𝗔 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁, '𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘇𝘆 𝗸𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘇𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻'. Apparently, the Mystic Falls gang followed through on a plan to get the moonstone out of the tomb. While the plan had been successful, it however came with a price. Stefan was now stuck in the tomb with Katherine, after rushing in to save Jermey from becoming Katherine's personal, never-ending, blood bag.
"Ready for your first day of work?" the voice of her uncle asked as he threw open Josephine's door. Having never gotten up early on the weekend, the Saltzman girl could be found wrapped up in her covers, groaning out in annoyance.
"This is cruel and unusual punishment." she mutters, as she buries her head into her pillows. "Couldn't you have just grounded me like a normal guardian would?"
"You and I both know that wouldn't have stopped you from doing anything that you're not supposed to. Now come on, time to get up." Alaric says, pulling the covers off of Josephine's body before walking out of her room.
Reluctantly, the Saltzman girl gets up from her bed as she drags her feet to get ready for the day ahead.
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"You do realize that I could've found my own way here, right?" Josephine asks as both she and her uncle walk through the doors into the Mystic Grill.
"You do realize that I know you, right?" Alaric fires back, which causes Josephine to turn and look at him with a look of annoyance. "Plus, I'm meeting up with Jenna." he adds, pointing in the direction of where his girlfriend was waiting for him.
"Of course." Josephine mutters, walking away to find the manager so that she could figure out what she would be doing that day.
A little while later, the Saltzman girls found herself behind the bar, learning from another employee how to make different drinks. Quickly looking in her uncle's direction, she could see him looking towards where Tyler and Caroline were talking quietly, and based on the look on his face it wasn't good. After a few seconds, Tyler and Caroline walked out and her uncle pulled out his phone before bringing it up to his ear.
"Everything alright?" the Saltzman girl's co-worker asked, noticing that her attention was elsewhere.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, everything is fine." Josephine assured as she placed her attention back to what she was being taught.
"Ok. Well, as I was saying you want to make sure that you don't add too much to where it could overfill the glass. It's something that you have to learn as you go, so don't worry if you mess up the first few times. Lord knows that I did." the co-worker stated, chuckling a bit.
A second later, Alaric came up to the counter where Josephine was. "I'm sorry to bother you. Can I quickly talk to my niece? It's important." he asked, giving an apologetic look to the person who was standing next to the Saltzman girl. Only receiving a nod in return, Alaric quickly pulls Josephine to the side to be able to speak to her in private.
"What could be so important?" the Saltzman girl asks.
"Mason Lockwood has just been officially declared as a missing person." Alaric explained.
"What?" Josephine asks, shocked.
"Yeah, apparently a girl from Florida showed up at the Lockwood's doorstep asking for Mason. I wanted to warn you before anything happened because this is causing everyone to go into a tizzy." Alaric says as Josephine nods in understanding.
"Where is Mason anyway?" she asks, looking at her uncle with a look of confusion.
"I don't know, but Damon is on his way here. I'm willing to bet that he knows where Mason is." her uncle answered. "Just keep a lookout, ok?"
"Sure" the Saltzman girl agrees before walking back behind the bar.
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It was late afternoon when the business started to pick up as people started to pour into the building. Josephine found herself so busy with making drink after drink that she didn't notice a blonde-haired woman walk up to the bar.
"Hey, excuse me." the blonde said causing Josephine to look up and meet her gaze. "Uh, crazy question. Do you know Tyler Lockwood?"
"Well, other than the fact that he is the Mayors son, yes I do know him. I go to school with him. Who's asking?" the Saltzman girl states as she continues with what she was doing before the woman interrupted her.
"I'm Jules. I was trying to look for him, and I was informed that he would be here. But it seems that I might have missed him." the blonde, Jules, said before taking a seat at the bar.
"Yeah, he was here a few hours ago but he left. Don't ask me where he went because I wouldn't be able to tell you." Josephine stated as she grabbed a glass from under the counter. "Can I get you something?"
"Sure. Strawberry margarita on the rocks, please." Jules orders, and as Josephine gets to work on making her drink, Jules looks at the girl with a peak interest while also catching a particular scent. "Say, aren't you a bit young to be tending a bar?"
"Well, the way that I see it is that either I'm too young to be bartending, or this place is just that desperate for workers. The only reason I have this job is because my uncle asked a fellow classmate of mine to see if this place could get me a job, even though I would rather be anywhere but here." the Saltzman girl explained, handing Jules her drink.
"Why do you say that?" Jules asked, intrigued.
"Let's just say that a few things have happened, and this is my uncle's way of keeping an eye on me whilst also punishing me." the Saltzman girl stated before walking away. Jules' gaze followed her retreating figure with a look of interest.
↢✩✩✩↣
A few more hours had passed, and the sun was now setting as more and more people came into the Mystic Grill. Josephine was standing in one of the corners of the bar constantly glancing at the clock, which seemed to drag on and on, waiting for it to be time for her to be able to get out of there.
The Saltzman girl then noticed her uncle approaching the seat at the bar that was next to where Jules was sitting. "Well, hello." he greets her with slurred speech. "Jovi, Can I have a scotch and whatever this beautiful woman is drinking?"
"Since when did you drink scotch?" the Saltzman girl asked as she walked forward to prepare the drinks.
"No, one is my limit." Jules declines, letting out a light laugh.
"Oh, come on. It's not like I'm a freak." Alaric says as he takes his drink from Josephine.
"That's what you'd like to believe." the Saltzman girl muttered under her breath.
"I'm just being friendly to somebody who's new to town." Alaric continued, not having heard Josephine's snide little comment.
"Okay, if you insist." Jules says shrugging her shoulders. "How do you know I'm new?"
"Because he's a stalker." Josephine jokingly says, which earns her a disapproving look from her uncle before he turns his attention back to Jules.
"Because I've never seen you here before, and I'm here every night." Alaric states, answering her question.
"Ok, so he's a stalker and an alcoholic." Josephine says, which earned her an even more disapproving look from her uncle.
Just at that moment, Damon walks up to the bar on the other side of Jules. "Excuse me, is this guy bothering you?" he asks in a fake concerned voice.
"I'm not bothering anybody." Alaric says, holding his hands up in surrender.
Damon then sends him a smile before glaring at him. "Perfect. Well... do it elsewhere."
Looking back to Jules, Damon smiles as he begins to reassure her by saying, "Don't worry, he's harmless. He's sort of the town drunk. And you know, when we get tired of him we just put him in a cab and send him back to wherever he came from."
As Damon was talking to Jules, Josephine noticed that her uncle was putting something in her drink. Feeling her gaze on him, Alaric looks up and sees that Josephine just witnessed him put the wolfsbane in the woman's drink. Knowing that she doesn't know what is going on, he mouths 'Wolfsbane' to her, to which she nods showing him that she understood what he said.
Turning his attention back to Damon, Alaric sends him an offended look. "Please don't talk about me like I'm not here."
"Why are you here?" Damon asks, sending yet another glare toward Alaric.
Jules just simply holds up her drink to him, and smiles. "Thank you for the drink."
Alaric raises his glass to her before leaving, heading back to the table that he was at previously. Jules sets her drink down, not taking a single sip from it.
"There's a B&B down the road and there's a motel on I-90 but you know, if you ask me, it's kind of a mistake." Damon begins to explain to Jules, who was just stirring her drink, still not having taken a sip from it.
"No, it's fine. I'm just here for the night. It's a long story, I'm looking for my friend." she explains.
"Oh. Who?" Damon asks, tilting his head in curiosity.
"Mason Lockwood." Jules answers. Once that name left her mouth, Josephine was finally able to understand what was going on.
"I know Mason!" Damon says chuckling, as if he was recalling a funny memory.
"You do?" Jules asks, hopefully.
"Yeah. He's a great guy." Damon answers with a smile still present on his face.
"He's missing." Jules bluntly states, causing the mood to drop.
"What do you mean? Like...I mean, missing missing?" Damon asks in fake confusion.
"How do you know Mason?" Jules asks him, confused.
"Friends of friends." Damon loosely states, before lifting the glass with the drink that he had just gotten. Though Jules still didn't drink from her glass.
"You know, listen, I'm really tight with the sheriff. If there's anything I can do to help locate Mason, I will. He's a great guy, and after his brother's funeral, he stuck around and helped his nephew and..." Damon begins to explain before being cut off.
"Tyler?" Jules asks
"Yep. Mason was with him the whole time. Helped him through all that grief." Damon explains before looking at the drink in front of Jules. "You haven't touched your drink."
"You know, I'm not much of a drinker. I should get going." Jules says, having just lifted her drink off of the counter.
"Oh, come on. Look, one drink." Damon says, trying to further convince her.
"It'll help me sleep." Jules says, giving in.
"To sleep." Damon states, clinking his glass against her's. Jules then lifted her glass to her, but before she took a sip she sniffed the contents in the glass before slamming the glass back down on the counter, not having taken a sip.
"You fool. You think you're clever, don't you?" Jules asks, glaring at Damon.
"What do you want with Mason Lockwood?" Damon threateningly asks, taking a step towards Jules.
"He's my friend" Jules says.
"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you probably won't find him." Damon states as he continues to look down upon the woman.
"And why not?" she asks, challengingly.
"You should leave town." Damon threateningly says, not answering her question.
"You're threatening me? On a full moon? How stupid are you?" Jules asks, sending him a harsh glare. Noticing what was happening, Alaric walks back over to the bar. "Damon, how about that second round?"
Shooting him a small glare, Damon replies, "I think we're done, Ric."
"You think I'm afraid of you?" Damon asks as he looks back down at Jules.
Getting out of her seat, Jules turns to the Salvatore. "No, I don't. That's your vampire arrogance. You should be. I sniffed you out the moment you entered this bar, along with your pathetic wolfsbane. I've been at this a long time, and any other night of the month, the situation would be reversed, but tonight is not the night to pick a fight with me. You've been marked."
Then, just like that, she was walking out of the building.
Having been silently watching, Josephine walks up to the counter and places her hands down before leaning closer to Damon and her uncle. "I don't know about you, but I would take that threat seriously. Who knows what she could do?"
Just then the co-worker who had helped Josephine learn the ropes earlier shouted across from the bar, "Jo, your shift is over. You can go home now."
Letting out a silent cheer, Josephine grabs her things to begin to head out.
"Um, where do you think you are going?" she heard her uncle ask as she walked by him towards the door.
"I'm walking myself home. I know that you are going over to help Jenna in sorting things for the Historical Society, so I thought I could walk home and enjoy the fresh air." Josephine answers, having turned back to look at her uncle while still taking steps towards the door.
"You better notify me when you get home." he sternly says.
"I will." the Saltzman girls says, turning back around to walk to the door.
"Seriously, if I don't receive anything from you within the hour, I'm calling the police." her uncle exclaims to her retreating figure.
"BYE!" Josephine shouts, sending a small wave without turning around.
↢✩✩✩↣
Walking around the corner to the street that her apartment is on, Josephine couldn't shake the feeling as though she was being followed. Unike the times that she felt like someone was watching her, she could feel the presence of whoever was following her.
"What do you want?" the Saltzman girl exclaimed turning around, only to freeze in shock at the sight of Elijah. The original, having just been at the tomb in the old church ruins, rushed to find the Saltzman girl so that he could have a talk with her like how he did with Elena.
"Elijah." Josephine breathed out, feeling an unknown sense of calm come over her.
"Yes, though I don't quite have your name, I believe that it is about time that you and I talked." Elijah says as he takes a few steps closer to the girl. "Is there someplace we can go to do so?"
Nodding her head, Josephine directs Elijah to follow her. In the past, the Saltzman girl had issues with being able to trust people, but for some reason, she felt that she could trust Elijah with her life.
Once they reach the door to the apartment that Josephine lives in with her uncle, the Saltzman girl opens the door and quickly sends her uncle a text to let him know she got home safely before seting her things down while Elijah waited for her to invite him in.
"You can come in." Josephine says to the original before turning to walk to the living room area of the apartment, with him following after closing the door behind him.
"I'm sure that you have come to realize just how important, and how valuable, you are." Elijah says as he leans against one of the walls as he watches as she sits on the sofa, with her legs stretched out in front of her.
"That's what people keep on saying, but what does that mean exactly?" the Saltzman girl asks, confusedly.
"It's because of the mark that you hold." Elijah stated while pointing to the girls left wrist. "A soul mark has not been seen for centuries, even I believed that I would never see it."
"I know that much, but I fail to understand what that means, especially for me." Josephine says, leaning forward and pulling her legs to her chest allowing room for Elijah to sit on the sofa, which he did.
"A soul mark is meant to be shared between two individuals, and while their marks are the same they are meant to be looked at as if you are solving a puzzle. Certain people also believed that the two individuals who held the soul mark were meant to unify their people together. Like how the different monarchs did in the past through arranged marriage." Elijah explained.
"So, this means that I'm set up in some ridiculous arranged marriage with someone that I have never even met?" the Saltzman girl asks, raising her eyebrows questioningly.
"Not exactly. That's just how the supernatural community views the soul mark to be. To all of them, those who hold the soul mark are viewed and treated as royalty." Elijah further explained.
"How do you know about all of this?" Josephine asks.
Hesitating, Elijah simply replies, "Live as long as I, you learn some things along the way."
"I just wish I knew just what this all entails for me." Josephine mutters, laying her chin against her knees
"You'll learn, eventually." Elijah reassured. "In the meantime, I want to share with you the deal that I have made with Elena."
"Deal? What deal?" Josephine asks in confusion.
"That until the time comes to draw Klaus out that she lives her life, and in return, I ensure that no harm comes to her or those that she loves. The list she has isn't too extensive, but it does include you." Elijah explains. "But I want to personally give you my word that no harm shall come to you, and that if anyone shows any desire to harm you, they will be stopped."
"Why? Why give me a promise like that when you don't even know me?" Josephine asks.
"When the time is right, I will tell you all that you wish to know." Elijah softly says, meeting the Saltzman girl's gaze.
"Ok." Josephine breathes out, getting lost in Elijah's eyes.
There was a moment of silence in the apartment as the two continued to look into each other's eyes, until Elijah broke off his gaze and looks at the time. "I should let you rest." he says as he gets up and starts heading to the door, Josephine getting up and following him.
"Yeah, I have to work again tomorrow." the Saltzman girl states, opening the door for Elijah.
Before Elijah leaves, he turns around to face the Saltzman girl one last time. "I still don't have your name." he states softly.
"Josephine. My name's Josephine." she finally introduces herself, holding out her hand for him to shake. What he does instead leaves her in shock.
"It's been a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Josephine." Elijah says, raising her hand to his mouth and placing a light kiss on it before turning and leaving the building.
Josephine continued to stand at the door in awe, staring at the spot where Elijah once stood, before slowly closing it. Looking down at her hand, she couldn't help but feel a slight blush come up to her cheeks.
↢✩✩✩↣
𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 𝟑.𝟐𝐤
𝒂/𝒏
𝗂 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖽𝗈𝗎𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗎𝗉𝖽𝖺𝗍𝖾! 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍 𝖿𝖾𝗐 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗀𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝖺 𝖻𝗂𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝖺 𝗐𝗁𝗂𝗋𝗅𝗐𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖩𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗉𝗁𝗂𝗇𝖾. 𝗂 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗍 𝗉𝖺𝗅𝗇𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗁𝖾𝗋, 𝖾𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝖾𝗇𝗌𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝖿𝗎𝗋𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖽𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗈𝗉𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝖾𝗋.
𝗂 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝖻𝖾𝗍𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝖩𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗉𝗁𝗂𝗇𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖤𝗅𝗂𝗃𝖺𝗁. 𝗂 𝖼𝖺𝗇'𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗂𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝗍𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆.
𝖺𝗌 𝖺𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝗉𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗆𝖾𝗆𝖻𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗈 𝗏𝗈𝗍𝖾, 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖾! 𝗂𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝖽𝗈𝖾𝗌 𝗆𝗈𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖾!!
😊😊