Ghost of Lifetimes Past - Chanaenae (2024)

Chapter 1: And So It Begins

Chapter Text

She was born Lindsey Martin. Now she was Melissa "Lissa" Gilbert. She used to be 5'9. Now she wasn't even a foot tall. She died at age 39. Yet not 2 months ago she had celebrated her 2nd birthday. Confusing, no? Well, try living it. All she remembered was walking into her local middle school to interview a child about his parents and hearing a bang followed by a flash of pain, and the next thing she's aware of is someone shoving a nipple-shaped thing into her mouth. Her mouth that didn't have teeth. The whole experience was mind-boggling. That's the sole reason it took her a whole 4 months to realize she'd been reborn asElena Gilbert's albino twin. As in she was basically a doppelganger without any pigmentation besides her blue eyes. She wasso excitedto be seen as the weird Gilbert twin. If Caroline had a problem being compared to Elena, she knew her future was going to be riddled with comparisons. Even at birth, you could see their clear differences. Lissa had a sickly white complexion with icy blue eyes and a tuff of white hair on her head. On the other hand, Elena was clearly going to be a tan girl with the darkest of hair and pretty brown eyes. Even at age 2, the twin girls were night and day. On top of all that, Lissa didn't really act like a normal child. Can you blame her though? She was an adult in mind and was expected to be a mindless child. It just didn't work out well.

"Lissa, Elena, what do you think about Jeremy for a boy's name?" Miranda, her new mother, asked from the hospital bed. She'd just given birth to her new baby brother. Did this mean she could completely f*ck with canon and change someone's name? No, sadly, Jeremy did fit her brother in the future. She should let him keep the name.

"Jeremy sounds like a nerd name!" Elena piped up.

"Shush Elena! I like it." She stuck her tongue out, playing the role of a 2-year-old. At times she knew she either didn't act very well or completely oversold it. Luckily, her parents were blinded by that nice ol' parental love. She may not have been the favorite but currently she's sure they'd let her get away with murder. It's not surprising Elena became a spoiled brat.

Her father laughed, "Well that just means he's gonna take after his dear ol' dad!"

Lissa, despite knowing what her future held in terms of her parents, was happy she had this time with them. And now she had Jeremy to look after. Elena was going to have both Salvatores' protection, but Jeremy was going to have hers. And honestly, considering she had the knowledge to at least get on the Originals' good side, she'd pick her protection over those two brothers any day.

Middle School, the current bane of her existence. She was certain that not even Klaus would wish the torture of going through it a second time on his worst enemy...Well, maybe his father but that doesn't count. That dude has been hunting them down for 1000 years. At school she was stuck dealing with teachers trying to get her to play or socialize with all the other kids. At least at home, her parents didn't question her anti-social tendencies. Admittedly that's mainly because they were so focused on Elena and what she was doing but that's besides the point.

Plus she wasn't without friends. She had somehow made friends with baby Caroline on the first day of elementary school. Even if she didn't want to hang out with anyone, she would still be forced to see the blonde girl. Lissa was sure that not even death would keep Caroline from being her friend. The young girl seemed toimprinton her the minute she saw her.

Besides Caroline, she'd made one more friend. A friend she'd never really expected to make as the very thought of it never would have crossed her mind until she was past the age of 16. That friend is the one she was currently sneaking into her father's office to see. Looking around her to check that no one was around that would question her going into her father's office mid-afternoon, the young albino girl snuck through the door. Closing the black parasol she had to keep with her so her skin didn't burn, she made her way down to the secret basem*nt she'd found a couple of months ago.

"Hello, Enzo."

Enzo had been a complete surprise to her when she was sneaking around her father's office trying to find anything about vampires. Of course, she hadn't expected to find an actual vampire clearly having been tortured, locked in chains, and held down on a metal gurney. She wasn't proud to say she'd squeaked like a scared mouse, closed the door, and panic paced for 10 minutes outside the room trying to figure out what to do.

She had forgotten about the fact her new father was in that secret vampire torturing society. This had brought that information to the front of her mind. But this was also her one opportunity to actually interact with the supernatural world before her teenage years. Nodding, the white haired girl walked into the basem*nt and stood next to the chained vampire.

"Hello. I'm Lissa Gilbert. Who are you?" She asked. Not her best plan but if she's right this was Enzo meaning the last positive interaction had been Damon in the 60s.

The man chained down blinked as if to make sure she wasn't a hallucination. "Enzo. What is a little girl doing in this room? You don't belong here."

Lissa shrugged. "This is Dad's building. I was just exploring."

"You're taking this weirdly well, finding a man being tortured in your father's basem*nt."

"I'm a weird kid."

Enzo chucked. "That you seem to be. You better leave soon. I don't want to find out what would happen if your father found you in here."

Sighing, she nodded. Enzo was right. Lissa wasn't Elena; she wouldn't ever be the favorite child. She was the extendable twin, the weird one that needed a parasol to go outside because of her lack of pigmentation,the one that had to wear glasses because her albinism affected her eyesight.

"I'll come back. I promise."

She quickly left knowing that if she stayed she wouldn't be able to get herself to leave for hours. She wanted to question him. She'd have to come back in the middle of the night when no one would be able to interrupt them.

Enzo smiled probably for the first time in years. She was a weird kid but it was nice to see a face that didn't immediately mean pain. He doubted she would actually come back. What kid would come back to see a tortured monster?

Lissa knew Enzo didn't expect her to keep her promise of coming back. She did though. Not a week after that first meeting she'd snuck out of her house and into the office basem*nt after her parents had gone to bed. She had wanted to get some blood for him but considering at the time she met Enzo she was only 7 she didn't particularly know where to get any blood bags. And she wasn't about to be stupid enough to let him drink directly from her. Who knows how long the guy had been without any blood.

Once she got there she'd taken the whole night to question the vampire. She hadn't learnt much about the secret society she couldn't already infer from the fact it was a secret society. She did learned about Enzo though. She hadn't expect him to be so open with himself but considering he'd probably been locked up for about a century or more, it wasn'ttoosurprising. He was probably craving any sort of positive interaction. If she remembered right, Damon was the last positive interaction the dude had and he'd left Enzo high and dry after he escaped.

"Hello, my dear. How was school this week? Still having that feud with the Lockwood boy?" Enzo asked. The guy has strapped down and had his own blood surrounding him, yet he was still more interested in her middle school feuds.

"Ah, well I have 75 hours of community service I now have to do." She said hand reaching up to scratch the back of her neck. "Apparently when you smash a dude's nuts to the point of no future protégé, it's seen as a crime."

Enzo barked out a laugh, not shocked at all that the young girl he'd gotten to know over the years had done something like that. Despite the innocent façade she portrayed to the rest of the world, he knew the girl was as ruthless as a person could be.

"And why did you crush this boy's privates? Did he scorn you? Or did you just want to liven up the place for a bit?"

She scowled. "I wish it was something like boredom. Sadly, Tyler seems to be on the path of ultimate douchebag. He was trying to force himself on a girl in the grade lower than us. I just decided to crush that thinking in the bud…literally."

"Ahh. Not so fun then I see. Did you at least relish in his screams, Snow White?" Enzo asked.

"Of course. This is the only bit of severe mayhem I'll be able to get away with for a while. I had to enjoy it." She smirked. Lissa knew talking with Enzo multiple times a week had skewed her morals even more than they had been. She'd classify herself as a True neutral or Chaotic neutral if she was feeling mischievous. None of that goody too-shoes stuff her sister or other members of the future Scooby Gang like to tote. She knew she was f*cked in the head. Came with dying and having to relive your childhood. It leaves a lot of time to just think up scenarios or question how the world worked. Considering she'd watched Vampire Diaries and The Originals pretty often in her last life, she was well aware that this world was Kill or Be Killed. And she wasn't going to die because she couldn't compromise something likemorals.

It definitely didn't help Klaus and Kol were her favorite characters back in her original world. Those two were probably the worst role models when it came to morals.

"Not to rush you or anything but you did bring this poor torture victim some blood right? Cause I've grown used to actually having something of sustenance thanks to you."

She blinked, suddenly reminded of the multiple blood bags in her backpack. This was a weekly occurrence. They both knew that Enzo couldn't feed every time she came as that would tip her dad off to someone helping the poor man. But once a week kept him somewhat fed enough that he wouldn't be ravenous or on the brink of desecration. It was the least she could do since she couldn't free the guy without letting the secret society know that someone else knew about them. And Enzo refused to put her in harm's way despite her saying it wasn't a big deal; that she was going to have worse after her soon enough. He'd refused her every time she offered. Finally, they reached this compromise.

Feeding Enzo the bags one by one and then storing them away in her backpack to burn later, Lissa kissed Enzo on the forehead like she always did when she left him and made her way out of the basem*nt.

Time passed like it always does, slow and way too fast all at once. Lissa had managed to "talk" her parents into letting her get a couple of piercings over the years. More like she told them either they allowed it or she was going to do it anyway but it would be either at a sketchy place or she'd do it herself. Knowing she wasn't playing her parents finally relented. She'd gotten her septum, industrial, and her eyebrow pierced. Unbeknownst to her parents, He still went behind their back and talked a piercing guy into doing her nipples on the down low. It may have taken her making out with the dude but she'd gotten what she wanted. Was that a slu*tty thing to do? Yes, and if she was actually 16 she'd be appalled that someone would do that but she wasn'treally16 so she'll let it slide. She may have left a little rune on the corner of the shop that made it where the dude couldn't get it up if there was ever a customer in the shop but that was her own business.

The rune business was also new. She had realized that despite her albinism she was still technically a doppelganger. A failed one, but she was still a doppelganger. This meant her blood was powerful. Super powerful. So she'd gone to the only woman she could think of, a one Sheila Bennett. She was just as judgy as she thought she would be with her 'vampires are abominations of nature' and 'you must follow the will of nature to gain power.' Personally, Lissa found it all to be a load of bullsh*t but she listened and played along until she found a way to use magic. Real magic. Of course it wasn't anything like a witch could do. But with her blood, some runes, and willpower she could pack a real punch against anyone that tried anything against her.

Once she realized what she could do she immediately went to a back alley tattoo shop that didn't ask questions and had them tattoo two runes sequences on herself. Using ink mixed with her own blood. On her left palm she had the rune sequence for protection and shield and on her right she had the runes for fire and destruction. They did exactly what they seemed like they would. Focusing a bit on her left palm would make a shield that covered herself or someone else and her right palm would basically become a flamethrower. She'd like to see a vampire run through that. When she showed Enzo he'd literally tried to back away despite still being tied down to that metal gurney. She definitely felt a bit more powerful and protected than she had before.

Other than the piercings and tattoos her appearance hadn't changed much. She was still the same color as printer paper and her icy blue eyes were still icy and blue. She hadn't even gained much in height, only hitting alovely5'3. Even in her tallest platform boots she was only 5'7.

Her appearance and relationships with Jeremy, Caroline, Enzo were really the only thing to stay the same. All other relationships apparently went to sh*t when she didn't bend over backwards to please her twin sister. Her mom and dad expected her to be just like Elena despite neither of them being interested in the same things. Elena was the perfect small town girl, cheerleading, pageants, the blond hair blue eyed boyfriend, everything. While Lissa was everything they feared she would turn out to be. She didn't join clubs besides learning how to fight hand to hand, she had piercings and when she came home with those tattoos her parents flipped. She made friends with all the wrong people according to them. Sure, some of her acquaintances were criminals and drug dealers but they were loyal and a lot more fun than Matt Donovan or Bonnie "Ms. Judgy" Bennett. Plus, she had Caroline. Caroline who, despite clearly not being anything like Lissa herself, was honestly the best friend she could have.

She wasn't too sure why exactly Caroline decided Lissa was the Gilbert she was throwing her lot in with but she wasn't ever going to complain about it. Caroline, after getting passed the girly girl mask, was just as ruthlessly cunning as the pale girl was herself. She knew that she'd had an influence on Caroline herself. The girl was much more likely to resort to violence and wasn't squeamish at all with blood or gore or anything of the sort. She was actually the one to pick out horror movies whenever they had movie nights. She didn't remember exactly how the original Caroline was but she knew this Caroline was downright scary when she wanted to be. She knew that half the sh*t she got away with wouldn't have been possible if Caroline hadn't taken it upon herself to help her sneak about. Since her mom was the sheriff she knew exactly where and when cops would be placed. Hell, she was even the one to hook her up with the back alley tattoo guy. Apparently a guy her mom bagged had a ton of tattoos and Caroline had gotten him to spill any secrets about where her friend could get one without parent approval.

Lissa knew most of the town just saw her actions as acting out like any teenager does, but she knew that this is how she was in her last life. All piercings and tattoos and an 'I don't give a f*ck' attitude. If she could scream in a cops face at a protest, she could damn well stand up to her parents and their disapproval at her life choices.

She knew it was coming but the shock was still enough to take her breathe away. Her parents were dead. Drowned, just like in the TV show. They died picking Elena up from a party sheshouldn't have even been at.Lissa had tried her hardest to get Elena grounded once she realized the party that Tyler was throwing was the one that Elena would get drunk at and call her parents to pick her up from. She went so far as to plant cigarettes in her room knowing her mom would absolutely lose it at her favorite daughter smoking. Now instead of picking up a drunk Elena, they'd driven out to get her once they realized she'd snuck out. Perfect, never does anything wrong Elena decidedthis nightwas the one to do something rebellious.

Lissa may not get along with her parents but she tried her best to stop this. Guess somethings have to happen the same as canon no matter what. Now she's stuck in her sister's hospital room holding a sleeping Jeremy after he exhausted himself crying. And she was going to have to break it to her sister their parents were dead.

"Lissa." A whisper came from the doorway. As she turned to look she saw Jenna, clearly heartbroken but trying to hold it in.

"Hey, JenJen." Lissa tried to smile, to give any sort of comfort to her favorite aunt. Sadly, she knew it fell flat. She cared about her parents. They'd not been the best but they'd been leagues better than her first life's parents. She loved them as much as she could with the relationship they had. Now she was the eldest sibling, even just by 30 minutes, it was her job to be strong.

"Can you…" Lissa gestured down to her brother asleep on her lap. "I just need to take a walk. I…I need to think. Please?"

Jenna started, as if Lissa actually asking for help surprised her. Which it probably did. She was never one to admit she needed help, but this was completely different. She couldn't just leave her brother without any comfort after losing their parents. Plus, if Elena woke up she would at least wake up to a familiar face.

"Yes. Of course." Jenna said. Moving quickly, she lifted Jeremy's head from Lissa's lap and shifted it to hers, freeing the pale girl.

"Thanks Jen."

She quickly fled the hospital, not even stopping when the nurses tried to get her attention. She had an office she needed to get to, and fast.

Seeing Jenna reminded her of one other person that needed to know about her parents' death tonight. Enzo. Now that her dad was dead the secret society would sneak in to steal him away the minute they heard about what happened. This was their one and only shot of getting Enzo out of there. Not exactly what most people would be doing when their parents just died but it would keep her busy and her mind off the immediate future, and the funerals she was going to have to plan.

Busting in through the door of her dad's clinic, not caring if anyone saw, she took the stairs 3 at a time. Careful not to fall she slammed into the basem*nt door. She wasn't sure if she actually turned the knob to open the door or if she just slammed it open but one minute she was in the stairway next she was standing in front of a surprised Enzo panting.

"Snow White? What's wrong? Why are you out of breath? Did you run here? Why?" he asked. Eyebrows furrowed, he took in the clear tear tracks on her face and then quickly put on clothing and wondered what had happened to his friend in the 2 days he hadn't seen the girl.

"I'm getting you out of here." Was all she replied. Pulling out the two bobby pins in her hair she kept with her, she bent down towards the locks that kept the chains around Enzo.

"What? No! Your dad will-"

"Nothing. He will do nothing. He died tonight. Same as my mom. This is our only opportunity to get you free. I'm taking it." She snarled. She needed one thing to go right tonight. Just one. If that meant freeing one of her best friends from his captivity, then that's perfectly alright with her.

Enzo gaped at the teenager. Grayson was dead? The elation he felt at that knowledge fell as he remembered that meant his friend's father was dead as well. "I-I'm sorry"

She let out a scoff as the first lock fell away. "No you're not, Enzo. That's fine. I'm a big girl. I can recognize I'm grieving for a bad man. My father may not have been completely terrible to me but he was your big bad boogie man. You can be happy he's dead."

"You're right. I'm happy Grayson is dead, but I can also be sad that you will grieve him, Snow White." Enzo was nothing if not aware of his emotions. He'd had decades of only time to get in tune with himself. So, yes, he was absolutely ecstatic at Grayson's death. He can still recognize his young friend was hurting.

Lissa smiled. Not a big one, but it was a smile nonetheless. She was touched that even after being tortured by her father for years, Enzo was still good enough to care about her grief for his tormentor.

With a clank, the 2nd lock fell away.

Feeling the lack of restraints on his right arm for the first time in years, Enzo stilled. He worried that this really was a sick joke someone was playing on him. Or Grayson somehow had found a way to actually command any hallucinations he saw.

"Well, are you going to rip the other chains off or am I going to have to pick those too." She said. "I know they're made with vervain water but after all the time you've had them on you I figured you'd be able to deal with it."

Enzo grabbed her upper arm in a tight grip, more than likely leaving a bruise. "You're sure this isn't a trick right? Grayson is dead?"

She flinched at the questions "I identified the bodies myself. Yes, Enzo. My dad is dead."

He let go of her arm and quickly crushed the locks on his other arm and his legs. Ignoring the pain from the vervain worked into the metal, Enzo sat up.

Lissa stepped back and just watched as the man took in finally being free. She was a bit worried he was going to start crying because, she understood the reasons he was getting emotional, she was never the best at comforting people. Comforting a man held in captivity and tortured for decades was not in her wheelhouse. Plus she didn't know when someone would be coming by to take him back to the main prison at the college. He needed to leave as soon as possible.

"So I know you want to rejoice in your freedom, but you need to get out of here."

Enzo's head jerked up from staring at his newly freed arms and legs. "What? I can't just leave. You freed me. And I don't know anything about living in the 21st century."

She pursed her lips. "I know. I'm sorry but if you're anywhere near here they'll try and recapture you. You know it and I know it. Compel someone to get you a burner phone and set it up. I'll give you my number and help you adjust to this time. But you need to get out of here."

He nodded. She was right of course. But he really didn't want to leave. She had been the only positive thing in his life for so long. He'd watched the girl grow up. Leaving felt wrong, especially with her in the middle of grieving her family.

"Are you sure? I can stay and hide."

She shook her head. As much as she would love to have him here she knew it was best he left. "No, you deserve to actually live your life, Enzo, not hide away just to stay near me. I may be a bitch but not even I can ask you to give up this chance."

In a reverse of their whole relationship it was Enzo that bent down and kissed Lissa's forehead just as she had done to him since she could reach the top of the gurney. They both smiled at each other and then the next second Enzo was gone, vampire speed taking him away faster than she could see.

Once she was sure that Enzo would be far enough away not to hear it, Lissa did something she hadn't done in a long while. She broke down and cried. She cried for her parents, for the pain her siblings were going to go through, for her best friend leaving, and, most importantly, she cried because the future she had watched so long ago was just around the corner, and she was scared.

After a while her tears dried up and she made the walk back to the hospital. Making her way to Elena's room, she was greeted by her siblings both on Elena's bed clearly having worn themselves out once again crying. Lissa felt her heart clinch at the sight of them. Sometimes she forgot how young the two were since she was physically the same age as them it was hard to remember they didn't have the maturity or brains of a full grown adult. But this, this sight just drove that home. She may not have the best relationship with Elena but even the most heartless person would feel sympathy at the sight in front of her.

Walking over to the bed, Lissa grabbed a corner of the sheet and joined her siblings on the too small twin bed. "Budge up you two. My ass isn't being covered and it's cold."

"Melissa…" Elena whimpered.

"Shh. It's okay. I know." Lissa shushed. There wasn't anything she needed to say to her.

"Mom and Dad, it's my fault." Elena let out a sob, unable to hold it in. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"

Lissa felt her sister's hands grip her shirt as she cried into her shoulder. Her heart clinched as she realized Elena blamed herself. The fact that she'd snuck out to go to that party weighing heavily on her heart now.

"It's not your fault, Elena. You snuck out, yes. But I do that all the time. This was not your fault. It was just bad luck and sh*tty weather. You did not kill our parents."

Elena's sobs got both harder at this. She knew that the young girl would still continue to blame herself. She didn't need her former psychiatric degree to tell you that. But it was something she needed to hear. She needed to know that at least one person didn't blame her. Even if that person was her twin sister she never got along with.

And that was how her next few months flew by. She'd be comforting her sister one day and the next dealing with Jeremy. Jeremy, who thought he was being slick and sneaky with his drug usage but she'd known all the dealers in the area for way longer thananyonethought. So once they realized Jeremy was her younger brother they called and told her. Luckily, the call came before he'd gotten into anything harder than weed and shrooms.

No one in a 50 mile radius would sell anything harder to him since she'd long scared most of the dealers into never selling to anyone under the age of 16. Anything older than that she doubted she'd been able to inforce it but something about being able to set someone on fire at will scared people. If it took killing a person or putting people into the burn unit to make sure no one sold to someone under the age of 16 she'd do it. She'd said it once she was not a good person.

Now it's the new school year. That meant the start of Vampire Diaries plot for real.

Lissa grabbed her favorite pants, a pair of red plaid cargo pants and a random black t-shirt. Comfort and fashion is her motto. Though her platform boots are both fashion and self-defense, after all who wants to get kicked by a shoe weighing 10 pounds.

Quickly throwing her white hair up into two low pigtails Lissa nodded. Time to face the music, or in this case, vampire.

Stopping at Jeremy's door on her way to the kitchen, she gave it a couple knocks waiting to see if he responded. After hearing nothing, she frowned. He was either was ignoring her or had already left for school. She hoped he just left early. She thought she'd gotten through to him that she wouldn't judge him for smoking weed or taking shrooms. Hell, she got high occasionally herself. Even Jenna did, she was in college after all. It was really only Elena that was judging him for the stuff.

After filling her thermos with coffee and letting Jenna know she was leaving early since she had to pick Caroline up and still have enough time to stop by the office to talk about graduating early. Waving bye she made her way to the SUV her parents had used. It seemed like she was going to miss the whole 'new school year, new me. I'm not the sad girl anymore' speech Elena was going to make. Not that she was complaining.

Her and Elena had gotten closer than they ever had been over these past few months but they still butted heads at least once a day. They were just too different. They had completely different morals and goals with what they wanted. She knew it wasn't only on Elena for the bad relationship they had. Lissa was just as stubborn and unrelenting on things. Though, if dying and getting reborn didn't change that she doubted anything would.

Lissa pulled up to Caroline's house and watched her come bouncing out of the house looking like Barbie came to life. Seriously, the girl had on hot pink pumps. Sure it was 2009 but damn she forgot how bad the fashion was at this point in time, teenagers especially.

"Hey! How are you? Are you okay? Do you need to run away and not go to school? I can cover for you!" Caroline said as soon as she got into the car.

"Naw. I'm good. Plus, my attendance needs to stay somewhat decent if I'm wanting to graduate this year. Thanks for the offer though." She laughed. It was just like Care to offer to cover for her. She never skipped herself besides once or twice because of her mom but she was a damn good cover.

"Ugh, I forgot you were trying to do that. Are you sure you don't wanna just stay on the slow path and graduate with everyone else. And by everyone else I mean me?"

She glanced over at her friend chuckling at the pout that had formed on her lips. "While graduating with you would be fun. I need out of that place. It's boring as f*ck. I mean, I know everything that's being taught. At this point it's just a waste of my time."

"Boo you whor*." Caroline joked.

The ride to the school was short but peaceful. There wasn't many people at the school yet so she was able to see that Bonnie's car was missing from her normal spot. She wondered if Bonnie and Elena would still almost hit that crow on the way in. Either way she knew they'd be fine.

"Hey Care, I got you a present." Lissa stopped her friend as she started to get out of her car. "I saw it and just knew I had to get it to add to your twilight obsession"

Reaching into her bag she grabbed the apple charm that she'd had a friend make. It was a perfect replica of the Twilight book cover hands and all. It had vervain water worked into the metal and the apple was also hollow with a tiny bit of vervain put into that space. She wasn't about to let Damon take advantage of her blonde friend's need to have the latest and greatest. What he'd done in the show was straight up rape and she wasn't about to allow that to happen if she was here.

The guy that made the charm, Jason, was a god send. He had put an ad on craigslist about specially made metal items for protection and worded it so anyone "in the know" would recognize that he was talking about vervain laced items. He'd actually made all her piercings and even helped develop the ink for her tattoos so it would have both her blood and vervain. Now someone would literally have to peel the skin away from her palms if they wanted to compel her.

Caroline let out a squeal at the sight of the charm. She knew her blond friend was just as obsessed with Twilight as Lissa was with Harry Potter. The charm would more than likely never leave her person now. Especially since Lissa had given her a charm bracelet when they were 9 and she'd been collecting charms since then.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Get out of this car so I can hug you right now"

The speed at which Caroline got to her side of the car wouldn't have been out of place if she was a vampire already. She hadn't thought the charm would have gotten this much of a reaction but then remembered that this was Caroline and her middle name was overreaction.

After their crushing hug the two girls parted ways but not without another thank you from the blonde.

Lissa made her way to the office. There wasn't many people around since it was so early in the morning. But as she stepped into the office she was hit with a shock because standing right in front of her was Stefan Salvatore.

And he was staring at her as if she was a real ghost come to life.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Previously on "Ghost of Lifetimes Past"

Lissa made her way to the office. There weren't many people around since it was so early in the morning. But as she stepped into the office she was hit with a shock because standing right in front of her was Stefan Salvatore.

And he was staring at her as if she was a real ghost come to life.

Lissa knew she was going to be seeing the young vampire today but never expected to see him this early. She was thinking lunch or even maybe she'd be in the same history class like all the other characters, running into him in the office was never the plan.

He looked exactly like Paul Wesley, though quite a bit younger than the actor was when he first played Stefan. It makes sense since Stefan had actually been changed at 18 years old.

Luckily, she was able to ignore her shock and shot a scowl at Stefan, who was still just staring at her wide eyed. "What? Never seen anyone with albinism before?"

At her words Stefan seemed to realize he was being rude/creepy. "No! You just- You look like someone I know." He said, hand raising up to rub the back of his neck. She was certain if he could, he would be blushing.

She just raised an eyebrow. Even though she knew that really was the reason he was why he was staring, that was just a weak excuse. "Well, I have a twin sister that looks just like me. Though she actually has color to her."

He shook his head. "No. The person I'm thinking of couldn't possibly be your sister. She's dead."

Oh damn, he was actually being sincere with her. She wasn't really expecting that going into this interaction. She was expecting him to skirt around anything to do with Katherine.

"Ms. Gilbert?" Came a voice from the office next to the two "teenagers". Mrs. Carter, the school advisor and counselor, stood in the office doorway glancing between them both. She could probably feel the awkward tension that still hadn't dissipated."Can you come into the office? We can go over your schedule and what classes you'll need to take to graduate early."

"Yeah, sure Mrs. Carter." She looked back over to Stefan. "Nice meeting you, uhh, Dude." First day living an actual episode and she almost blew her cover already. Stefan hadn't introduced himself and she almost called him by name. Way to go, Gilbert.

"Oh it's Stefan. Stefan Salvatore."

"Nice meeting you, Stefan."

Her meeting with Mrs. Carter did in fact last insanely long. Not many people try to graduate early in Mystic Falls so her actually going through with the extra work to do it has left people reeling. She was seen as the "troubled Gilbert kid" even with Jeremy hanging out with the crowd he was currently. To be fair even she would classify herself as the "troubled Gilbert kid" so she wasn't really offended by it.

The rest of the morning went quickly and without a glimpse of anyone she was particularly close with. Most of them were taking different classes so she'd really only see them when she went to lunch. It seemed even Stefan wasn't taking advanced classes, which was a bummer. She was really wanting to mess with the teenage vampire; see if she could cause him to crack and show his vamp face. Oh well, she was going to be seeing a lot of the dude, she could try it another day.

After hearing the bell, she made her way towards the cafeteria. She was pretty certain Caroline or at least someone she knew would be there. She hoped so, because the last time she ate lunch alone some dude tried to hit on her. She didn't want her good day ruined by horny teenagers. To her the idea of sleeping with any of her classmates gave her such a creep vibe. She was mentally old enough to be theirgrandma. It was weird. She was doomed to either be single for the rest of her life or find a vampire partner. At least a vampire partner she didn't have to worry about being older than them mentally.

"Lissa!"

Looking behind her at the shout, Lissa blinked at the sight of Matt Donovan making his way over to her with Tyler. A Tyler that clearly wanted to be anywhere but near her. He, understandably since she broke his nuts, hated her with a burning passion. It was the main reason she didn't hang out with Vicki anymore. Tyler had made the girl choose between him and her friend, Vicki chose Tyler.

"Hey, Matt. What's up? I'm not normally the Gilbert you talk to."

"That's for a good reason, Psycho." Tyler snarled next to his best friend.

She rolled her eyes, used to the name calling at this point. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was talking to you, No Nuts"

Before anything could happen, Matt stepped between the two enemies and leveled Tyler with a look. Rolling his eyes, the hot headed boy stalked across the cafeteria to where he could see his friends were standing.

"You know,notantagonizing him may help?" He said.

"I don't think that would really matter in the long run. After everything that's happened between the two of us, I doubt anythingcouldhelp." She shrugged. "But that's not what you wanted to talk to me about."

"I just wanted to ask if Elena had said anything about us? Like did she mention getting back together or anything like that?"

Lissa resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the hurt puppy look the blonde haired boy was sporting. "Are you really asking if my sister thought about her relationship status as we all grieved ourdead parents?Really, Matt? No. She did not say anything about you to me."

"Oh, um, well I just wanted to ask." He said scratching the back of his head, "I mean I get it. She was grieving. But could you let me know if she says anything to you?"

She shook her head and gave him a pitying look. "Matt, I'll be honest with you. Not because I like you, but because you've always been a genuinely nice dude. It's not going to happen. She's not even thinking about getting back together."

Before he could reply Lissa felt an arm wrap itself around her waist and it was only her recognizing the perfume as Caroline's that stopped her from flipping the person over her shoulder.

"What's this? Matt, you don't normally talk to Lissa. You trying to move on to a different Gilbert?" Caroline teased her fellow blonde.

"It's not any of your business, Caroline."

Already angry about her blunt words, Matt turned around and walked away without another word.

Caroline let out a low whistle. "Nice to know I still say all the wrong things."

"Would life be interesting otherwise?" She said. "I mean, look at me. I never say what society wants me to but you still like me."

"I guess you're right. Now come on, we need to find a table and I can show you all the new clothes I got for school." She pulled her towards a random table away from the hustle and bustle in the middle of the room. "I was even nice enough to take pictures in all the clothes so you can see what they look like on me."

"Oh joy, just what I wanted to do during lunch."

After lunch the rest of the day passed without any sighting of their new resident vampire nor her sister or friends. With a new worry of how she's supposed to deal with vampire dramaandall the classes she was taking, Lissa had driven Caroline to her house. After Caroline nagged her enough, she decided to hang out with her before they met up with Elena and Bonnie at the Grill. It was a new thing for her, being included in the Grill hangouts. This was normally something the three other girls did but with her being closer with Elena now, they'd decided to include her in the invite.

Now here she was sitting at The Grill, listening to Caroline go on about Stefan.

"So his name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with uncle at the old Salvatore Boarding House. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue."

Bonnie laughed. "You got all that in one day?"

"Please, I got all that between the third and fourth period. I could have gotten more but I didn't want to make any more people at school scared of me." Caroline admitted. She was right though. Most of the people at school know to fear Care's intensity and that if they upset her, they upset Lissa. No one wanted Lissa upset at them. Shewasthe school's boogie man, or woman. The last person that had upset Caroline still couldn't look at her without flinching. She wasn't sure why exactly all she'd done was break his nose. He got off easy for spreading the rumor that Caroline had slept with him.

"If we're giving out information I have some. Dude clearly has done some grieving. Don't know how recent but when I met him he mentioned I looked like someone he knew that died." She said. It wasn't really a secret either. Stefan mentions something like this tonight when him and Elena get here.

Caroline leaned forward closer to the pale girl. "What! Why didn't you mention this before we got here? This is juicy! I wonder who it was he lost? A girlfriend? Ooh maybe he needs some nice old rebound sex?"

Before the three girls could continue their conversation they all noticed the couple come in the doors and were making their way to them.

"What. The. f*ck?" Caroline said.

"Yeah. Exactly" Bonnie was clearly just as shocked as the blonde girl.

Lissa laughed, "Well, seems that yeah, he may be looking for that nice old rebound sex."

Even as Caroline reached over and smacked her arm she kept laughing. The shock the two girls had at the sight of Stefan walking in with Elena was better after knowing them since childhood.

"Hey guys, I hope you don't mind. I invited Stefan here to join us." Elena said.

Before any of them could reply Matt and his clear jealousy seemed to descend on the table. Taking the seat beside Lissa in the booth, blocking her in which everyone knew she hated, he immediately started talking.

"Hey, you're Stefan right? I'm Matt Donovan."

Stefan smiled. While the rest of the table probably thought it was just to be nice to the clearly jealous boy, Lissa could see the faint amusem*nt he seemed to get. Probably the thought of an untrained human being threatening to him as a vampire seemed funny.

"Hey, nice to meet you."

Ignoring Matt and his obvious jealousy they all joined together to interrogate the poor newbie.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked. That was something Lissa never understood, she'd already said he told her he used to live in Mystic Falls. Why did she feel the need to ask that question again?

"Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"And your Parents?" Bonnie leaned in, just as excited as the rest of the teenagers at the chance to question the new boy.

"My parents passed away."

"I'm sorry. My sister and I understand that grief. Do you have any siblings?" Elena gave him a sympathetic smile. If anyone understood the pain of that it would be the two orphans Lissa supposed.

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

Wait, none that he talked to? Ooh maybe she could get him to talk about Damon. "None that you talked to? So you have some you don't talk to?"

Stefan grimaced. He was hoping no one caught that but he hadn't wanted to lie to the two girls with Katherine's face. "Yeah. Damon. We don't have the best relationship."

"Hmm, Damon. Sounds like a dickhe*d name." She said. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that may be why you aren't on speaking terms?" Well that and the fact you forced him to turn, force fed him yourfather,and have been an overall judgmental dick to the dude.

He let out an uncomfortable chuckle. "You're not exactly wrong about that."

"Ignoring Lissa's attempt to make Stefan uncomfortable, Stefan, you don't know about the party this weekend, right?"

"Yeah! It's a back to school thing at the falls. Everyone goes. Even Lissa makes it out there and she never goes to these types of parties." Bonnie said.

Stefan turned to Elena, the one person he was most interested in. "Are you going?"

Lissa jumped in before Elena could even contemplate her answer. "Yes, she's going. If I'm being forced to socialize by Caroline. Elena can make it to a party she looks forward to every year."

Elena shot a glare at her sister. She hated it when she answered for her. "She's right. I'll be there."

The rest of the night continued as you'd expect. Matt slunk away after being pushed to the floor when Lissa got tired of being boxed in. Jeremy joined his sisters for a minute before heading away to get high or something of that nature. And Caroline talked her best friend into having a sleepover so they could watch the new horror movie she'd rented.

The next few days passed quickly. Lissa didn't really do much besides try and get ahead of her homework while she had the extra time. Though she did take some extra time to call Enzo and tell him about there being a new vampire in Mystic Falls. He'd been a bit worried but she'd talked him out of making the trip back. He was currently in the Caribbean trying to enjoy his freedom, there wasn't any reason to cut the trip shorter than it was going to be. She knew once she met Damon she was going to be obligated as his friend to tell Enzo. There wasn't anyway he wouldn't make the trip down once he got that news.

Other than the phone call, Lissa had looked around on craigslist to try and find any listings by Slater. She knew he would be key in getting a hold of one of the Originals. Personally, she wanted to talk to Klaus before Elijah but that may just be because he was her second favorite out of all the Original Vampires. Sadly, so far she hadn't found anything. She did send an email to Jason asking him if he knew anyone that could get her in touch with Klaus. He'd emailed her back saying she was straight up insane wanting to talk to "That monster" but he'd keep an eye out. Jason was and always would be her favorite person she'd met that had nothing to do with her former life's TV shows.

Truthfully she didn't really have much of a plan when dealing with that family other than trying to get on Klaus' and any of his siblings' good side. She wasn't dumb enough to antagonize a dude that wouldn't hesitate to kill her and anyone she at ever talked to before.

Before even dealing with Klaus she'd have to make it through keeping Vicki from being attacked by Damon.

Grabbing the outfit she picked for the party, a black and white pleated skirt, a long sleeved mesh shirt, her normal platform boots, and to have a place to hide a stake she grabbed her black and white messenger bag, she quickly made her way to the scene of the party. Unsurprisingly, it was already in full swing. Weaving between drunk teenagers and couples that should really find some private places, Lissa finally found Caroline and Bonnie. Both girls were holding a red solo cup but Caroline was the only one swaying back and forth, clearly the more drunk of the two.

"There you two are! I swear if I see one more dude with his hand down some girls pants out in the open I'm going to lose it. This is the very reason I don't come to these things. If I wanted to watch p*rn, I'd do it at home in bed." She started to rant as she came up to them.

Before she could continue though, Caroline threw her arms around her, drink splashing her back, sobbing about being messy, and no one liking her, and how she scared everyone away because she said all the wrong things and was interested in weird stuff.

"She's probably had a bit too much. I lost track of her for an hour and found her already like this." Bonnie said, a sheepish expression on her face. Bonnie wasn't nearly as close to Elena's sister as Caroline was but even she knew that out of all of them Lissa was the most responsible. So if anyone could deal with a drunk Caroline it was her. She had heard enough rants from Elena about how 'even though Lissa is seen as a troubled teenager, everyone still says she's the responsible Gilbert.' Bonnie knew it wasn't without reason that people, especially other people their age, saw Lissa as the responsible one. Everyone knew that she'd taken care of at least 60% of the high school population when they'd gotten drunk by either driving them home herself or making sure they had a ride.

Of course, since shehadgrown up around the other girl being Elena's best friend, she knew that she could also be incredibly cold and mean. She was there that day when she attacked Tyler and the look on the pale girl's face still scared her whenever she remembered it. Tyler screaming in pain, blood seeping from his crotch underneath her heel, and Lissa just stood there face blank before she leaned down and whispered something in the boy's ear. No one knew what she said to this day, but Tyler hadn't even looked her in the eye for 3 years after that. He'd only just started snarking back towards her this year after getting into steroids.

Watching as that same girl let sticky alcohol be spilled down her back and just laugh about it, really made her wonder about how her mind worked. Lissa was full of contradictions and Bonnie was never really sure what to feel about her.

Lissa furrowed her brow. Bonnie had been staring at her for a bit not really saying anything so, worried she was a bit more drunk than she seemed, she went to find some water for the two herself.

She hadn't even been looking for it for very long before she heard a shout that cut off real quickly. Feet taking her towards the sound before she could think. She walked up on something she'd been wanting to prevent. There was Vicki, her neck covered in blood, passed out on the grass without another person in sight.

"Vicki!" Rushing to the young girl's side, she dropped to her knees, not caring of the rocks that dug into her skin. "Hey, I need you to talk to me Vicki. Let me know you're not dead."

She wasn't sure if Vicki heard her or if she was just in pain, but Vicki let out a low moan allowing Lissa's heart to leave her throat. She didn't know how she'd timed this so wrong. She swore it was supposed to be later in the night, closer to when the party would be winding down.

It seemed like Damon had purposely missed her jugular but still made it as violent as he could. She looked around to find someone to call 911 since her hands were currently busy. Passing in the shadows of the woods, she could make out what looked to be her younger brother. He was the one to originally find Vicki, wasn't he?

"JEREMY!" She shouted trying to get her obviously drunk brother's attention. "Hey! Jer! Come help me!"

Jeremy jerked towards her voice. Even drunk, he felt a flash of fear for whatever made his sister shout, because his sister never shouted. It didn't matter if she was mad, she would just get a forceful tone but never really raised her voice. His eyes swiveled around before finally landing on his sister's pale hands covered in blood. Vicki's blood. That flash of fear from earlier grew until he felt his stomach clinch up.

"Oh my god!" Jeremy ran towards the two stopping when he was able to make out what exactly happened to the girl he was falling for. The gash on her neck looked as if something had torn a chunk from her throat. He noticed her shirt was ripped and wondered what had done that before taking in what Lissa had done to try and slow the bleeding.

"Jeremy, I know this is bad but I need you to grab my phone and call for an ambulance. Then go grab Matt, andonly Matt.Vicki does not deserve to be gawked at as we wait for someone to get here."

He gaped down at her, shocked at how calm she seemed. Here she was covered in blood and she wasn't even phased, as if this was an everyday occurrence. "But, I-I can't just leave."

Lissa's eyes narrowed, annoyed that Jeremy just wasn'tdoing as he was told.This night had already gone wrong she was not about to completely change her knowledge by allowing Vicki to die. She didn't want to think about what could change if she croaked tonight instead of later. She didn't play the biggest part in the world but Lissa wasn't planning on changing a whole lot this early. She already knew making friends and freeing Enzo this early had thrown everything off but at least with Enzo, he would listen to her if she asked him to do something.

"Jeremy, now. Take my phone. Call 911. And go. Get. Matt" She said, grinding her teeth together. She knew she was being harsh, especially with her brother who was just in shock, but she couldn't wait for him to get over it. Vicki was bleeding out under her hands.

Eyes wide, Jeremy went to his sister's bag and grabbed her cell phone that was in the side pocket. After placing the call to 911, he ran off to find Matt.

As Lissa waited for either Matt and Jeremy to get back or the paramedics to arrive, she tried to listen to the woods to see if maybe she could catch a glimpse of Damon. She didn't particularly remember if he stuck around or not. She didn't want to be snuck up on and made into a second snack. Though the fact she looked like a colorless Katherine may stop him. It was too hard to predict, early Damon is pretty erratic so she didn't want to depend on knowing his actions to keep herself safe.

She didn't have to be on guard long, as just as she could see the flashing lights of an ambulance pull up, she saw Matt and Jeremy making their way back to her.

"Oh my god, Vicki! No, Vicki!" Matt yelled, voice cracking at the thought of his sister being dead.

"Matt. Matt! Look at me. She's not dead. Jeremy already called the paramedics. She'll be fine." If she could, she wanted to reach over to Matt and hug him or do something to ground him. The poor boy seemed completely lost staring between where her hands were and everywhere else on his sister's body, as if to make sure that the neck wound was her only wound. As the paramedics made their way to the clearing, they were followed by groups of teenagers wanting to find the poor sod they were there for. They probably thought it was just someone had gotten too drunk or someone did something stupid. The thought of a girl getting viciously attacked and could die didn't even cross their mind.

Gasps rang out through the crowd as they all took in the scene that was in front of them. Whispers broke out as everyone tried to guess what had happened. Had Lissa done this? Did she find Vicki like this? If she didn't do it, who did? Nothing was ruled out by the overactive imagination of teenagers. Lissa's own mystique just added to the speculation.

"Jeremy? Lissa? Matt? What's going on?" She could hear Elena ask from the crowd. Lissa didn't remember how Vicki was found the first time, but she thought it involved Elena. Well, seems like she'd accidentally stolen the show in this incident.

She shook her head trying to convey that they could talk later but it wasn't clear where her sister actually was in the crowd, so she wasn't sure if the message was received.

The paramedics got to Vicki quickly, and after conveying that she'd found her already bleeding so she didn't know how much blood was actually lost, Lissa handed Vicki off to them to put on the stretcher. She watched as they made their way back to the ambulance, Matt following right besides them all the way.

Once the gaggle of teenagers realized that there wasn't anything else going to happen they all seemed to disperse. All besides Elena who had made her way to her siblings leaving Stefan to make his own way home. Suspicions confirmed that there was another vampire in the area. He'd talk to the pale girl Monday and ask if she was okay then.

"Are you two okay? What happened?"

"I came when Lissa called my name. Vicki was already bleeding and passed out." Jeremy turned to his oldest sister, also wondering what happened exactly. "What did happen, Lis?"

Lissa bit the inside of her cheek, not really sure how she wanted to spin this whole thing. She had been wanting to stop Vicki getting attacked all together. Sighing, she settled on just being truthful. She hadn't really done anything to raise any questions, really. The only thing people would find strange was she was so far away from everyone when she was supposed to be finding Caroline and Bonnie water.

Her hand raised up to scratch her neck, not thinking about the blood she'd be leaving there, causing her siblings to grimace at the stark contrast of her skin tone and the bright red blood. "I was trying to find Care and Bonnie some water to sober them up. I'd heard a bit of a shout and went to see what it was. I just thought it would be some dumbass couple. I wasn't expecting to see Vicki all bloody on the ground."

Remembering the sight of Vicki all covered in blood, Jeremy let out a bit of a whine. Lissa knew about the two of them so, despite the height difference, he hugged her, face smashed in her shoulder seeking some sort of comfort. His sort of girlfriend had been attacked and he didn't know how she was doing. Plus he was still drunk.

Elena awkwardly stood watching her siblings. It was moments like this she was reminded about how close the two of them were. Her stomach bubbled with old familiar jealousy. She'd always wanted to be that close with her siblings. Lissa was her twin. Twins were supposed to be close, yet she was left behind as Lissa and Jeremy got closer and closer, leaving her to find her own connections.

"Jay, why don't you go with Elena? She can get you guys home. I need to go give Caroline and Bonnie a ride home, then I'm pretty sure I'll be expected to stop at the police station to give a statement. I'll be home when I can."

She loved her brother but after f*cking up the first plan she had by beinglateof all things, she wanted to go find some scumbag rapist or something like that and just let loose. She could feel her anger at herself and her failure boiling under her skin and she didn't want to lose it around people she genuinely cared about.

Elena came up to pull Jeremy from her, arms wrapping around him as she did. "Go on, Lis. I got him. I'll leave a light on for when you get back."

Lissa gave her a stiff nod and walked off. She didn't care that it was obviously in the wrong directions, Elena would probably think she needed to be by herself for a minute.

It wasn't until she was far enough away, so far that she couldn't even see the lights from the party, did Lissa let out a scream. Anger poured out of her just as the sound of her angered scream tore through the night. She didn't even notice when she raised her right palm and fire flew from her palm towards the trees.

After about a minute of screaming, she finally ran out of steam. Panting, she opened her eyes and was relieved she hadn't set anything on fire. She didn't really have any water or anything to put it out and she didn't wanna add forest fire to her list of things she had to deal with tonight. She knew with Vicki being attacked she couldn't afford actually beating someone up so she'll have to settle for just screaming her anger out. It wasn't the most effective way for her to vent, but it worked for the time being.

With her anger sorted out for the time being, sheactuallystarted making her way towards where she'd left Caroline and Bonnie. The two girls were more sober than when she left them but obviously nervous by the way they kept glancing around.

"Lissa!" Caroline yelled as she saw her friend make her way from the forest. That was when she noticed the blood covering her. Gasping, she ran towards her and grabbed her bloody hands, uncaring if she got the red liquid on her. "What happened? We saw Vicki being wheeled out and they were saying you attacked her."

Bonnie quickly made her way to where Caroline had met up with Lissa. "Did you attack her? I mean you have a history of attacking people."

Caroline shot her a furious glare, she didn't care if Lissa really had attacked Vicki. If she had she would have had a reason, just like when she attacked Tyler.

Leveling a deadpan stare at the dark skinned girl, she ignored her brain telling her that Bonnie had clearly already lumped her into the same category she had put Damon into. "I was looking for your water and ended up finding Vicki. She wasalready bleedingwhen I found her. Thanks for asking, Bonnie. But it seems I'll be disappointing you there. I didn't attack Vicki."

She pulled her hands from Caroline's and linked their arms together, trying to steer her towards the cars. Bonnie could either follow or not, Lissa wasn't in the mood to be judged by anyone, not tonight.

Caroline stayed quiet as they walked, only looking back once to see if Bonnie was following them. She was. Feeling the shaking that Lissa was trying to hide, Caroline instinctively knew that it was from anger not anything else. Anger at what, she didn't know. But she did know that the other girl didn't talk about her anger. She was very much a 'hit something until it breaks and then hit it some more' to get your anger out type of person. Knowing this, Caroline just let the silence fill the air as they drove home.

They dropped Bonnie off first, and besides a thank you and a goodbye no words were spoken to the girl. Both of them were annoyed with her comment from earlier.

It wasn't until they'd made it to her house that they actually spoke. "You know, youcantell me about what made you angry tonight. You don't scare me."

"Yeah, I know. I wasn't worried about that. I just don't like the overwhelming feeling I get when I'm angry. It's daunting. Staying quiet lets me sort it out in my head before I do something I'd regret." Lissa smiled at the blonde girl. "It's nothing, though. Just the whole situation with Vicki. I don't like kids being hurt."

Caroline looked down at that. Vicki had just turned 18. The thought of her dying didn't seem real. So she could see how that would make the other girl angry. "Well, I better get in. Mom's probably already heard about Vicki and is more than likely going out of her mind in worry about where I am. Call me tomorrow? Let me know how you are?"

Lissa nodded and stayed where she was until she was certain Caroline was inside. Damon wasn't going to be sinking his claws into the blonde tonight or any night unless she expressly said 'yes'. Sorry, you leather clad bastard.

Caroline had clearly had her mom call the station and tell them she was on her way to give her statement, cause they had everything ready when she walked in. That meant she was able to get in and out of the place within 30-40 minutes. Seems she was going to be able to get to sleep before 2am after all.

The drive home was calm. No one in Mystic Falls was out at this time a night, at least no one that would be driving was. Lissa pulled up to her house and smiled at the light that was left on. She could even see Elena's head peak out from behind her curtains. She'd clearly been waiting up for her. Waving at her sister to let her know she could go to bed, Lissa made her way into the house and up to her room.

Her room was her sanctuary. She'd gotten the short end of the stick and was in the attic bedroom. Though she wasn't too mad as their attic was roomy and she had a giant window to let light in. Since there wasn't any overhead light, Lissa had used warm Christmas lights as her lighting. She'd strung them up around the walls and let them hang in a lazy chaotic way. She had a couple plants here and there and a big mirror in the corner. Band posters and other aesthetic type things hung on her walls.

She even had a shelf that had her old parasol on it. She was happy she'd grown out of having to use the thing. It was annoying to carry everywhere she went.

Not caring about where they landed, the pale girl stripped off the bloody clothes. She'd throw them in the trash tomorrow; they were beyond saving. She didn't put any pajamas on beyond an old t-shirt she'd stolen from her dad and proceeded to wipe her makeup off. It wasn't until she was ready to go to bed did she feel a chill run up her back.

Someone was watching her. Not even thinking about anything, Lissa walked to her window and looked down. There on the ground was the dark haired vampire himself. Damon Salvatore.

Instead of doing the normal thing and just closing her blinds and ignoring the man, Lissa did something different.

She grinned and threw up two middle fingers at the man. She wasn't ashamed of her body, if he wanted to watch he could. Plus she looked like a pasty white version of someone he'd already slept with. He knew what her body looked like.

Damon down on the ground blinked at the bold move the girl gave. He wasn't too sure what to feel about Melissa Gilbert. The girl did have Katherine's face but with her coloring and piercings it wasn't an overwhelming comparison like it was with her sister. He'd come here to scope out Elena, but when he noticed the other sister in her room, he couldn't help paying attention.

Taking the move as the challenge it was, Damon gave the girl a lazy salute and flashed away just as the albino girl dropped her blinds.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Previously on "Ghost of Lifetimes Past"

Damon, down on the ground, blinked at the bold move the girl gave. He wasn't too sure what to feel about Melissa Gilbert. The girl did have Katherine's face, but with her coloring and piercings, it wasn't an overwhelming comparison like it was with her sister. He'd come here to scope out Elena, but when he noticed the other sister in her room, he couldn't help paying attention.

Taking the move as the challenge it was, Damon gave the girl a lazy salute and flashed away just as the albino girl dropped her blinds.

The next morning Lissa got up with a smile. Flipping Damon off had ensured he'd try and seek her out within the next few days. Soon, she'd either have a new friend or someone that she could play around with mentally. She hoped they could get along, though. Early Damon was fun. It wasn't until he started falling in love with Elena did the guy get predictable and boring.

After getting dressed- black cargo pants and a red mesh shirt with her standard platforms- she bounced down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Hey, Jenna, what's on the agenda today?" She asked, skirting around the young woman who was attempting to wrestle her hair into submission. She needed coffee to get through this day. The day after the back-to-school party was always filled with an excessive amount of hungover teenagers and left her thankful she never got drunk at that party. It never made sense to her why they still had that back-to-school party on a Sunday, but they did.

"Well, I get to meet with Jeremy's teacher today. Elena said to watch out for a Mr. Tanner? What do you think of him?" Her oldest niece was usually a good judge of character, so if she also said Tanner was terrible, she wouldn't take anything he said to heart.

Lissa scowled. Mr. Tanner was the type of teacher that made kids hate a subject. Since he taught her favorite one, it always irked her how he treated his students. For that reason alone, she purposefully made herself seem stupid but would completely ace any test or quiz he had. He was convinced the "incorrigible girl" was cheating but could never prove it to anyone. Jokes on him, she wasn't cheating at all. She just knew the subject well and decided that he deserved to be f*cked with.

"The dude deserves to be boiled in hot oil." At the wide eyes Jenna had on her face, Lissa realized she might have been a bit too brutal. Most people don't wish that level of violence on others. "I mean, not really, but he's a major dick."

Jenna nodded along to that sentiment. She'd had a couple of professors like that. The way she said it was a bit concerning, but she was a teenager, they were prone to exaggerations. Plus, dick teachers bring the worst out of people. "Thanks for the warning. I'll keep an eye out for the guy."

Shooting her aunt a thumbs up for good luck, Lissa made her way to school. She was a bit early, but she wanted to check in with Jeremy before their classes. She didn't remember where exactly he went after Vicki was attacked. Little things like this she didn't remember. It was only because she was slightly obsessed with the show that she remembered the big things. So scenes where, in the long run, it doesn't matter? They didn't stick with her.

Her eyes swept the yard before landing on Jeremy standing in front of Tyler and his friends. That wasnotgoing to end well. Jeremy was already incredibly jealous of Tyler since he liked Vicki; add in Tyler's lack of genuine care for his "girlfriend," it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Lissa didn't wait to find out what had been said or done; the minute Jeremy went to shove Tyler she slotted herself between the two, taking the shove herself.

She let out a grunt as she took a step back to absorb the force of her brother's shove. "You know, Jay, when Jenna told me you left early, I was thinking you'd be at the hospital or even getting high, notpicking a fight."

The reprimand was taken just how she thought it would be, with a frown, but ultimately Jeremy backed down.

"Are you takingTyler Lockwood'sside?" He asked, eyebrows raised at the turn of events. Tyler and Lissa's hatred was legendary in Mystic Falls. "I'm your brother!"

Lissa rolled her eyes at the younger boy. "I probably won't ever take Tyler's side, but I can acknowledge that he would beat your ass in a fight. So, before that can happen, I'm putting a stop to it."

Jeremy scowled at his sister, hurt that she seemed to think he couldn't win against Tyler, a guy she hated. "Whatever. I'm out of here."

"Great, I love fighting with my brother." She muttered, turning towards the guy she'd been keeping her brother from hitting.

Tyler had a weird look on his face as he stared at her. Like he wasn't sure what to think about the girl that he had a lifetime grudge against had kind of stood up for him.

"I didn't do that for you or for Jeremy. I did it for myself cause we both know you'd kick his scrawny ass, then I'd be forced to retaliate. We both know what that would entail." Her eyes stared into him, making him grit his teeth, reminded of the last time he'd pissed her off.

"Don't think just because of what happened four years ago you still scare me." Despite his words, Tyler could still feel his hair rise on the back of his neck at the dark look in Lissa's eyes, even as he glared, teeth bared and chest puffed up to try and seem more significant than he was.

Lissa just stared at the guy, face blank as she stifled the annoyance that was simmering under her skin at Tyler's words. Then before they could even think, she smiled, all of a sudden, as if a switch had been flipped. "Well, just remember, touch my brother, and they won't even have enough of your body to identify you."

The group of friends was left blinking, just standing there after those dark parting words. "Damn, somehow, I feel like her death threat is a lot more serious than any her brother would have given." Tyler joked to the girls next to him, trying to throw off the uneasy feeling that had been left in Lissa's wake.

With her morning ruined, Lissa went through the day only really talking to people at lunch when she met up with Caroline. She'd tried to get her to agree to come to The Grill, but Lissa decided she needed the day to herself. She was still wound up from earlier and, honestly, didn't want to have to watch what she said around anyone. If she hung out with Bonnie or Elena, she'd have to tone down everything, or else they'd get uneasy with her intensity. Caroline pouted for a bit but understood; she was just as intense, so she understood what she was getting at.

So once the final bell rang, Lissa decided to just have the rest of the day to herself. She stopped by the local bakery, Mr. and Mrs. Kinley were the owners, and they always gave her the leftover morning muffins if she asked. After grabbing those, she made her way to a random clearing in the woods she'd found just outside of the cemetery. Did her hanging out in a clearing near a cemetery just add to the multitude of rumors that were slung around about her? Yes, but she'd learned long ago that if she did everything that others wanted you to do, you'd never be happy.

It was the main reason she'd stopped acting like an excellent, non-psychotic, member of society well before she'd died and come to this life. Why be miserable when you didn't have to be?

For the next hour or so, Lissa sat in the clearing with her muffins and her guitar and just did some thinking. Not many people were aware she did things like this. Playing around with music and the like has always, even in her previous life, been an outlet for her emotions. Most days, she would take half an hour or so to just strum her guitar to think things through. It was like Elena's diary but less likely to be stolen and read. This way, the emotions and thoughts are released but not to where people can use them against her.

As the sun started to go down, she started packing up her stuff to leave. Just as she got it all together, she felt that same chill from the night before. Damon was watching.

"You know, instead of being a creep, you could just say 'hello' like a normal person," Lissa called out into the darkening woods.

Some random noises, a swoosh, and suddenly Damon stood in front of her. "Hello."

She jerked back at the suddenness of Damon appearing before her. Her mouth curved into a frown as Damon's smile went from just a co*cky smile to a smug smirk at the fact he'd apparently scared her. "You know, if I didn't already know about vampires, that would have actually given me a fright."

"Then I supposed that jump at me appearing was just you feeling the need to move away?" Damon chuckled. "I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore, you've met my brother Stefan. From what he says, you nor your sister are aware of vampires, yet here you are mentioning them in casual conversation. Hmm, odd, doncha think?"

"Nope. What I find odd is you watching me, a 16-year-old girl, change last night." She said, tone just a bit frosty. It was odd the guy was watching her change; he was physically 25. "Imay be comfortable with you looking, but any other girl would be appalled at the thought of being spied on. "

Damon stepped back, giving the girl a bit of room. "Ahh, but it wasn't any other girl last night; it was you. So does it really matter?"

Shrugging, Lissa mentally gave Damon a mental point. He had her there. "Alright, smartass, why were you watching me?"

Damon opened his mouth to answer but stopped as the white-haired girl turned and started walking away. Pursing his lips at the fact she didn't even try to stick around for his answer toher own questions, he sped up to walk next to her. "You know, most people, when they ask a question, stick around for the answer."

"I could still hear you. You also have two legs; you can walk next to me." She snarked. "Plus, I gotta get home to make dinner. It's my turn."

Jaw clenched, Damon grabbed the impotent girl and swung her around to look at him. Looking her deep in the eyes, he attempted to compel her. "You will listen to what I say,anything, I say."

Instead of the blank stare he was used to when he compelled a girl, Lissa was staring back at him, anger making her icy eyes seem like daggers.

The feeling of compulsion was hard to explain. It was not unlike the imperious curse described in Harry Potter, but as a human, you can't really acknowledge the feeling. It didn't matter if you had vervain or anything; it still tended to leave a fuzzy feeling in your brain even with the commands not taking hold. She'd fed Enzo extra blood one time so he could compel her back before she had the vervain piercings and tattoos. It wasn't a feeling she liked. She was a person thatneededcontrol, so the lack of it that comes with compulsion terrifies her.

Without breaking eye contact with Damon, she reached her right hand up to grab his wrist. Instead of immediately setting the arrogant man on fire, she slowly allowed her palm to heat up until she could feel his skin bubble under her palm.

The action did precisely what she was wanting. Damon was clearly in pain. Face scrunched up, shoulders tense, he kept looking between his rapidly healing wrist and her.

"I think I'd like you, Damon, genuinely I do, but try to compel me again, and it won't just be your wrist burnt." She glared. "Now, can we have a conversation like civilized people, or are we just going to leave it at this?"

"You think I want to have a conversation, now?" He hissed.

Picking her case and basket that had fallen when Damon had grabbed her, Lissa turned around with a shrug. "Suit yourself. I'm just saying, I think you could use a friend. You don't particularly have any of those."

Damon pressed his lips together, well aware the girl was right, he just didn't want to admit it. Getting Katherine out of the tomb would be a lot easier with someone on his side. And she had shown him she could be ruthless; after all, who burns someone without blinking?

"Alright, say we 'become friends' what's in it for you?" He said, eyebrows raised. "Cause you don't seem like the type of girl to just do something out of the goodness of your heart."

Spinning around, Lissa stifled the need to grin at getting the man's attention. "Vampire protector."

"Vampire protector?"

"Yep, I'm not stupid to think my little fire trick will work more than once or twice." She nodded. "I'm human, meaning I'm basically the easiest thing to kill. At least with you as my friend, I'll have one more line of defense."

Damon could feel his mouth open at the request. "You want to use me as a meat shield?"

"I'm not a complicated girl." Lissa bit her lip. She did want Damon as a friend. She really did; he was an interesting character early on. But this was a gamble. If he felt like it was too much work for him or he didn't get enough out of it, then she knew Damon would disagree before she could even argue her point.

"Deal." He said. "But burn me again and I'll drain you dry."

Lissa grinned, happy that, after the Vicki f*ck up, something went right. Damon was, tentatively, on her side. "Don't try and compel me again and I won't burn you."

"Seems like the start of awondrousfriendship."

After Damon flashed away, Lissa was left to make her way home. Seems like even with her meeting with Damon, he'd still had time to stir the pot between the couple as Elena was in the kitchen ranting to Jenna about Katherine and Damon and everything else about Stefan. Not wanting to be sucked intothat,Lissa tiptoed past them and made her way upstairs.

Stopping at Jeremy's room, wanting to check and see if he was still mad at her, she wrapped her knuckles across the door. Not getting any reply, but hearing his video games, she went on her way. She'd let him sulk.

Once she made it to her room, she dropped to her bed as she logged onto her email seeing Jason had emailed her.

Hey Snow,

You know how you were looking for Mr. Big and Bad? Well, my sources (no, I will not tell you who, stop asking!) says he's gonna be in New York City for the new art museum opening up. Dude's apparently an appreciator of the arts, who knew? Anyway, that's next month, so if you're still insane enough to want to meet him, that's your best bet. Anyway, don't drag me into this. I already have vampires mad that I sell vervain jewelry. I don't need no original f*cker on my case. I'm expecting the regular payment for the info transferred by next week.

f*ck off,

Jason.

A month. She had a month to get a plan together so Klaus didn't immediatelykill her.What that plan was going to be, she had no idea. Then, she would have to try and find a way for Damon to find out about Katherinewithoutall the drama andnotgo off the rails in grief and betrayal. On top of all ofthat,she needed to get all her schoolwork done if she wanted to graduate.

After sending Jason a quick thanks and that the money, $10,000, would be in his account by tomorrow, she started looking into flights to New York City for next month. Thanking every deity possible that she'd actually remembered stuff about the stock market in this time, or else she wouldn't have money at all. Her parents had left their money to be split between her, Elena, and Jeremy, but they couldn't touch it until they were at least 18 or in college. So she'd done the only thing she could think of to make money, get a fake identity, and start investing in something she knew would pay off. Of course, she made sure to lose some money too or else the police would get suspicious, but in the end, she now had a couple hundred thousand dollars, easily enough to hold her over for a while.

No one could even blame her for taking advantage of her knowledge because they'd all do the same thing if they could. Money made things easier. Whatever rich asshat said money doesn't make you happy clearly hadn't ever experienced financial insecurity.

Feeling her phone vibrate, she saw that Enzo was calling. Her stomach clenched, mouth settling into a frown as she tried to decide what to say to the man. He'd told her about Damon, or in his words, 'the son-of-a-bitch that left me to either die or be tortured.' Despite his words, Lissa remembered the hurt and sadness in his voice as he told her about the time Damon and him were cellmates. Sigh escaping her, Lissa quickly pushed the decline button and put her phone away. She could figure that out later.

The good mood from the deal with Damon was gone; Lissa sent a text to Jenna saying she didn't feel up to cooking. Getting an okay back, she turned over, grabbed her giant stuffed bear, and just laid there trying to ignore the guilt bubbling in her stomach at ignoring Enzo.

Just as she was almost asleep, her door opened with a quiet squeak. "Hey, Lis, just wanted to check in with you."

Lissa let out a quiet sigh. "I'm good, Jen, just got a lot on my mind. Sorry about not cooking tonight. I know I said I would."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." She said, hugging the teddy bear a bit harder, "It's just a personal thing. If it gets to the point I can't handle it, I know you'll be there."

"Alright, if you're sure." Jenna patted her eldest niece on the head before leaving the room. Her eyebrows scrunched up as she thought about Lissa. She never knew if she should worry about her or not. She'd never really had that breakdown Jenna expected when Grayson and Miranda died. She'd been expecting it, both Elena and Jeremy had theirs, but Lissa never really broke. Not in the way Jenna expected. Lips pressed together, Jenna left her niece to herself, shaking her head as she walked.

Unlike the day before, Lissa didn't wake up in that same good mood. She'd had to decline 2 more calls from Enzo the night before. He clearly picked up the hint she didn't want to talk since there weren't anymore calls after that.

Staring at her ceiling, face blank, until her final alarm went off, Lissa forced herself to her feet. Not caring what she actually looked like today, she just threw her hair up into a messy bun and grabbed whatever clothes she saw first. Usually, she'd just grab coffee out of the coffee pot downstairs. Still, as she hadn't actually slept more than 3 hours, she knew it was time to go get what Caroline affectionately called 'Crack Coffee,' 7 shots of espresso in a large Americana. There wasn't any way she would be making it through the day without insane levels of caffeine. So after stopping at The Brewery, which doubled as a spiritual shop and a coffee shop, she drug herself through classes.

With the Night of the Comet festival tonight, classes were super easy, aka, she slept through most of them. Even lunch was spent dosing as Caroline went on about how Kennedy Curtis, a senior, was seen with a dark-haired older man. More than likely Damon since he couldn't get Caroline now. Lissa didn't give a sh*t about Kennedy; she was a Karen in the making. She'd let Damon have his fun. She'd just make sure with him that Kennedy had actually agreed to sleep with him, cause if not, that's when she'd have a problem with Damon's playing.

Once classes were over, Lissa was wide awake, the multitude of naps she'd taken throughout the day energizing her in a way the coffee didn't. Caroline caught her right as she left her last class had even managed to talk her into handing out those stupid flyers with her. So now here she was, covered in sweat, handing out colorful pieces of paper all to satisfy her best friend.

Lissa stood next to The Grill, stifling a yawn behind her stack of fliers when Stefan came up to her. "Hey, Lissa. I wanted to talk to you."

"What's up, Stefan?" Her head tilted involuntarily as she asked her question. "If it's about my sister, I haven't really talked to her much lately, been a bit busy."

"Oh, oh no." He stuttered, shuffling his feet as he realized she knew about the issues him and Elena had been having. "It's actually about my brother. He'd mentioned that you guys had met and made friends? Well, I just wanted to warn you, he's not exactly a good guy."

Before she could even think about it, her eyebrows raised. "Wow, I get not getting along with my siblings, but Damon hasn't done anything horrible to me." Well, besides try and compel her, but that didn't work since she knew about their vampire status. "So I don't get why you're trying to warn me away from him."

"I'm just trying to save you some problems, Lissa. You don't want to get involved with Damon."

"Thanks for theadvice, but I think I can decide for myself." She snarled. How dare he try and tell her what to do. Even if she hadn't decided to be on Damon's side in the future, this would have pushed her there. "Now, take a flyer and go."

Lissa shoved one of the neon flyers at Stefan's chest, pushing him further away from her. Stefan, not wanting to further antagonize his kind of girlfriend's sister, just frowned and walked away, taking the flyer with him.

She shook her head, still baffled by Stefan. She'd had two conversations with the dude. She knew he really thought Damon was the biggest bad, but this was ridiculous. As long as you stayed interesting and on Damon's good side, you really didn't have anything to fear from the dude. And his version of interesting is Elena, so it's not too hard to beinteresting, just have a personality.

"Well, well, well, it seems you were serious about this friend's thing. You stood up to the big bad Stefan for me andeverything. I could swoon" Damon pretended to do just that, putting his hand on his forehead and spinning around.

Lissa rolled her eyes, it seemed like today was 'Salvatores' bug Lissa' day. "Well, I'm not someone that would call you a friend then go back on it." Was that a dig only she caught about Enzo? Yes, did it make her feel better? No.

"Aw, come on! You can't blame me." Damon whined, coming to stand next to her and stealing a couple flyers, handing them out himself. "I mean, in our first conversation you burned me!"

"And you tried to compel me to doanythingyou asked." She said before stopping as a group of teenagers left The Grill. "I say we're even there."

"Aw, are you still annoyed by that? That was like, 20 hours ago, you should get over it."

"Oh, I am over it, but will I still bring it up to you? Yep"

Damon grinned, having Lissa around was going to be fun. She seemed to be able to keep up with him. "Alright, well, I just wanted to say hey, and warn you, I'm going to be pissing Stefan off. So you may want to stay off rooftops tonight. I'm nice like that."

"Oh, dang. I was really hoping to go rooftop hopping tonight. Guess I'll have to reschedule." She joked.

Damon laughed and gave her a lazy wave as he turned to walk away.

Lissa grabbed his leather-clad arm before he could get far. "Hey, before you go, I gotta ask. Kennedy, I hate the bitch, but youdidget her okay for sexbeforeyou compelled her, right?"

Eyes narrowing at the small girl, he felt a bit of a sting that she would ask him that. "Yes, I'm not a total monster. Thanks for the confidence." He shrugged her hand off and tried to stomp away.

"Hey, I had to ask. I don't think you would, but I did just meet you. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." And she knew she had hurt his feelings. The way his shoulders tensed when she asked her question gave that away.

"Whatever, Snowflake." His words may have been a bit harsh but the tension that had taken over his shoulder's eased up and she saw a bit of a smirk back on his face. Good, she hadn't f*cked this partnership, or friendship, or whatever-they-were-ship, up before it even really began.

Besides Damon and Stefan stopping by where she was, she'd seen Matt and asked about Vicki. He seemed to be taking her being attacked just as well as she thought he would. But other than that, the only additional time she saw someone of importance was when Caroline came and grabbed her to drag her to the candle lighting. Walking around lighting candles, Lissa was reminded of how many people in this town she actually knew. Knew, not liked, but still. It's a bit weird to think about some of them dying within the next couple of years because of all the vampire and supernatural drama.

Not her problem though, as long as the people she cared about were safe, she was okay with a little carnage.

She had just walked into The Grill with Caroline and Matt when she saw Jeremy make a beeline to Tyler again. Seriously? She didn't understand Jeremy's deal with the guy, sure he was probably jealous of him and Vicki, but did something else go on that she was forgetting.

"Hey, have any of you seen Vicky?" Jeremy asked as they walked up to Tyler's table.

"You're her stalker, you tell us."

Jeremy frowned, not even giving Tyler the reaction he wanted. "I can't find her."

"She probably found someone else to party with," Tyler said. "Sorry, pill pusher. I guess you've been replaced."

"Pill pusher?" Elena asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Lissa shook her head, finally joining the conversation. "Not now, Elena."

"Yes now. Are you dealing, Jeremy?"

Before Jeremy could say anything to his sister, Tyler decided it was still his time to shine. "She's never going to go for you."

"She already did, over and over and over again." He snarled at Tyler, ignoring that Vicki's brother was right beside him.

"Wait, Jeremy, you slept with Vicki Donovan?" Caroline asked, trying not to smile. Little Jeremy was growing up. "I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?"

"I didn't even have to force her into it!" He dropped that bomb on the table.

Matt quickly stood up and faced his best friend. "What the hell is he talking about, Ty?"

"Tyler." The table got quiet as they recognized the dark tone of Lissa's. They'd all heard it a time or two, generally before someone ended up bloody. "Is he telling the truth? Cause we've had a conversation about taking advantage of people before."

Tyler scoffed, ignoring that he, just everyone else at the table, had frozen the minute Lissa's voice rang out over the group. "Of course not, your brother is a punk."

Matt shook his head, clearing the slight fear that he knew everyone else felt before he spoke. "How about we all just try and find my sister, okay? My injured sister."

Before Lissa could follow Matt and them, Elena grabbed her wrist and pulled her over towards Jeremy. "Jeremy! We need to talk. As afamily."

Both of her siblings rolled their eyes in sync. They were used to the "family talks." Their mother used to do the same thing whenever they had a fight or something. As if healthy families actually sat down and talked about their problems.

"Jeremy, are you dealing? Lissa, why aren't you more upset about this!."

Lissa shrugged. She knew their brother better, and in his mindset right now, neither therapy nor rehab nor any of Elena's "tough family love" talking was going to help. He was just as headstrong as she was, and there wasn't any way he was going to back down once Elena made this into a 'her way or the highway' type of thing.

"I'm not dealing. Lissa's not upset because she knows this. You would too if you had any sort of trust in me."

Elena rolled her eyes at her siblings. It was just like them to try and gang up on her. Well, not this time. "Clearly, these talks aren't doing anything, and Lissa isn't helping curb your addictions at all. So you can either go to therapy, be forced to talk to someone and deal with your emotions, or rehab, where you'll sit in a circle and talk about how your life has gone down the drain."

Jeremy scoffed, it wasn't like he didn't talk to people. He spoke to Lissa just fine. It was just Elena and Jenna, both of who judged him because of his addiction. Lissa at least listened. She wasn't happy about it, but she didn't make him feel like sh*t.

"Elena, leave it. Jeremy talks to me. That should be enough for now." Lissa stepped between her siblings. Giving Elena a disappointed look, she turned to Jeremy. "Go. Look for Vicki. I'll talk to Elena."

Jeremy gave his favorite sister a small thankful smile before leveling a glare at Elena and walked off.

"Are you serious!? You're just going to let him get away with this? He's dealing, Lissa!" Elena exploded once Jeremy was out of sight. Heads swung to look at the two sisters, The Grill was still very much full and busy.

"He's not dealing. He stopped when I asked him to 2 weeks ago. He just shared his stash with Vicki. You and Jenna would know this if you didn't spend every conversation with him judging him." Lissa said, disappointment coloring her tone. "These 'talks' aren't helping. I'm working on it, but every time you try to push him, it just makes it worse. Drop it, Elena, I mean it."

Elena stared at her sister wide-eyed. That was the most she'd learned about Jeremy's problem since it had started. She looked down, sadness making her eyes burn. "So, what your saying is I'm part of his problem."

Lissa shook her head. "No, but you're not helping him. Let me handle it. This isn't the time to be jealous, yes, I know about your jealousy of my and Jeremy's relationship."

"I-I guess," Elena muttered, walking out of The Grill to the part of town she was supposed to search for Vicki. Lissa pursed her lips, knowing that talk hadn't exactly gone how she'd wanted it to.

TW: RAPE IS DISCUSSED IN THIS SECTION! NO ACTUAL RAPE IS COMMITTED BUT IT IS DISCUSSED AS IF IT HAPPENED! ALSO BIT A VIOLENCE

They'd all gotten to their own sections of town they were supposed to search by now, their "family talk" causing Lissa to be later than she wanted, but she'd made it to where she wanted to go. Tyler's area. She had warned the guy when they were 12. If he actually was taking advantage of Vicki, then it was game over.

She blended into the darkness, her regular black clothing allowing it despite her unnaturally white skin. She wasn't sure how long she waited for Tyler to pass the alleyway she was hiding in, just that it wasn't too long.

As fast as lightning, Lissa grabbed a hold of Tyler, maneuvering him into an aikido hold in his shock. This way, no matter how much stronger Tyler is, he wouldn't be able to brute strength his way out.

"What the hell!" He grunted shoulder pained at the unnatural angle it was in.

Pushing just a bit harder, not enough to break or dislocate it but enough to cause him to grunt, Lissa bent down to Tyler's ear. "Am I going to have to follow through with my threat 4 years ago, Tyler? Cause I really don't want to."

Tyler stilled as he realized who was holding him. He should have realized the girl wouldn't have dropped her questioning just because Matt asked her to. She wasn't friends with Matt, but she was friendly with Vicki, the girl her brother accused him of raping. "Let go of me, you psycho! I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullsh*t, or else you would have looked me in the eye earlier than you did." She snarled. "I scare you. Good. Now, do you remember what I said that day four years ago? Cause I do."

"You just muttered some threat, I don't remember it." He gritted his teeth. He did remember it, but he'd never give her the satisfaction of knowing she was still the star in most of his nightmares.

Lissa laughed, not her usual laugh, no, this one was darker and he thought he could hear just a bit of insanity in it. The same one she'd given when he tried to play off what he was doing when he was 12. "Oh, Tyler, don't lie to me. What did I say I'd do to you if I caught you forcing another girl?"

Instead of answering, Tyler attempted to get free, his shoulder still in that unnatural angle, all he accomplished was finally popping his shoulder out of place. He dropped to his knees as the pain hit him. Eyes watering, he looked up at the pale girl. With the light from the street hitting her as it was, he was weirdly reminded of those avenging Valkyrie he'd read about when he was young.

"Well, now that your shoulder is dislocated, you gonna tell me what I wanna know?"

Not sure if she could get him into another hold like she had, Tyler decided it was best to humor the crazy chick. "You said next time it wouldn't be my balls you crushed, it'd be my head."

Lissa's head tilted and she smiled as if she was proud of him for remembering. As if he would forget the worst moment of his life so far. "Good, good, you do remember. So, if you remember that,why did my brother accuse you of raping Vicki Donovan?"

Tyler's pulse jumped as he realized he was in actual danger of dying. Sure, there were rumors that some of the burnt drug dealers were because of Lissa, but he'd thought they were just that, rumors. At least, until he was the one staring into her eyes at this moment. He knew she was 100% willing to kill him.

"You'd never get away with killing me! My dad is the mayor! You know this!" He panicked as his eyes swiveled around, trying to find a way to get away from the alley without tipping her off to what he was doing.

Then, just like the day before, he watched as if a flip had been switched and Lissa's eyes filled with tears. "I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Lockwood! I don't-don't know what happened! I just found Tyler like this!" She sobbed as if she really was grieving the boy that was sitting right in front of her. Then he watched as those tears dried up, the only remnants of them were the slight tracks on her face. "I think you mean,youcould never get away with murder. Me, on the other hand?"

"What do you want?" Tyler had made his way from his knees to a squatting position, if he timed it right, he could headbutt the girl, possibly knocking her out and getting away.

"The truth, Tyler. I'm not unreasonable. Did you, or did you not rape Vicki?"

He shook his head. He didn't know where the youngest Gilbert got that information, but he'd never forced Vicki. The threat from Lissa alone stopping any sort of thought like that in their tracks.

"Alrighty then! That's all I needed to know." Lissa grabbed Tyler by his good shoulder and hauled him up to the crate next to where he'd been squatting. Yes, she'd noticed what the boy had been planning. She pushed him down to sit and lean over his knees, she gave him one warning. "I'll count to three, once I hit three, I'll pop your shoulder back into place. Though you'll still want to get it checked out."

"What? What're you going to do to me!" He squirmed, trying to get away from the girl that had just been completely ready to kill him. Now she was trying to perform medical procedures on him? No way!

"Oh, suck it up, Tyler." She rolled her eyes. "One"

"I said wait!"

"Two"

"Did you not hear me?!"

"Better stop squirming or else it may not go in right."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Three"

"GAH!"

Lissa felt around the shoulder she'd just popped back into place. Nothing felt wrong, but it'd been almost 50 years since she'd been to medical school so she could be missing something. "There you go. All nice and fixed. Now, what're you going to tell people when they asked what happened?"

Tyler glared at the girl, hand holding the shoulder she'd justpopped back into place in a back alley."That you're a psycho and belong in jail?"

"Wrong!" She slammed her hand down on his injured shoulder causing the boy's face to scrunch up in pain. He hadn't let out any sound, though, so good on him. "You'll say you fell, and I helped you pop it back into place. Because I'm a good samaritan like that."

"You really are crazy if you think I'm not telling everyone what you did!" He hissed, standing up to tower over the short girl.

Before she could even panic at not being able to force him to listen to her, Tyler was pushed against the brick wall behind him.

"You will not remember you were attacked. You fell and popped your shoulder out of place, and Lissa Gilbert helped you put it back."

Tyler's face went blank as he repeated what Damon had just compelled him to do. He blinked before looking at Lissa, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to work out why she "helped him" like the compulsion told him she had. "Thanks or whatever, Gilbert."

Damon and her were silent as Tyler walked back towards where everyone was supposed to meet up. "You really are a little psycho, you know?"

Lissa smirked up at the vampire. "Ahh, but all the best people are. After all, you're the one that attacked Vicki just to get at your brother. That's a bit psycho too, don't you think?"

"You got me there. Wanna explain what was going on with Little Boy Lockwood? I can drive you home while you tell me. It seemed like Blondie was going to be staying at The Grill for a while." Damon offered her his arm like a mock of the gentleman he had been raised to be.

Lissa linked her arm with his, and as they got to his car, she'd only just started on the legendary feud between her and Tyler Lockwood. The story lasted the whole way to her house. Damon's commentary during the entire thing didn't help, sending her into laughter a few times at his ridiculous suggestions on what she should do to the guy.

"So that's why you asked me about Kennedy, you're, like, really against sexual assault of any kind."

"That's kind of what happens when you've dealt with it yourself," Lissa admitted.

Damon growled. He may not have known the girl long, but she had, surprisingly enough, endeared herself to him in the very few conversations they'd had. With his vampire nature, that meant his protective instincts were going wild at the thought of someone tainting someone he'd claimed ashisfriend. "Who?"

Lissa rolled her eyes, ignoring the warmth that filled her body at Damon's protectiveness. The only person she'd ever hinted at her assault to was Enzo. He'd had much the same reaction, though much more violent. "It was a long time ago. Almost seems like another lifetime ago. The guy is dead. Yes, he suffered. But, now you know why this type of stuff bothers me so much."

"If it happens again-"

"If it happens again, I'll torture and kill them myself. Don't worry, Damon, I learned after the first time."She leaned over and kissed his cheek. It was colder than she thought it would be. "But thanks, I'll be sure to call you so you can get your own licks in."

Before he could tease her about the kiss, she opened the door and made her way into the house, not even looking back at the grinning vampire. Oh, he was so going to give her sh*t about that mushy sh*t she'd spewed.

She showered and did her normal skincare routine before heading to bed. Just as she was falling asleep, her phone vibrated. Not looking at who it was, she answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Snow White, wanna tell me why you were dodging my calls?"

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Previously on "Ghost of Lifetimes Past"

She showered and did her normal skincare routine before heading to bed. Just as she was falling asleep, her phone vibrated. Not looking at who it was, she answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Snow White, wanna tell me why you were dodging my calls?"

"Enzo!" Lissa jerked awake, eyes wide.

"Yes, Enzo. You know, the guy who's calls you've been avoiding."

Lissa swallowed. She knew that she couldn't put off telling Enzo about Damon. She'd wanted to let him have as much time to heal because that's what he was doing, healing, before being dragged back to this town and the drama that would encase it in the years to come. "How're you? How's life? Is-"

"Are you really attempting to play stupid right now? You?" Lissa could picture the deadpanned look Enzo was more than likely sporting. "You've never declined my calls before. What's going on?"

She shook her head, not even thinking that he wouldn't be able to see her. "I have some news. And honestly, I was going to tell you, I promise! I just- you're still learning to live your own life. I didn't want to make it worse by bringing this to your attention."

"Bringwhat?Did Augustine find you? Are you okay?"

"No, yes, I'm fine- but no. It's not Augustine." She took a deep breath. Come on, Lissa, just rip the bandaid off. "Damon Salvatore is in town, and I may have made a deal with him."

Silence. Okay, silence could mean anything. "Enzo? Please. Please talk to me?"

"...So he wasn't dead. He was fine. AND HE JUST LEFT ME THERE!"

She could hear something break across the phone. Enzo had obviously thrown something at glass or thrown somethingmadeof glass. Either way, the sound of shattering filled her ear. Her throat seemed to burn as she realized how hurt he was. She was second-guessing working with Damon now. She'd remembered in the show the two had become friends again, so she didn't think too much of it. She'd quite clearly miscalculated. "I'm sorry. Please, Lorenzo, just- just listen to me, please?"

She heard a sigh and what seemed like fabric moving before a long span of silence. Lissa just held her phone to her ear, both hands on it as she waited to hear what he said. "Explain, Melissa, please. Tell me you tried to stake the bastard. Actually don't, because I want the pleasuremyself."

"I- I didn't do thatexactly." She said, trying to be calm about what she was about to say. "Imayhavemadeadealwithhimandnowwe'reworkingtogether."

"You...made a deal with the bastard? W-what could possibly have led to that? Why would you want to work with someone youknowwill betray you the minute he gets what he wants?"Enzo asked, hurt coloring his voice.

"I didn't want to drag you back to the mess Mystic Falls is going to be. I told you Mystic Falls was going to be a mess, you know, the future I saw" Had she lied and said she just had random visions of the future, yes, but she'd needed someone to bounce ideas off of, and a guy that was tied down with nowhere to go was the perfect candidate when she was younger. "I don't know exactly how it's going to go down. I'm human and not even the correct doppelganger. Hell, I'm nature's rough draft of a doppelganger. I needed protection and asking you to come back and deal with this would be unfair to you. You've already been dealt a sh*tty hand in life. I didn't want to be another person that just added to the pain." She sniffed, cheeks red as she held her tears back. She neverwasgood at being called out, let alone by people she loved. And she did love Enzo. He was more than just a friend. At this point in her life, she'd say he was a brother to her.

"Butwhy Damon?You know how I feel. He deserves to die. Heleft me to rot." She could hear the pain in his voice clear as day.

"Because you were finallyhealing!You'd met a girl. You were going on a date. You were getting better and moving on. How could I just drag you back here to face the guy that betrayed you?" She cried, tears finally falling down her face. She was not a pretty crier. In the mirror, she could see her face had gotten all red, and she could feel her nose running. "I figured I could help him reach his goal and get him out of Mystic Falls, and you wouldn't have to face him or what he'd done."

"That's not your decision to make, Snow White. I'm a grown man. For forever, Damon escaping was my only hope of getting out. After realizing he wasn't coming back and had probably either died or shut his humanity off, I had started to give up. Then you came along and I started getting blood regularly and having actual conversations again." Enzo admitted, voice softening as he realized the girl hadn't meant to hurt him. She'd just done what she thought was best. "My hope came back. Because ofyou. You became the reason I kept going. Now, you want to tell me that Damon Salvatore, asshole extraordinaire, has made a deal with you."

Unable to stop it, Lissa let out a sob. She didn't realize how much she'd actually come to mean to Enzo. In her mind, Damon would always be Enzo's best friend and savior. She hadn't recognized that, so long ago,shehad taken over that role. The guilt she'd been feeling grow with every interaction she had with Damon, seemed to take over her body. Unable to think of anything else to say, she just kept muttering, "I'm sorry," to Enzo.

Enzo sighed at the sound of her sobs over the phone. "I won't tell you it's fine because it's not. But dry those tears, Snow White. I don't think I could ever actually hate you. You're the person that kept me alive and hopeful once I'd finally started to give up. Youfreed me."

Lissa's sobs ever so slowly turned to sniffles as she realized Enzo wasn't going to just up and hate her. God, the day was a roller coaster of a day. "If it makes it better, I'd betray Damon without a thought if you asked. He may be entertaining, but you're the one I care about."

"Actually, yes, that does make it better." Enzo laughed before sobering up again. "I'm coming to Mystic Falls, though."

"But! -"

Interrupting the girl, Enzo was firm in his reply. "I deserve to confront him, Melissa. You have to agree on that."

Lissa let out a sigh. She knew he was right. "Fine. Do you want me to cut him off? Cause my plan with him is a thousand times less important than you."

"No. I know you. If you have a plan involving him, it's for a reason. So you can stick with it. Just- just be there when I confront him the first time? I don't know how I'll react." She could hear the insecurity that had slowly gone away as Enzo got accustomed to the 21st century coming back. She didn't know if it was because he thought she'd say no or just uncertainty at what the confrontation was going to be like, but it was there all the same.

"Of course. Like I said, Damon and his friendship is second to you. Always. You're my brother, my blood-sucking, over a 100-year-old brother." Lissa smiled as she looked over at the clock. It was now 3 AM. Seems like another sleepless, or almost sleepless, night.

"Who would have guessed Ms. Psychopath was actually just a mask for a giant ball of sap." Enzo laughed. "Now go to bed...Little sister"

Before she could reply, Enzo hung up the phone. Pulling the phone from her ear, she smiled down at it, shoulders drooping as the tension that she hadn't realized she was holding left her. There was trust to build back between them, of course, but they were okay. That's all she could ask.

Lissa was left to spend her morning with Bonnie and Elena since Caroline had finally started morning cheer practice for the year. Cheerleading was one thing she'd kept up no matter how much sh*t Lissa gave her, and she'd given her a lot over the years. It's not that she didn't respect the sport, because she did. It's just Caroline absolutelyhatedeveryone on the team besides Elena, who she barely tolerated. Now she was stuck with bitchy one-dimensional cows. Or at least that's how Caroline described them. Lissa had never met any of them besides to pick Caroline or Elena up from practice, never sticking around to talk to any of the other girls.

Why Bonnie and Elena weren't also at cheer practice, Lissa didn't know. Though as she listened to Bonnie and Elena talk about Stefan and how Bonnie had gotten a feeling of death from him she wished they were. It was incredibly boring knowing the future and about vampires. It tended to take the excitement out of a lot of mystery in these early days.

She zoned out, not even noticing when Bonnie left and Stefan took her place. His and Elena's whole conversation blew over her head, at least until she heard her name being mentioned.

"Perfect. Dinner. My house. 8:00. You, me, Bonnie, and Lissa.-"

Lissa let out a scoff, realizing what Elena just invited her to. "Uh-uh, no way. No Lissa. I'm not going to any dinner with your friendandyour boyfriend."

"Lissa! Stefan thinks you don't like him! You have to come. Show him you don't really dislike him." She whined.

She looked over at Stefan. Seeing him smile slightly at her just made her purse her lips. He thought tattling to her sister would be the right move? Really? "Sorry if I made youthinkI don't like you, Stefan."

"It's okay. I just -"

"Because I thought it wasclearI don't like you. My bad for the misunderstanding" She shrugged, sending a smirk at the offended look on Stefan's face.

Elena let out a gasp at her sister's rude words. How could she be so mean? Stefan was just being polite and trying to warn her away from a bad guy. He'd been nothing but nice to her. Nothing but nice to both of them. "Melissa! Apologize! How could you talk to Stefan like that?"

Lissa looked over at Elena, face scrunched up in disbelief, as is she'd apologize. Had she ever apologized for her words before? No, and she wasn't about to start now. "How about no? I don't like him; I'm not going to suck up to the dude just because you want the dick."

"That is completely wrong! And vulgar! Do you have to be that vulgar? It's embarrassing to me."

Lissa rolled her eyes at the tone Elena had adopted. "Oh, well, I apologize if I offended your sweet virgin ears, Princess Elena."

Stefan jumped into the conversation before the argument between the two girls could get worse. "Elena, I don't mind if she doesn't like me. That just means I'll have to prove her wrong."

Stefan smiled over at the pale girl, noting that she was clearly not impressed with his words. She really would be a hard one to get on his side. But if it was for Elena, he had to try. "I really would like to get the chance to change your mind, Lissa. Won't you come to the dinner Elena was trying to plan?"

"Hmm, let me think about it," She said, hand on her chin. "How about…no."

Before Stefan could try and convince heragain,Tyler Lockwood proved himself useful for once and lugged a football at Stefan's head, giving her the distraction she needed to slip away from the irritating conversation.

Lissa didn't realize it, but as she stalked away towards her class, kidsliterallyparted ways as she walked. The aura she was giving off was screaming danger for all to feel. And feel it they did. She knew Elena got worse as the show went on with her selfishness and whininess, but she didn't think it would start right away.

Elena had always been a whiny child. It was partly the reason she got so much attention when they were young over her or Jeremy. Their parents felt obligated to pay attention to the kid that was complaining the most. That left Lissa to pay attention to Jeremy herself. Lissa had had a childhood already. She didn't need to have a second one. So she spent her time split between Jeremy, Caroline, and Enzo, the three people she cared about in this world. Yes, she loved her parents. And yes, she loved Elena. But as you'd love a distant relative, not anything like how you'd love your immediate family.

Caroline missed lunch, apparently, Kennedy, who was the cheer captain this year, hadn't shown up so it was up to Caroline, as the vice, to take over her duties for the day. Thank you, Damon. He wasn't even with Caroline this time, yet still managed to make her miss stuff.

With her day clearly on the path to be terrible, what with the argument this morning and Caroline gone, Lissa decided it was time to skedaddle. She was ahead in all her classes since she'd been spending so much time focusing on getting the work done before sh*t hit the fan. So, with that thought, she jumped in her SUV and drove to The Grill.

Sitting at the bar, she attempted to get Mark, the current bartender, to give her a vodka cranberry. She was currently failing. Hard.

"Oh, come on, Mark! You've seen me sh*tfaced at parties before; you know I drink. Why can't you just slip me one? I'll even tip well!"

Mark pursed his lips at her. She may be right about knowing she drank, but there wasn't any way he was losing his license just to give Lissa a drink. "No, Lissa. I have a bar to run, meaning I need to keep my license. I'm not giving you alcohol."

"Boo, Mark, you suck," She said, chin coming to rest on her hand in a pout.

She hadn't been sitting there pouting at Mark any time he'd make his way over to her before her knight in shining leather swooped in to save the day, in this case, order her drink.

"How about you give the lady what she wants." Damon said, eyes intense as he compelled Mark. "And grab me some rum while you're at it."

"I'll get the lady what she wants."

Lissa turned to look to the side, meeting Damon's smirking face. "I'm not going to be impressed by you being able to do that, you know. Any vampire in the world can compel people."

"Aw, not even a little bit? I'm even getting you alcohol, illegally, might I add." He pouted, taking a drink of the rum Mark had just sat down in front of him.

"Hmm, alright, I'll give you a point for the alcohol." She said, taking a drink of her own alcohol. "But it gets taken away for compelling Mark. I like Mark."

"Poor Mark. You're a scary little ghost girl."

"Says thevampire." She shot a pointed look over at the grinning man. He knew out of the two of them, he was the more dangerous. And he relished in it. "Besides, I have a genetic mutation making me like this. I didn't just wake up and think, 'You know what, havingno pigmentation whatsoeversounds real fun.'"

He raised his eyebrow at her. He knew what albinism was. Had he done that research into itafterhe'd met her? Yes, but she didn't ever need to know that. "I am aware of what albinism is, thank you. Doesn't negate the fact that you look like a ghost."

She nodded her head at him, imitating as if she were tipping her imaginary hat at him. "So, not that your company isn'trivetingbecause it is. But why did you come bug me?"

He gasped, putting his hand against his chest. "I amwounded! My company is a delight. You should be thankful for the time spent with me."

"Oh, dear me. I apologize. Seems I misspoke, your highness." She started. "I meant to say either tell me what the f*ck you want or get away."

"Now, what's put bees in your bonnet, Snow Princess?"

She scowled over at the vampire. He may not have known he would cause her problems but it was still his fault. "Maybe random vampires causing me to miss my lunch date with my best friend because they couldn't get their compelled girlfriend to school on time?"

"Oh no, you had to go one day without Barbie? Whatever shall you do?"

"She is the one and only person besides my brother that I can stand for long periods of time in that hellhole that is high school without wishing a violent and bloody death on them. So, yes, I am peeved I had to go one day without Care." She glared at him before tipping her drink back, finishing it off. "Plus I had an argument with my sister about not liking your brother and about a dinner party she's wanting to put together. All so me and Bonnie will 'Get to know Stefan and like him.' Truthfully, I find it a waste of time. So I told her I wasn't going and she didn't like that."

"A dinner party? With your sister?" Damon's head tilted as he looked down at her with interest. Devious smirk telling her exactly what he was thinking.

She gave him a deadpan stare, already knowing exactly where it was going. "No, Ijustsaid I got in an argument aboutnotgoing to the damn thing. Take Kennedy. Elena hates the bitch but won't ever say it. Says she wants to be friends, that Kennedy doesn't mean to be like she is. Kennedy doesn't have a filter in all the worst ways. So, if you wanna stir up trouble, that's the way to do it."

Lissa knew it was a cruel thing to do, siccing Kennedy on not only her sister but Stefan and Bonnie too. But it's too funny not to. Plus, f*ck Stefan, he can suffer Kennedy's personality simply for existing. Kennedy was basically the original Caroline but on ultra bitchy crack.

Damon smirked. The thought of seeing Stefan forced to suffer through his cover girlfriend's monologues about her nail and hair was simply too much to pass up. Lissa was diabolical with subtle retaliations apparently. He wouldn't have brought Kennedy to the party at all. Her voice grated on his nerves the more time he spent around her, but the thought of her annoyingotherpeople with that same voice. Well, suddenly he could put up with it.

"Thanks for the advice, White-y. I'll be sure to mention you send your regards when I show up at the gathering."

Before Damon could leave, Caroline slid into the chair beside Lissa. "What! How did you get Mark to give you alcohol? He's notorious for never selling to minors" She whined, lip pushed out in a pout as she stared at Lissa's empty glass.

"Ahh, that would be me." Damon spoke up, arm reaching across Lissa's spot to shake Caroline's hand. "Damon Salvatore, at your service, miss…?"

Caroline's eyes gleamed with interest as she shook his hand. "Forbes, Caroline Forbes."

Before anything could happen, Lissa slapped the two hands that were connected in front of her. "No! No flirting, especially in front of me!"

Turning to Damon she shook her finger at his grinning face. "You, you have a dinner party to crash tonight. Now, go do diabolical things beforehand to get in the mood."

Damon nodded to the two girls, chuckling as he left. Lissa was more fun around people she liked. Though, he wondered what she would be like around her sister or his brother. It was a shame he couldn't talk her into going to the dinner party with him. But he figured if her sister couldn't do it, then he wouldn't have a chance with just getting to know her.

Flipping around towards her blond best friend who had stifled a smile at her playfulness, finger still pointing, she chastised her too, "And you, missy, are not allowed to go for the brother. Yes he's attractive, but he is emotionally unavailable. Youhateemotionally unavailable!"

"I could do emotionally unavailable if it means he looks like that." Caroline laughed, gaze following Damon as he left the bar.

Lissa could see his shoulders shaking though the bar window, clearly having heard her best friend. "No. He's with Kennedy anyway. At least right now."

Caroline's head quickly whipped to stare at her, mouth open at the thought of Kennedy with the hunk that had just left the bar. "Kennedy? That skan*! So that's who dropped her off today at cheer practice." Her nose scrunched up thinking aboutanyonesleeping with Kennedy. Sure she was pretty, in a young Fran Drescher type of way. Unconventional but still pretty. It was her personality that took away any sort of pull she had.

"Hmm, probably. He's kind of flaunting having a high school girlfriend at Stefan right now. It pisses Stefan off. So he'll keep it up as long as he can stand her personality." She said. "I give them 3 weeks before he either dumps her or absolutely snaps and kills her."

Caroline laughed, ordering a co*ke from Mark. With Damon gone he wasn't going to be giving either of them any alcohol. "Talking about killing people, Elena spent the whole cheer practice whining about you not going to her little dinner party. If I had to hear her call you selfish and embarrassing and just spend the whole practice being a bitch,Iwas going to be the one to snap and kill someone. I left early, played being sick."

"Aw Care, you'd commit murder for me? And against my sister at that?" She cooed. "I'm touched, really. You've come a long way from the girl who used to cry when she saw a dead butterfly."

"That was once! I was five. And it was a really pretty butterfly." She stuck her tongue out at her insulting best friend.

Lissa flapped her hand at her. "Still cried at a dead butterfly. How embarrassing." She smiled at the faux fuming the blonde portrayed. "I better head out though, gotta grab some food before locking myself in my room so I don't get sucked into that dinner party." She threw some money onto the bar to cover both her and Caroline's drinks and headed out the door.

"Good luck!" Caroline called out to best friend. Lissa waved behind her, noticing in the window reflection that Caroline had made her way from the bar over to Matt. He must have just come in with school letting out. He was a bit tame for this Caroline, but Lissa didn't have anything against the dull boy. Would she give Caroline sh*t if she ended up with feelings for the other blonde? Yes, because Caroline was so much better than boring Matt Donovan.

The night passed without any big events going on, which was a surprise as she was certain Damon was going to try and f*cksomethingup. But whatever he'd done or said didn't migrate up to her, at least not last night. Since school was already over for the day and Caroline had to cheer at the game, Lissa decided to go for a walk while she waited. Could she try and stop Mr. Tanner's death? Yes, but the dude was a major dick and she wanted Alaric here as soon as possible. Dear Ricky-Poo was another person she thought she'd get along with. As long as he didn't try and father her, she thought they could be friends.

Lissa, instead of taking her normal route through the woods, decided to go a random direction, more towards where she'd guess the old mansion that she knew would become the Mikaelson home. All the while she paid more attention to her cellphone than to any of the scenery she was passing.

Then End Zone: Can 16 year olds own property?

Snow White's Evil Sister: Why? What are you doing?

The End Zone: Buying a house in your name, obviously as I'm not a 16 year old.

Snow White's Evil Sister: WTF?

The End Zone: Not for you to live in, Snow White, though you can once you're old enough to move out. If your name is on the deed, then no vampire can randomly come into my house.

Snow White's Evil Sister: …smart. When did you get savvy when it comes to planning like this? Because last time I checked you were a stake first ask questions later guy.

The End Zone: That would be the therapy.

Snow White's Evil Sister: THerApY?

The End Zone: Don't. I'll tell you about it when I get to Mystic Falls. Now answer my question, Can 16 year olds own property?

Snow White's Evil Sister: ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ Hell if I know. Google it, Mr. Therapy.

The End Zone: I can't believe people think you're actually an evil mastermind. You're just a violent idiot.

Snow White's Evil Sister: Rude, I work hard to live up to my reputation of scary albino chick.

The End Zone: Not to me

Snow White's Evil Sister: Our first meeting happened when I was 3 feet tall and your spleen was 15 feet away from your body in a plastic box. There wasn't any hope when it came to convincing you I was scary when I squeaked like a mouse at you.

The End Zone: Ahh, true. And I can put it in your name. Welcome to home ownership Melissa Gilbert.

Snow White's Evil Sister: Oh yay! Taxes and responsibility. The one thing I've always wanted.

The End Zone: You aren't funny. You're supposed to say 'Thank you Enzo for buying me a house'.

Snow White's Evil Sister: f*ck you Enzo, for being pretentious

The End Zone: …I wanna put that straight faced emoji but Idk how to so just imagine it

Before Lissa could respond anymore she tripped over a stepping stone that was right in the middle of where she was walking. Face first in a puddle of mud from the rain earlier, she sat up and glared at the random shack she'd stumbled across. Mystic Falls was surrounded by ruins of old buildings, this shack seemed to be one of them. Though the shack seemed to be a bit harsh, after wiping some of the mud from her eyes she actually was able to get a decent look at the place.

It was a rock house, maybe one bedroom, possibly two but unlikely. She didn't know anything about architecture or else she'd try to date it but based on how overgrown the walls were with ivy and the layer of grime that had settled on the broken windows, she'd say it had to be at least a couple of decades old, maybe a century but that was pushing it since the windows seemed more modern.

Grinning at her find, she texted Enzo that she'd talk later, and headed towards the house to find a way in. Instead of being an idiot and going through the broken windows or even wasting time trying to find a hole, she attempted the most obvious way first. The front door.

Lo and behold, it was unlocked. Either by a realtor that was really sh*t at their job or someone that's broken into the place, she didn't really care. The house was incredibly dark once actually inside so to be able to see she pulled out her phone to use it's flashlight, now able to see, she immediately noticed the 1930s decor, answering her unspoken question on how long it had been abandoned. Though clearly some teenagers through the years had come through and tagged the place since graffiti littered the walls giving splashes of color to an otherwise brown and mildew covered place.

There were signs ofsomeonestaying there though. Catching a glance of a bunch of medical labels in the corner of the entryway, Lissa was suddenly on edge as she recognized the empty blood bags. There must have been a vampire using the house. Walking closer to the bags, she was hit with the stench of old blood. They'd easily been there a couple of weeks without anyone touching them.

Shoulders sagging at the knowledge she wouldn't be fighting off a supernatural creature deep in the woods alone, Lissa went to explore further in the house. Getting into what she assumed was the living room, she was greeted with more proof of someone having used the place as their hideout. All the rotten furniture in the room had clearly been picked up and recklessly thrown in a pile on the far wall. Sitting in the middle, taking up most of the room, was a completely wooden table. On top was a bunch of herbs and crystals surrounding a very old book going by the leather stitching on the spine. A witch had clearly been here helping whoever the blood bags were for.

Without even thinking she stepped up to the table and grabbed what she saw that wasn't a part of whatever spell they'd been casting. Sadly, there weren't very many supplies, just a couple of quartz and a giant obsidian slab. She'd go over what herbs there were when she got home. Then she closed the old book and put that next to the herbs and crystals in her bag she was carrying. Her poor satchel was bursting by the time everything was situated so she latched it up and decided if she found anything else interesting she'd leave it and attempt to find her way back a different day.

Stepping over a hole that had been made in the floor due to the rotting floorboards, she headed towards what she would guess was the bedroom area. The house wasn't that big, with the living room clearly being the heart of the home since it was the biggest room as well. Only three doors went out of the living room; kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. She had been right saying it was only a one bedroom.

Once she stepped into the bedroom she let out a sigh. Just like the living room all the unnecessary furniture had been picked up and thrown against the outer wall, covering the giant window that clearly once gave a beautiful view of the forest. All that was left was a pile of, what she would guess was, unwashed clothes and the half rotten bed that she really hoped no one had slept in.

Not feeling the need to go through the clothes that had been left behind, Lissa left the disappointing bedroom and decided the kitchen would be her next target. But just like the bedroom there wasn't much to find. Though not completely void of goodies. She found a box of more herbs that had been left behind, so she noted them in her brain to try and remember to pick up. Besides the herbs the kitchen only had old cereal boxes and pre-made convenience store food wrappers. Clearly the diet of a champion.

Lissa, not feeling like the bathroom was going to be much different from the rest of the house, made her way back outside. With how dark the old house was inside she hadn't realized that night had fallen until now.

Shaking her head to clear away the weird feeling that had settled over her, her phone immediately began ringing.

"Hello?"

"Where have you been?!" Ahh, the dulcet tones of her sister were exactly what she wanted at the moment.

Rolling her eyes even though Elena couldn't see she answered. "I took a walk in the woods. Didn't realize what time it was. I'm on my way home now. Why?"

"Why? Because I'm worried about you. Lissa…Mr. Tanner was killed tonight."

Yeah, she knew that. After all she was waiting for it to happen. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer dude."

Elena let out a gasp. "How could you- That was a person, Lissa. How can you talk about him beingkilledlike that?"

Lissa shrugged, not really bothered by the disappointed tone Elena had adopted. She started back towards where she thought the edge of the woods were, switching her phone to her other ear as she replied. "Elena, you were just talking sh*t on the dude this morning. Don't act like you are going to actually mourn him. He was a dick and I'm not surprised he was killed."

"I can't believe you! How can you be this heartless? He lost his life, Lissa! I called you because I was worried. Now I wish I hadn't"

"Alright then if you don't wanna talk anymore, bye" She hung up before Elena could continue to go on about how callous she was and anything else she wanted to say to her. She could even imagine Elena's outraged face as she stared down at her phone. Her eyes would get wide and her lips pursed as her nostrils flared. Lissa had been front and center to that look enough times she doubted she'd ever be able to forget the sight of it.

At this point she had come to a fork in the path. Left or right, head tilting back and forth as she tried to decide, before finally just heading right. Not realizing she had just dodged running into the small black haired girl that had been using the house herself to stash the magic book that would help her get her mother back. As she got to the house and realized someone had stolen the book, the scream of rage she let out had caused the birds in a nearby tree to take flight.

Lissa jumped as a flock of birds took flight from a tree back where she guessed the house would be. Speeding up, she finally made it back to where she stashed her SUV. She quickly, but gently, tossed her bag with her goodies in it in her passenger seat and took off as soon as she could. She was not going to be the white girl in a horror movie. If she stayed anywhere near these woods that was exactly what she would become.

She made her way home as quickly as she could, though the multitude of cars leaving the game slowed her down a lot. She'd been wanting to beat Elena home but sadly that was a pipe dream. Elena was sitting with Jenna clearly waiting on her to get home. She'd f*cking gone and tattled to Jenna about what she said.

She sighed and debated if it was worth it to use their backyard tree to sneak into her room without having to deal with the two. Before she could even attempt that though, Jenna looked out the kitchen window spotting her sitting in her vehicle. Great, there went that choice.

She got out of her car and could almosthearthe funeral march playing as she trudged into the kitchen. She knew she was a sight, mud in her hair and all over her clothes from tripping earlier, dark under eye bags because she wasn't sleeping, and her naturally pasty whiteness did not help mask any of it.

"Melissa. Can you sit down? Elena and I wanna talk."

Lissa's eyes flittered between the two, matching looks of disappointment on their faces. "I think I'll stand thanks."

Elena glared at her sister, not understanding why she was acting this way. Lissa had always been bitchy and violent but she thought she'd been a good influence towards her. That she'd shown Lissa that you didn't have to be like that to be seen as strong. Just look at her, parents died in a crash she'd ended up surviving through and she was doing fine. Lissa just needed to learn that apathy and beating people up didn't mean strong."Lissa, Jenna asked you to sit down. You should listen to her."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Elena's attempt at being commanding, she relented and sat at the table, bag resting next to her feet.

"Thank you, Lissa." Jenna smiled softly at her niece. She could see she felt ambushed by the two of them, but they truly wanted the best for her. Jenna wasn't nearly as worried as Elena was. She saw it as Lissa just acting like herself but just a bit more since she didn't have the pressure of her sister and her brother in law to live up to. She understood that. She was just worried about the cold-hearted ways she'd been reacting to things. "Elena came to me because she's worried that you're...not reacting as she thinks a healthy person would."

Lissa scoffed, one eyebrow raised at the clear psych talk. She knew psych talk. She used to use psych talk with her patients. Now Jenna, who hadn't even graduated or anything, wanted to try and use it on her? No. "More like I didn't react to Tanner's death by crying or saying it was unfair. Well, guess what Elena, not everyone will react like you or Mom would have. Some of us have our own thoughts and feelings."

"You basically said you weren't sad by his murder! That's unhealthy."

"No, that's realistic. I'm not faking my sympathy or pity or whatever you want to call it. I hated the man. That doesn't change just because he's dead."

Elena tapped Jenna on the arm at her words to bring attention to how she was talking. "See, Jenna, that's what I'm talking about. No human sympathy for the dead."

Lissa's mouth flew open at her words. No human sympathy for the dead? "Are you f*cking joking? I respect the dead just fine. Do I respect them more because they're dead? No. I f*cking hated Tanner alive. I f*cking hate him dead. I'm not going to go cry just because someone died. I'd never stop crying."

Jenna's hands came up, stopping the approaching argument. "Okay. Clearly, I did this wrong. Elena, why don't you go to your room and I'll talk to Lissa alone?"

Mouth agape, Elena just stared at Jenna. "But Jenna-"

"No, buts. Go Elena, please."

Elena let out a huff but ultimately listened to Jenna. Both of them watched as she made her way to her room before turning to each other.

"You do know I'm fine right? Like, I get that Elena came to you but it's just her overreacting to not being able to control someone." she said, less confrontational now that Elena wasn't around to spew her judgments.

"I know. But her concern was genuine. Misplaced? Yes but still genuine. You two need to talk to each other. You guys were getting along this summer, what happened?"

Lissa shrugged. "I guess I just got tired of tiptoeing around what I was saying or doing. It was like being around Mom during pageant season or before a ball. All about people's perception of you."

"O-oh. Well, maybe try to be more aware of what you say, I guess. Elena is still pretty fragile."

She jolted as what Jenna had suggested registered in her brain. She'd really just said 'cater to Elena because her parents died.' as if she didn'talsolose her parents. Elena and Jeremy weren't the only ones to lose them and needed to be allowed to grieve. She did too.

Without replying to Jenna, Lissa jerked her bag up with her as she stood. Not caring as it basically took a table leg out with the weight of the hit, Lissa stomped up the stairs, for once acting her age. Ignoring Jenna's attempts to get her to come back down, she just slammed her bedroom door. She didn't care if it was childish or shameful or whatever. She was allowed to act like a teenager once in a while. She was a teenager.

Slipping the lock closed she decided enough was enough for one day. She'd look over her finds tomorrow. It was a weekend. She wasn't required to do anything on her weekends. Jumping in her shower she quickly washed the mud off and got out. Lissa didn't even bother putting anything on, saying f*ck it and going to bed nude. If anyone tried to wake her up tomorrow, they could deal with her naked body.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

Slipping the lock closed she decided enough was enough for one day. She'd look over her finds tomorrow. It was a weekend she wasn't required to do anything on her weekends. Jumping in her shower she quickly washed the mud off and got out. Lissa didn't even bother putting anything on, saying f*ck it and going to bed nude. If anyone tried to wake her up tomorrow, they could deal with her naked body.

Still fuming at Jenna's words the next morning, Lissa decided to look at her finds from yesterday before even attempting to head downstairs.

Lifting the bag up to her bed, she set aside the crystals to put with the rest of her collection later. Separating the herbs as best as she could, she realized there was actually a decent amount in the baggies. There was everything from rose petals to chamomile, to mug wortandvervain.

Mouth stretching into a grin as her bad mood faded, she put the baggies of herbs by the crystals. She wasn't a witch by any means but over the years with much experimenting, she's found that she could dosomethings as long as the main component to the spell is either her own blood or her soul.

Sadly, once Sheila Bennett realized that that was the only magic she could do, she'd stopped teaching her since she'd perceived that as a sign Lissa was meant to do bad things. The judgmental bint. She could see why it took Bonnie so many seasons to grow as a person if that was the only parental influence she had growing up.

Now onto the thing she'd been most excited for, an actual grimoire from a complete stranger. Unable to stop it, Lissa squealed. Looking around despite knowing she was alone, she then turned her attention to the worn leather beneath her fingers. She could tell something had been stamped into the leather long ago but age had worn the leather down to the same level as the stamp so whatever was there was lost to time. With the stamp gone, the front of the grimoire was as plain as the back. The only thing of interest about the cover was the thick braided leather that was sewn into the spine, holding the whole book together.

Not able to get any clues to what type of witch had written the grimoire from the cover she, very gently as to not rip or damage the old book, opened it.

And was smacked in the face that the whole thing, besides the spells themselves (those being in Olde English), was written in elder Furnik, an incredibly old runic language. So old that she was certain whoever wrote this had to have lived at least 800 years ago, if not more. Why the hell was this just sitting in an old rotting house outside Mystic Falls? Was this a joke?

She was suddenly incredibly grateful she'd spent so long learning as many runic languages as she could, solely because most runic magic was blood-based. Her Furnik wasn't exactly good, or even close to good really, but she could at least get an idea of what was written about the spells.

Quickly jumping up to grab her runic dictionary she'd been consistently working on since she had realized runic magic was going to be her focus, she settled down with the grimoire, her dictionary, and a random notebook.

Wanting to focus on the spells more than anything else she flipped through the pages and attempted to categorize what spell did what and what type of magic it would involve using. The first thing she noticed was that these spells were mostly darker magic. The witch that wrote this having a clear preference towards more violent spells, or this could have been their offensive grimoire, Lissa wasn't sure.

The next few hours were spent translating the spells and their descriptions, she'd read the maker's commentary on them later. She also spent the time finding the spells that would work for her. Sadly, it looked like most of them were more actual witch spells and not runic or blood magic. Though there were a couple that she could do. One spell seemed like it would allow you to create a mindscape. Though there was a warning that it was 'created' with Kol, as in Kol Mikaelson.

When she'd finally gotten that part of the description translated she'd dropped the grimoire as if it had bitten her. She knew that Kol liked hanging out with witches since he loved magic and everything it involved, but to see verifiable proof that heactuallydeveloped spells, even if it was centuries ago, had blind-sided her for some reason.

The amount of time she spent staring at that spell, Kol's spell, the more she was convinced she had to do it. Was it stupid? Yes. Did she completely understand the spell? No. Was she still going to do it? Absolutely. Getting the list of ingredients she would need, she realized she would need to go to The Brewery and grab some calendula.

She sighed at the fact she was going to have to get dressed today after all. She had been hoping to just mope around in her robe all day.

Getting ready didn't take much time, she didn't really do much makeup and only wore a pair of jeans and a crop top. Taking the stairs 2 at a time she almost ran smack dab into Jeremy who was standing in front of the opened door.

"Whoa, f*ck dude! Why are you standing in front of the doorway? Don't you know that's dangerous?"

Jeremy glanced behind him at his sister before pointing to the guy in front of him. "That's why."

Tyler glared at the two of them. It was fitting they were siblings. They were both beyond irritating. "I'm not here to start anything. My mom wants me to pick up some stuff."

Lissa leaned out from behind her brother to glare back at Tyler. "We don't want to give your family anything of ours. Bye-bye" She wiggled her fingers at him in a mock goodbye.

"Actually, we are. Mrs. Lockwood asked Mom to lend her some family stuff before…everything." Elena said, coming to stand next to her siblings. "This is the box, Tyler. It should all be there."

Lissa glanced in the box and almost had a heart attack at the fact the Gilbert Device, the supernatural headache maker, was still in there. Meaning Jeremy hadn't stolen it. Before she could even think about it her hand reached into the box and jerked the device out from between some other things that was being handed over.

"Lissa? What are you doing?"

"Hmm, can't hand this over. It's important."

Elena pursed her lips at the fact Lissa felt like she could just decide things like this. Their mom had promised Mrs. Lockwood that they could borrow this stuff for the Founder's Party. "Then it needs to go to Mrs. Lockwood, Lissa. If it's important it should be put on display."

Lissa rocked back on her heels as she slipped the device into her bag, picture of nonchalant at Elena's annoyance. "Hmm, nope. They can have everything else. But I'm holding this one back. Sorry."

Elena turned to Tyler, who had been watching the two sisters argue in silence, a slight smirk on his face. "Take the box to your mom Tyler, I'll talk to Lissa to get whatever she took out of it before tonight."

"Have fun, Psycho." Tyler snickered as he walked down the front steps.

Lissa shot him the bird even though he wasn't looking. "I hope you fall down a flight of stairs and snap your next like a brittle twig, Mr. Anger Management."

Jeremy laughed at his sister's insults. "Not very creative but nicely descriptive. I give it a 6.5"

"Damn, I'm losing my touch. I'll do better next time."

Elena threw her hand up at her siblings and walked away, completely done with their attitudes towards other people.

The two troublemakers grinned at each other. It didn't matter how many times they've done it over the years, getting Elena so frustrated she just gives up on lecturing them was always funny.

"Are you going somewhere?" Jeremy asked.

Lissa nodded. "Yeah, The Brewery. Gotta grab some calendula for some stuff I'm doing later."

"What about the Founder's Party? Aren't you going to that? Caroline normally forces you into the town balls and parties." He said leaning against the doorframe.

Head hanging as she realized Jeremy was right, Caroline wouldkillher if she skipped this. She was fine with her missing house parties and things like that but town events? No, she was expected to turn up to those. If it was anyone else she'd tell them to f*ck off, but Caroline had her respect and did happen to be her best friend. She tended to listen to Caroline when she asked her to do stuff.

Lissa let out a groan as she left the house, not even replying to Jeremy. As she started her SUV she called Caroline. She didn't even say hello once Caroline actually picked up. "I'm stopping by The Brewery and then you're going to help me find a dress for the Founder's Party you forgot to remind me was tonight, you bitch. You know I don't pay attention to when these things are. That's your job. I just turn up and judge all the people and their terrible fashion taste."

"Hi, Caroline. How are you? That's great! Oh, me? I'm good! Will you please help me pick a dress for the Founder's Party that you told me about two days ago?" Caroline answered pretending to be Lissa. "That's how a normal person would ask for help. Not whatever you just did."

"First off, not normal. Second, you didnottell me about the Founder's Party two days ago." Lissa trailed off. Maybe she did. But Lissa didn't really have any memory of it being mentioned.

She could hear the eyeroll in Caroline's voice in her reply. "Yes I did but whatever. You're lucky. I just got a gorgeous black sequined dress but I'm too tall for it. The slit up the side falls at the wrong place and my ankles show when they aren't supposed to. It'll be perfect for you."

Lissa grinned. She knew she could count on Caroline. "Good. I'll be there in a bit."

"Oh, grab me a coffee please! Also, Bonnie is coming over too. She doesn't have anyone to go to the party with since Elena is going with Stefan, so I said she could come with us. Please be nice? Please?"

Her grin fell as quickly as it came at the knowledge she would be spending the night around Bonnie. Bonnie who still hadn't apologized for her comment. "Ugh, Care, do I have to? Isn't not punching her being nice enough? She basically said I was the one who attacked Vicki, which is fair, but I'd own up to it at least!"

"She feels bad about that! She told me so herself. Give her a chance to apologize when you get here and if she doesn't you can be your bitchy self." Caroline begged. She wanted her two friends to get along. Bonnie and Lissa had never been the closest but Lissa hadn't ever hadtoobig a problem with the girl, just thought she was a bit judgy. So having them arguing like this made her sad. Yeah, she'd pick Lissa over Bonnie any day but she didn't want to be forced to choose.

Lissa parked her car in the half full parking lot in front of The Brewery, her favorite local spiritual shop that doubled as a coffee shop, a good coffee shop. "Fine, but I swear if the first words out of her mouth aren't 'I'm sorry' I'm going to be an absolute c*nt to her the rest of the night."

"Yay! Thank you" Caroline cheered, clapping loud enough Lissa could hear it though the speaker. "Bye bye! I'll see you soon!"

Lissa put her phone up with a shake of her head. Annoyed at the fact not only would she be missing out on performing the spell she was wanting to try out, she would be stuck with Bonnie Bennett all night, she stalked into the shop. As annoyed as she was she still took the time to wave at old Mrs. Lila, the shaman lady that ran the place, though. Always be nice to old shamans, who knows what they could do to you. It didn't take her long to bag up the amount of calendula she needed, grabbing some more rosemary and mugwort too just in case. Lissa ordered their normal coffee and made it to Caroline's in less than 15 minutes.

Not even knocking, she'd been by the house way too many times to actually feel the need, she just walked in, waved at Liz, Caroline's mom, and made her way, coffee in hand, to Caroline's room. She could hear Bonnie talking to Caroline from the hallways, it seemed like she beat her here.

"Coffee?" She asked, holding up the two cups of coffee in her hands. "Well, Caroline gets coffee. I didn't get you anything, Bonnie."

She could see the influence she'd had on Caroline even in her room. On one of her shelves were the multitude of horror movies she owned, her closet had a lot more black or darker clothes instead of bright and light colors; even her bedding was a bit darker, a navy with black stitching, than she thought the original Caroline would have had.

Caroline shrugged at Bonnie, not really surprised at Lissa's action, before sipping the frappuccino she'd been handed.

Bonnie sighed. She deserved the hostility, shehadimplied Lissa was capable of attacking Vicki. Looking over at Lissa, who sat down on Caroline's bed, sipping her own frappuccino. "I wanted to apologize for what I said the night of the party, Lissa. It was wrong of me to say you attacked someone."

Lissa just stared at her, not angry, not really anything. Her face was just blank, as if she was searching for something. The eye contact didn't last for long, barely 30 seconds but to Bonnie it felt like a lifetime had passed. Finally Lissa opened her mouth. "I wasn't mad you implied I'd attack someone. Hell, I've proven time and time again over the years I'm capable of violence. It was more because you thought I wouldn't own up to it."

"See, told you Bonnie! She doesn't mind people thinking she's violent because she is." Caroline called over from where she was fixing her hair.

Thinking that the intensity would be over at Caroline's words, Bonnie blinked when she realized Lissa hadn't even twitched. Goosebumps broke out on her arms as she realized she was being judged on something a lot more important than some misspoken words. "So am I forgiven? Because you're kind of terrifying me."

Lissa stayed still, staring at Bonnie with that same soul piercing look, before nodding, causing Bonnie's shoulders to sag and her to let out a sigh. "Though don't think I'll forgive you a second time. Be mindful of what you say, Bonnie. Not just to me either. Past judgments have ways of coming back to you."

That warning was sent with just a touch too muchknowingin the tone for Bonnie not to take it seriously. But why did Lissa say it? What did she mean by 'past judgments'? Confusion rattling her brain, Bonnie sat on Caroline's bed and watched as Lissa went over to help Caroline get her hair into an updo and then sit so she could get her own hair done.

Lissa looked over at Bonnie through the mirror, making eye contact and smiling. "What do you think, Bonnie? Updo or left down?"

Bonnie shook her head, clearing away the weird thoughts and feelings that were left from the words Lissa had spoken. "You always wear your hair in some sort of pigtails or at least half up half down. Let's leave it all down for the night."

"You heard the girl, Care, let's keep it down tonight."

Once all of them had gotten ready they agreed to take Lissa's SUV since it had more room and she was the least likely to get drunk. Though considering her mood lately she wasn't too certain on that one herself.

Since they were taking her car that meant they'd have to wait in the long line to get in. There wasn't any way the Lockwoods were going to be letting her in earlier than they had to. While Mr. Lockwood thought his son getting attacked by a girl andlosingwas shameful and thus hated her for putting that shame out into the public, Mrs. Lockwood hated her for hurting her son. Her hatred was at least understandable but it made getting into the events they put on a living hell.

After waiting around for about 10 minutes they were finally let through the door but not without the doorman giving his normal spiel to her about not causing a scene, no property damage, if she hurt anyone…blah blah blah. She'd heard the thing every event she went to at the Lockwood's home since she was 12. At this point she had the thing memorized

Bonnie and Caroline, like every time before, snickered at her personal greeting.

"Mrs. Lockwood's hatred of you is always funny no matter how many times I see it." Caroline said.

Lissa rolled her eyes at the blonde, giving her a soft shove towards the dance floor. "Yeah, yeah. You and Bonnie can leave me with the food and drinks now. Let me judge people in peace."

Bonnie, wanting to go talk to Elena, nodded at her and thanked her for the help getting ready before heading towards where Lissa saw Elena was standing with Stefan. Damon was a bit further away but he had Kennedy, who was wearing an atrociously neon pink dress, wrapped around his arm, so that meant she wasn't going to be going anywhere near the guy.

"You sure? I can stay and talk sh*t on people with you?" Caroline offered. Though with the way her eyes were flicking back towards the dance floor and her, she could tell that she really just wanted to go mingle and be a social butterfly.

Lissa made a shooing motion with her hands, clearly giving Caroline the go ahead to leave her. This wouldn't be the first event she'd spend sitting in the corner not talking to anyone. It probably won't be the last either.

To pass the time, she waved down one of the waiters, Bradley if she remembered right, and grabbed one of the things of champagne he was carrying. Mrs. Lockwood used the same waiters every time so they were used to her sneaking a couple things of alcohol every event she comes to.

Sitting there for not even 10 minutes she'd already counted 15 people that had clearly gotten their dress off the sales rack at Sears, which wasn't a bad thing of course, but it is when those dresses look like that. One even had a weird stain on the back. Like, save your money but don't be trashy about it. Before she could continue, her line of sight was blocked by Damon and his neon girlfriend. Or pretend girlfriend, she wasn't too sure about that.

"Oh god, if you wanted to talk couldn't you leave the eyesore of a girlfriend back where you guys came from?" She moaned.

Damon shrugged, arm coming away from where it was locked with Kennedy's. "She wanted to come say hello, didn't you?"

"No? Why would I want to talk to the orphan freak?" Kennedy said before glancing over at her. "No offense."

Lissa just stared at her, face deadpanned. "Yeah...just because you say no offensedoesn'tmean I'm not still offended, you walking LSD trip. Offense intended."

"Alrighty, girls, let's not have a cat fight in the middle of a party. Kennedy, why don't you go spend time with your friends? They were trying to get your attention earlier." Damon said, smirk firmly on his face.

Kennedy shot a glare over at her but still listened to Damon and walked over to the group of girls that also wouldn't be amiss at a rave.

"Real classy girl you got there, Damon." Lissa said voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now what did you want? You didn't come over here just to let Kennedy insult me."

"Come over to the registry with me? I wanna be annoyingly vague about vampires towards your unknowing sister with Stefan there." Damon crooked his arm towards her in a way that said he expected her to grab hold. "If you're there Stefan will be even more panicked about you two finding out about the big family secret."

Lissa tilted her head but ultimately decided to wrap her own arms around his. "You didn't tell him I knew about you two?"

"And waste all that blackmail potential?" Damon shook his head at her, "No, your secret is safe with me, Snow Princess. Though Idowonder how you found out about vampires."

"Hmm, you'll find out soon enough. Though don't wanna ruinthatsurprise." She smirked. Enzo would be in Mystic Falls within a day or two and there wasn't any way he'd put off the confrontation with Damon.

Before Damon could question her further, they'd came up behind Elena and Stefan who were looking over the old 'founder' stuff. Lissa had already checked everything out over the years of helping the families research their heirlooms since she liked history. It was why, despite her violent reputation, everyone respected her to an extent. The only ones that would be new to her would be the Lockwoods, for obvious reasons, and, honestly, the only thing interesting about that family is the werewolf gene.

"The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration." Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?" Elena looked over at the two brothers once she'd gotten to their names.

Damon spoke up, voice just the right amount of sly that it made Stefan's fist clinch. "The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. It's a tragic story, actually."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past, Damon." Stefan gritted his teeth together.

Lissa smirked, "Actually, I'd love to know. I'm a bit of a history buff. And knowing my sister, she likes learning about you."

Elena furrowed her brows at Lissa, not sure what she was planning. But she was right, she did want to know more about her boyfriend.

Just as Damon was going to continue, Kennedy came up on his other side whining about not getting to dance.

"I'm busy, Kennedy. Ask someone else." Damon said, eyes tight.

Kennedy stuck her nose into the air before she zeroed in on Stefan. "Fine,Stefancan dance with me. Elena doesn't mind, do you?"

"Uh. I don't…"

Stefan grimaced at the idea of dancing with Kennedy. "I don't really dance."

"Oh, sure he does." Damon chuckled. "You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all."

Lissa 'ooh'ed matching Damon's smirk. "Damn, seems like you're quite the dancer Stefan. Kennedy, better snatch him while you can."

Kennedy did just that, wrapping her arm around his and pulled him back towards the dance floor. Stefan shot Damon and her a glare as he went along with her.

Damon wiggled his fingers at his brother in a mock wave before glancing down towards Lissa as if to say she was next on his list of puppets. His face contorted into a grimace though, as Lissa shoved her elbow roughly into his side once she noticed what he was implying.

"No. If you even try to make Stefan think you're using me as a blood bag or anything like that, I will set you on fire. "She whispered barely loud enough for herself to hear but plenty loud enough for the vampire right next to her too. "You and I both know he'll feel obligated to 'save' me from you."

Damon side eyed the short girl but ultimately decided to listen to her. He'd never been set on fire before, and he didn't particularly feel like finding out what it felt like.

"I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse." Damon looked towards the girl that was the spitting image of the only woman he'd ever loved. "My therapist says I'm...Acting out, trying to punish Stefan."

Elena furrowed her brows at the older man. She knew there was tension between the brothers but Stefan never implied that he was the one in the wrong. It was always Damon. "For what?"

"It's all in the past I don't even want to bring it up." He shrugged, jolting Lissa as he did so. "Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers."

Lissa stayed silent as she listened to Damon and Elena talk. Hearing the story from Damon out of his own mouth, she could hear the longing and grief in his words. He truly did love Katherine. It was a shame she just used him and then dropped him the minute she could. As much as Lissa appreciated Katherine's ruthlessness, she doubted she could be friends with the girl. There wasn't any sense of loyalty in her body. Lissa was psychotic and didn't care about murder or torture or anything of the sort but she did require at least some loyalty. If you looked at any of the people she cared about you'd find the one trait that followed all of them was they all had a large capacity for loyalty.

It didn't take Damon long to finish his story and gain Elena's sympathy, she was such a gullible person. She could see right through Damon's 'Oh woe is me. I'm truly trying to better myself' rigmarole, yet Elena was eating the sh*t right up. She kept her thoughts to herself though, knowing that Damon had his own plans and goals, and honestly, she didn't really have much of sustenance to add. The only reason she stayed was so she would have an excuse to know about Katherine without seeming suspicious.

Lissa kept ahold of Damon's arm as they met up with Kennedy and Stefan, even when Kennedy shot her a look that would put her 6 feet under if her glares could kill. It was fun to play with the queen bitch like she was. Plus Damon didn't care. She could see him chuckling out of the corner of her eye as she met Kennedy's glare head on.

"And you say you're not attracted to me." Damon leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I'm not, you leather fetish asshole. Now shush, and play arm candy." She shot back, smirking in a way that made anyone think the two of them were trading flirts instead of insults.

Stefan held up a glass of champagne to the three that had made their way over to them. "Drink, Damon?"

"No thanks. I'll pass, but Lissa could use one." Damon smiled at Stefan. Him giving the drink to Lissa let Stefan know that he wasn't compelling nor drinking from the pale girl. Something he knew Stefan was almost 100% certain of.

"Ooh, yes. I've only had one glass tonight and I need more." Lissa said, reaching across the small table and snatching the glass out of his hand. Downing the bubbling liquid as if it were a shot, she smirked at the confused look that flew across Stefan's face. She didn't know how much vervain was in the alcohol but it was enough that there was a floral aftertaste.

"Stefan, you have another dance in you?" Elena asked before anyone could start something. She recognized the mood her sister was in and wanted to circumvent the impending disaster.

"Absolutely."

Watching the couple, Damon just pursed his lips. It was just like back when they were human. Stefan had his girl on his arm while he's stuck on the sideline.

"You know, they are pretty cute together." Kennedy mused.

"Shut up."

Lissa, seeing that the mood had become a bore, walked away with a wave to the now pouting man. Kennedy had done much of the same once she realized that Damon wasn't going to be dancing with her anytime soon.

She had been wanting to just grab Caroline and Bonnie to just leave. They could grab some junk and watch some of Caroline's creepy movies.

"Lissa, can we talk? Please?" came Jenna's voice from behind her.

She turned around face made of stone as she locked eyes with her aunt. "Nope. You're my aunt and I respect you but currently I feel an unrelenting urge to rearrange your face."

Jenna's face scrunched up but ultimately took the insult on the chin. She deserved it. She knew what words could do. That's what her whole degree was about. She looked at her niece, really looked, and realized she'd been missing signs of her stress simply because her other wards emotions were more noticeable. Taking in the slumped shoulders and eye bags that even Caroline's makeup skills couldn't cover, she felt her stomach tie itself into a knot. "I'm sorry. I know my words hurt you-"

"Jenna, quite frankly, I don't give a f*ck about your apology." Lissa could feel her anger rising. It was easier to admit to anger than it was to admit Jenna's wordsdidactually hurt.

Jenna's eyes went wide; she'd never really had her niece's anger focused directly on her, and was suddenly aware of what her sister had once tried to explain to her. That Lissa's anger seemed to surround and suffocate you, leaving you breathless with a pounding heart. "Lissa, I-"

Lissa held up her hand, not willing to listen to a word that came out of Jenna's mouth. She was still too emotional to deal with it. And the fact that she seemed to not understand that was just plain annoying. "I. Said. No. Leave it at that."

Her good mood gone, Lissa went to sit in a dark corner where she could see the whole party including the courtyard outside the window. As much as she wanted to grab Bonnie and Caroline to leave, she knew she needed to stay and see if Stefan actually ended up drugging Damon. She didn't think she'd changed anything to the point he wouldn't but it was better to make sure.

So she sat and nibbled on the plate of stuffed mushrooms she'd had one of the servers leave next to her until she heard a scream. Not one of fright, or even anguish. Nope this was one of a friend on a rampage.

"Damon Salvatore!" Ooh, that's something different. Seems it wasn't Elena that found the bite marks that more than likely littered Kennedy's body. Nope this was Kennedy's best friends, a tall Arabic girl named Aisha. Now Aisha has been one of the only people that had ever stood up to her besides Tyler and her sister. So this was going to be good.

Looking around she saw Damon not very far away from her, but completely across the room from Aisha. His eyebrows were furrowed clearly not really knowing why a random girl would be yelling at him, especially one he knew he hadn't wronged before.

She let out a quiet snicker at the confused looks on everyone's faces. No one other than probably Kennedy and her knew how badass Aisha could be, so her yelling and confronting Damon like this was hilarious. But, as Damon's ally, she needed to go over there to try and defuse the situation. Though how she was going to do that she didn't know.

As she walked up to him, she saw Stefan and Elena also make their way over to Damon too. Even Bonnie and Caroline had made their way to the entryway where everything was taking place. Kennedy was nowhere to be found though, probably still in the bathroom or wherever Aisha had seen the marks.

"Can I help you?" Damon asked, voice silky as he tried to talk himself out of whatever had angered the girl.

Aisha, despite her anger, still spoke in her soft articulate way. "Yes, actually. You can explain the multitude of bite marks on mybest friend."

Damon smiled, clearly fake and covering for his annoyance, but still answered the girl. "Ahh, what happens between two consenting people should stay between those people."

Lissa let out a quiet 'yikes'. As much as Damon entertained her, that was exactly what a guilty party would say. Way to make yourself even more suspicious. Even if he had done it, and she had consented, Damon has really dug himself into a hole. She let out a silent sigh at her thoughts. She was going to have to play the middle ground, get him off the hook, at least for a bit. "Aisha, as much as I don't wanna be that person, cause trust me I also want to punch him, but he's right. When I realized he was dating a high schooler, I made sure he'd gotten consent and everything fromher."

Aisha deflated at her words. While they'd never gotten along she knew her stance on sexual assault and knew that she wouldn't defend someone that she had even an inkling that he'd taken advantage of someone. "You're sure? Those bites looked brutal."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now go comfort your best friend. She's probably just a bit embarrassed right about now." Lissa said, poking fun at the spectacle the other girl had made. It was nice not to be the reason people are staring for once.

Aisha blushed deep enough you could see it on her dark skin once she'd taken in the amount of people around them despite being off the dance floor. Spinning around fast enough the loose edge of her hijab fluttered behind her, she walked back to where Lissa would guess Kennedy was.

"Ahh, thanks,frie-"Damon began before letting out a soft 'oomph' as Lissa reared back and punched him straight in the peck. "What the hell was that for?"

"Because you're a dumbass." She said, face screaming her annoyance at having to stick up for him. "Come on Caroline, Bonnie. I think this can mark the end of the party for us."

"Oh, I think I'll go home with Elena, but thank you for the offer."

She shrugged. She didn't really want Bonnie to come with them anyway, so this worked out great. When she passed Caroline, she linked their arms and walked out of the party with her. Sure she could have stayed to see what Stefan or Elena thought of what had just went down, but honestly she didn't want to deal with their self-righteous act tonight or any night really. So, once she'd seen the determined look on Stefan's face, she decided to end the night positive that Stefan would be certain to lock Damon up in their basem*nt.

The drive to Caroline's house was filled with her telling Caroline half truths on how she'd met Damon. Basically telling her the whole story on how they met but leaving out the vampire and magic stuff. And his stalking her at her own home. She didn't want to lie to Caroline but she also didn't want to come clean about the supernatural just yet. Caroline could still have some time as a normal person and she didn't want to take away from that.

She dropped Caroline off, and fended off her pleas for her to stay the night, she made her way home. It seemed like since Elena didn't have to comfort Caroline this time around, she'd made it home earlier.

Since the Lockwoods never really had anything to drink at their parties besides alcohol or sh*tty punch, Lissa stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of water when Elena cornered her, again.

"Lissa, I wanted to say I'm sorry about ambushing you with Jenna. I'm sure that didn't feel good."

She just continued to sip her water while staring at her sister. Silence reigned in the kitchen while she thought about what to say. Sure, she could keep the peace and just accept the apology. But if she was being honest she was tired of having to play the good sister. She helped her through her grief as much as she could, even put up with Elena dismissinghergrief. With that thought, she shook her head at her sister. "Elena, I love you, but man you're a self-righteous bitch."

Elena opened her mouth at her sister's words. Self-righteous bitch? Really? She'd thought they were getting along, "How could you think that? I just try to be a good person! Unlike you."

"I'm not a good person. I never claimed to be. But Elena, I could deal with it when Mom and Dad were around, but since their deaths you've tried to become Mom. And not in a good way. This is your one and only warning from me," She stepped closer to her sister, voice lowering as she stared her sister down. Her sister took a step back, hitting the island counter with a jump. "If you try to 'parent' me or order me to do something thatIdo not want to do, it'll be the last thing you do."

Not expecting, nor waiting, for a reply, Lissa walked away.

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

"I'm not a good person. I never claimed to be. But Elena, I could deal with it when Mom and Dad were around, but since their deaths you've tried to become Mom. And not in a good way. This is your one and only warning from me," She stepped closer to her sister, voice lowering as she stared her sister down. Her sister took a step back, hitting the island counter with a jump. "If you try to 'parent' me or order me to do something that I do not want to do, it'll be the last thing you do."

Not expecting, nor waiting, for a reply, Lissa walked away.

Lissa made it maybe halfway upstairs before the horrendous sounds of her brotherhaving sexhit her ears. Now she was perfectly okay with him having sex as long as everyone agrees to it and they're not grown adults trying to get with her 14-year-old brother. Buthearing it?Nope.

Face scrunched up, she plugged her ears to try and block the noise as she passed her brother's room and up to hers. Seeing the mess of her bed, she jolted as she remembered the spell she was wanting to do. As she glanced over at the clock, she saw it was only 10PM on aweekend, plus the spell said it was better to do right before bed. Grinning, Lissa ran back downstairs, ignoring Elena's stare, and grabbed the herbs she'd bought earlier out of her SUV.

Once she'd made it back upstairs, once again plugging her ears past her brother's room, she pulled out the table she used for any sort of spell that didn't require her to be somewhere specific. It was an old thing, clearly salvaged from a second hand store. But it was a sturdy square table and the perfect height to use both sitting down and standing up for her.

Grabbing her ceramic bowls, she poured the correct amount of mugwort and rosemary out into the medium one. After mixing them together well, she set them on fire and inhaled the smoke. Both herbs had to do with the mind and inducing lucid dreaming or hallucinations. That coupled with the ruins she was going to write, was supposed to open her mind and allow her to access her mindscape.

A mindscape was basically the physical manifestation of your safe space. It doesn't have to be a real place, just a somewhere you would go for comfort and care. She didn't really have any clue as to what hers would be, maybe her room or a forest clearing during fall. Both places left her feeling pretty calm.

Once the herbs were done burning, she took a small box exacto knife and sliced her arm open to get some blood into the bowl. Once she had enough to make a paste with the ashes she grabbed some gauze and wrapped the cut.

Taking a minute to read over the translation again, she set to stirring the blood and ash mixture with her intention of making a mindscape. Since she didn't really have a clue as to what hers would look like she just imagined being safe and secure. As it all got incorporated together she grabbed her copy of what runes she needed to write. Quickly getting the runes for mind, safe, protection, and connection wrote out on the alter she turned to the small mirror she'd set up so she could write a couple of runes on her forehead. There went the same runes but backwards, so connection, protection, safe, and mind.

After all those were done and dried she sat there meditating as the small candle she'd lit burnt out. Now all she needed to do was go to bed, or at least that's what she thought it meant by 'slip into unconsciousness.' Not wanting to mess the ritual up at all she left the mess that was her alter as it was and just laid down on her back as to not ruin the runes on her forehead. Considering the excitement of the day, Lissa fell asleep easily.

Okay, waking up the next morning with nothing happeningdiddisappoint her a bit. She knew that it probably wasn't an instant, wham, bam, here's a mindscape type thing. But she was hoping thatsomethingwould happen. Hell, she didn't even remember if she'd dreamt anything or not. Stewing in her disappointment she cleaned her alter up and took shower to rinse the blood paste off her forehead.

After singing along to half her 'I wanna punch both myself and God' playlist she got dressed in her black pleated skirt, HunterXHunter t-shirt and some fishnets. Smiling at her outfit for the day, she turned to leave the bathroom when Vicky came barreling in.

A half naked clearly still waking up Vicky.

"Oh, I…um, Jeremy said no one would be up this early." She stuttered.

"It's 9AM."

"It's Saturday, though."

Lissa shook her head as she walked passed the older girl standing in the bathroom doorway. "Hey, Vick, next time you and Jer decide to have a night to yourselves it may help to be a bit quieter. Especially if you're sleeping with someone 4 years younger than you that still sleeps on batman sheets."

"Jeremy can make his own decisions. Stop pulling an Elena; he doesn't need his older sisters making them for him." She shot back.

Without replying,Lissa left the bathroom with an eye roll. She'd let her think she won this little word match this time, but in the end would it really matter? She wasn't planning on saving the other girl's life. It would tip her hand too much and while they used to get along she didn't particularlylikeher despite people, even herself, having called them friends before. It was more a case of having mutual friends and being able to get along well enough that they could all hang out together.

Deciding to put the conversation behind her, she strolled downstairs while checking her phone. A few notifications about random text from Caroline and even one from Damon, well more like from Stefan probably trying to cover his tracks as it just said that "Damon" had left town and that he wouldn't be back for a while.

Chuckling at the audacity of Stefan, she paused as she got a text from Enzo. She tilted her head as she realized he'd only sent her a local address. Starting the coffee, she decided to just call him instead of try and figure out his cryptic messaging. Luckily he was apparently not busy as he picked up immediately.

"The f*ck, dude? What's with your text?" She asked instead of a greeting.

"What do you mean, Snow White? It's my, well I suppose your, address." Enzo replied, mischief coloring his tone/

Lissa felt her eyes widen along with her smile as she realized what this meant. "You're in Mystic Falls?!"

"Almost, I'm crossing into state lines now. I figured you could meet the realtor for me as long as you didn't have plans?"

"It's only because I'm excited for you to be moving here that I'm not telling you to f*ck off." She groaned before grabbing a travel mug out of the cabinet. If she was going anywhere she'd need to bring her coffee with her. "What time did you tell the realtor I'd meet them?"

Enzo paused before saying, "10AM."

"Enzo! That's in 30 minutes." She growled. "You couldn't have given me an earlier warning? What if I was busy?"

"With who? You said Stefan locked Damon up so you wouldn't have anything to do with that backstabber and Caroline was doing homework all weekend. Any sketchy people you'd talk to wouldn't make plans with you on a Saturday morning. The only other person besides me that youwillinglyhang out with is your brother."

Lissa picked her keys off the key holder before penning a note saying she was going out to meet a friend on the cork board next to the door. "Listen, Smartass, just because you're getting good at making friends in the 21st century doesn't mean you get to sh*t talk my social life."

"I can if it's as pathetic as yours."

"You know what, instead of this abuse, I'm hanging up now and going to meet the realtor to get the keys tomyhouse. Remember I'm the person that gets to invite you in."

"Snow White, I swear-"

Whatever he was going to swear Lissa didn't hear as she'd ended the call with a laugh. He would absolutely be getting her back for that.

With a tiny bit of speeding, she made it to the address right as the realtor- Mrs. Andre a sweet older Haitian lady that lived a couple houses down from Lissa- pulled up herself.

After the normal greetings and a bit of an interrogation on why a 16-year-old was buying a house, the keys were handed over to Lissa with a smile. Sure, she was a bit confused on why her "friend" couldn't just put the house in his name but Mrs. Andre was surprisingly not as nosey as the rest of the town so she let it go.

As Mrs. Andre pulled away, Lissa turned to her, well Enzo's, new house. Enzo seemed to take after her in what type of architecture he liked, which was nice since the house was in her name. The first thing she noticed about the house was the clear Tudor like exterior. She wondered if it was a real Tudor style house or just a replica. She'd have to ask Enzo when he got there. The next would be the giant white rose bush that had overtaken most of the front porch on the left side. Having clearly not been taken care of and just left to run wide even the other flowers had started to take over the whole front yard. She worried what that said about what the backyard would look like, especially since the house was surrounded by a well wooded area.

Deciding that she'd let Enzo decide on what to do with the overgrowth she stepped into the house. Immediately she was met with a very homey looking living room. It had dark hardwood floors that contrasted the warm cream paint on the walls very nicely. On one wall there was a very beautiful bay window that she was now determined to get Enzo to turn into a reading nook for her. Although even she would have to say that the giant rock fireplace that took up most of the wall next to the door overshadowed even the window. Based off just a quick glance, everything seemed to be in pretty good condition, the floors could use some sanding and recoating and a new paint job. She'd leave that to the immortal vampire though.

From the living room she headed over to the hallway to get a look into the bedrooms. Mrs. Andre had said there were 2, which was perfect for both her and Enzo. Plus, if she ends up moving in like she expected she would then they can just add on if they need a guest room. Both bedrooms were pretty bare but both had at least 2 windows to let in some really good natural lighting and the master bedroom had an en suite which she was going to fight Enzo over. Sure he paid for the place but itwasin her name.

Other than the communal bathroom at the end of the hallway that was all that was down there, so she turned to go back to the kitchen. Once again appreciating the homey feel of the living room she opened the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house.

She let out a gasp as a perfect cottage kitchen greeted her. From the brick wood oven to the wooden countertops and stone flooring. It was as if she stepped into a storybook. There was even a 1950s fridge next to the door to what she expected to be the pantry.

"So, what do you think? Love it?"

Feeling her heart skip a beat she spun around to the window that had been slid open. Seeing Enzo she let out a tiny squeal. "You're here! You scared the sh*t out of me, but you're here! I thought I'd be stuck here alone all morning waiting for you!"

Enzo shrugged, grin turning sly. "Consider that pay back for this morning, Snow. And I broke a few speeding laws to get here quicker, but considering I can compel any cop that pulls me over it's not too big a deal."

"With Caroline's mom being a cop I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to tell you not to do that, buuut…"

"Buuut, what?"

"ACAB, you know?"

Enzo threw his head back and laughed. "Alright, my little anarchist, wanna invite me into my own home? Or are we going to just continue to talk through a window I jimmied open?"

Lissa tapped her chin in a mock contemplation before she grinned at Enzo's expectant look. "I suppose I can let you into the house you paid for. Enzo, would you please come in?" Sweeping her arms out from the window she let out a laugh as, instead of going around to the front door, he just jumped through the window and scooped her up into a swinging hug.

Enzo had missed the tiny albino. It wasn't until he was on his own and trying to figure out the 21st century from his own observations that he realized how dependent he'd become on her words to distract him from his own thoughts. That was one big reason he took to calling her almost every day; her voice calmed his anxiety over being on his own for the first time in decades. Even if she was cursing out 'stupid f*cking drug dealers' and 'dumbass little brothers that think doing hard drugs is f*ckingcool.'

"Now you didn't tell me what you thought. Do you like it? I figure with your renewed feud with your sister we'll be spending a decent amount of time here." He asked once he finally set her down on her feet.

"Yeah, it's a really cute place, kinda mix and matchy but not in a bad way. More like people adding their own touch to the place the more people that have lived here." She shrugged. "I call the room with the adjacent bathroom, by the way."

"What? It's my house, Brat. No way."

"Um, excuse you? I think you'll findmyname on the deed." She smirked, holding back another laugh at the affronted look on his face.

"I should have known putting it in your name was going to come back and bite me in the ass." He deadpanned. "Just didn't expect it to come the first day in the house."

She let out a hum as she thought about how to get Enzo to agree to letting her have the room she wanted. "How about a compromise? I won't fight you on any aspect of the house if you let me have the master bedroom. That includes your terrible taste in paint colors."

"Anyaspect? Does that mean I could paint the living room a bright orange like I want and you won't be able to disagree with me?" He smirked as Lissa winced. He didn'treallywant to paint it a bright orange, just maybe have it as an accent color, but she didn't know that. "You do want the master bedroom with the bathroom, right? Well I want an orange living room."

Unable to hold it back, Lissa let out a whine at the mental image of an orange living room. But she was determined to have that room. If that meant anyone that came to the house would have to wear sunglasses any time they were in their living room, then so be it. She'd just say it was Enzo's choice if they questioned it. "Yes. If I can have the master bedroom with en suite bathroom then you can paint the living room orange."

Enzo whistled lightly. She really was serious about wanting that room. He figured if anything, she'd have insisted on wanting that bay window turned into a window seat- which he already planned on doing. She wasn't the only one that liked to read in a peaceful place. "Alright, alright, Snow White. You can have the master bedroom. And I won't even force you into having an orange living room. I just wanted to see how far you were willing to go."

"You asshole! I was in pain having to agree to your stupid color!" She gave the smug vampire a punch to the shoulder. Not a light one either, if she left a bruise it would have healed in a second anyway so she didn't feel guilty about it. "Now that that's settled, did you bring any furniture or are we going to have to plan your re-introduction to Damon on the cold hard ground?"

Lissa watched as Enzo froze. She doubted he'd planned on greeting Damon so early, but she wanted to change that. She knew that in the show theysomehowgot over their past and became friends again. Since she surprisingly liked Damon she didn't want to have to just drop him because the two couldn't get over the past. Not that shewouldn'tbecause like she'd told Enzo, he was her priority. Sure, she had plans that would work better with Damon on her side but they could be reworked to go on without him.

Plus, with Damon doped up on vervain and locked in the basem*nt, it would be easier to make him listen to Enzo. That meant she'd probably have to be the one to kill Zach Salvatore to get Enzo inside the house without an invite, but that didn't bother hertoomuch. He was always a bit of an asshole to her. Guy had apparently decided early on she was "bad news" much like Sheila Bennett had and always looked down his nose at her. Admittedly she didn't really help much by purposefully causing minor problems for him but he was the one to start it by judging her and she wasn't above being petty.

"What's there to plan? You'll get me into the house and I'll torture him for a bit and then leave. Easy Peasy." He said as if he wasn't currently holding back his vampire face. It was as if he thought he could just go back on his decision.

"End Zone, I know you just want to yell and cause him physical pain, butyouwere the one that wanted to actually hear his reasoning, remember? I was all for you never having to talk to him again. I could have just used him in my plans and then went on with my life." She pointed out.

Enzo let out a sigh. He knew she was right; he had decided on this course of action. If his brutal life had taught him anything it was to follow through with your decisions. "You're right, Snow White. If you can get me into the house then I'll actually talk to the backstabbing asshole. Do you have a plan on how to get me inside?"

She shrugged. "Kill Zach and then there won't be a human owner of the house. You'll be able to come and go as you please then." As she spoke she got tired of just standing in the kitchen doorway and went and jumped up onto the counter. She was the picture of ease despite talking of killing someone she'd known in this world since her childhood.

"You're okay with that? I know you can be brutal and a bit psychopathic but killing someone you've known for a while isn't as easy as killing no name drug dealers." Enzo said, leaning against the door frame now that she wasn't standing in the way.

"If anything it'll be easier for me. I've wanted to stab the f*cker for a while; ever since he called me a prostitute in the making. Not that I don't respect sex workers but I was 8. You don't say that about children."

Enzo made an "alright" face but still looked at her a bit worried. He knew she'd killed before; after all, why would she hide her killing from a chained up vampire? Not like he could or would judge her for it. But he was still going to keep an eye on her after she killed the human Salvatore. "Alright, if you're sure."

"I am, End Zone. I'll be fine. I've said it before; I'm a big girl so stop worrying."

"Fine, fine." Enzo put his hands up. "Now that we have a semi plan, you get to help me bring the house stuff in. I'll grab the furniture, but you get to handle all the small thing."

Lissa let out a groan but did as he asked. With Enzo's vampire strength he was able to get all this bigger furniture inside within an hour, which she counted as cheating sinceshedidn't have any handy dandy superpower to help her with her task. So she whined until he agreed to help her with the boxes. Sure, did he already do a bunch of heavy lifting bringing the furniture in? Yes, but he's an undead vampire, she was going to take advantage of that fact.

They got everything inside the house and unboxed after only 4ish hours with his vampire superpowers, and that included putting together the dressers becauseof coursehe didn't put them together before putting them inside the moving truck. Century old vampire but he's just as bad of a procrastinator as she was.

Lissa plopped down onto the rich brown suede couch that she was rather proud of him for picking out. Letting out a sigh the same time her stomach came alive with a growl. "Hey, End Zone! I'm sleeping on your couch."

Now that the house was full her voice didn't really echo nor carry far but she knew he still heard her down at the end of the hall. "You have a brand new bed just down the hall?"

"Too lazy!"

Lissa grinned against the pillow she was hugging under her head as she heard the vampire stomp his way into the living room.

"Really? You're too lazy to go 100 feet to your room? The room you wantedoh so badly?"

She twisted her head to look at the deadpanned vampire. "Yep! Unlikesomepeople, I am but a lowly human that gets tired after physical activities."

Enzo rolled his eyes at her words. He'd watched her go hours without sleep and talk about doing a lot more physically demanding things than moving. Despite knowing this, he still did exactly what she was wanting. He picked her up and carried her to her room. "This is the only time I'm doing this, Snow White."

She chuckled into his shoulder. He said that, but she knew he'd do it again if she asked. She bounced onto the surprisingly tall and soft bed. He had even bought her a canopy bed knowing that she loved them but her attic room at her own house didn't have high enough ceilings to have one. "Of course, End Zone. Wouldn't ever dream of asking again."

"f*ckin' liar." He chuckled leaving the room as she drifted off to sleep.

Lissa gasped as she became aware she was both asleep but not at the same time. f*ck, what was it called? Lucid dreaming! She was lucid dreaming. Not a very fun one considering she was in an endless hallway with what looked to be 1000 identical white doors. Giving a shrug she started checking them. This was her first time lucid dreaming; she didn't want it to be boring.

She opened the first one, squeaked, and immediately slammed it shut. f*cking bears. The first door had an angry grizzly bear behind it. What the f*ck, brain? She'd died once in real life before. Doing it a second time in her mind wasn't on her to do list.

The next few doors were opened with a bit more caution. Though it was unneeded. One was just a linen closet, another opened to a cave that sounded like it was near a waterfall, her favorite had to be the one that had a rather pretty field of lupine flowers with foxes frolicking around. She did take a few minutes to try and make friends with the foxes sadly they were just as weary of a random human as she expected them to be.

This continued for she didn't know how long. Open door, see what's inside, sometimes explore and interact with the animals if they seemed nice, close door. Over and over again. She'd probably opened around 50 doors until her hand landed on a handle that seemed warm and inviting. As if telling her,this is one of the doors you were looking for.

She looked on both sides of her, as if someone was going to scold her for opening the door despite being alone the whole time before. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. She was greeted with what looked to be an old, like historic old, wooden building. It wouldn't have been out of place in the set ofVikings. Surrounding the house was a plot of land that had vegetables growing and on the other side a couple of sheep and goats. She could even see a cow out in the field behind the small wooden shack.

But what she focused on was the young man dressed in brown and tan linen clothing. A young man that she wasn't expecting to see for a couple of months, if not years.

Kol Mikaelson stood in front of her, hoe in hand, looking at her as if he'd never seen another person before.

"Who the hell-"

Lissa came to with a gasp.

"Whoa, Snow White. That must have been some dream. I've been trying to wake you up for a while now." Enzo said pulling his hand away from where he had been shaking her awake. "Are you okay?"

Lissa blinked, trying to wrap her head around one second being in front of Kol Mikaelson, dream version or not; she hadn't been expecting that when opening random doors during a lucid dream. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, weird dream. What'd you need?"

"I made dinner, and despite not being human in a century, I do know going all day without food would make anyone ravenous."

"Don't you mean lunch?"

He shook his head. "Nope, dinner. You slept all day. Honestly if you were that tired, you should have said something, Snow. I wouldn't have made you help with the move."

Lissa shook her head still trying to clear the muddled feeling that was persisting even after she woke up. Was that part of the spell she had cast or did she just randomly start lucid dreaming? If it was part of the spell why the hell wouldKol Mikaelsonbe in her safe space? If anything the dude would be part of a nightmare. As much as she enjoyed him as a character she wasn't stupid enough to think he wouldn't kill her if he felt like it. So, again, why would he be part of her mindscape?

"I'm fine. I didn't realize I was that tired. Sorry about sleeping all day. You probably needed help with the house stuff."

Enzo shook his head. "I'm an immortal vampire that had both super speed and strength. I can handle unpacking and putting a house together. Now get your tiny butt up and come eat. I went and grabbed burgers from that Grill place you talk about."

"Alright, Worry Wart, I'll eat some dinner."

The next morning found Enzo and Lissa sitting down the block from the Salvatores' place waiting for Stefan to leave for the carwash that the cheer squad was putting on. Caroline had begged Lissa to join but once she explained that there was something important she had to do, she backed off. Lissa wasn't one to lie about having something to do if she didn't want to do anything, so Caroline actually listened this time.

The pale girl sat fiddling with her septum piercing when Stefan finally stepped out of the house after 30 minutes of them waiting. Just as she went to leave the car, Enzo grabbed her arm.

"Are you sure about this? We can find another way for me to get in the house."

Lissa patted the vampire's hand before lifting it from her arm. "If I don't do it them Damon will whenever he gets out of the basem*nt. It's not like Zach will be the first or last person I'll ever kill. Geez, just because I know the guy doesn't mean I'll care about his death."

Enzo shrugged. If she wasn't worried about it, he figured he should let it go. Sometimes he forgot how crazy the albino girl actually was. Most days she acted a lot like any other teenage girl, just a bit more okay with violence. It wasn't until he saw how uncaring she was towards people she didn't know or care about dying or being killed that he was confronted with how psychotic she was.

"You're a ruthless little girl, you know that right?"

Lissa gave him a smile that he was sure wouldn't be amiss on a serial killer and walked to the house's front door.

He watched as who he assumed was the human Salvatore opened the door. Sadly, since they had to be far enough away Stefan wouldn't have been able to hear them that meant he couldn't hear what Lissa was saying. Whatever it was got her in. Now he played the waiting game.

Considering there were two vampires that lived in the house, Lissa was surprised about how easy it was to get Zach to let her inside. All it took was saying she needed to talk about something her father had mentioned and bam, he stepped aside. Okay, the fact he'd known her since childhood probably helped, but still. Not only did one vampire that lived with him have zero qualms about killing, the other was a former ripper. He should have more sense than to just let people in the house.

He led them to the sitting room, easily recognizable to her from the show. This was where TV!Damon had killed Mason and a bunch of other stuff.

"Would you like something to drink? Non-alcoholic, of course." The older man asked from the bar area.

Lissa shook her head but stayed silent, thinking about how exactly she would get him close enough to kill him. Sure, she could set him on fire and be done with it but she also didn't want to accidentally set the whole house on fire.

"Very well," Zach said before grabbing his own drink and sitting on the other side of the coffee table. "Now what were you wanting to talk about? You mentioned your father saying something to you before his death?"

She took a deep breath, trying to appear nervous instead of the impatience thatactuallyfilled her. "He said a lot actually. He said stuff about myths being real and that…thatvampireswere among them? I don't know if he knew he was going to die that night, but he also said that if he couldn't tell me about them himself then I could to go to you." She forced tears to well up in her eyes, before blinking as if to clear them away. "Well, he mentioned the sheriff and a lot of other people before you but out of any of them I knew you'd be the only one to not sugar coat things."

"You're right about one thing, I won't sugar coat thing. Your father told you the truth. Vampires are real. They are the natural killers of humans like you and me. They have super strength, speed, and the ability to control humans against their will. Vervain is the one substance that can defend against the monsters."

Lissa widened her eyes and fastened her breath, playing the scared teenager. Luckily Zach didn't know her very well beyond any rumors that had been whispered; he didn't know that if she really was scared she wouldn't be dumb enough toshowit. The only time she'd ever do that would be to manipulate someone or she trusted them enough tohavea weakness in front of them. And Zach was not a person she trusted.

"How…" She broke of, wetting her lips before continuing. "How do you know about this stuff?"

He sighed, moving from his seat across the table to the open seat next to her on the loveseat. "I grew up with it. I'm one of the unlucky few who's vampire relatives have kept track of them."

"Wait…No!" Lissa jerked back as if trying to get away from the other man. In reality she had needed to get close to the side table where she saw a letter opener. She turned sideways to stare at her feet while her hand crept up and gripped the handle of the letter opener. "Damon? And Stefan?"

Zach nodded, sad smile on his face as she 'figured it out' not seeing what the young girl's other hand was doing.

"That means that my sister is dating one of them. My sister!" She yelled, head bowed as if starting to cry.

Just as she wanted, he scooted close to her to offer an awkward shoulder pat, trying to comfort the 'crying' teenager. "I'm sorry, Melissa. I told Stefan it was a bad idea to get involved with your sister but they don't really listen to humans. At least he's better than Damon."

Lissa turned to Zach, face quickly going from the fright that had twisted it at the start of the conversation to a calm that sent a shiver up the human Salvatore's spine. Before he could even start to move a pale hand lashed out and a flash of silver was all he saw before pain filled his mind.

"I'm sorry too, Zach. I promise it's nothing personal. You being dead just works so much better than keeping you alive."

Lissa stayed sitting as she watched Zach bleed out on the rug. Grabbing a napkin that was on the coffee table, she started wiping away at the blood that had splattered on her face and neck. She couldn't do much about her shirt but at least it was one she borrowed from Enzo and not one of her own.

"W-why?" The dying man croaked.

"Hmm, wow, I'm surprised you can talk. I cut your neck pretty deep." She said tilting her head. "Why? Well, honestly, I need to get someone into the house and we both know you're too paranoid to actuallyinvitesomeone in. Killing you negates that necessity. Either way, Damon would kill you the minute he gets free, so really, I'm just doing you a favor. Now you won't get eaten!"

She waited to see if he would say anything else, but besides opening and closing his mouth, no other sounds came out. Soon his eyes dulled and she knew he was dead.

Time to go get Enzo.

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Chapter Text

Previously on Ghost of Lifetimes Past:

She waited to see if he would say anything else, but besides opening and closing his mouth, no other sounds came out. Soon his eyes dulled and she knew he was dead.

Time to go get Enzo.

Getting to the front doors, Lissa waved Enzo in before ducking back inside as she didn't want to be seen by the neighbors. She doubted they'd be as nonchalant about homicide as she was.

"Hmm, nice place. Dick doesn't deserve it even if it was his fathers." Enzo hummed as he stepped through the door.

Lissa shrugged before shutting the curtains so the sun didn't filter through. She didn't know if Enzo would be letting Damon out or not but better safe than burned.

"Are you wanting me to go down with you, or am I staying up here and minding my own business?"

Taking the time to shoot the pale girl a droll look, Enzo made his way towards where he could smell the vervain. "Would you actually stay up here if I wanted you to?"

"Maybe, possibly. Well no, but I would at least wait a couple of minutes for you to be done beating on him. Solely because one sided ass beatings are kinda boring after a while."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Lissa followed down the creepy basem*nt stairs. Mainly because, unlike the rest of the house, they were clearly the original stairs and she could easily see herself falling straight through to the stone floor below. Halfway down she was hit with a pungent smell of death and musky dirt. Both she assumed was from Damon desiccating and the vervain plants, respectively. As they got to the bottom a light flared on, probably hooked up to a sensor for Zach's ease.

The now lit up the basem*nt was…still f*cking creepy. Seriously, the Salvatores had genuine jail cells directly below their house. All the way at the end of the basem*nt cell block was what she assumed was Damon's cell, based on the groaning coming from within.

"Sure you wanna do this?" She asked the still vampire in front of her.

"You ask me that now?! Now? Why not, I don't know, before committing murder or even driving over here?"

"Well, I mean you weren't moving, so I just assumed you were having second thoughts about actually confronting him."

Enzo shot a glare over his shoulder at the unbothered girl. "Shut up. I'm just thinking about what to say."

"Or chickening out."

"f*ck off." He snarled before stalking toward the groaning cell.

Lissa smirked. Better to send him in already angry than let the man overthink what he wanted to do.

Enzo stopped directly in front of Damon's cell door. The man within was clearly not paying attention or probably couldn't due to being drained and without blood for a couple of days. Lissa stopped right next to the fuming vampire and peeked through the little window the door had to see inside the cell.

Blinking in a way to clear her eyes, Lissa tilted her head. She wasn't really expecting much but a dry wrinkly version of Damon, much like the show had portrayed. That was not what was inside the cell. It seemed like a real desiccated vampire was much more like a human halfway to mummification, smell and questionable liquids included. She let out a low whistle. "Damn, wasn't expecting him to look like that. Gross."

At her words Damon's eyes jerked open and his head snapped towards the door. "Oh, the hallucinations have set in. Fabulous. Though why it's a friend I let die and Katherine's f*cking ghost look alike I don't know."

Enzo let out a scoff and threw a tiny blood bag through the bars on the tiny window. "Drink. I want you to be somewhat cohesive for this conversation."

The ravenous vampire didn't need telling twice. One second he was sitting on the bench the next he was on his hands and knees, the blood bag already halfway to empty. Lissa didn't think he had even acknowledged it was a supposed "dead friend" that had given him his blood. She didn't know how the hallucinations for desiccated vampires were but she doubted it was pleasant.

Damon sat back in his heels once he finished, skin knitting itself back together in places it had split and started oozing though that was about it. He still looked like he wouldn't be amiss being excavated out of an old tomb. "E-Enzo? That's impossible."

Enzo snarled, face shifting to his vampiric one as he surged forward to hold onto the window bars. In his anger he barely missed grabbing Lissa as she jumped out of the way. "Impossible?! IMPOSSIBLE? You want to know what I thought wasimpossible? A friend, one knowing the same tortures I, myself, knew, abandoning me to another fifty years of it. A friend that swore, thatSWORE, to get me out turned his back and forgot about each and every promise we had made. A friend thatclearlywasn't a friend because I was nothing but the means to an end!"

Having moved to his feet sometime during Enzo's rant, Damon slid back down the wall to rest on the ground directly across from the door. "She…said you were dead."

"She? She who?" Enzo demanded. After no immediate answer from the other man, Enzo shook the bars on the window he was holding. "Answer me dammit! I deserve answers."

Damon gritted his teeth, finally some fire replacing the shocked guilt. "The woman you were sleeping with. The red head."

"The- the red head? She was withthem." Enzo looked at Damon as if he'd grown a second head. "I may have been sleeping with her but at least I knew not to trust anyone in that place! Why the hell would you believe anything she said?"

Opening his mouth before closing it, doing a damn good job of mimicking a fish, Damon stayed silent, not really sure, even now, why he took her at face value.

"Human nature." Lissa explained. Both men turned to look at the pale girl, a bit stunned as they had forgotten the young girl was there. Yet there she stood, leaning against the stone wall of the basem*nt.

"What?" Enzo asked.

"I guess it couldn't be calledhumannature anymore. But it's just natural." She looked Enzo deep in his eyes. She'd never explained why she thought Damon had run and took the first rumor he heard about the place to him. He deserved to know her own thoughts on it even if it was a bad time. But it didn't look like either of them were going to advance the conversation. "He associated that place with intense pain and the woman offered a solution that gave him the least amount of guiltandgave him an excuse not to go back into that place."

Enzo looked over at the other vampire, disbelief swimming in his eyes. "So what? He just took the first thing he heard as fact andneverchecked it? Never eventhoughtto check it?"

Lissa gave a shrug, sympathetic smile on her face. She wasn't Damon. There was only one way to get the real explanation; by talking to Damon.

"I shut it off." Damon said quickly and quietly as if he didn't even want to admit to anything but knew the Englishman deserved the explanation.

Enzo jerked back. "You turned it off? Your humanity?That'syour excuse for not double checking?"

Damon finally got the courage to walk closer to Enzo now that he didn't seem like he'd destroy him if within range of his arms. "That's what happened. Think it was an excuse or not. I heard you died and I turned my humanity off and didn't look back."

"Fine then. If it was good enough for you then it should be good enough for-" Enzo's words were cut off as his head snapped forward, forehead smacking hard against the bars in the window. "What the f*ck, Lissa?"

"If you evenTHINKof flipping that switch. I will so forcefully turn it back on every f*cking vampire in the world will feel it." Lissa snarled. It was the dumbest thing vampires could do. She was not about to let Enzo make that mistake, or deal with the stupidity that would come with him being humanity-less. "Think of a different revenge."

Enzo growled. She had said she'd stand by what he chose. Why would she suddenly stand there wanting to go back on her word? "You said you'd-"

Lissa rolled her eyes. "I'm aware of what I said Enzo and I will support whatever you choose to do, but I'm not going to sit around and let you do actual harm to yourself. I like to think I'm a better friend than that. Pick. Something. Else." She stood her ground even as Enzo snarled and snapped at her but she knew he wouldn't attack her. He cared too much to even think about harming her. Before long the snarling died down and with a scream he punched the wall behind her, sending tiny chunks of stone flying and causing Damon to speak up with a 'Hey, not the house! It's original!' as if that would have stopped Enzo.

"What would you have me do then? Just beat him up and let bygones be bygones?" Enzo scoffed, shaking his head at the small girl. "I can't do that, Lissa."

Lissa let out a sigh, her tongue poking the inside of her cheek as she took in her friend. He had calmed down some after his little rant at Damon, but she still saw the veins around his eyes darken some randomly before going away. Once again, she was surprised at his control over himself. She knew she'd never be able to be so restrained if she was in his shoes.

"Do you want immediate satisfaction or are you okay with waiting?" She asked, eyes lighting up as she thought of an idea. Shereallyhoped that Enzo went with the long con or elseeverythingwas going to change.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Damon snarked from the cell.

"No, shut up."

Damon pulled a face but did, surprisingly, shut up.

Enzo gritted his teeth, feeling his veins ripple and fangs elongate as he thought about Damon. He had been his only confidant for so long. He remembered for so long, even after the betrayal, he would talk to imaginary Damon, at least until one tiny albino girl came stumbling into his prison. Slowly he started healing, or at least as close to healing a person could get while being tortured. Until one day Enzo realized that the voice he would talk to in his head changed from the rough tone of Damon to the feminine but blunt tone of Lissa.

"What's the immediate solution?" Enzo asked not taking his eyes away from Damon.

"Kill him," Lissa said plainly, hiding her trepidation for even suggesting this, but she felt it needed to be voiced and decided against before Enzo could move on.

"What?" Both men asked, voices dripping with shock at her suggestion.

"It needed to be said. Youcanjust kill him." Lissa shrugged. "I mean; he did leave you for dead himself."

Did Lissa want Damon to die?Hellno. That would ruin each and every plan she had for the future. She'd been working on those for years on how to survive everything that was going to happen. Plus, she wasn't too sure how anything would go with Damon gone. The very thought of him not being a part of anything with the future was actually pretty interesting but not anything she'd entertain for more than a second. She wouldn't have even suggested it if she really thought Enzo would go for it. Lucky for both her and Damon, Enzo was a better person than she ever was and way too sentimental to just kill him off.

Damon gaped at where he imagined the white haired girl was, "I don't consent to this, Snow Princess! I thought we were friends."

Lissa leaned back against the stone again, not taking her eyes from Enzo, who was still staring into Damon's cell, and completely ignored Damon's words. "So, wanna kill him, Enzo?"

Enzo wouldn't lie to himself, the thought of drenching himself in the other vampire's blood sounded so good. Probably better than anything he'd heard since the sound of his shackles breaking. But he knew, even if he didn't admit it, there was still a part of him that saw Damon as his friend. A miniscule part, but it was still a part. And that miniscule part wouldn't let him kill the other man, as much as the idea appealed to him.

Enzo let out a loud groan as he shut his eyes and let his head fall and hit the window bars. "No. No I don't, Lissa." Taking a deep breath, the Englishman turned to look at her. "So what's the long term plan?"

"That should be discussedawayfrom the person you're getting revenge on, don't you think, End Zone?"

"Right." Enzo glanced back into the cell, face unreadable even to her, before turning towards the stairs. "I'm going to go drink now that I've heard his reasons, as stupid as they were. You coming, Snow White?"

Lissa shook her head. "Not right now. I gotta talk to Mr. Love 'em and Leave 'em."

"Sure, Lissa, just don't let him talk you into letting him go. He deserves every second of agony he gets."

With those parting words, Enzo made his way upstairs, leaving the other two in awkward silence.

Lissa stepped up to the door taking the spot Enzo had been standing before. Damon sat on the stone flooring sneering up at her. He really was pitiful looking in there. His clothes from the ball were still on him, even if they were smeared with gunk and dust and other things she didn't want to know about. There was blood smeared in his face from the blood bag Enzo had thrown in, and his skin rivaled hers for lack of color. If she was anyone else, she'd probably have already let him out simply from pity. But she wasn't, so she didn't.

"Welp," Lissa clapped her hands together, "I think that went about as well as it could of! You didn't even die or get hopelessly injured."

"Some friend you are, Gilbert. You threatened to kill me." Damon scoffed as he scooted himself to lean against the far wall again. "If this is how you treat your friend, I'd hate to be an enemy."

"First off, didn't threaten to kill you. I justsuggestedit. And second, if you were my enemy you wouldn't even get the courtesy of a threat. I'd just kill you." Lissa stuck her tongue out at the man. She was genuinely happy about how this turned out. She had thought Enzo would have ripped the door from the hinge just to get at Damon but the fact that he didn't? That spoke volumes to how Enzo actually saw the other vampire. There was genuine hope of them becoming friends again.

Damon gaped at the teenager. How was one twin so…niceyet the other one turned out to be like this? It was so reminiscent of him and Stefan that it made his head spin. Especially since they both had Katherine's face even if one was lacking in pigment and had added piercings. It was like he'd been dropped into the world's weirdest twilight zone. "Oh good, thanks then, for thatsuggestion. I just love when myfriendssuggest my death to people that obviously want it."

"Oh! You're welcome."

"I was being sarcastic, Snow Dunce!"

"Yeah,obviously, dude. I'm socially inept sometimes but I like to think I'm well versed in sarcasm."

"What did you want anyway? To just make me feel guilty by throwing one of my worst decisions into my face and bring Enzo here?" Damon glowered at her. Though it would probably be more effective if he could sit up by himself without being propped up by his arm.

Lissa scrunched her nose at him. Enzo's trauma wasn't a weapon to use. Would she use other people's trauma for her own gain? Yeah, absolutely, but that's because she was a hypocrite. "Enzo needed to face you to heal. Plus I think you needed it too, despite the anger you currently feel."

"No, I meant, what do you neednow?Why didn't you leave with Enzo?"

Letting out a small 'ahh' Lissa reached into her bag and pulled out two more blood bags. "Here. I may have told Enzo earlier I wouldn't let you out, doesn't mean I can't help you free yourself."

Damon slowly made his way towards the blood bags. He wasn't about to turn them down simply because he was mad. That was just stupid. And with two more blood bags in him he should have enough strength to at least mentally call Kennedy to free him. Luckily he'd planted that compulsion to listen for his mental call, just on the off chance something happened.

"Well, that's all I stayed for. Do come find me when you get out. While you may not see me as a friend anymore, I do." Lissa started walking away before jogging back towards the window. "Oh and Damon?"

"What?"

Without a second thought, Lissa grabbed the letter opener she'd stuffed into her pocket after using it to kill Zach and threw it with great precision towards Damon's eye. It was only due to his lack of blood and being surrounded by vervain that it actually hit. Damon let out a cry of pain grabbing at the silver handle and retching it, and his eyeball (gross), from his head. "What the f*ck?"

"That was for Enzo."

With that last quip in, Lissa finally left the basem*nt and went upstairs. She still had to finish cleaning up from Zach's death. Skipping into the room she left Zach's body, she smiled when she saw Enzo had apparently taken the body with him and the rug, though that was probably to hide the body from any busybody neighbors. Great, that just meant she needed to get the blood out of the couch and leave Damon a note about his dear nephew's death. It was the least she could do since shehadkilled him.

Humming some random anime opening, she went to search for some bleach or lye to get the blood out. It didn't take her long, they kept both under the kitchen sink. Probably in case Damon decided to be a dick and get blood places he shouldn't. Lissa shrugged. Whatever the reason, it makes her job easier.

Considering how much white she wore Lissa was pretty practiced with getting stains out so it didn't take her more than 30 minutes of scrubbing before the couch was basically back to normal, at least to her human eyes. Damon and Stefan will probably notice the stain still but she didn't really carethatmuch about it to keep cleaning any longer.

Quickly emptying the bucket of bleach water and throwing the rags in what she hoped was a hamper, Lissa made her way over to the desk in the living room. Rummaging around she found some paper and a pen.

Hey Damon! Forgot to let you know that Zach's dead (Sorry! He was in the way!) but I cleaned the stain up and Enzo seems to have handled the body. Sorry about the rug, it wasn't salvageable and Enzo used it to hide the body. Plus it was ugly. (get better decor, dude) Oh! I also closed all the curtains so you should be good without your Daylight Ring until nighttime at least.

With Love,

Lissa

Lissa grinned and nodded. Perfect. Short and to the point, exactly what she wanted. She taped the note to the front door and left.

"Heeellllooo?" Lissa sang as she strutted into her home only tripping over her own feet once. It was later than she wanted considering her and Enzo had spent a bit too long drinking. Lucky for her, Allen was working at The Grill tonight and he was easy to talk into serving alcohol to minors with a little extra money. "Is anyone hoomee? Jer? 'Lena? Jen?"

"Are you..drunk?" The disbelief in Elena's voice was just slightly colored with amusem*nt as she took in her swaying twin from the stairs. She didn't know the last time she'd seen Lissa as plastered as she currently was. She didn't want to lie, it was funny seeing her normally put together sister completely gone.

Lissa spun around to look at who had spoken, only barely catching herself as she started to fall from turning too fast. "Are you gonna yell at me if I say yes?"

"No? It's not like I haven't gotten drunk before. Why would I be mad about you doing it?"

Lissa shrugged. "Don't know. You've been really bitchy lately. You had mellowed out during the summer after the accident but now…" She trailed off as she felt her good mood drop a bit. She had really enjoyed being closer with her sister after the accident during the summer. But if Elena was going to go back to how it was before then she wasn't going to continue trying to be a good sister.

Letting out a sigh, Elena could at least admit to herself, Lissa had a bit of a point. Theyhadgotten along during the summer. Sure they had been grieving but it brought them closer. "I'm just going back to normal, Lis. I'm sorry if you don't like that."

"Ignoring our own issues, have you been crying? Your eyes are red and you don't have allergies." Lissa stumbled her way up the stairs to get a closer look at her twin. "You have been! What's going on?"

Elena swatted away the pale hand that had started poking at her cheeks. "Nothing. Why do you care? You just called me bitchy. And threatened me last time I saw you!"

"Yeah, and? You're still my sister so that means if someone is gonna make you cry or threaten you it's gonna be me."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"Well, I'm drunk so," Lissa blew a raspberry at the taller girl making Elena scrunch her face up at the spit that landed on her.

"Drop it and go to bed. I can't talk about it," Elena said. She wasn't about to drag her volatile twin into whatever Stefan was. That was asking for people to get injured.

Lissa just squinted at the other girl, trying to think about what could have possibly caused her to cry. The car wash was today so that meant she had talked to someone about Stefan, right? God, maybe getting drunk with Enzo wasn't her best plan. She shook her head as if to dislodge any memories. All that did was make her dizzy and almost fall down the stairs. "Fine, but only because I'm tired and can't really do any deep thinking right now."

Once she got in her room and changed Lissa felt the same chill as she did when Damon had been watching the house, making a face, she got out of bed and went over to her window. Glaring down at the ground she made eye contact with Stefan. Not wanting to deal with any relationship drama that was going on when drunk and so close to sleeping, she opened her window and just yelled down at the boy. "Go home! Seriously, I don't know what's going on but impersonating Edward Cullen isn't gonna win you any points."

Not waiting for a response, she slammed her window shut and closed her blinds. Stefan could be creepy and obsessed with her sister on his own time. She didn't know why she was getting weird chills anytime a vampire was stalking her or her sister, but she really didn't have the energy to find out either. At least not right now. All she wanted was to sleep off the vodka that Enzo had talked her into drinking.

It was right as she was halfway asleep that she jolted up in bed and her brain remembered what had happened today in the show.

"Oh right! Elena knows about vampires.That'swhy she was crying. She finally figured it out."

Should she go to her sister and talk to her? Nope, she was too tired and honestly Elena handled everything fine after talking to Stefan. She'll be okay.

With those thoughts, Lissafinallywent to sleep.

Lissa woke the next morning with a groan. f*ck Enzo and his need to cope with lethal amounts of alcohol.

Considering her hangover, she had wanted to spend the day being a bum and trying to figure out why that mindscape spell hadn't really done anything besides give her a really weird lucid dream. Apparently Caroline didn't see a hangover as an excuse to miss hanging out with her for a second time. So here she was, grumpy frown on her face, sitting at The Grill watching her blonde friend come bouncing towards her..

"You, young lady, are in trouble!" Caroline said as she sat down. "Besides lunch I haven't seen you hardly at all this week!Andyou bailed on the sexy carwash!"

Lissa sent her friend an apologetic smile. She really had kind of ignored her as she focused on more supernatural stuff. Plus with Enzo in town now? "Sorry, sorry. I've been a bit busy. It wasn't on purpose."

Caroline let out a huff. "Well, what was so important you couldn't even come to the carwash? You know how much time I put into organizing that."

"Ah. A friend of mine moved to town. I was helping him with a few things."

"Wait…him? Did you bail on me for adick appointment!So help me Lissa if-"

Lissa felt her face scrunch up in disgust at the idea of sleeping with Enzo. "No no, ugh, gross. Enzo is like a brother, it'd be like sleeping with Jer."

Before Caroline could continue her interrogation Mark walked over with their normal food orders. Mushroom Swiss burger for her and a grilled chicken salad with Caesar dressing for Caroline. Her buying their food fortunately made Caroline willing to drop her annoyance at being ignored for a week.

"I promise if I ever ditch you for sex I'll be sure to tell you. Promise." Lissa held out her pinky towards the other girl. They'd always done picky promises, ever since Lissa had told Caroline that a pinky promise was more sacred than anything. Neither girl had ever broken a pinky swear to the other in all the years they'd been friends. She wasn't about to start now.

"Fine, pinky swear." Caroline stabbed at her salad before taking a bite. With a mouth half full of food she continued. "Now tell me about Enzo. I know you've mentioned being friends with him before but you never explain who he is! If he's gonna be around I need all the info I can get."

Lissa grinned as she settled into telling half-truths and some lies about her and Enzo's relationship. It was nice to actually talk to Caroline. She'd forgotten how at ease she felt in her presence. No supernatural stuff, no worrying about the future( besides what she already does subconsciously) just talking sh*t with someone she cared about. It was comforting. Though she wished she could be completely honest about things, she didn't want to tell the blonde about the supernatural just yet. Once things actually pick up she'll sit her down and talk her through everything, but until then Caroline can have her teenage innocence.

She was getting to the end of telling Caroline about Enzo's (and her's) house when her phone rang. Looking down at who it was she tilted her head in confusion. "Why is Damon calling me?"

"What do you mean? Aren't you two friends or something? He did buy you a drink, right?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, but we just had an argument. Some things were said" And thrown. Like a letter opener to an eye. "And I wasn't expecting him to call me literally a day later." Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about why he'd call her. Wasn't today the day he turned Vicki? So shouldn't he be doing something about that?

Caroline leaned forward as she grinned mischievously at her. "Maybe he wants to make up? Angry sex is some of the best."

"Caroline!" Lissa laughed. "I'm not sleeping with Damon. Now hush, I gotta be able to hear him."

Answering the phone, Lissa was greeted with the sound of classic rock and a drunk and annoyed Damon. "Snow Princess! I'm still angry with you, but I've thought of a way for you to pay me back for the betrayal."

She let out a scoff at the man's words. "Betrayal? Being friends with Enzo isn't a betrayal."

"That's debatable but what isn't is breaking into my house, killing my nephew, and stabbing me with an ice pick."

"…It was a letter opener and you deserved it."

"Tsk, tsk. Whether I deserved it or not, you've broken poor Stefan's heart with the killing of our nephew." Lissa could hear the grin in Damon's voice. "He's blaming me, you know. Won't even listen when I say it was you. Tells me that it's impossible since you don't know about vampires and aren't that type of person. Can you believe him?"

Lissa could actually. Stefan was pretty blinded by the fact she looked like Katherine, no matter how different her coloring and actions were. Even the piercings didn't really stop him from occasionally looking at her in a way that said he wasn't really seeingher. She didn't know how Elena stood it. It must be even worse with her considering she was Katherine's exact copy.

There had been multiple times she'd alluded to knowing his actual nature in the few times they had talked since he started dating her sister, yet each time he ignored her comments. Hell, she knows at least one person warned him about the rumors of her killing people and being scary when he started dating her sister. Yet he still only saw his former love's face and marked it as just rumors.

She finally tuned back into Damon's rant right as he mentioned her coming over. "Wait, what? Why am I coming over?"

"Were you listeningat allto what I said?" Damon snarked. "I said I need your help with something. I may have done something on a whim that I don't really want to deal with. So as payback you can deal with it."

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to clean up after yourself?" She squinted over at Caroline who had made her way over to where Matt was playing pool. Huh, looks like she was serious about flirting with him. Lissa would have to actually ask her what was going on with that when she had time. "Or did you just ignore that lesson?"

"Considering my mother died when I was young, I'll say I never got it."

Ah, well she walked into that one, she thought, grimacing to herself. "Right…so ignoring the foot in my mouth. When are you wanting me to clean up your mess?"

Lissa figured it was only fair to help the dark haired vampire. He was right. She had killed his nephew, and stabbed him, and lied to him about why she wanted to be friends, and snuck a hostile vampire into his home. She probably did own the dude a favor.

Damon hummed and she could hear some rustling as if he was moving something heavy. "Probably now. Who knows when they'll wake up."

"When who'll wake up?"

"Guess you'll have to come over to see. Tata for now!"

Hearing the click as the vampire hung up on her, Lissa gaped at the audacity of him. How rude! Here she was taking time to do him a favor and he hangs up on her. Growling, she tossed some money onto the table to cover the food and tip, and stomps over to Caroline and Matt.

"Hey, Care, I know I said I'd spend the day with you but Damon has apparently called in a favor. How mad would you be if I rescheduled for tomorrow?" She said as she got close to the two.

Instead of getting angry like she'd expected, Caroline just glanced at Matt and back to her. "I think I'll be good. Matt's keeping me entertained. But if you bail one more time I'm using one of those best friend coupons and stealing your time for a week."

Lissa let out a laugh as she remembered those coupons she had given her back in elementary school. She had been grounded for arguing with her teacher about something she didn't remember now and so she didn't have any allowance to buy Caroline any Christmas present that year. Deciding to act like a little kid for once, she made 'Best Friend Coupons'. Each one had a task or event she would be required to attend without question or amount of time that she would spend with Caroline and no one else. "Holy sh*t, Care, I never expected you to still have those."

"OfcourseI still have them. They never expire."

"Alright. I swear if I bail again, you can use a coupon and I'll honor it." Lissa reached over and hugged Caroline while taking the time to whisper in her ear. "And when we do hang out you're telling me all about you and Mr. Donovan over there. Don't think I didn't see that blushing glance."

Caroline gave her a light shove as they broke away. "Oh go help Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome and leave me alone."

Chuckling, Lissa waved goodbye to Matt and headed off to the boarding house. Not for the first time she thought that maybe the immortal vampires shouldn't have such a distinct house. Sure, Mystic Falls is full of historical houses but the boarding house was a central part of the town history. Everyone knew it. It's a wonder that so few old people recognize the two vampires. Especially with them turning up so often in the past. She'd understand if they lived in a big town and had more people coming and going, but Mystic Falls was as small town as you could get. It was a wonder not more people knew about the supernatural than just the council.

Shrugging to herself, she put those thoughts away as she pulled up to the boarding house. She didn't really care if people knew about the supernatural as long as the people she cared about was safe.

Not bothering to knock, Lissa waltzed right into the living room. "Alrighty, Asshat, what mess do you need cleaned up?"

Damon grinned from where he was dancing around the two couches in the living room, glass of what looked like bourbon in his hand. "Snow Princess! You actually came! I thought my former cell mate would stop you."

"Enzo doesn't tell me what to do. Plus he knows I'm friends with you." She said from the doorway. Looking around she noticed that he'd shut the curtains even further than she'd done the day before. From where she was standing she could see he'd even put a towel in the kitchen window as a makeshift curtain. "And before you can send us off topic, what'd you need me for?"

"Oh right!." He started before gliding across the room towards her. As he got closer she could smell the alcohol. He'd obviously been drinking a while. "You're a teenage girl. That means you can deal with other teenage girls."

Lissa rolled her eyes, those words alone giving her an idea of what he wanted her to do. "No. I'm terrible at socializing. Literally the only friends I have are Caroline, my brother, Enzo, and sketchy people that are halfway to being my minions."

"Wow, you need a better social life."

"Thanks, I'll get right on that."

"Anyway!" Damon sat his drink down on the table next to the doorway, clapping his now free hands together and he turned towards the couches. "You're in luck. I can help you with your abysmal social life. I have two freshly transitioning vampires that need instructions. And you, my dear, are being tasked with explaining the life to them."

"I'm not being your…wait. Did you saytwo?" She shoved Damon out of the way as she sped towards the two couches trying to see what changes she'd inadvertently caused.

There on one couch was Vicki, mouth red from the blood Damon had obviously given her. But it was the person on the opposite couch that caused her to gape in shock.

"Oh my God. You f*cking changedKennedy?"

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

"Anyway!" Damon sat his drink down on the table next to the doorway, clapping his now free hands together and he turned towards the couches. "You're in luck. I can help you with your abysmal social life. I have two freshly transitioning vampires that need instructions. And you, my dear, are being tasked with explaining the life to them."

"I'm not being your…wait. Did you say two?" She shoved Damon out of the way as she sped towards the two couches trying to see what changes she'd inadvertently caused.

There on one couch was Vicki, mouth red from the blood Damon had obviously given her. But it was the person on the opposite couch that caused her to gape in shock.

"Oh my God. You f*cking changed Kennedy?"

"Wait, so let me make sure I understand everything." Lissa sighed while scowling at the smirking vampire, "You mentally called Kennedy to you so she'd free you. Then you drained her dry but thought to leave her alive only with her memories as to f*ck with Stefan."

Damon nodded, sipping on his glass of bourbon, eyebrow slyly arched as she recounted his story.

"So, you waited until it was dark enough and went to committed mass murder against some druggies in a cemetery, which is where Vicki comes in."

"Mm-hmm"

"Then after you came back from your feast, you compelled Kennedy and Vicki to party with you, during which you fed both girls your blood."

"Spot on."

"Finally, after getting bored of the two girls, you figured you'd just casually snap both their necks causing both of them to transition."

Letting out a hum of agreement, the dark haired man tossed the rest of his drink in his mouth. "Great recap, Snow Princess. Now, those two should be up soon. Are you going to explain what they are to them or just let them go wreak havoc? Personally I vote for the latter."

Lissa's head fell to smack against the wooden table they were sitting at, shoulders slumping as she groaned. Who would have expected killing Zach early would lead Damon to changetwoteenage girls into vampires? Okay sure, she could see it causing Kennedy to die, hell that's what she expected to happen. Just…why did Damon have to get creative in his revenge against Stefan? That was the root of the problem, Damon wanting to get back at Stefan. If he had just drained the girl all Lissa would have had to do is make sure Vicki died. But, no, he had to be creative.

Lissa growled to herself, ignoring the chuckling that her table partner let out as she did so, and tried to think about what to do.

She could deal with this. She could still follow the plan of letting Vicki die, so if the addict tries to leave Lissa wasn't going to stop her. She knew her brother wouldn't get hurt, not physically at least. Vicki was just the first girl to really spend time with him so Jeremy thought he was in love with her. Plus she put out. Lissa wouldn't really meddle in that one much, if she could help it. Once Anna gets to town, Jeremy should start getting over Vicki's 'disappearance'.

It was Kennedy that was going to be the problem. When Damon got with her instead of Caroline she had expected the girl to die or be dropped quicker than lightning. How was she supposed to guess Kennedy would be changed and so early too? She'd have to talk to Enzo about helping train her because Damon sure as sh*t wouldn't do it, and Stefan was all about that animal diet since his self control was on par with a toddler's. Depending on how the girl took to vampirism would let Lissa know if getting her a daylight ring would be worth it or not.

And it wasn't like Lissa couldn't kill either girl if they did something she didn't like.

She let out another exasperated sigh before she lifted her head to meet Damon's gleeful eyes. He was enjoying her pain. "Vicki can do whatever she wants, I doubt she'll make it as a vampire and if she does it'll be as a ripper cause the girl's an addict as a human. Who knows how bad that'll be as a vampire. More than likely someone is going to have to kill her soon." She shrugged, as if to say 'eh, what can you do'. "Kennedy? Now she I can deal with. As annoying as she is, I think I can talk Enzo into helping train her. It'll give him something to do besides wallow in his hatred of you."

"Oh," He said. "You actually made a plan.".

Lissa clenched her jaw as she realized he never actually expected her to help him. "Why did you call me here if you didn't actually want me to deal with it?"

"Just to see how you'd react to me killing and changing two girls around your age," Damon flopped his hand at her flippantly. "Honestly I thought you'd freak out like any other teenager would. But once again you surprise me."

AKA Damon was testing her. She shouldn't be hurt by that, especially after ambushing him right after he was betrayed by his brother, but she was. Which was insane, since they'd met not a couple of weeks ago.

She swallowed her hurt, narrowing her eyes into slits, blue eyes resembling ice chips as she spoke, "I'm helping you solely because I don't want two newbie vamps running around Mystic Falls unchecked. Especially one that has a hard on for my brother."

Before he could give a retort of his own, they heard twin groans of pain come from the living room.

Lissa let out a swear before stepping around the smug vampire to greet the two girls that had finally woken up. Or had revived, she didn't know the correct term nor did she really care.

"Damn, whatever we had Icannothave it again." Kennedy muttered.

Vicki nodded in solidarity. "All I remember is dancing and then-"

"And then I killed you both." Damon said.

"Shut up." Lissa shot an icy glare up at him. "He's not wrong. But it's a bit more than just being killed. He changed you."

"What the f*ck are you two talking about?" Kennedy asked. "And Damon, why is the albino here?"

"You know what? No." Lissa stated. "No I'm not putting up with both of youandDamon. I was going to be nice about this, but frankly, I hate your guts. Vicki, sorry but you get Damon to be your Yoda. And Damon, f*ck you." She stomped over and grabbed Kennedy's arm roughly dragging her to her feet and towards the front door without a backwards glance. "Come on, I'm bringing you to someone who will be a hell of a lot better at explaining everything."

Kennedy, not used to people just straight manhandling her, started jerking her arm trying to get the pale girl to let go. Despite her small stature Lissa's grip was solid. She was going to have an ugly bruise, which was so not cute paired with Damon's bites, but at least those were in easy to cover places. It may have been October but it was still warm enough that she wasn't planning on wearing long sleeves! Now she would have to if only to cover that bruise.

Plus she felt funny, whatever Damon had given her and that druggie he had brought back had clearly messed with her in a bad way. She couldn't even look at the sun without her eyes feeling like they were going to burn away. And she had a horrendous crick in her neck since her useless boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? Whoever he was to her just left her to sleep on the uncomfortable couch instead of bringing her to his bed.

She let out a huff as she was, again, roughly shoved somewhere. This time into the front seat of an SUV she begrudgingly admitted was sleek looking with its dark tinted windows blending into the black paint. It made her feel like she was some important person being escorted somewhere instead of being kidnapped by some pierced emo freak. Considering the other girl wasn't answering her very important questions of where she was being taken and if she couldpleasefix her makeup, Kennedy decided the silent treatment may get the other girl talking.

It didn't.

Lissa side-eyed the newly transitioning vampire(even if she didn't know it yet) as she finally parked in front of her and Enzo's house. Kennedy had stopped rambling on about halfway through the drive which was nice cause it gave her a second to cool down. She may have panicked a little when she saw Damon had changed Kennedy and her hangover sure didn't help. That plus Kennedy's generalKennedy-nessmeant she had just given up trying to contain the fallout of Damon's actions.

Lissa shook her head, treating her thoughts like an etch-a-sketch. "Stay here. I'm going to explain what happened to the person I think could help you. I'll be back out as soon as I can." She grabbed Kennedy's wrist. "I'm serious, Kennedy.Stay here."

Much like a toddler, the girl just let out a humph and crossed her arms, she didn't seem like she was going to go anywhere so Lissa went ahead and headed inside. Just in case though she took the time to lock the car and turn the child lock on. Kennedy would be okay there for the time being.

Now inside, Lissa was greeted by a scene that really made her second guess bringing Kennedy to Enzo to train and complete her transition. Enzo laid across the couch, arm over his eyes, and dried vomit down the front of his shirt. If he wasn't a vampire she'd have thought the guy had died via choking on said vomit. Instead she just crinkled her nose at the disgusting smell that filled the room. The woman he'd left the bar with was nowhere in sight, so either she already left, probably whenever Enzo vomited on himself, or she's never made it to the house.

She really didn't care either way.

Groaning, the white haired girl stalked to Enzo's room, taking the time to launch a pillow from the ground at the sleeping vampire's face.

Enzo was still cursing her and her entire lineage by the time she had made it back to the living room with the clean clothes she had gone to find. She was honestly impressed enough with the creativity that went into them that she actually waited until he had gotten it out of his system to throw his clothes at him.

"You need to change, like now. sh*ts happened and I need help dealing with it." She said ignoring the enraged glare that was being shot at her.

At her words Enzo looked down at the vomit and frowned before taking his shirt off and putting the clean one on. "What could have possibly happened in one night? This is a small town, Snow White."

"Damon went on a murder spree, brought a teenage drug addict back to his place to party with him and his high school plaything, and then proceeded to change them. I have one of them currently sitting in the SUV outside."

"Oh…okay then."

"Yeeaahhh"

Lissa rocked back and forth on her boots as she watched Enzo's mouth open and close. It wasn't often she left himthisspeechless. The only other time had been when she'd told him about her "visions" of the future. That silence had lasted probably an hour before he'd started in on the questions. Anytime Enzo encountered something he thought was interesting he would obsess over it until he either learned everything he could or he got bored. It was something they had in common.

Enzo gave a sharp sigh, pulling her from her thoughts, and stood up. "Alright. So why exactly did you bring this person here? And which one did you bring? The drug addict or the plaything?"

"I left Damon with the drug addict. Sure Vicki and I are acquaintances, hell, even friends, but she's quickly gonna turn into a ripper and I'm not dealing with that." Lissa shrugged. "So, as much as I wanna kill her half the time, I brought Kennedy here because she, at least, hassomechance of making it as a vampire."Even if she wasn't originally supposed tobeone, Lissa thought to herself.

Nodding in agreement about Vicki, Enzo looked out their front window to the SUV outside and took in the girl still sitting inside it. She was the stereotypical high school popular girl from what he'd seen since being free. Or she would be if her makeup wasn't smudged to hell and back, curls on her head flat on one side, and blood on the neckline of the blue lacy shirt she was wearing. All in all she looked pretty pathetic but something told him she could make it as a vampire. Maybe not thrive as one but she could at least live.

"Smart. Drug addicts never make good vampires. Never enough self control." Enzo said. "Why don't you go get the girl in the car. Then you'll need to f*ck off somewhere. Your bedroom, The Grill, wherever."

"What? Why?"

Enzo subtly rolled his eyes at his best friend. Her need to control everything was annoying at times. "You literally told me not a minute ago that you two's relationship was bad. Do you think being here will help the girl accept anything about what's happening to her?"

Lissa pursed her lips at his words. Yeah the reasoning made perfect sense but she didn't like not knowing what was going on with Kennedy's change. It was the first big change and she hadn't even planned it. Heaving out a sigh, she agreed with Enzo's plan and headed back out to her SUV to grab Kennedy.

"Come on." She said, grabbing the older girl's wrist once again.

"No!" Kennedy jerked her wrist out of Lissa's hold, frustration making her muscles taut. "If you don't tell me right now what's going on I swear I'll call 911 and get you arrested for..for kidnapping!"

Not in the mood to deal with Kennedy acting all haughtyandstill nursing a hangover headache, Lissa stepped into the taller girl's space, teeth bared and eyes dark. As she did so she could see the bravado seep out of Kennedy as she tried to step away from the pale girl and hit the front of the SUV. "I amtryingto help you, despite my patience being at an all time low. So either get inside to have everything explained to you or I kill you right now. Either way, you'll be out of my hands within seconds."

"Lissa!"

Lissa narrowed her eyes before looking away from the now scared girl to a concerned Enzo. He had apparently been paying enough attention to what was going on outside to know when to intervene before she committed murder right out in the open. She let out a growl before shoving Kennedy towards the porch. "In. Now."

Nodding, Kennedy scrambled away and towards the rather attractive man that had saved her by getting Lissa's attention. "Oh my God! She's insane!"

Enzo struggled to keep his lips from curling into an amused smile. It would be counterproductive to let the other girl know he found her fear of his tiny friend funny. "Not insane, just tired and cranky." Enzo raised his voice just a tad to make sure Lissa herself heard him. "She'll be going to bed while we talk about what's going on with you."

Lissa sauntered up to the front door, smirking as Kennedy leaped away from her as she passed. "I get it Mother Enzo. I'll go take a nap. Have fun with Ms. High Maintenance."

As hard as it was, Lissa really did go to her room and ignored what was being discussed in the living room. It wasn't that she didn't trust Enzo to explain everything, hell he was probably the only one besides herself shedidtrust to do it. It was the fact that she didn't have any input to anything. Of course, if Kennedy decided not to transition then all her worrying would be for naught.

She wasn't sure how long she laid in her bed, thoughts swirling around as she tried to plan and think of everything that could happen, all the while straining her ears in an attempt to hear what was being said just down the hall. Of course, she was just a human so besides murmurs she didn't really hear anything of importance. Despite her intense desire to stay awake to hear what would become of Kennedy, Lissa, somehow, managed to fall asleep at one point between her tossing and turning.

When Lissa opened her eyes, she'd thought she'd be opening them to either a newly vamped out Kennedy or a remorseful Enzo. That did not happen. No, instead she opened them to the exact same white corridor with a sh*t ton of doors again. Except one door about halfway down the hallway on the left now seemed to have a golden doorknob instead of the painted white of all the others.

Lissa was about a third of the way to that door before she stopped herself. This was clearly a result of the mindscape spell she'd done. And she very much doubted Kol Mikaelson was a part of her mindscape, so clearly she'd translatedsomethingwrong. And she really wanted to find herownmindscape instead of whatever she found before. She glared at the tempting golden knob, teeth chewing on the dried bits of her lips long enough she started tasting blood.

co*cking her head to the side, Lissa smacked her lips together. How did she taste blood when she was, essentially, a ghost inside her own mind? Was it psychosomatic? Like she was so used to biting her lips that she expected to taste blood so she did? Or did her mindscape body affect her physical body and she now had a bloody lip in the real world?

She was starting to think doing this spell without actually researching it was probably one of her more stupid ideas. Who knows what it was really doing to her?

Lissa tapped her foot as she weighed the pros and cons of figuring out why she had some version of Kol Mikaelson in her head before finding her mindscape. On one hand she was insanely curious on what the hell she'd unleashed on herself. But on the other, Kol Mikaelson was the most unpredictable of The Originals, trying to deal with him was like playing with dynamite in one hand and a match in the other while hoping you didn't get blown up.

Cursing to herself, Lissa turned away from the golden doorknob. After the mess with Kennedy is settled she'll go into that room. Until then she needs to find her actual mindscape and not whatever that room/ house is.

Figuring the only way to find her own mindscape would be to at least touch the doorknobs in an effort to find a warm one like before, that's exactly what she did. She didn't know how long she went around touching doorknobs but eventually one, when touched, filled her belly with a warm happiness. She'd found it. Steeling herself just on the off chance this wasn't her mindspace but a dangerous trick, she slowly etched the door open.

"Holy sh*t" she whispered.

In front of her was herhome. Her dream home from her last life stood in front of her as beautiful as the day she finished it.

Her home in her first life had been her pride and joy. Over 150 years old, with 20 acres of land, Lissa, then Lindsey, had taken one look at the derelict place and knew she had to rebuild it to its former glory. And she did. It had taken her 10 years of on and off renovations, but soon the rotting wood, bugs, old broken furniture, and everything else wrong with the place made way for comfort and warmth.

The exposed wood beams stained black in the ceiling with cream walls really came together to make the place feel homey yet kept her need for a dark aesthetic well. That paired with her rather dark but retro( for her time) aesthetic made it look like an angsty grandma lived in the house, which wasn't bad, just a bit strange. Which described her pretty damn well, 'not bad just strange'.

Though considering she killed people now that may need to change to 'kinda bad, and strange'. Eh, she didn't really care if she was honest.

Ignoring the melancholy that had overtaken her thoughts, Lissa bound into her old home and immediately went towards her wall bookshelf. While she had a decent memory there was absolutely no way she remembered every book she had there and everything inside them, yet the bookshelf was full. It was the first thing she noticed after pushing her emotions away.

Without even pausing to think if it would be a good idea to mess with anything in her mindscape just yet, Lissa tore a random book off the shelf and opened it. And immediately finding herself with a front row seat to some random memory back when her parents were alive.

It was dinnertime and their mom was once again determined to have them be a perfect happy family without any issues, so there they all sat. Their mom on one end of the table and their dad on the other while Jeremy, Elena, and her were left to sit in the middle. Elena had immediately taken a seat next to their mom, already 5 minutes into telling her all about the routine she was planning on doing to her first cheer tryouts. That left Lissa and Jeremy to fight over who would have to sit next to their mom, who would drag them into the cheer conversations, or who would get to sit next to their dad in silence.

With a sneaky foot, Lissa sent Jeremy tripping into the banister on their chairs and stole the one next to their dad. Jeremy, once he'd righted himself, sent her a scathing glare as he sat down and, just like they thought, was dragged into the conversation of cheerleading and other clubs.

Lissa and her dad shared an amused grin as they made eye contact.

Blinking harshly, Lissa stared down at the book with a grin slowly forming. Oh this was great. Each book was a memory or maybe each book had a series of memories. She was going to have so much fun experimenting with everything. She was also curious if it would just be her life as Melissa Gilbert or if it included Lindsey Martin's life too.

Looking up at the wall, she realized there were probably at least a thousand books here, so it had to include Lindsey too. She didn't have that many memories as Lissa to warrant that many books.

As she went to grab another book, she realized her hand, which had been solid the whole time, was now transparent.

How weird, I really do look like a ghost now,was her last thought as her eyes snapped open.

"Are you okay? What are you doing to make you sleep so deeply?" Enzo's eyes swam with concern as he stared down at her from beside her bed. "This is the second time I've had trouble waking you up."

Lissa shook her head at him as she sat up. "I'll tell you when I figure it out but don't worry. It's nothing I can't handle." She stood up and grabbed the black overalls she'd taken off to sleep, not really worried about Enzo seeing her in her underwear, and put them back on. "So what happened with Kennedy? Tell me everything."

Enzo snickered as she jumped back on the bed after getting dressed, not unlike a five year old. "Well first off, we now have a newbie vamp in Mystic Falls."

"I figured. Girl's too headstrong to just give up." Lissa shrugged. "I may not like her but I can respect her stubbornness."

"Exactly. So I gave her a couple blood bags we have in the kitchen and she completed the transition. Once it got dark she went back to her house after I gave her a few tips to deal with the bloodlust." Enzo said, leaning back onto the doorway to get comfortable.

Lissa glanced towards her windows and blinked in surprise at how dark it had gotten. She must have been more tired than she thought if she slept all day. "You trust that she won't drain anyone tonight?"

Enzo clicked his tongue as he thought. "I think she'lltrynot to. Will she succeed?" He shrugged, just as unconcerned at the idea of Kennedy murdering her parents as her. "Who knows. You gonna try and get her a daylight ring if she makes it a couple days?"

She let out a groan at the idea of going through the multiple hoops in an effort to get another one of those. She'd already had a time and a half getting one for Caroline in case she got changed despite Lissa trying to stop it. But, if she was being honest, she kind of owed it to Kennedy. After all it was her actions that caused her to be changed in the first place. Sure, Damon might have pulled the metaphorical trigger, but Lissa was the one to keep Caroline from Damon's 'evil' clutches.

Not that she regretted it. Caroline was one of the very few people that Lissa would go to the ends of the Earth for. If that meant Kennedy or any other person suffering? So be it.

"I'll look into it. But only if she can handle the bloodlust. I won't have a ripper being able to walk around whenever."

"Yeah, that's fair. I'll let her know next time she asks." Enzo said. "I told her to text me in the morning if she didn't snap and kill her whole family."

"I'll be sure to be gone, then. You can be the suave vampire teacher. Just make sure you don't fall for the girl." Lissa joked.

Enzo snorted and flipped her the bird before turning to leave, deciding her poor humor didn't deserve a reply.

"Aw! Enzo! Don't run away! Student teacher relationships may be frowned upon but I'm sure you can get it to work." She choked out through her laughter. Grunting at a pillow came sailing through the door and smacking her in her face, not that that stopped her giggles. "You're not getting the pillow back now!"

The birds were chirping, worry and sorrow was in the air around the Gilbert residence, and Lissa couldn't give two f*cks. Well, okay she gave one, but only because Jeremy was really worried about Vicki despite her words that she'd ask around to see if any of her questionable acquaintances had seen the girl. Not that she expected they had.

She had gotten lucky since it seemed like when she left Damon's yesterday with Kennedy everything else had happened like it did in the show. Including Vicki completing the transition and hiding out at the Salvatore Boarding House. She'd eavesdropped on Jeremy's and Elena's conversation about the search party that morning before they knew she'd come in and the guilt on Elena's face afterwards spelled out she knew where the newbie vampire was.

Deciding not to interfere with anything that happened during the day, she decided to text Caroline agreeing to go to the Halloween thing as an apology for bailing on her so much recently. And maybe to keep an eye on what all was going on with Vicki but mainly for Caroline. All she got was an excessive amount of exclamations points back and a demand for her to meet her and Bonnie the minute she arrived at the school.

Lissa couldn't remember the last time she'd gone to a school event, especially a Halloween one. She tapped her barefoot as she glared at her closet. Turns out not celebrating Halloween by dressing up really limited her choices of costumes. The only things she could use for a costume was either cosplay, which was a hard no in this town, or a witch. Her dressing up as a witch was about as cliché as a vampire dressing up as a vampire. The only thing worse would be if Bonnie did it too.

That's what she got for deciding last minute what to do. Heaving a sigh, Lissa pulled out the stuff to put her witch costume together. The main piece was her long black velvet dress with bell sleeves, she put that on and pulled out an equally black underbust corset with dark red silk ribbon. Once she got it all laced up and her lace up boots on, she spun around a couple of times in front of the mirror. Good enough for a last minute costume. All she needed was a witch's hat.

Her eyes lit up as she thought of the perfect way to get one. Diving towards her bed, she quickly called Enzo.

"Go to a Halloween carnival with me!" She said the second he picked up.

"What?" Enzo asked, confusion coloring his words.

She rolled her eyes. "My school is having a Halloween thingy and I hate it but as an apology I told Caroline I'd go. She's been wanting to meet youandthings are going to go down with Vicki there tonight so I figured you'd want to be there."

"What about Kennedy? I figured since she lasted the night I'd try to train her on feeding on people."

"That can be done tomorrow night. She has blood bags right?" She was half certain Enso had told her Kennedy had taken a stash of blood bags back to her house in a cooler. "Then she can hold off one more night and you can keep me from going insane at a high school function."

"Alright, fine. What are you going as? I'll try and match if I can."

Lissa beamed at his agreement. She loved him, truly. Besides Caroline, who adores these types of things, who else would suffer through teenager bullsh*t?

This was going to be so fun. There were a few things that she'd been worried about being able to change. Now she'll be able to slip away with Enzo without people questioning her. And by people she meant Caroline. "I'm a witch. And I still need a hat too, so if you could, pretty please, go by the store and pick me up a hat? You'd be the bestest vampire in the whole wide world."

"You are so lucky I love you."

"I know!" She ended the call with 'mwah' and grabbed her velvet drawstring bag to put her phone, wallet, and a tiny vial of vervain in.

With a skip in her step, Lissa made her way to the SUV and to the school.

As the albino girl pushed her way through the throngs of teenagers she wasagainreminded why she hated school events. Not only did no one respect personal space, they were so damn loud. She could feel a headache forming as she searched for Caroline. Finally spotting the blonde, she sped towards her while sending a text to Enzo on where she was. He had apparently been looking for her in the parking lot.

Grinning at a thought she got, Lissa slowed down to a crawl and crept behind her best friend. It was Halloween and what was Halloween without a good scare?

"Boo!" She screamed once she'd gotten directly behind the girl and let out a cackle as Caroline seemed to jump five feet in the air.

Spinning around, Caroline started slapping her evil best friend's arm in anger. "You bitch! That wasn't funny! Bonnie, stop laughing." Despite the violence though, she couldn't stop the smile that formed on her face. Lissa had been pretty MIA lately so seeing her actually come to a school event, which she despised, just to apologizeandspend time with her? That definitely made up for it. Not that Caroline would be telling her that anytime, after all, she learned from the best to milk any and everything for what it was worth. And a guilty best friend? That gave her a lot of wiggle room.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lissa giggled, hands up in the universal sign for forgive me. "I just couldn't help myself! Plus I figured in the Halloween spirit a harmless scare would be perfect."

"Scare shmare! Matt saw me. He probably thinks I'm a baby now."

Bonnie and Lissa shared a look before rolling their eyes. "Considering we've both seen you pig out during some of the goriest movies I've ever heard of, I doubt he'll think you're a baby."

"Talking of boring Matt, what's going on with you two?" Lissa asked, glaring slightly at the blonde boy across the carnival. At his slight gulp she let out a tiny smirk. Good to know that he was still scared of her.

"Nothing!" Caroline said, eyes shifting as she did. She was horrible at lying to her friends. It was Lissa that taught her to lie anyway, so she was certain she'd left a tell that only Lissa herself would know about. No point in trying her hardest to cover up what she couldn't. "I mean we may be talking but it's nothing serious. He's just been really nice, especially with you and everyone else being so busy."

Lissa winced at the blonde's words, noticing Bonnie do the same out of the corner of her eye. She'd been so caught up in the start of all the vampire stuff and making sure she stayed on top of school that Caroline got pushed to the side. And sheknewBonnie and Elena had done similar things. What kind of best friend was she? "I'm sorry, Care. I got so distracted with other stuff that I haven't really been the best friend lately."

"Me neither. Sorry, Caroline." Bonnie apologized, her own remorse written on her face. "Grans been on my case about that witch stuff for some reason. I just got sidetracked with it. Forgive us?"

Caroline rolled her eyes at her two friends. "Of course I forgive you. Though that doesn't mean you don't have to grovel!" She grinned as she wrapped her arm around Lissa.

"Well isn't this sweet?" Enzo's voice came from behind Lissa, causing the albino girl to twirl around in excitement. Time to introduce my best friend to the vampire brother.

Caroline and Bonnie both eyed the man that had come up to their little trio. He was clearly European, they didn't need the accent to understand that, though it did help. He towered over their tiny friend. Add in the dark hair and tan skin, he was basically everything Lissa wasn't. That clearly didn't stop her from being close to the guy if her reaction was anything to go by.

Bonnie stared wide eyed at them. Lissa had never been close toanyguy, besides Jeremy at least. Sure, she would occasionally talk to people and she knew that Lissa had at least slept with one or two people but she didn't know who. And she doubted they went to their school. So to see her be so buddy buddy was throwing her off. She'd have to ask Elena if she knew anything.

In contrast to Bonnie's shock, Caroline immediately went on the defense and glared at the laughing man. Lissa told hereverything, or as close to everything as she could. So the fact that some random guy turns up and she doesn't know him? Suspicious. She kept the glare on her face as the two turned to them, just as a warning to Mr. European that she was watching him.

"Caroline! This is Enzo, you know,thatEnzo." Lissa kept her smile hidden at her blonde friend's protectiveness. If anyone was the protector in their relationship it was her, not that that stopped Caroline from trying. And it was nice to know that she had Lissa's back if anything happened.

Caroline's glare slipped from her face as she gaped at the man. Now that she thought about it, Lissa had told her that her foreign friend had moved to the area. She just hadn't expected him to come to a high school carnival! He was clearly older, so he must care about her best friend a lot to put up with teenagers. "Enzo as in the mysterious friend that I've heard about since elementary school yet never got a picture of? That Enzo?"

"Wait, you know him too?" Bonnie asked.

"Eh, kind of. You remember when we did those penpal things in elementary school? Well, turns out Enzo was Lissa's penpal and they kept in touch. She told me he moved here last week, but I hadn't expected to meet himtonight."

Lissa sheepishly grinned at Caroline's words. She'd honestly forgotten what exactly she'd told her years ago to explain her talking about some random dude. Of course, Caroline and Jeremy were the only two people she told about Enzo. She couldn't have trusted Elena not to go to their mom and dad and if their dad had heard Enzo's name he know for a fact she'd been sneaking into his office.

"You'll have to forgive us for the impromptu meeting. I felt like if I waited to meet Ms. Caroline here anymore then she may never warm up to me." Enzo held out his hand to the two girls, kissing both their hands as a greeting. He smirked at the slightly red cheeks it left them with. "I've heard horror stories of Lissa's best friend so I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot."

"What have you been telling him about me!?"

The three laughed at the blonde's scandalized tone. "Don't worry, Care, I didn't tell him anythingtooembarrassing."

"Oh my god, you've told him everything."

"Noteverything,just close to it." Lissa teased. "Now come on, Enzo has promised to win each of us at least one prize tonight. "

"I have?" Enzo looked down at the tiny girl as she shot him a pointed glare. "Oh, right. Yes, I did."

Lissa hooked her arm around Caroline's as the blonde took charge to show them the games that she'd help set up.

And yes, Enzo did win them each a stuffed animal. Thank you, vampire reflexes.

It was as Bonnie was having a contest with Enzo on who could make the most basketball hoops that she saw Vicki weaving her way through the crowds and her sister at the other end clearly searching for the wayward baby vamp.

She heaved out a sigh. Well, at least they got a nice start to the night. Now to deal with the supernatural.

Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

It was as Bonnie was having a contest with Enzo on who could make the most basketball hoops that she saw Vicki weaving her way through the crowds and her sister at the other end clearly searching for the wayward baby vamp.

She heaved out a sigh. Well, at least they got a nice start to the night. Now to deal with the supernatural.

Lissa pulled out her cell phone to shoot Enzo a text about what she'd seen and to ask him to distract the two girls. Once she knew a bit more about what all was going on, Enzo would play the 'I'll go search for Lissa' card and meet her.

With Kennedy being changed too, she really hoped it was just Vicki here, but seeing how her luck has been lately she was double checking. Ducking into the school, she called the other baby vampire.

"Yes?" Kennedy's annoyed voice came over her speaker.

"You're at your house right? You didn't decide to come to the Halloween carnival, did you? Or go anywhere?" She asked, forgoing any sort of greeting.

"Obviously, your vampire friend explained that if I got around so many people after my…transitionI'd probably murder someone." She said her disdain for what had happened to her was clear to Lissa even over the phone. "And I may not be the best person but I don't want to murder someone."

Lissa let out a hum, it turns out the queen bitch had better morals than she did. Who knew? "Good. The other girl that was turned with you showed up. I doubt she's going to last the night."

There was a beat of silence before, "Are you going to kill her!?"

"If she refuses to listen to people trying to help her?" Lissa shrugged "Yes. Welcome to the supernatural world, Kennedy."

With those comforting words she hung up, Kennedy either get used to it or she'd die. Lissa doubted she wouldn't get used to it; the other girl was too much of a survivor to not adapt.

Rolling her shoulder to relieve some tension, Lissa looked back outside to check on Vicki again and groaned. During the time it took her to phone Kennedy, Vicki had vanished and in her spot left an angry Matt and a frantic Stefan and Elena.

Great, that meant she already snuck off with Jeremy. She had been wanting to follow them as she had absolutely no clue where everything went down. She had a good memory, not a perfect one and it'd been almost two decades since she'd watched the show. It was pure luck she remembered as much as she did.

Bouncing from foot to foot as she tried to remember where to go, Lissa's heart jumped as someone grabbed her from behind and pulled her through the doors she had just come out of. Retching herself out of the rather soft hold, she spun around, her hand tattooedFirespread out in front of her just in case she needed to barbecue someone.

"Whoa, Snow Princess, no need to flambé me. I just have a question." Damon said, hands held out in front of him.

"Don't just grab a girl, Damon." She hissed, eyes narrowing as she realized it would take even longer to get to her brother. She'd already seen that things were changing, so she didn't want to rely on her foreknowledge to keep the people she cared about safe. "Especially not when a baby vampire is just roaming around."

"How do you know about that?"

"I saw her, obviously, Dumbass." Seeing as she wasn't going to be attacked, she lowered her hand and relaxed back into her normal stance. "Now what's your question? I need to go stalk my brother and his girlfriend."

"I gave Kennedy a necklace, a rather important one. I need you to get it back." He shrugged. If he played it off as unimportant then Lissa may be more likely to get it for him. "I'd do it but she hid it when I texted her last night asking for it and won't tell me where."

"So where does the question come in? Cause I hate to break it to you, I don't just run errands for random people." Lissa furrowed her brow before it hit her that this was another thing she'd changed without thinking. With her keeping Caroline from Damon, she'd kept the necklace from ending up in Bonnie's hand.

She scowled at her own actions. Who knew changing such little things would f*ck her later? And she doubted Emily, the ghost witch that was attached to the necklace, would allow her to even touch the thing. So actually grabbing the necklace was out, she'd have to think of something else.

Damon grimaced. He knew she was right. He hadn't asked a question and he didn't want to. The hurt from her betrayal still stung, even if it didn't make sense for it to. They weren't close, but she'd been the first one in a long time to offer to be his friend and actually act like it.

He tsked at his own thoughts. Shoving it all down to deal withnever, Damon knew if he didn't play nice he'd probably never get that necklace and that meant never getting Katherine out of the tomb. And at the current moment that was the most important thing, his own feelings regarding everything shouldn't matter. "Would you get the necklace I'd given to Kennedy back?"

"Please?" She smirked. No reason to make this easy for the vampire, even if she'd already decided she'd get the necklace. She still liked him and wanted to be his friend but hedidabandon Enzo for decade of more torture so the occasional ribbing is the least he could put up with. "I think you forgot the word 'please'."

Damon gritted his teeth but ultimately complied. "Would you,please, get the necklace I'd given to Kennedy back? It's important."

She hummed as she rocked back and forth as if in thought about her decision. "Deal, but only if you help me find your little baby vamp and my brother. I'm just a little worried she's going to drain him." She smiled at the older man. Not some nice smile, no, this one promised pain. "And if she does that, getting your necklace back will be the least of your worries."

Straightening up to his full height, Damon took a step towards the insolent girl. He'd let her get away with threatening him once, just because he found her amusing but this was something different. Now she was threatening his ability to save Katherine. "Are you threatening me?Me?" He reached towards her as if to grab ahold of her neck, only stopping as her own hand wrapped around his bare wrist. "You forget that you're just one amusing human girl. If I decided to, you wouldn't even be able to yell for Enzo to save you in the time it took for me to snap your neck."

Ignoring the chill that went down her spine at his words, she narrowed her focus, not on what was going to happen, but the danger right in front of her. Lucky for her it seemed Damon forgot the first thing that happened when they'd met. So without a second thought, Lissa sent a swath of heat from her hand.

In seconds Damon's wrist was bubbling. Blood and melted flesh already spilling from between Lissa's fingers. It was only her own familiarity with the smell of burning flesh that allowed her to show no reaction. Unlike before where she gave him first, maybe second degree burns, this time she went as far as she could without straight up burning his bone. She'd had a couple of years to experiment with herfire, at this point if she had direct contact with flesh Lissa could pull up enough heat to cremate a person.

Screaming in agony, Damon fell to his knees, the charred flesh still within her grasp. The pain not allowing him to pull himself free from her. She stopped actively burning him. It's not like she actually wanted to sever his limb. Still, she kept a tight grip on his scorched wrist so it won't start immediately regenerating. "Could you, Damon? Could you snap my neck? With what hand? Cause the one I have a hold of seems to be missing some stuff."

"What the hell!?" He panted. "What happened to the 'friend' nonsense you were sprouting a couple weeks ago?"

Lissa pouted down at him. "You're the one that threatened to snap my neck, though. I was just playing along." Her voice dripped with a mocking childish confusion as she met his eyes.

Play times over, Darling

She dropped his wrist in shock, anger forgotten as quickly as it had come. Had someone just talked inside her head? Or did she imagine that? With something new to focus on, Lissa barely even noted that Damon had vampire sped away from her towards the other side of the hallway.

He was cradling his already healing wrist to his body, shoulders rigid as he finally grasped that she wasn't normal. She was dangerous, more dangerous than he'd ever pegged her to be. "Playing? You were playing?" He exclaimed, disbelief written into his very pores. Watching her, his eyebrows furrow. She wasn't even paying attention to him anymore!

Lissa stood there eyes glazed over fiddling with her septum piercing.Hello?She thought to herself. Which was a phenomenal sign of her continued sanity. Truly

Damon, seeing her distracted by something, realized this would be a perfect opportunity to get her back. With his wrist healed once again, he started to step towards her exactly as Enzo opened the door and walked straight towards the pierced girl.

Enzo, not knowing what went on but wanting to help the most important person in his life, softly grabbed her elbow. "Melissa? You okay?" He said softly. Something had clearly happened. Judging by how on edge Damon was, he'd bet Lissa had shown her scary side and spooked the other vampire.

Lissa blinked a couple times as she looked up at Enzo's concerned face. "Yeah, Damon was just asking me a question and we both took it a bit too far." She said, as she turned back towards Damon, lips twitching as the vampire stiffened up just a bit, before apologizing. "Sorry Damon, I've always had a problem knowing where the line is. This time I went right over it."

"Um, yeah. We're good, I guess." Damon said. What the hell was that girl? Just watching her gave him emotional whiplash. And people said vampires had bad mood swings.

"Dick probably deserved whatever you did to him." Enzo muttered.

Forgetting that her hand was still covered in burnt flesh, Lissa smacked Enzo's arm. All three of them stared wide eyed at the mess that had transferred. "Oops…Sorry End Zone. I forgot what was on my hand."

"You're buying me a new jacket."

"Yeah…fair enough."

Damon cleared his throat to get the friends' attention back. "I can't believe I'm the one to say this but weren't you worried about Baby Gilbert and his continued existence?"

"Oh f*ck me! I totally forgot." She squawked, looking to both vampires as if she was about to start crying right there. "Enzo, please, please,please,tell me you at least have an idea of where they are?"

"Lucky for you," He paused, ruffling the girl's bangs and ignoring the scoff that came from the other end, "I actually did keep an eye out. They're at the other entrance. The back one."

"This is why you're my favorite vampire ever." She said, giving the Englishman a quick side hug with her non-flesh covered hand, before darting towards where she now knew her brother was. The double footsteps echoing behind were the only sign she had that the two men had followed her.

The high school wasn't very large but running from one end to the other while worried for her little brother's life made the dash feel as if it was a marathon. By the time they made it to the back entrance, Lissa was ready to just say f*ck it and have Enzo carry her. Sure her dignity would have taken a hit being carried in public but she'd be okay with it.

As luck would have it they ran through the back entrance just in time to see Elena hit Vicki with a plank, causing her to detach from Jeremy's neck. Vicki, in retaliation, launched Elena into the pile of trash next to the door. Which in turn caused Stefan to grab her and slam her against a bus that was parked directly across from the entrance.

"Elena, grab Jeremy and go to your sister and Damon!"

Elena, not having seen the trio exit the building, turned with wide eyes towards them. As Vicki gave a snarl, it snapped Elena back into action. She jerked Jeremy towards them, only just grabbing a hold of Lissa's out held hand and pushing Jeremy behind them and towards the door when Vicki got away from Stefan and disappeared into the night.

Taking this all in and deciding to cut out the moral dilemma of 'should we kill her, should we not?' that Lissa knew Elena and Stefan would have, she grabbed a skinny piece of wood that was leaning against the school and thrust it at Enzo. "Break this, but keep it long. I didn't bring a stake."

Enzo, knowing not to question Lissa's weird plans, did exactly that. He broke the top part leaving one side as sharp as any stake but left enough of the wood that someone could probably use it as a javelin. Which was perfect for Lissa's plan.

"Vicki! Your mom is a drug addict whor* and your brother thinks you'll turn out just like her. I heard him tell Tyler back when you two started dating." Lissa yelled out, ignoring the incredulous looks everyone in the back alley was sending her. Sure, it hadn't been her best taunt by any means but Vicki was already half a step into rabid territory. She didn't need to be creative, she just needed to hit the right buttons.

Which she did. Vicki appeared, to her eyes, instantaneously right in front of the bus. Stefan a step or two behind her. Without pause or deliberations, Lissa threw the makeshift wooden javelin right at the baby vampire's heart. It was only luck and Vicki's lack of understanding of her new body that allowed it to strike true.

A single grunt came from the girl's lips as she turned gray and flopped to the ground dead.

Jeremy's cries were the only sound heard in the alleyway as they all took in what had just happened. Stefan and Elena were too shocked and confused to say anything while Enzo and Damon just didn't care.

Lissa, not one to ignore her brother's pain for long, let go of Elena's hand before turning around and pulling him to her. He tried to pull away; anger, confusion, and everything in between aimed at her, the one to kill his girlfriend. But she was stronger. Dragging him into a hug, she ignored the murmured conversation behind her and the hand, just like her own except for the tan, that kept trying to pat or touch either of the siblings. Elena probably thought both of them were freaking out.

Soon Jeremy's cries died down to hiccupping and he seemed to have centered himself, so Lissa felt okay letting him stand up. "Jer, I'm gonna talk to Elena and Stefan, okay? Can Enzo take you to the house or do you want to wait for me?"

"Enzo?" Jeremy asked as he tilted his head to let Lissa check the small wound on his neck.

The wound didn't seem too deep to her. It had already stopped bleeding, more than likely Elena had smacked Vicki away from Jeremy before any real damage was done. "You remember my "pen pal" I'd talk about sometimes? That's Enzo…who just happens to be a vampire as well." Lissa answered, trying to put some humor into the situation even if it fell flat.

"I'll, um…I'll wait for you."

"That's fine, Enzo'll lead you to my SUV." She handed the keys over to the somber boy, waiting until he'd turned away from her to give Enzo a look, basically saying 'watch him'. Enzo nodded at her. He'd already planned on doing just that. The young boy may not have been his friend but he was important to Lissa so that meant keeping him safe.

Lissa sighed as she watched the two walk away. Jeremy would be okay. And if he couldn't be she'd be there until he was. It wouldn't be the first time, and it probably wouldn't be the last time.

Once she was certain Jeremy was out of ear shot she turned back to her shocked sister and her boyfriend. Elena had moved to sit down on the ground, arms wrapped around her legs staring at Vicki's body while Stefan played guard. His stance was so rigid behind her if she didn't know better she'd expect him to be made of stone. She forced herself not to roll her eyes as she noticed he was guarded againsther. As if she would attack her own sister. Threaten and possibly be the cause of physical harm? Maybe, sure. But never anything permanent.

"Elena, Stefan. Why don't you two head to our house? Damon and I'll handle the body." She didn't want to give them any time to start the questions here. It was dark, dirty, and stunk something fierce. Honestly, the fact her brother was willing to make out and probably do more back here was a bit gross.

Elena's head snapped towards her. "That's it? That's all you're going to say? You killed Vicki and you're just going to call her 'The body'?" Her face flushed as she spat her words at her sister. She didn't know how she even knew about vampires or what was going on with Vicki but the fact that she wasn't even rattled by killing a girl they knew since they were kids really scared her. Elena knew Lissa wasn't the most empathetic person, but this bordered on psychopathic. "Aren't you going tosayanything?"

"Right now explaining anything to you won't help. You're angry enough you wouldn't even listen to anything I have to say." Lissa stated calmly. She'd had 16 years of dealing with her twin. They may not have been close but that didn't mean they didn't know each other's habits and ticks. After all, to annoy someone you need to know what buttons to push. "Go home, calm down, and I'll be there soon to explain everything to you. Stefan, will you take her now, please?"

Stefan agreed and tenderly coaxed Elena to stand and walk away from Vicki's body. He had made sure that when they passed by Lissa, she would be on the other side of him. She had lied so successfully about her knowledge of the supernatural, he didn't know what else she was lying about. He looked,genuinely looked, at the tiny girl-no woman- that held the colorless face of his past love and couldn't place what twitch meant what.

Did an eyebrow raise really mean she didn't know something or was she just acting like that to throw him off? Was her dislike of him true, or was it to make sure he didn't realize she knew his true nature? He hadn't even smelled any deceit on her anytime they'd talked in the weeks they'd known each other. It was just like when Katherine had shown him her true self. He was left flatfooted and forced to puzzle together a whole new image of the girl. If this had slipped his notice then what else had his familiarity with her face caused him to overlook?

"Well, I think that went about as well as it could have, Snow Princess." Damon said once everyone else had left. He'd taken to leaning on a semi clean section of the school wall, away from any trash or grime as it wasn't like he really cared about what happened here.

Lissa rolled her eyes as she walked over to Vicki's body. Right before this they'd literally been about to kill each other yet here he was joking with her. Yeah, the mood swings and inability to pinpoint his allegiance was entertaining when on TV but now that she had to live it? She sort of wished he was as predictable as his brother. "I'm still Snow Princess then? Not gonna threaten to snap my neck?"

"Oh come on, as you said, what's a couple death threats between friends?"

Before replying Lissa took the time to bend down and close Vicki's eyes. "I suppose you're right. Now are you going to take care of her body or do I need to call someone?"

Damon shrugged. The baby vampirewastechnically his mess. "I'll handle it. You go take care of your brother. That was your original objective anyway. Just make sure you remember to get that necklace for me."

She nodded her thanks and, without waiting to hear what he planned to do, walked back into the school and immediately made her way to her SUV. Enzo was standing outside it, back to the windows to give her brother a semblance of privacy. Lissa wondered at the image she gave as she walked up to him. Her shoulder slumped, skin slightly splattered with blood, and absolutely no emotion showing on her face.

Not saying a word, the Englishman wrapped her in a hug before kissing her on the forehead. The two of them didn't need words to know what to do. Enzo would meet her at the Gilbert home. She wouldn't be facing her sister's wrath or Stefan's silent judgement without him to back her up.

Lissa smiled to herself as he walked back towards his own car. Enzo really was the best. Giving her window a knock, Lissa opened her back door and slid in beside Jeremy. "You wanna talk about what happened?"

"I..I don't…Whatdidhappen, Lissy?"

Lissa blinked at the nickname. He hadn't called her that since he was 5. He'd stopped only because Tyler and Matt made fun of him saying it was a girly thing to call his sister. She shook her head, this wasn't the time to think about that. Jeremy needed to know all the facts before getting to the house. If not, Elena would end up having him compelled to forget. "Do you remember those bedtime stories Dad would tell us? The ones Elena decided were too scary?"

Jeremy frowned at his sister. "What do bedtime stories have to do with you…with you killing V-Vicki?"

"Just stick with me Jer, please. It'll make sense, but you have to put the pieces together or else you won't believe me." Lissa pleaded. "Now what were they about?"

"They were like a mesh of vampire stuff and family history." Jeremy said, confusion written clear on his tear stained face. Why was she making him go through this stuff? She had just killed Vicki! Now, instead of explaining anything, she was talking about bedtime stories. He should be mad. Hell, he should be furious, but every time he tried to be he remembered that Lissa hadn't ever done anything to purposefully cause him pain. Everything she did had a reason even if he didn't know what the reason was.

Lissa nodded. Jeremy was getting there, he just needed a tiny push. "Now thinking of those stories, is anything similar to what happened tonight?"

Jeremy's mouth opened and closed a few times, his disbelief stopping the tears at least for a moment. She couldnotbe serious. "Are you trying to tell me that Vicki was a f*ckingvampire?" Lissa just stared at him, knowing glint within her eyes leaving Jeremy to shake his head, hair flopping every which way with the force of his denial. "You've just killed my girlfriend and now you're trying to convince me she's some bloodsucking monster?"

"What? No… Well, okay, no to the monster part. She wasabsolutelya vampire." Lissa admitted, wincing at her own words. "An easy way to think of vampires is to think of humans that have evolved. They're faster, stronger, more durable, basically everything is just more with vampires. Including emotions. This includes bloodlust. Or as I like to imagine it, addiction."

Jeremy stayed silent, just looking down at his feet, eyes wide. He didn't know what to think. Lissa had never lied to him, at least not without a good reason. And he doubted she'd lie to him immediately after killing his girlfriend in front of him. "Is that why…" He started before trailing off.

"Is that why, what?"

"Is that why you killed her? Because she wouldn't have been able to control herself? " Jeremy whispered. "Could you have saved her?Wouldyou have saved her if she wasn't already an addict?" He wanted to know, he did. It was just that the idea that Vicki was killed because of something she couldn't control hurt. Because if Lissa killed Vicki for that reason would she have killed him too? He was an addict, a recovering one, but still an addict.

"Look at me Jeremy." Lissa said softly as she lifted his head up to meet her eyes. "Do you really want to know? Truthfully. If you really want to know I'll tell you, but itwillchange how you see me."

"I…" Jeremy paused. He had a feeling he already knew her answer, but he needed to hear it. He needed to hear his sister say she murdered his girlfriend because it was too much work to help her. "I want to know. Tell me."

"Yes, I could have saved Vicki."

Heavy silence filled the car as the siblings stared at each other. Jeremy gave a single nod before breaking eye contact with Lissa to gaze out the SUV window watching as others started to leave the carnival.

She was right. He did see her differently. He hadn't actually thought he would. Not with how okay he was with her other murders. Jeremy wasn't stupid. Unlike Elena, who thought the rumors were spread by people that thought Lissa was the equivalent of the boogeyman, Jeremy knew they were real. Anyone that spent any time in the seedy parts of town knew they were real. He just didn't care because he didn't know them. Because to him they were nothing more than some nobodies.

Jeremy let out a humorless chuckle as the tears started again. "It hurts. f*ck, it hurts so bad."

"I'm sorry I hurt you." Lissa choked out through the lump in her throat. She wouldn't cry. Not over this. She made her choice knowing it would hurt her brother. She didn't deserve to cry.

"But you're not sorry you did it."

"No. No I'm not." Lissa shook her head. "I'm sorry my choice hurt you but I can't regret the choice I made. Despite her obvious infatuation with you, within minutes she was willing to feed from you and possibly kill you. Imagine what she could have done to people she didn't care about?"

Jeremy swung around, tears still falling even as he glared at her. "You'vekilled people! How is Vicki doing it any different?"

"Because I know who I kill! Do you think Vicki would?" Lissa yelled back. She hated when her decisions were questioned like this. Did he really think she just chose randomly to hurt him like this. She'd been thinking and planning for a while on what to do with Vicki before finally deciding she just had to die. "I told you everything was amplified as a vampire! That includes cravings and everything else. Her addiction would have turned her rabid. If I hadn't killed her someone else would have and they would have been cruel about it. The supernatural community doesn't take kindly to rippers, which is what she would have been."

Jeremy took a shattering breath before breaking down. Sobs once again ripped from his mouth as he curled up against Lissa's side. "I can't, Lissy. I can't handle this. Help me please? Just make it stop."

Lissa inhaled sharply as she rubbed circles on Jeremy's back. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But Jeremy forgetting this, taking this pain away won't do anything but extend the hurt…If you…f*ck" Lissa peered down at her broken brother. She could offer to have him compelled but it wasn't anything she ever wanted to do. Hell, she'd even planned on going behind Elena's back and feeding him vervain just to keep her from making him forget. But if hechoseto forget? Was that the same thing? "Do you want to forget it? I, well Enzo or Damon really, could make you forget the pain. But Jer, it won't last forever. One day you'll remember and it'll come rushing back."

"Please.Please.J-just take it away… I don't wa-want to feel it anymore."

"Okay, Jer-Bear. I'll get Enzo back here." She reluctantly agreed. She gently peeled Jeremy's arms away from her to step out of the car to call Enzo back.

As she stepped out into the cool October air, Lissa felt her façade drop. Her own tears welling up in her eyes against her permission. But she refused to let them drop as she harshly wiped at her face, not caring if it messed up her makeup. She couldnotregret her actions. And she didn't. Vicki was doomed the minute Damon turned her. It was just a matter of how she died. At least by Lissa's own hand it was quick and as painless as possible. She just hated that her actions hurt her brother enough that he couldn't take the pain.

"Lissa? Where are you? I'm waiting outside your house. Is everything alright?" Enzo rapidly asked the minute he picked up the phone.

Lissa took a deep breath to center herself and push the tears down. "No. No it's not. I think I f*cked up Enzo. Can you come back to where I parked at the carnival? I'll explain everything then."

"Of course. I'll be there in 5 minutes."

Lissa nodded, forgetting that the vampire couldn't see her and hung up as she slid down the side of her SUV, uncaring of how hard she landed on her ass. Leaning her head back to stare at the stars, for the next 5 minutes Lissa listened to her brother's sobs through the door.

"Oh, Lissa," Enzo sighed as he came running up to where she was sitting. He'd left his car at her house since it was faster for him to just run back. But it seemed like it wasn't fast enough. The tiny girl made a rather pitiful sight; hair all over the place due to her hands grabbing onto it, makeup smudged, and her lips bit all to hell in her effort not to cry. "Come here" He said, sitting down next to her and pulling her into a tight hug.

Lissa melted into the hug, breathing in Enzo's smell; a mixture of his expensive cologne and his own musk to comfort herself. Enzo would help. He was the one person she didn't have to be the strong one for. She could break near him and know he'd be there to pick her pieces up. She didn't know how long they sat there hugging, but Jeremy's sobs had died down enough that she could only hear the occasional sniffle. Lissa pulled away from Enzo to explain. "Jeremy can't handle the pain. Can you dull the pain with compulsion without taking it away completely? I don't want him to forget anything, but he asked for the pain to go away."

"Yeah, I can do it, but are you sure? Ishe?"Enzo asked, glancing behind him as if he could see through the car door.

"I already took too many things from him tonight. I can't take this choice away from him. And it's not like we're making him forget how Vicki died, or even that the supernatural exists. All we'll be doing is dulling the pain."

Enzo nodded as he stood up with Lissa. "You stay out here. It'll only take a minute." With those parting words, Enzo opened the SUV's door and slid in beside Jeremy, shutting the door before Lissa could argue.

"Rude." Lissa muttered. She understood why he didn't want her there. She was the source of Jeremy's pain. Or the cause of it at least. Her being there could make the compulsion not work as effective since just dulling the pain was a hit and miss. So it made sense for her not to be there. It did.

It still sucked though.

Lissa stood there intensely staring at her own SUV window as if she could will herself to see through the tint. She stood there for maybe 3 minutes before the door swung back open almost hitting her if she hadn't jumped back out of the way. Never one for patience when it wasn't required, Lissa leaned over to peer at her brother.

Jeremy sat there staring at her, sadness still prominent on his face but not even close to the broken boy he'd been when she left the vehicle. "So, vampires are real, huh?" Lissa smiled, small but full of happiness at her brother. He was back, and he didn't have to forget anything either.

"Yeah, I'll tell you all about them tomorrow. We gotta get home or else Elena mayactuallyblow a gasket."

Jeremy made a face. "Can you keep her off my back? I know Enzo compelled me but I don't want to deal with her tonight." He was just as familiar with Elena's self-righteousness as she was.

"Yeah, sure. She's already furious at me, might as well take one for the team." Lissa rolled her eyes before winking to let Jeremy know she was fine with it. "Enzo, climb into the front seat. No reason for you to run back now that I can drive."

Enzo nodded, stopping only when Lissa grabbed him by the wrist.

"Thank you, Enzo."

"Anytime, Snow White, anytime."

The drive home didn't last long and was filled with questions about the supernatural by Jeremy. The two up front tried to answer as much as they could but with such a short drive they just covered the basics. Basically what vampires can do and how to defend against, that witches were real, and so were werewolves but not many knew that because they were going extinct. By the time the Gilbert house was in sight, Jeremy's eyes were struggling to stay open.

"Enzo, could you take Jeremy upstairs? If no one helps him he may just sleep on the stairs themselves." Lissa asked once she'd invited him inside. Elena and Stefan were already making their way downstairs, disapproval carved on their faces. "Elena, let me grab a drink for us and then we'll talk."

"Oh, so you're actually going to talk and not blow me off this time?"

"Enzo?" Lissa ignored her sister. If she didn't then they'd continue to go back and forth with no productive conversation. "I'll grab you some water since I don't have any blood bags." Elena gasped at her words. The other girl not having realized the man her sister was hanging out with was a vampire.

"Did you invite a-" Elena broke off as Lissa left the room, not paying her outraged words any thought. Gritting her teeth at her sister, she decided to study the vampire her sister had let into their house. "What are you doing with him?! He's had a rough enough day. You leave him alone!" She demanded as the stranger picked her clearly sleepy brother up.

"I'm doing as your sister asked. Taking him upstairs." Enzo rolled his eyes at the other girl. He was always shocked at how different the two sisters were. "Unless you or your boyfriend want to do it?"

"I'll do it." Stefan said, stepping towards him and leading the young boy to his room. He didn't want a fight with the other vampire, especially since they knew nothing about him or even how he knew Lissa.

Enzo shrugged at Stefan's actions. Those two really were blind. Did they really think Lissa would invite him in if he was a danger to them? She may not be the most stable individual but she protected those she cared about. "Alright then, Ms. Gilbert, would you join me in the living room while we wait for those two to come back?"

Elena stiffly agreed, making sure as they walked to keep as far away as she could and that he was always in her line of sight. Enzo stifled a laugh at the young girl. He knew Lissa's visions gave her an unfair advantage but, really, Elena was so unprepared for life in the supernatural.

"Catch," Lissa said, throwing the two bottles of water at the living room occupants. "Elena refuse to let you bring Jeremy up?" She flopped down onto the couch next to Enzo, throwing her now bare feet over his lap. Was she too relaxed for a conversation that she knew was going to blow up? Yes. But after the sh*t show with Jeremy earlier she didn't care if Elena stayed mad about her knowing or not.

She loved Elena, she was her twin sister, of course she did. That didn't mean that they had to get along. Or even like each other and their choices. And Elena made theworstchoices.

Enzo hummed, confirming what she'd said as Elena's stony stare transitioned into a hard glare at their nonchalance. Still neither him nor Lissa said anything, both wanting to wait until Stefan got back to start the conversation. Just as Elena was about to crack and demand answers, Stefan walked into the living room pausing at the hostility that had descended.

"Um, did something happen?" He carefully asked, taking a seat next to Elena.

"Nope," Lissa said, popping the 'P' as she tossed him his own bottle of water. "Just waiting on you."

Stefan slowly nodded as he looked to his girlfriend to start the conversation. This was between the twins more than anything.

"How long have you known? Why didn't you say anything? Why did you kill Vicki? And what happened with Jeremy?" Elena burst into action, question after question falling from her lips.

Lissa tilted her head as she thought her answers over. Depending on how she answered would make or break their relationship, she was certain. "I've known since we were 6 or 7-"

Elena scoffed. Of course she knew that long yet still didn't say anything.

"Don't interrupt me. You wanted answers. I'm giving them." Lissa snapped, eyes turning frosty as she glared at her entitled sister. "Now. I didn't say anything because there wasn't a reason to. Not yet at least. I killed Vicki because it was obvious she'd turn into a ripper, if you want to know what that is ask your boyfriend. And Jeremy is fine. We talked stuff over and he's going to be doing better now."

Elena took a deep breath pushing her immediate accusations down. She wanted to accuse her of lying but she knew her sister was telling the truth. Lissa was a lot of things, a liar included, but she knew when to be serious with her. "How have you known since we were that young? Who told you? Was is that man?" Elena pointed to the vampire that had been calmly sipping on his water.

"You remember the bedtime stories Dad would tell me and Jeremy? The ones you refused to listen to?"

"You're notserious-"

Lissa groaned loud and annoyed. "If one more person asks me if I'm serious about this I'm gonna start stabbing." Her bare feet landed on the floor with a soft thud as she sat up. "You asked, Elena. If you don't want to believe what I tell you, fine, that's on you. But I'm not lying." Well, not lying about their dad's bedtime stories at least. Theywereabout the family history of vampire hunting. It wasn't her fault that wasn't how she learned about them. Blame that on the reincarnation.

"If that's true, then Dad knew.And if so why didn't he tell us?" Elena asked.

"Maybe because we were15when they died? Jeremy was 13? We were kids. Him, and Mom too, probably thought they had all the time in the world to tell us." Lissa suggested. She didn't actually know if they planned on telling them, but considering the council and John Gilbert, she very much expected them to. "A ton of people know about the supernatural, Elena. It's not some conspiracy to keep it from you."

Elena sneered, face scrunching up at her words. "I don't think it's aconspiracy, Lissa. But-"

"Wait, what do you mean a lot of people know?" Stefan interrupted. "You talk like there's more humans that know about vampires? But that's ridiculous. This is a small town."

Enzo barked out a laugh at the other vampire's words. He'd been silent this whole time, just lending Lissa comfort if she needed it, not that she did. "Stefan," he started, ignoring the man's question of how he knew him, "Lissa once described Mystic Falls as the Hellmouth of this universe and, now that I know what that is, I have to agree. If something supernatural is going to happen, it'll happen here."

"Wait, you guys mean people inMystic Fallsknow about vampires and don't tell anyone?" Elena asked, scandalized.

Lissa laughed. "Welcome to the whole world Elena. There's pockets of people all around the world that know about vampires and everything else. Mystic Falls is just one town. A town with a lot of history, sure, but still just a town that's in the know."

Elena, for once letting a subject lie, moved onto her next subject. "And Jeremy? You obviously did something to him."

"You've gotten the Vamp 101 class from Stefan, right? Like what compulsion is and how to block it?"

"You made him forget?" Elena said.

Lissa shook her head. "No, I asked Enzo to dull his pain. It's still there but…" Lissa turned towards Enzo. "How would you explain it? It's there but not?"

Enzo seesawed his hand, she was kind of right. "Somewhat. I'd say the pain is behind frosted glass. He still knows everything and feels grief but unlike before it's faded." Elena nodded, that was fair of him. If it was her she would have probably asked for Jeremy to forget, but Lissa had always been closer to him. If she thought he could handle knowing then she wouldn't fight her. Not right now at least.

Elena still had a ton of questions, but just this once she felt like she could give her sister a break. She could tell, despite her efforts not to show it, Lissa was beyond exhausted. It was obvious to her, after all despite the albinism and the piercings, the twodidstill share a face. "Alright, Lissa. I still have a ton of questions, which youwillanswer. But, we're all exhausted. We can continue this tomorrow."

"Huh," Lissa hummed as her eyebrows raised. She didn't remember the last time Elena had backed down from a conversation. Especially a subject like this. She was grateful, though. Lissa could feel her head starting to pound now that her adrenalin had vacated. It's why she got everyone water, hydrating helps with the come down. "Alright…Well, okay. I guess that's good. Um, Damon is taking care of Vicki's body, so Stefan if you don't mind checking in with him when he gets home, that would be great. Otherwise I'll be over in the morning to talk with you and Jeremy, Elena."

"You're not staying here?"

Lissa shook her head. "No, I'm gonna stay at Enzo's tonight. I just kind of need to get away. Plus, I haven't made up with Jenna over some stuff." Lissa winced as she realized she really needed to talk to her aunt. She wasn't mad anymore, it really was Jenna just putting her foot in her mouth. No reason to burn a bridge over that. Even if it did make her want to punch someone. "So I don't want to make it too awkward running into her in the morning."

"Oh," Elena sighed. She'd kind of wanted Lissa here. She missed when they would hang out during this summer, it made her feel like they were really sisters instead of people who just looked alike. But it was fine. She'd see Lissa in the morning and she'd say something then. She could be a big girl tonight. "Well then it was nice meeting you Enzo…" Elena cringed. It was nice meeting him? He'd helped her sister kill someone and that's what she says?

Enzo chuckled as he helped Lissa stand up. "It was nice meeting you, as well, Elena. Despite Lissa's stories, of course."

"Lissa! What did you tell him about me?!"

"Anyway! Gotta go! Bye 'Lena. Eat sh*t, Stefan!"

Lissa just laughed at Stefan's grumbles as she pulled Enzo behind her out to the cars.

Getting to the house, Enzo in his Chrysler and her in the SUV, they said their normal goodnights and made plans for the morning for Enzo to check on Kennedy. She'd done so well during the past two days, not one slip up even while living with humans, that they were pretty sure they would be getting her a daylight ring.

An ugly one,Lissa decided.Can't let Kennedy think she likes her.

Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

Enzo chuckled as he helped Lissa stand up. "It was nice meeting you, as well, Elena. Despite Lissa's stories, of course."

"Lissa! What did you tell him about me?!"

"Anyway! Gotta go! Bye 'Lena. Eat sh*t, Stefan!"

Lissa just laughed at Stefan's grumbles as she pulled Enzo behind her out to the cars.

Getting to the house, Enzo in his Chrysler and her in the SUV, they said their normal goodnights and made plans for the morning for Enzo to check on Kennedy. She'd done so well during the past two days, not one slip up even while living with humans, that they were pretty sure they would be getting her a daylight ring.

An ugly one,Lissa decided.Can't let Kennedy think she likes her.

The next morning, after giving Elena a pre-approved rundown of vampires and witches- not werewolves, not yet- Lissa was left with Jeremy. Elena and Stefan had chosen to go to the Sheriff's office early to do their interview about Vicki instead of later like Lissa and Jeremy. Something about needing to talk afterwards. Lissa didn't really care if she was being honest. She knew they broke up around this time but considering how many times that happens, she wasn't really going to try and remember when and where.

The minute they heard Stefan's car leave the driveway Jeremy turned to her on the couch, eyes alight with curiosity. "Alright, so what did you leave out of Elena's explanation? Cause in the car you mentioned werewolves but this time you didn't."

"What if I just lied to you, huh? You ever think of that?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes at her. "Please, considering how last night went I'm pretty sure you would have given me the moon if I asked. No way you would have lied to me."

Well, at least he could joke about it, she mused.

"Alright, fine. Yes, werewolves exist. But the gene is genetic, unlike vampires, and can only be activated by killing someone." She said, no reason to hide it from Jeremy. He knew how to keep a secret. "The Lockwood's have the gene, so try not to get Tyler too mad."

"Tyler? Tyler Lockwood? And what about you making him mad? You guys' feud is legendary. Where's your warning?"

co*cky grin sliding onto her face, Lissa responded, "Because, unlike you Mr. Scrawny-Arms, I can actually follow through with my threats."

"Scrawny?" Jeremy scoffed, offended. "I'm notscrawny! I'm a growing boy."

"Suuure, She snickered, "growing."

Jeremy, fed up with his sister's teasing, decided to just shove her off the couch in retaliation. "Oh, shut up!" His word would probably have had more umph if he hadn't been failing to hide his smile.

Lissa, instead of pulling him off with her like she normally would have, just laid there smiling at him. Perhaps Enzo's actions were the best thing that could have happened to Jeremy. He wasn't going to put himself into danger being uninformed yet still had the happiness that had been missing for a while now.

The two teenagers sat there once they had stopped laughing, Jeremy having turned back towards the TV to watch some show on MTV and Lissa staying on the floor basking in the warm atmosphere. She knew the compulsion wouldn't last forever, dulling pain that way never did no matter how strong the vampire was. The memories were still there, just behind some "glass". The hurt would fester and build on itself the more things that happened to Jeremy. She just hoped that he could handle it better when the glass finally broke.

Lissa wasn't sure how long had passed, definitely a while though, before they both turned towards the front door as Jenna trudged in. She didn't seem to notice them as she tossed her keys on the side table and went straight to the freezer. As she shut the door and her eyes landed on the two of them she let out a scream, barely keeping hold of the ice cream she'd pulled out.

"f*ck! How long have you two been there?" She yelped.

Both teenagers looked at each other then shrugged. "Since you came in."

"Next time make noise, say hi, do something other than just stare at me in silence! It's creepy."

Lissa rolled over onto her stomach to actually be able to look at Jenna. "We weren't the ones that didn't notice our surroundings."

"Oh so you don't wanna bash my face in anymore?" Jenna shot her a tiny glare. "What happened to all that anger?"

It got used up killing a teenage girl. Lissa thought, a sardonic smile on her lips. Out loud she said, "I got over it."

She "got over it." Jenna wished she was able to get over anger like that so easily. Jenna shook her head fondly before taking a seat next to Jeremy, three spoons in hand. "Next time I put my foot in my mouth, can you just talk to me like a normal person? You're a bit scary when you're mad."

Jeremy snorted. "A bit? Try a lot."

"Haha," Lissa mocked the two of them as she sat up, grabbed her own spoon, and stabbed at Jenna's rocky road ice cream. "You two are just lucky you're some of my favorites."

Jenna glanced over at Jeremy's smile and around her own scoop of ice cream smirked, "Alright, I gotta ask. What did you do with Jeremy? Did you replace him with an alien or something? Because he's never this smiley."

Jeremy scowled as the two started laughing. He hadn't been that bad. "I can still go back to brooding and doing drugs if you want."

"No, Jer, don't do that! I like Smiley Jeremy much better than Scowly."

"Smiley does seem a lot nicer… and more likely to leave his room." Jenna teased.

Jeremy stood up. "Fine, you know what? I've had enough of the teasing. I have to go talk to the Sheriff and do some homework after, so you two can do whatever you two do together now." He shot a mock glare at the two of them as he walked upstairs to change. It wouldn't be the best to go see the Sheriff in his pajamas.

Jenna made eye contact with Lissa and had to stifle her laughter. It was nice to see the two of them back to how it had been before their parent's deaths. She didn't know what exactly happened this week, but whatever it was, it had been good for the pair of them. They finally seemedalive, instead of just going through the motions.

"Alright I hate to do this, especially right after you got dumped-"

"How do you know about that? I haven't even talked to you this week!"

"Just because I wasn't talking to you doesn't mean Elena and Jeremy didn't keep me in the loop."

"Those snitches." Jenna hissed.

Lissa shrugged. To be fair, everyone in their family was way too nosey to just leave things alone. It was why they got into so many petty arguments. Elena had caught one of them reading her diary so many times she hardly reacted anymore. Unless she'd written something juicy then she tended to freak out. Why the girl didn't hide it better Lissa didn't understand. Under the pillow/bed wasn't that hard to guess.

"Anyway, like I said. I also have to see the Sheriff and then it's onto more errands. Who knew sixteen was such a busy age?" She said standing and stretching, her belly piercing showing a bit as her crop top rode up above her black cargo pants.

"Ugh, so I just get to be sad and eat ice cream on the couch by myself like a loser?" Jenna moaned. That was pathetic, especially at her age. She had three teenagers relying on her and here she was left moping like one of them herself.

Lissa shot her a sympathetic smile from the door. "Well, Elena will be home soon. I'm pretty sure her and Stefan are breaking up so you won't be alone for long." Poor Jenna and her bad choices in men. She really wondered if Logan hadn't been changed into a vampire if it would have worked out for the two. Unfortunately for her, Lissa may need of vampire Logan so guess they'll never know.

Lissa after making her way to the SUV, pulled the ring box Enzo had handed her as she was leaving that morning. Inside was a gaudy, slightly tarnished ring which housed, right in the middle, a chunk of lapis lazuli, AKA, Kennedy's soon to be daylight ring.

She had been shocked when the man had pulled it out, not knowing when he'd had the time to get it. Seeing her confusion, he'd explained that the jeweler's place was technically public property so he was able to speed in, grab the first piece he saw in the back with lapis lazuli, and speed out. It was just Kennedy's bad luck that the ring was so ugly. Or, depending on your perspective, Lissa's good luck.

She made a disgusted face as she thought about her next plan. It was needed. Like, the daylight ring wouldn't work without it, but, damn. Lissa didnotwant to do this.

Time to go convince Sheila Bennett to spell a ring.

The last time Lissa had seen Sheila was when she was 11 years old and had gone to the woman to show her the spell she did. Instead of being proud and excited for her, the older woman had looked horrified. As if Lissa had just killed a puppy in front of her or something. Then, with an unyielding voice, had sent her from the house and told her to never come back.

To this day, Lissa had no idea why Sheila refused to teach her anything to do with magic. Not like Lissa could actually do most spells, she just liked the knowledge. It was like the supernatural version of science. Lissa had asked other witches over the years, ones that she'd found online and made connections with, and none of them can figure out why the older woman freaked out either. They'd said that her magic felt a bit off and the way she channeled it was weird but nothing that repulsed them. Though, if Lissa was being fair, most of the witches she talked to were the outcast of their coven.

Pulling up to the Bennett witch's house, Lissa was unsurprised to find her already standing on the front porch, arms crossed. The pinched expression on the woman's already severe face giving her an insight to how this conversation was going to go. Didn't mean Lissa wouldn't try. If Sheila did the spell, it would probably be done out of worry for a teenage girl. If Lissa found someone else to do it, she'd have to either pay out the ass or owe someone a favor. Something she definitely didnotwant to do.

"I told you 5 years ago you weren't welcome at this house anymore." Sheila called the minute Lissa had stepped out of the vehicle. "So leave."

Lissa held back her eye roll. Barely. "Yeah, well I'm not here for me. I'm here for a different teenage girl. One you haven't blacklisted."

"Who? What does she need?"

Of course, she'd go to help someone that wasn't her. Lissa inwardly seethed before saying, "Kennedy Curtis. She got changed into a vampire and is handling it really well. Three days in while living with her human parents and she hasn't had one slip."

"I don't help vampires, Melissa Gilbert. It's a shame what happened to the poor girl but I call them abominations for areason." Sheila replied. She wished that poor girl didn't get on the wrong end of whatever vampire was running rampant through Mystic Falls currently, but she had decided long ago not to help those creatures. "Just because the girl was young and hasn't slippedyet, does not mean she won't become a killer. And I won't help her become a better one."

Lissa had known asking Sheila for help was a long shot but damn that's cold. Lissa would expect something like that from herself, but Sheila normally tried to give off the 'caring old woman' act. "Fine but you get to explain it to Kennedy yourself." She said, pulling her phone out.

Sheila opened her mouth to tell her no but quickly shut it as a young woman's voice came over the speaker.

"What do you want nooow?"

"Tone down the attitude. I'm trying to get you a daylight ring but Sheila is refusing on the grounds that youcouldbecome a killer. Think you can give her a reason not to?" Lissa asked, shooting a smirk at the frazzled look Sheila was sporting. Looks like it was harder to refuse to help a person when you could hear how young they were.

There was a beat of silence before Kennedy started to talk, voice low but full of emotion. "Mrs. Bennett, do you think I wanted to be what I am now? Do you think I asked some freak to feed me his blood and snap my neck? To compel me to date him? I'll admit, I did choose to sleep with him. But Ididn'tchoose what happened to me." The girl took a deep breath before sighing, long and hard. "Now you want to refuse me the ability to continue life as the teenager I will now forever be? Because I couldpossiblykill someone?"

Lissa flicked her pigtail behind her as she leaned against the front of the SUV waiting to see what Sheila said to the girl. She may not like Kennedy, but she could respect her manipulations. With only a couple sentences, Sheila looked absolutely gutted at the idea of refusing. "I'm a witch, Kennedy. It's my job to keep people like you from killing innocents." The older woman muttered, just loud enough that she knew the phone would pick her up.

Lissa snorted. She said that like witches actually kept to that. She could name a ton of witches off the top of her head that gave zero sh*ts about killing innocent people if it furthered their goal. Witches, just like vampires, were selfish creatures. Sheila had just convinced herself differently over the years. There was a reason no real witches would help the older woman.

"So that's it, huh? Just a 'Sorry, won't do it'?" Kennedy paused before seemingly exploding with emotions. "I had a life! I had plans for college. I had a future. And because of you'restupid f*cking prejudicesyou've decided that I don't deserve that? Because I can kill people? Well news flash! So can a f*cking horse! I just want to spend time with mymom." She let out a sob that Lissa doubted she wanted them to hear. But hear, they did, and that was when she knew Sheila was going to break.

"…I will do this only once. And you, Melissa,will notask me for anything again."

Ten minutes later, Lissa was the temporary owner of a really ugly daylight ring. Kennedy was going to hate it. After agreeing, Sheila had taken the ring inside-of course leaving Lissa outside-to do her spelling. She didn't know why the older woman just didn't do it out there, Bonnie in the show had done the spell easily. Made her wonder what else the woman was doing to the ring.

As Lissa was getting back into the vehicle she paused before calling out. "Hey Sheila."

"What?"

"Why do you not like me? I know the magic I use scares you, butwhy?"

There was a beat of silence as the older woman stared at her with an unreadable look. "It's wrong.You'rewrong. I'm going to assume you know what siphoners are, yes?" At Lissa's nod, she continued. "Then to explain it you siphon from nature itself. Normal siphoners will pull from witches, spelled items, or even vampires.You?You pull from nature, frommagic, itself. And it iswrong."

"Alrighty then."

With those lovely words, Lissa closed the SUV's doors and drove off towards town. She still had to meet the Sheriff.

Lissa was incredibly glad she had been the last interview about Vicki. By the time she was questioned Liz already believed the girl had taken off and was just needing her to corroborate for the final time that's what happened.

She also may have let slip that she thought Vicki had been sleeping with her underage brother but didn't have proof. Liz couldn't do anything, of course, but she'd said it would go in the file to talk to her about if they ever found her. Killing Vicki hadn't been payback for sleeping with her brother, that was just to get rid of a problem.

Sure, Vicki was a known mess just like her mother, but the predator rumors that would crop up from Lissa's words? Those were going to basically bring a pick-axe to the girl's already rock bottom reputation. The sheriff's department doubled as a gossip club, everyone knew that. This was her payback for taking advantage of her brother.

As she walked the downtown area back to the SUV, she came to a dead stop on the sidewalk causing the person behind her to run into her. Ignoring the woman's annoyed words Lissa stared at the date written on the Brewery's front sign.

Sweet f*cking Jesus, her trip to New York was this weekend and she had nothing done besides purchasing her ticket for the plane and the art expo.

How had a month already passed? She hadn't even let people know she was going out of town. Hell, Jenna only knew because she was technically her guardian. At least Caroline and Jeremy wouldn't give her sh*t for going away for the weekend, but Lissa knew Enzo would be on her ass. He knew her too well not to clock her. She'd have to tell him at least something.

Hopefully she could convince him to stay in Mystic Falls. She knew Klaus would at least hesitate to kill her because of her face. Even if he thought she was Katherine, he'd want to torture her first before death. That would give her time to convince him she wasn't Katherine and that she had a plan to break the curse. If Enzo was there, he could be used as leverage against her. She couldn't have such an obvious weakness right off the bat.

"Lissa! Hey, Lissa!"

Blinking away her thoughts, Lissa turned around towards the girl calling her name. Caroline jogged up, sympathetic smile on her face, and hugged her. She'd obviously heard about Vicki's disappearance. While Caroline was touchy with her, she didn't often start with a hug. Normally she'd grab her hand or wrap an arm around her waist or something. Hugs were special between them.

"How's Jeremy? How are you?" Caroline asked as she broke their hug. "I know you didn't really see her as a friend, not anymore, but she was once upon a time. And Jeremy. God, he must be so broken up!"

"I'm fine, Care, really. I'd given up on her a while ago so this was nothing." Lissa shrugged. Vicki really was less than nothing to her. Sure, once upon a time she called her a friend but that was a couple years ago. "Jeremy is honestly taking it pretty good as well. Vicki leaving seems to have snapped him out of his grief. Gave him focus again. He did homework today!"

"Wow! Who knew Vicki leaving would do so much good?"

"Don't say that too loud, what if Monotone Matt heard you?" Lissa smirked.

Caroline scoffed, smacking the pale girl's arm. "Lissa! He's not monotone. He's been really sweet to me. Please, try to be nice to him? For me?"

Lissa let out a groan. "I'll be nice to his face but that's it. Now were you only coming to talk about Vicki or did you need something?"

"Oh!" Caroline gasped. "I'm throwing a party for Stefan. It's apparently his birthday! Damon asked me to, said he'd heard around that I'm an amazing party planner, especially on short notice. Though I can't call it a birthday party since Stefan hates them according to Damon. So now I'm going around getting everything ready. You're coming! I'll use a coupon if I have to."

Lissa's head jerked around towards the blonde. She was grinning, so obviously proud that she was trusted by someone to do something like this for them. Lissa was going to kill Damon. She was entertained by the man. Would even still called him a friend despite Enzo's whole thing and Damon's own stupid sh*t that he'd been pulling. Hell, last night they'd even agreed they were friends after the whole burning incident. But this? Dragging Caroline into one of his obvious plots. He knew Caroline was off limits, she'd told the man himself. If Lissa didn't know Caroline had vervain on her Lissa would have absolutely lost it. Even now she was glaring down at the ground, teeth grinding.

"Lissa! I said are you coming? Don't make me beg!"

Lissa looked up and gave Caroline a smile. No reason to make her aware that she was being used. It would just hurt her. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. Your first job as a paid party planner. I'm sure it'll be great even with the short notice."

"Good! Now I have to go get streamers. I'll text you the time and everything later!" Caroline said, running off towards the stores.

Once she was out of sight, Lissa stalked off towards the Boarding House. She had a vampire to kill.

Ignoring every speed limit and traffic sign, Lissa made it to the Boarding House in record time. Without pause she slammed open the front door, not caring as the resulting thud caused a vase to fall to the floor shattering.

"DAMON SALVATOR! Get your stupid f*cking ass down here!" She yelled, voice booming even to her human ears.

Stefan, shock written on his face, sped into the entry room. A pretty blonde woman not far behind him. "Whoa, let's calm down. What did Damon do?" He asked, hands up trying to pacify the angry girl.

"Shut up, Stefan. I hate your stupid face." She growled at him, ignoring the snort of amusem*nt from the blonde. "If he doesn't get down here in 5 seconds I'm going to start burning sh*t." Her voice gained volume the more she spoke until she knew she was yelling again.

"Okay, okay. I'm here, what's up your ass, Snow Princess?" Damon asked, sauntering into the room, buttoning his shirt as if he didn't have a care in the world. Looking up from his buttons, he paused at the genuine fury on the tiny girl's face. His wrist tingled with phantom pain as he remembered the damage she'd done just the night before.

Stalking over to the man, she poked his chest. Hard, making sure to put just enough power into her hand to singe a hole through his shirt. "Caroline. I told you she was off limits. You have the literal whole town. I said two people were off limits to your plots and plans. Jeremy and Caroline. Now you want to drag Caroline into whatever you're doing?"

Damon rolled his eyes, ignoring the tiny bit of guilt that had started bubbling in his stomach. "I hired her! She's being paid, Snow. Are you trying to keep her from getting money? How selfish of you." He sent her a look of mock disappointment.

"You know what? You're right. I shouldn't ruin Caroline's big night." Lissa said, a syrupy sweet smile on her face with the tone to match. "So as a thank you, I won't tell you to call off the party. I'll just ruin your plan." She turned to Stefan, her smile falling off her face as she met his surprised eyes. "Damon is needing a patsy for the 'animal attacks' so he's planning on killing your friend tonight in front of the sheriff. It also doubles as his way into the city council."

"You bitch!" Damon's voice came behind her. Good thing she already expected the vampire to retaliate for her words and, with a snap of her right fingers, an imperceptibleshield wrapped around her. She didn't want Stefan to know about her tattoos or powers, but if she had to she'd expose herself.

Lucky for her, Lexi, who was clearly pissed that Damon had planned to kill her, slammed said vampire into the wall, hands wrapped tightly around his throat. Stefan, not far behind her. "You planned on killing Lexi/me?" Both of them growled in union before Lexi continued. "Why shouldn't I rip your heart out right now?"

Lissa cleared her throat before the struggling man could answer, gaining all their attention. Though, Lexi still didn't let Damon go, his face now turning a really ugly puce color as he weakly tried to get some air. "Listen, torture him all you want. Dick obviously deserves it for planning to kill you. But maybe leave him alive? I have a friend who cares about him…I think." She shrugged. "There's a fine line between hate and love. Most of the time I don't know what side Damon falls on for Enzo."

Stefan stared at her in confusion. He did not understand the girl. She gave both him and Lexi a good reason to kill Damon yet here she was asking for him to be spared. Did she hate Damon or were they friends? How was he supposed to ever get a read on her if her opinions flip flopped so easily? "Lissa, you just told us that he planned on killing Lexi, my best friend. Wouldn't you kill for Caroline? Or your other friend, Enzo?"

"Without hesitation." She agreed. "But you on the other hand, probably both of you if she's your best friend, have those things called morals. Can you live with killing your brother?"

"She's right, Stefan. You wouldn't be able to handle it. We shouldn't kill him." Lexi sighed. What a disappointment. She really wanted to stake Damon. He was a dick.

With that said, Lissa turned back to the door to leave. She knew her words would keep Damon alive, in pain probably, but alive. Just as she got to the door she paused. "Oh, and Damon? Involve anyone I care about again and I'll rip your f*cking spleen out and make you eat it."

"Okay, after we deal with Damon you have to explain how she had Katherine's face. It's freaky!" Lissa heard as the door shut behind her.

That evening Lissa sat at the Grill's bar nursing a screwdriver. She had been lucky she found the seat at the bar since everywhere else was taken. All around her were people drinking, talking, or eating at the tables. Caroline really had thrown an all out party. Too bad it probably wouldn't be celebrated like she wanted. Lissa had already explained to Caroline that Damon had screwed up and blew the surprise so Stefan probably wouldn't show up. But that didn't mean she couldn't still have a good party. Instead of being down, Caroline took her words to heart and decided that, fine, if Stefan didn't want a "bangin'" birthday then f*ck him.

Lissa agreed.

Enzo was around somewhere, Caroline, once she'd done her rounds of greeting people, had come by and snatched him away to dance, knowing Lissa wouldn't. Poor man didn't know how to say no to the rather forceful girl just yet. She thought it was hilarious. The Englishman could kill people without blinking but stick one sunshine-y teenage girl in front of him and he'd fold like a wet paper towel.

Even Kennedy had come out for the party. Well, more to get her daylight ring because Lissa didn't want to go by the other girl's house. But partly for the party. Lissa smirked as she remembered the girl's look of disgust when she saw the ring. She'd even contemplated not taking it before finally grunting and putting it on. Lissa had made sure before Kennedy had disappeared into the crowds to congratulate her on the successful manipulations.

She knew the other girl didn't give two sh*ts about spending time with her mom. Nor how her plans for college had gotten derailed. But they were great motivations for a sentimental grandma to help a struggling teenager.

"You know, ruining my plans like that was a bitch move." Damon's voice said, pulling her from her thoughts. He'd thought about what he was going to do to get her back, but so far had come up blank. He'd contemplated going after her brother or Caroline, again, but ultimately decided not to. That was the reason this started. And, while stubborn, he knew banging his head against a wall and expect it not to hurt was idiotic.

"And pulling Caroline into one of them was a dick move." She replied, swiveling her chair around to meet his eyes. "I'm not saying sorry."

"Well, neither am I."

"Buuut…"

"Buuut, what?"

She sighed. He was right about the city council; they shouldn't know vampires can be in the daylight just yet. If they did, they'd probably immediately look to Enzo, the new man in town. And that would bring them down on her head, which was the last thing she wanted. With her meeting Klaus this weekend, she didn't want to also deal with Liz and her band of miscreant hunters. With a quick mental apology to Enzo, she nodded her head towards a red headed guy not too far from the front doors. "See Mr. Leprechaun there?"

Damon glanced over before raising an eyebrow at the pierced girl. "Yeah, what about him?"

"His name's Niall. Enzo met him during his travels after getting out. Vampire, no daylight ring, sexist, and stupid."

Damon laid a hand against his heart, face gaining an exaggerated sappy look. "Aww, did the snow princess get me a new patsy? I thought you said you weren't apologizing."

"It's not an apology." She rolled her eyes. "I just happen to agree that you need to cover the tracks of whoever's killing people. I don't want them coming after Enzo."

"Of course, precious Enzo." Damon scoffed. "Can't have anything happen to him. What about me?"

Lissa shot him a deadpanned look. "First off, you can act like you dislike him yet we both know you still care. Second, Enzo can't even google things confidently yet, excuse me if I'm a bit more worried about him than you."

"Think whatever you want, sweetheart." Damon shrugged, trying to play off her words. He didn't want to think about Enzo. As far as he was concerned, the current Enzo was just some person with a grudge and the same face. Like Elena or Lissa with Katherine.HisEnzo died when Damon escaped. "So what're you thinking? You invite him to the alleyway when Liz gets here and then I stake him?"

"Why am I being included in this now?" Lissa questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I'm literally the one that f*cked up the initial plan on purpose."

Damon sipped on his drink as he thought. He really didn't know why he was so fixated on the girl. Sure she looked like Katherine, but not as much as her sister. Yes, she was a mystery, her ability to burn things and people more so, but not enough to put up with everything she'd done to him. Plus, she would clearly choose Enzo over him any day, she'd made that clear when she killed his nephew. Hell, she'd choose Barbie over him if today was any indication. Thisattachmentdidn't make sense to him.

"You didn't put a spell on me did you?" He asked, only half joking, before backtracking at her unamused look. "Only joking, don't get your pretty pink panties in a twist. But really, you're going to try and tell me you don't want on the council? You? The girl that wants her pale little fingers in all the pies?"

She leaned back onto the bar with a groan. He was right. She did want to know what was up with the council, but only tentatively. They weren't a big threat until they got the Gilbert device or John joined and since she had the device in her hidden storage place now after being the one to nab it, there was little threat of them getting a hold of it. So until John came there wasn't much reason for her to join.But,she thought,what if things change with them like they have with everything else?

'Exactly, Darling. You don't need any pesky humans getting in the way.'

Lissa froze like a deer in headlights at the voice again. This was the second time. She doubted she was schizophrenic; even if she had the gene, schizophrenia didn't normally develop until people were older. 16 was too young. And…the voice was familiar. But, as she tried to remember, it was like trying to pick a single pebble out of a landslide.

She gritted her teeth. This was not the time to go crazy. She had too much sh*t to do, especially this coming weekend. As she looked down to her drink to take a sip, she jerked away, spilling half of it over her leg and the floor.

Had there been another person in the reflection?

Looking down at the now calm liquid again, she saw only herself, wide eyed, staring back at her.

"Lissa!" A hand shook her shoulder, pulling her out of her own thoughts. She focused back on Damon, who despite their current annoyance at each other, had concern written on his face. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing. It's…" She shook her head as she waved away his concern. "It's nothing. Just thought I saw something."

"Oh, yeah, because a small spook would make your heart beat like a jack rabbit." Damon scoffed, rolling his eyes at her. "Your heart doesn't change pace. Ever. Not even when I threatened you."

"Damon, drop it." She said, stiffly. She didn't want to talk about it. Not with him or anyone else just yet. She could handle italone. And after this weekend. "Now you wanted to kill Niall right?" She asked as she downed the rest of her drink. As she hopped off the barstool she gestured toward the windows. They were lighting up red and blue. Clearly, someone had complained about the sound or the party in general. "I'll get him outside. Looks like Liz is already here."

Damon grabbed her arm as she started to walk away. "Really? You're just going to ignore what scared you bad enough that you were visibly affected? Not even a word?"

"Yep. I've handled my sh*t my way for a long time. I can keep doing it." She said, jerking her arm out of his hold just as Enzo walked up to the pair of them, face hard as he took in their stances.

"Is there a problem, Damon?"

"Yeah, but it isn't me. Lil' Lissa here-"

"Damon! Please?" She pleaded. "Don't. I have it handled."

Enzo furrowed his brows as he focused on her. "Have what handled? Is something the matter?"

Lissa paused, letting the sounds of the party drift over them before shaking her head good naturedly. "It's fine. Seriously. Damon is just being an idiot." She insisted, glaring at Damon on the last word.

Damon sighed angrily. "Yeah. We were just making a plan to get the council off our backs and we didn't agree on the plan."

Enzo looked at both of them, scrutinizing for a lie. He didn't think Lissa would lie to him, but Damon, for all his many, many faults, clearly cared a bit about Lissa. If his willingness to forgive her threats was anything to go by. If she was doing something to hurt herself, he doubted the man would allow it. "As long as she wouldn't get hurt I agree with her plan."

"Ha!" Lissa cheered, ignoring the cold sinking feeling of guilt settling in her stomach once again. How is it that she always ends up lying to Enzo? "I told you mine was better."

"Alright, fine. We'll kill Nail in front of the Sheriff."

"Niall" She corrected.

"Who cares? He's going to die anyway."

"You're killing Niall?" Enzo asked, interrupting their continued bickering.

Damon and her looked at each other awkwardly. sh*t, she had forgotten to fill Enzo in before Caroline had whisked him away earlier. Damon nudged her with his elbow in a 'you tell him' way. She shot him a withering glare but quickly turned back to Enzo. "If I said yes, would you be mad?"

Enzo glanced at the red head before making an 'eh' face. "No. But how will killing him get the council's trust?"

Damon spoke up now that he knew the other vampire wasn't going to start throwing punches over the plan. "No one on the council has ever killed a vampire. If I kill one in front of the Sheriff? That'll get me in immediately. And Snow will have lured him out there, so hopefully that'll get her a step in as well."

Enzo narrowed his eyes at the nickname. It was too close to his own for the pale girl and he didn't like it. "So she's playing bait?" He sneered. "She's not some unimportant person that you can just sacrifice as you see fit, dickhe*d."

"What are you getting all up in arms about, English? Snow didn't seem to have a problem with it." Damon smirked, taking a step closer to the annoyed man. If Lissa hadn't been between the two of them, they would probably be chest to chest.

"Because she's as reckless as they come. Of course she wouldn't have a problem with it." He replied, his normally calm temper rising. Damon just brought it out of him.

"O-kay!" She yelled, getting the two's attention as she laid a hand flat on both their chests, pushing them apart as she did so. "How about we let me choose what to do? Hmm?" She looked between both of them, her own unhappy frown causing the two to not make eye contact. "I'm not some toy to argue over. And Enzo, I'm doing it."

Enzo narrowed his eyes at her. There was no reason for her to lure Niall, all Enzo had to do was ask the man to meet him in the alleyway. "I can do it."

"Oh my god, Enzo! I don't want you on the council's radar. They may not seem dangerous but even a mosquito can kill you when you least expect it."

Enzo threw his hands up in frustration. "Fine! Endanger yourself, then."

"Thank you. I will."

Damon, once again forgotten in the pair's conversation, spoke up. "Well now that you love birds have decided on the course of action. Lis' you should probably go to him. Looks like he may have his eye on someone else." Damon tilted his head at the red head, who indeed, had started talking to a random girl Lissa didn't know. But based on both their smiles, if she didn't get over there, it may be some other girl in the alleyway when Damon kills him.

"Wish me luck." She smirked, winking at them. Enzo called out a 'be careful!' as she started weaving through the throngs of drunk and dancing people. Lissa may not be the biggest fan of parties- more of a ball or banquet person- but even she could respect Caroline's talent for throwing them. Especially on such short notice.

As Lissa walked she took her already short shirt and tucked it under her bra to crop more, showing off her belly piercing and the top of her fishnet tights she had on under her ripped jeans. Throwing on a flirty smile she walked up to the pair, barely sparing the random girl a look, she zeroed in on Niall. "Hey! Enzo invited you right? Niall? How're you liking the party?"

Niall turned and glanced her up and down, pausing at her piercings before gaining a bit of a leer. "Yeah, you're Enzo's roommate, Melissa? He told me about you but never mentioned how beautiful you were."

"Oh thank you! And Enzo's basically a brother. I doubt he even thinks of me like that." She giggled before snidely asking, "I'm sorry, who's your friend? I don't recognize her. I normally know important people."

"I'm Jessica. We have chemistry together. You sit right behind me." She muttered, face turning red.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Jennifer. I'm sure I will next time."

"It's Jessica…"

"Of course." Lissa smiled, focusing back on Niall who had a smirk on his face. "I'm sorry, I'm having a bit of trouble hearing in here. Do you want to come outside with me? Some air would probably help sober me up a bit too."

"With you? Definitely."

Lissa grinned and grabbed his hand playfully pulling him behind her to the door, leaving Jessica standing there forgotten. Niall quickly matched her strides, and instead of holding her hand, wrapped an arm around her waist, leaving his hand to lay low on her hip.

They passed by Damon and Enzo and as they did, Lissa shot them a smug look. Didn't even take her 5 minutes to get the guy outside with her. She may not be Caroline or Elena but every guy had at least a slight fascination with girls with piercings. It's the stereotype that they made a girl easy, like just because she poked metal through her skin didn't mean she didn't care who f*cked her. Her standards were way too high for that.

Niall, wanting to impress her, opened the door and gestured for her to go first. Stepping through, she twirled, grabbing Niall's arm and pulled him to the alleyway, making sure to nick herself on a corner brick, just enough to bring blood to her skin. Even in the low light, she could see the man's face ripple as he tried to control himself.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry." She cried. "It must be hard to deal with everyone inside then immediately I go an cut myself."

He waved her off, back stiff, as he breathed through his mouth. "No, no. You're okay…just, you wouldn't mind if I?" He gestured to her bleeding forearm. "You're not drinking vervain, right?"

Lissa stifled a grin. "No…" She whispered, making her voice sound apprehensive.

"Good. Good" Niall whispered, eyes trained on the blood as his face darkened. He brought her arm up to his face and just as he went to bite down; he let out a grunt. There, right where his heart was, was the tip of a stake poking out.

Darting her eyes up, she made eye contact with Damon, before letting out a frightened gasp and letting her mouth fall open in horror. "Oh my god!" She scrambled away from Niall, who at this point had fallen to the ground, skin grey. "Was he going to?"

"Melissa! Oh goodness, are you okay?" Liz came running up behind her, wrapping the supposedly frightened girl in a hug. "Sweetie, did he bite you?"

She shook her head, lip trembling. "N-no. Damon…killed him before he could." She gazed up at Damon, false confusion. "Was he…" She lowered her voice so only Damon and Liz could hear her. "A vampire?"

"You know about them?!" Liz exclaimed, pulling her in front of her to sternly stare her in the eyes. "How do you know about vampires, Melissa?"

"Dad used to tell me about them. I thought they were just weird stories until tonight." She shuddered, eyes trained on the dead man. "I guess they weren't."

Liz pulled the girl into a tight hug once again, shooting a silent 'thank you' to Damon. If something had happened to Melissa she didn't know what she would have done. The young albino girl was as good as a second daughter to her despite their differences. AndCaroline. If she had had to tell her actual daughter her best friend since kindergarten had been killed…She shook her head.

Melissa was fine. Damon had gotten there in time.

Damon was, officially, impressed by the tiny Gilbert. What a wonderful performance she was putting on. If he didn't know any better, he would have been fooled himself. Hell, he was in on everything and even then he felt a twinge of pity at the terrorized girl. "If you want, Lissa, I can drive you home. You don't need to be driving tonight, I don't think." Damon chimed in, interrupting the hug.

Lissa sniffled, wiping lightly under her eyes. "Yeah, that would be best."

"Damon, beforehand, could you help me get him in the car?" She asked, nodding at the open trunk at the front of the alleyway. The two of them left Lissa standing alone awkwardly fidgeting where she stood, as they picked the body up and shuffled down towards the car. It took everything in Lissa not to giggle at the image of Damon struggling with the weight of a body. She'd seen the man pick his couch up one handed to look for his keys before, so a body, even dead weight, should have been nothing. Oh the things they do to keep up a ruse.

It didn't take the two long to get Niall's body in the trunk and slam it closed. Lissa couldn't hear what exactly was said between the two but she had a pretty good guess. Either way, Damon would probably tell her if it had to do with the council. After a moment, they both walked back over to her.

Liz put her hand on her shoulder gazing comfortingly down at her. "If you need to talk, I'm here. And…" As she trailed off she turned to Damon who had taken to leaning against the opposite alley wall. "I'm sure Damon would be open to talking as well."

"Oh, yeah. I'm great for sympathy. You can use me as a real life diary if you need to."

Liz squeezed the shoulder in her hand and nodded her thanks, again, before getting in her car and driving off.

Damon pushed off the wall as soon as the car was out of sight and clapped his hands. "If whatever you plan for your future doesn't work out, Snow Princess, I say go into acting. That was a hell of a performance."

Lissa let out a laugh. "I've always been a good liar, and what is acting if not the ultimate form of a lie?"

Damon shrugged as if to say 'true' before making a gimme motion with his hand. "Keys?"

"What for?"

"To drive you home, duh."

"Uh, no? That was just for the act. I'm fine to drive myself home."

"Too bad, Snow Princess, you're getting the Damon express treatment, so just gimme the keys."

She narrowed her eyes at him, lips pursed before sighing. "Fine. But if the seat isn't back in the exact place when you leave I'll stab you." She reached into one of the side pockets in her cargo pants and handed him her keys. "Oh, and don't touch the sharp knuckle buster keychain on there, it's vervain metal" She warned.

He looked down at the red cat shaped keychain in disbelief. This girl was an absolute psychopath. An impressive one. But, honestly, who just had something like this on their keys? Especially a specially made one that worked on vampires. Next she was going to tell him she had vervain darts or a stake crossbow. "You may actually scare me a little bit."

She chuckled as she made her way to the car. "Good."

After supervising Damon moving her driver's seat back into the exact placement- "Yes Damon, I do need it that close. I'm 5'3, in case you didn't notice, Elena got all the height between us."- she made her way into the silent Gilbert house. Throwing her keys into the key bowl, she silently walked into the kitchen, smiling at the note written on the fridge whiteboard letting her know an extra plate of food was left for her by Jenna.

Scribbling her own thank you, she waited for the microwave to be done. Despite wanting to just dive into bed, she knew she needed to pack tonight, or else she'd never get it done. Her flight was in a day. And tomorrow was going to be spent letting everyone know she'd be gone for a couple of days.

She was just lucky she was already so ahead on her school work missing a couple of days of school wouldn't get her behind at all. She really couldn't wait to be done. High school made her want to rip her hair out.

Her phone buzzed just as she grabbed her plate of food. Quickly rearranging herself to hold her phone between her shoulder and her ear, she answered.

"Yo, you've reached a very tired and busy Lissa, please be quick."

"I can see you're alive then." Enzo's exasperated tone came through the speakers.

Quietly making her way upstairs to her bedroom, she peaked in the cracks in her siblings' doors, making sure they were fine and asleep. It was a habit she'd picked up after their parents died. She hadn't done it in a while, but she'd also not been staying there as much recently. A lot of time had been spent at Enzo's and her house. "Yeah. Sorry I would have come back inside but Damon was being an ass."

"What's new about that?" Lissa could almost hear the eye roll. "You staying at your house then?"

Finally getting in her room, she turned her fairy lights on after she set the plate of fried rice down and locked her door behind her. "Yeah, gotta pack."

"For what?" Enzo asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah, so I'm going to New York this weekend for a couple of days. Got some stuff I need to do. You know future stuff." She admitted. "I need you to stay here. Watch over the siblings for the time, please? I'm sure a sh*t ton of stuff will happen while I'm gone if the past couple of weeks are any indication. And I can't trust those dumbasses to take care of themselves."

Enzo sighed. It was just like her to not tell anyone until the last minute so they couldn't talk her out of it. "Is what you're doing dangerous?"

"…Yes…But I have a plan to make itnotas dangerous." She assured him after hearing him groan.

"Lissa, really? And I'll bet there's no more tickets for your flight so even if I wanted to come I couldn't."

"Maaaybe"

"If you don't text me every ten hourson the dotI don't care about any plans you've made I'm coming up there." Enzo demanded. If she'd actually admitted to this being dangerous, he knew it was actually something that could get her killed. He stood up from his bed and started pacing at the end of his bed. "I'm serious Lissa, if you get killed doing something reckless I'll bring you back and kill you myself."

"Aww, End Zone! I love you too!" She giggled before getting serious. "But really, the chance this kills me is like, I don't know, 10%. I have an ace up my sleeve, so trust me to take care of myself. And I'll trust you to take care of my siblings and Caroline."

Enzo, ignoring the rock that had settled in his stomach, agreed to stay and watch over everyone. He stayed on the line, just chatting and listening to her pack, trying to calm his fear at her being in danger,genuine danger, and him being hundreds of miles away. He'd told her once, she'd given him hope back. She was the reason he didn't just give up and stay in Augustine's hands after her father died. If something happened to her he didn't know how he'd continue.

It wasn't anything romantic or sexual either, despite what Damon had insinuated when the girl had gone off with Niall. Lissa had once described them as platonic soulmates and he knew that was as close as they were going to get to explain it. So her dying? That was a non-option for him.

It was an hour or two later that she finally finished and they said goodnight yet still that all encompassing fear remained. He expected it to be there the whole time she was gone.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

Enzo, ignoring the rock that had settled in his stomach, agreed to stay and watch over everyone. He stayed on the line, just chatting and listening to her pack, trying to calm his fear at her being in danger, genuine danger, and him being hundreds of miles away. He'd told her once, she'd given him hope back. She was the reason he didn't just give up and stay in Augustine's hands after her father died. If something happened to her he didn't know how he'd continue.

It wasn't anything romantic or sexual either, despite what Damon had insinuated when the girl had gone off with Niall. Lissa had once described them as platonic soulmates and he knew that was as close as they were going to get to explain it. So her dying? That was a non-option for him.

It was an hour or two later that she finally finished and they said goodnight yet still that all encompassing fear remained. He expected it to be there the whole time she was gone.

Lissa stood in her hotel bathroom, a solid black floor length satin dress with tiny off the shoulder sleeves, her hair curled and pulled into a half up half down twisted ponytail, and black platform heels on her feet.

She both loved and hated that the art gala was formal wear. Loved it because she had always been something her and Caroline bonded over, but hated it because lord knows Klaus was going to ruin this dress before the night was over.

The plane had landed at a lovely time of 5 am and after checking in, Lissa had slept until noon today. Ordering room service, she'd spent the next 5 hours pampering herself as she got ready. She had splurged on a room, getting one with a Jacuzzi tub, at a 5-star hotel, and even went down to the spa that they had on sight for a quick facial. Might as well feel good if she was possibly going to be murdered that night.

Enzo was keeping her up to date with everything going on in Mystic Falls. So far Kennedy still hadn't slipped and killed anyone but according to a text last night it had been close. She had been strong enough to stop, sadly. Lissa was curious what the girl would do once she actually had to kill someone. Her and Enzo had a bet going on; Enzo thought she'd cry but ultimately keep her rather passive views, Lissa thought that she'd see murder wasn't that bad and lose a bit of her goody goody act. Either way, they were entertained.

Lexi had left Mystic Falls, not before getting her number if the text she'd received early was anything to go by. It was a simple 'thank you' along with an offer of help if she needed it, but she appreciated the extra connection, because with Lexi likely came Bree. And with Bree came other connections. After all, a witch bartender that served every manner of supernatural? She had to know her sh*t. Hopefully without Lexi dying that meant the woman wouldn't piss Damon off later and get killed for it. God knows Lissa wanted to use that connection if she ever needed it.

Other than those two things, it'd been pretty slow in Mystic Falls for the past two days. Jeremy and Enzo had been hanging out. In the words of Jeremy 'Once you got past the eating people and the fact that he's older than dirt, Enzo was pretty cool.' Lissa was just happy the two got along. Hell, apparently Enzo had even had dinner at The Grill with Caroline; both of them wanted to get to know each other since they were both her closest friends.

Thinking of Enzo, she shot him a quick 'I'm still alive' text before grabbing her clutch with her room keys, actual keys, her wallet with the ticket in it, and a tiny bottle of vervain. Not that she thought that would stop Klaus, but it was the principle of carrying it. Time to either die or completely f*ck the timeline.

Waving at the concierge, Lissa left the hotel and started walking. Lucky for her, the hotel was only a couple of blocks from the gala; getting a taxi—because of course Uber didn't exist yet—would have been hell. There were even two other women walking to the gala themselves. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to herself by walking into an obviously adult event as a teenager alone, she struck up a conversation with the two.

The two were married from Pennsylvania, Valerie, the tall blonde hair, blue eyed one, had a painting in the gala so they'd made the drive up both to celebrate her accomplishment and to have a weekend alone. Penny mentioned that they had adopted a pair of brothers, one 2 years old the other 4, a year ago and that this was the first time they'd had a weekend to themselves since.

"Don't get me wrong I love Allen and Theodore, but they are so energetic! Us old broads need some relaxing time." Valerie laughed. "Now, what's a young girl like you going to a stuffy art gala on a Saturday? You can't be more than 18. Shouldn't you be out at a club or something partying the night away?"

Lissa waved her hand at the woman, who despite calling herself and her wife old broads couldn't be more than 45. "I'm meeting an…old family friend. And I've never been one for clubs. That's always been my best friend Caroline's territory." The amount of clubs Caroline had tried and successfully gotten Lissa into was insane. Considering she hated the things, she knew almost every club in a 100 mile radius to Mystic Falls. Each and every one of them she hated.

"Well, until you find this friend, you will have to stay near us. This is a big city and you just scream small town, who knows what would happen to you?" Penny fretted from the other side of Valerie. Her greying brown hair had a beautiful natural curl to it that made Lissa slightly jealous. She'd always loved curls, but her hair doesn't even hold heated curls for more than a night. It was a curse that had made Caroline spit words that caused her mother to sputter in shock.

Lissa smiled her agreement. The two sweet women really had solved her problem all on their own. Now she could blend in until she found the hybrid. Hopefully, them being in a very public place with cameras and the like would keep him from just straight up murdering her…and her new acquaintances.

By the time the three of them got to the gala, the sun had started setting, bathing the surroundings in a golden light. Lissa had never seen New York City in person in her last life—it hadn't ever seemed important to her—but looking at it now, she could see why people craved the packed streets. Everywhere was a different splash of culture, from the Asian corner store to the couple kneeling in a quiet patch of grass doing their sunset prayers, even the two women walking beside her. If she didn't hate being surrounded by people, Lissa could have seen herself moving here. Sadly, she was a bit too misanthropic.

Finally reaching the large brick building that was housing the gala, Lissa took a quick scope of the entering crowd. They were early enough that the line wasn't packed, but there was still a slight wait time to get into the historic place. She'd known the gala was for the elite but it really hit home once they'd come upon the people outside. Everywhere she looked was a person dressed in clothes sheknewcost at least a couple thousand dollars. She was beyond relieved she let Caroline talk her into buying the designer dress now. If not she'd have stood out even more than she already did just being herself.

Even now the gathered guest gave double takes at her chalk white hair, skin, and nails. It'd been so long since she'd left Mystic Falls that she'd forgotten how, outside of the small town, people weren't used to her and her albinism. The stares told her everything she needed to know; they were unnerved by her lack of coloring and, if she'd deigned to speak to them, they would judge her. Harshly. Because she wasn't what they deemed acceptable.

Oh, how she hated rich people.

"Now don't you let those stares get you down! You are a beautiful and striking woman. They just have a stick up their asses that makes them so uncomfortable they have to make others feel the same way." Valerie spoke up, shooting a glare at a particularly judgy couple a couple yards away.

Lissa let out a humorless chuckle. "Valerie, if I let people's judgment get to me, I wouldn't have made it past my toddler years." She sent a teasing smirk at the couple. "I just wish it was people with a better sense of fashion that was judging me. I mean look at how washed out that color makes her."

The couple let out a laugh as they passed by the, now embarrassed, woman she'd commented on and into the building. Lissa gave an impressed 'ooh' at the artwork on the walls and on the art easels around the room. Each painting seemed to be a different art style. She didn't know much about what they were called—she'd never been too big into art, this life or the last—but even she could recognize that each one was breathtaking in its own right.

She gave another quick scan around the room to see if she recognized anyone that was already inside but so far Klaus was MIA. Figuring the hybrid would show up later, Lissa turned to the wives. "Alright, I can't find my family friend so, while I wait, do you want to show me your painting, Valerie?"

"Oh! I'd be delighted!" Valerie exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Lissa's and trotting off towards the back. Penny left to follow behind her excited wife and new friend. Valerie spent the walk explaining that, while known, she was still a smaller artist so her painting was put in the back with all the other 'small timers'. They stopped occasionally when Penny or either of them found a particular painting good enough to get a closer look, but did eventually make it back to Valerie's.

A mixture of warm and cool colors blended together on a canvas to create an amazing contrast between a setting sun and a dark forest in a striking painting. Above the trees was the setting sun, while the trees, so dense only a few streaks of lights broke through to highlight the bark and illuminate the moss covered ground. It was something Lissa could tell took forever and showed more talent for art than she had in her whole body.

"Whoa." Lissa sighed, awe filling her tone. "I'm not the best judge of art but I'd say that's the best one here."

At Lissa's words the older woman blushed. Despite her wife having told her many times her art was amazing, she still felt that jittery feeling of glee fill her up at strangers finding joy in the things she created. It was never a feeling she wanted to forget or lose.

Pretty soon, despite the good feelings around her and her new acquaintances, Lissa, doing a third scan of the room for Klaus, did eventually find him. He was standing in front of a darker painting. One that had very little color and the color it did have was muted and only there for something to contrast the black and greys.

Realizing what she was seeing, Lissa's heart beat just a smidge faster, from adrenalin, or fear, or excitement, she didn't know. Maybe it was all three.

Turning to Penny and Valerie, she quickly explained she'd found her family friend and wanted to surprise him. Before letting her walk off, the two grabbed her phone and put their numbers in it. Telling her that if she was ever in the area again to contact them. She was good company; kind, funny, and nothing like the snobs that normally ran in the art spaces.

Lissa smirked. "I've learned more about art from you two tonight than I have all my other years combined. I'd hope I wasn't an art snob without even knowing what to be snobby about."

The two laughed as they walked away, off to stare at more paint. With nothing else to distract her, she turned back towards Klaus.

It was time.

Mentally pulling on her big girl panties, Lissa planted a co*cky smile on her face and walked up besides the cursed hybrid. "There's a diner about a block away. Wanna get something to eat and talk?"

"Love, I think you have-" Klaus' words trailed off as he turned to look at the foolish human that had come up to him. As quickly as he runs, his face filled with fury. "Katerina! You dare show your face-"

Lissa's snort interrupted him, leaving the original blinking at the audacity. "Klaus, I'd have hoped you would realize I had a human heart beatbeforejumping to conclusions…and that Katherine didn't have albinism."

Klaus furrowed his brows as he finally stopped and listened. Once the quick paced heartbeat of a human reached him from the girl, he felt elation at the idea he may just be able to break his curse. He'd given up hope when Katerina had betrayed him, but now some girl comes waltzing in wearingthatface—even with the obvious mutations—and suddenly avenues once closed opened back up. "You're a doppelganger? This is-"

"Nope," She interrupted again, popping the 'P' as she did. "Did the original doppelganger or any of the others have albinism? Come on, Klaus. You're a thousand years old, sure, but I doubt your brain has turned to dust."

"Interrupt me again and, no matter the face you wear around, I'll rip your heart out where you stand."

"Noted." Lissa replied dryly. "Now, this is a long story and I don't particularly feel like telling it in the middle of an art gala. So, will youpleasecome to the diner so we can talk?"

"What's to say you don't have my brother lying in wait at said diner to kill me? Huh?"

"Oh my god. I knew you were paranoid but really! At this point your picture has to be next to the word in the dictionary. I don't even know Elijah-"

"But you know his name? That's suspicious, if you ask me. My sentimental brother has always been a sucker for that pretty face-"

"Seriously? I know all your family's names! You guys are the boogeymen of the supernatural world.A lotof people know your names."

"How didyoufind it though?" Klaus asked, eyes narrowing as he took a step toward the pale girl. It would make sense if she wanted to kill him. If she knew about doppelgangers and his family, it would stand that she knew about the sacrifices needed to break his curse. He needed to get her under his control before she slipped from his fingers.

Lissa groaned, loud enough that a couple of people glanced over at the arguing duo before quickly turning away as she glared back. "Niklaus, Iswearno one, not your brother or anyone else you can think of, is back at the diner."

"And I should just trust you?You? Some random girl that comes sauntering up with a face that's haunted me my whole life?"

Lissa stared at the hybrid for a moment. Silence surrounded them and all it did was make the already paranoid man twitchy. Finally, the pierced girl held her hand, pinky stretched out to the man. "Pinky swear."

"What?"

"I pinky swear I have no one at the diner to attack you nor do I plan on it."

"This is no joking matter! I will kill you where you stand."

"I'm not joking. Pinky swears are sacred to me." She shrugged. They were. It was a holdover from her last life with her original little sister. "I've never once broken a pinky swear. Sooo…" Lissa trailed off, leaving her hand with her pinky out to hover in front of her. After a couple of seconds her shoulder joint started aching from holding her hand and arm up, yet she still didn't put it down. She waited, staring, face as honest as she could make it. Klaus was a paranoid bastard but if she made it obvious from the get go that she was trustworthy? That would go a long way in dealing with him and the Mikaelson family. So this? This little back and forth, while fun, was really rather important.

Klaus glared, face as frightening as he could get it without going for a full vampire face, before agreeing. "Alright."

"…You have to do it." She said, shaking her hand that was still outstretched between them.

"I'm not doing that. What are you,five?"

"It's not binding if you don't lock pinkies!"

"Fine!" Klaus growled before wrapping his own callused pinky around her for barely a second before pulling it away as if she'd burned him. "Now lead the way."

Lissa grinned, before turning and as she did so her lighthearted grin turned to a smirk. Phase one was done. It was the easiest, sure. But it did bode well for the rest if Klaus continued to be this predictable.

The walk to the 24/7 50s style diner a siphoner friend of hers, Paige, told her about wasn't long and the place was just as run down as described. But it was perfect for the conversation they were going to have. With a place like this the workers wouldn't give two sh*ts if someone was murdered in front of them let alone two weird people having a strange conversation.Especiallythis place if Paige's words were to go by.

Lissa stifled a smile at the look of disgust Klaus developed the minute they'd walked in. Whether it was the thousand years of playing royalty or just a general preference, he really didn't appreciate a good old fashioned sketchy diner like she did.

"You cannot be serious." He scoffed, eyes roaming from the harsh fluorescent lights to the broken linoleum tiles on the floor to the worn down booths that lined the walls, before landing on the old woman that was dressed in what she assumed was the uniform if the 50s style yellow dress was anything to go by. "I think evenIwould catch something here."

"As serious as a heart attack, Snobby Bobby." She laughed. "Now I'll be nice and let you pick where we'll sit."

Klaus ignored her words, already striding over towards the only decent, by the place's standards, booth in the place. Lucky for them, besides some woman that was asleep in the darkest corner of the room it was just the two of them. Once they'd sat down at the chosen booth, the old woman came hobbling over, order pad being pulled out of her apron slowly. Her name tag read 'Mary'.

"What can I get you?" She asked, voice gritty with what Lissa expected was years of cigarette smoking and age.

Klaus' nose scrunched up at the idea of eating or drinking anything here, but before he could say anything the little chit that had brought him here spoke up.

"Hm, I'll have a cheeseburger, no mustard, and some fries." She absentmindedly said, staring down at the menu embedded in the table before turning to Mary. "And can my friend get some warm blood?"

Klaus did a double take at her words. Had she just? "What?"

Mary's voice was as bored as any worker was halfway through a shift as she replied. "Of course. Does he prefer bagged, or vein? Or is he 'vegetarian'?"

Lissa turned to Klaus, who still had a rather confused look on his face, before asking. "Which is it? Vein or bagged?"

"Either," Klaus responded, looking at the two of them before coming back to himself. "What is this place?"

It was Lissa's turn to be confused. Elijah had known about vampire cafés and other supernatural run places in the show. Sure, they weren't prominent but Slater died in one so she figured they knew about them. Was it just Klaus that didn't know or did theoriginal vampiresreally not know about how big the community of supernatural people were around the world? "From what a friend told me, the diner was started as a way for vampires without connections to find some and an easy way to get blood too without having to worry about feeding on living people. Since then it's grown into an all around supernatural diner so everyone from vampires to witches to werewolves to anything in between can come here. We're lucky it's so dead tonight."

Klaus looked around the place with new eyes now. He'd heard rumors of places like this but never made an effort to find out if they actually existed or not. If they were all like this dump he was happy with that decision now.

Once the waitress left, Lissa turned to Klaus, inwardly wincing at his irritated expression. "Where do you want me to start?" She inquired. If he felt like he was in charge it would make this whole interrogation a lot easier. He was already on edge just not knowing what was going on, so if she also took control of the narrative? She'd be 6 feet under faster than she could say 'oops'.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Klaus demanded wasting no time in getting the conversation started.

"I'm Melissa, call me Lissa though. And what I want is for my family to be alive at the end of you breaking your curse." She admitted. Elena wasn't her favorite person by any means, but she was hertwin. Lissa wasn't going to let her die. Not permanently at least.

Klaus leaned back into the booth, shoulders relaxing as he stared at her in contemplation. "And why would I kill your family? I didn't know who you were until you came up to me at the Gala. Let alone your family."

As she opened her mouth to reply, Mary came back with the food and a white mug that, once she sat it down, Lissa could see was filled with blood. Taking a bite of her burger, she let out a surprised hum. It wasn't the worst burger she'd had. Honestly, it was kind of good, in a greasy diner type of way. As she chewed, she watched, fascinated as Klaus smelled the blood before making a 'what the hell' face and taking a sip. Even he seemed to be okay with it.

"Back to the conversation," Lissa started, "Like I told you earlier, I'm not the doppelganger, but I know her-"

Klaus shot forward, leaning across the table to get as close to her as he could. "Who?"

"Hey! If I can't interrupt you, you can't interrupt me. It's only fair."

"Well, Love, it's a good thing I'm not fair."

Lissa pursed her lips at him. She hated being bossed around but considering the guy doing the bossing could kill her with his big toe probably, she'd let it slide. Only until she felt comfortable enough to push his buttons. "As I was saying. I know her. But just having the sacrifices won't allow you to make hybrids."

"What do you mean?" Klaus growled. "You're talking in riddles. Either speak clearly or I'll follow through with my earlier promise and be done with this conversation."

Lissa sighed, throwing her hands in the air, completely over being threatened. "Fine. But you asked for it. Your mother was the biggest c*nt to ever have children. And her curse on you? That was her ultimate 'f*ck you'. You have to havehumandoppelganger blood to change werewolves. She knew you'd just kill the sacrifices without looking deeper into the curse and would screw yourself over."

Klaus stood up from the booth, his cup of blood spilling in his haste. "You lie." He hissed, veins under his eyes darkening in his anger.

Lissa scrambled back towards the window, quickly snapping her fingers on the hand tattooedShieldbefore holding her hands up in the universal symbol for peace. It was only luck that allowed her to get her shield up in time for his hand to slam into it. He'd absolutely been aiming to rip her heart out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not lying! I swear! If you have to, ask a witch you trust to verify it. But would I really come here, risk you killing me and then going for my family, just to tell you a lie?"

Klaus snarled down at the insipid girl banging his fist on the weird invisible wall that had erupted around her. She had powers and yet she still wanted him to believe her? "You swear and swear, yet you come to me knowing too much information, wearing a face that I loathe, throwing magic around, and trying to convince me my mother was an even bigger bitch than she already was?"

Lissa, unable to stop herself, sneered up at him—How dare he! She was trying to get the best outcome foreverybody—before taking a deep breath. As much as she wanted to burn him where he stood, her getting angry and violent back at Klaus wouldn't help the situation. If anything it would damage it even further. She needed to be the sane and calm one this time. If not she'd probably die. Right now it was only her shield keeping the hybrid from ripping her apart, and she didn't know how long she could hold it with the amount of force he was putting into hitting the thing. Even now, her hand felt as if it was cramping up.

"Klaus…please. I'll explain what I can about how I know what I know, even about how I have this face yet aren't the doppelganger. But if you kill me you won't find any of that out." She pleaded, heart pounding as her hand and arm started spasming at the effort of keeping her shield up. She had maybe 30 seconds before it fell without her say so. "You know how much of a bitch your mother was! Would it really surprise you if she put a clause like that on the curse?"

He paused his efforts of breaking down her little wall she'd erected around herself. Focusing down at the pale imitation, he listened to her pounding heart and fast breathing as her body reacted to her fear. Yet still she maintained eye contact with him, her plea to believe her written as plain as day.

Klaus backed up.

"Explain. Thoroughly and I may yet let you live." He demanded sitting back down in the booth. The spilt blood had luckily went towards the front of the table and was dripping onto the broken linoleum. Neither of them paid it any attention.

Lissa let out a shaky breath as she dropped the shield and unsteadily sat back up. Next time she should probably think her words through a bit more and not just blurt stuff out in annoyance. "Will you not interrupt me, please? The story will sound made up and stupid, but I promise,pinky promise, it's the truth."

Klaus curled his lip up in response but agreed to her ask. He wanted answers.

"I know ofAfuture." Lissa started, holding her hand up to stop the words she could already see spilling from the paranoid man's mouth. "Wait, I'm just getting started, just hold on before immediately refusing to listen. I don't get visions or anything like that. I'm not clairvoyant but one day I woke up after sleeping a solid 24 hours and knew a version of the future. The only kicker? The future I saw didn't have me in it."

Klaus scoffed, leaning back into the booth again. The girl, Melissa, was just insane. "You had a vivid dream and suddenly think you know the future?"

"Trust me,I really didn't. Not until I started looking into the things I'd seen. Like vampires. Like you. Hell, like everything to do with the supernatural." Lissa shrugged. This was the story she'd told Enzo many years ago. It was the best way to describe her occasional slip on knowledge. "I went to bed a normal 6 year old, exhausted from playing with her friend, and woke up knowing that the things that go bump in the night were real. So I did what I do best, I researched and I planned. Until I felt it was the best outcome for everyone involved."

Raising an eyebrow at her, Klaus gave the girl a co*cky smirk. "And who are you to decide what'sbest?You fancy yourself a god?"

"Doesn't anyone with a bit of foreknowledge?" She tilted her head, a small smug smile flashing on her face. "But in all seriousness, that research into you and everything else made me realize I could help change things. My family didn't have a good ending in the future I saw. And it really all started once you and your family showed up. That's why I decided to come straight to you." Well that and he was, weirdly enough, the easiest for her to get in touch with. Really, while this works great, Lissa still believed Elijah would have been the easier brother to explain this all to. Like Klaus had said, Mr. You Have My Word really was weak against the face she wore.

"Your family. You've mentioned I go after them in this "future" you saw, but, without you showing up, why would I go near them?" Klaus asked. Now that he'd calmed somewhat, he could see her words about his mother made sense. It would be exactly like her to include needing human doppelganger blood to complete the transition. She truly hated him.

Lissa chuckled a bit, unable to stop herself. "You still haven't realized it yet? My sister, mytwin,is the real doppelganger. I'm what I like to call Nature's Little Oopsy."

"Ah," Klaus muttered to himself. That made a lot more sense. He didn't think a true doppelganger could have such a noticeable mutation like she did. Nature's Little Oopsy was correct. "Hence the need to protect your family. If I didn't know about needing human doppelganger blood I would have killed her and left her dead. Dead for a thousand years and my mother is still screwing me over."

Lissa nodded. She'd seen her fair share of bad mothers, but his was in the top 5 of the worst. "So, you believe me now? No ripping my heart out for trying to deceive you?"

"This is either the truth or the worst lie you could have come up with." Klaus said, voice flat. "You still haven't explained the powers. From what I remember the doppelgangers aren't witchy.Youare certainly witchy."

"Don't know."

"You don't know?"

"What?" Lissa asked, eating a fry. They were a bit cold now, but still edible. Since the danger of dying seemed to have passed her appetite came right back. "I'm only sixteen, I can't have all the answers."

Klaus exhaled through his nose harshly. He wasn't going to kill her, no matter how tempting. She was a wealth of information and so far wasn't opposed to helping him, as long as he didn't hurt her family. If he played this right, he'd have a powerful pawn, if powerful only in information alone. Though that shield had been one of the strongest he'd seen in a while. And done without incantations.

"Okay. I can have a witch do a life transfer spell; we can use it on your sister once I've gathered all the things needed for the ritual. That'll keep her human and you can get her to agree to play blood bag for when I have need of blood." He commanded.

"Actually…no" She winced. "See, shejustlearned about vampires and witches. She doesn't even know the word doppelganger, let alone that she is one. And I doubt she'd listen to me try and convince her to be at your beck and call like you want, we've never gotten along well. And it'll be even worse once she's realized I'm the one that went to you."

"She won't have a choice, and neither will you. I'll kill everyone you two have ever loved one by one until you agree."

"Have you ever thought, just maybe, the death threats were counterproductive to getting what you want?"

"No."

That was a stupid question. Obviously, he hadn't. She had to ask though, cause she was tired of them. Normally she was the one giving the threats, not getting them. She narrowed her eyes at Klaus. He'd just barked at the old waitress to clean the blood up and get him some more. "You ever heard the phrase 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.'?"

"I'm perfectly sweet, Love. Now, since you don't want to agree to my plan yet, what are you thinking?"

"As sweet as pickle juice maybe." She scoffed. "Whatever, and formyplan, you go back to doing whatever you were doing before, find a witch to do the life transfer spell. Give me a couple of months, I'll slowly start leaving hints about the ritual to Elena and get the moonstone."

Klaus let out a bark of humorless laughter. "If you think I'll wait that long to break my curse, you're not just insane. You're stupid."

"Oh, so you have the moonstone, a vampire and werewolf to sacrifice, and a witch to perform the ritual? While in a safe place to do it?" She snarked. She knew damn well he didn't have the moonstone. She had it after all.

She'd stolen it at a party the Lockwoods put on a couple of years ago. She'd known they had it in the safe in the mayor's office, so had snuck away and broken into it. Figuring if she got it now it would nip that whole 'where is it?' 'Who has it?' storyline in the bud. She was just lucky the safe was an older version so it was still decently easy to break into if you knew how to. It had taken her not even 10 minutes to get in, grab it, and get out. Now it sat in the storage unit she had been paying for since she was 13 to hold magical stuff she collected.

He scowled harshly across the table at her, not willing to admit she may have a point. "I'm breaking my curse."

"I didn't say you won't. I'm saying wait a couple of months, get organized, and maybe it'll go a bit more smoothly than if you rushed it." Lissa explained. She had forgotten how impatient Klaus was before going to New Orleans. Seriously, this guy had none of his sh*t together. No wonder Elijah could believe he would be willing to toss his siblings into the middle of the ocean. "And, considering what I know will be going down near me, I can even get you Katherine and a sh*tty prejudiced werewolf for the ritual. Wouldn't it be poetic to use Katherine as the vampire sacrifice since she escaped as the human one?"

Klaus contemplated her words. She was right about the Katerina thing. It really would be poetic, and a great way to punish the woman that had run so many years ago; make her live out the thing she had run from in the first place. "I'll give you 5 months. After that, no matter if your sister accepts it or not, I will be using her in the ritual and getting blood from her."

"I can work with that." She accepted, plans already forming in her head. 5 months would have him coming in around the same time as he did in the show, so if she played it right she could probably get the Salvatores to agree that her plan—to bring Elena back human and donate blood once a week for a year then slow to once a month—would be the best. Especially if the alternative was to be the portable blood bag for Klaus whenever he wanted. Lissa could even get a supernatural lawyer to draw up a contract that everyone could sign. Not that it would stop Klaus if he really wanted it different, but it may make him think twice about what he did. And she knew Elijah would follow it to a T.

"Excellent. Now hand over your phone." He ordered, hand outstretched.

"Why do you want my phone?"

"To put my number in it. Did you think I wasn't going to keep tabs on you?" Klaus snorted. Now that he was aware of the girl, there wasn't any way he would be letting her be.

Lissa rolled her eyes but did hand her phone over. She knew this was how it was going to be until he had a bit of trust—or the Klaus equivalent of trust— but damn, it was putting her on edge knowing that he'd be watching her. Not, directly, but still, he'd want to know what she was doing when it came to his "plan".

"So does that mean I can text you when I want?" She wondered, a joking smile on her face.

Without even looking up from putting his number in her phone Klaus answered a hard "No."

"Come ooon! I'm entertaining. And I bet I'll grow on you."

"Like a bad fungus, I'm sure."

Lissa gasped, hand over her heart. "How rude. And here I thought we were getting along. Maybe even becoming friends.Now you call me a fungus."

"I'mKlaus Mikaelson. I don't have friends." He replied dryly as he slid her phone back over to her. Lissa, curious if he had given himself an alias, started going through her contacts. She smiled a bit as she saw his full name 'Niklaus Mikaelson'. He was such an old man. Why hadn't he just used Klaus? It's not like it wasthatpopular of a name. Snickering, she quickly changed it to 'Fido', locking her phone before the hybrid could get curious about what she was doing.

"My dude, even I have friends and I'm as antisocial as they come. You need at least one person to rely on." She finally said, looking up to the now standing man.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. How had this conversation gone from what it had to the pale girl telling him he needed a friend? "Don't call me dude." He sneered. "And I don't rely on anyone but myself. I'm the only one I can trust."

"Wow, that is sad." She mocked, not caring that the vampire could hear her.

Unwilling to put up with the annoying girl any longer, Klaus decided it was time to leave. "I'll be in touch. If you betray me, I'll hunt down you, your family, yourfriends-" He spat the word friends as if it was poison. "And just about anyone you've ever had a positive feeling for and kill them. Violently."

"Yeah, I got that when you tried to rip my heart out." Lissa waved her hand as if waving his threat away. It wasn't like she planned to betray him, nor was the threat unexpected.

"Good." With that parting word, he walked out the doors of the diner and into the night.

Lissa took a deep breath, slumping over in the booth once he was out of sight. Holy sh*t, that was probably the most terrifying thing she'd ever done. She half expected playing with unstable explosives to be less dangerous than what she'd just done. Klaus Mikaelson was now her tentative ally and all she had to do was convince her insanely stubborn sister to go along with the plan. And her sister's boyfriend…and his brother.

Great.

Reaching up to the table to get a bite of a fry, she scrunched up her nose at the texture. Gross, old fries were never good.

Pausing, Lissa shot up to look around the table and realized-

"That f*cker left me with the bill!"

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

Reaching up to the table to get a bite of a fry, she scrunched up her nose at the texture. Gross, old fries were never good.

Pausing, Lissa shot up to look around the table and realized-

"That f*cker left me with the bill!"

The next day Lissa spent shopping, both for herself and for others. Besides buying way too many clothes, Lissa had stumbled across a metaphysical shop run by an actual witch. Once the woman realized she knew about vampires and everything else, she took her to a back room with more magical stuff. While all the stuff in there had been interesting—there had been a knife that didn't allow the wound to clot or close magically—the only thing she ended up buying was a butterfly necklace that would cloak the user if they closed the wings of the butterfly. It had probably been overpriced but Lissa had always thought cloaking spells were cool and useful yet never been able to find a runic version of them yet.

Hence the need for the necklace.

Now she was packing up since she had an early flight back in the morning and would still have to drive an hour back to Mystic Falls once she landed. Huffing, Lissa gave up trying to get the suitcase she'd brought closed. It wasn't even near zipping. She'd just bought too many clothes and other things for it all to fit in one thing. Looks like she'd have to buy another oneandpay for extra at the airport. That sucks.

Now to decide if she was going to brave the city again or just pay the extra just to get one at the hotel gift shop. Taking a peek out the hotel window to see how traffic was, Lissa grimaced at the packed streets and sidewalks. Gift shop it was.

Paying for a black hard plastic suitcase, she was wheeling it back to her room when she accidentally slammed into a woman walking around the corner.

Grunting, Lissa stepped back in an effort not to fall. "Whoa, watch it." She huffed up at the woman.

"Sorry, Miss. I was off in my own world." The woman replied, not making eye contact with her.

Lissa furrowed her brows. That was weird. Sure, a lot of people don't like eye contact, and normally the pale girl would write it off as just that…except she recognized the woman.

She had been the woman that brushed past her in the square the day of Stefan's party. The only reason Lissa even recognized her was because she had been a new face in Mystic Falls. She made it a point to remember everyone's face that lived there since, in that town, it literally could mean life or death.

"Do I know you?" Lissa asked. "You look familiar, that's all."

The woman's eyes widened just a tiny bit. If she hadn't been looking for it, Lissa would have missed it. "I don't believe so. I think I would remember someone as strikingly beautiful as you." The woman complimented.

"Oh! Thank you." Lissa blushed, reaching out straightening the woman's jacket, before backing away. "Sorry about that. Where we ran into each other was all messed up. Figured I'd straighten it out."

She laughed, waving Lissa off. "No worries. Sorry about running into you again. It was nice meeting you." The woman said, already walking away from the pierced girl.

Lissa waited until she heard the elevator start moving before shaking her arm allowing the wallet she'd snatched when straightening the woman's jacket to fall from her own sleeve. "Gotta love pickpocketing skills. Good thing I'm not too rusty."

Clicking her tongue, the white haired girl made her way back to her room. Leaving the suitcase at the door, she went over to the table to go through the wallet. First thing, ID.

Sarah Lovelane

Lissa stared at the name confused. She'd been expecting a name at least partially familiar, but this one rang absolutely zero bells. Humming in disappointment, she pulled out the cash, only about $200, and credit cards. Once those were out the woman didn't have much left in the wallet that wasn't trash. Fair, Lissa's own wallet was half full of receipts she just hadn't thrown away. But who knows what was helpful, so she decided to go through the scraps of paper. It was close to the end of the stack that she let out a triumphant "ha". There was a handwritten note. It had the Gilbert residence address at the top and just the wordsWatch the defective one.

So this was purely about her. And probably from someone that knew about doppelgangers going by her description. Well, unless they were ableist and were discriminating just because of her albinism, but she doubted that. For as dark as the supernatural world was, they didn't really discriminate that much.

Still,rude. She wasn't defective. If anything her mutation made her prettier. Suck on that, random note writer.

Deciding to deal with this whole thing back in Mystic Falls, Lissa threw the trash and cards away and put the ID, money, and note into her own wallet. She still had to finish putting things away before getting some sleep. Her flight back wasn't until noon but she wanted to get breakfast and coffee before the flight or else she'd probably murder someone in the air. Being stuck in a metal tube with idiots that don't know how to be quiet without caffeine would test a saint's patience, and she was no saint.

Once Enzo and her house came into view, Lissa's shoulders slumped down in relief. It was only 6 in the afternoon but she felt like she'd been awake for days. Next time she had to go somewhere she was just driving. Dealing with TSA and then being stuck with idiots for however long the flight was, drained her more than a long drive ever would. She'd already let Jenna and Jeremy know she'd be staying at Enzo's so she didn't have to worry about that. Lissa was pretty sure Jenna expected her to just move out soon, not that she would. Not just yet.

Heaving her—still—too full suitcases out of the back of the SUV, she hurried inside. Tilting her head at the sound of talking and smell of cooking, Lissa left the two suitcases at the door and made her way to the kitchen. Pushing the swinging door open, she involuntarily grinned at the sight that greeted her. Enzo and Caroline were at the stove, clearly bickering about something they were doing. Enzo had her skirt apron on covered in flour while Caroline was repping her own mess on what Lissa knew was an old shirt of Enzo's. To top off the scene was Jeremy sitting at the dining table with what looked to be a chunk of tomato in his hair drinking one of Lissa's strawberry daiquiris.

"Well, isn't this a cozy scene?" Lissa chuckled, leaning against the door frame. All three heads flipped towards her, matching smiles appearing.

"You weren't supposed to be here for another hour!" Caroline squealed, wiping her hands on the shirt before running over to pull her into a hug. Enzo followed at a more reasonable pace, but did get his own hug once Caroline had let go.

Lissa shrugged. "Yeah, they had an earlier flight open up that was a direct line from New York to here so I took it. Wasn't expecting a tiny welcome home party so didn't think to tell anyone."

"I told them you would somehow ruin the surprise," Jeremy said from the table. "Yet both swore they'd get it all done by the time you got here."

Caroline shot a tiny glare at Jeremy as she walked back over to the stove. "It would have been perfect if she didn't get here early! I had it perfectly planned."

Jeremy, knowing better than to disagree with Caroline Forbes on planning, just nodded along. It was safer that way.

"That girl is a tiny bit frightening. She gave me anitineraryfor tonight. Like this was some big party and not just us wanting to surprise you." Enzo whispered in her ear.

"I canhear you!"

Enzo's hands went up as an innocent smile flitted across his face. "I respect it. Doesn't mean it's not scary, Blondie."

Lissa laughed as she walked to the fridge, stopping to mess with Jeremy's hair, dodging the swat he tried to get her with. "I see you got into my drinks. Didn't want one of Enzo's beers, huh?"

"Eh, your stuff tastes better."

"You're not wrong, brother dearest." She said sitting down across from him at the round dining table. "Now Care, after you put those pizzas in the oven, you'll wanna get your own drink, cause it's time we had a conversation that's been a long time coming."

Caroline narrowed her eyes over at her best friend. She knew the pale girl had been hiding stuff from her for a while. She was a good liar, one of the best really, but some stuff just didn't make sense, especially recently. Of course, she'd wanted to interrogate her, but Caroline had learned early on it was sometimes easier to just wait for Lissa to just come to you—even if it did kill her to do it. Closing the oven door, the blonde sat down in the middle of Jeremy and Lissa, her own strawberry daiquiri in front of her now.

"I'm guessing the trip to New York went well if you're telling her." Enzo commented, sitting in the last open chair.

"About as well as it could have, yeah. Few death threats, some diabolical planning, you know how vacations go." Lissa agreed before meeting Caroline's curious eyes. "What I'm going to tell you will change your world view, you sure you want to know?"

Caroline glanced at Jeremy and Enzo, both of them giving her their own version of comforting looks. "I want to know."

"Alright." Lissa said before starting the long explanation of the supernatural.

It was more in depth than she'd given both Elena and Jeremy. Caroline hung on every word, eyes intense as she stared at all three of them. Jeremy himself had reacted to the few things that were new to him. Lissa, knowing it was best to get all three of her people on the same wavelength, told them as much as she could. She left out knowing the future, not wanting to really spook Caroline and Jeremy, but she did mention and show her fire and shield. Lissa even outed Sheila and Bonnie, but told them not to let on that they knew. It was a couple hours and four pizzas later that the explanations finally wound down.

"…So vampires, witches, and werewolves are a thing. You're some type of failed witch ingredient that's caused you to be magical but not. Enzo, Damon, and Stefan were already vampires and Kennedy is a new one. Bonnie is a witch and Elena is something called a Doppelganger but doesn't know any of this besides the basic knowledge and the Bonnie thing." Caroline summarized. "Anything else?"

"I spent my trip to New York making a deal with an original vampire about sacrificing my sister but bringing her back because he needed her blood to make special werewolf, vampire hybrids." Lissa added. "Oh, and I found out I was being followed but not why."

"You're sacrificing Elena!?" Jeremy accused, leaning forward in anger. "She's your twin. Our sister."

Lissa, in an opposite move, leaned back and crossed legs. "If you'd have listened to me I also mentioned the fact she would be brought back to life. We don't get along but I'm not going to let her perma die. God, Jer, I'm a psychopath but not heartless."

"That's kind of exactly what psychopath means, though." Caroline whispered to herself.

Enzo, seeing an impending fight between the siblings, interrupted. "What do you mean you're being followed?"

"I mean a new woman in Mystic Falls turned up at the same hotel in New York. There's no way that's a coincidence." Lissa explained.

Enzo nodded. That was a fair assumption. He'd have to keep an eye out for anyone else. Who's to know if she would be the only one to follow Lissa.

Caroline, unlike Enzo, was skeptical. "Wait, what if it was just a weird coincidence? It happens. It's kind of wrong to just assume that someone is up to no good."

"Oh I also stole her wallet and found a note saying to follow me."

"Nevermind, then."

The rest of the night was spent with Caroline and Jeremy asking questions about the supernatural and Lissa and Enzo answering as best as they could. More like Lissa answering, while Enzo knew a lot, hehadbeen kept captive for decades. He never got the opportunity until recently to explore the community like Lissa had.

Finally, around 2AM, Jeremy passed out on their couch signaling the end of the Q and A. Caroline, a bit too tipsy to drive after all the revelations, just crashed with Lissa in her bed.

It was a couple days later that Lissa woke to her phone ringing nonstop. Groaning, she felt around beside her for her phone before finally finding it under the pillow.

"What?" She snapped, voice rough from just waking up.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine." Damon's chipper tone came from her phone causing the pale girl to make a disgusted face. It was too early to deal with Damon's shenanigans. "I was just calling to see if you've talked to Kennedy about the crystal necklace?"

"Honestly, Damon, I forgot I was supposed to be getting that."

"Well, unforget, Snow Princess, because I need that crystal." Damon demanded. "And Kennedy still won't talk to me so it's up to you to get it."

"For f*cks sake, it is…" Lissa turned to check her clock, sighing at the early hour. "7AM on a Saturday. Couldn't you wait like two hours before you make me get up?"

Damon rolled his eyes on his end. Teenagers. "If you had held up your end before this, I wouldn't have called you this early. Sadly, looks like you didn't. Ergo, time to get up."

"Fine, I'll go talk to her but I want you to know I'm visualizing gouging your eyes out with hot pokers." Lissa said, ending the call before the vampire could reply and flopping her arm back across her bed.

"Damon sucks."

"Don't know what he did but I agree." Enzo remarked walking past her open bedroom door causing the sleepy girl to smile. Lissa stared at her ceiling just trying to get her motivation to go about her day. The past few days had been spent getting further ahead in homework, doing some finance rearranging and going over her investments for the holiday season that was coming up, before ending with a couple calls to some of her contacts to see if they could look into who Sarah Lovelane was.

So far none had gotten back to her, but she hadn't expected them to just yet. Her biggest hope was Jason, he was normally the one that came through for her with information, while she sent him business anytime she came across a human that needed a few new trinkets against vampires or other things that go bump in the night.

"Bleh" She scrunched her nose up before forcing herself out of bed. Why the hell had she agreed to get that necklace again?

Walking over to her bathroom, Lissa sent a text to Kennedy to meet up with her at The Grill for breakfast. Lucky for her, Kennedy was an early riser so by the time she was done with her rather speedy shower, she already had an okay text back.

Hair still wrapped up, Lissa looked over her closet at this house. The one bad thing about basically living at two different houses? She never knew what clothes she had where. And with the seasons changing it was starting to annoy her. Deciding that it was a baggy camo cargo pants day, she tucked a tight long sleeve black shirt in those and put on some black chunky tennis shoes. Looking in the mirror, she shrugged. Good enough, not like there was anyone to impress in this town.

Stopping by the kitchen, she let Enzo know she was leaving and probably was going to be at the Gilbert house that night, so if he needed her to just text. Grabbing her wallet, phone, and keys, she left the house.

Yawning as she walked through the doors to The Grill, she stared dead eyed at the chipper girl sitting at one of the tables. Of course Kennedy was a morning person, because why wouldn't she be? Couldn't the girl benotannoying in anything she did? Lissa was certain the way she opened her mouth to talk annoyed her.

"Good morning!"

"Oh f*ck off Kennedy, how are you so happy so early on a Saturday?" Lissa grumbled. She'd pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, not wanting to be that asshole that wore them inside, before laying her head down onto the cool table.

"I am just enjoying being out in the sun still. After three days of never being able to even touch sunlight I've grown to love it now." Kennedy smiled as happy-go-lucky as she'd ever seen her.

Lissa snorted in disbelief before raising her head up to look at the other girl. "And the truth?"

"I got laid by averyattractive man. And he wasn't Damon."

"Nowthatmakes a lot more sense."

Before Kennedy could reply, the waitress, someone Lissa only recognized as a girl that graduated a couple years ago, came by to take their orders. Kennedy only ordered some fresh fruit and an iced coffee. Next to that order, Lissa's full breakfast with extra bacon and black coffee really made her look like a glutton if the waitress' reaction was to go buy. Good thing the pale girl didn't care. In this life she could eat as much as she wanted yet still didn't seem to gain weight and if she did it was only a couple of pounds. Even if she did, it wasn't like she cared what she weighed.

"You saving room for a bloody Mary later?" Lissa joked.

Kennedy scoffed. "No,someof us actually care about our figure."

"Kennedy, you're dead. You don't gain weight, except if you gorge yourself onpeople."

"It's the principal of the matter."

Lissa rolled her eyes, mocking the other girl's words. "Anyway, I didn't just ask you here because I enjoy your company, actually I kind of hate your company."

Kennedy raised an eyebrow. But let the insult slide off her, she was used to it at this point, having spent more time with the pierced girl this past month or so than ever before.

Just as Lissa was going to continue the waitress came back, after dropping their food off, she ripped the ticket off her order pad and left it with them. Taking a bite of food, she started. "As you've probably started remembering, Damon basically used you as a play thing, right?"

Kennedy flared her nostrils as her lips pursed. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me."

"Yeah, traumatic I'm sure." Lissa dismissed. "But he says he gave you this ugly yellow crystal necklace for safe keeping, do you know where it is? He's on my ass about getting it since you won't talk to him."

"Old thing that kind of looks like it would be on some grandma from the 1800s?"

"Yeah! That's it."

Kennedy shrugged, eating a slice of strawberry. "I gave it to Bonnie, you'll have to ask her."

"Bonnie?" Lissa asked, flabbergasted. "Bonnie Bennett? You two aren't even friends. Why'd you give it to her?"

At her question the vampire paused and looked off behind Lissa. It was a moment before she answered. "I…just felt like she should have it. It should have been hers."

Lissa stopped eating and let her shoulders slump. Emily Bennett. That sentence was pure Emily. She must have gotten into Kennedy's head somehow. Dream, general dead witchy stuff, something to plant the idea of giving the necklace to Bonnie. Having figured it out, she snapped her fingers in front of the dark haired girl's face. "YooHoo, Earth to Kennedy. You can stop being weird now."

Kennedy came back to herself, shaking her head as if to clear away something. "Yeah, so I gave it to Bonnie. If you want it back, ask her."

Lissa just nodded as she waved the waitress down to get a box for her food. She'd have to stop by the Boarding House to talk to Damon. Maybe if she worded things right they could bypass Damon almost killing Bonnie and his whole redemption arc that was multiple seasons long between those two. If not, eh, she tried.

Saying bye to Kennedy, she left money for the food and tip on the table and made her way back to the SUV and to the Boarding House. Pulling in she was happy to see Damon's car in the driveway. Less happy to also see Stefan's but what can you do?

Letting herself in, Lissa announced herself with a loud "Knock knock. Daymee-Poo, I have some information~"

Damon sauntered into the room, disgusted look on his face. "I don't know what that was but never do it again." He let out a scoff. "Daymee-Poo. Gross"

"Aw but here I am being the nicest person ever bringing you informationandleftover breakfast." Lissa preened, holding the leftover box as if it was an ultimate prize to be desired.

"I suppose I can make an exception for information and food." Damon relented, grabbing at the food box. Opening it he made an appreciative sound. "Ooh, pancakes and hash browns. You even saved me a piece of bacon. Gasp! You do love me!"

Stefan, drawn to the playful banter, walked into the kitchen that the two of them had relocated to. "Hello, Lissa. How are you?"

Lissa stopped moving, staying completely still before whispering. "If I don't move do you think he'll go away?"

Damon started laughing as Stefan looked at her disappointed that shestilldidn't like him. He didn't even know why. They'd never really had any arguments like her and Damon, nor had he done anything to her. Lissa's hatred of him left him baffled. "I'm not a dinosaur, despite what you would say about my age."

"sh*t, well I tried."

Damon grinned at her. It wasn't normal people chose him over the "nice" brother. "Stefan does so like to rain on people's parades. Now, sit, did you get the crystal?"

"What crystal?" Stefan asked. He was surprised that Damon had even brought someone into his plans, let alone some human girl. Glancing over at Lissa, Stefan realized it may be because she was different enough from Katherine he wasn't reminded of the past yet still had that same look. "I hadn't realized you'd shared why you were in Mystic Falls with anyone, Damon."

"Just the Snow Princess here, brother. Don't worry, you'll be the next one I go to when I decide to spill my guts." Damon assured. "Now, shoo. The adults are talking."

Stefan opened his mouth to argue–Lissa wasn't even an adult!–but remembering that he was still pissed at Damon for even thinking of killing Lexi, he gave Damon a dirty look before leaving the Boarding House.

"Hmm, still holding your attempted murder of Lexi against you, huh?" She asked, hopping up onto the counter, while Damon pulled a barstool to the island and started eating the leftovers.

Still chewing, Damon shrugged. "Itsh nat life I ashually dif it"

"Swallow your food before talking. I know damn well you weren't raised in a barn."

Damon's reply was to exaggeratedly swallow his food before showing her his empty mouth. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." She said, voice as dry as the desert. Deciding to annoy someone while Damon ate, she pulled out her phone and smiled. She could text Klaus. She'd texted him a few times over the week, mainly to bitch about the idiots in town…and once about Enzo eating the last of her cheesecake she'd bought. Surprisingly enough he'd played along, even sent her a new cheesecake–something about if he read one more text about her missing cheesecake he wouldn't have to break his curse because he was going to off himself. Which,dramatic.

Snapping a picture of Damon, cheeks puffed up with syrup on the edge of his mouth, she sent it to the hybrid with the caption :Damon Salvatore apparently eats as messily as his brother.

Was that going to bite her in the ass? Probably, but at least it was funny. So far, Klaus hasn't really mentioned herknowledgeand it was making her nervous. She knew the man well enough that he used every opportunity to his advantage and she was definitely a big opportunity for him.

"Now what did you find out from Kennedy?" Damon finally questioned once all the food was gone.

Lissa let out a sympathetic 'ooh' at the question. "Yeah, so, Kennedy gave it away."

"She what!" Damon growled standing up to flash towards the door. That no good bratz doll wannabe. He was going to kill her.

"Listen, as much as I want you to go rip her heart out because I gain about as much joy seeing her as I do a pile of dog sh*t" Lissa started. "Itprobablywasn't her fault." She admitted, face looking miserable to be doing so.

Damon looked back at Lissa, who hadn't moved from the counter. As if he cared if it was the girl's fault she gave his necklace away or not. That was his ticket to getting Katherine out. "How do you suppose I should go about finding who has the necklace then? Want me to tickle it out of her?"

She shot the vampire an unamused look. "No, Iwantyou to sit back down and stop jumping to conclusions before I give you all the information." She rolled her eyes. "You're over a hundred years old, Damon, learn some patience. It is a virtue after all."

Damon scowled but did listen to her. Something told Lissa this wasn't going to be the last time she had to talk Damon out of doing something rash that would f*ck plans up. Kennedy's death wouldn't really do much harm but she was trying to keep the image of 'psychotic but with a touch of caring' that she'd cultivated over the years. Did she care about the people in Mystic Falls? Absolutely not. But if she just let him go out killing any teenager that pissed him off that image would probably break pretty easily.

"Thank you. Now what dead witch owned the necklace before you got a hold of it?" Lissa calmly inquired.

"And that matters why? Do you want me to hold a séance and ask the dead to guide me to it?" Damon asked sarcastically, standing up again to grab some bourbon they had on the counter.

Lissa just looked at the vampire, deadpanned. "Because, smartass, I think they influenced Kennedy to give the necklace to Bonnie."

"You knew who had it?"

"Obviously. I know everything."

Damon pursed his lips as he turned to the co*cky girl. He didn't appreciate her riling him up like that. And she knew what she was doing too if her smirk was anything to go by. "Alright then, Snow Princess. If you knoweverything, whywould Kennedy, who was about as vocal about her dislike of the Baby Bennett as she was of you, give her a necklace?"

Tilting her head back and forth as she contemplated mentioning the necklace being possessed, Lissa decided f*ck it. She'd never like Emily Bennett. "Kennedy wasminorlypossessed by the former owner, who I'm going to guess was a Bennet witch."

"How do you know that? Did she decide to reenact The Exorcism or something?" Damon frowned.

"Actually, she did. Head spun around and everything." Lissa scoffed. What did he think possession was? "No, you incompetent vampire, it was just how she acted; like she'd been compelled to give it to Bonnie. And I know she wasn't compelled."

Damon gave her an offended look before downing his last finger of bourbon. "Alright, no need for name calling. So you just have to get the necklace from Bonnie now. No big deal."

"I don't have to do sh*t." Lissa stated, jumping down from the counter. "Our deal was that I'd get the necklace from Kennedy. Kennedy doesn't have it. Deal's null and void."

Damon slapped his empty glass down onto the counter, barely soft enough that it didn't shatter. "Let's make a new deal then."

"No," She shook her head, chuckling as she did. "Witches will f*ck you over dead or alive, Bennett witches especially. The girl may not know much about her powers right now, but I'm not getting on Bonnie's bad side just becauseyoumade a bad choice." Lissa started walking back towards the front door, knowing Damon's patience had run out. "Let me know how it goes getting the crystal. I'm sure it'll be a blast."

She grinned hearing a thud from behind. Damon had rushed at her—just as she suspected him to—and run full force into her shield she'd put across the kitchen entryway. He should know by now that she was always two or three steps ahead of him. Lissa pissed off enough people over the years that she knew when to expect an attack, Damon wasn't unpredictable enough not to know when he was going to go for her.

"Better luck next time,Daymee-poo~"

Thankfully the rest of the month passed without much fanfare. They'd somehow got through averyawkward Thanksgiving dinner that included Jenna, Jeremy, Elena, her, for some reasonbothSalvatores, and Enzo. Caroline had shown up halfway through eating with her death by chocolate cake and murder in her eyes.

The blonde had told her later that night as they both laid in her bed in the attic that her dad's boyfriend's daughter had purposefully spilled red wine on her tan top just to get Caroline to leave early. Something about her not being wanted. Lissa just comforted her best friend as she cried over the annoying girl before offering to "dispose" of her.

Caroline, being the good person she was, refused with a wet laugh.

"This Care-Bear, is why you're such a better person than me. I'd have gutted her where she stood." Lissa had joked.

Caroline agreed with a touched smile before turning over and going to sleep for the night. She really had chosen the best friend back in kindergarten, even if she was missing a few morals.

After a calm weekend of doing homework, annoying Klaus via text—I'm beginning to realize giving you my number has taken away any sort of healthy fear you feel towards me—and trying—then failing—to get back into her mindscape. She had hoped to get back into it to see if there was any sign on what caused the voice. It hadn't shown up until she did that runic spell so the only lead she had was the mindscape.

But no matter how much meditation, sleep, or overall peace she got, she never got back into the hallway with doors.

Getting dressed in a pair of high waisted black skinny jeans, a red and black striped turtleneck, and a cropped leather jacket, she bounced down the stairs, large platform boots causing a loud thud with each step she took.

Quickly making herself an iced coffee in her red tumbler, she yelled up the stairs for Elena and Jeremy to hurry up. She had agreed to drive them to school since Jenna was taking Elena's car to get an oil change and if they weren't down there soon all three of them were going to be late.

Lucky for them all, both her siblings came hurrying down the stairs, book bags swinging against them as they did.

"Could you two have cut it any closer?" She griped as they walked out the door.

Elena and Jeremy glanced at each other and snickered. It was always funny that the sibling that no one would expect to be serious about school, actually was. Lissa was the one with a 4.0 GPA, advanced classes, and even graduating early, while the other two were just average, or in Jeremy's current case, below average. The only mark against Lissa was she skipped school a bit too much. Not that the teachers could say anything since her work was always in on time and normally almost perfect every time.

Once they were at the school all three of them separated, Jeremy went to hang out with his friends, Elena went to talk to Caroline, and Lissa had to run to the history classroom. She had a question about the essay that was due at the end of the week.

Lissa was digging through her backpack trying to find her history folder when she walked through the classroom doorway. "Mrs. Stapleton, I had a question about-"

Cutting herself off as she looked up and saw not Mrs. Stapleton the long-term substitute teacher they'd had since Tanner's death, but instead someone she knew as Alaric Saltzman. Seriously, it was a bit disconcerting how much everyone looked like the actors that played them.

"You…are not Mrs. Stapleton." She stated awkwardly as she stayed standing in the doorway, checkered folder in hand.

Chuckling, Alaric shook his head. "No, I would say I am not." He gestured to come inside the classroom. "Come in, I'm Alaric Saltzman. Yes, I know it's a mouthful. Just call me Ric. And you are?"

Smiling, Lissa walked inside and dropped her bag on one of the front desks. "Melissa Gilbert. Just call me Lissa." She joked. "If you've read Tanner's notes I'm sure you know a bit about me." If Jeremy had his own folder, she was certain there was at leastsomethingsaid about her in Tanner's notes. They had an unspoken—and spoken—hatred of one another.

"You were not what I was expecting, going by the man's…many notes." Alaric grimaced as he thought about the words the old history teacher had used to describe the young girl in front of him.

"Called me a cheating bitch, didn't he?" Lissa grinned smugly. She took pride in her downright menace status that she'd had with Tanner. f*ck that man, he deserved getting his throat ripped out by Damon. Now that she thought about it she never did thank Damon for doing that.

The history teacher cleared his throat awkwardly. "Among other things, yes. But don't worry, I burned those pages as soon as I could. While the Jackass file, that now I realize is probably all about your brother, was something I didn't feel too bad keeping if just to throw away later. The things he wrote about you were…cruel, to say the least."

Lissa waved her hand at him. She didn't care what the bitter man had said about her. "Thanks for that, though I really didn't care about him or his opinion. I only started the feud with him because first day of my freshman year he insinuated that women were stupid." She scowled just thinking about Tanner's sexist remarks over the years. "Hence, the "stupid girl" that got all 100%'s on his tests. He'd taken to giving me my own tests, different from everyone else's just to try and prove I was cheating."

"The more I learn about this man, the more I dislike him." Alaric shook his head. "Anyway, you clearly came in for something. What can I help you with?"

"Oh, yeah! I had a couple questions about the essay that Mrs. Stapleton was having us do in AP-History." Lissa started before going in on her inquiries. Since the AP class was so small, the sub had given each of them a decade in American history and it was up to them to go over each event and how it affected the country in later years to come. Lissa had been the lucky—in her opinion—recipient of the 1970s. Nixon, Watergate, Vietnam, there was a whole slew of things she was wanting to write about.

The rest of the time before first period was spent going back and forth with Alaric about how she could go about tying all that together and expunging on how it was still affecting American politics now. They both agreed on a lot of stuff, including their shared hatred of Richard Nixon, so it was generally an enjoyable half an hour.

As the bell rang overhead, the two of them jumped. They had gotten so drawn in on their debate on which events were more impactful that neither had realized the time.

"Oh, damn. I didn't even notice the time. I don't think I've debated like that over US History since back in college." Alaric admitted scratching the back of his head. "Here, I'll write you a note so you don't get in trouble with your first period teacher."

"Thanks, I have chemistry first and Ms. Steele, while nice, hates when people are late." Lissa said, grabbing the sticky note Alaric had written on before grabbing her bag, waving bye as she wove through the entering students.

After school Lissa drove Caroline and herself to the Gilbert house. Enzo apparently decided he needed vein blood instead of the bagged stuff so was going to a bar a couple towns over for the night. That left the two of them to hang out without him. Elena had texted earlier asking them to stay over with Bonnie since she was being haunted—Elena's words—so they had picked up a bunch of food at The Grill and some movies to watch.

"So he said 'hey' twice to me today after a month of awkward no talking he decided to start doing 'hey' again! And when I confronted him on it, he called me Lame-Girl! ME!" Caroline ranted. "I'm not lame. You wouldn't be my friend if I was lame.He'slame. That's why you don't like him."

"Well…" Lissa tilted her head side to side. "There's not really one solid reason I dislike Matt, but sure we'll go with it's because he's lame."

"Ha! I'll tell him that next time. See what he thinks of that." Caroline huffed before stepping out of the now parked SUV. "I'll grab the food if you grab the movies."

Lissa chuckled and she gave the fuming girl a thumbs up. Somehow, Lissa doubted Matt was going to care if she thought he was lame. Grabbing the movies—really Caroline? Four horror movies and two rom coms?— Lissa walked inside and sat them down on the living room coffee table to choose from later. Just as she turned to find Elena standing a tad too close.

"Whoa, I know we shared a womb, 'Lena, but we don't need to be that close together anymore." Lissa said, taking a step back.

"I need to talk to you."

"Ooh-kay" She muttered, confused.

Elena grabbed her twin's hand and dragged her back towards the porch outside. Once outside, the dark haired girl glanced inside to make sure Bonnie and Caroline were preoccupied with the food. "I've talked to Stefan about this but you seem to understand him better. You need to get Damon to back off Bonnie."

"Listen, Elena, if Damon is bothering Bonnie, I have no part in it. Plus he's only been bothering her for like two weeks. It can't be that bad."

"I know you don't have a part in it, but you and Damon are friends, for some insane reason, you can get him to quit threatening her." Elena insisted. "He did that today, by the way, threatened Bonnie.That'show bad it's gotten in just two weeks."

Lissa shrugged, lost on why she was so adamant that she could help. "Damon and I are, at most, frienemies. And he's not just going to stop because one or two people ask him to. From what I understand that crystal is going to help him with whatever he came to Mystic Falls for."

Elena sighed. That was just great. That meant Damon was probably never going to give up on that crystal. At least Bonnie had gotten rid of it on the drive here. They can just tell Damon the general area and hope for the best. He should leave Bonnie alone now that the crystal isn't in her possession.

"What the hell!" Bonnie yelled from inside. "How is this here?"

Lissa and Elena glanced at each other before hurrying inside.

Bonnie stood next to her bag, staring down at it, horror on her face. Caroline stood at the counter looking both confused and concerned. Once the two of them were in sight, Bonnie turned to Elena and demanded, "I threw that necklace into a field right? I didn't imagine that?"

"I saw you. The necklace went flying. Why, Bonnie? What's going on?"

"If I threw it away, then what'sthisdoing here?" She shrieked, jerking her fist up. Hanging from it was a very ugly old necklace with a yellow crystal. Lissa grimaced at the necklace. She'd forgotten about how creepy Emily Bennett had been to Bonnie. She respects the creepiness, but damn. If she was trying to endear herself to the newbie witch, that was not the way to do it.

Watching as Elena and Bonnie freaked out over the necklace, Lissa walked over to Caroline, who had stayed in the kitchen, a bit away from the freakout. "I said it once, I'll say it again; Witches, dead or alive, will f*ck you over." She whispered to her blonde friend.

"Does that include Bonnie?" Caroline whispered back, eyes not leaving the two girls in the dining area.

"Eh, to be determined."

Elena turned to the two of them, face determined. "We need to see why Emily is haunting Bonnie."

Caroline gave the dark haired girls a confused look. "Who's Emily?"

"The ghost, Caroline." Bonnie explained walking into the kitchen necklace clutched in her whitening fist.

"We've named it now?"

Lissa shook her head. "No, Care, it came with a name. It's her ancestor."

"How do you know that?" Bonnie questioned, suspicion coloring her tone. "I never told you that."

f*ck, she hadn't. Thinking up a lie, Lissa leaned back against the counter, picture of nonchalance. "You and Elena aren't that good of whisperers. I eavesdropped."

Elena scoffed. That was just like her sister, telling others to keep out of her business yet sticking her nose in other people's problems.

Caroline, pushed off the counter she'd been leaning on next to Lissa, and turned to Bonnie. "Since we have a name and something connected to her, why don't we do a séance? You can just ask the ghost, Emily sorry, about what she wants."

"Or…how about not? Doing a séance with normal people and normal ghosts are one thing." Lissa explained. "But doing a séance with a witch and a ghost witch, especially one between ancestors, is just asking for a full possession,"

"Oh, hush, I didn't ask you." Caroline waved her hand at the pale girl without looking away from Bonnie. "Bonnie, do you want to know what Emily wants?"

Bonnie stared at Caroline's determined eyes before glancing over at Lissa, who didn't really look worried despite telling her she could get possessed if she did the séance. "Elena, what do you think?" She asked wanting the opinion of the girl that was as good as her sister.

Lissa discretely rolled her eyes. She'd warned Bonnie not to do the séance. Now if they did it, that was on them.

"…I think you should do it. Lissa's warning is scary, yes, but isn't living with being haunted also scary?" Elena muttered.

Bonnie nodded. "We're doing a séance."

Great, well, she wasn't going to stop Damon when he attacked Bonnie/Emily. If Bonnie wanted to be stupid and get possessed by a dead witch bitch that was knowingly pissing off a vampire that was stronger than Bonnie, then she can. Lissa was done playing nice with them. She tried the 'gear them a different way' now she was just going to go along for the ride and afterwards tell them a very sweet "I told you so."

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

Bonnie nodded. "We're doing a séance."

Great, well, she wasn't going to stop Damon when he attacked Bonnie/Emily. If Bonnie wanted to be stupid and get possessed by a dead witch bitch that was knowingly pissing off a vampire that was stronger than Bonnie, then she can. Lissa was done playing nice with them. She tried the 'gear them a different way' now she was just going to go along for the ride and afterwards tell them a very sweet "I told you so."

After refusing to participate in the séance, despite the pleading of Caroline, Lissa sat in the living room listening to Caroline and Elena freak out as Bonnie had, much like she'd said would happen, gotten possessed. Or was currently getting possessed? She didn't know the right terminology.

Either way, Bonnie was trapped in the bathroom with the haunted crystal.

"Lissa! Come help! Something is happening to Bonnie!" Elena yelled from upstairs.

She rolled her eyes as she sighed and stood up. Walking up the stairs she listened as Caroline and Elena continued to bang on the bathroom doors. Once she was at the bathroom herself she lightly pushed the two frantic girls out of the way and gave the door one big thump.

"Emily, I think it's time to stop being a dramatic bitch and come out."

There was a pause of silence from everyone before the sound of the lock clicking came. Slowly the bathroom door opened and Bonnie came walking out, face devoid of emotions.

"I must go." She insisted, walking past Elena who followed behind her, asking if she was okay.

Caroline, unlike Elena, stayed with Lissa upstairs. "That wasn't Bonnie, was it?"

"No, no it was not." She shook her head, before nudging the silent girl. "Now come on, I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to go on a search for her. Knowing how dramatic witches are, Emily probably just booked it without saying anything."

As the two made their way to where Elena could be heard freaking out over the phone to Stefan, Lissa studied the rather calm Caroline. This was her first bout with the supernatural, if you didn't count Enzo showing his vamp face nor Lissa's own runic tattoos. This was real, and was affecting her friend.

Lissa was proud that the blonde wasn't freaking out, despite knowing that she probably wanted to. A lot of times people forget that Caroline, for all her girly-girlness, was raised the Sheriff's daughter and Lissa's own best friend. If that didn't prepare a person for high stress situations, she didn't know what did.

Just as the two of them got to the entryway to see Elena tugging on the door as hard as she could, Jeremy barged right through causing the brunette girl to let out a scream. "Whoa, Elena. You okay?"

"She's fine, Jer. Just had an eventful night that's all. I'll tell you about it later, why don't you go upstairs?" Lissa spoke up.

Jeremy glanced between all three girls before shrugging and going to his room. If Lissa hadn't asked for his help, she didn't need it. Plus, whatever was going on looked really dramatic and he had research he needed to do for that extra credit.

Elena turned to Lissa, eyes wide in her fear for her best friend. "Bonnie…or Emily whichever one, said something about going to where it began. You guessed that Emily would try and possess Bonnie, do you have an idea on where that is?"

Lissa bit her lip. She could circumvent a lot by telling her but she kind of thought Bonnie deserved being bit. She'd warned all of them about what could happen if they did the séance, yet they blew off her warning as if she didn't know what she was talking about. "There's a bunch of places it could be. Why don't you go with Stefan-" She nodded out towards the porch where said man was walking up the stairs. "And I'll take Caroline to a couple."

"Caroline?!" Elena exclaimed, looking at the abnormally quiet girl. "Lissa, how are we going to explain-"

"You don't have to explain anything, Elena. Lis already spilled the whole can of vampire worms." Caroline said locking elbows with Lissa. She didn't know why, but she felt like Elena didn't like her knowing about vampires and other supernatural things. Which was stupid, in her opinion. If she didn't know about them, how could she protect herself from them? Caroline understood hermomkeeping it from her, she was the sheriff. It was part of her job to keep things from people. But Elena was just a fellow teenage girl, she didn't have the right to decide that for her.

Before Elena could go on a tirade about keeping secrets or whatever self-righteous thing she was going to say, Stefan urged her to let it go. "Elena, we don't have time for this right now. We need to find Emily before she does something that would harm Bonnie."

Elena nodded and grabbed Stefan's hand as they made their way to his car in the driveway. As they drove off, Lissa turned to Caroline. "Come on, I know where she is."

"Wait if you know where she is, why didn't you just tell them? Wouldn't it be better for all of us to go? I mean…if Bonnie is possessed wouldn't her friends be able to help her?" Caroline wrung her hands as she asked her questions.

"Naw," Lissa replied, starting the SUV as she did. They needed to get to the old Fells church before Elena and Stefan. Hopefully Damon won't have pissed Emily off too much."Elena may not be the problem but with her comes Stefan, and considering Damon will already be where we're going? Best if they turn up later."

Caroline wiggled in her seat as the seriousness of the situation settled over her the longer they drove. People could get hurt.Shecould get hurt. Bonnie was already hurt, even if it was just emotionally from being possessed. Picking at a hangnail, she winced as it started bleeding. Great, exactly what she needed when she knew she would be around vampires.

Frowning, she jumped as a chalk white hand grabbed her own. Looking up, Caroline met the concerned eyes of her best friend. "You good? Sure you wanna jump feet first into this? I can stop by your house to drop you off before going to the church?" Lissa offered. Which was just like her. She'd just said they needed to get to the Old Fells church quickly yet not five minutes later offering to waste time dropping her off home.

"You mean, am I good after one of my closest friends besides you gets possessed by her dead great something grandmother who's also a witch? And the only reason she was even able to possess said friend is because I didn't listen to your warning about a séance thus opening her up to the possession?" Caroline wheezed. "Yeah, I suppose other than that I'm good."

"Atta girl." Lissa praised, smile on her face as they finally pulled up to the area around the church. If Caroline was able to panic explain things then she was doing just fine. It's when Caroline was short with her answers that you wanted to worry.

Looking around the woods near the church, Lissa still wasn't certainwhyshe wanted to deal with Emily. She'd already decided that the situation wasn't really salvageable. The minute Bonnie got possessed she knew the crystal was going to be destroyed. Maybe to give Caroline a chance to see what life was like in the supernatural? This would be the perfect chance, even if it may turn the blonde off of Damon for a while.

Lissa mentally shrugged.Eh, winging it hasn't gone wrong yet.She thought as they started towards where they could hear talking.

Your problems are oh so entertaining

Tripping slightly, Lissa's eyes widened. That f*cking voice! Why was it only showing up now? What made now so important?

It was only because she heard Damon's voice get louder that the pale girl pushed her curiosity and concern over the voice in her head down. She could analyze everything later. The voice—and her mindscape—that would take time she didn't have right now.

"Lissa? You alright?" Caroline questioned, looking back at her friend that had just stopped randomly.

Shaking her head like an etch-n-sketch, she started walking again. "Yeah, sorry, Care, thought I heard something."

Hurrying along, the two girls made it to the clearing just as Damon was shot through the air and impaled on a high tree branch. Caroline let out a shriek as he did. Pushing Caroline behind her, Lissa swept the clearing. Emily had zeroed in on the two of them the minute Damon wouldn't be a problem. "Ah, The Abomination, Melissa, correct? Are you here to also beg for the tomb to be open? Damning the town as it is?"

"Stay behind me, Care. And don't worry about Damon, he got hit through the stomach, nowhere near the heart." She comforted the panicking blonde instead of acknowledging the ghost's words. Finally only once Lissa got a nod back from Caroline did she turn to the possessed Bonnie. "I couldn't care less about the tomb or the town. I honestly don't know why exactly I came. Though, I do wonder why you called me an abomination. Is it just because of the mutation or do you know something I don't?"

Emily/Bonnie looked confused for a moment before smiling lightly. "You truly do not know what you are? I was under the impression all void witches knew from birth."

Now isn't that interesting? I haven't heard of a true void witch since the 14thcentury

Lissa scowled both at Emily and the voice.Could you please shut the f*ck up? As much as I want to figure you out, I'm in the middle of something.

Waiting a second and not hearing the voice again she finally replied to the smug looking witch. "I don't know what you're going on about, Morgana, but I'm not a witch. Just an Oops-a-daisy that nature made."

Before Emily could say anything else, Stefan and Elena came running into the clearing just as Damon started moaning, finally waking up from where he'd been knocked out.

"f*ck it hurts. This is why vampires are supposed to feed on people." Damon groaned from his branch.

Stefan, after quickly pulling his brother off the branch he was impaled on, greeted Emily; who looked rather pleasantly surprised to see the other vampire. Very unlike the greeting Damon himself had gotten.

Elena, seeing her sister and Caroline on the other side of Damon's tree—Lissa would have to come back and put a landmark sign up—ran over and grabbed Caroline's slightly shaking hand. "You alright?" Elena whispered to the frightened girl.

Caroline nodded. "Mm-hmm, just a lot to take in. It's different seeing everything where people can get hurt versus being shown stuff in a safe kitchen."

"If you want, I can have Enzo chase you through the woods to get you used to the fear?" Lissa shot a humor filled smirk behind her at the now slightly smiling blonde. Caroline was much like Lissa in that humor can always help dissipate her fear, or at least make it less noticeable.

"Really? You're jokingnow?" Elena hissed.

Lissa stuck her tongue out at her sister but did turn back to the conversation. It's not like it was any new information to her. This was rather boring. Sure, she had an idea on how to turn the biting incident in her favor now but hearing the story of 'oh the vampires are in the tomb and if we let Katherine out we let them all out' and Damon's resulting anger mixed with Stefan's disapproval of all things fun—aka, murder and mayhem—just made it worse.

After an excruciating couple of minutes, Emily finally seemed to run out of patience for the two Salvatores, and started her spell. Flames shot up in what Lissa knew was a shape of a pentagon, separating Emily/Bonnie and the rest of them. Damon, finally healed enough to stand, ran as close to the flames as he could begging the witch not to ruin this. That he'd upheld his end of their bargain.

Elena and Caroline, concern overriding her fear of the situation, yelled out for Bonnie. Lissa watched as the speck that was the necklace appeared above where Emily/Bonnie were and quickly exploded in what looked like a mini firework. Once the crystal was no more the flames disappeared and only Bonnie—not Emily—was left in their wake.

The young girl looked around herself in horror, understanding thatsomethingof significance happened but not what. The last thing she remembered was the séance they had been doing and then going into the bathroom. Bonnie looked around at everyone's shocked faces—besides Lissa's. No that girl was never shocked—before zeroing in on Damon who's face had morphed into a terrible visage with black eyes and bulging veins. Giving a scream, she started to back away before the petrifying man was on her, ripping into her neck like an animal.

Lissa, seeing the attack coming, raised herShieldhand. She'd never done anything like what she was planning, but in theory it should work. The downside of her shield, while it didn't allow physical or magical attacks to get through, it also didn't allow the personinsidethe shield to attack in any way. Meaning the blocking went both ways, like a magical holding area that was unbreakable.

Visualizing her shield wrapping around Damon like a bubble, she mentally felt a bit of resistance that she would later realize was her shield cutting a bit of Damon's lips and nose off in an effort not to harm Bonnie. Once Lissa was certain the shield was in place she jerked her hand back, pulling her shield, and the furious Damon inside it, away from Bonnie.

"Oh my god Bonnie!" Elena screamed running towards her friend that had fallen to the ground once Damon was off her. Caroline and Stefan, right behind her.

Lissa, not really worried about the bloody girl, stayed where she was; next to the still fury spitting Damon. Looking down at the man sitting on the ground, she shook her head. How disappointing. She knew it was coming, but still. All that brain power goes right out the window with a bit of anger.

"What are you shaking your head at, you would have done the same in my shoes." Damon spat out, lips finally regrown. He tested around him to see if the wall that had jerked him away was still there, finding it gone, he didn't wait for a response. He just ran. Ran away from the sight of his failure.

Lissa snorted, finally walking towards the group in the center. "How's she doing? I thought I got him off her before any big damage could be done."

Stefan nodded, looking down at the witch he'd fed his blood to. "She'll be alright. I gave her a couple drops of blood to heal the wound." Side eying the short girl he asked, "What was that you did? It looked like magic."

Holding out her hand to the vampire, runic side up, Lissa explained to him, "Yep, the hand tattoos are mixed with my blood which I've found over the years allow me to use magic. So this meanscomplete shield. So I figured I can manipulate the shape of the shield, who's to say I couldn't pull someone away with it." She shrugged. "Just need a bit of creativity and suddenly one thing can be many."

"How come you never told us you could use magic?" Elena accused down beside Bonnie.

"Don't misunderstand me, Elena. I'm not a witch" Lissa paused at this. Emily had called her a void witch; whatever that was. She knew damn well that wasn't in Vampire Diaries or any of the resulting spin-offs. It had to be something unique to this universe. She'd have to ask Paige and Paige's mom, Gena. They were her go to for witchy stuff. If anyone would know they would. Oh, and Klaus. He may know something. Despite not trusting nor knowing what the voice was, it had said something about the 14th century. Maybe she should start there.

For f*cks sake, she was going to be busy the next couple of days. First the voice now this? Shaking her head, Lissa focused back on Elena. "I can do a couple things if I plan ahead. But I'll never be like Bonnie who will one day be able to do a high powered spell with only a few words. The only way I can use magic is if I use my blood and some runes. That takes time and studying to use."

Caroline, already up to date with everything, confirmed her words just as Bonnie groaned, waking up finally.

Stefan at the first sign of her waking up left to go find his brother. He didn't think being around the freshly traumatized girl would be the best thing.

"What happened?" Bonnie shakily asked, forcing herself to sit up with Caroline's help. "I remember coming into the clearing then…oh god! His face! Damon attacked me."

Elena and Caroline immediately looked up to the standing Lissa from their spots on the ground. She was the best at explaining things.

Shooting them an unamused look, Lissa rather bluntly explained what happened to Bonnie, making sure to mention it was her that saved the young with. Itwas, after all, the reason she'd stayed the whole time. Bonnie was incredibly grateful to Stefan for saving her in the show, and it was only the fact he played a part in her grandma's death that put him back in her bad stop. Now instead of Stefan getting that gratitude, Lissa made sure it would go to herself. It's always good to have a witch on your side. Bennett witches especially.

"So yeah, in summary, your witch bitch of an ancestor left you defenseless after pissing Damon off, and Damon did what he does best. Attack"

"O-oh" Bonnie stuttered.

"Um, so Elena can explain all the supernatural stuff and everything. I need to get Caroline home or else you won't be the only one attacked tonight. Liz will be on my ass."

At Lissa's words, Caroline's eyes widened. "Oh god! My curfew! She's going to kill me if I'm late again."

Lissa turned to the two teenagers still on the ground, "You two are good right? Elena, you got this?"

"Yeah…" Elena murmured. "Yeah I got this."

Nodding, Lissa walked away back towards the SUV with Caroline. The trip back to town didn't take nearly as long as she'd expected, even with only the quiet noise of the car radio to fill the air. It was only once they sat in Caroline's driveway did the blonde start to speak again.

"Bonnie's going to be okay right? Like vampire blood doesn't do funny things to witches does it?" She asked, biting her lip as she did. Her hands were flexing, feeling like she should do something to help her friend back in at the church.

Lissa shook her head. "Naw, she may have a fuzzy feeling in her head for a day, but as long as she doesn't die with it in her system, she'll continue on as normal."

"Thank you for saving her, by the way. You didn't have to." Caroline smiled. Lissa smiled right back. Yes, the main reason she saved Bonnie was because she wanted the witch to be more open to helping her, but it also had a nice side effect of Caroline being happy.

"No problem. Now get inside. I'm sure Liz is about to have a conniption."

Caroline, knowing how right she was, got out a bit hurried. She did pause though once she'd gotten the front door open to wave goodbye, otherwise Lissa wouldn't leave. She always waited until she had waved goodbye to drive off.

After the mess of the night before, Lissa had decided to just go to her and Enzo's place, not wanting to run into any other people that night. Damon, and really everyone else there that night besides Caroline, was sure to be in a tiff.

Jenna had called her the night before to bitch about Logan coming by, something Lissa had forgotten happened and was rather lucky her aunt hadn't invited the newbie vampire inside. Thank goodness for scorned anger. Otherwise she would just have to kill Logan and be done with it. Thinking about it, that wouldn't be the worst plan. She had hoped to pin some more of the vampire activity on Logan but if he continued to sniff in places he shouldn't he'd have to be taken care of.

Lissa wouldn't even entertain him if he came near Caroline like in the show. She'd stake him right out in the open if the thought even crossed his mind; witnesses be damned.

Currently though, she was dressed in some old yoga shorts and one of Enzo's t-shirts, focusing on not burning the pancakes she was cooking. She had a whole day of trying to actually get into her mindscape on purpose ahead, so she needed brain food. Lucky for her it was the weekend, so she didn't have to worry about school for the day. Skipping had been an option before she realized what day it was.

A bit later, Enzo came sauntering into the kitchen, still dressed in the clothes he'd left in the night before, smelling of a bar. "Ooh, pancakes." He moaned, grabbing her fork from her hand and eating the bite she'd just cut. "These are better than normal. Did you add syrup to the batter?"

Lissa pursed her lips, jerking the fork back to herself. "Yeah, I did. And you can cook your own. I got stuff to do today, so I need my food."

"Yeah, you explained everything in your novel of a text." He chuckled. "Which was a doozy to wake up to by the way. There are these things called phone calls. They're normally used to explain long stories nowadays."

Mouth full, she just made a mocking face back at him, causing him to let out a laugh. She wasn't very intimidating with her cheeks puffed up like a hamster with what he knew was super sugary pancakes.

"By the way, I'll be busy in my room all day but Caroline is probably going to come over sometime after cheer practice tonight. She called me early this morning, freaking out about Matt sneaking into her room after the sh*t show that was Emily/Bonnie." Lissa explained after swallowing her food. Dropping her plate into the sink to clean later she grabbed a couple of drinks from the fridge and a bag of chips.

"Does that mean I have to entertain her or can I just send her to your room for gossip time?"

"Please we both know you're just as invested in 'Gossip Time' as both of us are. You've been listening to me bitch for years."

Enzo raised the bowl of leftover pancake batter in reluctant agreement. She wasn't wrong about that. Drama that didn't involve yourself was always the best drama.

Making her way to her room, Lissa sat down in the middle of her bed, a journal she'd written her notes on her mindscape open in front of her. Last night had led her to a bit of an epiphany and she wanted to get a jump on the idea before the thoughts escaped her. Any time she'd gotten into her mindscape or even heard the voice had been either while she was emotional or directly after her emotions had run high. The first time was after she'd crashed from her excitement of Enzo getting into town, the time after that Kennedy had just been changed, then she first heard the voice when she was planning a murder—aka a high stress/euphoric event— with Damon, and lastly was last night.

This whole time Lissa had been trying to calm herself down to get into her mindscape…what if it was the other way around? What if she needed to be excited, angry, happy, really anythingbutpeaceful?

So, she needed to get angry. Pulling out her phone she called Damon.

Once he picked up she didn't wait for any greeting. "I need to be pissed off. Tell me something that'll make me angry."

"You are the weirdest person I've met, Snow Princess. But alright; As someone who's lived through a lot of history, I think it's a useless subject for people to learn about."

"Yep that did it, you brainless... Are you kidding? You really think…You know what we'll talk about your stupid opinions later. I need this anger."

And she hung up. Quickly putting her phone on the charger in case she passes out, Lissa closed her eyes, so focused on her anger she barely felt her body slump sideways on her bed.

The feeling of being in a mindscape was hard to describe, it was a bit like what she suspected gravity on the moon felt like, yet everything still acted as if on Earth. That's not even to touch on how the environment was. Sometimes it was just like normal, other times she thought everything reacted as if she was a ghost.

All that is to say, Lissa knew the minute she was in her mindscape.

Opening her eyes, the pale girl was greeted with a visual that would later make her cackle. Currently though, it just left her feeling as if the rug of life had been pulled out from under her.

Sitting in the fuzzy black chair in the living room of her mindscape was Kol Mikaelson dressed in a suit she figured was the one he was currently laying daggered in.

"It's about damn time you made your way here. I thought you'd never figure it out."

"Wha-ho-hng" She stuttered, mouth agape. "How thef*ck?"

Kol's eyes narrowed, smile sharpening as he stood up. "That's what I would like to know as well. But, it seems like your mind is a bit protective over its memories." Here, his hand waved towards her bookshelves which, instead of being open shelves as they had been before, had gained solid black doors that were chained and padlocked closed. "Though, it is interesting that you know me on sight, yet I know for a fact I've never met you. I've seen that face, yes, but never on you. Andneverin that shade"

"Well…see… Hold on." She held her hand up to signal a pause in the conversation. "I need to reboot. Just give me a couple seconds."

Quickly gathering her feelings and thoughts on this, she shoved them all in a box…that appeared in the corner of the living room. She blinked at it. How incredibly strange and interesting. It was even labeled 'To think about later'. Shaking her head, she focused back on the current situation. Kol Mikaelson, the most unpredictable of original vampires, was in her mind. Or at least something that didn't mind appearing as him. Either way that meant danger, and in a very vulnerable place. Clearly she had subconsciously protected her knowledge of the future if the bookshelves were anything to go by, but wasn't able to block him completely from coming in.

Thishadto be the spell she'd done a couple months ago. She must have mistranslated the runes somewhere. sh*t.

Lissa nodded. She'd have to look over the grimoire later…if she had a later. "Okay…Okay. First, how do I know your Kol Mikaelson? Can you prove it? Because if you're something that doesn't mind using his blood-soaked image that's a bit more terrifying than having him in my head."

"And how do you suppose I do that, Love? I've never met you before, as we established earlier." Kol quirked an eyebrow. How peculiar. She'd appeared as shocked as can be yet in a matter of seconds was able to question him as if she'd never been caught flat-footed to begin with. The box she'd shoved her feelings into hadliterallyappeared before their eyes. He'd only seen that level of compartmentalization from his siblings and him.

"1914 Christmas Ball, describe your date." She demanded. Literally no one besides her and Freya knew that she'd been his date then well, besides Rebekah but she was also daggered.

Kol looked confused but ultimately complied with the strange request. Anything to get past this. "Blonde hair, green eyes, slim, really pretty."

That sounded like Freya, and a good chunk of the population but what were the chances someone else just guessed that description. "Alright, great, Kol Mikaelson is just chilling in my brain. Exactly what a girl wants."

"Well, Love, I can 'chill' somewhere else inside you if that'd make you happier." Kol smirked as he walked closer to the girl that looked so much like the other doppelgangers yet not at the same time.

Lissa, unable to stop it, chuckled at his words. "Ask me again when I'm not freaked out, my answer may change."

"Good," The vampire started before finally tightly grasping the pale neck in front of him. "Now want to tell me how you connected our minds like this? Last I was aware, my backstabber of a brother had me daggered in a coffin."

Lissa's eyes widened as she tried to breathe though, only managing to make a rather pitiful gasp. Quickly grasping onto his wrist, she tried to force her fire to burn him but he'd obviously somehow seen her use it since he'd grabbed her hand with his other one before even a spark came and retched it away from him.

"Uh-uh, nope, no burning for you. That's not something I want to experience if the screams of that dark haired fella you burned was anything to go by."

Panic setting in, Lissa finally just gave him an answer. Kind of. "Spell…book. I f-found a spell."

"Of course, some incompetent witchling playing around with stuff she shouldn't" Kol spat, hand still wrapped around her throat. "But why connect to me?"

Lissa, tired of behind held right at the point of strangulation, pointedly looked down. "I-I can't answer…while n-not be-being able to bre-breathe."

Kol hummed before tightening his hand then letting her go. "True. But better make sure I like your answer."

Gasping for the air she could finally get again, she glared up at the grinning man. "Dick. And to think you were my favorite." She rolled her eyes. "You seem to know a lot about mindscapes, could I conjure a grimoire I've seen before for you to look at in here?"

"Should be able to, yes."

Nodding, Lissa concentrated on the grimoire she'd found in those ruins. In a matter of seconds the book was sitting in front of her on the ground, open right to the page that she knew the spell was on. "There, that spell. Though you should know it. You helped make it."

Kol picked the book up, eyes flying across the pages in front of him. Maybella St. Claire, didn't that name bring him back. She was one of the first witches he worked with to try and reconnect to his magic after his mother turned him and his siblings into the monsters they were. Back before he realized it was useless. The spell on the page was exactly that, an attempt. It was supposed to connect him to a witch's magic and through them be able to use it, but in reality all it did was connect their minds instead of magic. It had never been on the level ofthis, though. The closest he and Maybella got was he'd occasionally send her sentences or her to him. She'd tried to get to his mindscape and him, hers, but they got lost in the maze of each other's mind each and every attempt. A person's brain doesn't like giving secrets up, even when the owner allows it.

The fact that this girl had done the spell and immediately was able to traverse into his own mindscape was rather scary. It begged the question, why her? What was so special about her thatboththeir minds thought the other could be allowed in. Because it was both minds. If her own brain hadn't wanted him in here, he never would have been able to find this place. Nor should he have been able to see and experience what she was doing like he had, even if only while she was experiencing heightened emotions.

Kol glanced up from the pages to study the short albino girl. She'd taken to pacing around the room, her scandalously short shorts only visible when she took a step, otherwise he would think she was standing in front of him without pants. That possessed witch he'd seen through her eyes had called her a void witch, that may explain it. They were known to amplify a spell as much as they were to cancel one out.

Slamming the book shut, he grinned as she jumped at the loud noise. "Thiswouldexplain the connected minds. Though why didn't you expect me to be here when right below the spell it says 'connects to Kol Mikaelson'?"

"It says what? No, it said 'Created with Kol Mikaelson'."

Kol looked at her like she was an idiot. "How badisyour Furnik?"

Lissa blushed, embarrassment filling her at the translation error. "Shut up, besides your family no one actually knows Furnik fluently anymore. I had to piece everything together myself."

Putting the book down on the table next to him, Kol raised his hand towards Lissa. "Now that I know you're not here to somehow stomp out my consciousness, I'd like to, formally, introduce myself, Kol Mikaelson, at your service."

Lissa grabbed his hand, intent to shake it, before the co*cky young man raised it to his own smirking lips in a mock kiss. "Huh, never had anyone do that before, but anyway I'm Melissa Gilbert, please call me Lissa, everyone does."

"It's a pleasure. I'm sure we'll be spendinga lotof time together." Kol purred, eyes intense.

Lissa once again felt her face flush. Damn, he was good. She didn't blush often but he'd managed it twice within minutes of each other. "So is there any way to unmeld our minds? Or are we stuck having each other in our thoughts?"

Kol shook his head as he let her hand go. "Unfortunately not, unless you'd prefer living the rest of your mortal life as a vegetable. The only way I've found to break it is through death."

"Cool, cool, cool. Kay, so I'll just spend the rest of my life with you in my brain then. Should be entertaining, at the very least." She shrugged, looking a bit frazzled again. She'd never planned on being this close to any of the Mikaelsons, now here she was stuck with the most wild one inside her mind…for the rest of her life. "Can we have some ground rules then? I mean it is my mind…and my body, for now."

Kol tilted his head. "I may not follow them but if it makes you feel better you can tell me them."

"Yeah, somehow I figured that would be your answer." Lissa sighed but decided to go for it anyway. "Alright, rule one, no peeking into my life if I'm doing something private like sex or showering or something. I may have an exhibition kink but not without consent. Two, don't torment me. I don't know if you can give me strange dreams or hallucinations but please don't." She grimaced at the idea of being forever tormented by Kol Mikaelson. He was probably the Mikaelson she feared the least, but she was still very aware of how dangerous he was. "Lastly, please for the love of all things holy, don't try and take over my body. Again, I don't know if that's possible, but I'd rather not find out the hard way."

"Those were all rather reasonable. Sure, I'll agree to them." He accepted.

Awkwardly shooting the vampire two thumbs up, Lissa grinned. "Great, and once you're undaggered—because trust me you will be if I have anything to say about it—I'll follow the same rules with you."

Kol raised an amused eyebrow at her actions. "Undaggered? You think you can convince my brother to free me? After a century in that accursed coffin?"

"I'm already helping the man with his curse—if my recycled face wasn't evident enough—I'm sure I can help with the Mikael issue too. He only really daggered you guys because of his all-encompassing fear of the man."

"You seem to understand my brother a lot for a mortal. Are you sleeping with him?" It would make sense to Kol, otherwise how would some random girl, Tatia and Katerina look alike or not, know so much about his brother's motives.

Lissa's face scrunched up in discomfort. The idea of sleeping with Klaus, while probably enjoyable, was not something she wanted to entertain. The whole time all she'd be thinking about was he was probably going to fall in love with Caroline, her best friend. "No. Nope. Absolutely not. Just friends…I call us friends. He calls us allies. I think he's allergic to the word friend, to be honest."

Kol let out a bark of laughter. "Nik with a friend. I don't think I've ever heard him refer to someone as a friend so good luck with that."

"Thanks…so, um, I think I should probably go. But how, exactly, do I get out of here? Every time I've been here I've been asleep. It's never because I purposefully came here." Lissa scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin.

"Back to being an idiot then." Kol snorted. "You just will yourself back, obviously."

"Obviously" She mocked before closing her eyes.

And opening them to her bedroom at Enzo and her house, sun now setting outside her window.

Despite the room looking exactly like it had that morning, Lissa felt like everything had changed. Before she hadn't had an original vampire inside her mind for the rest of her life. Now…now she did.

"f*cking hell," Lissa sighed, heavily.

Is that language really necessary, Darling? I mean, at least you got stuck with the most handsome of us Mikaelsons

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Chapter Text

The next day was spent exploring what exactly Kol experienced within her brain. So far he could hear, see, and somewhat smell what she did in the outside world. The only reason he was able to see was because there was a TV in her mindscape living room. It apparently turned on when she had her eyes open and he had to manually turn it off if he didn't want to see what was going on. Or go back to his own mindscape but according to him 'I've spent centuries exploring that place. It's boring nowadays. With yours I get in-mind entertainment'

He'd clearly been using the few memories that leaked to him to acclimate his vocabulary to modern times. She was just glad that it seemed to be inconsequential things like grocery shopping or random conversations. Things pertaining to anything important? Not yet.

Luckily it seemed like she had to actively try to send him her thoughts for him to hear her otherwise she really would have lost it. She still hadsomeprivacy. And she could kick him out of her mindscape when she actualy tried, though he was able to get back in the minute mentally left her "house" in her mind.

Probably the biggest thing was now that they'd made contact with each other, Kol didn't have to wait until she was emotional to speak toher.

He'd made that clear when he yelled her awake at 5 am because he wanted to see a sunrise for the first time in a century. As if he gave a sh*t about that. He'd just wanted to annoy her. And it did, she had been an inch away from taking some white oak and going to find his body.

Thinking of that, she was going to have to make a day of burning the Wickory Bridge and sign soon. No vampire genocide possible if the weapon to do it was lost. She'd try and keep a stake or two locked away in her storage unit. That thing was warded to hell and back with it paid up for the next decade too. The only way to get in it was if Lissa or Enzo were there, otherwise the doors would easily stay shut even if hit with a f*cking bomb.

At least the vampire understood that she couldn't have a voice in her head 24/7 and kept it down when she was doing stuff that needed concentration or in the middle of conversations. Usually.

They'd also found, if he tried hard enough, Kol could definitely affect her body. He'd made her trip multiple times just to test if he could affect her physical body. After the 7th time she'd tripped over nothing she'd taken to threatening to cut him off from her brain and back to living in boredom. It seemed that was one of the only ways she could get him to listen to her…somewhat.

Enzo had spent the whole day thinking she'd finally lost her last speck of sanity with her tripping all over and muttering to herself until finally he sat down and just asked her why she'd been so weird all day. That had been an awkward conversation to have.

"Snow White, is everything okay? You've been a bit…offtoday." Enzo awkwardly said once they'd both sat down on the couch..

Yeah,Snow White, you've been talking to yourself all day.

Lissa scowled. Kol was an absolute menace. "No, I mean, yes, everything's okay. I just found out something about myself yesterday. And I've been exploring it all day."

"And this something causes you to talk to yourself. And to do random actions like slap yourself and eat weird things like pickles dipped in ice cream?"

"...Among other things, yes."

"What's actually going on, Lissa?" Enzo asked, dryly. She was beating around the bush, clearly not wanting to straight up tell him something.

Sighing, Lissa decided one person should know what was going on. Slowly she dropped the bomb that she had an original vampire stuck in her head for the rest of her life because she was an idiot and didn't know how to translate runes correctly.

Enzo furrowed his brows. "Aren't you already working with another original vampire? Ken? Klone?"

Lissa grinned at the snorted laughter that echoed through her head.

Ken, ha!

"Klaus, they're brothers actually, but, uh, yeah."

"You have a weird life."

"I know…trust me, I know."

Enzo, like the actual Saint he was, accepted her explanation without much fanfare other than to make sure she was being as safe as she could and to make sure she understood if she needed to she could come to him for help. She adored that Englishman.

After that, her and Kol spent a bit more time experimenting but didn't really find anything that they couldn't have inferred from earlier. It was a bit daunting to suddenly share her mind and body with someone she knew would kill her if he got bored, if he had the ability to. Right now they were both stuck with each other, compatibility be damned.

That wasn't to say they were suddenly best friends. He'd threatened her quite a few times, using her own body against her once he'd realized how much she actually knew about his family and him. She's had to go into her mind again to sit him down and explain the future knowledge.

Thathad shut him up for a good while as he tried to figure out how she had The Dream™. Obviously the vampire was left without any hard theories. Considering the whole dream thing was made up, Lissa wasn'ttooworried about what he'd theorize.

After all the experimenting, she'd gone to bed exhausted. The idea of going to school after the upheaval her life just went through left her dragging her feet the next morning. Shehadto go, she knew she did. It was career day and that was when things really picked up. She paused in her French braiding as she was struck with the realization. Kol was going to have to either leave her mind or sit through high school. She laughed at the image of Kol Mikaelson sitting in on her Calculus class, especially since he'd been alive longer than calculus had been a thing.

Or undead longer.

Calculus? I was around that bloke when he was creating it, so I'm pretty good at it. Really, I'm good at most things

Lissa rolled her eyes.Yeah yeah, you Mikaelsons don't know the meaning of humility, do you? Also turn the TV off, I'm getting changed.

Say please~

Not worried about him watching— despite his teasing Kol was actually considerate of her first two rules…it was the third one that he'd ignored— she dropped the robe she'd been wearing while doing her makeup and hair. Lissa pulled out some high-waisted leather pants and a white satin shirt. She felt like dressing up a bit today, after all everyone said to dress to impress on career day.

Topping the look off with some simple black pumps, a belt harness to act as some mock suspenders and a dagger necklace, she grinned at the look in the mirror before heading to make breakfast. Enzo, while a dear, wasn't too fond of the smell of cooking in the morning. He still wanted to eat, but the fumes made him a bit ill for some reason. She had an inner theory that it had something to do with Augustine, but he refused to talk about it and Lissa wasn't one to push her friends when they didn't want to be.

As she was making breakfast, her phone lit up with Damon's name.

That's the other brother right? The broody one?

Lissa shook her head, even if her tenant couldn't see it.No, that's Stefan, we don't like Stefan. At least how he is right now. Damon is the other brother. The interesting one although he's slowly becoming boring and downright petulant now that he's somehow started falling for my sister.

She felt more than saw the eye roll Kol was certainly giving.Of course, two brothershaveto fall in love with the Doppelganger. It's a requirement at this point.

Not giving Kol an answer, Lissa finally picked the phone up. "Did you finally drink some espresso to make yourself not so depresso?"

"…You're not as funny as you think you are, Snow Princess."

"You're right, I'm funnier."

The pale girl had reached out to Damon at one point after the whole 'explode the crystal' event, but considering he'd answered her during what sounded like a drunken orgy, she'd told him to reach out to her when he was ready to not be disgusting. Stefan, having some misguided idea she really cared, had texted her himself basically explaining that Damon was drowning his sorrow in college girls, blood, and alcohol. Basically just telling her something she already knew.

"You're pretty resourceful, right? Think you can figure out where our killing vampire—I'm guessing it's that TV guy I killed a bit ago—is hanging out?" Damon grumbled, pulling her back to their conversation.

"Mr. Do-it-Yourself has finally admitted he needs help?" Lissa asked, sitting down with her breakfast. She turned her phone on speaker as she did, ignoring the groan that came from Enzo's bedroom at hearing Damon's voice.

Damon growled."Just tell me if you can find him or not? I don't like it when I kill someone and they don't stay dead."

Lissa snorted. He better get used to it. A lot of people he kills never stay dead, it was like the norm within a year. "You're in luck. I just happen to have a nifty little compass that points to vampires. It's a family heirloom, a 'Gilbert device'. Even if the man didn't actually create anything. Emily Bennett was a bit sneakier than everyone thought."

Good thing she'd grabbed the device from Jeremy when she realized he'd stolen it before Elena gave the box to Tyler. Lissa wasn't sure why both the supernatural headache makerandthe compass were in the same box. If she was remembering season one correctly, they weren't originally, but it didn't matter now. She had them both, just like she'd wanted.

"And you're willing to let me use it?" Damon asked, pulling her back to their conversation. Somehow the vampire was skeptical of her goodwill.

She wondered why that was. Couldn't have been the multiple times she'd injured him. She'd enjoyed him in the beginning but his stubbornness was starting to get on her nerves.

"I'm willing to use itforyou." She corrected. "You'd owe me one, but well, that's the price of me helping you."

If she left out the fact hewouldn'thave been able to use it, that wasn't her fault. The guy was over a century old he should have a modicum of critical thinking.

Damon sighed through the phone, clearly annoyed that she would ask for a favor for helping with something he'd deemed 'minor'. But she was done giving him freebies. She'd cleaned up him mess with Kennedy. Then the whole thing with the necklace and even keeping him from killing Bonnie. He'd annoyed her and thought he could threaten her one too many times. She'd understand if it was Klaus—he was the originator of Anger Management issues— or even Kol stuck in her head as he was, butDamon?He wasn't—and never would be—someone she feared.

"Fine. Meet me at that old warehouses on the outskirts of town." With those very pleasant words, the black haired man hung up.

Skipping the first couple of classes she had—she was ahead enough it didn't matter—Lissa went ahead to the warehouse, the one Logan had holed himself in, checking the place out before Damon got there. Kol had given her an idea for her shield; keep it up as she walked, but only an inch or two away from her skin; that way it's like her own personal armor until she needed it somewhere else.

So far it was pretty damn difficult to do, not impossible, but it did take quite a bit more concentration than she'd ever put into her shield. She had to be constantly aware of where she was going to step, how she was moving, where her limbs were going, and more just to predict how to move the shield along with her body.

This distraction was the only reason Logan was able to sneak up on her.

Melissa! Duck!

Not even questioning the voice in her head, Lissa ducked. And barely missed behind smacked by a speeding vampire's hand. Thinking quickly, she pushed her shield out from her body and around Logan trapping him against the metal wall.

Once again, the fact it didn't allow any attacks to come frominsidethe shield just as it didn't allow attacks to come from outside had saved her. Who knew a disadvantage could be turned around so successfully once she'd realized how fluid the shape of the shield could be?

Walking up to the snarling man, Lissa sneered. He was out of control. No finesse, nor any sort of idea what he was other than a bloodsucker.

Rather pathetic, right? Not even my siblings and I were that bad and we were the first.

Yeah, some people just aren't cut out for the supernaturalLissa paused before continuing,thanks for the save, by the way.

Darling, if you die I lose theonlyentertainment I've had for a century.

Lissa was drawn back to the outside world as her phone started ringing. Fishing it out she grimaced at Damon's name. He'd absolutely hear the snarls if she answered. She needed to shut Logan up before she answered. Maybe…Could she make two shields at a time?

Focusing on thinning the one around Logan, she then pictured a second one wrapped around her own upper body. When she lowered her first shield she would need to protect her arms and torso. Those would be the first things he'd go for. Grunting as her head exploded with pain, Lissa pushed through it until finally smacking her arms together. They both refused to touch. The two shields idea had worked, though they didn't feel nearly as strong as just the one did. Tightening her first shield until Logan was basically in a foot by foot square, Lissa raised her arms even with the man's head, flush against the shield.

"What are you doing?! How are you doing this? The council-"

Logan finally seemed to come to himself, eyes frantically looking around as he tried to break through whatever was keeping him in. As far as he knew, only vervain, sunlight, and wood damaged vampires. How was the little Gilbert freak doing this?

"Oh, shutup, Logan. Damn, I want to kill you…Actually, maybe I should. You aren't particularly important. And you're a grade A dumbass."

Lissa mused before shaking her head. "Eh, no. I'll let Ric have that honor. He needs it for his character arc."

Just as Logan was starting to ask more questions, Lissa quickly lowered the first shield, grabbed his head and twisted.

SNAP!

And down he fell, neck in two.

"I need to figure out an easier way of incapacitating vampires, honestly. Pushing myself that far is a bit pathetic. And won't work on anyone but newbies." She muttered to herself. Licking her lips Lissa groaned in disgust at the bloody taste. Raising her hand to her nose, it came back bloody.

Great, she'd pulled a Bonnie.

It was rather pathetic. Can't you pull magic from around you? I once knew a void witch that could do that.Kol remarked, casually. She could just imagine him sitting all lopsided on her mental living room's chair, feet over the arm.

Lissa rolled her eyes, uncaring that the vampire couldn't see her.Well, considering the first time I'd been called a void witch was a couple nights ago, no I don't think I can do that. We don't even know that Iamone. Emily could have been mistaken.

No,Kol sent her the feeling he'd felt, a sort of suction-y feeling, when she started pushing herself too far. She'd tried to draw on him, a person made purely of magic inside her mind.Do you get it now? You pull magic from around you. Like what those scientists were hypothesizing a couple decades before I was daggered…a black hole! You suck stuff in like a black hole.

I'm a black hole for magic? That's what you're saying?

Kol nodded his head at her words. She finally got it.Yes, you're a black hole.

Lissa groaned to herself.Every conversation I have with you, I hate it just a little bit more. Couldn't you try and make more sense?Before Kol could reply though, her cellphone rang again. Finally deciding it was time to leave, Lissa walked out of the warehouse wiping the blood off her face with a random cloth she found on the ground as she answered her phone.

"Hello~, you've reached Lissa Gilbert."

"Where the hell are you? I've been calling." Damon accused through the speakers.

Lissa held back her scoff, knowing it would just anger the already annoyed vampire. She didn't want to deal with him anymore than she had to and making him angry would just prolong everything. "I was inside the warehouse. Your vamp is in there by the way. Snapped his neck-" She started before Damon just straight hung up on her. "Rude." She muttered looking down at the phone before looking back up and jumping. Damon had appeared right in front of her, clearly vamping over to her the second he'd hung up "What the hell, Damon? Give a girl a warning!"

Damon grabbed her arm, grip just shy of bruising. "Me? What the hell were you thinking!? Going into a place youknewan out of control vampire was. And then, you tell me you snapped his neck? What if he attacked you? What if you were killed? What would I tell Elena?"

There is was. The whole reason he was freaking out. Elena. It wasalwaysElena. "Good thing I didn't die then isn't it? You won't have to tell her sh*t." She spat at him before retching her arm out of his hold. "Andnevergrab me like that. I'm not my sister who will fling words at you if you overstep. I'll kill you, friendship or not."

Lissa, not willing to deal with Damon with a stick up his ass, spun around and marched off towards where she parked her SUV. "Have fun with the newbie vamp, Douchebag!"

The last thing she heard was Damon's grumbles about what her problem was.

I believe the correct saying here would be 'What a dick.' Correct?

Lissa snorted.You're really getting the hang of modern slang. But yes, what a dick is correct.

After finally getting to school—just in time for history or else Alaric would give her a rather disappointed look—Lissa was dragged off by Caroline the minute the last bell had rung. Apparently she was supposed to set up the police booth for Liz, and she thoughtLissawould be good help. Which was hilarious, Liz was the only police officer she somewhat liked. The rest were just d-bags that wanted the power trip a badge gave them.

"Listen, Iknowyou don't like cops, but think of this as doing something for my mom. You like her! Please Lis?" Caroline begged, eyes all wide and watery. "For me?"

Lissa let out a groan, but agreed to the blonde girl's request; but not before wrangling a promise of food out of her.

Two hours and a lot of construction paper and glue later, Caroline and Lissa had a decent booth set up for cops. Lissa had even managed to stick in some police brutality stats in the binder when Caroline wasn't looking. Better warn the kids before they get stuck with the 'Good Ol' Boys'.

"Caroline promise you food for this?" Enzo asked, walking up behind the two girls. "Cause I distinctly remember a rant or ten about how sh*tty cops were."

"Yep! And I have to go pick it up now, so you can keep her company." Caroline chimed in as she grabbed her purse. "Maybe you can help her pick a few booths to look at. She still has no idea what she wants to do."

Enzo turned to the pale girl just as Caroline twirled away. "Really? I'd assume you'd know what you wanted to do down to what classes to take in college."

Lissa shrugged. "Eh, I just think college and everything would be boring. I kind of just want to travel and find cool things while taking and selling photography. In a few years a social media named Instagram will blow up big time. I can just make money on there." Plus she'd already did the whole go to college, get a degree, and work. While not technically an afterlife, this was her lifeafterher last one. And dammit she was determined to have some fun in it.

Oh, I have some places you'dlove.They're some of the best places I've found over the yearsKol finally commented.

He'd been pretty silent for a while. Lissa just assumed he'd gotten bored of classes after history class. History class had been the one class she was overly aware of his presence. If she could explain it, it was as if he'd been pressing against her mentally as hard as he could in an effort to hear about the world. After the class, which had just been kids presenting their presentations on the decades, he'd retreated and stayed silent until now.

It reminded her she needed to get him up to date on what's happened in the century he'd been daggered. Whichsucked.

He'd been daggered literally through one of, if not the, biggest growth of human history. That was a lot to get through, and the kids' presentation of the last century probably didn't help clear much, if anything, up at all.

Lissa grimaced.That's if the places survived the expansion of everything. A lot of nature got f*cked by humans over the last century.

Not hearing a reply, she assumed Kol had retreated back to just silently watching things.

"Huh, you know what? That somehow fits exactly what I thought you'd do and also is the complete opposite." Enzo commented, bringing her back to the conversation. "Whatever makes you happy, I guess. Not like I can talk, traveling is the first thing I did when I got out."

She made a gesture as if to say 'Exactly!' before looking around the room. Kids and parents alike had started to come in. On one side she saw Tyler Lockwood staring around the room trying to figure out where to start with his dad right next to him. On another was Kennedy, looking for all the world as if she hadn't had any and every plan she'd made for college ripped apart the minute Damon snapped her neck.

Lissa was still impressed the girl hadn't had any slip ups. That took some impressive self-discipline, more than she thought Kennedy had.

"So, En, not that I don't want you here, but why are you here?" Lissa finally asked as they started walking around checking out interesting booths as they went.

Enzo smirked down at the girl. "What? I can't just come help my 'sister' choose between…" Here the Englishman picked up a pamphlet from the booth next to him. "Sanitation expert and some other job?"

"No, no you cannot."

"Fine, I was bored and you seemed distracted this morning. Distracted you generally means something interesting is going to happen, so I decided to come down to see what it was going to be."

Lissa smiled guiltily at him. She'd been a bit distracted and had really just left him to fend for himself, hadn't she? "Sorry, I haven't really been spending time with you. I've just been so busy with other stuff…not that that's an excuse."

"Naw, you're good, Snow White. I get it. Planning world domination with one original vampire while dealing with another stuck in your head? Must be exhausting." Enzo teased. "I've actually made friends with your new history teacher, Alaric. We both tend to be at the bar around the same time. Got to talking."

She let out a cough as her spit went down the wrong pipe in her surprise. Alaric…and Enzo? Somehow those fit. But… "Does he know you're a vampire?" She inquired.

"No…should he?" Enzo lifted an eyebrow before groaning. "Damn, he's not a normal bloke is he? I just wanted one normal friend."

"I'll tell you about him tonight. Who knows who's listening in." She cautioned, nodding to the dude in a hoodie at the other side of the gym. If she was right, that was Logan or maybe that vampire that stalked Elena sometime before the tomb got opened. Either way, he was clearly watching them.

Enzo narrowed his eyes at the questionable figure slyly guiding himself to the other side of Lissa, between the guy and her. He knew the girl could protect herself—she'd proven that time and time again—didn't mean he wouldn't also protect her.

As the two continued in comfortable silence except for a few quips about certain jobs for a bit, Caroline came storming up to them food bag in one hand, clearly upset with tears of both anger and hurt swelling in her eyes. "Matt's stupid. Elena's stupid. And I hate both of them. Why can't he just be over her already? She's not even the best Gilbert there is!"

"Alright Caroline, what happened with Matt? You left in a good mood." Lissa asked, grabbing the food out of the blonde's hands and gave it to Enzo, who had started looking both awkward and a bit irritated. Caroline, despite not being a friend or anything, was someone he enjoyed bantering with and she was so clearly a good kid it made him want to protect her.

Caroline, now free of carrying anything, wrapped Lissa in a hug as she tried not to cry. She had thought her and Matt had something, yet the look on his face talking to Elena said that no matter what they had, it would never hold up to his feelings for the other Gilbert. "Matt and Elena were having a moment, like a moment with a trade mark, by one of the booths and it just drove home that I'll never measure up toPerfect Elena."

Wryly smiling, Lissa patted Caroline's back as she glanced at Enzo. They were both thinking the same thing; someone was going to have to talk to Matt. Since Matt didn't know Enzo, it would have to be her. And it would have to be another day. Lissa was planning on getting "kidnapped" by Logan tonight, so hopefully tomorrow she'd have time to give Monotone Matt a little warning about making Caroline cry.

Pushing that aside though, Lissa patted Caroline's back and pulled away, locking their elbows like they always do. "Come on, Care. No one wants you to bePerfect Elena. You think we would be as close as we are is you were like Elena? Please." She scoffed. "Now, stop crying over aboyand let's decide on a career."

"Thanks, Lis." Caroline smiled at her best friend. Lissa may not be a perfect person, ask anyone about her flaws, but she was good to her and that's what mattered. "Is Enzo going to be helping us? What does Enzo do? Or is he just a boy toy?"

Enzo and Lissa both grimaced at the same time. They hated when people implied they slept together. Enzo had known her since she was in the single digits—even if mentally she was older—it would have been incredibly weird and predatory for either of them to make a move. Not that they wanted to. The pair of them worked so much better as friends. Lissa knew if they tried a relationship, a romantic one at least, it would blow up in their faces spectacularly. The two of them were just too dependent on the other to pull them away from their bad traits. Enzo kept Lissa from losing sight that people were people and not just characters that didn't matter if they lived or died. Basically he acted as her conscious, while Lissa reminded Enzo that it was okay to be ruthless and stand up for what he wanted. That it was okay to be selfish.

They both knew that in a relationship, romantic at least, they would become even more co-dependent and could start to lose who they were. It would start off healthy but would quickly lead their friendship to ruin.

I haven't seen much of you two's interactions, but it does seem like you have a solid friendship. Which is admirable considering most humans are backstabbing selfserving pieces of garbage.Kol commented. She hadn't realized she'd been projecting her thoughts to him. They needed to work on controlling that. Sooner rather than later. She liked havingsomeprivacy, and if she was accidentally sending him private thoughts that threw it right out the mind window.

Tell me how you really feel about my species, Kol

Naw, Darling, you're a witch, even without you accepting that yet. That's so much better than any human.

"Lis?" Caroline muttered, pulling Lissa from her inner conversation. "You okay? Sorry I insinuated something was going on between you two. Enzo told me that you guys don't like that."

Lissa waved her apology away. "No, you're good. I get we act like a couple sometimes. But to answer your question. He's taking time to figure out what he wants to do after the whole 'held against his will for decades' thing. So really this career fair will help him more than us I think." She winked cheekily at said man who had taken to walking beside her.

Enzo rolled his eyes, giving her a shove into the blonde who let out a playfully exasperated sigh.

"How is it that he's over a hundred and yet we're the adults?" Caroline smirked as they finally rounded on the broadcast journalism table. She had wanted to check it out since it was a way to keep up with stuff while still being on TV. Caroline didn't know if she would be interested in current events or anything if Lissa wasn't in her life, probably not, but she did know that she was better for her habits of checking the news every morning. Yeah, it was depressing, but considering Lissa was actually up-to-date with most things, it helped her follow along with the pale girl's rants.

Letting the blonde read her pamphlet, Lissa pulled Enzo away towards the photography table so she could talk to him about following Ric for the rest of the night.

She explained that Ric was going to intervene in Mayor Douchebag's attempt at forcing Jeremy and Tyler to fight,andthat Ric would be killing Logan tonight. After getting to the end of the story, Enzo had a deep frown on his face.

"You weren't kidding when you said things were going to start picking up." Enzo shook her head, exasperated with her taking everything on herself. "What do you need me to do? How can I help?"

"Stay with Ric? Make sure Jeremy doesn't get himself killed? You know "who"the Lockwoods are." Lissa offered. She knew Ric wouldn't let it get to the point Jeremy died, but with small things already changing just from her being here, she didn't want to take the chance. She couldn't do it since she was planning on either taking Caroline's place or going with her with Logan "Scum" Fell. "After Jeremy leaves the alley; stay on Ric, he'll be killing Logan tonight…maybe. As long as I don't lose my temper and just kill him myself."

Enzo sighed. Lissa was going to be putting herself in danger,again."And you? I'm assuming you're doing something dangerous?"

"No!"

Raising an eyebrow at the short girl, Enzo just waited for her to actually be truthful with him.

Lissa scoffed before explaining. "Logan has a weird grudge against Liz, you know Caroline's mom? Well, she had her deputies just buried him in a shallow ditch when they found his body after Damon killed him, so he's probably going to try and get revenge on her via Caroline."

"And you can't let Caroline get hurt."

"Nope, so I'll be tagging along." She responded, mischief in her blue eyes. She was having fun at the expense of the newbie vampire. The feeling of consorting with danger that she knew couldn't hurt her? Exquisit. With Klaus and everything, there was the fear of messing something up and dying or getting someone killed, or changing the future so much her knowledge wouldn't help. Logan, in the grand scheme of things, didn't matter. She could do whatever she wanted with this and it really wouldn't backfire that much. And anything thatdidneed to be fixed could be very easily.

"I may not let Alaric, sorry, Ric take the kill." Enzo grumbled, frown transforming into a small pout. Not that the Englishman wouldadmitto the pout. But Lissa saw it all the same. "If, what'd your aunt call him, Scumfell? If Scumfell is ballsy enough to abductyou, I doubt he'll be kind to his abducties."

"Aw, End Zone, are you worried about me?" She cooed, batting her eyes. "I'll be fine. Promise. Scumfell is a bitch. I've already snapped his neck once today when he tried to kill me. I doubt he'll be willing to test my 'freakishness' again."

"I'll kill him. Again!"

Enzo spun around and would have started off on his homicide mission if Lissa hadn't grabbed his wrist and twirled him back facing her. She grimaced at the genuine anger on his face. She probably should have mentioned the attempted murder a different time. Enzo was already on edge after not being able to come to New York with her, her being followed,andDamon's general aliveness? Add in her new brain roommate and it's a recipe for his protectiveness to snap. It was shortsighted and, frankly, selfish of her not to notice.

Keeping her tight hold on his wrist, Lissa explained. "Drop the vamp eyes, Enzo. We aresurroundedby people that know what they mean. If you get outed they will immediately try to kill you. Now I'mfine. I promise, the only bruise on me is from ramming my knee into the coffee table this morning. Logan didn't even get close enough to touch me." Not for the lack of trying. But Enzo didn't need to knowhowclose it was. If Kol hadn't warned her when he did, she doubted she would still be here. Or if she was, it would be while heavily injured. She didn't have the convenient main character plot armor Elena did. "You don't get to go on a rampage just because one newbie vamp decided I'd be a good snack. You'd be killing every supernatural person that came to Mystic Falls then."

"If I must." He growled but despite the words, his muscles visibly relaxed, including black veins that had spread across his eyes. He didn'twantto drop it. He wanted to go find and rip that arrogant baby vampire apart. Show him what age does to their species' power. Lissa was his world. She was the tether that had tied him to his humanity. He had been socloseto turning it off, to just letting Augustinewin,when she bumbled into that basem*nt with her stupid umbrella and creepy wide eyes, asking questions and not even blinking at the gore around her. "I'm taking the kill though. Ric doesn't get the pleasure of killing a threat to your life."

"I can live with that. Are you gonna let Mr. History into your secret or something else?" She asks.

Enzo shrugged. "I'll decide then. You said it wouldn't matter right? He already knows about Damon and Stefan, so what's one more?"

"You'd lose him as a friend until he gets over his vampire prejudices." Lissa pointed out.Whydid so many people in Mystic Falls hate vampires in the early season? It was baffling. The supernatural community around the world gave zero sh*ts to species as long as you weren't a dick. Vampire, werewolf, witch, or anything in between, usually lived and coexisted as peacefully as supernatural people could. There were the more insular witch covens like the Bennetts passed the prejudices down, but everyone else? That was their own opinion.

"Then I lose a friend. As long as I have you, I'm good, Snow White."

Lissa grinned at the sweet, if not slightly obsessive, words. Now that the rather sparse plan was laid out, she glanced over at the Broadcasting Journalism table just in time to see Liz walk up to her daughter. The two blondes conversed for a bit, Caroline's face falling the longer they spoke until finally she stormed away. Leaving the sheriff to uselessly call after her apologetically.

Enzo scoffed. "The sheriff should really learn more about her daughter. She just tried to tell Caroline she didn't even watch the news."

"Stupid. Sure, Care isn't as into current events and politics as I am, but she at least keeps up enough to hold a conversation with me." Lissa said before the two of them with the other luck. They both had places to go. And Enzo still needed to find Jeremy before anything went down with him and Tyler.

As the pale girl started toward the door she cursed seeing Logan in front of Liz. She'd forgotten the man confronted her here. Ducking down behind the cardboard cutout of some random news correspondent, she swaddled her way to the other side of the classroom ignoring the weird looks as she did. Finally at the other side of the room, she left out the second entrance to the classroom.

If Lissa confronted him now, she wouldn't be able to have as much fun later, so dodging his eyes now was for the good of her entertainment later. As soon as she was out of sight, she started jogging towards the front doors, heels clicking as she weaved around other kids and their family. It didn't take long until she was greeted with a rather depressed looking Caroline as the blonde pulled out her phone.

"I hope that's me you're planning on calling." Lissa lightly joked as she stopped next to her friend. "Though I think talking in person may be a bit better in this scenario."

"My mom's an asshole." Caroline whined. She knew her mom didn't pay attention to her interests. Not to the extent that she should. Hell, her mom would probably say her favorite color was still pink! "She doesn't even know me. She just sees the mask I made."

Lissa wrapped her arm around her watery eyed friend, pulling her into a half hug. "She is a cop, so that tracks."

"Lissa! I'm being vulnerable here, and you're making jokes."

"Eh, truthful jokes. But fine. I'll be serious." She relented. "Your mom loves you. Hell, you're one of the only people she loves. But given how demanding her job is, especially with the deaths, and her being pressured by the counsel, I'm not surprised she doesn't realize her girly girl daughter has hidden depths."

Caroline's shoulders slumped, telling Lissa had said the exact words the other girl had been thinking herself. "What are you saying? That I should just forgive her after she basically called me shallow and stupid?"

"f*ck no. Make her grovel. What she implied was out of line, you know it, I know it, even Enzo, who only met you like two months ago, knows it. You like makeup, and fashion and being the center of attention, sure. But so many other girls do too. But you are so much more than your stereotype." Lissa comforted her while suppressing a frown.

The more she thought about Liz the more she got annoyed with her. The woman cared. A lot, anyone in the town could see that. But she was so narrow minded. It closed her off from her own daughter and so many more opportunities in life, just because she couldn't see past her own ideals and opinions.

Sighing, Lissa continued. "You mom is so very human. I don't mean that in a bad way!" She held up her hand stopping whatever the blonde was going to say. "I know everyone else is, but Caroline, you chose me as your best friend. I'm not the most…soundindividual. My opinions change on a dime and my morals are looser than a hooker's hole after a busy work day. Basically, just talk to your mom. She's probably already beating herself up over the fight. ."

"Okayfirst,nevereveruse that analogy again. The mental image alone gave me mental scarring." Caroline started. "Second…you're right. I hate to say it because I should be right. Always, but maybe springing broadcast journaling on her wasn't my best idea. I'm not even completely sure it's for me."

Lissa chuckled. "It's not. You'd hate it. Go for interior design or something that takes organization and aesthetics into play. It's so much more you."

Over the course of their short conversation the two girls had ended up sitting on the curb, neither wanting to stand much longer in their heels. They had just stood back up when a dark SUV pulled up to them, window rolling down to show a smirking Logan. "You girls need a ride? Melissa, I was about to head over to your place anyway."

Lissa paused at the implied threat.Did the man not realize Jenna was here? Or was the threat towards her?

Does it matter? You should kill him anywayKol spoke up for the first time in a while.Though, I do respect you playing with your prey. Very Mikaelson of you.

That would probably be a compliment if it wasn't implying I'm a psychopath.

I suppose we could explore that when you're not in the middle of something, yes?

Throwing her thoughts into a box, Lissa focused back on the baby vampire. She couldn't have been paused for longer than a second, but that was long enough for the man with vampire reflexes to pick up on it. His smirk widened as icy blue eyes met smug brown ones. He knew to be cautious with the girl after she used her freakish powers on him, but the opportunity to get back at both LizandDamon? That was too big to pass up.

He'd gone through Damon's phone after he'd shot the man earlier today, needing something to hold over him. And besides his brother, Lissa was the only person hetrulytalked to. Sure, the black haired man seemed to obsessively text the other Gilbert twin, but Elena very rarely replied. Smart of her in Logan's opinion. "Don't worry you two, I don't bite~" He joked, flashing his teeth,

"Ah, well, I could easily grab a ride with my friend, what about you, Caroline?" Lissa said, tone and smile light despite the absolute frosty stare down she was having with Logan.

"Bonnie was my ride, but she's not answering my text." Caroline frowned. She picked up the weirdness that was going on, but for the life of her couldn't pick up what was causing it. Lissa had always disliked Logan, but now it was as if Caroline was watching a lioness pick the best way to nab her prey. "I may take you up on that offer, Logan. I could also ask you about journalism!"

"Perfect," Logan purred. "Melissa, you sure about that ride? I don't want to just leave you here while I take Caroline."

Glancing back and forth between Caroline and Logan, Lissa pretended to think over her answer. It was better for Logan to believe she was back into whatever corner he wanted her in. It was so much better to break someone when they believed they had the upper hand. "Actually, I think I'll come with. No reason to make Enzo go out of his way to drive my home if you're offering."

"Good! Caroline, you can sit in the front since you agreed first." Logan offered, leaning over to open his passenger door, as Lissa herself slid into the seat behind Caroline. Without looking, she pulled her f*cking slide phone from her front pocket and sent a horrifically misspelled text to Caroline saying not to trust Logan and that she would explain afterwards.

"Buckle up, girls. Don't want anything to happen~"

The two girls made eye contact in the rearview mirror and Caroline nodded. She would follow Lissa with whatever she had planned.

Chapter 15

Chapter Text

Previously on 'Ghost of Lifetimes Past'

"Good! Caroline, you can sit in the front since you agreed first." Logan offered, leaning over to open his passenger door, as Lissa herself slid into the seat behind Caroline. Without looking, she pulled her f*cking slide phone from her front pocket and sent a horrifically misspelled text to Caroline saying not to trust Logan and that she would explain afterwards.

"Buckle up, girls. Don't want anything to happen~"

The two girls made eye contact in the rearview mirror and Caroline nodded. She would follow Lissa with whatever she had planned.

Logan drove fast and dangerous, swerving around curves while barely tapping the break. If he had been human Lissa would have worried that the man would wreck. But he wasn't, so she didn't.

Soon the lights of the small town faded and that's when Lissa, phone still hidden in her lap, sent Damon a text telling him that both her and Caroline were with Logan. Enzo already knew her plan, but if Damon and Stefan followed the show they'd be going after Logan themselves. At least this way they would get a heads up before the sheriff called.

Glancing down, she suppressed a chuckle at Damon's response of 'What, how, andwhythe hell?'. Not dignifying that with a response, she hid her phone back underneath her so Logan didn't become suspicious. Luckily he was still a newbie so didn't really know how to hone his senses to hear phone buttons and stuff…she cannot wait for touch screens. They're so much more discrete.

"So, Loggie-bear, how's the vampire life treating you? Earlier you seemed rather…ravenous." Lissa teased, a cruel smirk on her face as she leaned back, getting comfortable in her seat. "Of course, not after that neck snap. Was that the second or third time you'd died?"

'Ah, coming on a bit strong, Dear.'Kol said. 'If you want to play with him longer you may want to dial it back from cruel mocking to just menacingly playful'

'Probably, but we don't have too much time. More than likely Damon is going to try and hightail it to Logan double time now that he knows it's not just Caroline in here.' Lissa gave the mental equivalent of a shrug.' It's already been established with everyone that me and Damon are friends. If he "saves" me again then it is even better for his image.'

'He cares for you.'Kol observed. 'Maybe not as he does your sister, I've not 'seen' them together other than what you've shown me, but his actions say he's at least fond of you.'

Lissa, not wanting Logan to get suspicious, focused back into the real world, leaving Kol hanging. She didn't want to deal with how annoyed she was with Damon…hell, Lissa didn't even know why she was annoyed with the man.

Caroline was looking between Logan's now angry and veiny face and Lissa's cool unaffected visage, eyes wide. Lissa nodded at the unspoken question in her eyes before Caroline focused back on the driver. "Y-you're a vampire? Since when? You used to babysit me!" Caroline questioned. The idea of someone she grew up with just changing like that without her knowledge pushing the blonde right past nervous into anxious rambles.

Logan, ignoring Caroline, turned and snarled at the pale girl for her comment earlier. Lissa remained completely unfazed at the newbie vampire, the exact opposite reaction Logan was wanting. "If I didn't need you to send some people a message, I'd drink you and the blonde dry right now. Though considering your freaky powers, who knows how well you'd taste."

'I think you'd be delectable, personally,'Kol offered up. Just to get shushed amusedly by Lissa.

"Oh no, I've never been threatened with being drained before. That's a completely new and absolutely not overdone threat." Lissa rolled her eyes, deadpanning. "Seriously, dude? Use a little imagination. Keep it interesting."

Logan as a human already had an ego the size of Mexico and anger issues to match. As a vampire? Oh those ramped up all the way to actual psychological diagnosis. Hence, she had completely expected his following actions. Turning back to the wheel, he slammed on the brakes until they stopped right in the middle of the road before whipping around, hands moving to grab ahold of her.

Except after only going about a foot, his hands stopped in the air as if slamming into a hard wall. A hard invisible wall.

Grinning, Lissa nodded down to her lap where her left hand was facing him, tattoo glowing slightly. "Did you actually think I'd let you hurt me? Or Caroline? Are you truly that idiotic?" She laughed cruelly. "You poor washed up sportscaster. So delusional."

A whistle echoed through her head. 'Not bad. Heavy handed and lacking in finesse so you'll need to work on that, but impressive none-the-less. You're lucky he's clearly overwhelmed from the change and already had a complex as a human.'

'True, next time I'll need to actually put some effort into pissing people off.'

Logan's wild eyes flitted from her over to Caroline's still form, idea forming.

Caroline, having frozen when Logan slammed on the breaks, met Logan's calculating eyes. She knew Lissa was playing with him, but she didn't know why.

Snarl turning into a cruel smile, Logan looked deep into the blonde's eyes. "Get out of the car and kill Melissa Gilbert." He commanded, pupils contracting as they tried to compel her. Logan remembered when the council had first read about that. He'd been filled with terror like everyone else at the idea of someone being able to use him like a tool. But being the one on the other side? It was a power trip.

Caroline gasped, brain going fuzzy as the compulsion set itself on her but unable to take hold. Glancing down at the charm bracelet Lissa had told her would keep her safe, she felt her face twist into something she knew was ugly in her anger. "Why the hell would you try and make me do that? Howdare you!" Caroline, for the first time, felt unbridled rage. Despite the horror movies, despite the rather disreputable people she'd met through her mom or Lissa, despite her own jealousy, she'd never actually wanted to hurt another being as much as she did with Logan right now.

Eyes wide, smirk even wider, Lissa watched as the normally morally sound Caroline genuinely contemplated murder. She wouldn't let the blonde get that far, Lissa may be okay with murder but it would haunt Caroline. As she was right now, at least. The blonde was a bit more delicate. Despite that, the corruption to Caroline's character was beautiful to behold. Maybe Lissa was too pleased at the sheer change in Caroline's goodness, but that was for Future Lissa to think about. Right now she would just relish in it.

Unknowingly the white haired girl had instilled the same fear of being manipulated, of being used, that dogged her in Caroline and now Caroline was pissed. Not at her best friends, no, hardly ever at her, Caroline shuddered to think of how she'd have turned out without the albino girl's influence. Probably petty and shallow and entirely too up her own ass until something tragic shocked her out of it. "Logan, get bent. News station to Sportscaster Fell, the council isn't the only people that know about vervain."

Kol snorted in her mind."Rather strong minded friend you got there. Not many women are able to bounce back as quickly as she did from attempted compulsion and that amount of rage."

"Of course, Care did. She'sCaroline. She's the best"Lissa bragged."Also f*ck you dude, don't diss women in my head. Be sexist somewhere else."

Ignoring the minor headache Kol gave her for the comment, Lissa leaned forward and grabbed Caroline's arm that was starting to bang on the shield she had up. It didn't hurt, not like when Klaus was hammering away trying to get at her, but there was no reason for her to bruise her hand. "Whoa, Care, let's slow the roll. Logan's scumminess levelled up when he died. No need to get so offended about him showing his true self."

"No need? He tried to get me to kill you! I see a big need." Caroline huffed, but leaned back into her seat, eyes glaring daggers at the still veiny Logan. "I'm watching you. One wrong move and I'll…I'll do something drastic, just you watch."

"We'll, um, we'll work on the threats." Lissa muttered as Caroline's ringtone blared through the SUV. KIt was right on time. Lissa muttered to Caroline to let her talk and that the blonde should stay quiet. Caroline nodded as she handed the phone over. Just as Lissa answered, Logan started snarling even louder.

"Liz! Thank the gods!" Lissa cried frantically into the phone, angling it to better catch the angry vampire's snarls. "Logan is a vampire and he offered me and Caroline a ride home. He…did the eye thingy on Caroline so she would fall asleep but it didn't work on me because I've been drinking vervain like you said. Now he's mad and trying to hurt us. I have us behind a shield thingy that this old Gilbert device creates, but I don't know how long it'll hold."

Despite the watery tear filled tone her voice had, Lissa's eyes were as dry as could be as they met Logan's furious ones.

Logan, not a particularly stupid person, caught onto what she was doing pretty quickly. "Elizabeth, she's lying! She had these-"

"Liz! He said he'd make you kill me and Caroline hate me before the day was over because of Jenna refusing him." Lissa yelled over Logan's words, sniffing convincingly. "He's trying to make you think I'm some…supernatural freak witch. All so you would shoot me because he'd convinced you I wasn'thuman."

Liz's worried tone came through the tiny speakers. "Melissa, I promise you, no matter what I will save you and my daughter. I would never shoot you. I'd figure something else out first. Now, I'm sure the monster that was Logan can hear me, but just in case, put me on speaker."

Lissa smiled smugly as she did just that. What followed was Lix giving a rather pathetic threat to Logan, including saying she would be calling backup–Damon–and that he'd never get away with it. Basically all things you'd expect to hear in some cheesy B rated movie.

"That was horrendous. How has that unimaginative threat actually managed to frighten the baby vampire?"Kol said, incredulous.

Lissa studied Logan. He didn't look particularly scared. If she had to guess based on his body language, he was annoyed at the interruption."How do you know he's scared?"

"I can smell it, obviously."

"How? You're inside me!"

Kol was silent for a moment as he realized she had a point. He wasn't there physically so he relied on her own senses, so how, with her humanness, was Kol able to smell Logan's fear?"...I will have to get back to you on that answer."

Lissa huffed, annoyed."Great, another mystery on top of all our other mysteries"

Focusing back on the van, Lissa shook her head as finally the frantic calls of Liz registered. "Melissa! Lissa! Logan, I swear if you did anything-"

Lissa mentally cursed, she should have been more focused on what was going on. "Sorry! I'm sorry. I zoned out, I'm just-" She physically cringed, cutting her words off before forcing out her next words. "I was just so scared."

"Melissa, I promise you, help will be there soon. Just be brave." Liz swore.

With a grimace, Lissa hung up the phone. Would that cause more worry? Yes, but she couldn't handle anymore of that superhero bullsh*t. She didn't know what was up with her recently but something was wrong. From the lack of patience to the moodiness, Lissa knewsomethingwas up with her. But she didn't have time to focus on that. There were a million and one things to do before she would look inward. It wasn't detrimentally affecting her; it was just a bit of an inconvenience. Like a burnt out light bulb in a ceiling fan. Annoying but it's possible to live with the other three lights working.

Putting a bit more magic behind the shield and ignoring the resulting headache on the off chance Logan got a second wind and found a way to break through, Lissa leaned back into the SUV's seat. She really wanted to kill him, but she'd told Enzo he could have the kill, no way would he be letting Ric even get near the guy now that Enzo knew he'd tried to kill her before. Poor Enzo had been on edge since her trip, killing Logan would be a good stress relief.

Studying the raging man, she smiled. "Logan." Snarls stopping once he registered her voice, Logan glared, waiting to see what she wanted now. "If I drop the shield, would you leave us right now and meet me at your warehouse in a bit? Damon, you know that killed you? Yeah, he has a couple of questions and will be here in just a you can deal with an older angry vampire that wouldn't mind killing you on sight, or you can run and live…which one do you want?"

Laughing maniacally, Logan leveled her with a look of contempt. "You really thinkDamonscares me? Please I handled him seamlessly earlier."

"Yes, with your wooden bullets. I don't particularly see any gun around, and I have you stuck in my shield. You gave no idea what else I can do. So, do you really think you could take him on right now? Think about it." Lissa said.

Logan froze. She was right. She knew she was right. Logan had been a vampiremaybea couple of weeks. He wouldn't match up to Damon in an all out fight. Hell, Ric got the drop on him and she knew, intimately, how unbalanced the power scale was in a vampire VS. human fight.

"Drop it."

"You won't go after us? Cause Logan, if you do, I don't care about your life even a little bit. You'll be burnt and dead before you could even take a step." Lissa threatened.

Logan sighed, angry but knowing the annoying girl had a valid point. He was angry and irrational, but he wasn't an unintelligent animal. He can still acknowledge a good point when one is made. "I said drop it, I mean drop it. I won't go for you or Caroline."

She dropped it.

Ina flash the vampire was out of the car and out of sight. Caroline finally let out the breath she had been holding. "How were you so calm and collected? I thought I was going to go insane with everything that happened!"

"Care, if you think this small incident is the most chaotic thing you'll deal with then I hate to be the bearer of bad news." She joked, glancing behind them. Damon would be there soon. She'd already been off the phone with Liz for over five minutes. Hehadto have been her next call. "This was just me playing around. Wanted to see how quickly I could make him snap."

"I love you, but you're insane!"

"You're just now realizing this? Some best friend you are." She laughed. The two girls sat there in the SUV, chatting about what had just happened. Lissa explained more about compulsion and other things. Now that Caroline had dealt with the supernatural, she had even more questions so Lissa answered what she could at the time and just talked until Damon got there. All the while, she was intimately aware of the feeling of pure Kol. Pressing himself against her brain mentally, trying to understand her thoughts. Her feelings. Trying to see what caused her to make the choices she did. Kol was a curious being. In her last-

She cut her own thoughts off. Not with him so close to her mental surface. Her secrets werehers.

"Lissa!" Damon yelled, finally arriving and ripping the door off next to her. Stefan was nowhere in sight. She wondered where he'd gone considering she was pretty sure he was supposed to come with him. "Are you…Where's Logan?"

"Not here. You're late so I handled it." Lissa snorted.

"The sheriff called five minutes ago."

"And you're about four minutes late."

Damon threw his hands into the air, huffing as he did but didn't walk away. Instead he glanced her over, looking for any injuries, Caroline too. "You're not hurt, are you, Snow Princess?"

Lissa narrowed her eyes at him. "Why? Worried howElenawill take me being hurt?"

For once not rising to the bait, Damon explained. "No, worried aboutyou." He paused before frowning. "Why do you assume anything I do for you is because of Elena? It's you that's my friend."

Freezing, Lissa stared. And stared. Until finally she sighed. "People like Elena better. Besides Caroline and Jeremy, it's Elena that people in town like more. I'm off putting, rude, a little bit psychotic, and don't really have empathy for anyone I don't care about. That's not really a combination of traits that people like. I'm tolerated because I help people around town and I'm familiar having grown up in town." She glanced sideways at Caroline who wasn't even trying to play like she wasn't invested in what was happening. "Plus Elena looks exactly like Katherine. I just figured it'd beheryou like better."

Thumping her forehead he ignored the glare she sent him. "You're an idiot. Ah! Hold on." He held his hand up, stopping her words when he saw her mouth open. "Elena is fun to play with, like an innocent kitten. And yes, I'm attracted to her. Like you said she's a dead ringer for Katherine. But, forgive me for sounding like Stefan for a minute, that doesn't negate that you're my friend." He grimaced at the show of vulnerability. "Now can we go back to death threats and snark? And not the actually hating each other part? I have enough of that from Enzo and my brother."

"Fine…I may have been a bit quick to say you were boring and not worth my time…" She muttered but that didn't hide the smile she was sporting.

Unable to hold it in anymore, Caroline squealed. "Oh! You made a new friend! Good job…even if he is a vampire that kills people."

"Well, Barbie approves." Damon laughed as he helped her out of the vehicle before speeding over and doing the same with Caroline. Lissa gave Caroline a once over herself despite knowing Logan hadn't been able to touch her because of the shield. Thank f*ck that she had had the the idea to change the shape of her shield one day. It had given her so much versatility.

Damon turned to Lissa after they were all situated outside the SUV. "Hit me. Hard enough to leave a bruise."

"Won't your healing deal with the bruise?"

He shook his head. "I can hold it off until we're not in front of Liz. She'll think it's suspicious if Logan didn't at least put up a bit of a fight."

Lissa pulled a 'whatever' face before slugging Damon across the face, his bones cracking under the force of her punch.

"Dammit, I said hit me, not break my face!" Damon griped, right side of his face already swelling. She'd broken his cheekbone.

Caroline laughed at the two of them, suddenly seeing how the two of them could be friends. "Damon, you shouldn't have asked her to punch you if you weren't ready for the pain."

"She's the size of a munchkin! How could I know she hit like f*cking Mike Tyson?" Damon grumbled, standing up just as red and blue lights came around the corner. Caroline just shrugged, still chuckling.

"Kol…that was way too strong for a human."Lissa thought, glancing down at her hand. It wasn't even red from the punch."Do you think…nevermind"

Kol inside Lissa's mindscape frowned. Void witches weren't supernaturally strong. They weren't even magically strong. They weren't even magically that strong until they knew their powers better. Void witches' power came from theirlackof magic. They sucked magic in like a void, keeping it inside their body either for their own use or for others to use. No spell was able to keep hold of them unless tied to their blood or soul. They just sucked the power from spells into their own bodies. The last void witch he'd known never hit the limit to what she could hold. The only void witches he'd heard of hitting their limit were children, and that never ended good. Not that he would be telling any of this to his host anytime soon.

Liz, parking hazardously, jumped out of her car before running over to Caroline. "Are you okay? Did you see anything?"

Caroline made eye contact with Lissa before shaking her head at her mom. "No, Logan knocked me out somehow. I woke up just as Damon was getting us out of the SUV."

Liz sighed, relieved that her daughter wasn't being pulled into the mess that was vampires. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, he did this because of me." She turned to Damon and Lissa, a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you, you two. Especially you Damon. I don't know how you did it but you scared him off."

Damon waved her off. "No need to thank me. He had Lissa too and she's a friend. I wasn't about to just let him get away." By now the swelling from the broken cheekbone had gone away and all he had was a yellowish bruise in the area.

"Liz, why don't you take Caroline home? I'm okay with Damon." Lissa suggested, suppressing a smile at Caroline's glare behind her mom's back. Liz agreed, turning to thank Damon again just as Lissa gave her friend a 'what can you do?' look. Both of them knew the woman wasn't about to let her daughter out of her sight for the rest of the night. And Lissa wasn't about to be brought home in a damn police car unless she'd earned the escort.

"Lissa, I'm glad you're okay." Liz said as she hugged the small girl. Caroline already made her way to the passenger seat of the cruiser. After nodding to both Damon and Lissa, the sheriff followed after and drove away.

As the rear lights faded, Damon and Lissa got inside his car, the same car she only just noticed parked a bit away. For some reason the white haired girl expected him to have run the whole way. Glancing at the vampire next to her, she grinned. "Thanks for coming by the way."

Damon raised an eyebrow at her, not sure why she was thanking him. Saving him furthered his plans with the council and it wasn't like he was going to leave his friend with an out of control vampire. "Did you think I wouldn't? I mean I assumed you could have saved yourself and Barbie just fine, but either way, I was coming to help."

She shrugged. "Just figured you'd leave me to get out myself." It's what most people would have done, besides Enzo. Enzo, if he hadn't already known her plan to get kidnapped, would have ran after the SUV himself.

"Sure you could have, but I needed to talk to him anyway…" Damon slammed on his breaks as he realized he still didn't know who turned the damn guy. "Dammit! I needed to talk to the spray tanned f*cker!" He turned to her, question in his eyes.

"Guess it's good that I know where he's going to be then, isn't it?" Lissa smirked. Poor ol' Logan thought he was getting away. Like hell was she going to let the dude that was murderously obsessed with her aunt just leave.

Lissa sighed as a small splatter of blood hit her cheek. Damon was currently playing with Logan and the gun with wooden bullets he'd found. They had just gotten to the warehouse not five minutes ago. Logan had tried to speed away once he'd seen Damon, knowing the older vampire wouldn't be kind to him after this morning, but Lissa had shielded the door, leaving Logan to shatter his face when he face-planted into it going full speed.

Lissa, while Damon got to questioning, had pulled out her phone and updated Enzo on the plan. Instead of staying and waiting with Ric, she told him to stop Jeremy's fight then head this way. He could kill Logan when they got the name out of him.

Initially she was just going to kill him, keep the story on track, but honestly, getting Anna's name this early would be helpful. Maybe Damon would remember something and recognize the teenager and they could work together and the hurdle of opening the tomb would be over and done with quicker. Cause, honestly, she was getting a bit bored of it.

Lissa would need to check her own magic storage unit to see if she could find something to plant like a spell or information about Katherine and get the ball rolling faster. She had a time limit of five months, less now, before Klaus was getting to town and really, the fact that they didn't even know Katherine wasn't in the tomb was pathetic. She was disappointed in herself. If she didn't get Elena and the others ready then the ritual was going to be a disaster for all parties.

"Brutal, dear. You'd think you would care if your sister died."

"I do…that's why Klaus is looking for a witch that can handle the ritualanddo the life transferring spell."She hummed, watching as Damon shattered Logan's femur in two places but still no name was given up. Either he didn't know it or he didn't realize he didn't know it."I just don't care if she gets a bit of trauma. Me and Elena never got along, she's too judgy and self centered…and I'm too much of a psychopath with hardly any morals. They just don't mix."

Kol laughed at her words, understanding exactly where she was coming from.

Tisking, Lissa left her place, leaving against the shelf next to Damon and Logan, picking up some random tire iron, she brought it down, driving it into Logan's stomach and ripping it back out, blood spilling and spattering her and Damon. "Logan, it's pathetic that you really think we would believe the 'I don't know' routine. It's the oldest in the book. Even if you don't know, you have an idea. Now tell us the name. Ipromiseneither me or Damon will kill you if you do."

Damon let out the beginning of disagreement that died when she glared at him. He could see she had a plan and considering the torture wasn't doing anything, might as well go along. "As she said, we're reasonable people. Just give us the name."

Logan shook his head, as he gritted his teeth. The two in front of him were insane. He wasn't surprised about Damon, being a vampire really ruined the morals, but Lissa? She used to play scrabble and helped around town occasionally. All the while she hid how insane she was. If it wasn't him being tortured, he'd be impressed.

Outside, the two torturers heard a car pull up, gravel not really quiet in any sense. Damon tensed, expecting a fight, only to relax as Enzo and Jeremy walked in.

"Honey~ I'm home~" Enzo called, walking into the open warehouse.

Lissa at the sight of them real quickly sliced the tire iron through the air and into Logan's temple killing him temporarily. Maybe a little death will help motivate him.

As Logan flopped sideways, blood pouring from his head, Lissa turned to the two of them grinning despite the blood splatter on her face and clothes. "Oh hey! You brought Jeremy."

While Lissa went to question her brother if he really was okay to stay and watch this, Enzo made eye contact with Damon. Instead of the white hot anger he'd been getting since learning the guy was still alive, it had simmered to just loathing of his person. Enzo, against his better judgment, still feltsomeaffection for the man. Not enough to go back to being friends without some serious groveling from Damon, but enough to keep him from staking him anytime the black haired Salvatore was in his sights.

"I didn't know she asked you to come too." Damon said as a greeting.

Enzo walked over to the against some random shelf in front of the crumpled form of Logan, right next to Damon. "Why? Don't want me barging in on your 'investigation'?"

"Nope, I don't mind. You could probably even help us get the name faster."

"Cause of my extensive knowlege of torture techniques?"

"Of course, so many years under the knife, I'm sure you're an expert."

Enzo scoffed at the audacity Damon had, he knew damn well what went on at Augustine was more than just fun of the mill torture. Lissa, hearing Damon being a dick, walked up behind him after she was done talking to Jeremy and slapped him on the back of the head, a sharp "don't be f*cking rude" coming right after.

"Lissa, dearest, you are my favorite person. Don't ever change." Enzo laughed at the astonished look Damon had. He doubted Damon had ever dealt with humans that were completely unafraid of him. Even Augustine people had a healthy fear of vampires. Lissa just didn't care.

Lissa shot Enzo a smug grin. "Of course, why would I want to change? I like who I am." She said before turning back to the vampire that was just now waking from his death nap. Jeremy, not wanting to draw attention to himself from Logan, walked over to Enzo and stood next to him.

Enzo side eyed the teenager. He was rather proud of the youngest Gilbert, despite the green hue he'd taken at the sight of blood covering his sister and Damon, no complaints or reprimands of how evil all of them were crossed his lips. Maybe because it wasn't a human they were torturing? He wasn't sure, but he assumed Lissa would have made sure everything was good on the Jeremy front.

"Logie~ You're back up!" Lissa cheered.

"Please…I told you and Damon I don't know. Just let me leave." Logan croaked, eyes wide not noticing the two new people in the room. Lissa wasn't about to bring attention to them either. Rule number one of torture, don't give your victim anymore information than they need. It's how they either escape or use the information against you later.

Not that Lissa thought Logan would do either. He wasn't going to be leaving the warehouse.

Lissa tilted her head at Logan, sweet smile on her lips before looking behind her to Damon. "Well, Damon, do you think he's telling the truth?"

Damon tsked. "No, I really don't. You don't just become a vampire by accident."

"I did! I really don't know!"

Lissa crouched down, grabbing Logan's jaw in her hand, the same smile on her face as his skin began bubbling and blistering, scream retching from his throat as this flesh was burnt right down to the bone. Besides Enzo, Jeremy gagged a little at the smell and looked away from the sight. "Now see? I think you're lying. You don't remember even a first name? What about any one night stands? Someone you met at a bar? Someone you don't recognize? After all, it could beanyone~"

Logan whimpered, trying to think of anyone he'd talked to before his change. "Anna!" He yelled, finally coming up with some girl he remembered was new in town. "I slept with this girl named Anna. I didn't recognize her, she was a lot younger than I normally went for but she was insistent. Please, there's your name. Just let me go."

Lissa stood up, happy she'd at least gotten that. Maybe it'll jog Damon's name after a bit.

Behind her, Enzo snorted to himself. The guy couldn't even hold up against a couple of burns. How pathetic. He'd even fallen for the oldest vampire trick in the book; meet some person, seem desperate, then when they take the bait, sleep and snack. The fact one of the people that was 'sworn to protect the town of Mystic Falls' had fallen for it? Hilarious.

Damon chuckled. "You're just a regular ol' schmuck, aren't you?"

"Sure, I'm a bit of a man whor*. Now you have your information, I think it's time I get let go." Logan said, trying to push himself onto unstable legs. "I'll need to eat half the bar to heal completely from this." Logan looked down, frowning at his formerly designer shirt covered in burn holes and blood.

Damon raised an eyebrow at Logan's dismissal of them even after he'd just been begging for his life. "See I don't think we should let you go. You've been a bit obvious with who you eat. Leaving a trail of bodies…some of us want to stay in this town and if you're determined to eat a whole football team's worth of people, the only way it'll stay safe is if we kill you or the council…and you're easier to kill."

"Now Damon, that's not fair. We did promise we wouldn't kill him." Lissa raised her hand to stop Damon from stepping forward and killing the sportscaster. "I don't really want to break my promise to my former babysitter."

"Thank you, Melissa. I always knew you were the better Gilbert."

Jeremy let out an offended tone. Favorite Gilbert his ass. Logan had gone out of his way to avoid Lissa, too creeped out by her albinism.

Lissa furrowed her brows at Logan's words, fake confusion on her face. "You seemed to misunderstand me. I saidme and Damonwouldn't kill you."

Enzo smirked, pushing off the shelf he was leaning against to come up behind Lissa, grabbing a broken broom handle as he did. Even at 5'10 he towered behind the girl, finally bringing Logan's attention to him. "But she didn't promiseIwouldn't kill you, mate."

"Who the hell are you?" Logan snarled, standing shakily, still healing from everything. Enzo remembered back when he was a baby vampire, the god complex really hits hard…then crashing once he was shown he wasn't invincible the hard way.

"Me?" He asked hand to his chest. "I'm just your lovely English helper, come to get revenge for attempting to kill my best friend." He chuckled at Logan stepping away from him rapidly looking between him, a smug looking Lissa, and a smirking Damon. Trying to runnowwouldn't do anything for the guy, not that any of them would tell him that. He should have run earlier if he was going to try. "Now be a dear and stay still."

Lissa took a couple of steps to the side as Enzo lunged, wooden handle piercing Logan's chest before he could even get over the shock. With a gasp, Logan fell to the ground, grey and dead.

There was a beat of silence before Jeremy walked over to Logan's body, hesitation and curiosity in his eyes. "Do they always turn grey?"

Lissa nodded, studying her relaxed brother. "Yeah, they do. How're you, by the way? Wall still holding? I was a bit worried thinking that seeing another vampire die would cause it to fall."

Jeremy shrugged. "Seems like it's still there. I don't feel any different and Enzo said it would be obvious when it fell."

Damon looked between the two siblings before deciding it wasn't important. He assumed it had something to do with how good the little Gilbert was handling his girlfriend's death. "I didn't recognize the name…did either of you?"

Lissa closed her eyes in despair."He's an idiot. I hate him."

In her head, Kol laughed at her."Looks like you're going to have to hold his hand through this…and probably the rest of his life."

"I'm a psychopath! How have I become the town supernatural's babysitter?"

"Don't know, Love, but it is entertaining."

Lissa sighed before answering Damon. "Maybe. I'll have to look through some stuff, but it sounds familiar. Maybe from a Gilbert journal or something."

Enzo, having been filled in about the tomb and everything that went down with Mystic Falls back when Damon was a human by Lissa, guessed that she was trying to imply it had something to do with that time. "Maybe look in your family's journals? If she's sticking around in town, she's probably been here before." He suggested to Damon, tone just on the edge of civil.

Damon nodded, trying to think about the name. If Lissa read it in a Gilbert journal, he may know her.

Lissa sent Enzo a thankful look. She loved that man. He somehow always stayed on the same wavelength as her. "Think someone could take me and Jer home? Us humans really do need sleep."

"Yeah, I'll take you guys home and Damon can go do whatever backstabbing dickhe*ds do at night." Enzo said, smirking.

Jeremy snorted but walked back outside, sending a wave goodbye to Damon.

"Damon, nice working with you, we should do it again sometime." She offered, wiping her bloody hands on a random rag she found on the ground. "You know when I'm not doing it as an apology for being a bitch. Let me know how the thing with the T-O-M-B is going. I told you I'd help with it so I will."

Damon deadpanned at her. "Snow Princess, I'm pretty sure Enzo can spell 'tomb' you don't need to spell it out."

"Wellnowhe can!" She cried anguished at the secret getting out before laughing and Enzo pushed her sideways at her cheek. She stuck her tongue out at him as she jogged out of the room backwards. He followed after her, like he always would.

Lissa would like it to be stated, she had tried to go to bed and stay in bed. Really, she had. She was tired. Enzo dropped her off at the Gilberts' residence, Jenna had made a bit of a stink about how little time she'd spent at home recently, and after taking a quick shower, had laid down to sleep.

That's when she got the call.

Elena had finally seen a picture of Katherine and was completely wigged out. There were tears and snot and outrage at Stefan. Hell, Lissa had almost been under fire when Elena realized she knew about Katherine. Luckily she played it off as Damon telling her about it and since Damon had told her, why would Lissa think Stefan had not told Elena?

After all, Stefan wasdatingElena, and Damon was only Lissa's friend.

Either way, Elena in her freaked out state had decided that driving while having a panic attack was perfectly safe. So Lissa wasn't too surprised to hear a crash. Worried? Yes, but not surprised.

There was a moment while Lissa tried to get Elena to answer before Damon's voice came over the speaker. But how Lissa ended up in the passenger seat of his car going to Georgia? Not even she understood. It involved blackmail, threats to her sister's life, begging, and a promise to do her one favor no questions asked in the future. At least Damon gave her enough time to get dressed in some jeans and a tshirt. Even if he did make fun of it being an anime one.

So here she sat, after calling Enzo, she was now texting Klaus about the weird ass turn of her life. She was throwing ideas at him about different plans to get Elena on board with the ritual. He was just saying anything she did didn't matter, the ritual would be happening. So not much help there.

"I still find it odd that Klaus seems to genuinely enjoy talking to you." Kol mused as Lissa finally remembered to give Klaus the name of the witch he'd used in the…in the dream. Greta Martin.

"Oh, he's clearly just trying to stay on my good side so I keep helping him without threats."She shot back."After all I've basically handed him freedom from his curse. Gave him a doppelganger, promised a vampire and a werewolf, and just now gave him a tip for a witch. So far I'm like his best f*cking friend. There's no reason not to trust me."

"Except that I'm in your head."

Lissa snorted. Damon shot her a weird look that she ignored. Can't really explain the voice in her head was occasionally funny."Like I'm going to mentionthat. Your brother is occasionally an idiot that thinks controlling your life and choices equals love. In his traumatized brain he's doing you a favor."

"A favor?"Kol seethed, mood flipping on a dime, causing Lissa's head to start pounding. His anger affecting her in the only way if could. Painfully.

"First off, jackass, tone the anger down. My head feels like it's about to pop like a balloon. You know damn well how you affect my body while you're inside my mindscape."Lissa griped, hand going to rub circles on her temples."Second, I'm explaining his reasonings, not agreeing. The daggering is wrong. He shouldn't make your choices for you."

Kol must have calmed himself down because the pain lessened until it was just a mild throb, easily ignoreable."Sorry, Love, didn't mean to cause you pain."

She sighed, not able to even be mad at the original. They were still figuring out how to live with each other. It didn't help the spell had taken a life of it's own by connecting them even further than it was originally supposed to. They were flying blind with their connecting."We're good. Just know next time it happens I'll be kicking you out of my mindscape until you can control your emotions. I can't have a headache from hell at some inopportune moment. What if it kills me?"

"Wouldn't want that. Like I said, you're the only entertainment I've had for decades. Not giving this up just because I have some minor anger issues."Kol joked.

Lissa, not really wanting to talk anymore, went back to playing on her phone. Outside the window she watched as farmland passed in the rising sunlight. Figuring they still had a couple of hours until they hit Georgia, Lissa leaned her chair back to sleep. Keeping enough space to not lay on her knocked out sister. She told Damon to wake her up when they were at their destination and she was out. Staying up all night on top of going to school all day? Not her best decision.

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, more than a handful of hours since it was almost sundown by the time Damon shook her awake. And Elena stood behind him, arms crossed in annoyance. Squinting, she rubbed her eyes, clearing out any sleep still in the, before getting out of the car. She must have been completely out of it if she slept through the freak out Elena had to have had when her twin had woken up.

In front of the car was what boiled down to a rundown dive bar. A place you'd go to get cheap whisky and information. In the front window by the door, Lissa noticed the same 'S' symbol that many supernatural accepting places had. Meaning this place had special items that specifically catered to supernatural creatures.

"I cannot believe you let him just take us to Georgia." Elena hissed as she walked beside her. They were following Damon into the bar, neither really in the mood for dive bar drinks, but going along with the vampire. "You know how freaked I was about the Katherine thing…I just wanted to stay home and wallow. Or go out of townwith you and no other vampiresand not think about how weird it is my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend is our triplet."

Lissa shook her head. "No, if you wallowed you'd have made it worse. And we can't skip town for a week without anyone knowing. Damon knows the situation and can make sure no one really freaks at us being out of town. Plus you can talk to him about Katherine. It'll be good for you." Lissa said, bumping her grumpy sister. "It is freaky though, I won't lie. But considering the vampire sh*t, is it really the freakiest? People say you have at least five look-alikes at all times, just look at her as one of ours."

"No yours," Elena corrected. "She didn't have albinism and your piercings make the resemblance almost negligible."

"Ooh,negligible, that and SAT word?"

"Lissa, please."

Lissa sighed, grabbing Elena's arm stopping her from following Damon through the door. "Elena, I promise. Damon is harmless to us right now. I'm helping him with what he came to town for and you're my sister. I may not like you much of the time and the times I do you're still annoying, but I'm not going to let him hurt you." She hummed before adding, "Plus he really only took you to annoy Stefan, so not like you would be in danger even if I wasn't here."

Elena studied her face before a small smile formed. "You know, most sisters don't insult their siblings while comforting them."

Lissa chuckled as she opened the bar door. "How boring, I'm assuming most sisters probably like their siblings enough to just not mention it."

"Couldn't let this be a good bonding moment, could you?"

"Nooope~"

Lissa followed behind Elena into the dingy bar, hoping Damon wasn't being molested by the bar owner. Lucky for them, Damon was already sat on a barstool right at the counter, a woman who she assumed was Bree standing in front of him smirking. Bree was a taller, middle aged black woman with the wildest curls Lissa had seen in a while. She could see why Damon had initially been attracted to her. Lissa wouldn't mind having fun with the woman if she offered.

"'Bout time you two came in." Damon called over. "I was worried you ran away."

Lissa and Elena rolled their eyes at the same time, but did make their way over to the vampire. "Damon, we're not dogs." Elena griped, taking the seat to the right of him while Lissa went to the left.

"You're not but your sister is a bitch if I ever met one." Damon joked.

"And don't you forget it." Lissa grinned before going to shake Bree's hand. "Lissa Gilbert, that's my sister, Elena. Please tell me you were the one to leave this douchebag cause you're way too pretty for him to take advantage of."

"Nope, broke my heart and ruined all men for me until I met my husband." Bree laughed.

Lissa blinked. Husband? Bree definitely didnothave a husband in the sh-dream. In the dream.

"Things different from how you remember it?"Kol spoke up, chuckling at her confusion."Maybe something you did in the past rippled out. That's the joy of knowing the future, you unknowingly change it."

"I've never met the woman! How could I change her relationship status?"Lissa frowned.

Outside her head, Damon was laughing at Bree. "I cannot believe you got married! Where is the lucky man?"

"You asking for me?" A deep voice said from the door next to Lissa. Out came a large man, biceps the size of her head and no shorter than 6'5, bald but a large beard on his face. "You're Damon, right? Bree said she thought you'd be stopping by."

Damon grinned at him. "Wow, she couldn't have gone for anyonemoredifferent than me."

"Probably didn't want the reminders." Elena muttered, still cranky she got dragged to Georgia. But Lissa wasn't worried about that, instead she was gaping at the man.

"Jason?!" She gasped.

Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Chapter Text

In front of her Jason looked at her confused. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Lissa Gilbert…" Lissa muttered, still shocked.Howin the hell had she caused this?

"Lissa? You're sh*tting me?"

She slowly shook her head. "Trust me, I'm not."

Damon cleared his throat, bringing the two's attention to him. "So how do you two know each other? Am I going to have to defend someone's honor?"

Lissa snorted as Jason shot the vampire an offended look. Lissa was sixteen, he'd known her in some capacity since she was fourteen. Did Damon really think she'd have slept with a man that was at least double her age? "No, Jason is the one I go to for any information I need pertaining to the supernatural." Side eyeing the bald man, she grinned. "Now I see how you get that information so easily, too."

Bree smiled, smug. "Yep, Bree's bar; The place you go for cheap drinks and good info."

"How longhaveyou been dealing with this stuff?" Elena asked, leaning forward to stare at her sister. She knew the white haired girl had known about everything for years, but if she had informants and magic and who knows what else…Lissa had to have actively been looking into the supernatural for years.

Lissa, knowing exactly how her sister was thinking, shrugged, brushing the question off to instead question Bree. If she answered honestly there would be a fight, not answering her sister was her best bet. "So, how'd you two meet? Last Jason implied was that he lived in f*cking Ohio."

"Chasing a guy for you actually. Needed to follow a guy down here and stopped for a drink, met this goddess and knew I was f*cked. Now I'm married to the best woman in the world." Jason smiled lovingly as he wrapped his arms around Bree from behind.

Damon nudged Lissa, teasing grin on his face. "Look at you, getting people together without even trying. A real life matchmaker."

Lissa rolled her eyes as Damon ordered a drink for all of them. Declining, Lissa instead started talking with Bree and Jason while Damon played therapist for the still upset Elena.

Apparently Lexihaddropped Lissa's name to them and with Jason backing her up on Lissa's trustworthiness , Bree had decided she could talk about things Lissa very much doubted she would normally talk to other random patrons about.

Lissa jolted before grinning as Bree casually dropped that some higher up member of the Gemini coven had traded her a copy of the prison world spell for Bree to give one of their members a full new identity. Eyes lighting up in interest, Lissa almostbeggedto see it. The prison world spell, now that she understood magic better, was something she had wanted to get her hands on for years now. Depending on how the spell worked, Lissa may have just solved a rather large issue she was having.

Bree agreed on the condition they do an information exchange, Lissa would have to give information of equal value and she would get a copy of the spell. Easily agreeing, Bree stopped to top off Damon and Elena's drinks before heading upstairs where the couple's place was.

Lissa turned to check on her partners in crime and saw Elena had made her way back outside and was on the phone. Damon wasn't too far away from Lissa so she snapped her fingers, bringing her shield up around her and Jason, putting more magic than normal into it so she knew it would block her words from Damon's eavesdropping. She'd seen the man glance over at them a bit too much for her not to think he was listening in. Lucky for her, Damon was rather stupid when it came to witch stuff, so she didn't have to worry about him figuring out what she was getting. The only downside was making the shield this think? It was incredibly obvious, the shield itself visibly shimmering a blueish silver. So everyone in the bar now knew she was hiding something.

"So what's the info?" Jason asked, leaning on the bar next to Lissa eyeing the shield but ultimately not questioning it. Hehadset her up with her tattoo artist, so she wouldn't put it past him to already know about her runic tattoos.

Lissa hummed, studying Jason. He had connections withallfactions of the supernatural, even the more prejudice or reclusive communities. This could be her chance to keep Klaus from completely decimating the werewolf population. "What if I told you in a little less than half a year, there will be a way for werewolves to control the turn? They'd have to turn into hybrids though, half vampire half werewolf."

"No way, that goes against the very core of those two species." Jason shook his head in disbelief.

"You sure about this?"Kol spoke up. If Lissa didn't know better she'd say he had a touch of concern in his voice."I'm all for you completely mucking up my brother's plan if this goes wrong, but he'll probably kill you and everyone you care about for it."

"First, not going to go wrong. And second, I'll chance it. Jason knows when to keep a secret and when not to. I just need him to spread the word in correct circles so I can get names and stuff to send to Klaus."Lissa explained.

Biting her lip, she turned back to Jason. "I'm not explaining how, don't particularly want the ritual stopped, but I promise the info is correct." She paused for a moment, second guessing herself before plowing through. "What I'm about to tell you stays between us Jason. I'm not kidding if someone else learns this before the time is right, it'll get me, you, and everyone we've ever eventalkedto killed."

"Girl, what the hell are you getting me into?" Jason growled.

"Do you want the info or not? Aren't your nieces and nephew werewolves? Along with your sister-in-law?"

Jason sighed but nodded. His older brother had married into a small but reclusive werewolf pack that lived near Yellowstone. While his nephew hadn't triggered his curse, his two little nieces had. Five years ago they'd been attacked by some hikers and in order to protect themselves they ended up killing them before his sister-in-law and the pack could find them. They had only been seven years old.

"The guy, no I'm not giving you his name, is a hybrid. When he was turned into a vampire his curse also triggered. Then because his mom is a raging bitch, she locked his wolf away-"

"Locked away? That's barbaric. It would be like lopping off half of someone's body and expecting them to go about their life in pain and disorientation." Jason said, thinking what he'd do if someone had done that to his family. If someone had crippled the people he cared about. It sent shivers down his spine thinking about the agony that would cause.

Lissa didn't argue with him. She could feel Kol as he paid attention to their conversation, almost like he sat right beneath her skin. His turning had severed just as much as their mother locking Klaus' wolf away. At least Klaus had a chance to get his wolf back, Kol would never develop that same connection with nature he'd had as a witch.

"I've had a thousand years to get used to it, Darling. You don't need to feel any sympathy for me." Kol said, unbeknownst to her a small smile on his face in her mindscape.

"More like annoyance at how stupid your mother was." Lissa stated, trying not to roll her eyes."You would have been such a strong witch if you'd stayed human."

"I know, but thank you for stating so, really makes the ego grow."

Coming back to the conversation with Jason, Lissa shrugged. "I'm aware. That's why I'm helping him break it. Anyway, once it's broken he can turn other wolves into hybrids…ergo, they can then control it."

"You're certain?"

"Yes, if you can give them my business email, have them email me their name and where they live. I'll get back to them when I know more about when we can turn them." Lissa stated. Had she planned to try and get werewolves tochooseto turn? Yes, but more by going along with Klaus on his Summer Road Trip from Hell.

This? This would be so much easier. People talk, especially reclusive werewolf communities. If she could have them already aware and willing to turn? She may be able to completely negate the summer road trio instead have the werewolves come to her to turn. It really all depended on Klaus and how the whole ritual turned out.

Before Jason could say anything else, Bree came back down the stairs and paused at the shield before knocking. Lissa chuckled and dropped it, rewarding her polite response to a rather odd piece of magic.

"Her info good?" Bree asked, waving a folded piece of paper in the air. She knew better than to ask about the shield. It looked like an original spell, and most witches were rather protective of original spells. Jason studied Lissa, face unreadable to the teenager, before nodding.

Bree grinned as she handed the paper over to the albino girl. "I just photocopied it, hope you don't mind. I've been wanting to study this spell since I met this one witch from the Gemini Coven years ago."

Lissa, instead of answering, unfolded the paper and started studying. The main thing she was looking for was if the spell tied the prisoner's soul to the world. Sheneededit to be tied to the world. According to Kol that was the only way magic worked on her; if it was tied to her blood or soul. After a couple of minutes, she grinned.

The spell should do exactly what she was thinking about if her initial look over was correct. But she would have to set it up and everything at a later date with her witch friend, Paige. Despite the girl trying to cover it up, Lissa knew she was part of or formerly part of the Gemini Coven. She was a siphoner, literally only the Gemini Coven churned those out.

"Thank you so much," Lissa smiled at both of them. "I'm pretty sure you, quite literally, just saved my life."

"With a prison spell?"

"Mm-hmm,"

"Don't know how that works, but you're welcome, I suppose."

As Lissa refolded the paper and stuck it in her pocket, Elena came over, determined glint in her eyes, and leaned against her side, smile on her face. "Lissa! You should come get drunk with me. We haven't done that since the back to school party last year!" She spun around the point at Damon who was sitting at their table, two shot glasses held in the air.

Lissa chuckled at her sister before asking Bree for a screwdriver and a bottle of vodka. She wasn't going to get drunk drunk, but tipsy? She could easily burn off the alcohol if she was only tipsy with a quick burst of magic filtered through her body. Kol had explained how to do it one night when she was in her mindscape just quizzing the Original on magic stuff.

And it turns out all the magic she sucks up can, sort of, be used. Sort of because most of it gets pushed into her soul, powering that, keeping it from eating itself. Any left over is what she gets to use either by powering someone else's spells or her own. Lissa just happened to live in a magic heavy area, around magic heavy beings. She'd been subconsciously sucking magic in from day one. Now if only she could learn to suck it up on purpose.

For the next couple of hours, Damon, Elena, and her got progressively more drunk and rowdy; Lissa making sure she burnt off the alcohol anytime she felt like she was passing the line from tipsy into drunk. Not that her drinking partner knew that. To them and the rest of the bar, Lissa was as sh*tfaced as her twin sister. That was why she noticed when Bree and Damon snuck off to the back alleyway.

Sweeping the bar, Jason was busy getting for the multiple patrons that were egged on to drink more my her and her sister. Said sister was playing pool, badly, against a biker woman that Lissa was half convinced was a witch herself.

Focusing her magic inwards, she quickly flushed the alcohol from her blood, shivering at the sudden soberness. Grabbing her drink, she made her way to the back door, keeping it cracked just enough that she could hear the conversation and somewhat see what was going on while still being hidden.

"Now Bree, I'm sure you know why I'm actually here." Damon stated, leaning against the brick wall, putting himself closest to the door.

"I already told you years ago how to get Katherine out, Damon."

"Slight issue, a dead witch blew up the crystal."

"Then I can't help you. Comet, crystal, and boom the tomb was open."

"Than get me a new crystal and a new comet, let's override Emily's spell."

Lissa heard Bree scoff. "You know that's not how magic works. Emily's spell was absolute. Without that crystal the tomb ain't opening." After that uplifting answer she stormed inside, not even noticing Lissa lurking in the shadows.

"Except all you need to break a spell like that is a witches grimoire…which should be easy enough to find."Kol said in response to Bree's lie. Not that either of them could hear him, but Lissa had noticed he liked to comment as if he were really there. She wondered if he'd do the same if he watched actual TV and not her brain one.

It was cute…not that Lissa would be telling Kol that. He already had the Mikaelson arrogance, no need to give him a bigger ego especially while he was stuck inside her head with only herself as entertainment. He'd milk it for all it was worth.

Lissa, seeing Damon wasn't coming in, made her way out to the alleyway herself. There standing against the wall, head facing the sky, was a solemn Damon. "Please tell me you're not actually in despair? All magic has a loophole. Nature makes it that way."

"Which Bree already told me…and Emily assured I couldn't use it." Damon gritted his teeth. "I'm not getting Katherine out."

Lissa raised an eyebrow as her frenemy instead of rolling her eyes like she wanted to. He was so dramatic. "Emily was a Bennett, right?"

"So?"

This time she really did roll her eyes. "So,all witches keep grimoires, but especially Bennett witches. Find her grimoire, find the way to break the spell." If Lissa just happened to already have the grimoire, thus when gifting it to him endearing him to her even more? Well, that was between her and herself.

"And me, Darling"

Damon flitted over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, tight enough that she was going to be bruised. In her head she heard Kol complain about Damon's handling of 'his daily entertainment!'. And Lissa just knew when she got back and Enzo saw them he would blow a gasket.

"Are you sure?" Damon asked, eyes boring into her own. "If you're lying to me…"

"Get your f*cking hands off me, first," Lissa ground out, staring back at Damon just as hard. "Then I'll explain."

Damon, as if someone was controlling him, took his hands off her and took a step back. He blinked down at himself before shaking his head. "Explain then."

"Only idiot witches make spells without reversals," Inside her head she heard Kol scoff. Which was fair, she did just imply he was an idiot since the very spell that got them stuck together was one such spell that didn't have a reversal that wouldn't leave her dead. Or quasidead, since the reversal of it would leave her brain on the wrong side of mush. "It's like with poisoners, don't create a poison without an antidote, well witches don't create spells without a reversal. Emily's reversal for the tomb spell will be in her grimoire, wherever it is."

Damon eyed her for a minute before smiling. "So I still have a chance?"

"If you can get that grimoire? Yes."

"Bree knew this, didn't she?"

Lissa sighed. She was all for revenge killing, but she needed Jason as an informant and if Damon killed Bree she doubted the bald man would be willing to keep helping her. Let alone how Lexi would react since she's alive this time. "You can't kill Bree."

Damon snorted. "I think you'll see I very much can and will."

"Damon, I will set your ass on fire and feed your still smoking ashes to your brother if you take one menacing step towards Bree. She has too many connections thatboth of uscan use for you to just murder her because she pissed you off." Lissa threatened, stepping toward the dark haired vampire, right hand raised as if to do exactly that.

The stare Damon set at her would have left a normal girl shaking at the intensity. Lucky for her she wasn't a normal girl. Finally he softened before chuckling, hands up in surrender. "You can put the claws away, Snow Kitten, I won't kill her. But I'm assuming calling her out on her lies in front of everyone is available?"

"And ruin her reputation as a reputable informant? Sure, she'll still be able to get info because of the bar, which is what's important. Just make sure you don't burn Jason with her. He's my best source." Lissa shrugged.

Damon smirked at her before turning to go back inside. Once he was gone, she sighed. Hopefully the vampire actually stuck to his word, cause she wasn't lying about Jason being one of the best. And if one of her friends killed hiswife?She;d be barred from so damn much.

Early on she had tried to think of ways to cover up her foreknowledge or make it less questionable. That was when she realized if she got a reputation for collecting information and other things like old grimoires, spelled items, and other supernatural things, people wouldn't question how she knew things. It would just fall under her quirk of needing to know everything.

It was the perfect cover for people she didn't want knowing about the s-the dream.

Making her way back in, she saw the crowd had dispersed some as night fell. Elena and Damon both sitting in front of plates of food, a third one she assumed was for her to their left. Before she could head over, Jason cut her off.

She mentally groaned but waited for the man to talk. Wasn't this trip supposed to be a break from everything? Why did it feel more like an errand?

"Wanna explain why Damon just took a nuke to my wife's reputation?"

"She lied to him. She's lucky I talked him out of ripping her heart out." Lissa countered.

Jason cursed, glancing over at Bree who was working the bar but she kept looking over at the two of them anytime she could get away with it without being too obvious. "I told her to just be truthful, but she said he had planned to kill Lexi and she couldn't just help him after that."

Lissa shot him an 'are you kidding?' look. "Lexi is alive, her boyfriend is now a vampire, and Bree has a rather wonderful husband. Are you sure she's not just looking for trouble?"

"I'll talk to her, see if she'll apologize." Jason said before reaching into his jacket pocket and handing her a couple of papers. "By the way, while I have you, this is all I could find on Sarah Loveland. She's either not an important person, or amazing at covering her tracks; either way, there's not much."

Lissa thanked him as she put the papers into the same pocket as the one with the spell. She'd read them when she got home. Waving at him, she, finally, made her way over to her food. Grabbing a fry as she sat down, Lissa pointed at Damon. "Jason said sorry, Be-Tee-Dub."

"Be-Tee-Dub? What?"

"By the way? Come on Damon, I know you're old but at least keep up with the times."

Elena let out a laugh before continuing her questions about vampirism as Lissa pulled out her phone to text Enzo. She'd asked him to grab Emily's grimoire and another Bennet one to plant some clues for Bonnie to find and to keep an eye on said witch since she would be going to the tomb. This was a good time to get on the girl's good side. Apparently he'd done a bit more than just watch the witch. She cackled as she read the text.

Enzo's POV

Waking up to find out his former friend had blackmailed his best friend into going on a road trip with her knocked out sister didn't make for the best morning. But since he had talked to Lissa and got a threat or two into Damon, he wasn't really worried. Lissa had even asked him to run a couple of errands for her.

Enzo had agreed since he didn't really have any plans for the day…or week, and it would get him out of the house. He'd been so bored recently he'd taken up watching daytime soap operas…and as entertaining as they were, especially that damn Spanish channel, he refused to waste away listening to Maria scream at Esteban for sleeping with her mother, Estella, while she was pregnant.

No matter how riveting the plot was.

Jumping in his car, he drove down to the twenty-four hour storage unit area. Lissa had grabbed one of the giant ones back when some old rich woman died and all her stuff was sold by her grandchildren for some cash. When Lissa told him about it she said she didn't want to run out of room anytime soon. And originally, before he'd been freed and actually saw her stuff, he thought his pale friend was overestimating how much room she'd need.

Now? Not so much. There were a number of grimoires from multiple covens and bloodlines, some cursed some not, cursed knives, chest filled with a number of gross things, even a guillotine that is said to sever not only the body's head but also the soul's leaving the poor schmuck that died to forever be missing their head even in death.

All in all, it was a collection that he seriously feared falling into anyone else's hands. Hell, some days he feared them in Lissa's hands. He wasn't delusional no matter how much he loved her, Enzo knew she was psychotic. She was smart about it, but morals always took a backseat to her getting her way.

But he supported her anyway.

Parking, Enzo grabbed the key and walked over to where he knew the unit was, grateful he'd been tied into the wards that Lissa had paid some witch to come put around the place. Unless you were tied into them, obviously done by blood, the unit wasn't visible. It just looked like the line of storages stopped at 14 instead of 15. There were other protections having to do with intention and something not dissimilar to Lissa's own shield, but magic wasn't Enzo's forte. He was very much a muscles and snark guy. Magic on the level that Lissa was studying and practicing took way too much time to research and the planning was so complicated it hurt his head. He'd leave all that up to her. Not that he couldn't do it if he wanted.

He just didn't want to. And Lissa didn't hold it against him.

Going to the grimoires, Enzo searched for the couple Lissa needed. She had said she alphabetized where she got them by last name, unless the person didn't have a last name or she didn't know it. So going to the beginning, he started looking for the first one; Emily Bennett's. Quickly finding it, he snorted at the giant name plastered over the front. For a witch that lived back when they were being prosecuted, he'd assumed she wouldn't literally engrave her name over incriminating evidence on the off chance she was ever caught.

How wrong he was. Grabbing the other grimoire Lissa wanted, a rather small one at the bottom of the Bennett pile, he left the unit, making sure to lock up afterwards.

Putting the grimoires in his trunk, Enzo made his way to the school. He'd texted Caroline earlier to make sure the Bennett witch was in class and had to dodge her questions as to why he was asking. And by dodge he meant he blamed it on Lissa. Caroline dropped it after that.

When in doubt, blame it on Lissa. She did enough weird stuff that no one really questioned her much beyond the initial wonder.

Getting to the school, he parked and grabbed his book he'd been reading. Some mystery novel Jeremy had suggested to him to get back into modern reading, he settled down, keeping an ear out for Bonnie.

Enzo wasn't sure how much time passed, enough that it was closer to lunchtime than the morning, when he heard Stefan's voice call out to his charge. With a smirk, he saved his place and flitted over to where he heard the two.

"Please, Bonnie, it's for Elena." Stefan begged, following behind the girl.

Instead of waiting for her answer, Enzo sauntered up, smirk on his face. "I believe she said no already, or are you the type of man that doesn't listen when women say that?"

"Enzo!" Bonnie exclaimed, "Stefan was just…"

"He was begging you to do a spell to find his wayward girlfriend, even though he knows she's safe anddoesn'twant him to know where she is." Enzo explained, staring down the now tense younger Salvatore.

Bonnie gasped. "You know?"

"Little Bennett, I'm a vampire, of course I know." Enzo chuckled, smiling down at the girl. "Sorry for the initial duplicity, but we were keeping my involvement a bit hush hush…now? Not so much." He then turned to Stefan. "And before you ask, no I'm not the one attacking everyone. Lissa has asked me to not feed in the area. And unlike your brother, I actually listen to the people I care about."

Stefan frowned at the sight of another vampire so close to people Elena cared about. While the man hadn't done anything and was rather pleasant when they had spoken the night Vicki was killed, it didn't mean he wanted him near people his girlfriend loved. "What are you wanting with Bonnie? Why are you here?"

"Just doing a favor for a friend," Enzo shrugged. "And making sure you don't bug the lonely lady with unneeded questions."

"I need to know where Elena is and if she's okay." Stefan said, looking to Bonnie. "Please, Bonnie, can you help me?"

Bonnie sighed and started to nod before Enzo interrupted with a snort. "Stefan, here, proof your girl is safe and perfectly fine." Enzo pulled out his phone showing the other vampire a picture Lissa had taken and sent him of a sleeping Elena in the backseat of the car. They could even see half of Lissa's face, sh*t eating grin on at catching her sister drooling into the car's seat. "Safe and sound. She just doesn't want you knowing where she is."

"Or Damon doesn't."

Bonnie cleared her throat, bringing the two men's attention to her. "Why doesn't Elena want Stefan to know where she is?"

Stefan shuffled a bit looking uncomfortable but admitted what happened. Which was he'd kept something important, important in that her and her sister shared a face with his psychotic ex, from his girlfriend and she'd found out. And freaked out. Rightfully so in Enzo's opinion. Even Damon had tried to tell Lissa at one point, even if she already knew.

"I can try and see if she's safe and everything…but Stefan, if Elena doesn't want you to know and she safe with Lissa then I'm not telling you where she is." Bonnie said.

Stefan sighed but smiled. "Thank you, really."

Enzo clicked his tongue but there wasn't anything he could do to stop her, not without looking like a major ass. Since they wanted Bonnie on their side, or as close to it as would get considering their nonchalance towards murder, that wasn't an ideal look. "Well, seeing some magic will be fun, I suppose."

Bonnie looked uncertainly at Enzo. "I'm not too good at it. Nothing like the shield thing Lissa did when she saved me from Damon, so I don't know how 'fun' this'll be."

"Little Bennett, Lissa isn't a witch, not like you. She can just access magic with the right circ*mstances, but I don't think she's ever called herself a witch." Enzo explained. "So seeing a real witch in action, even a novice, will be a new experience."

What Enzo was a bit of a lie considering Augustine pulled out all the stops for their favorite prisoner. It was more like it would be nice to see a real witch that didn't harm him in some way.

Smiling a bit more certainly at him, Bonnie led the two vampires over to a table as Stefan handed over a necklace. Recognizing the shining metal as Elena's, he snickered to himself. She'd clearly ripped it off when she'd found out about Katherine, which was a fair reaction in his opinion.

The two vampires sat silently–awkwardly–eyes zeroed in on Bonnie as she wrapped her hands around the metal and closed her eyes. A few moments passed before they shot back open as a gasp left her mouth. "My-my magic. I can't feel it."

"Like it's gone or just can't access it?" Enzo asked quickly.

"I can't use it. It's…it'stherebut-" She broke off shaking her head. "I have to go. I'm sorry, Stefan."

Stefan opened his mouth to say something but Bonnie had already scurried away from them before he could. Enzo chuckled at him before getting up himself and leaving with a shake of his head. Poor Stefan, girlfriend pissed and off with his brother, witch friend suddenly couldn't help him, and he had stupid air. What was a guy with a hero complex shoved up his ass to do?

Ignoring the calls from Stefan, Enzo decided to follow the baby witch. There wasn't anything better to do and the little Bennett intrigued him. Making sure she didn't notice his car following her, he pulled in behind her own vehicle at her home ten minutes after she'd gotten there. Glancing around, he didn't see much that screamed 'Witch!' besides a couple of spell bottles on windows that were so obviously wards.

Knocking on the door, he listened as someone sighed but didn't move to come greet him. Knocking again, he grinned at the groan that came with it. Raising his hand to knock again when the door still wasn't opened, he stopped as finally it opened revealing a panicked but annoyed Bonnie. "Hello, Little Witch."

"Enzo?" Bonnie said questionably. "What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

"Yes to following you. As to why I'm here…I figured I could help."

She looked unconvinced. "You know about magic?"

"No, but I've been around Lissa during her brainstorming enough I can probably puzzle your problem together."

Shewasunconvinced. "No offense, but I don't think I shouldguessat this problem. It's not like math homework. It's my magic."

She shrugged. "If you don't want help, that's fine, but like I said. I think I have your solution." He turned around to leave, steps light and grin on his face. He gave her ten seconds before she called him back.

.

.

.

It was three. He now sat next to her in the frilly living room as she flipped through her magic cookbook trying to find something to corroborate his theory. With a frustrated sigh, Bonnie slammed the book closed. "You seriously think its all in my head? That my fear of Damon, of vampires, is blocking my magic?"

Enzo suppressed an eye roll. Lissa wanted her to like them. Being impatient with her wouldn't help, but, good lord, they'd gone over this five times already. "Yes. If I remember Lissa's rants and mumbles right, magic is all about intent. Even when doing a spell perfectly you have to want it to work. Otherwise it probably won't work and if it does it'd be incredibly weak."

"Which means because Damon scared me, my magic is now scared to…what? Work?"

"Makes sense. You faced death or the closest you've ever gotten before. Simple question, simple answer."

Bonnie's hands clenched around the book. "There's nothing simple about this! If I was scared I wouldn't have invited you, avampire, into the house. Is that something a scared person would do?"

A throat cleared from behind the two, but only one flinched in shock. It was difficult to sneak up on a vampire so he'd been aware of the elder Bennett for a minute. "Instead of answering that, I would like to know why my granddaughter thought it prudent to even allow the vampire near the home."

Sheila was as intimidating as Lissa said she was. Despite the shorter height, the strong set of her shoulders to the steel spine, everything about the woman oozed confidence and competence. If only she didn't hate his species, Enzo was certain they'd 'get along'. "Ah, just your friendly neighborhood bloodsucker doing my one good deed of the decade."

"I didn't ask you."

Touche, Grandma Witchy. Bonnie launched herself into her grandma;'s arms, babbling her problem and explanation as Sheila guided her back to the couch. Enzo stayed silent, not wanting to bring even more attention to himself and get an aneurysm from hell from the elder Bennett. Not that she took her eyes off him. Even as she listened to her granddaughter, the woman's eyes kept flickering back to him, checking to make sure he wasn't doing anything nefarious.

Winding down from her panic, Bonnie gazed at her grandma, waiting for her own input. "So…do you think he's right? Is it all just in my head?"

Sheila's next words looked rather difficult for her to say. "Yes, I believe so, sugar."

Clapping his hands together, Enzo stood up with a smirk. "Well then, now that we've all agreed I'm right, let's get to fixing your issue."

"Just how did you figure the solution out, vampire? Your kind doesn't often have much to do with the inner workings of magic." Sheila glared.

Enzo felt vindictiveness swell in him. "Lissa. Just because you refused to teach her doesn't mean she stopped learning."

Bonnie's eyes swiveled between the two, air heavy. "Grams, you taught Lissa?"

"Yes, until I realized she was more of a magical parasite than a true witch."

Enzo's lip curled at the disrespect. "Thatparasitesaved your granddaughter's life with magic you refused to teach her."

Silence answered his barbed comeback. Bonnie didn't really know where the sudden animosity had come from and Sheila was unwilling and unable to admit to her faults. Huffing, he turned to leave less he start a bloodbath that would erase any work he and Lissa had done getting the little Bennett on their side. " Come along, Baby Witch, if you want to get your magic back." He called out behind him.

As he walked to the car, he listened to the murmurs he could hear through the walls. Sheila telling Bonnie not to go, Bonnie refusing her request. A couple of taps of her feet before he had a witch in the car seat next to him. "What are we doing? How are we going to get my magic back?"

"Best way to get over your fear? Confront it."

The drive to their destination wasn't long, maybe ten, twenty minutes. It was silent the whole way except for one of the CDs Lissa had made for him to get up to date with modern music. Occasionally he's see Bonnie open her mouth as if to say something but ultimately decide against it.

"The old church?" She raised her eyebrow. "Do you want me topraymy fear away?"

Enzo shot her an incredulous look. "No. This is just the closest parking lot to where we need to go. There's still a small walk to the area." Opening up his car door, Enzo start off behind the old church, heading into the woods.

For whatever reason she seemed more surprised at that than the thought of praying her fear away, but she did hurry after him. Lucky for her and her heeled booties, it really was a small walk. Maybe 3/4th of a mile on a well established trail to the clearing he needed. Enzo stopped walking, looking around the clearing before clearing his throat to gain Bonnie's attention. "We're here."

"Oh," She muttered, blushing at the fact she was so engrossed in making sure she didn't fall she almost walked right out of the clearing. "What's so special about this place?"

Enzo looked around the clearing, trying to remember where he needed to be. It was a rather plain and dead looking area. Even the grass, which should probably still be green, had a lot of brown patches. Tapping his foot on the dirty, he paused to answer her. "It's not the clearing that's important. It's what's underneath it that is."

"Huh?" Bonnie asked. "What do you mean?"

Enzo shook his head. "It's easier to show you. Come here." He slowly, so she could tell him to stop, reached out to grab her arm. She let him. "Now hold tight, but don't worry. I won't let you fall."

"Wait. What?"

Before she got an answer, Enzo wrapped one arm around her own waist, raised his foot, and slammed it down, breaking apart the ground below them. Down they went. Grass, roots, dirt, and everything in between falling with them. With a scream, Bonnie's arms tightened around him as she shoved her face into his chest to keep debris out of her eyes. Hand swatting at the bigger rocks and clumps of earth to keep the two of them from actually getting injured, Enzo, for the first time, was greeted with the underground cavern Lissa said was there.

Fifteen, maybe twenty, feet down, they were in a circular area with a couple of offshoot passageways. Walls lined with thick tree roots keeping them from caving in. The air was hazy but only because of the violent way he's busted in. That would change in a few minutes as everything settled down. But the thing that drew the eyes was the carved boulder on the opposite wall. Directly at head height was a pentagram clearly, painstakingly, carved into the rock.

A beat or two passed as Enzo studied the area and Bonnie collected herself before the dark haired girl wretched away from him, fury on her face. "What the hell was that?" She hissed, eyes watering as dust in the air irritated them.

Shrugging, he grinned wolfishly at her. "You need to confront your fear. I needed to create a shortcut to the cavern. It's a win win."

"Win, win?" She sputtered. "How is ahole in the groundgoing to help with a fear of vampires? Besides one causing my heart to explode."

"There." He nodded at the boulder/door.

"A wall with a pentagram? That's your answer?"

Eyes sliding shut to find his patience, Enzo sighed. "Get closer and put your ear against the wall. Andlisten." Bonnie's brow crinkled but ultimately figured there couldn't be much to lose so did as she was told. Only glancing behind herself once to check he hadn't moved. Slowly, she laid her ear flush with the rock.

In a matter of seconds she jumped away, eyes wide with fright. She had finally heard what he'd been listening to since they'd landed; soft shuffling and light groans of desiccated vampires trying with all their might to reach the first hint of blood–her–they'd smelt in over a century. "What was that? Who's behind this?"

"Vampires." He stated, hands in his pocket. "Desiccated in Stefan and Damon's time by a witch and a group of nosey humans."

Wonder and a hint of, dare he say it, sympathy filled her eyes as she laid her hand back against the wall. "They've been here for that long?" She whispered. "And they're still alive?"

"Ye~p, immortality is as much a curse as it is a gift in this instance. Desiccation is painful. Imagine your flesh rotting away but healing itself immediately all while you still lived. You smell, hear, taste, andfeelyour flesh die and rot and, finally, dry out, unable to stop it without access to blood." Enzo's face was dark and vacant as he remembered the few times Augustine had forced him to desiccate. Shaking away the memories, he smirked at her. "As you can see, while vampires will always be humanity's natural predators, wecanbe beaten. Especially if the other side has a witch working with them."

Bonnie frowned at his words, eyes boring into the rock as if she looked hard enough she could see through it. Feet shuffling at the heavy atmosphere that had descended on them, she turned back. "Even if it is painful, I don't want to feel bad for a bunch of murderers. Grams told me that you have to feed on humans to even change. And I'm assuming if the town came together to get rid of these specific ones, it was for a good reason."

"And?"

"AndI'm not going to be manipulated by my sympathy for even the worst type of people."

Stalking forward, he ignored her tiny steps backwards. "You eat meat, correct? How is it any different for farmers and animal plantations to kill pigs, cows, and everything in between foryourfood but for us vampires it's bad?"

"Because they're animals, not humans!" She retorted, glare digging into him.

"Animals feel pain, feelemotion. Humans know and understand this. That's why vegetarians and vegans exist. Are you going to suddenly wear off eating meat because by your definition that's murder?" He shot back.

"That's different."

Enzo snorted dismissively before shaking his head. "Of course it is." Walking backward to his place below the initial hole, he relaxed his body. No reason to scare the girl because she annoyed him. "Forget it. The human Vs. animal argument isn't why I brought you here. All I wanted you to see is that vampirescanbe beaten by regular people. That, while strong, we aren't invincible no matter how we try and portray ourselves as."

Bonnie pursed her lips and for a moment he thought she'd continue to argue but she didn't. Instead she looked down at her feet before changing the subject. "So what now? I've seen vampires can be beaten. What do I do now?"

"Try some magic." He suggested, bending over to grab a fallen leaf. "Lift this off my hand with your magic."

"In case you've forgotten, I can't use my magic."

"Good lord, Bonnie, just try it." He rolled his eyes, English accent deeper in his annoyance. "Unless you want to admit your failure."

Huffing, she shot daggers at him but did walk over, hands raised above the leaf. The anticipation was thick before, finally, the leaf raised up one, two, three inches before dropping back down, missing his hand to float softly to the ground. Mouth open in a large grin, Bonnie jumped at Enzo, hugging him tightly. Before he could even try and hug her back, she pulled away, blush rising to her cheeks but happy smile still on her face. "Thank you, Enzo."

He smirked back at her. "That was all you, Little Witch. All I did was help you tap into some bravery."

Magic restored and hole to the tomb made, the two left the place with one supernatural jump from Enzo. The trip back to Bonnie's was filled with actual chatter this time; now that Bonnie didn't believe he would walk her to her death. ("So you and Lissa-" "No, honestly is everyone in this town going to think I'm sleeping with my best friend?" "Probably, you two are weirdly close, even I can see that and I just met you.")

The only hiccup was when they'd gotten her home. They were greeted with the sight of Stefan speaking with Sheila on the porch. And pleasantly at that. Which was unfair in Enzo's opinion. If she was going to be prejudice against vampires, the least she could do is make it a universal hatred.

According to the other vampire, he'd come to check up on Bonnie, citing concern as she was a good friend of his girlfriend. He's hidden an eye roll at that. The goody two shoes act not fooling him. Stefan was trying to see how the other supernatural elements of the town felt about him. With a very watched over goodbye to Bonnie, Enzo left the Bennett witches much more liked than he'd been in the beginning.

Pulling into his own driveway later, Enzo's shoulder's dropped from the tense hold he'd had and a small smile graced his face.

Lissa's SUV was in the driveway. She was back.

Hurrying inside, he was greeted with the sight of her in one of the many oversized thrifted sweaters. The words 'Grandpa's fishin' Sweater' across the front of it with a sort of wonky fish embroidered on it. It was so big he couldn't tell if she was wearing shorts, but knowing her, probably not. Her white hair was pulled up into what was probably originally a messy but had fallen into a half up ponytail. She was talking to someone on her cellphone, other hand flapping around as she tried to emphasize her argument to whoever it was. When she saw him though, she smiled happily, blowing him a kiss as he passed by on his way to the kitchen.

Grabbing a blood bag from the mini fridge they kept them in, he ripped the corner off to pour it into a glass as he listened into her conversation.

"Klaus, I swear to any and all gods, it's better to ease my sister into the idea ofbeing sacrificedthan it is to just spring it on her. Remember you need her blood afterwards too. I don't–no, do not interrupt me! How rude!– I get you're in a hurry but you're also a thousand years old. Dig deep and find an ounce of patience you should have learned in that time and follow the plan wealready agreed on. If I don't think it's working, we'll switch to yours."

There was silence, her phone speaker not loud enough that he could hear it through the kitchen walls and over the microwave. Walking back to the living room, he watched, amused, as Lissa rolled her eyes at what was being said. He sat his glass of blood down on the side table as he grabbed one of the history books he'd been trying to get through to catch up on current, or not so current, events. Half an ear on what was going on.

Now that he was in the same room, he could hear the European accent that Klaus had. Enzo wasn't sure how he felt about Lissa being so close to two of the Original vampires–that was a lie. He hated it. Even just the rumors he'd picked up since he'd been out painted a gruesome picture of the Mikaelson Family–but, regardless, he wasn't going to try and dictate what Lissa did. The girl wouldn't let him even if he tried.

But she knew he was there if she needed him. And that was enough for him.

"My guy, just get the witch you said you would and we're gucci. Like I've said a thousand times now, the wolf and vampire will make their way to Mystic Falls in a couple of weeks. Maybe in the meantime, undagger Kol if you're having trouble with the witches."

A rather quick rejection came shooting through the speakers. Lissa huffing at the words. Enzo eyed the phone, half wanting to take it himself to say something about listening to Lissa since she normally got what she wanted, but knew it wouldn't help. Instead he stayed quiet.

Lissa trekked on despite the rejection. "I get you want to do this alone, but getting your siblings to help may be best. This way they don't try to kill you when you see them next. Even just Elijah. Does he still think you put the coffins at the bottom of the ocean or have you come clean yet?"

Based on the face Lissa made, Klaus' answer of 'no' was not what she wanted to hear. Figuring he didn't need to eavesdrop into her conversation, Enzo focused back onto his book. A couple of minutes passed with him just reading before he tuned back in with Lissa's laughter. "Klaus, that wasn't me sending you an insult. It was a meme. Like a joke." She giggled, face lighting up. "How are you both simultaneously so well versed in modern stuff thenmemestrip you up?"

Some more laughter before the call was ended with a promise to text the Original vampire. Lissa shook her head at the phone, smile on her face as she turned to him. "Enzo! Did you have fun with Bonnie today?" She asked, standing to grab the remote on the TV stand. He'd been right; she wasn't wearing any shorts. As she passed him, she bent down to kiss him on the forehead, reminiscent to how she did when he was in captivity. Looks like he wasn't the only one feeling mushy today.

"Like you said, she's not bad. A bit judge and quick to draw opinions currently but the potential is there. I think today helped get her more open to help." He answered. "I also grabbed those grimoires you wanted. They're in the trunk. But what about you? How'd the trip go?"

Like a dam, Lissa's words burst from her in excitement as she told him everything. The night continued long past that, topics flowing form the trip to her plans with Klaus to how she was dealing with Kol in her brain–despite her reassurances of contentment, he could tell she was still doctoring her words–to even mundane things like a shopping list or dinner plans. Neither of them realized that they had missed just talking since they saw each other so regularly compared to when he'd been held by Augustine.

In Augustine all they coulddowas talk about things despite the short time frame. Now they could do other things instead of talking so they didn't do it as often. He'd missed it and so had she. It wasn't until late, three in the morning late, that the two of them actually put their cups in the sink and slunk off to bed; tired but with much lighter hearts. Enzo still, like every night she slept in the same house as him, listened from his bedroom as she put her music on and was in bed before he himself closed his eyes.

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

With a thump, the body dropped to the floor, veins gray.

"I cannot believe I forgot to deal with this f*cker." Lissa complained."His whole stalking shtick is so damn annoying."

"No finesse either. It's a shame so many vampires go for cliches."Kol critiqued.

She snorted, leaning over to grab the dude's feet and drag his body to the back of her SUV. Lissa hadn't expected Anna's little minion to come after her since he was pretty gung-ho for Katherine look-alikes, and she'd made it her mission to look as little like her ancestor as possible for a failed doppelganger, but apparently he was curious about why she had the same face but it was 'all messed up'. He'd tried sneaking up on her as she picked up some food for her and Caroline that night, but hadn't expected Lissa to just flat out slice his head off with her shield.

To be fair to him, most vampires wouldn't expect the magical shield turned deadly disk. Clicking her tongue at the sight of the blood trail, she dropped the dude's head onto his stomach. At least the body was out of sight now.

Pulling out her phone, she played with her tongue piercing as she stared at the blood trail in the parking lot. Enzo was out of town on his monthly live dinner night, so her options were Damon or Stefan. Damon would ask for something annoying in return while Stefan would be heroically worried and probably bring Elena into it.

Damon it was.

She needed to talk to him anyway about Emily's grimoire.

"I was just about to call you. We have a bit of a situation with a vampire stalker." Damon said as a way of greeting. "Apparently your sister got a threatening phone call from the dude she hit saying he was going to come for her and you."

"Bland, brown hair, black hoodie?" Lissa asked.

There was some murmuring over the speaker before Damon answered. "She said that sounds like him. Why did you see him too?"

"He's currently laying on the ground behind my car, sans head."

"What? What happened? Are you okay? I'm coming-"

"Woah, woah, woah, slow your roll, speedster. I'm fine. Pretty sure he was thinking I'd be an easy mark since I'm, you know,me." She shrugged, not that he could see her. "Too bad for him. I'm a kill first, ask questions whenever kind of girl."

Damon chuckled and she could hear him telling, who she assumed was Stefan and Elena, about what she did. Even over the tiny speaker she could hear Elena's 'What?!' before the phone was snatched and Elena started speaking. "You killed him? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm starting to get offended you think I can't handle some weakass vampire. I'm fine. I just need someone to come take the body and hose down the blood trail." She leaned against the side of her vehicle, keeping an eye out for anyone coming by. "I'm supposed to meet Caroline to help her get ready for the dance before I get a night to myself."

"Damon said he'd come do it and is asking if you got any information out of him before you…killed him?"

Lissa hummed, thinking over if she wanted to give anything away. "Tell him he mentioned the name 'Anna' again and that she wasn't working alone. I think there's a third person in town. Or never left. If this Anna changed one person we know, who's to say she hasn't changed other people?"

"Oh, god. I hadn't thought about that." Elena gasped. "You really think someone we know could be changed and we not pick up on it?"

"Yeah, 'Lena, I absolutely do." Lissa laughed. "Did Damon already leave? I don't particularly want to just leave this blood-"

A rush of air interrupted her, and suddenly standing there was a smirking Damon. "You rang?"

Lissa rolled her eyes. He just had to be dramatic. Not that she was one to talk. "Nevermind. He's here. Have fun at the dance, tell Stefan he still sucks."

"Why does she hate me so much?" She heard him ask before the line went dead, causing her to chuckle. Honestly, Stefan was starting to grow on her like a bad fungus. But probably because he hasn't done anything particularly annoying recently. She's sure once he starts shenaniganing again, he'd be right back into the bad books.

Damon, while she was putting her phone up, had made his way over to the end of her car and looked down with a whistle. "You really took that head off. Clean cut too. What'd you use?"

Lissa wiggled her fingers on her left hand, 'shield' tattoo prominent. When the guy had grabbed her, all she had to do was put her hand against his head and make a sphere around it. Turns out the shield will cut through anything to make the shape she wanted it to make, including muscle and bone. She would have to be careful not to cut something off of someone or herself that she didn't want to.

Damon gave her an impressed look before holding up a bucket and some bleach. "Alright, well I'm here to do your dirty work. Just know I'm going to want something in retuuurrn, Snow Princess."

Lissa rolled her eyes as she opened the back of her car for him to grab the body. "Yeah, yeah. I figured. Now can you get him away? It's already gonna be a bitch getting the stain out of these pants." She gestured down to the oversized holey boyfriend jeans she was wearing. Underneath were a pair of fishnets, but those didn't really protect her skin from getting some blood specks.

"Ooh, bossy. I like being told what to do~" He flirted, as he threw the body into the dumpster nearby. "I'll come get him with my car later, but the dumpster should be good for an hour or two."

"My oh my, sounds like the older Salvatore is getting a bit desperate for you."

Lissa rolled her eyes, as she thanked Damon before getting into the SUV."Please, Kol, Damon is just like that. Out of me and my sister, he'd go for Elena every time. Plus he still has his head up Katherine's ass."

Kol snorted, mean mugging the repaying image of Damon staring after Lissa. The good thing about being in someone's head? You notice things they see but don't acknowledge. Like dark haired Salvatore's staring that Lissa barely caught in her peripheral. It wasn't something humans' brains would notice, but since he had nothing but time? Well, it was fun to analyze people."Say what you will, Darling, but I see a cruuuushhh forming~"

"Oh, f*ck off. You know nothing would happen with Damon."She shrugged."He's hella attractive, yes, but we'd be so f*cking toxic? Like I can't stand people thinking I can't handle myself and sidelining me and that's all Damon would do."

"And you're quite a bit better than him, too."

Lissa grinned, winking into the rearview mirror as she pulled into Caroline's place.

A pillow slammed into Lissa's face early the next morning. Caroline moaned at her to either answer her phone or turn it off.

"What?" She snapped into the phone.

"Hello to you too, Princess." Damon greeted her.

Lissa groaned, loud and annoyed. She very much did not want to deal with his brand of bullsh*ttery this morning. "No. Absolutely not. I'm hungover and do not want to deal with whatever vampire drama you have going on."

"So you don't want to know how me and Stefan have made a truce and now all four of us are working together to get Katherine out?"

"First, don't trust them, we both know this is a trick. Second, how'd that happen?" She asked, getting out of the bed and hurrying to the bathroom to pee.

"Stefan made a good argument about me already trusting you to help and him wanting me out of here and blah blah blah. Honestly, I don't remember the whole speech. It had a bunch of hero flower language."

Leaving the bathroom, Lissa was greeted with a glaring Caroline. Mouthing a 'sorry' at her, Lissa replied. "Is there a reason you're calling me at ass o'clock instead of just telling me later?"

"Besides me wanting to hear your delightful voice?"

"I'm going to hang up on you."

"Fine, I was wondering if you had even a slight idea where Emily's grimoire would be?" Damon relented.

Lissa blinked, remembering she'd forgotten to give it to him before Caroline called her for best friend time. "Yeah, give me the morning to do some digging and I'll have it by dinnertime, now bye bye"

Before the dark haired vampire could say anything else she hung up and plopped back down next to Caroline on her bed, head pounding. After helping Caroline do her hair and makeup for the dance, Lissa had gone home only to be called back to Caroline's at midnight with one sentence. 'Matt kissed me in the middle of the road.'

A siren's call for any best friend.

Bringing over the stuff for Strawberry Daiquiris (hiding it until she knew that Liz was going to be gone) and an armful of snacks, Lissa got the play by play with director's commentary and side stories of Elena being on both Damon and Stefan's arms despite insisting her Caroline and Bonnie she only wanted to be on Stefan's.

Lissa honestly believed that. Currently, she doubted Elena even liked Damon beyond an intense attraction. Give it a couple of weeks and that'll change, but right now? Naw, she was still 'in love' with Stefan.

Then, if she remembered right, Caroline had gone on and on about Kennedy being with 'the dumbest jock in the field.' But they were also around seven daiquiri's in at the time so by then Lissa was more focused on Kol's commentary of the horror movie Caroline had put on than what Kennedy was doing.

"Damon may be nice to look at, but he needs to know not to call at…9 AM." Caroline complained. "Also, I may be remembering this wrong, but did you say you have a, like, super vampire stuck in your brain?"

"sh*t."

"That one's on you, Drunkard. You and the rum you drank."

Lissa winced, turning over to face her blonde friend. "Can I say I can't talk about it? Or is that bad best friend etiquette?"

Caroline rolled her eyes at the sweet apologetic smile on her face. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. It has something to do with one of your schemes, doesn't it?"

"What can I say? I like a good scheme."

Thank f*ck, she has made such an eclectic reputation for herself.

"But I should get breakfast for being so understanding."

Lissa stuck her tongue out, but did end up getting up and going down the stairs; a duvet wrapped Caroline coming behind her. Sitting at the island a coffee drinking Liz was reading some files laying in front of her. "Good morning, girls. Did you have fun last night?"

"Morning, Mom." Caroline smiled, grabbing her own cup of coffee for her hangover. "Yeah, it was good. Lissa came over for a gossip session afterward. Hope you don't mind."

"Considering she's already stayed, I don't think asking after the fact works. But no, I'll never mind Lissa staying over, especially if she's making those chocolate chip waffles." Liz answered, throwing her a wink as she got out the ingredients to make the Forbes' girls' favorite.

Breakfast was quickly laid out and eaten between the three of them it was quickly decimated. Liz leaving as the two girls headed back upstairs. Lissa plopping down on the bed while Caroline started digging through her closet.

"We totally need to go shopping soon. Out of all these clothes I like maybe two things." Caroline complained, holding a skirt up to herself. She wasn't wrong. Half the clothes she had were rather…outdated.

Not that Lissa was the pinnacle of good fashion. She dressed half like some cyberpunk and the other half like some alternative school girl. "Sure, this weekend? We can go to a couple of towns over and make a day of it."

Caroline spun around, grinning. She'd taken her shirt off to try on some flowy yellow shirt that she had in her hand. "Ooh, wehaveto get our nails done. Kennedy was telling the cheer squad about this really good nail spot she'd found."

Lissa stifled her grin as she agreed. She knew exactly where Caroline was talking about. Kennedy had gone hunting with Enzo a few weeks ago when Lissa was in New York and had near killed some nail tech in a bar. Then the next day went back and got her nails done by her to 'make sure the compulsion stuck'.

"Hey, by the way, does that Kol guy, like, spy as you're changing and stuff?" Caroline wiggled her eyebrow at her, smirk on her face.

She grabbed a pillow, dropping it on her face as she laughed. Leave it to Caroline to make her and Kol's situation sexual the minute she knew about it.

Lissa tapped her pencil on the paper, calculus formulas flowing from her mind as she failed to focus on the homework. It was basically done, only a couple of problems left, but it was obvious her mind had checked out on math at this point.

Still ahead in her classes, she wanted to make sure shestayedahead. She was determined to graduate this year despite the drama. That being said, calculus sucked.

Huffing, she slammed the textbook closed on the notebook before grabbing the spellbook that had caused the connection with Kol.

"Hey, Witch Bitch, wanna help meactuallytranslate this? Since I'm apparently so bad at it."

"I wouldn't be opposed to it. St. Claire kept this thing under lock and key and even back then I knew not to piss off a witch by stealing her grimoire."

Getting comfortable in her bed, Lissa felt weightless for a moment before opening her eyes to her former living room.

"Nice glasses." Kol snickered from his place laying across the fluffy black chaise.

Lissa rolled her eyes, fiddling with the glasses on her face. She very rarely wore her glasses since the glass was so thick it completely warped her face. "I ran out of contacts and the pharmacy won't get anymore in until tomorrow. It's not my fault my albinism makes me nearly blind."

Kol smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at her. "Excuses, excuses. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're trying to seduce the vampire stuck in your mind."

"Oh yes, Kol, take me, please." She laughed, sitting down on the couch as the grimoire appeared in front of her. Her and Kol had a good coexistence going on. She'd even call them friends. "Now are you going to help with this or just sit there looking pretty?"

"You think I'm pretty?" Kol gasped, hand over his heart, but he did sit up and scooted closer to the table. "Clearly your Elder Furnik is sh*t, so let's treat this like you're translating it yourself and I'll just correct your mistakes. Of which will probably be numerous."

Flipping him off despite the blush at being called out, Lissa did as he suggested. She had already tabbed the spells she could do, so she started with that one. Very quickly it became obvious shehadn'ttaught herself Elder Furnik well at all. Kol had to correct her grammar or translation every few minutes. Sometimes she'd translated it well but he knew a different way to use the runes and would start tangents on how certain words or ingredients or movements affected how spells and rituals turned out.

There were times he'd pause and seemingly pull himself back on task, but normally she'd ask him to finish as the information was interesting. Kol had spent so much of his life learning magic and random things that she was near in love with listening to him. She, at her core, loved information. New, old, well-known, obscure; she loved learning things.

They did eventually make it through the ten spells out of around a hundred she could do, namely blood based casting, before a loud knock echoed through her mind.

Someone was trying to get her attention.

The two of them blinked at each other, sound ripping them from their conversation. "Damn. How long have I been in here?"

"Eh, not too long. Time passes a bit differently in the mind if we're both in here." Kol shrugged, leaning back into the chaise, eyes studying her with a smile. "You're not too bad for a self taught witch. Now if only we could get it where you can absorb magic on command instead of subconsciously."

"Next lesson, promise!" She grinned, handing the grimoire over to him. He'd mentioned that if he was holding it when she popped away, it would stay in the mind. Lissa would obviously have to write everything they'd done down in the real world, but Kol had promised to help her remember; her human brain not being near as eidetic as a vampires.

Blinking as she slipped out of her mind, Lissa called for whoever was knocking to come in. Jenna's head stuck through, wine glass in hand and sheepish smile on her face. "Can you come downstairs? Damon showed up to make dinner for all of us and Stefan and it's kind of awkward."

Lissa pointed at her glasses and frowned and all Jenna did was stick out her bottom lip in a beg. Sighing, she relented. "I want a cheesecake out of this."

"Promise. I'll even buy it from 'Baked'."

Lissa shooed Jenna out of the room as she rummaged into her closet. Grabbing some bright red joggers and a cropped black t-shirt, she spun around in the mirror before shrugging. Putting on some white socks, she headed downstairs. Stepping into the kitchen, she snorted at Jenna near laid out on the counter with her wine in hand. All she needed to do was ask Damon to paint her like one of his french girls and she'd complete the picture.

"Well, well, well, where have you been, young lady? Don't you know you're supposed to help with dinner?" Damon snarked, throwing the towel he was using for his hands over his shoulder. Sauntering over, he smirked, poking the side of her glasses with a raised eyebrow.

Frowning, she batted his hand away. What was with people being interested in her glasses? A lot of people wore them. "I'm out of contacts. Drop it."

Hands up in surrender, Damon backed away. "Alright, I know when not to poke a bear."

"Since when? I'm pretty sure you've actually fought a legitimate bear."

"You're right, but I know not to comment on a woman's appearance unless I want my ass kicked."

Lissa rolled her eyes as she went to the fridge to get some water. After last night, she wasn't going to be touching alcohol even if Jenna would let her. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Dating." Jenna groaned. "Our mutual failed dating."

"Please, didn't you have a cute chaperoning date with Alaric that ended with you getting asked out again?" Lissa asked, jumping up onto the island, next to the bowl Damon had the salad in. Grabbing a cherry tomato, she shot him a grin at his faux annoyed look.

Jenna snorted before finishing off her wine. "And he hasn't called since."

Before either of them could reply, Elena came hurrying into the kitchen; Damon being a show off and greeting her before either of the human's even heard her. How did everyone Damon interact withnotfigure out his vampirism? Actually, thinking about it…most vampires are sh*t at hiding it.

How many people had figured it out and just kept their mouth shut? Probably more than people expected or knew about.

A pat to her thigh pulled her back to the kitchen. "You gonna help or just sit there on the counter?" Damon asked.

"Eh, I don't really want to cook tonight. Do you need me to move?"

Damon shook his head, handing off a plate to Elena who was moving behind him. "I'll be nice just this once. But you better have some good information about what we talked about this morning."

"Oh, I do. Promise."

Elena furrowed her brow, stopping next to them. "What'd you talk about this morning?"

"Stuff and things, Elena." Lissa nudged Damon out from in front of her to jump down off the counter. "I'm sure Jer will want to finish the game we started earlier this week, so I'm just gonna set that up. You two finish up dinner."

"I was just asking, Lissa, we're supposed to be working together."

Lissa shot a glare over her shoulder. "And if it was relevant, we would tell you. Otherwise, mind your business."

Damon stepped between the girls, hands in the air. "Woah, no reason to fight, you two."

Lissa snorted and walked away. She loved her twin, but damn did she want to love her from a distance. Sometimes she can deal, and evenenjoy, being around her twin. But then Elena goes to demand everyone fall to her whims and ruins it. It could be a tone. An eyebrow raise. A question worded a specific way. But she could hear it. And when she didn't give into it, Elena would go on the defense, making herthe bad guy. Because why can't you just answer the questions, Lissa? Just do what she wants, Lissa.

f*ck, she was making herself angry.

Jeremy thumped down next to her, game controller in hand. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just Elena being Elena."

"Ah, did she do the tone or the question?"

"Both."

Jeremy winced and turned on Super Smash Bros. They spent the next while just beating each other up on the screen, Elena and Damon's conversation washing over them in soft murmurs, so quiet their human ears couldn't pick out the words but did know that it was happening.

After the smell of food had infiltrated the house, Damon sat down next to Lissa, hand held out making grabby motions. "Let me try. I've never played this…or many video games, honestly."

Jeremy and Lissa quickly turned to each other, fist out. "Whoever wins plays him?"

"No, whoever loses." Jeremy corrected. "Played it before or not, the guy is,youknow. He's gonna crush it."

Three shakes later and Jeremy is handing over his controller with a grin. Derek grabbing it with a smirk before absolutely destroying her character. Jeremy tried cheering for her but quickly abandoned that and switched to Damon when it was clear Lissa would be tanking. Occasionally he'd hit a button on his phone.

It had happened so much that finally Damon's curiosity got the better of him. "Who's trying to get ahold of you? I thought your only friend was your sister?"

"Haha," Jeremy mocked. "This girl Anna. She's homeschooled but I occasionally see her at The Grill. She's…weird."

Damon and Lissa shot each other a look at the name, game being paused as they turned to him as a pair. "Anna, huh?"

"Is this some weird supernatural thing? Am I going to be eaten?" Jeremy whined, looking disappointed.

Lissa shook her head. "No, no. She may…try if she's who we think she is."

Before anything else could be said the doorbell rang, signaling the end of the conversation until they could sneak away from Jenna.

A door slamming outside pulled them out of their quiet bubble. Lissa's eyes slid past the now bare side table next to her spot on the couch. After she'd told him what Stefan and Elena were doing, Damon had thrown the lamp against the wall. Luckily Jenna had decided to run to the Grill with some college friend she had or else they'd have a lot of explaining to do.

Damon had expected the betrayal from Stefan, as bad as it hurt despite his words, but it was Elena's that had genuinely surprised him. Not that she understood why. Lissa had warned him that Elena would put herself and those she deemed worthy ahead of anyone else. And Damon, with his 'Villain' tendencies, most definitely was not on that list.

But he 'had a heart to heart with her' just like she knew he would. Damon'd tried telling her that Elena promised without a hint of a lie that she, thatthey, were on his side; if only to get him out of town. Apparently Elena had said she didn't like how close her, meaning Lissa, and Damon were. She was worried he'd be a bad influence on her and drive her to 'be as depraved as you'. Or so Damon had explained.

Lissa would have been offended at that if it didn't tell her she'd been successful at making people believe she was just eccentric instead of murderous.

A mud covered Stefan and Elena crept into the house, stopping in their tracks at a glowering Damon. Stefan sighed, stepping a little in front of Elena, worry tightening his shoulders. "You're still here?"

"What's with the new looks? Dig up any graves recently? How's Dad looking?" Damon hissed. Both of them opened their mouths to explain. Explain what, Lissa didn't know. It was pretty obvious, even without her telling him, what they had been doing. He snorted and continued. "Imagine my surprise when Lissa, apparently my only friend in this place, told me that you two had lied,had planned tobetray me." He held up the worn leather book, the name prominent in the front, and watched in cruel satisfaction at the shocked horror that painted its way across the couple's face. "Too bad she's been a step ahead of all of us. I'd told her about the grimoire in Georgia. Even back then she knew how to get it to me."

"Everyone seems to forget; I'm a history nerd. You think I haven't read Jonathan Gilbert's journal? I knew exactly where it was and had dug it up a few days ago. I was going to give it to Damon then…But when he told me about Stefan digging, trying to worm his way into this?" She tutted dramatically, pout on her lips. "I'm a dramatic bitch. How could I pass up the chance to catch you guys in the act? It was just too good an opportunity."

Stefan took a step forward, eyes flitting between Damon, Lissa, and the book like he wasn't certain who or what to keep his eyes on. "Damon…you have to understand, I,we, can't just let you free the vampires in the tomb. They'd wreak havoc on the town."

Damon stood up, tossing the grimoire onto his seat, and walked towards the two of them. "I had hoped that this time would be different, Stefan. Didn't think it would be, but there was a glimmer of hope, especially when Elena got involved." He turned to her sister, eyes stabbing into her. "You really had me fooled; playing the worried sister card, swearing that you guys just wanted me gone. I asked if I could trust you and you lied. I guess now I understand who I can trust in the Gilbert family. And it's certainly not you."

Elena stepped around Stefan, hands wringing and guilty expression on her face. "I'm sorry, Damon, but Stefan is right. You'd free those vampires and not care who they killed."

"I don't care about all those vampires! All I want is Katherine!"

Stefan shook his head. "Exactly. You wouldn't even think about the destruction you'd cause. How it would affect everyone around you and those we cared about."

Damon's face darkened, snarl on his lips. "You want destruction? Fine."

In a flash, he was standing in front of Lissa, hand wrapped around her arm. She attempted to jerk her arm out of his grasp, arm throbbing as his grip tightened. Ripping her upwards, he bit into his wrist and wrapped his arm around her neck, holding her against him and put the bloody wrist to her mouth.

Copper filled her mouth as a snarl echoed through her head. Lissa could feel Kol push himself forward in her mind before suddenly her body wretched itself from Damon's hold. Now across the room from him, she was bent over, sputtering, bloody spit falling from her lips.

She should have expected this.

"Lissa!" Elena cried, running over to her sister. "Damon, how could you? You said she helped you!"

"Which is exactly why I'm not killing her. This?" He paused gesturing to Lissa whose face was scrunched up in disgust, wiping the back of her hand across her bloody mouth. "This is your fault, Elena. Yours and Stefan's. You two have a choice; either you help me open the tomb or your sister gets her neck broken. I guess you and Stefan could bond over having vampire siblings then."

Stefan looked at his brother, horrified. "She helped you! She's been your friend. Lissa had nothing to do with my decision, Damon."

"Whoops~" Damon and Lissa's eyes met and he gave her snarky wink before running from the house before she could so much as lift her hand.

Hurt and anger filled her as she pushed Elena's worried hands away. Faintly, she could hear Elena calling for her but Lissa didn't care to try and talk about what happened. Outside, she could hear Damon's car rev and speed away and that should have been it. But she was never one to let someone get away when they do something to her.

When they take advantage of her.

Body shaking in effort to keep her emotions in, she stalked to the door, grabbing her keys from the bowl as she did. Just as she was leaving, her wrist was grabbed by Stefan. Head snapping to him, she ripped herself from his hold with a snarl. Lip curling at the sight of his concern. "Don't try and stop me, or you'll be the first Salvatore I turn to ash."

Stefan, who had been moving towards her to most likely wrap an arm around her in some form of 'comfort' stopped as if he had hit a wall. "Lissa…" He trailed off.

Huffing, she stomped out the door, slamming it to stop Elena's cries for her. Hearing her sister beg her to leave Damon, to ignore this? It would make her more murderous than she currently was and killing her sister would be the worst thing that she could do in a flash of rage.

After all, even in her blind rage she still knew Klaus would kill her if something happened to Elena that made her not available to the ritual.

Peeling out of her driveway, Lissa broke every speed limit she knew of as she made her way to the Salvatore Boarding House in record time. Walking up the porch she didn't even wait, just slashed her foot into the door, kicking it open. "DAMON!" She screamed, voice echoing in the big house.

Damon appeared like she thought he would. Bourbon in hand and smirk on his face. "So this is your choice? You know I can kill you?"

"You made the choice when you put your wrist tomyface."

There was a pause as they stared at each other before they both smiled. "They bought it then?" Damon asked, making his way over to hand her the liquor before going to pour his own.

Sipping the alcohol to get the copper taste out of her mouth, she nodded. The two of them had made two different plans. It was up to Damon to choose which one he wanted since Lissa didn't care either way. Both plans would help her in the long run.

All Damon had to do was choose which sister he fed his blood to, that told her which plan they were going with. Pretty smart of her, if she wanted to toot her own horn. Stefan would believe the worst of Damon. So he either betrayed the girl that's been helping him in an effort to punish both Stefan and Elena or he went after Stefan's girlfriend.

"Believed it, hook, line, and sinker. Hell, Elena is probably begging Stefan to come find me still. She was going on about how going after you would get me changed." Lissa rolled her eyes. The lack of confidence in her was starting to grate. She didn't go around going after people without a plan or without the knowledge she could take them. That was Elena.

Plus, it's not like the vampire blood would actually change her. It wasn't obvious to people around her, but vampire blood didn't work on her.

Literally. When Kol had mentioned it to her she'd immediately gone to Enzo and tested it, not wanting to take the original on his word. But the slice on her arm was still there even after she'd had some of Enzo's blood. Enzo near had a gasket, neither of them having imagined her powers would block vampire blood from working on her. After all blood magic was one of the very few branches of magic she could do.

But according to Kol the magic that changed humans and people was too diluted in normal vampires–the magic was immediately absorbed by the blackhole that was a void witches soul. Itmaywork if she had taken in an insane amount of magic recently but she didn't particularly want to test that.

That being said, an Original vampire's blooddidwork having been the source of the spell. It was a bit slower to heal apparently–it wasn't like Kol could hand over blood to test and Klaus was states away–but they're originals for a reason. They have the biggest tie to the original spell that created vampires.

"Enzo is picking you up, right?" Damon asked, sitting down on one of the couches.

She nodded, downing the rest of the alcohol. "Yep. Should be here any minute. I sent him a text on the way over. I don't care what you tell them about why I'm not around. Just make sure I can come back."

"Kidnapping it is. Also explains why your behemoth of an SUV is in the driveway."

She shot him a glare as the door to the house opened. Enzo hurried in, beelining to her like some worried soccer mom. Lip twitching at the mental image, she wasn't surprised when he frowned at the blood on her chin and neck. "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Snow White?"

"Just some shenanigans."

His thumb wiped at the dried blood on her neck, eyebrow raised. "And these shenanigans made Damon feed you his blood?" He shot a glare over at the lounging vampire, annoyed that he was out of the loop. Enzo didn't believe Damon would cause Lissa to die, but that didn't mean he wouldn't hurt her in other ways. And Lissa was terrible at recognizing when something wasn't right with how people reacted to her. As long as her and the few people she cared about were okay and happy in the end, she didn't care what happened to her.

Meaning he had to care.

Lissa waved a hand in front of his face when she saw his attention had moved to Damon. "How does a week long road trip sound?"

Damon cleared his throat, nodded to the clock on the wall, essentially telling them to 'GTFO' before Stefan came to lecture him and he could play the big bag kidnapping villain. Grabbing Enzo's hand she led him out of the house, calling for Damon to keep her updated on what was going on in town.

Enzo shook his head, confused but willing to go along with her whims, which apparently included going on a secret road trip to help move along some plans. As they got back to the house, he followed Lissa around as she started packing. "So Damon wants the tomb open to get Katherine out?"

"Yep!" She held up a purple shirt, frowning as the color washed her out more than normal. That shade of purple really wasn't her color.

"The tomb that she's not actually in?"

"Correct. So Stefan and Elena, and honestly a lot of other people if they were in town, don't want this to happen." Two separate boots, one white and one black were held up to Enzo. After he pointed at the white one, she tossed the black one back in the closet. "Or at least they didn't."

Enzo moved to lay down on her bed, waiting on her to be done. "But they do now?"

Throwing in socks and cute underwear, Lissa zipped the suitcase closed. Anything she didn't pack she could just buy. "Now that Damon has 'betrayed' me? Yes. After his threats against me, that's their only option unless they want Damon to kill me."

"And Sheila and Bonnie will agree? Don't they need them to open it?" He asked, letting Lissa pull him up and towards his room to pack his own clothes.

"Bonnie will. I did save her life from Damon, or did you forget that? She has to repay the favor. And Sheila will go along with Bonnie." She smirked. Plans working out how she wanted was always satisfying.

Enzo laughed, grabbing his suitcase from his closet and throwing a handful of v necks in. "Hence the road trip. And I'm coming along because no one would expect menotto go after Damon."

Grinning at him already understanding her thought process, she handed him some jeans and sweatpants to sleep in while he grabbed some boxers. Since Enzo had a simple style, as disappointing as it was, everything he owned could be mixed and matched really. Including his winter jacket. "And Damon can just say that he subdued you too. I mean no one really knows how strong you really are, whereas Damon is their big bad right now."

Disgust colored his face, but she knewheknew it was a good plan. Plus in the future they'll underestimate him since they'll think Damon is stronger than him. She didn't knowwhoout of the two was better, but after being tortured for so long, she would put her money on Enzo.

The Englishman was a former boxer back when he was human. Or an underground fighter. Either way he could take a punch as a human let alone a vampire.

Packed and in the car, they had already called and booked their hotel a few towns over when she turned to him, pout on her lips. "Can you stop by Bonnie's?"

"Wasn't the plannot to be seen?" Despite the words, he did a u-turn and made his way towards the witch's home, idling in the road as to not alert the house's occupants when they got there. Digging into her suitcase she pulled the smaller Bennett grimoire from the confines. Hurrying to the front door, she dropped it off and left a note saying they–no actual name included–thought the Bennett witches should have the Bennett grimoire.

It had taken an afternoon and some counsel from Kol, but she was able to add a couple of paragraphs mentioning doppelgangers and the effects their blood have on spells and rituals. She had attempted to forge the handwriting but she was sh*t at cursive so, head hanging, she'd gone to Enzo who managed it in two tries.

She'd even gotten Kol to cough up a couple of tiny rituals that honestly didn't do much, but were made stronger with doppelganger blood.

Grimoire planted, she hurried back before Enzo drove off.

They had driven a couple of hours before getting to their hotel. Enzo had headed out to get food, both blood and actual food for her. She had decided to stay in the room, needing to talk to Kol. He'd taken over her body when Damon fed her his blood for reasons unknown.

And she needed to know the reasons. If only to keep him from doing it again.

Eyes opening to her mindscape, she walked over to the chaise sitting down before turning to the original. "Wanna tell me why you freaked at what Damon did? It's not like you didn't expect it. Youhelpedwith the plan." She asked when it became clear Kol wasn't going to talk.

Unlike before, Kol was laying down on the couch, arm behind his head, frown on his face. "No real reason, love. Any vampire would react the same. You have to remember I'm watching and sometimes feeling what you feel. And if you die, I go back to being stuck in that bland place with only the feeling of a dagger in my chest for however long my brother deigns to keep me there."

Lissa chewed on her tongue piercing as she studied the vampire in front of her. "That's why you spend so much time in my head, isn't it? I've noticed you hate it when I go to sleep or ask for time alone. It's like pulling teeth to get you to go back to your own head. You can actually feel the dagger in your chest."

"I can handle being daggered!" He snapped, veins darkening as he sat up to glare at her.

"I never said you couldn't. But that doesn't mean youlikeit." She said, "It's basically an extreme form of solitary confinement for you. You're awake, kind of, and stuck inside your own mind the whole time."

"Drop the subject, Gilbert, or have you forgotten you're not the only one that can affect your body?"

Her fist clenched, nails digging into her palm as Lissa's own temper rose. She knew he was just baiting her. He was searching for a fight that she refused to give him as hard as it was to swallow the anger. After a few moments of them just glaring at each other, she backed down. "Fine. I'll drop it. But you should probably talk to someone about it whenever I get you undaggered, if you don't want to talk to me."

"You're still planning on getting Nik to undagger me? He was pretty adamant in his refusal before." Kol's own anger must have receded like her own since his vampire face had faded.

Lissa waved her hand in the air, uncaring. "So? That was like a soft ball question to see where he stood. Now I work on chipping away at him. I'm already planning on getting him and Elijah to make up. Because, while being between the two of them sounds fun. Doing it while they're fighting doesn't."

"Oh," Kol muttered, staring at her in wonderment. He hadn't expected her to genuinely want to help him. Sure, she'd said she would but say it and doing it was two different things. He should know. He said a lot of stuff he didn't mean. But it looked like the pale girl was actually keeping her word. She wanted him undaggered.

Lissa shot him a weirded out look, not understanding the silent staring her words had prompted. It wasn't like she'd said anything she hadn't before. She told him she would get him undaggered, so she would. He could help a lot more if he had an actual body instead of just a voice in her head.

Wanting the strange air gone, she changed topics. "So do I just not understand what a void witch is or is the near super strength and compulsion just special to me?"

Blinking Kol's eyes focused back, shaking his thoughts away. Mind going through what she meant, he realized that maybe the smell was affecting them more than they'd first thought. "The spell may have…mutated a bit more."

Of course it did, because when one thing goes wrong it had to go wrong in the weirdest of ways. "How mutated? Am I going to start changing physically?"

"You shouldn't. Though you may want to figure out how tonotcompel people. Or keep doing it, I don't care. It may be more entertaining that way."

Easy for him to say. He'd been a vampire for a thousand years. It was also only when Kol was too close to affecting her body that the extra abilities came out. Any other time she was a normal human, witch person. "Or you could just not get so close to my subconscious. That sounds like an easier plan to me."

"Boring~ I'm stuck either in my own mindscape or yours. And yours has entertainment."Kol shrugged, face hardening for a moment as his thoughts drifted as towhyhe was stuck in his mind. He pushed the thoughts back for a different day as he paid attention to a contemplative Lissa.

"Do you think…" She shook her head. The thought was ridiculous. Kol as a normal witch turned vampire. The only reason she even had the extra abilities was because she was sh*t at translating and void witches have a history of making spells go wonky. It was exactly why, instead of just occasionally hearing each other's thoughts, Kol and her could literally go into each other's mindscapes and physically affect each other. She'd caused the spell to go wonky.

But if it wonked enough…"Could?" Lissa sighed, resigned to the fact she was about to piss him off. "Do you think that whenever you're undaggered you could use my magic?"

Kol's immediate response to her question was to snarl, lip curling as if disgusted with her very being before snapping over to where she was sitting, hand around her throat before she could even blink. "How dare you joke about that. Do you think in athousand yearsI haven't tried everything to get it back? To feel whole? Yet here you are trying to say you juststumbledinto a solution?"

Lissa tried to hold back her reaction–truthfully she did– but like anyone faced with looming death she defended herself. Hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist holding her throat she pushed and the skin started bubbling as his hand tightened. "Let…go…Kol."

She didn't think he was going to as his glare hardened, but finally, as his wrist was nearly burnt to the bone, he released his hand, the burnt meat of his wrist sticking to her hand as she let him go. Gasping, she scrambled away from him. She didn't know what would happen if he killed her in her mind but neither did she want to find out.

As her breath came back to her, she tried again. "Without any more near death experiences on my end, can I explain my thoughts?"

"That's exactly what I want to hear. Some untrained magic user withideas." He huffed.

"Fine, don't. It's your opportunity you're throwing away. Not mine." Lissa snapped, suddenly not in the mood to reason with the stubbornly angry vampire. "When you're done being pissy, let me know. Until then keep your comments to yourself."

Without a second thought, she stood up and stormed out of her mindscape, the minute her hand touched the doorknob, she opened her eyes to the hotel room. Her head pounded for a second, hard enough she was partially scared it would pop like a balloon, before she mentally pictured a metal door, akin to a cartoon bank door, slamming shut and locking before the pressure died down.

A few moments passed without any words, she sighed. Somehow, she had blocked Kol.

Good. She was furious. Try and help the bastard and his response was to choke her? In her own damn mind, too.

Not a surprise, Kol was the hardest original to predict. Klaus you can always expect to ruin his own happiness to meet his current goal. Elijah to choose his family over everyone. And Rebekha to just want love, contentment, and sometimes revenge even if it means killing people.

"You done with your conference with the voice inside your head?"

Lissa jumped, heart skipping a beat as she hadn't expected Enzo to be back yet. She must have spent longer in her head than she'd thought. Not unreasonable to lose track of time with being strangled. "You could say that."

Enzo knew that tone. It was her 'I need to kill someone but can't' tone. Passing her the bag holding her pasta, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What'd The Voice do to piss you off. You sound a bit murderous."

"TheVoiceis an ass that I don't wanna talk about."

As she dug into her food she watched Enzo pour a blood bag into a glass to microwave. He never was one for cold blood, not understanding how others could deal with the thick texture it had. Turning the TV on, she grinned as the sounds of The Nanny filled the room. Scooting over in the bed, she patted the spot next to her so Enzo would lay down.

Lissa had gotten the King Suite room solely for the giant soaker Jacuzzi tub it had. But that also meant there was one king bed and a pull out in the couch. It was a no brainer to just share the bed, neither one going to let the other use the pull out. And it wasn't like they hadn't shared a bed before. Sometimes when they watched movies or something they would just conk out wherever they were.

The amount of times Lissa had woken up with Enzo's loud ass snoring in her ear was more times than she wanted to.

"Do we actually have a plan for the week or is it a wing it type of trip?" Enzo asked once he was comfortable and food eaten. He didn't care either way. It was nice to get away with Lissa. Normally whenever he left Mystic Falls it was for a hunt, which Lissa didn't come on. Not because she hadn't offered, but because half the time he ended up in some woman's bed and he didn't want to leave the seventeen year old alone in a bar.

Lissa smirked at him, excitement growing as her argument with Kol faded from her thoughts. There were a few different things she wanted to do this week but first…

"How would you like to meet the one and only, Katherine Pierce?"