Flashback
It wasn't as awkward as I would have thought to wake up lying half on top of Nik. Thankfully, I didn't drool or anything equally embarrassing.
"Morning," Nik murmured, looking down at me with a sleepy look.
I grinned up at him and raised my head to lay it on my hand "Hey."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Hm," I hummed, shimmying up to press a small kiss to his lips "I did actually."
Nik tugged at my hair lightly and pulled me into a slightly deeper kiss "You have no idea how happy I am to be able to do this."
"I think I might have an idea," I murmured.
He pecked my lips again and shifted me off of him "Let's go get some breakfast, shall we?"
Scene Change
On my last day in New York, I was standing in front of a huge portrait. There were six people in there and each one looked better than the next. Nik was standing just behind a chair with a blonde girl in it. On either side of him were two more guys. The far right was taken by a long-haired man with serious brown eyes. He looked to be the oldest of the lot. Then there was another man who looked only a few years younger, looking pretty similar to the first guy. Nik was standing on his left. On Nik's left was another male. This one looked the same as the first two with mischievous brown eyes and a small smirk. The last one was the youngest of them all. A boy around fourteen or fifteen if I had to guess "Who are they?" I asked quietly, looking over my shoulder at the vampire.
"You've gotten good at that," he complimented, coming closer "Sensing when people are behind you." His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back into his chest "That's my family. My siblings."
I leaned my head against his shoulder and turned to look up at him "You have siblings?"
"Yeah. I do..." he looked at the painting for a moment before sighing "From right to left it's my older brothers Finn and Elijah, then me and my younger brothers Kol and –" Nik broke off and cleared his throat "And Henrik. He died when we were human."
I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him down to my level "Nik, I'm so sorry. You were close?"
"Yeah," he breathed "It's my fault."
"No, Nik," I told him firmly "I don't know what happened but it's not your fault."
He laughed tearfully – The fact that he was so close to tears was actually freaking me out a bit. I wasn't good with crying people "Yes, it is. If I hadn't taken him to see the wolves turn into men then he wouldn't have died."
"Have I ever told you about Cedric?" I spoke up, looking at him.
"Who is he?" Nik frowned.
I grabbed his hand and lead him to the living room couch "It's a long and complicated story. I think in a way, I liked him? Maybe? I wasn't too good at figuring out my emotions back then. There was a competition and we were both competing for the same school. Cedric was in another house though... I – The last task something happened. We both took the cup for a shared victory but something went wrong. He was killed... I saw him die right in front of me... And I did nothing."
"What happened?" the vampire questioned, drawing me into a tight hug.
"This is going to sound unbelievable but... You know the Harry Potter books, right?" I questioned, waiting for him to nod "I told you that the Gilbert's adopted me, right? My name before I came to them was Angel Potter... I'm a witch, Nik."
Nik's arms slackened "Wait, what? That's impossible."
"I was hit with the backlash of Voldemort's Killing Curse when I was fourteen... I – Somehow I was deaged and brought here," I explained, biting my lip nervously. If I really wanted to be with him then I had to be honest... About everything "My childhood was shit the first time around and I'm still suffering for one man's bad choices. If Dumbledore hadn't been there, I wouldn't have gone to the Dursleys or even confronted Voldemort."
"You know," Nik murmured into my hair "As unbelievable as that sounds... I can tell when people are lying to me and you aren't. So, can you still do magic here?"
I laughed at him lightly, letting out the breath I didn't know I was holding "Yeah. I finally got my animagus transformation down. Wanna see?" It had taken me quite a while but not as long as it should have, I think. Maybe it was because I was already meditating before that and once I found my animal form it was pretty easy to accomplish.
"Animagus was animal transformation, right?" the vampire frowned. His eyes lit up when I nodded "Of course, I want to see." I wriggled out of his arms and walked over to a free space. Less chance of knocking into anything. I took a couple of deep breaths and slowly felt myself shifting. As soon as my paws hit the ground, I shook out my fur. My animagus was a silver-white wolf, not fully grown but probably almost as tall as I would get "You're gorgeous," Nik murmured, flashing to my side. I barked happily when he started scratching my ear and licked his cheek. I bullied my way into his lap and stretched out, enjoying the petting session.
Flashback End
The next day, Nik drove me to the airport for my flight. The vampire went with me through baggage drop-off and all the way to security. I sighed "Do I have to go?"
"I preferred it if you didn't but I don't think we have a choice," Nik murmured, pulling me into a hug "Hey, maybe I'll visit soon?"
I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow "Why would anyone want to come to Mystic Falls? Voluntarily?"
"Hm," Nik leaned down, brushing our lips together "Maybe a certain vampire wants to visit his girlfriend. It's known to happen?"
"Really?" I questioned with a small grin "And what if said girlfriend doesn't want you to meet her embarrassing family?"
Laughter spilled over the vampire's lips "Come on, my Angel. They can't be that bad."
"You have no idea," I sighed, leaning my head against his chest "My aunt and uncle are ridiculous. My brother isn't much better and my sister hates the crap out of me."
"Speaking of..." Nik hesitated "Maddox took a picture of someone... I didn't want to bring it up but..."
I raised an eyebrow at him "Who did he take a picture of?" The vampire handed me his phone with the picture open. I looked down and sighed "You know who that is?"
"From your reaction, I'd say that it isn't Katerina?" he murmured.
"No," I shook my head "That's my sister, Elena, actually. Why do you want to know?"
Nik looked around "I'll text you later, alright? I'm sorry but this isn't something I want to talk about in the airport... I shouldn't have mentioned it."
"Nik," I cut him off, pulling him down to my level again "It's important to you?" He nodded mutely "Then I don't mind you asking. I don't judge you... You should know that by now."
The vampire sighed and buried his face in my hair "What did I do to deserve you? But it's only fair. You told me your secret after all."
"Like you said. Not now..." I ran a hand through his short blond hair and sighed "I should go now."
"Right," he nodded. Before he let me go, we kissed one last time "Call or text me once you're at home."
I saluted playfully, picking up my bag "Sir, yes, sir."
"Brat," he laughed and shooed me away. I looked back at him once I was through the security check. One last wave was all I could do before I lost sight of him.
My phone beeped and I looked at the display 'Miss you already.' Nik.
I laughed quietly and wrapped Hero's leash around my hand, so I could text back 'I could say the same.'
"Angel," a familiar voice called from behind. A red-haired woman came up to me "If it wasn't for that cute dog, I wouldn't have recognized you."
"Sage, right?" I questioned, smiling at the vampire "What are you doing here?"
Sage shrugged "I live in New York. Actually, I just got back and saw you here... Were you at another Art show?"
I nodded with a small smile "That and visiting my... my boyfriend." At that moment, my phone started ringing. The caller ID said that it was Damon "Sorry. Give me a moment. Damon?" I noticed Sage perk up at the name.
"Hey, Tiny. Listen, Ric's going to come pick you up. I have something to deal with. That alright?"
I frowned "Er, sure. Is everything alright?"
Damon sighed "We'll talk about it once you're back. It's a bit of a long story."
"If you say so," I shrugged "Fine. Tell Alaric if he isn't there when I land, I'm going to kill him. Slowly and painfully."
"Hold on," Damon laughed and relied the message to my aunt's boyfriend. I snorted. Of course, the two of them were out together... again. They always were "He said he'll be there. Just out of curiosity... Would you do that to your aunt?"
"She'd get over it," I told him "Plus, you two are the town drunks... I could make it look like an accident."
Suddenly, Alaric's voice came through the phone "I'm slightly concerned that you will turn out to be a serial murder and end up in prison."
"Give me some credit, Ric. I wouldn't get caught," I laughed "Now, thanks for picking me up... I appreciate it."
"No problem. See you later."
He hung up the phone and I looked back to Sage "Sorry about that. My aunt's boyfriend and my... pseudo-brother."
"Damon?" she questioned "That wouldn't be Damon Salvatore?"
I blinked "You know him?"
"He's my prodigy. Taught him everything he needed to know about being a vampire," she whispered.
"Huh," I mumbled "I'm not sure if I should say thank you or slap you. You basically taught him how to hide behind that stupid mask of his."
Sage laughed "You really are his sister in all but blood, aren't you?"
"He's helped me out a few times, taught me how to defend myself," I told her. Since we were standing near the departure boards, I quickly checked for my flight "Damn," I curse when I saw the Gate displayed "Sorry, Sage. I have to go."
"Wait," she stopped me "Give me your phone." I handed it over to her and let her type in her number "If you ever need my help. Call me... And keep me updated on Damon's antics. I feel like they're going to be amusing."
I laughed "They probably will. Bye, Sage."
"Bye, Angel. Have a good flight."
"Thanks," I called over my shoulder and walked off with Hero by my side. That was weird... How the hell did I get to the airport at the same time as the woman I met by accident last time I went to New York? Not that I minded. Sage was pretty nice but still... That was one hell of a coincidence.
The flight time passed quickly since I spent the majority of the time snoozing. Nik and I had stayed up for ages, just talking about my life before the adoption. He had promised me that we would talk about his past as well but not yet. I think he was scared that I would start hating him or whatever... I wasn't too sure about this.
"Hey, Ric," I smiled, walking over to my History teacher.
Alaric quickly pulled me into a hug, grabbing my suitcase from me "How was New York?"
"It was nice," I told him "This time I wasn't at the Art show for too long. Saw a lot of New York. It was really cool."
"With Nik, huh?" he teased, bumping my shoulder with his.
I blushed "Yea, with Nik. It was... nice."
"Good to know, kid," Alaric grinned "Maybe you shouldn't tell your aunt too much though."
I grimaced "Oh, God. Nothing happened. At least... not much. Can we go home now? I wanna take a shower."
Alaric laughed and steered me to where he parked the car "Let's go then. I'm sure Damon wants to see you later on as well."
"We'll see," I murmured "Maybe it has to wait until tomorrow... I'm pretty tired."
Ric asked me some more questions on the drive to our house and I answered most of them "That's where I'm gonna have to drop you off. I promised Damon to join him for a drink."
"Town drunk," I coughed, taking my suitcase from the backseat while Hero jumped outside, running up to the front door.
My teacher glared at me playfully "Careful there, missy. I can give you detention."
"That would be abusing your privileges," I pointed out and walked up the drive "Have fun with Damon, Ric. Just... Don't do anything stupid." I dug my key out of my pocket and unlocked the door only to see my aunt digging around in the cupboard under the stairs, cursing lowly "This wasn't what I was expecting to come home to, Aunt Jenna," I grinned, discarding my suitcase. Blue ran up to me, his tail wagging. I crouched down and scratched him behind the ears.
"Angel," Jenna exclaimed, running over to hug me "How was New York?"
"Loud," I answered "Crowded... And a bit too big for my taste. Nothing I didn't notice last time I was there."
I glanced behind her and raised an eyebrow at the cupboard "What are you looking for in there anyway?"
"Oh, there were these files from the Historical Society..." Jenna trailed off "Speaking of which. Elijah," she called and a man stepped out from behind the door. A very familiar man... In fact, I had only seen him yesterday. In a painting. Why exactly was Nik's brother here? In my house? "This is my niece Angel. Angel, this is Elijah Smith. He's a writer."
The man came closer and reached out a hand. I took his outstretched hand and startled lightly "It's a pleasure," he smiled charmingly.
I nodded "Same, I guess." Jenna was watching me weirdly "Didn't I tell you not to invite vampires in, Aunt Jenna? You don't know... where they've been. No offense."
My aunt's head snapped up and stared at Nik's brother "Vampire?"
"How?" Elijah blinked, his face expressionless.
"Magic," I grinned, causing my Aunt to snort "Also if you really want the files for the Historical Society... They're up in my room. Along with everything else that's related to the history of our family or this town. I thought you would have known by now."
Jenna groaned "You mean I could have stopped searching through the cupboard an hour ago?"
I laughed and patted her should "Sorry. Hello, Elena."
"What's going on here?" my sister questioned, looking from our aunt to me and back.
"Your sister is a brat, that's what," Aunt Jenna sighed "I got roped into helping Mrs. Lockwood and by roped, I mean very excited to participate."
I laughed when she directed that to the vampire who was slightly hidden again "I'm sure you are... But yes, Mrs. Lockwood has that effect on people."
That's when Elijah stepped out "Hey," he waved with a barely noticeable smirk "I'm Elijah."
"Elijah's in town doing research on Mystic Falls," Jenna told a very nervous looking Elena.
I rolled my eyes at all of them "It's nice to see you two acting like you don't know each other... I'm going to go to my room." I looked at the vampire "Do you actually want those files or not?"
"It's fine," he waved off "I don't need them."
"Alright then..." I shrugged, walking to my discarded suitcase and then up the stairs. I quickly showered and decided against going to the Grill to meet up with Damon. My bed was calling for me.
'I'm home and you wouldn't believe who I found when I finally got home.' I texted Nik.
It only took a few minutes until I got a response 'Who?'
'Your brother.'
I could practically hear the other vampire's groan of annoyance 'Great... Please tell me he doesn't know about me.'
'He doesn't. I don't plan on telling him either. Now, I'm tired. Talk to you soon?'
'Of course. Sleep well, my Angel.'