THE DARKNESS CHRONICLES

1

Clutching her suitcase tightly Liliana Evelyn Gilbert Lightwood never imagined herself standing outside her home, the home where she'd grown up having pillow fights with Elena Gilbert as their eyes held mischief and some many secrets hidden behind giggles and excitement, the home where she'd learnt to play guitar and had often woke up at 2 am with a knock on her bedroom door letting a scared Jeremy Gilbert inside murmuring sweet nothings into his ear letting him know that "it was just a movie, Jer bear," after they had watched a horror movie and the home where she'd learnt the news of the car crash just a year before.

All in all, Liliana Evelyn Gilbert Lightwood did not imagine herself coming back to Mystic Falls standing outside the Gilbert residence but there was only one thought in her mind: her siblings. The angelic rune burned against her skin under the scorching sun as she gathered herself together and approached the oak-colored door.

Over the years she had been frequently messaging and calling her siblings as Jeremy had told her to leave in search for her biological family and while Elena had held a grudge against her before understanding that it was something her parents would have wanted Liliana to do.

After all, the Gilbert siblings knew that it was something that would give them all closure; to do something their parents would have wanted them to do. So, after much deliberation Liliana had decided to search in pursuit of her biological family, after visiting and enquiring from country-to-country Liliana had realized she'd been given the short end of the stick in her life and had given up on her search to come back to one of the places she'd known as home: Mystic Falls.

Her other home was in New York with the Lightwoods, obvious to her full name Liliana Evelyn Gilbert Lightwood, where she'd trained from a young age of 3 until the age of 10 before she moved to live with the Gilberts for some sense of normality. . . and because of who she was, what she was.

A shadowhunter and a witch.

One seen as a gift and the other a curse, servants of nature, discriminated against and deemed as "Downworlders" because of the superiority and power of shadowhunters just because "Downworlders" were a part of the darker side of the shadow world.

She could hear hushed voices and tense discussions before she took a deep breath and knocked against the door.

One.

Two.

Three.

The door swung open as chocolate brown eyes clashed against forest green eyes, eyes that certainly did not belong to her sister or her brother. Confusion was evident on the guy's face as he opened his mouth to speak but was beaten by a voice from behind him. "Lily??"

Now Liliana could see the owner of the voice, brown eyes belonging to her brother Jeremy Gilbert stared back at her in confusion and recognition as he pushed past green eyes and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Jer, hi"

God, did she miss this.

Another body joined into the hug as Lily breathed the smell of honey and cinnamon belonging to Elena Gilbert. "As much as I enjoy this I'd love to move inside the house," The trio shared a laugh as Lily picked up her suitcase as they moved into the house.

The same cream-colored plastered walls greeted her as she felt a rush of nostalgia looking at her house, the house she'd lived in for 6 years until the age of 16 before the car crash and before she felt the need to escape from the suffocating looks of pity and sympathy. She left and as much as she told herself she was doing this to search for her biological family she knew better, she couldn't do it all over again.

She couldn't bear the pain, not again after the death of Luke Callahan.

"You didn't tell us when exactly you were going to come back,"

"I knew you guys couldn't exactly survive without me," Lily was waiting for Aunt Jenna's teasing remark but heard nothing. "Where's Aunt Jenna?" The question filled the silence as Elena tensed. "She's out with Rick," Jeremy said as Lily noticed how casually he said 'Rick'. "Rick is uh Alaric Saltzman, right?"

The two Gilberts nodded as Lily looked back at green eyes. There was something off about him, maybe it was the way he carried himself, the way that his eyes held so many secrets or the way the whispers of dead witches grew louder in her ear as she looked at him. Green eyes shifted uncomfortably under her gaze as Lily felt Elena move from behind her.

The doppelganger moved to stand beside green eyes as she looked at Lily with pleading eyes as if she were about to drop a bombshell. "Lily, this is my boyfriend Stefan, Stefan Salvatore," A vampire, of course the Petrova doppelganger had to fall in love with a vampire, a Salvatore no less.

"Stefan, this is my s-sister Liliana Gilbert,"

"It's nice meeting you, Liliana" Lily could tell from the way the Salvatore vampires tensed at the smell of her blood that he knew she wasn't human. "I believe the pleasure is all mine, green eyes," Elena gave her a look as Lily smiled when she heard Jeremy snort. "I think I should go unpack, my room's the same right?"

"Yeah, third room on your right" Grabbing her suitcase Lily made her way upstairs with one thought on her mind. What had her siblings gotten themselves involved into?