tow. The room was filled with tension and I was glad that Jenna wasn't home at the moment, the whole thing would've been too much for her to handle.
"Well, that's convenient," Damon smirked after reading the note. "We know exactly where he's gonna be tomorrow and now all we need to do is hunt him down and stake his pathetic ass."
"What does he mean by saying that you didn't invite him in?" Stefan asked from the couch where he was cuddling with slightly unnerved Elena.
"Well, he probably tried to get an invitation somehow, but since none of us invite people inside directly anymore..." I trailed off rubbing the bridge of my nose. "It doesn't matter. Damon was right, he did know Kathrine and he is obviously obsessed with her. It is convenient indeed that we now know where he will be tomorrow, it will save me the trouble of hunting him down."
"It can be dangerous, we don't know what he's capable of," Elena mumbled snuggling into Stefan's chest.
"That's why you and Jeremy are not going anywhere tomorrow."
My words caused two annoyed outbursts from my siblings.
"You can't leave us out of this," Jeremy exclaimed. "While that psycho's running free all of us are in danger just because we are related to Elena and that's including Jenna. While we are safe inside this house, that doesn't mean he won't try anything while we are at school or anywhere else where he can get us. I'm not gonna sit here and do nothing. And besides I can't not go, I'm on punch duty tomorrow."
"Wow, baby Gilbert's finally found his backbone," Damon snickered, receiving a heated glare from said Gilbert.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jeremy's right," Elena stated and Jeremy moved his annoyed gaze at her. "I don't think that our vampire stalker is stupid. He would immediately know that something is up if I don't show up and who knows what he could do then. This is a perfect opportunity. And, besides, you and Stefan are gonna be there."
"I appreciate your faith in us Elena, I really do, but we can't be everywhere at once. Keeping an eye on you two while trying to find the asshole is going to be a bitch." I stubbornly tried to ignore her words, even though I knew that she was right. It didn't mean that I was okay with endangering my family.
"You know she's right, witchy. This is a perfect opportunity to eliminate the threat. And, besides, I'm gonna be there too. I really want to ask the asshole a few questions," Damon cocked his eyebrow at me as if daring me to say that he was wrong.
I observed the determined looks on their faces (well except for Stefan, he looked worried about his precious girlfriend getting hurt) and sighed in defeat. Part of me missed the times when my siblings were oblivious to the existence of supernatural and were relatively safe without all this drama. I couldn't help but worry about their safety all the time now, with all these predators circling around us. Something tightened in my stomach when I felt for the hundredth time that it was all just a beginning. I was afraid my hair would end up turning grey at the end of the school year.
"Fine," I finally said. "But we are doing it my way. No objections. Do you understand me?" I gave my siblings a stern look and they nodded in agreement, happy that I was letting them participate. It still felt like everything was just an adventure to them, until they saw some real nasty shit that is.
"So what's the plan, oh almighty witch of the west?" Damon asked eagerly, pretending that it all was just fun and games for him, but I could see that his eyes were deadly serious. He wasn't happy with the new vamp since he was sabotaging his plan to save Kathrine and he was dying to rip his head off.
"We'll go to the dance tomorrow, but there's no way I'm gonna endanger my sister, so... Elena, come here please." She stood up confusedly and came to stand beside me, curious about what I was about to do. "Give me your hands."
I took her hands in mine, ignoring her growing confusion, and whispered a short spell that I learned from the Nefeli's Grimoire. As soon as I finished everyone in the room gasped in shock, including Elena who was looking at me with huge eyes, trying to believe in what she was seeing.
"Holy shit!" Jeremy exclaimed, jumping up from his seat, closely followed by Stefan as they both came closer to me and Elena to see if they really were seeing what they were seeing.
"Relax, it's just a little illusion," I said in Elena's voice and saw my sister flinch from the sheer madness unfolding before her own eyes.
I hid an amused snort seeing their flabbergasted expressions, even Damon was shocked and that was saying something. And all that reaction was caused by a small illusion spell that switched my and Elena's appearances, she looked like me while I became her identical copy. The spell wasn't actually that rare, I already knew the similar one but Nefeli's spell was a modified version of sorts, easier to cast and less draining while being more effective. Her Grimoire was filled with modified spells and I wasn't even halfway through it yet, the sheer thought that there was still much more for me to discover filled me with excitement.
"That's so cool!" Jeremy couldn't contain his excitement. Elena just opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again looking a little lost, which looked a little funny on my own face.
"Impressive," Stefan said with restraint, finally overcoming his shock. "So you are going to pretend to be Elena and take him down the second he decides to attack? That's actually a good plan."
"Oh, I know it's a good plan," I smirked diabolically, putting my hand on my hip sassily. "He's so gonna regret messing with my sister."
Stefan and Damon suddenly shuddered seeing my not so kind smile, making me frown in confusion. I mean, I knew that I was quite intimidating but I didn't think it was the case.
"Please, don't... smile like that while you're impersonating Elena," Stefan mumbled, looking away as if it was painful to even look at me. "You kinda look exactly like Kathrine when you do that. It's creepy."
"Yeah, the resemblance is a little creepy. So far, besides looking exactly like Kathrine, I never really confused Elena for her. They are just too different. But now..." Damon looked creeped out indeed, and it had me thinking. Wasn't he in love with the girl? I mean, I can kind of understand Stefan's reaction, but Damon looked really uncomfortable.
I rolled my eyes at them and broke the spell, returning me and Elena to our usual appearances. Everyone looked relieved at that, except for Jeremy who was still amazed by the display of magic.
"Okay, it's settled then. The only problem is that I don't have anything to wear for tomorrow. I wasn't particularly planning to attend," I groaned falling into a nearby chair. I so wasn't looking forward to the dance. 50s was never my favorite decade, all those colorful clothes and poodle skirts... it all was just ugh.
"We can go shopping tomorrow before the dance, or even skip school for that matter, everybody will be preparing for the dance anyway. I still need some accessories to my outfit," Elena offered and I groaned again. Awesome. Shopping was still inevitable. It was one thing to go with someone and just say yes or no to whatever they were gonna buy for themselves, but shopping for myself was such a drag, especially when I wasn't alone. Usually I would just buy the first thing that catches my eye, but with Elena it was nearly impossible. But I guess, I at least should be thankful that it wasn't Caroline. She was just a slave driver when it came to shopping and organizing.
"Fine. But I can't skip school, I promised Caroline to help her finish with the decorations," I huffed, then turned to Damon who was standing beside the front door, eager to leave now when there wasn't any immediate danger. "What about Emily's Grimoire?"
"Nothing's changed since the last update, Glinda," he rolled his eyes at me. "It wasn't long since we saw each other, I haven't even been home yet. I'll continue searching, don't you worry that pretty little head of yours. You coming, Stef? I would appreciate some extra help."
Stefan sighed at his brother and hugged Elena to his chest one last time, gave her a goodbye kiss and waved at me and Jeremy before leaving with Damon.
Half an hour later I was in my room, standing in front of an open wardrobe trying to figure out what to wear for tomorrow's dance. No poodle skirts, obviously, no any skirts or dresses for that matter and nothing too colorful. I grabbed a pair of dark black skinny jeans and observed them for a minute trying to imagine them on myself with some black top, short leather jacket, bright red scarf on the neck and red heels. The picture in my head satisfied me enough, so I nodded to myself and went to check if I got everything I needed to complete the outfit. As it turned out I needed to buy some red shoes. To my endless annoyance. I was lacking a scarf as well, but I remembered that Elena owned one, so I was just going to borrow hers. With that settled I went to sleep, anticipating next day with a heavy heart.
I had to go to school earlier than I wanted, to help Caroline finish painting some banners for the dance. Those were just finishing touches, we finished the main stuff yesterday. I was okay with that, happy for the opportunity to hangout with my best friend.
"Here, take these and make something incredible," Caroline ordered as soon as I approached her, handing me my painting kit that I left here yesterday.
"Hello to you too, Ms. Organizing Freak," I mumbled giving her a fake smile.
"Ha ha, very funny. Now go and give me the best you can. We don't have time to slack off." She gave me a slight smack on the butt, pushing me to the nearby table with a huge sheet of blank paper/soon to be a banner on it.
"Damn, bossy much?" She wasn't in "my sweet best friend Caroline" mode anymore, she was in a "Caroline The Control Freak" mode in all its glory, but unlike anybody else I never saw a problem with that. She was really responsible with everything she was asked to do and I was always happy to help... within reasonable limits of course.
We continued our mock bickering for a while until Matt showed up offering his help and he and Caroline started flirting shamelessly right in front of my innocent eyes, like I wasn't even there. I mean, what the hell? Was I destined to be an eternal third wheel?
I did the best I could to ignore them and tried to finish with my assigned job as fast as I could and get the hell out of there. It wasn't a problem, I managed to tune their sickly sweat conversation out and fully concentrated on painting.
I was almost finished when some part of my brain that was constantly observing my surroundings, felt that the atmosphere at the nearby table became dramatically cold. I came out of my working trance and listened into their conversation to figure out what was going on, but only managed to catch the end of it and Matt leaving quickly with really upset Caroline sadly observing his leaving back.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I asked gently, coming closer to her. She moved her sad look at me and I couldn't help myself and gave her a brief hug. She looked like a lost puppy, and when she did that look it always felt like a weapon of mass destruction.
"I screwed up, Thal," she whispered accepting my hug. "I didn't intend to, but I always end up doing or saying inappropriate things. I suck."
Then she told me that she got upset when Matt told her that he couldn't make it to the dance as he would be on his shift at the Grill and he thought she was upset because he worked as the busboy.
"It's not your fault, Caroline. He's just really sensitive about his living situation, with his mum ignoring him and his sister still being MIA, you know? You just need to talk to him and show him that you were upset because you really wanted to go to the dance with him, not because you were ashamed of him or something."
"You are right. I'll try to talk to him later," she finally said, pulling herself together and putting on her fake smile, when she noticed that some other students were watching us. I couldn't help but scowl at the assholes. Some people are such scavengers, waiting till someone falls so they can have their entertainment. Especially when it's someone popular.
We ended our assignment at the same time and made it right before the classes started, so we parted our ways and headed to our respective classes.
Halfway through my classes I bumped into Jeremy in the corridor and asked him about his paper, since I knew that he passed it on yesterday. He proudly stated that he got an A, making me squeal in delight and give him a tight warm hug, which made him extremely embarrassed as I did that in the middle of the hallway, but happy nonetheless. It was a really good news, little squirt was able to feed Mr. Saltzman the bullshit about vampires, making everything look allegorical and ended up getting an A. I was really impressed and proud that my brother was finally getting back to his nerdy but fun and innocent self.
Anyway, that was the only highlight of my afternoon, since Elena appeared out of nowhere after the classes ended and dragged me to do some dreaded shopping.
We were at the store in the accessories department looking for a headband that would complete Elena's outfit. We already picked up a pink scarf for her and a pair of red stilettos for me, so I was eager to finish the torture and head home.
"Did you talk to Jenna today, or are you still ignoring her?" I asked nonchalantly, while moving my bored gaze over the shelves with headbands of different shapes and shades of white. For me they all looked the same, but Elena was thoroughly going through them and trying them all on, as if it was the most important choice in her life.
"No, I didn't," she answered with a small huff. "I don't think that I'm ready yet. I'm just too angry at her at the moment."
"You should talk to her if you want to learn some details about the whole adoption thing, you know?"
"I know. But, Thalia, she lied to me. I don't even know how to start a conversation without snapping at her."
"She didn't lie to you. Lying implies that you asked her a question first, but you didn't. What other choice did she have if mom and dad asked her not to?"
"But mom and dad are not here anymore, Thal," Elena snapped, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that, but you know that I'm right. It would've been one thing if they were still alive, but they are not. And who else would've told me the truth if not Jenna? John?" Her last question was dripping with sarcasm and I had to admit that Jenna was indeed the only option.
"Yeah, you are probably right," I snorted. "But you have to admit, that she must've been terrified with the very thought that now it fell upon her to tell you the truth, when it wasn't even her job in the first place."
She finally stopped skipping through millions of different (they all looked the same, I swear!) headbands and opted for one of them with a satisfied look on her face, which got me thinking that there was something seriously wrong with me as a girl, if I couldn't for the life of me see what was so different about it. She grabbed it and we both headed to the register.
"I promise, I'll try to talk to her when we get home, okay?" she suggested with a defeated look on her face, after we exited the shop. I only nodded at that, satisfied that they would finally be able to talk it all through. The tension in our house was only becoming thicker and thicker as time passed.
We stumbled upon Jenna as soon as we arrived home. She surprisingly was wearing a 50s outfit which looked really cute on her to be honest, but I was confused as to why she was even dressed up in the first place.
"Spoke to the insurance company," she said instead of greeting. "Car's totaled. I guess for now we are both stuck at using Miranda's old car." The news saddened us a little, as no one had the guts to touch our parents stuff since the accident, including mom's car.
"So, you are coming to the dance?" Elena asked, changing the subject smoothly. I was pleased that her tone didn't give away her anger.
"Alaric asked me to help chaperone," Jenna answered with a slight blush on her cheeks. I didn't know how to feel about it honestly. I was happy that her love life was blooming, but at the same time unnerved that she was about to dive into a potentially unsafe situation. But I still didn't want to tell her about the operation "hunt down a creep in a hoody", she deserved some time off from a supernatural crap with her completely normal future boyfriend.
Elena went into the kitchen and took an apple from the table. Her actions looked a little restrained as if she was trying to control her anger.
"Why didn't you tell me, Jenna?" she blurted out accusingly, turning to our aunt who immediately lost her smile.
Well, there goes her restraint, I thought in mild annoyance. I went and sat beside Jenna on the couch, giving her my silent support.
"Your mom was gonna do it eventually. I never thought I'd have to," she sighed.
"If mom was here right now and I asked, she'd tell me the truth."
It was silent for a few moments while Jenna was gathering her thoughts, before she spoke again. "Your dad was about to leave the office one night when this girl showed up. She was sixteen, a runaway, and about to give birth. He delivered her baby, and he gave her a place to stay, but a few days later, she disappeared. And there you were. Your parents were trying so hard to have a baby. I-it just wasn't happening. All Miranda ever wanted was to be a mom."
"Well, why were our parents' names on the birth certificate then?" Elena asked after exchanging a quick glance with me.
"Your dad was a doctor, Elena," Jenna shrugged. "He took care of it. They didn't wanna lose you so they kept it quiet, told as few people as possible, but if anyone ever wanted proof, they had documentation."
"What else do you know about her? The girl?" Elena asked hesitatingly.
"Just her name. Isobel."
After that Elena excused herself and quickly retreated upstairs. We both followed her leaving figure with sad looks, then I put my hand on Jenna's shoulder.
"Everything's gonna be okay. You finally talked, that's all that matters," I said reassuringly.
"She hates me," she whispered sadly.
"You know she doesn't. Come on, Jenna. It's Elena we are talking about here. She never holds grudges, you know that. Besides, she already took a step forward, even if she was a bit snarky about it. She'll come around."
"I hope you are right. I hate this hostile atmosphere," she sighed.
"Of course I'm right," I stated sassily and she snorted at my attitude. I hesitated for a moment before asking the next question. "I'm curious though, why hadn't they told her sooner? I mean, they already had an adopted kid. I don't think that it would've been as traumatic for her, since she already had an adoptive sister, you know?"
"I don't know, honey. I asked Miranda the same question, but she told me that it wasn't the right time yet, whatever that means." She squeezed my hand and gave me a sad smile.
I shrugged and put my head on her shoulder. That was a mystery for another time. We sat like that for a few moments until I got an idea.
"Hey, can you show me the bracelet that I gave you for a sec?" I asked lifting my head.
She looked at me confused, then gave me her right hand with my bracelet wrapped around it. I put her hand on my lap and made a little cut on my point finger with a bit of magic.
"Thalia! What in the world are you doing?" She exclaimed, looking at my bleeding finger with shock. I didn't reply, just started smearing my blood all over the bracelet mumbling a few spells under my breath. When I finished, the bracelet was clean, seemingly absorbing all the blood with a gentle glow. "What was that? What did you do?"
"I added a little tracker to it, so I can always find you if something happens. Just in case," I said nonchalantly, trying not to alarm her. "Also I will be able to feel it and come to your rescue if you squeeze your bracelet tightly and think my name loudly in your head. I will add the same spells to Elena and Jeremy's bracelets as well, just to be on the safe side. There's no such thing as too much protection."
"Is everything okay?" she asked a little suspiciously and I had to try really hard to keep my poker face. I was such a bad liar.
"Yeah. It's just... you know, I'm a little bit cautious after what happened to Elena and that unknown vampire is still on the loose, so this way I'll always be able to come and rescue you if something happens."
"Thank you, honey. But I wish we could do the same thing for you too. Who's gonna come and rescue you if something happens to you?" She cupped my cheek and gave this strange look that I couldn't quite decipher. She looked somehow helpless.
"I'm gonna be just fine, Jenna," I gave her a cocky smile. "I'm a Black witch, I can handle anything that comes my way."
"Cocky little brat," she snorted with a smile, only to receive my annoyed "hey!" in return.
Jenna already left, leaving me and Elena behind to get ready. I stood in front of my mirror, adding a few finishing touches to my makeup. I decided to stick to classic makeup and applied some eyeliner to create cat eyes and bright red lipstick. I did my hair in a high ponytail and curled the ends going for a casual 50s hairstyle.
When I finally felt like my look was complete, I took a photo of myself and sent it to Nik, anticipating his reaction with a small smile on my face. It became something like a tradition already, me sending him the picture of my look before an event, that way I somehow felt like he was here with me even though I knew that it was not possible for the time being. My phone started ringing almost instantly.
"Your beauty knows no bound, my love." His raspy voice instantly did its magic sending a tingling sensation down my body, and I could feel butterflies stirring in my stomach. "For someone who don't like 50s you certainly pull it off like no other. I see that you changed your mind about attending that dance at your school."
"Well, yeah. Something came up and now I have no choice other than to attend, so I thought I might as well make the most out of it. Do I even look like I could belong in 50s?" I asked curiously.
"Absolutely. I'm pretty sure you can pull off any decade, sweetheart. You beauty is out of this world."
"Flattery will take you nowhere, Mr Hybrid," I purred feeling my heart start beating faster from the sincerity in his voice.
"It's not flattery, love. I'm just stating the obvious. Your exquisite beauty and the way you hold yourself, both in public and private, are truly a magnificent sight to behold. I wish I was there at the moment so I could show you how beautiful you are. I'm quite certain I could make your body sing while I show you my appreciation of your beauty." His intimate whisper sent thousands of images through my mind and none of them were innocent.
"Don't do this to me, Niklaus. Not when I'm heading out in a few seconds," I moaned in frustration and heard him laughing at my pain. "You are evil."
"Indeed, I am, love," he stated smugly.
"Anyway, how is your little trip going? Any success yet?" I asked using my hand to fan my face, in a desperate attempt to change the subject. My face felt ridiculously hot.
"None," he answered after a short laugh, taking pity on me. "I can only say that it would've been better if werewolves weren't nearly extinct," he sighed. "Most of them hide in places where no humans have ever set a foot. Those few that I found are the only ones as of yet. But I'm not going to give up, I still have a few more trails to track."
"I know how much it means to you and I know for certain that you'll succeed... but it feels like ages has passed since we saw each other last. I miss you." I hoped my voice didn't sounds like a whine at the end, even though it sure felt like it.
"I miss you too, princess. Even though it feels like we are having this conversation over and over again, I promise it will change soon." His solemn promise warmed my heart, giving me a hope that everything would be exactly as he said it would. "Now tell me, are there any news about that vampire that tried to kill your sister."
I told him the latest news regarding our little plan to hunt down Elena's stalker vamp and about my idea to switch appearances with her. Least to say he was impressed. He reassured me that he believed in my abilities to deal with anything that comes my way, but still made me promise to be more careful, just for his peace of mind. I promised I would, of course. I didn't have any bad feelings about tonight after all.
Elena came into my room as soon as I ended my call, looking really cute in her outfit. We both decided to stick to the pants, just to be on the safe side, except I was wearing high heels while Elena was in her sneakers. We decided to wait for Stefan in the living room, I already cast the illusion spell and switched appearances with Elena to her annoyance. She was mad that she couldn't snuggle with Stefan while wearing my face. She also instructed me to keep my hands off of her boyfriend and I was having a good time teasing her about having to be all handsy with him just for the role. She was pissed.
When Stefan arrived we wasted no time and headed out. Caroline and Bonnie texted us that they were already there and as Stefan informed us, Damon was too.
The school gym was crowded when we came in, me holding hands with Stefan, while Elena sulkily followed behind.
"Don't frown, it provokes wrinkles," I said to her face in a singsong voice, snuggling a into very uncomfortable looking Stefan's chest.
"Your sister is right, Thalia," Damon suddenly appeared out of nowhere and wrapped his hand around her shoulders only to receive the murderous glare from her in return. "Relax. School years are supposed to be the most fun and carefree time in someone's life. Live a little."
We all rolled our eyes and ignored him completely, I then spotted Caroline and Bonnie not far away from us and headed in their direction dragging Stefan along. Elena and Damon had no other choice than to follow us.
"Girls, you look smashing," I told them with a happy smile giving each of them a hug. "And Caroline you did an amazing job around here."
"Thank you, Elena," Caroline beamed at me. "But I wouldn't be able to do all this without Thalia, she painted almost all the decorations herself." She then excitedly hugged really confused me/Elena thanking her for the help.
It was quite amusing to watch to be honest. All this idea with switching was really hilarious. Damon was enjoying the situation as much as I was and even Stefan looked amused seeing Elena's uncomfortable expression.
"Okay, but why are you standing here all alone and not having fun on the dance floor?" Elena asked as soon as Caroline freed her from her suffocating hug.
"Well we are both single, plus it was a bitch to organize this event and this look took about two hours, so I'm at least staying half of that," Caroline stated with a fake cheery smile making me frown and look at her more closely. She was really sad that Matt wasn't there with her and I could totally understand her feelings, but that didn't make me feel less angry at Matt for being a dumbass and hurting my best friend.
"Aren't you too old to be here?" Bonnie asked Damon with a small smirk.
"I couldn't miss all the fun now, could I? Plus I'm chaperoning," Damon smirked, wiggling his hips and shoulders to the music. "Now, I can't stand the sight of two beautiful ladies missing all the fun, so... wanna dance?"
He offered each of them a hand and to my endless amusement they both shrugged and accepted, and the three of them moved to the dance floor. Stefan and Elena watched them go with bemused looks and I couldn't help but laugh at them.
Elena shook her head with a sigh and turned to me, "What are we gonna do now?"
"Now, dear sister, you are gonna give me your phone and go to our brother, where he is standing manning the punch bowl."
"What do you need my phone for? And why do I have to stay with Jeremy?" she asked furrowing her eyebrows.
"To your first question, the stalker knows your number so I need your phone just in case he calls again," I whispered leaning to her ear, even though I was pretty sure that no one would be able to overhear us with such a loud music. "To the second question, I was able to put a tracker only on your and Jenna's bracelets, so I need you to stay with Jeremy just in case something unexpected happens."
She nodded her head, reluctantly accepting my points and we quickly switched our phones before she went to join our brother, exchanging the last longing look with her boyfriend.
I then turned to Stefan, who became even more uncomfortable now when we were both left alone.
"So, uh, what now?" he asked hesitatingly.
"Now, we are gonna dance," I told him with fake excitement and saw his lips twitch in amusement, but he was able to refrain from smiling.
"And why am I gonna do that?"
"Because I'm your "girlfriend" and you "love me", silly," I said in "duh" manner and dragged him to the dance floor.
He had no other choice than to oblige, so we found some less crowded spot for ourselves and started swaying to the music. I realized that maybe it wasn't such a great idea, but I had an image to maintain, so I started looking around to avoid the awkwardness and in hope to see someone suspicious wearing a hoody (which was the only description of the creep that we had), knowing that Stefan was doing the same.
People were getting wild around us, I saw Damon sandwiched between Bonnie and Caroline, the three of them having a good time, while being watched from afar by a very pissed looking Katie Fell. I heard from Caroline that Damon officially dumped her a few days ago, when he made a decision to start keeping a low profile, so not to attract the attention of the Council. To my endless amusement, the bitch didn't look pleased with the sight she was witnessing at the moment, for her it looked like Damon dumped her for Caroline, and I was 100% sure that it was the exact reason Caroline even accepted his offer to dance in the first place, just to piss Katie off. While Bonnie... well I think she was just bored. She told me about the cute bartender at the Grill that she had her eyes on, but aside from that she was still single.
I continued observing the crowd with a poorly hidden worry on my face (just in case if the asshole was already here, watching Elena) and spotted Jenna and Mr Saltzman in a corner, flirting shamelessly, standing really close to each other. I smiled gently at the sight of my happy aunt, pleased with the fact that I didn't tell her about the stalker vamp, she deserved some alone time with our hot teacher without having to worry about some vampire freaks threatening her family.
Meanwhile not far from them Elena and Jeremy were talking to some girl and I frowned a little when I realized that she must be Anna, and thought that my siblings were doing a good job pretending to not be aware of her being a vampire. Though Elena kept sending longing looks in our direction ruining my impression of her being a good actress.
The song suddenly changed to a slower one and my head snapped back to my partner, who looked at me with the same slightly annoyed expression.
"You've got to be kidding me," he mumbled under his breath, sending a quick look in Elena's direction.
"Look, I know, I like it as much as you do, but we don't have other choice. We need to be somewhere where he could see us easily, and the dance floor is the best option," I whispered to him. He sighed, then nodded and offered me his hand pulling me closer. I put my hands on his shoulders while he reluctantly hugged my waist keeping me at the safe length. I gave him an unimpressed look and he pulled me even closer, knowing that he was doing a shitty job.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly avoiding looking into my eyes. "It's not about you, it's just... you look exactly like her but you are not... well... her."
"It's okay, I understand" I reassured him. "I didn't expect it to become this awkward either. I hope Nik will never find out about this." I mumbled the last sentence under my breath but he was still able to hear me.
"Tell me about him. You said he was a vampire," he asked suddenly. I didn't expect that question and didn't know what to say for a second.
"Well, yes he is. What exactly do you wanna know?"
"I just find it strange, you know? A witch dating a vampire. I've never stumbled upon such a couple before, since all the witches hate us as far as I know." He looked really curious and reminded me of Nik a little with that phrase, which made me smile.
"Well, we Black witches never hated vampires. We always try to stay neutral. With a few exceptions, of course." I frowned thinking of my bio mother. He gave me an interrogative look so I elaborated. "My grandfather was killed by a vampire, so my... birth mother hated your kind with passion."
"I'm sorry," he said giving me a sympathetic look.
"No, it's okay. I never knew him, it happened long before I was born. My grandma was devastated but she never felt the same hatred to your kind as her daughter did, so she ran away. Everything else is history."
"So you never knew your mother? Elena said you were adopted when you were four," he asked and instantly looked like he regretted it, but I shook my head showing him that I was fine.
"She died while giving birth to me." And thank God she did, I thought.
"I'm sorry for bringing that up," he apologized again. He sounded and looked so sincere that I couldn't help but smile at him, he was such a nice person.
I reassured him that I was fine and excused myself to go to the restroom. He probably thought that he hurt me with his questions, but I really just wanted to use the restroom so I decided to talk to him later. I was glad to have an opportunity to know him better. Even though we didn't talk about him, that little conversation helped me to know him better than anything else. I was still sure that he could do better without all that holier than thou attitude that he used to show that he was better than his brother, but aside from that he was a nice person.
On my way back I received a text from Caroline informing me (Elena) that she and Bonnie went to the Grill. I wished the girl a good luck, knowing full well that she would encounter Matt there at some point and the awkward conversation between the two of them was pretty much inevitable. Bonnie probably went along to see the cute bartender she had a crush on. I was glad that they left the party at some point, less people for me to worry about.
Another slow song was playing when I joined Stefan, so we both rolled our eyes playfully and joined dancing pairs again. I looked around, anxious that the bastard still didn't make his move. I looked where Jenna and Alaric were standing, only to see that now instead of my aunt, my history teacher was having a conversation with Damon, of all people. I confusedly observed the weird sight, then turned to look at the punch table where my siblings still stood talking to each other in hushed voices. The Anna girl wasn't with them anymore, so I assumed she left.
I scanned the whole gym, but didn't see anyone suspicious so I returned my attention back to Stefan.
"Maybe he's not gonna show," I said after a few minutes of dancing, annoyance clear in my voice.
"You mean we did all this dancing for nothing?" he joked making me laugh.
"The horror! Our sacrifice was in vain!" This time he joined me and we both had a good laugh, shaking a little bit of a tension off.
"I'm really sorry for earlier, for bringing up an uncomfortable topic," he then said somberly after a few seconds spent in a comfortable silence.
"Stop. I don't want to hear you apologizing anymore. Everything's fine."
He smiled and raised his hands in mock defeat. He was about to say something when his expression changed while his gaze focused on something behind my back. I followed his look and saw a dark figure in a hoody standing near the exit.
"Get Damon," he quickly said and disappeared into the crowd, heading in the suspicious stranger's direction.
I turned to look where I last saw Damon, dancing with some girl, but he was nowhere to be seen. I started looking around the gym, but the song changed again to a more groovy one this time and everyone cheered and started moving frantically around me blocking my view every few seconds. I began walking in the direction where I saw Damon last, pushing my way through the crowd, when Elena's phone started ringing in my pocket. I looked at the screen but the ID was unknown, I had a suspicion that the bastard finally decided to reveal himself, so I answered it.
"Hello, Elena," a man's voice said and I started "frantically" looking around trying to find where he was. "Here's what you gonna do. There's an exit door behind you. You have five seconds."
"No," I said with a scared look on my face, still looking around trying to see if there was someone suspicious on the phone nearby. In situations like this I always wished that I could feel the presence of the supernatural creatures without having to touch them. I could use the spell, but there were four vampires in the building that I knew of and I had no idea who was who.
"Or your brother and sister die." That had me freeze in place for a second, before my head whipped in the direction where I knew Jeremy and Elena were standing. There he was, standing right behind them, looking at me with a smug little smirk on his face that I felt a strong urge to wipe off. "I can snap their necks so fast I bet there's not even a witness. Now, start walking."
"Don't you dare touch them," I growled while backing up towards the door.
"Keep walking. Through the door," he commanded, but I obliged only when he started walking as well and passed by Elena and Jeremy, leaving them behind.
When I made sure that he wasn't going to harm them I hung up the phone, turned around and ran out of the gym. I ran down the empty hallway knowing full well that he was following me, leisurely, like a predator hunting its prey. Little did he know, of the two of us, he was the one being hunted.
I turned around the corner and ran to the set of doors, only to find them chained shut. I threw a quick glance behind my back and saw him still walking in my direction. I could've taken him down right there but there was a chance that someone would stumble upon us, so I rushed down a different corridor until I saw the doors to the cafeteria and quickly ran inside. There was no one there, actually there was not a single soul in this part of school, which I learned after a quick spell, so I finally dropped the act and turned to my stalker, calmly waiting till he entered the room.
He flung open the set of doors and vamp-sped towards me only to hit my invisible protecting shield and fly across the room like a rag doll. He hit the ground with a thud, crushing into some tables on his way, but quickly stood up, only to be pulled towards me with a flick of my wrist. For the second time he flew through the air and fell down right in front of me with a groan. He tried to stand up but I muttered another spell and paralyzed him, making him freeze mid movement, standing in front of me on his knees. His eyes were fixed on my face, the mixture of anger, disbelief and fear in them.
At that moment Stefan, Damon and Elena came rushing inside and stopped in their tracks observing the sight in front of them.
"Well, what do you know," Damon drawled out, with a cheery little smirk on his face as they all came closer to where we were standing in the middle of the room.
I didn't say anything, just silently broke the illusion spell that was actually feeling a little draining after keeping it up for so long and exchanged our phones back with Elena.
"What..." the vamp breathed out, his eyes becoming even bigger, seeing that he was hunting the wrong person this whole time.
"Relax, dickhead. Nobody wants to kill you. We just wanna talk," Damon smiled crouching down in front him and completely ignoring the stubborn expression on the stalker's face. Something told me that he was enjoying all this way too much.
I rolled my eyes at him and turned to where I earlier spotted a mop in the bucket standing near the wall and summoned it right into my hand. I snapped it in half, satisfied that it was sharp enough to use and threw it to Damon. I didn't want to waste more of my precious magic on something that could be achieved without it. Damon caught the makeshift stake and sent me a questioning look.
"I'm not going to waste any more energy than necessary on him," I shrugged, not really wanting to tell everyone about my little problem with magic. "You do want to do the honors, don't you, Lestat?"
"Oh, with pleasure, Glinda." He didn't waste any more time and drove the stake right through the stalker's chest. "Now you feel like talking?"
"Screw you," the asshole spat out, putting on a brave face even though it was quite obvious for everyone that he wasn't a tough nut to crack.
"Wrong answer," Damon smirked, digging the stake in deeper and making him almost double over from the pain. I already lifted my paralyzing spell from him for that matter. "Why are you doing this?" he asked again.
"Because it's fun," the asshole smiled showing us his blood stained teeth. Yep, the dude was completely nuts.
"What do you want with Elena," Stefan asked hugging my sister to his chest protectively, while Damon dug the stake in a little more.
"She looks like Kathrine," the vamp groaned. We all exchanged some exasperated looks at that. It was pretty obvious that he was doing all this because she looked like Kathrine, he even called her that in his note. Which wasn't a smartest thing to do, by the way.
"You knew Kathrine?" Damon couldn't help but ask.
"Oh. You thought you were the only ones. You don't even remember me," he laughed, only to choke on his own blood, Damon must've pierced his lung.
"How are you planning to get into the tomb," I asked for the first time since the interrogation started.
"No," he shook his head stubbornly, refusing to answer. Damon exchanged a look with me and I nodded. With a little more pressure he dug the stake way deeper inside the asshole's rib cage and this time it looked like he finally managed to scratch his heart as his expression changed into one of complete horror and he stuttered, "The Grimoire. Check the journal. The journal. Jonathan's journal. Jonathan Gilbert."
"Well, nothing we haven't known already," I grumbled, observing the agonizing vampire. "Who else is working with you?" I asked more loudly this time and frowned when I saw him shaking his head.
"Who else is there?" Damon repeated the question twisting the stake in the wound.
"No. You are gonna have to kill me," he groaned and something told me that he was telling the truth. He wasn't going to fess up that easily. Well, at least he was loyal, I could give him that.
Damon then looked at me again, silently asking what to do next. I wasn't satisfied with the answer though, but I already prepared a plan B, in case the dimwit refused to cooperate.
"Stefan, can you and Damon hold him still for me please? I want to try something."
Stefan gave me a quick nod and joined his brother, Damon moving slightly aside so they could hold him together. I went to stand right behind the vampires' kneeled down figure, making some small cuts on my index and middle fingers on both of my hands, then rubbing them against each other to spread my blood evenly on them.
"No. What... are you doing? I told you I'm not gonna say anything. You have to kill me," the vampire groaned stubbornly, but there was a sliver of fear in his voice since he had no idea what I was gonna do next.
"Hush, now," I said calmly silencing him with a spell and put my bloody fingers right on his temples. "Hold him still boys and don't let go until I'm finished."
"What are you doing?" Elena asked quietly, for the first time since she entered the cafeteria. I gave her a comforting smile seeing how she was feeling really unnerved by the display of torture.
"I'm gonna search for some answers. Hold him still," I said the last part looking at the Salvatore brothers and closed my eyes muttering a short spell under my breath, only to appear in his mind a second later.
Even though I felt my own body and was aware of my surroundings, it still felt as if at the same time I was standing somewhere else. Somewhere dark and void, but I wasn't afraid as I knew exactly what I needed to do, even though it was the first time I was using this spell. I knew the theory but I never really had an opportunity to practice it without someone to try it on. Thank you asshole for being my little lab rat.
"Who else is with you in town? Who else wants that tomb opened?" I asked out loud but my voice rang out into the dark space surrounding me, loud and clear.
I wasn't expecting any verbal answer, knowing full well that my practice dummy was in a trance and I would theoretically receive my answers in form of visions and images, but it still became quite a surprise when it actually happened.
A myriad of images entered my mind one after another, my brain being too slow to process all of them at once. I tried to go through them ignoring my growing headache, but I didn't expect it to be so hard. After a few moments I felt something warm lingering down my lips and chin and further down my neck and heard my sister's alarmed voice calling out my name, but it sounded as if I was hearing it through the water. Anyway, I ignored all of it and didn't let go until I processed the last piece of information.
I came back to my senses with a gasp hearing the vampire doing the same a second later and took a few steps back from him, shaking my head in a futile attempt to get rid of the annoying ringing sound in my ears.
"Thalia!" Elena exclaimed, cupping my face with her hands and making me tilt my head back to stop the nosebleed. "Oh my God, Thalia, are you okay?"
It took me a few moments to shake off the dizziness and after that I gently pulled away her hands from my face and gave her a small smile.
"I'm fine. It was just a really powerful spell, that's it. Don't you worry."
"How can I not worry, it's too much blood for a simple nosebleed," Elena snapped at me, her worry now mixed with annoyance at me being stubborn.
"You alright there, witchy?" I heard Damon's cheery voice and turned to look at him. Even though he tried not to show it, both him and Stefan looked quite worried about me, which I have to admit, warmed my heart a little.
"I'm totally fine. Don't you worry. I just need to wash all this blood off and I'll be as right as rain."
"Well then, what about this little piece of shit? Did you find out everything you wanted?" He then shook his hand with a stake in its grasp which was still buried into Noah's (I finally remembered his name) rib cage, which in turn shook his all body in a silent scream of agony. I felt pleased with myself for silencing him before that.
"Yeah, he's of no use anymore." I gave him a pointed look and he nodded in understanding, then finally made the last move piercing the vamp's heart, putting him out of his misery.
Elena flinched, seeing Damon and Stefan standing up releasing their hold on the vampire and letting his body fall on the ground, his skin slowly turning grey. I was about to hug her when we all heard the sound of someone opening the door and turned around to see Mr. Saltzman's head through one of the windows.
"Go," Stefan told Damon, who quickly left to deal with an unwanted witness, then turned to us and said, "You should go too and uh... wash off the blood. I got this. Let's meet in the parking lot afterwards." I nodded, seeing that he was talking about dealing with the body and let Elena guide me to the restroom.
Elena kept ranting all the way to the restroom, while I was washing the blood off my face and neck and even on our way to the parking lot after that, but I didn't mind. It was obvious that she needed to let everything out after the stressful night. I only nodded here and there not paying her much attention, wandering what Damon did to our history teacher. I was still a little out of it and forgot to tell him not to harm Jenna's potential boyfriend.
Elena stopped only when we joined Stefan and Damon near my car on the parking lot, either tired of talking or realizing that it was all futile as I wasn't paying any attention. Both brothers broke their conversation as we approached them and gave me a quick once over.
"How are you feeling?" Stefan asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"Much better," I waved him off and leant against my car, feeling tired after spending the night running all over the place on high heels, wanting nothing other than to get home and free my poor feet from those torture devices.
"So, what did you find in the dimwit's head? Was he working alone or...? Damon asked.
"Well, as we suspected he was working with that Anna girl that was annoying Jeremy and the other guy that she turned, I don't know his name but I'm pretty sure he went to Mystic Falls High only he graduated a few years ago, but that's not all." They all exchanged some worried looks and turned to me ready to hear some bad news. I decided to not disappoint them, "There are others."
"What do you mean others?" Stefan asked, hoping desperately that he misheard me.
"Others, as in other vampires that want that tomb opened. It wasn't really smart of me to assume that all those mummies down there didn't have friends or families that would want to free them." I sighed. "Anna is the oldest as far as I know, and she ordered others to stay behind not wanting to draw an unwanted attention yet, but the moment she gets her hands on the Grimoire and a witch to lift the spell they will all come here."
"Damn it!" Damon cursed, looking really pissed with the whole situation. We all could understand him though, it was a catastrophe.
"What are we gonna do then?" a frightened looking Elena asked, accepting a comforting hug from Stefan.
"We need to open it as soon as possible, which means we need to do it on a full moon which is in a few days time. But we still need to find Emily's Grimoire because I won't be able to break the seal while it's still strong."
"I looked everywhere, searched all of my dad's stuff but didn't find even a mention of Emily's belongings," Damon groaned in frustration. "You know what? I think we should check the journal again, just in case you missed something." He looked right at me while saying that, but I just rolled my eyes at him.
"Fine. Whatever. If that's what you want to do. Jeremy has it so you can come over tomorrow and go through it."
He nodded and waved us goodbye before heading off, grumbling about a body that he needed to bury. We followed his leaving figure with exasperated looks, before getting inside my car, including Stefan as he decided to come over to spend some time with Elena. While in the car I sent a quick message to Jeremy, giving him a heads up and asking if he wanted a lift home, but he refused saying that the dance wasn't over yet hence he couldn't leave, but some of his friends that were working with him offered to drive him home so he was cool.
"Damn," I sighed, driving my car to the exit from the parking lot, "I forgot to ask Damon about what he did to my favorite history teacher."
"He's fine, Damon told me he just compelled him to forget everything he saw," Stefan reassured me from the back seat. It did calm me down, as I was never sure of what Damon could do the next moment, he was just so random. The most random person I've ever met in my life.
"What about that vampire girl though," I asked Elena. "What were you guys talking about?"
She just looked at me confused for a few seconds. It looked like she totally forgot about meeting the girl in the first place, which wasn't surprising after everything that happened after that.
"She um... she kinda came out of nowhere and said something about being homeschooled and never being at a school dance before. She was nice, offered Jeremy her help and stuff and for some time I really forgot that she was actually a vampire. But then she asked about the journal saying that she wanted to read it, but Jeremy said that he didn't have it anymore and she was pissed, her face even changed for a second, then she kinda freaked out and left."
"You should've never let your guard down around her," I scolded her. "She may look 15 but she's not innocent. In fact she's older than Stefan and stronger than Damon, so you need to be more careful."
When we arrived home I left two lovebirds cuddling on the couch making up for the time they spent apart, and went straight to my room to take a shower and change into something comfier, but especially to take off those torture devices someone mistakenly called high heels.
When I took my top off in the bathroom it turned out that the considerable amount of blood from my nosebleed had slipped down my cleavage between my breasts and to my stomach. I wondered how have I never noticed that, but one look at my own reflection in the mirror made all the thoughts leave my mind. The blood on my body created a rather mesmerizing patterns. It wasn't dry yet, I realized when I touched the spot on the top of my breasts. I absentmindedly moved my hand, smearing my own blood on my skin as if I was in some kind of a trance, creating peculiar patterns. Something flashed in front of my eyes making me a little dizzy, but after I shook my head it was all gone.
I realized then that I was acting weird, standing in front of a mirror and rubbing my own blood into my skin, so I closed my eyes and counted to ten, clearing my head from weird thoughts and finally got into the shower.
I came out of the bathroom dressed in my comfy pajamas and determined to go straight to my heavenly comfy bed wishing that Nik was here to give me a foot massage, when I suddenly stopped in my tracks, feeling my chest tightening a little as it always does before a vision. I braced myself expecting my vision to go blank, but strangely enough nothing happened. I rubbed my chest thoughtfully, before turning away from my bed and leaving my room.
I heard the tv downstairs when I was passing through the hallway heading to the stairs to the attic, but didn't pay any attention.
My little studio was exactly the way I left it yesterday, half of the space was filled with my paintings some of them still on easels, others lined up along the walls and the small table in the middle of the room with my different painting kits, cans of oil paints and brushes of different sizes and levels of wear scattered all over it. One corner of the room was filled with boxes of old and unnecessary stuff. There was also a little "greenhouse" of mine near the window, but I didn't pay any attention to it and headed straight to the easel with a blank canvas.
I wasn't in trance like that other time that ended with a hot sex, nor was it a full blown vision which I was thankful for, as I was almost completely drained after using too much magic earlier. I prepared the palette, grabbed my favorite brush, dipped it in some paint and raised it to the canvas.
The last thing I remembered was touching a blank canvas with the tip of my brush, but after that... nothing.