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1864」
It had been a few weeks since Katherine had come to stay at the house and Valerie had been keeping a close eye on her ever since. Discreetly she had been asking around about the women but all she heard was that the young brunette was a poor orphan girl from Atlanta that lost her family in a fire, which was funny because that was in fact all they knew. As if they were unable to find out anything more.
So far Katherine had not been doing anything out of the ordinary that might tick off any human eye. But Valerie was a trained hunter of the demons of the night, she had seen the small drops of blood left over on clothing she had been instructed to fold. Since the women had come, it was like her workload had doubled, also having to do Katherine's laundry and cleaning, which annoyed her to no end. But at least it gave her the chance to snoop and snoop she did.
She had found an old necklace in one of the draws during her inspection, it was large and covered in small jewels, and made from expensive metals. On the back she had found the inscription:
Katerina Petrova
「1473」
At first, she was shocked by the year, but then again it made sense seeing as the demon had daylight jewellery, something she was taught tended to be rare.
Valerie had dealt with old vampires before, but she currently had less time and supplies to work with. Plus, most of her experience came from younger vampires, who weren't smart enough to cover their tracks.
She figured that the necklace was a family heirloom and if that were true, Katherine or 'Katerina' would be 391 years old.
After finding the heirloom, the huntress had been more careful around her house guest, as to not break suspicion that Valerie knew what she was. She always kept her heartbeat steady and a mask over her face to cover the disgust she felt for being nice to a demon.
Currently, Valerie was in the kitchen chopping up pumpkin for her home-made pumpkin pie recipe she used. Apparently tonight was some special occasion, according to Giuseppe. But that was just what he had been saying every night since Katerina came so she would make a special dish to impress the guest.
Valerie wasn't focusing on her cooking as she stared through the window with hard eyes, watching as the thing they called a lady ran around the yard being chased by the brothers. Yes, as in brothers, plural. Since the vampire came, Giuseppe had requested for Damon to take a break and come home for a while. She was beyond happy when she heard the news but since he had been back, they had barely spoken, it was only a few words and brief catchups before Katherine would come into the room and all his attention went to her.
There was a sting in her finger, and she winced. Looking down she saw a trickle of blood running down her hand. She cursed internally, bringing her finger to her mouth to stop to blood flow. Her eyes briefly flickered up to the window again, only to see two pairs of eyes staring right at her.
Katherine was eyeing the finger in her mouth hungrily. This made Valerie think, she obviously wasn't feeding properly seeing as if she was, that would make the council suspicious, but then again, she had heard whispers from the adults at the last event in the town saying something about missing people. She had assumed it was Katherine but if it was, then the vampire wouldn't be so hungry. There were more vampires in Mystic Falls.
Valerie heard a call from the other room and quickly broke contact with the vampire and went back to her cutting. She heard Giuseppe's shouts for them to come back inside and get ready for dinner. Finishing off everything at a faster pace, she placed the pie in the oven and just hoped it would be ready in time for dessert. She had finished everything else which was currently set and ready to be taken out.
Valerie clapped her hands together and walked to the hallway, ready to clean herself up before serving it as to not look unprofessional.
Just as she was going to exit, she heard hushed whispers from behind the wall. She stopped in her journey and pressed herself flat against the wall as to not be seen. She listened to the conversation with interest.
One of the voices was obviously Katherine but not with the usual soft melodic voice she used, this one was sharper and more threatening. It also had a hint of an accent wishing to break through as she spit out angry words to the other women. Most of the conversation was too low for Valerie to hear but she caught the last part.
"Stop with the killings, Pearl, the council is already getting suspicious." Katherine hissed to her friend in a low tone.
"We are not staying long in Mystic Falls so why should it matter." The women known as Pearl, stated matter affect.
Katherine was silent for a second and Pearl looked at her curiously. "You do not wish to stay, do you? Do not tell me those Salvatore brothers have gotten under your skin?"
Katherine glared at her, "So what if they have? That is none of your business."
"They are human, Katherine it shall never work." Pearl sighed regretfully, "The others are getting antsy, they wish to feed but it is too high risk in this town."
"If they bared more control, feeding would not be an issue." Katherine rolled her eyes. "Get them under control." She hissed.
Pearls eyes narrowed at the girl, "Do not forget who is older here, Katerina. I do not take orders from you." With that the older vampire walked away.
Katherine sighed annoyedly and leant against the wall. She almost rolled her eyes as she heard the rhythmic beat of someone's heart from the other side.
Valerie's breathing caught slightly as women walked away. So, there were definitely more vampires, just like she thought but not only that, but some of them were also older then Katerina, putting them at more than four centuries old.
Valerie was aware of her capability in fighting, but she also knew her limits and there was no way she could take on that many at once without all her weapons or the element of surprise. She attempted to steady her fast-beating heart, but it was already too late.
"I know you are there; I can hear your heartbeat." A sultry voice made its way to her ears.
Valerie's eyes widened before she composed herself, she calmed her beating chest and let a polite smile make its way to her face. She walked around the doorway and came face to face with an unimpressed looking Katherine.
"Miss Pierce, my apologises for listening to your conversation, I only did not wish to intrude." She spoke softly to the vampire, hoping she didn't question any further.
Katherine tilted her head at the young girl. For some reason Valerie had looked familiar to her at that moment. She had never really had a conversation with the girl unless it was about her room or what she wished for dinner.
The girl felt familiar to her which was odd because she hadn't felt that way when they first met, only now. Which meant she seemed familiar to something she had seen while at the Salvatore estate, that made her curious because from what she heard from the brothers, the girl had only got here the year before.
Her eyes then fell to the girl's hand, to where she could see the cut that had begun to bleed again. Valerie followed her trail of sight, and quickly rushed her hand behind her back, seeing the blood that ran down her finger.
Katherine smirked at her reaction, interesting.
"We have guests tonight, my friend Pearl and her daughter Anna, please do set two more places." Katherine gave her a small smile to hide her amusement.
Valerie just nodded in return, mind distracted and still running for a plan to protect Stefan and Damon and get rid of the girl in front of her.
Katherine turned and walked away, smirking in amusement when she heard the girls obvious exhale of relief. Very interesting indeed.
~
Marcel lay in his bed in the compound of the French Quarter. He struggled to fall asleep, his mind too busy swarming with thoughts of his sister and how she was going. This was a common theme when she wasn't there, he'd never be able to sleep without direct contact from her saying she's alright.
His eyes were droopy as his mind slowly fogged over, rendering his thoughts jumbled. Just as sleep was about to take over, there was a loud shrilling sound from his nightstand.
He almost snarled and refrained from chucking the thing out the window. From the other rooms in the compound, he heard chorused shouts and groans from his inner circle members.
He reluctantly picked the phone and squinted his eyes at the screen, not caring about checking the name he answered.
"Hello." His voice came out groggily, normally it wouldn't be something he'd care about seeing as it could be anyone but at this point, he was too tired to care. He had, had zero sleep since Valerie left New Orleans.
A string of high pitched giggles rang through the line. One was continuously shushing the other while trying to hold in her own laughs and the other one he was close to assuming they were having an asma attack from their wheezing.
His eyebrows furrowed and he removed the phone from his ear, checking the contact before his eyes widened and he sat up fully on his bed.
Through the phone, a throat cleared and a terrible attempt at a British accent sounded through the device. "Marcellous I have found you." The voice was gravelly and the man rolled his eyes.
He raised his eyebrows, an amused smile on his face, deciding to play along. "Who are you, may I ask."
"How can you forget your own bloody sire." The "manly British" voice responded.
Another string of laughs sounded through the phone along with what sounded like whisper squabbling.
He caught a few lines of it. There was obviously someone else there because he heard two voices.
'Wat wus that'
'Hey, at aleast I am tryying, you wer to much of a pussii to do it. He'l recognise my voice.'
'Whatever'
All the words were highly slurred causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"V, are you drunk?" He deadpanned.
"Whoos veee." His sister giggled, "Um flaus mikalisinsun."
Marcel rolled his eyes, "Sure you are. Whose there with you, Flaus."
"Ugh, this gurrrl Ro Ro, we're besties niw." Said girl he didn't know 'awwd' from through the phone and he heard her queal of, 'yay were beestiiesss.'
"She was sad cause her mommy's a bitch so we drank through her mom's supply of liquor and when she found out that barely did anything to be cus of myy hybrid motabililisomum she stole a buncha shit from ze grillyyy, so now Bro, we're drunk and bonding over paratel issues, oooooh you shuld joooin, both your daddy's were dicks." The brunette rambled to her brother, her worlds slurring every so often, they sounded better a bit now because her body was trying to heal itself and fast. Honestly, he'd only ever seen her drunk once and that's when they'd drank a whole bar dry on their own.
"Dzont tel tha twins, they'll be mad I replaced them." She whispers yelled into the speaker. "Wait actually let's call them next." She thought, completely disregarding her last thought.
"By big Brooo." Before Marcel could object, having barley been able to get two words in with Valerie's rambling, she hung up on him.
Letting out an exasperated sigh he stared at the phone before throwing it back on the nightstand, at least she was having fun. Unlike him.
~
Caroline groaned when the curtains were pulled open, letting the morning light shine on her. She scrunched her eyes up and rolled to face the other side of the room.
There was a dip in the bed beside her as someone spoke up. "Wakey wake, sleepy head." A voice rung in her ears. The person tried to pry the covers off her, but she screeched in protest and pulled them over her head.
The other voice laughed in amusement, "Shhhhhh, turn off your noise machine, it's too loud." She whined, burying her face in the pillow.
The girl rolled her eyes, "Wow, Ro Ro, that's rude, and to think we bonded."
"No, now go away." The blonde said.
"Now I know how Marcel feels." Valerie sighed.
Caroline's head ran with thoughts, staring to remember the events of the night before, "Marcel? Your brother, right?"
"Yep, now seeing as you can remember that that means you're not hungover enough to stop me from doing this." Valerie grinned.
She pulled the covers from the girl, earning a shriek of protest with her curling up into herself to recover warmth, but within the next second Valerie had pushed the girl off the bed, making her go tumbling onto the floor with a thump.
Caroline groaned in pain, and glared up at the smirking brunette, "I take it back, we're not friends, I hate you." She grumbled.
Valerie ignored her words and chucked a towel at her, "shower and get dressed, Damon called, we're going to the boarding house. Hey maybe you can visit your mumsy."
"You were much nicer last night." She mumbled.
"Yeah, that's because I was feeling significantly more depressed than usual and felt sorry for you," she replied shrugging.
Caroline reluctantly pulled herself upwards, giving her friend the middle finger as she trudged over to the bathroom, making sure to slam the door in the other girl's face.
The night before after Valerie had sacrificed her dignity and watched the notebook, the two had raided the sheriff's house and basically drained it of all the alcohol available. That had left Caroline off her rockers and Valerie slightly tipsy, laughing non-stop at the drunk vampire. Some time at the night they had ended up of the roof with a bottle.
Caroline had rambled all about her problems with her mother, and then Matt, then Bonnie and Elena, then basically everything that had happened since Damon and Stefan came to town.
Let's just say that any type of protection that she had once had for the doppelganger was gone. Valerie couldn't believe Elena had let Damon feed on, compel and abuse mentally and physically, someone she was supposed to call her best friend, and then she forgave Damon for it.
Let's just say she and Damon were going to have a LONG talk when she got there.
Compelling someone to sleep with you is NOT okay.
~
Valerie sat bored on the couch of the Salvatore living room. Caroline was pacing downstairs, deciding if she should talk to her mother and Damon was reading on the couch opposite her.
Every once and a while he would glance up at her with cautious eyes, still kind of afraid of her from the hour before.
As soon as her and Ro had gotten to the boarding house, she had him pinned against the wall. With some graphic threats of torture that included removing his intestines and shoving them up his- and three snapped necks, Valerie had calmed enough to demand an apology for the blonde. Caroline didn't accept the apology, but she did acknowledge it. Giving Valerie a thankful smile. It was progress.
Valerie rolled over again on the couch, she was now laying upside with her knees curled around the back and her head hanging close to the ground. She stayed like that for a few minutes, seeing if with healing if she could still get the blood to rush to her head and make herself dizzy.
There was a knock at the door and Valerie was out of her seat and answered it Damon could even blink.
She opened it to reveal a brown-haired boy, "Ah, little Gilbert. What do you want?"
Jeremy looked at her confused, "do I know you?"
Valerie sighed, "Right, forgot that no one knows me. I'm Valerie, Damon's best friend."
He raised an eyebrow, "Damon has friends?"
"You wound me, little Gilbert." Damon appeared next to her, making Jeremy flinch. "Why are you here?"
"I came to talk to you." Damon went to close the door, but Jeremy quickly stopped him.
"Tyler has to kill someone to activate the curse. He's not a werewolf yet." He rushed out.
Valerie rolled her eyes, "Well I could have told you that."
"Wow, fascinating," Damon drawled sarcastically, "not enough." His went to shut the door again but little Gilbert shoved past him.
"But Mason Lockwood is, and he's looking for a moonstone, it's a special rock connected to the werewolf legend. That's why he's here."
At this, Valerie perked up, "Huh, so the wench has a puppy at her service." The girl almost laughed.
She made a mental note to contact someone about making a fake moonstone. She couldn't let the real one be dancing around Mystic Falls without protection.
"And I know where it is." The kid told them proudly.
There was a long pause before Valerie got impatient and snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Well come on kid, don't keep us waiting."
"Tyler Lockwood has it, but he's suspicious of his uncle so until Mason spills to him, he'd not handing it over." Jeremy told them, slightly intimated by the girl.
"And you're bringing me this why?" Damon asked, not understanding the importance of a rock.
"Do I need a reason. Look I just want to help, okay?"
"What does your sister say about this discovery?" Damon rolled his eyes.
Valerie almost scowled at the mention of the girl.
"Oh, you haven't told her, have you?"
"Elena doesn't want me getting involved in all this," Jeremy reasoned.
"Well maybe you should listen to her then, she's your sister." Damon told him.
"It's not her choice anyway, being his sister means nothing, a hundred years ago he would have been expected to have a job and be looking for a wife by now." Valerie imputed from her place now leaning against the wall, "Well if he wasn't
risking his life being sent off to war. From where I see it, the safest place he can be is next to experienced vampires who can protect him." Jeremy sent her a grateful smile.
"Then again following that logic," she continued, a sly smirk now on her face, "around you is the last place he should be." She directed her words towards the raven-haired vampire.
Valerie ducked quickly when a glass was thrown at her, letting it smash against the wall. "Hey, don't ruin to wallpaper, Zach said it was expensive." Damon scowled at her.
"I'll have you know, I'm a very experienced vampire." Damon smirked at her, an underlining meaning to his words.
Valerie grimaced at the insinuation, "You didn't even know that werewolves existed. I mean were-coyotes I understand, we're practically extinct, but werewolves." She sighed. "Now that's just stupidity."
Damon glared at her, "Oh yeah, miss I know everything. How did you find out about them then?"
Jeremy, who had been forgotten during their bickering, quickly slid out of view, hoping to get away before things got heated.
"Well, they're apart of were-coyote history." She said vaguely.
Damon only raised an eyebrow, causing her to huff. "We're like related in sorts, created by the same spell, except were-coyotes came 500 years before, and the spell was slightly tweaked for werewolves, as it was used by a different witch."
She left the vampire to process that information while looking around the room. "Wait, where did the kid go?"
~¤°¤~
-Lunar
「4210 words」
9/9/21