Cold Hearted | Damon Salvatore

six

"A vervain grenade" Aria replied.

"Good, with this the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire" Alaric explained, removing the key from the bomb and throwing it to Aria who immediately caught it, "Surprise".

"Ric!" Aria yelled, throwing the grenade into the air, causing it to explode, "Why did you do that?!".

"Vampires will take whatever they want" Alaric replied, "They will hurt whoever they want, and do it without remorse, it's their nature".

"You can say his name" Aria whispered, "You can say Stefan's name".

"Aria, last night in the school Stefan attacked you so he didn't have to attack Elena, there will be a lot more opportunities when Stefan will have to choose between you and Elena, and we both know he will always choose Elena" Alaric snapped, "Last night Stefan bit you because you were defenceless, and I never want you to be defenceless again, you need to learn how to fight, even if you have powers".

"Ric, I can't take on a normal vampire let alone a vampire who's switched off his humanity, even with my powers, which by the way, I don't even know how to properly use, and my so called fighting skills, which I don't have" Aria rambled.

"But despite everything, you found a way to get out of bed this morning" Alaric said, "And that makes you the strongest person I know, I think that you can do pretty much anything you put your mind towards".

Aria sighed, "I'll try my best".

"And that's exactly what I want" Alaric said.

***

"Here we are, senior year" Caroline told Aria excitedly.

"This doesn't feel as empowering as it should" Aria mumbled, memories of last night flashing infront of her eyes.

"Okay, I know you've gone through a lot, last time you left school you were just a witch and now your a witch and a banshee, but it shouldn't matter Aria, you need to accept who you are and not let it bring you down" Caroline said.

"I'm supposed to accept that I basically get attracted to death?" Aria asked, giving Caroline a pointed look.

"Yes!" Caroline said, "Death can be beautiful, look at me, I died, but then I became a better person".

Aria laughed at Caroline, "Death did make you better".

"Yes it did" Caroline said, looping her arm with Aria's, "Now tell me, where is mini Klaus?".

"She said she wanted make a grand entrance so she's going to come later" Aria replied, "She's also a bit pissed that Klaus left her here after Damon told him about Katherine waking up Mikael".

Caroline laughed, "Is it bad, that I kind of like her?".

"I would really hope so, otherwise things would be very awkward for me" Aria replied, chuckling.

"Yes it would, but don't worry, I'll be nice to her, as long as she doesn't try to replace me in your life, I think we could be somewhat friends" Caroline said.

"No one can replace you Caroline Forbes" Aria said, "Me and you are forever, remember?".

"You'd have to kill me to make me forget that" Caroline replied.