look at his face properly. "What am I supposed to do? Just grab a girl, throw her over my shoulder, and take her out to dance?"

"Perhaps—if that's what you want?" She shrugged, and watched him nod slowly in understanding, before he took another swig of the large bottle.

"Okay, hold this then." He curtly said, letting her fingers wrap around the neck of the bottle of vodka before he let go. Aurelia's eyes fell to the bottle itself, wondering if the man had already picked out his choice.

And she knew he had, when she felt his arm slip around the small of her back, another grasping onto her hip—right before he hoisted her upwards and hung her on his shoulder. She had to gasp at the sudden contact her stomach made with his shoulder, and laughed loudly, kicking around. "I didn't mean me!"

But Stefan noticed the way her free arm clutched onto the part of the shirt covering his back, the way her knees pushed into his chest, in an attempt to stay on his shoulder. "I decided that you did." And he carried her further into the crowd.

Caroline eyed the ship of her dreams with a large grin, phone out to record the adorable interaction.

AURELIA COULDN'T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT THE last time she'd been to a cheap, no-standards, free high school party like this—where she'd danced, swayed her lips left and right to the enjoyable music, closed her eyes and let her hair flow as she moved her head to match the beat. She couldn't remember or process much now—not with the amount of vodka, gin, tequila—and whatever else Stefan had insisted they take shots of to get drunk and let their guard down for once.

She did, however, remember the way he'd pulled her closer by the waist to glare at a man that had thought it was okay to get handsy while she wasn't looking.

And of course, she would've done just fine if she handled it herself—probably better, but she was only human—well—she did enjoy the heat that burned through her vessels and muscles where Stefan had securely placed his arm. Could only, after all, allow herself to indulge if he was so kindly offering.

And so, she indulged—pulled him closer by his shirt under the guise of the alcohol he kept out of her teach for the heck of it—to tease her and press her buttons. And he laughed, whenever she threw him a playfully dirty look for taking advantage of his height to keep the bottle close, yet just far enough from her reach. What a trance.

A trance that Elena Gilbert could only glare at, hop towards, and interrupt—just to glare even more when Stefan pulled Aurelia closer to his body at the sight of her, his own eyes narrowing suspiciously as if she'd done something to the pair of them.

"Look who finally joined the party." Elena chimed, and Aurelia's features relaxed into realization at why Stefan had suddenly pulled her into his side.

"What?" Aurelia asked, finally snatching the bottle from Stefan's grasp. "Can't stand the thought that our emotions and lives don't revolve around your existence?"

"No." Elena retorted with a roll of her eyes. "That would imply emotions. And we've already established that they're useless." She then gestured to the pair. "Besides, you guys look good together—maybe history is going to repeat itself—"

Aurelia quickly became conscious of Stefan's grip on her loosening at Elena's words.

"Take each other out for a spin, again." Elena only smirked as she prepared to take her leave. "God knows you two need it. Bye-bye." As the brunette disappeared from the pair's sight, Stefan looked down at Aurelia, who began to sprout a rather anxious frown.

"Ignore her—" He assured, leaning down to her ear.

Elena couldn't ruin the special moments he had with Aurelia.

"I've been doing it—and keeping her out of my mind does wonders." Aurelia chuckled at his statement, and turned to face him.

"If you insist—" A tap on her shoulder made her turn her head to see a worried Caroline just behind her. "Care, what's up?"

"'Lia—my mom's here." And Caroline nodded her head to the door, giving Aurelia a moment in her drunkenness to find the Sherriff, who was, in fact looking very disappointedly at a very ignorant Elena.

Just to catch her pin Liz to the wall by the throat—and Aurelia tore herself through the crowd at lightning speed (human, of course) to reach Liz so that she could rip Elena away. Stefan's eyes widened as he followed suit, bumping into several people on the way.

"Elena!" Aurelia growled—arms reaching out to pull the brunette away from Liz by her hair. "Don't you fucking dare—" Elena only cackled wordlessly, before kicking Aurelia in the stomach to zip away out the door. "Shit." Liz gasped for air as her throat had been released, arms reaching up to soothe the sore skin.

"Aurelia—"

"Aunt Liz, are you okay?" Aurelia asked with urgency, just to catch Caroline and Stefan in her peripheral, the latter holding onto the former, who was yelling and trying to wrestle her way out of his grip.

"Caroline, calm down—" Stefan tried, but Caroline only growled at him, smacking at his arms.

"CALM DOWN?!" She shrieked. "I'm going to wring her skinny neck—"

UPON REALIZATION THAT ELENA HAD THE WITS TO come up with a plan to distract them before escaping the house arrest Stefan had placed upon her, the group quickly left the Boarding House to split in order to find her.

"I don't think we should've let Caroline go off by herself like that." Stefan mumbled, trudging through the dry leaves alongside a fuming Aurelia. "She's going to kill Elena—and although the smallest bit of me would be relieved about the trouble being over—"

"Reason is telling us that it's best not to cause that mess." Aurelia completed, disappointed that she couldn't let Caroline go through with her threat earlier. "If I find that cunt, I'm going to rip her sternum out of her chest cavity."

"Let's..." Stefan sighed. "Just snap her neck for a start."

"First commenting on us over something she has no knowledge of—" And he paused in his step, wondering why Aurelia was bringing that up. "And then having the sheer audacity to do that to Aunt Liz, I'm going to—"

"Woah, woah, woah—" Stefan moved quickly to stand in front of her, making her stop. "First things first, breathe."

Begrudgingly, Aurelia took a moment to deeply inhale—not willing to resist when she felt Stefan place his hands on her shoulders. "Breathing." She confirmed, though the annoyed wrinkle between her eyebrows was still present.

"Elena was just saying that to get on our nerves." He continued, looking at her pointedly. "I didn't care about it, if that makes you feel any better. You're right. She knows nothing of 1864. So, what she says shouldn't matter—" Aurelia huffed, folding her arms.

"She just ruined—" Ah. That was Stefan's confirmation, that Aurelia was enjoying herself for once, too—that it wasn't just him.

Though a small part of him wondered for a single moment, if she felt the same way being held by him, as he did, holding onto her. "What we shut out, Aurelia," His hand moved to pull her chin upwards to look at him fully. "Has no effect on us, okay?"

"...okay." Her caving in, however, gave him nothing more about her thought process—he'd have to quit letting the idea consume his mind, now.

However, when they heard Caroline's loud gasp in the far distance—Aurelia's growing patience dissipated quickly, eyes turning red at the mere thought of something bad happening to her sister. Stefan—though able to piece together what was going on, was left with the howls of the wind upturned by Aurelia's supernatural speed.

Elena Gilbert, on the other hand—pushed her hair out of her faces as she squared up against her stupid best friend, mouth opening to laugh maniacally at her pathetic defenses. "You fight like a girl." Caroline only gritted her teeth at the childish insult, instead opting to jump on the brunette and swing her right fist to brutally crush her cheekbone.

Elena, however, was two steps ahead; able to catch Caroline's first before its third collision to then crush the blonde's knuckles and then painfully twist her arm in a direction far past its mobility.

And when Caroline yelped at the sudden burst of pain, Elena took her opening to grab the nearest possible branch and push it with all her might through the girl's abdomen, rendering her helpless thereafter. "See, Caroline?" She spat, once she'd gotten to her feet and looked at the woman in question on the ground. "You've always been pathetic—" It was now Elena's turn to yell as she felt a vicious pull at her hair, tugging her head backwards violently until her back bent to its best point. "What the hell?"

"Pathetic?" Aurelia mocked, enunciating the same syllables she'd heard Elena enunciate. "How unsurprising, for the pot to be calling the kettle black—" Her grip on the straight brown hair tightened, and Elena really didn't want to lose her hair. "How dare you, Elena Gilbert—"

Within little time, Elena found herself pinned straight to a tree—though noticing, that the force used to pin her was much weaker than before, and wondered if Aurelia was actually showing her some mercy.

Oh. Of course. The blonde bitch was weaker thanks to Bonnie's Expression.

Elena had to laugh as the grip on her throat tightened to the point of skin tearing, but sharply moved her knee upwards to then shatter Aurelia's femur with her foot, and then she took her open window as the elder vampire doubled down in pain, fingers wrapping around her throat. "No so strong now, are you?" Elena nearly laughed, watching Aurelia's hands to move up to scratch at her throat—but gasped when the elder dug her nails straight into her cheek—and so, Elena shrieked from the sheer agony of having someone's nails cut and drag through the skin of her face.

"Darling," Aurelia began to lift Elena's hand from her throat—albeit with some difficulty—I am the Mikaelson Family's most dangerous asset—when strength fails to back me up, your overconfidence becomes my advantage."

Curse Aurelia Parker for being so damn good at what she did.

As she flipped the pair over, Elena gasped yet again at the force of Aurelia's nails now pushing through her chest. She wasn't actually going to kill her, was she? Stefan and Damon would never forgive her—

Speak of the Devils, as Stefan's arms wrapped around Aurelia's waist to lift her up and away from Elena, and Damon appeared to pull the doppelganger away by the throat and chest. "Christ, Stefan—let me go." Aurelia warned, legs kicking violently, and hands pushing on his arms to free herself from his grip. "Elena, when I get my hands on you, you're dead, you absolute wretch—I'm going to split your spine in half and perform the damn Blood Eagle on you, you little shit—"

Stefan decided to gently cup a hand around Aurelia's mouth after that, pulling her head back to tilt back onto his shoulder. "Damon, get her out of here before Aurelia makes good on her threat, which I think she's more than capable of—" Damon sped away with Elena at his warning, and he only put Aurelia down after the pair were out of earshot.

And Aurelia ceased her frantic moments, a disappointed sigh following soon after. "Stefaaaaan." She groaned, unable to do anything but just hang in the air, his height keeping her away from the ground.

"You're going to thank me for stopping you later."

"Sure, when pigs fly." She mumbled just as he gently put her down on her feet, hesitant to let go. "Caroline, are you okay?"

"A BLOOD BANK THEFT." AURELIA COULD ONLY REPEAT Stefan's words, not having paid attention to the contents of his call with her Aunt Liz moments prior. "Another blood bank theft." Stefan exhaled loudly, head falling back onto the headrest of the lounging chair by the fireplace.

"No, not just another." Liz's sweet, yet now-serious voice interjected, earning a look of surprise from the blonde sitting on the floor, heels tossed not too far behind her body. "Six."

"Six thefts?" Aurelia, much to Stefan's surprise, was genuinely shocked—allowing the emotion to flow through her tongue. "Elena just got away from us. How'd she have the time—"

"Two took place while she and Caroline were at school—I don't think it's Elena, anymore." Aurelia frowned at the dissipating lead, while Stefan sat there near his phone, truly at a loss of words for the situation taking place. "Listen, I called Damon, but he's hard to reach."

"In his words, Aunt Liz," Aurelia huffed. "He isn't in the mood for anything that isn't fun—took off and drove straight out of town with Elena, last I heard." She'd been referring to a call she'd placed to find the Elder Salvatore not too long ago. "So, for now, we can help, right Stefan?" As she looked at him, she earned a small and sweet nod, unable to understand why his expression had morphed from downright exhausted to that in a moment.

Stefan found her insistence cute. She didn't need to know that—but when a dreaded idea for an answer to their questions crossed his mind, his eyebrows drew together quickly, earning a curious glance from Aurelia. "Someone's stockpiling blood."

"...yeah..." Aurelia slowly confirmed.

"It's not us, it's not Damon or Elena—definitely not Caroline..." He continued, speaking as if the names he recited were a grocery list. "Who else, that we suspect could possibly be hungry enough to gorge on as much blood as they could get?"

A moment's worth of silence, and Aurelia's crossed eyebrows released, eyes dimming as an unpleasant idea hit her hard in the head. "A two-thousand-year-old immortal. Who hasn't had blood for the vast majority of said immortality."

"I think Silas followed us from that island, Aurelia."

[][][]

12/24/2024