"Saving your ungrateful sister's life," Katherine spoke, smirking at Elena, who just glared at her.

"Huh?"

Stefan sighed as he stepped forward, "After Jonas tried to get Elena at the grill, he came here but Katherine killed him." He explained, sending Juliette a small smile.

"Jonas's is dead?" The blonde repeated, shock flowing through her body. She could barely process what was going on, exhaustion taking over her. Her mind was already reeling from Jonas's voice in her head, and now she was being told he was dead. It didn't make sense. If Jonas was gone, then how did she hear him?

Stefan nodded slowly, his eyes squinting in suspicion as he watched Juliette. His curiosity was piqued, first, he found Juliette talking to Jonas and now she actually seemed sad about his death.

What was going on? Was the one question that ran through Stefan's mind.

"You're all welcome by the way," Katherine spoke, her signature smirk on her face as she walked past Juliette, earning a glare from Elena and the Salvatore brothers.

An idea popped up in Juliette's head, stopping her in her tracks.

What if Katherine knew about Seraphina?

It was a risky idea but it was her only option. Juliette knew she couldn't trust Katherine but now that Jonas was dead, who else could she turn to?

Juliette's mind raced, her exhaustion momentarily forgotten as the idea took root. Katherine was dangerous, manipulative, and untrustworthy—but she also had a knack for knowing things others didn't. If anyone could have any more information on Seraphina, it might be her.

Juliette slowly turned to face Katherine, watching as she left the house. The blonde looked back at the Salvatores and Elena distracted, not paying attention to Katherine's departure. Juliette knew this might be her only chance to do this.

So she took it.

Juliette opened the door after the Doppelgänger, catching up to her as she had already been halfway down the street. "Katherine?" she called out reluctantly, her voice trembling.

She didn't want to have to willing talk with the Doppelgänger, but she knew she just had to try.

The brunette stopped walking and spun on her heel, now facing the blonde with a surprised look on her face. She raised her brow, her surprise quickly shifting to a sly smile. "Well, well, what do we have here? Didn't expect you to come running after me, Juliette. What do you want?" Her tone was teasing, but there was an edge of curiosity in her eyes.

Juliette rolled her eyes at the brunette, hesitating for a moment, her heart beating erratically against her chest. She hated the idea of resorting to Katherine for information, but desperation clawed at her. Jonas was dead, and she needed to know everything about Seraphina. Katherine might be able to help.

"I need to ask you something." Juliette forced her words out, looking over her shoulder just to make sure she wasn't going to get seen talking to Katherine.

Katherine raised her brow at the brunette, "You need to ask me something?" She repeated, uncertainty evident on her face. Juliette sighed as she nodded her head, just wanting to get this conversation over and done with.

Juliette sighed as she hesitated for a moment, her heart pounding against her chest. "Do you know of a witch called Seraphina?" She asked her tone even despite the reluctance clawing at her.

Katherine raised a brow, a shocked look on your face. "You know?" She questioned, taking a step closer to Juliette.

The blonde furrowed her brows, "Know what?" she crossed her arms over her chest, the cold air nipping at her skin. "I don't know much about her, only that she's a witch and her family hated her." She said honestly.

"Oh." Was all Katherine said as she took a step back.

"What?"

"Nothing." Katherine shrugged her shoulders, her expression unreadable as Juliette couldn't figure out if she had something else to say.

"Do you know anything about her?" The blonde repeated, her hope slowly diminishing as Katherine took a few moments to reply.

"I know of her," The brunette replied, not making eye contact with Juliette though as she spoke. The blonde squinted her eyes at Katherine, growing more and more suspicious of the way she was acting.

Juliette took a step closer to the doppelgänger, "You know more than you're letting on," Juliette's voice was low and almost threatening as she glared intently at Katherine. "Please, I need to know more, Katherine."

The doppelgänger, for the first time since Juliette had met her, looked sympathetic. She gave Juliette a tight-lipped smile, her signature smirk no longer on her lips. "Look, Juliette. I'm not really the best person to tell you this."

Juliette let out a sigh, frustration running through her veins. "Why? Why can't you tell me?" She questioned, desperation growing more and more inside of her.

"Elijah has to be the one."

What??

"That's a bit of an issue considering he's dead in the Salvatore's cellar." The blonde snapped, crossing her arms over her chest as she chewed at her lip. She was trying to hold herself back from yelling at Katherine, wanting to demand her to spill what she knew.

Katherine gave her a small smile, her hand comfortingly squeezed Juliette's shoulder—something that shocked the blonde. "I'm sorry that I can't help you, Juliette. I really am." She spoke before turning on her heel and walking down the street.

Juliette furrowed her brows as she let out a groan of frustration, her hands running through her hair while she took a moment to calm herself down. She was deeply disappointed with her conversation with Katherine, she was expecting her to say something that might give Juliette a clue or help her figure out something.

What did she mean Elijah had to be the one to tell her?

What was it?

✧✧✧✧

    THE BLONDE STEPPED OUT of the shower, sighing as she walked into her bedroom and quickly changed into clean PJs. After a very, very stressful day, she definitely needed to have a long, refreshing shower, one where she could stand underneath the water and zone out, not having to worry about anything.

She ran a towel through her hair, a feeble attempt to dry it. She was definitely not in the mood to blow dry her hair but she knew she had to.

Juliette let a breath pass her lips as she sat back on her bed, her phone in hand while she read the messages from Harlee.

HARLEE:
Hey, I've been researching more and I still can't find anything. It's like she doesn't exist.

The blonde frustratedly groaned, aggressively typing back.

JULIETTE;

Juliette sent the message before through her phone somewhere over her shoulder, not caring as to where it went. She fiddled with a loose string coming from her bed sheets, her eyes glancing towards the grimoire that was sitting on her desk.

Her conversation with Katherine ran through her mind, stopping her from being able to think about anything else. Why couldn't she tell Juliette what she knew? What was she hiding?

What could Elijah possibly have to tell her? He was dead in the Salvatore's cellar, a dagger through his heart. It was going to be a long time until he was resurrected, Stefan, Damon and Elena weren't particularly in a rush to pull the dagger out.

Who could she turn to now?

She had no one to help her.

Harlee couldn't find anything, and neither could Spencer, who was surprisingly invested in helping Juliette. Jonas had helped her by giving her the grimoire, but now he was dead, an hour ago he was lying on Elena's bathroom floor, blood pooled around him.

And now Katherine knew something but wouldn't tell her. But why?

That question ran through her mind as she stood up from her bed and walked over to her desk, her nimble fingers softly caressing the leather book.

Just as she is about to open it, Elena's cries stop her. "Jenna, please. Wait. Jenna." She could hear Elena cry out as the sound of running up the stairs filled Juliette's ears. She immediately headed to her door, opening it to see Jenna run into her room and slam the door in Elena's face.

"What happened?" Juliette asked, panic invading her body.

Though, Elena didn't respond. Instead, she leaned against her aunt's door, tears streaming down her face. "Jenna, you have to talk to me. I need to explain what's going on." The girl spat out as Jenna's sobs could be heard through the door.

Juliette, still confused, placed her hand on Elena's shoulder, forcing her to look at her. "What's going on?" She asked again, dragging Elena to her bedroom.

"Isobel just showed up, telling Jenna that she was my mother. Oh, God, Juliette what do I do?" Elena sobbed, running her hands through her hair as she paced around Juliette's room.

"What? She just showed up?"

"Yes, please, I don't know what to do."

"Elena, first, you need to calm down." Juliette comforted as she pulled her younger sister into a hug. It didn't matter that she was still angry with her, Elena needed someone right now and Juliette was willing to be that person.

Juliette sighed as she placed her chin on Elena's head, softly shushing the girl. "We should've told her." The blonde spoke first, tears pricking her own eyes as the weight of the situation sat upon her shoulders.

Elena nodded her head in agreement, sniffling as she pulled away from Juliette's embrace, seemingly calmer. "It's all my fault, I should have told her the moment I figured out who Isobel was."

Juliette shook her head, grabbing her sister by her shoulders, "No, you don't get to put this all on you. It was my fault as much as it is yours. We were only trying to protect her and look where that got us?"

✧✧✧✧

Let's ignore the fact I haven't updated. In like 10 days. Please and Thank you. 😀

I feel like I apologise a lot on here but I am genuinely sorry for my lack of updates. Year 11 is definitely a lot and I'm still trying to ease my way into it.

This is an important year for me so updates will be like this, which I'm not too impressed by either, but that's life. I do appreciate everyone's patience with me though! It's really kind and sweet ❤️

Anyway, this chapter is a long one to make up for my shit posting. So I hope you like it!!!

See you in the next chapter!

Byeee

19/09/24