"Deal with me? I can't be that bad." He said, his attempt to make a joke only creating a bigger pit in her stomach.
You are that bad. I don't know how and why, but you are.
"Aurelia?" She pressed her lips together and shut her eyes, letting a tired exhale out. "Really, though, leaving aside the repulsion you had towards me from the time you got to Mystic Falls, is everything okay? You've been off-more so than usual."
"Why do you care?" She asked, now turning her head to look at him, eyebrows raised in skepticism. "Last I checked; I've been nothing but a manipulative bitch to you." Her tongue was sharp; Stefan would be lying if he said it didn't sting the slightest bit, but he had an unexplainable intuition that there was more to her than she was letting on. "Like, remember that night you thought I was going to kiss you? Like a lovesick puppy?" She huffed slightly, looking away. "Anyone would've avoided me after that."
"You're trying too hard, 'Rel." The nickname caught her off-guard, her muscles stilling as her reaction. "You don't hurt me when you say those things. It's too superficial of you to be genuine when you say that. I know you that way."
"Don't...say that." She mumbled. "I've changed. We both know it."
"So you've been saying all this while." He replied softly. "You've said that you don't care, you hate me, all that-but if you really didn't care, you wouldn't have been so hell bent on insisting that you don't care about me. Proving yourself, it's nothing something a person does when they don't care."
"Wow, Mr. Psychology," She drawled on, head turning back slowly to shoot him an unimpressed look. "Like you'd know."
"I would." He confirmed. "I've done it myself." His answer make her internally curse at herself. "You knew me, Aurelia; I felt what other people felt as a human. As a vampire, that only grew-"
"Oh, look!" She pointed out, cutting him off with a small stutter. "Isn't that the Lockwood Mansion? Looks like we're already here." She hummed once. "Time really flies." She then frowned in disgust. "Wow, you can really tell that they're werewolves. It reeks."
Stefan sighed defeatedly, and Aurelia began to feel something unbelievably strange at the sound-she felt bad. She frowned deeply, looking at him once; she was quick, of course.
Now you're feeling bad. What next, do him a favor? You're messed up, Aurelia.
"HAYLEY WAS THE ONE WHO HELPED me break the sire bond." Aurelia tilted her head and looked at Tyler, who she noticed was sweating slightly-presumably because of her presence. "I'm sorry, but why is she here? I thought she was on Klaus' side."
"The fact that I'm here to kidnap Elena from Klaus says that I have no sides, Tyler." She replied with annoyance. "Get over-" That was when she felt Caroline-who was sitting just next to her, head leaned on her shoulder-nudge her knee slightly. "D-Don't worry. I'm not going to snitch. The man made a bad decision, I'm going to pull him out of it. I won't interfere with you until you try killing him, hmm?"
"Good job." Caroline mumbled, a cute smile spreading onto her lips; she knew of the effect she had on Aurelia-being one's soft spot had it perks. "You're getting nicer."
"Not my intention, Care." Aurelia muttered, unable to suppress the fond smile on her lips. "You're very smart, almost too smart for your own good. When I first met you, I wouldn't have known how much you enjoy manipulating me." Caroline giggled, arms wrapping around Aurelia's left upper arm.
Stefan caught the small, yet wholesome interaction between the two sisters with an amused expression-Aurelia's weak moments were a sight for sore eyes, regardless of whether they were for him, or someone else.
"Continuing," Tyler caught the vampires' attention once again. "I thought it was just a coincidence when she came here, but turns out, she was helping out her friend Chris. She's come here to help un-sire the rest of the from Klaus."
Aurelia frowned. "How would your friend Hayley be relevant here? We're trying to stop Klaus from doing anything to Elena and accidentally getting himself in trouble."
"Listen, Aurelia," Stefan tried to clarify. "Siring, as you know, means that these hybrids will obey Klaus, no matter what. Being un-sired would mean they can rebel against him."
"The only think I hear is the risk of overthrowing the man-which I hope isn't in your memo." The eldest responded with a small threat, one that even Caroline couldn't defend out of sympathy for her sister's relationship with the Original Hybrid. "What does this mean, though? Seriously."
"Hybrids are guarding Elena at Klaus' mansion from what I got." Tyler informed. "Hayley, as I said, was trying to help out her friend Chris." That was when his explanation hit Aurelia with a weight of realization. "And I think she was successful."
"So, are you telling me that Chris isn't sired anymore?" Stefan asked, lowering his eyebrows. "And you're sure, that's what you're telling us?" He tried to ask the questions he'd receive the most explicit answers to."
"That's..." Aurelia looked at her sister as she began to speak. "...exactly what he's telling you." At the answer, she began to smile.
"Perfect. All we need to do is break into the Mikaelson Manor." She proposed. "I can get in without the breaking in part, but I'm sure Chris won't trust me. I'd need either you-" She pointed at Tyler. "Or I can go alone and kidnap Elena, but risk a werewolf bite from Chris." She then rolled her eyes. "And I am not looking forward to explaining myself when I ask Klaus for his blood."
"Are you forgetting that Elena's delusional right now?" Caroline's words made Aurelia look towards her. "What if she does something to you?"
Aurelia then scoffed at her sister's question; she didn't mean it to be rude, she was just disbelieving of the fact that the woman could hurt her ego like this. "Caroline..." Her protest began to come out as a whine, and Caroline only raised an eyebrow.
"I mean, I could go-"
"No-" Aurelia's second protest was unintentionally louder than the first, causing all heads in the room, including one Hayley Marshall's-who had just caught Aurelia's eye-at her outburst. "I mean, he's a liability."
It was Stefan's turn to scoff.
"Come on, why him and I?" She continued to push, assuming that Caroline would see her raw desperation and take pity-her ego was already crumbling, so she might as well have gone all the way. "He's get all emotional over his girlfriend and cry and-"
"She's not my girlfriend." Stefan interjected, tone seeming as if he had repeated that same sentence a million times. "Has anyone ever told you that assumptions are rude?"
"Have you met me?" Aurelia fired back, spine straightening to challenge him. "Since when have I cared about being rude? Honesty's so much better."
"That's rich, coming from you." That was when she lowered her eyebrows, staring at him with irritation, lips curled with disgust.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She snarled, anger visibly peeking out as her eyes began to see-and turn-red. Caroline could only wince and place her free hand over the bridge of her nose to pinch it.
"A-Are they always like that?" Hayley's question was laced with slight impatience. A werewolf herself, she wasn't entirely fond of the legendary, age-old, self-obsessed and vain vampires staying in her proximity for any longer than the bare minimum.
"I don't even wanna answer that..." Tyler mumbled; eyes fixed on the petty argument.
"YOU COULD BE NICE, YOU KNOW..." Stefan's words made Aurelia look at him and place a finger on her lips to tell him to shut up. "What? No one except Tyler and Chris are here-there's no one to listen to us."
"You overestimate our luck, Stefan." She stated, her voice lower than his with precaution. "We're inside a mansion where it can echo, and not to mention, there are potentially vampires lurking around. We can be heard much too easily." She then presented a small look of confusion. "And what do you mean "be nice", I've been nice to you for the last few hours and you're already getting too comfortable-"
"I didn't mean me." He pointed out. "I meant Tyler and Chris." She looked at him with more disbelief than before, with an 'are-you-actually-serious" expression. "They're doing us a huge favor."
"You mean you." She corrected. "I'm just trying to stop a newbie vampire from wrecking my brother figure's entire week. It won't be pleasant for anyone if that happens." She then shrugged and came to a stop. "If anything, I'm the one doing everyone a favor."
"Sure, whatever you say-" He stopped speaking when he noticed her gaze on him. "What?"
"Speaking of," She started, tilting her head to look at him carefully. "Why are you so curious and persistent to get on my good side? You've been clinging to me like some sort of parasite all day. Now I'm stuck with you-and for who knows how long. I'll have to deal with your damn questions all over again."
Aurelia, however messy or impulsive, was careful when it came to the people surrounding her. Only hours ago, she was trying desperately to avoid the man she was standing next to because of everything surrounding her mind and the conflict inside it; now she felt bad. After that, she resorted to complete avoidance or repulsion again-what the hell was going on?
"And I'll reiterate what I said earlier; have you ever heard of the saying," She leaned past the bend of a wall to look at a large metal door-locked, obviously, because of the person inside. "Curiosity killed the cat?" She then shot a few glances around her, ears peeled for any sounds.
"Well-"
"Elena's here, come on." She made her way to the door carefully, eyes zooming up and down to examine the material. "Woah, man really went all out with the fancy prison." She then pursed her lips, hand raising to sit on her waist. "It's a shame; almost makes me not want to blow it all off-" Stefan narrowed his eyes at her once. "Wait, I can just unlock it."
"How are you going to do that?" That was when she smiled, eyes looking at him from her peripheral vision. The door then popped out with a small click-not even five seconds later-squeaks and scratches coming from the metal as it moved on its hinges.
"It's really simple-" She spoke fast to stop any questioning from him. "Just a tiny spell and it's like 'alohamora'!" Her feigned enthusiasm was followed by her hand flattening itself to push on the bulky door; she had clearly decided not to entertain Stefan's utter bewilderment. "Oh, look, there she is." Her fingers then curled, while her first remained straight to lightly point at a straight haired brunette sitting on the bed at the other end of the remarkably large room.
That was when she received a small text, pocket buzzing from the phone's vibration.
"Go, get her." Aurelia's order was without any playful tone, making it clear to Stefan that she was, indeed, serious about the necessary things. "I'll follow up, that's probably Klaus." With a small nod, the Salvatore boy went ahead, leaving the blonde to check her device.
Her eyebrows narrowed together and lowered considerably at the notification's preview on her lock screen-before raising as she let a chuckle pass her lips, retiring to a second of amusement as required.
Caroline: I hate everyone, each and every one of you
Caroline: Seriously, I'm sipping beer with Klaus because you made *me* a distraction
Caroline: Yeah also we're almost done so hurry up
"Elena, stop!" Stefan's shout pulled Aurelia out of her thoughts quickly, smile falling and head snapping upwards to assess the situation-her eyes widened as she realized that Stefan was not in a good place right now.
Well, that didn't require much assessment; the man was literally thrown towards the wall by the crazed doppelganger, who was quite obviously crazily hallucinating someone in his place.
As Aurelia made a move towards the pair, Elena broke off a bar of wood from the legs of the bed she had been sitting on, before shoving it straight into Stefan's abdomen with no hesitation. "Argh!" When Stefan fell to his knees, clutching the makeshift stake impaling him, Aurelia hissed and took a step backward.
No, she did not want another one of her shirts getting dumped.
"Invisique." And as soon as she let the word out, Elena blinked several times at the empty space she could've sworn she saw Aurelia standing in. She had been there one moment, and vaporized the next. Stefan had to look around the room multiple times, trying hard to see if Aurelia was performing one of her showier superspeed attacks.
However, much to his dismay, the doppelganger saw the opportunity to run, and took it immediately. She was out of the room through the open door before he realized, making him groan in frustration as salt was added to the wound. "Damn it!"
"You have like, a century on her-" He suddenly flinched as Aurelia reappeared, leaning close to him as she stared at him with a hint of disappointment in her gaze. "You'd think that she'd get caught more easily, hmm?" She then pulled the stake from his body without warning, eyes falling on the healing wound through the hole of his shirt.
"Aurelia-" He began to complain, but she patted his cheek with a smart smile. "How could you not catch her?"
"I prioritized myself there, darling." She replied smoothly, sparing a short glance towards the open door. "Besides, she's not my problem anymore. She had to get out of this mansion so she wouldn't be Klaus' problem any longer. My job's done."
He stared at her incredulously. "Seriously?"
"I LITERALLY TOLD YOU MY JOB WAS DONE." Aurelia growled, folding her arms in her seat as she looked out the window, away from the Salvatore driving the car at the questionably high speed-for his standards, at least. "I can't believe you've dragged me out. Besides, what'd Damon say for you to act so weirdly?"
Her reference to his quick call with Damon made him turn his head to look at her, a sigh escaping his form. "He's found an answer to this entire problem." That was when the woman's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Jeremy."
"What does he have to do with this?" She asked, letting her body face him, rather than the window as she prepared to listen to him intently. "Other that the fact that he can emotionally do something-but I wouldn't count on that."
"Aurelia, he's the next Potential Hunter." And Aurelia let her jaw drop at the revelation, clearly disbelieving of the fact that Jeremy, the sweet boy she knew for a while, was also wrapped up in a mess such as this. "Bonnie mentioned everything that you talked about earlier today. It's him. He's the solution." Proceeding to figure her wordless question out, he continued to speak. "Damon took her to see a Professor Shane. Some history guy who knows about the legends relating to all this-he said that the next Potential Hunter would have to kill a vampire for the Hunter's curse to stop affecting vampires."
"You're-" She blinked several times. "Stefan Salvatore, if you're sacrificing me-" He looked at her like she grew two heads, before shaking his own.
"What? No, of course not!" He snapped. "I wouldn't let that happen to you, Aurelia." It was her turn to look at him the way he looked at her, with uncertainty and disbelief. "I'm serious, I wouldn't hurt you."
"Okay, let's say I believe you." She began. "What other option would you have to kill? There aren't any other vampires for the job-"
"Hybrids are part vampire, aren't they?" Aurelia had to stare at the green-eyed man with surprise for the third time in five minutes. "Jeremy trusts you, Aurelia-I needed you. Besides, I couldn't just leave you there."
"Wrong, you could've done exactly that."
"I didn't want to, though." The Heretic narrowed her eyes at him, lips trembling with more confusion. "We're using Tyler's friend, Chris, for this-and before you comment, I know I said that we had to thank him, but we have no other choice. I asked Jeremy to meet us at Tyler's, I know they're there."
"Stefan Salvatore, you truly do have a brain."
"Shut up."
"YOU'RE DOING A GOOD THING, CHRIS." Tyler smiled, patting his fellow Hybrid's back as he spoke. He was, indeed, thankful for the help; Elena had been his friend for years on end, so saving her was clearly quite important to him. Chris had been generous enough to agree to let Stefan and Aurelia into the mansion, and leave town on the same night to escape Klaus' wrath once the Original found that he had aided in Elena's escape.
"Yeah, well," Chris sighed, picking his bags up to throw one over his shoulder. "Let's see how fast a good thing can get me out of town, hmm? Your girlfriend's probably done distracting Klaus." Tyler nodded once, knowing he was right. Klaus would be coming any time.
"Call me when you're safe." Hayley wrapped him in a hug, standing on her tiptoes to accommodate his much taller figure. With a small nod from Chris, she let go of him and moved to the side for him to walk out of the main door.
As he picked up the last bag, he sent the both of them another grateful smile, before taking a few steps forward.
"Going somewhere?" The British-accented voice made all three wolves freeze in their spots, eyes shooting to the Devil himself as he stood at the opened door, hand on the knob with a smirk.
"K-" Chris had no time to protest as Klaus' hands found his throat and pressed hard against his windpipe, all while pushing him down to the ground as Tyler and Hayley began to protest loudly, but helplessly-one physical attempt to distract Klaus would result in their own deaths, no doubt.
"When I said not to let her out of your sight," Klaus began, his voice lower and full of malice as he referred to Elena. "What did you think I meant?"
"I-It's not his fault!" Tyler shouted. "It's mine; I was the one who distracted you! She got away because of me." Klaus kept Chris down with increasing pressure on his throat. "You can focus on me instead, don't hurt him.
"No, he'll kill you, Ty-" Hayley started. "No one needs to die." She then gasped loudly when Klaus sped straight to her, standing an inch or two away as his grip rested on her throat, instead.
"Did I not tell you to mind your own business?!" Klaus was roaring now, furious at the traitorous act. "Do you really want to die? Or live a life where you wished for it instead?" Hayler glared up at him, gathering her courage.
"Better I die than become one of your sired little bitches." She spat.
"Don't tempt me, little wolf." He let go of her as he spoke, turning to Chris with a cross and stern expression. "You. Your existence is to serve me. To please me. Do you understand that?" Chris shamefully nodded; failure embedded into his demeanor. "Don't fail me again. Get out of here." Moving aside, Klaus gave way for the Hybrid to leave, but only so that he'd go back to the mansion.
Little did he know, that wouldn't happen either-it was clear when Chris walked to the door, only for everyone to stare at him with wide eyes and fear as he gasped
You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net