Nearly Four Years from the Present
Stefan let out a breath as he got out of his beloved red Porsche, before speeding to the trunk and opening it. He took his phone out, dialing a number.
"Hello?"
"Tyler, it's Stefan." He said. "Have you spoken to Aurelia or Caroline?"
"No, and please don't ask me to. I have no desire to get mixed up in your drama with Aurelia."
"Listen to me." He said hurriedly. "My scar opened up. I don't have much time. I need you to warn Caroline. She's not taking my calls, and I can't reach Aurelia."
"...Okay, I'm on it. But you should be running."
"I'm way ahead of you. Take care of yourself, Tyler." He hung up, and kept several things inside a duffel bag, before slinging it over his shoulder.
He then took out a large tank of gasoline, before dousing the car with it, including the contents of the back. He took his lighter out, when his eyes landed on his journal.
With a frustrated groan, he pulled it out and threw the lighter onto the car, making it go up in flames.
He then turned around to walk away from his car, only for a small chit with a note on it to catch his eye. He frowned, picking it up, before taking a few steps forward while reading it.
What do you think you're doing with your Porsche?
He looked at the note in surprise, due to the handwriting, before looking up and around, only to spot a familiar blonde-haired girl leaning against a vintage car, her arms folded at her head turned to look at him.
She smiled, getting off the car and opening the door. "Well, what are you waiting for? You don't get to roam Chicago without using a fancy car that makes everyone look at you." She said, taking her sunglasses off.
"Aurelia."
"Yes, that's my name." She said. "Now, get in and tell me where you want to go."
!
Present Day
Aurelia huffed, unable to contain herself from wanting to find out more about Valerie and Stefan's meeting. She had been there to see it, but she never knew what it looked like from his point of view.
She looked at Stefan's handwriting. 'Valerie was like a breath of fresh air. I'd been suffocating, and hadn't even realized it—'
A music box suddenly appeared on a table near the bed, and Aurelia looked up at it, before it disappeared.
She frowned, realizing that Nora and Mary Louise were playing yet another trick on her. She rolled her eyes, before it reappeared in front of her again. She opened her mouth to call out to them. "What are you idiots—"
The music box suddenly exploded, and Aurelia shielded herself using her arm, which was hit by several wooden splinters. She pressed her lips together, not even bothering to complain about them as she pulled them out.
"Thanks for the kiddish trick!" She yelled, before the remaining bottom part exploded again, catching her by surprise as she tumbled off the bed, hitting the floor with a groan. "Ah." She said, before she heard a phone ringing, underneath a desk. She looked at it and crawled to it, picking it up. She recognized it as Stefan's phone, and her eyes lit up before she answered it. "Hello?"
"'Rel?"
"Stefan!" She said with relief.
"How are you on my phone right now?"
"I think you would've dropped it when you were pulled out of the house yesterday." She said. "You have no idea how great I feel hearing your voice."
"You have no idea how relieved I am right now after hearing yours." He said, making her smile. "How are you? Are you okay?"
"Well, I'm not hung up like cattle in slaughterhouses, so that's much better. I'm currently spelled into your room by Lily's minions, so..."
"I know." He said with a sigh. "I'm still trying to figure out a way to get into the house."
"Stefan, I'll be okay." She assured him. "Just... don't let Damon kill anymore Heretics." She added.
"I definitely will." He promised. "Lily's only keeping you there to turn me against Damon. I'll convince her that I hate his guts, and she'll have made her point." He explained.
"Okay, okay, that's good." She said, before pulling out a splinter from her wrist, and throwing it away as it landed next to the journal, which had fallen off the bed. She bit her lip, before opening her mouth to speak. "Hey, do you remember Valerie Tulle?" She asked.
"Valerie Tulle?"
"Yeah, the girl you wrote about and fantasized over for months in 1863." She said. "I was told she found a copy of your 1863 journal in the prison world."
"Wait, are you talking about one of the Heretics?"
"Yes, I am." She said. "You remember when we met her, right? She was the one with dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes."
"And what made you bring this up?"
"Well, not to be a completely privacy-invader, but I read your journal, and Valerie the Heretic is Valerie Tulle from 1863." She said. "Ugh, she's the one that cast the vervain spell on me. I'm pretty sure she's psycho—" She was cut off by someone grabbing her hand, crushing the phone in it as she groaned.
"Aurelia?!" Valerie stepped on the phone, breaking it completely.
"Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, psycho." She said. "Summarized me to a tee!" She kicked Aurelia hard, making her gasp.
!
"Aurelia?" Stefan said, his concern growing. The call ended, and he stared at the phone, before groaning in frustration. Suddenly, the sound of an object hitting another made him look up and walked out of the Grill to the back.
He saw Lily trying to park her car between one other and his red Porsche. She had hit the car behind her, causing its bumper to fall off. She let out a sigh, before going forward, only for him to speed to stand between his and her cars.
"You can take my town, you can destroy my house, but you will not touch my car." He said. Lily turned off her car, getting out.
"Good Morning, Stefan." She said.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I was out practicing my driving and saw an opportunity to work on on my parallel parking." She answered, before one of the tiers of her car began to emit a hissing noise, before completely deflating. "I must have run over a nail or something." She said. "The streets around here are a disgrace."
"Listen, you need to tell those spoiled brats living in my house to stop torturing my girlfriend." He said.
"Of course." She said. "As soon as you tell your brother to stop killing said spoiled brats." She added, before opening up the trunk to look for something to fix her flat tire.
"Damon and I aren't really speaking right now." He said, making her glance at him in surprise.
"Really?"
I have no idea where he is. Apparently, you did us both a favor when you told him to leave town." Lily nodded once, satisfied by her son's answer.
"Then I will give a lecture to the girls about torturing your... girlfriend." She said, making him roll his eyes at her tone, before he frowned.
"Is one of those girls named Valerie Tulle?" He asked. She finally closed the trunk, before looking at him with a small smile.
"I was wondering when you might put those pieces together." She said. "I knew Valerie years before you did. She worked in my TB ward. After Aurelia turned me, I went straight from the sanatorium to find her, before I took her under my wing. If memory serves me... you didn't meet her until 1863."
"How would you know that I met her?" He asked suspiciously.
"Because, Stefan... I sent her to you."
!
"Ugh." Aurelia said, sitting up against the bed as Valerie picked Stefan's journal up.
"How do you have this?" She asked.
"Nora gave it to me." Aurelia answered, before rubbing her head. "Did you have to hit me that hard?"
"So, I assume you know who I am now." Valerie said. Aurelia pursed her lips.
"Yes, I do." She said. "During my brief state of unconsciousness, I just relived the first time I felt jealous of a person. So, I'm not really fond of going back down memory lane." She groaned, placing her hand on her stomach. "Besides, you were a girl from 150 years ago." Valerie laughed.
"Aurelia, surely you know that I wasn't just "a girl"." She said. Aurelia pressed her lips together.
"I do." She said, looking up at the younger Heretic. "You were the first apparent love of Stefan's life."
!
"Why did you send Valerie to me?" He asked.
"To check on you." Lily answered. "Like any mother longing for her children, I was in a black hole of depression." Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Stefan, I'm more than the cold-hearted snake you and your brother wish me to be. It took me a long time to get over you." She then let out a sigh. "Anyway, I had been invited to travel to Europe with a... vampire gentleman-friend of mine, but I refused to leave until I knew that my boys were okay."
Stefan began to chuckle. "Heh, a gentleman-friend?" He asked. "You had a boyfriend?"
"His name was Julian." Lily said, as Stefan continued to chuckle. "What? You're acting as if that's absurd."
"Well, your first husband shot and killed his own sons, so you'll have to excuse me if I don't trust your choice in men."
"Julian was nothing like your father." She said.
"No? What was he? A nebbish banker? Town butcher, perhaps?" He asked sarcastically.
"Julian was the man you are not supposed to fall for, so of course I did."
!
Aurelia frowned, stopping in her tracks as she saw Stefan and Valerie playing around with popcorn. She looked at the glass of juice in her hand, before sighing as she took a sip.
"Good Afternoon, young lady." She turned around to look at a handsome man in his mid-20s, with blonde hair and light blue eyes. He was half a foot taller than her, towering over her like a statue.
"Good Afternoon, Sir." She said politely. "Can I help you?"
"I couldn't help but notice you were looking at that man over there." He said, gesturing to Stefan, who seemed to still be playing with Valerie. "Do you happen to know him?" His British accent was easily noticeable.
Aurelia glanced at Stefan, before nodding. "Yes. He is my friend, Stefan Salvatore." She answered. "May I ask why?"
"That young woman is a friend of mine, and I was curious to see who she was mixing with." He replied. "I'm terribly sorry for forgetting my manners. My name is Julian." He said. Aurelia smiled.
"My name is Aurelia." She said politely as he took her hand to press his lips to her knuckles. "Not to pry, but I saw you on that stage over there. You're a charity worker?" She asked. He nodded.
"I didn't see you decide to come up onto stage." He said. She blushed slightly, shaking her head.
"I'm much too young." She lied to her convenience. "I'm simply 16. The family that has taken me in here would not be fond to see that I was doing such things."
"I see." He said, before looking at Valerie. "Would you excuse me for a moment? I must talk to Valerie." She nodded, stepping to the side to let him pass through to Stefan and Valerie. "Aren't we lady-like?" He asked, making the two of them to look at him.
"Stefan, meet Julian." Valerie introduced as Aurelia approached them. "Julian, meet—" She gestured to Aurelia, but Julian held his hand up.
"I've already acquainted myself with Miss Aurelia, here." He said. "And she is a most wonderful lady."
"Your daughter and I were just appreciating the scientific wonder of gravity." Stefan said to Julian.
"Hm, how wise you must sound to less intelligible men." He said. Aurelia frowned.
"Stefan, Julian is simply a friend of Valerie's, not her father." She said. Stefan looked down in slight embarrassment.
"Oh, uh, my apologies. I assumed—"
"Incorrectly, as it turns out." Julian said, before looking over to Valerie. "Valerie, darling, a word?" He asked, before looking down at Aurelia. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Aurelia." He said, pecking her knuckles once again. She nodded. "I hope to see you soon."
She smiled at the two left her and Stefan. "I see you fancy him." Stefan said, a small frown on his face. Aurelia shook her head.
"I don't fancy men as soon as I meet them, Stefan." She said. "He came up to me and asked about you." She defended. He nodded once, slightly glaring at the man's retreating figure.
"That's what happened with us when you two went off to have a conversation." Aurelia said. "What happened?"
"I was meant to watch Stefan from a distance, not interact with him." Valerie said. "Julian was upset about that, and I just told him that I had everything under control." She added. "I was lying. I wasn't prepared for how taken aback I was with him. He was gorgeous, sweet..."
"And that's when you compelled him to fall in love with you?" Aurelia asked. "Because I've heard this story before. Heck, I've witnessed it." She said.
"I suppose that would have been easier had I actually attained the ability to compel people." Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "I was simply a siphon, that was rejected by her coven."
"Like I was." She said. "But I was a vampire then."
"I never noticed, and neither did Julian." Valerie said. "Speaking of, I remember him and you talking to each other during the fair." Aurelia nodded, sighing.
"We were. I thought we were simply getting to know each other as friends." She said. "I never realized what his intentions were, but I didn't stop him straightaway."
Valerie hummed. "Julian had a charm like that. His aura... was compelling, whether or not he used compulsion. He had a way of convincing you do to anything."
"He did." She said slowly, before closing her eyes. "I didn't even realize that he was a vampire then."
Aurelia laughed as she and Julian walked into the woods, talking about some things he had done. "Oh dear, what did she say after that?"
"Oh, she said nothing, but you wouldn't have been able to calm down had you seen her face." He said. Aurelia laughed again, before she stopped. "Is something wrong?" She shook her head.
"Oh, nothing." She said. "I was just tired." He nodded.
"Yes, of course." He acknowledged. "It is dark now." Aurelia looked up, past the trees and at the sky.
"My, I hadn't realized how dark it was." She said. "Time passes by rather quickly, doesn't—" She was cut off by a chaste kiss to her lips.
Julian pulled away from her, before she looked at him in shock. He simply smirked and pulled her into another kiss, as she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck as he deepened it, his fingers messing up her wavy hair.
She gasped as she felt his kisses trail down her neck slowly. His hands found the hem of her jacket, before slowly slipping it off.
Her eyes suddenly shot open and she pushed him away, before running her hands through her hair. "Have I done something wrong?" He asked, before she took a deep breath.
"This is wrong." She said. "I'm only 16. I shouldn't be doing such things." She added. He only smiled, walking back to her.
"Don't touch me." She said. "I'll kill you." She threatened. "You've done enough." She picked her jacket up and wore it, before walking further into the woods.
He went after her. "Aurelia, dear! It's rude to just leave like that." He called out. She ignored him, before she stopped at the sight of Stefan and Valerie at his mother's grave.
"Stefan?" She asked, as Julian stopped, too, an expression of anger crossing his face.
"Time to say goodbye." He said, before Aurelia jumped, not realizing how close he was to her. She then went towards Stefan, who held her hand. "We are leaving for New York." Aurelia looked at their half-dressed selves, before pressing her lips together.
"It really did affect me when I realized you two slept together." Aurelia said. Valerie nodded.
"Well, I saw it in your eyes." She said. "I loved Stefan, but I feared I had come in between something at that moment." She admitted.
"And then, Julian cursed at me, before you two left." Aurelia added. "I remember seeing him read a letter and practically jumping in joy after reading it."
"Yes, I had sent him a letter telling him that I would come back in September." She said. "He had to come wait for me on Friday at noon."
!
"She said she wanted to run away with me." Stefan said to Lily, who listened to the story in surprise. Valerie had never told her about a relationship with Stefan. "I showed up two hours early."
!
"He waited and waited for me." Valerie said. "With every passing footstep, he would turn, expecting me."
!
"I sat around all day like an idiot- past sundown, after nightfall-but she never showed up." Stefan said.
!
"He came home with tears that night." Aurelia said with a sad tone. "And I consoled him that entire night, Valerie." She added. "How could you have done that to him?"
"There was a change of plan." She said, tears in her eyes. "I'm done talking to you about this." With that, she left the room.
!
Aurelia had a soft smile on her lips as she read through Stefan's diary. She had passed the entries about Valerie, and out of curiosity, she had continued to read his next entries.
November 8th, 1863.
She had finally reached that day. Her 252nd, or rather, 17th birthday. The day they had first kissed.
'I had prepared a day for Aurelia. A day where she would always smile. It seemed fitting, since it was her birthday. It seemed that my interest in her could not hold any longer.
In a water fight at the quarry, she had tried to get out and instead fell into me. Even with water all over her, she looked like an angel to me, with her laugh like music to my ears and her smile like a bright summer's day.
I kissed her on her birthday, and I could not have been happier with the decision I made.
I'm in love with Aurelia. I was a fool to not realize it yet.'
"Is Valerie here?" Lily asked, walking into the room. Aurelia looked up from the journal.
"I heard her leave the house." She said.
"...I heard your friend's mother passed this last spring." Lily brought up, making Aurelia's eyes dim.
"Yeah." She said. "Caroline's my sister, by the way."
"Sister?" She asked. "Is she as old as you are?" Aurelia shook her head.
"Generations removed, she's my cousin." She said. "But I like to think of her as my sister and Liz as my mother." She added. "Considering mine never really taught me much. She was too scared." She admitted, before blinking once. "Yeah, I'm not talking about this anymore." She said.
"I was simply curious about one's ability to heal after such a loss." Lily said.
"Well, you would know if you had a mother that cared for you." Aurelia began. "Because a mother's love is different kind of love altogether." She then began to flip the pages of the journal. "I mean, take Stefan for example. He always wrote about you. You can read it yourself." Lily looked at her in disbelief. "Here." She stood up and walked to her, showing her the journal.
Lily couldn't help but smile as she read through the pages. She then looked up at Aurelia, before turning towards the bedroom door. "Nora, remove the barrier spell, please!" She called out, before facing the blonde, who looked at her in surprise. "As of this moment, Miss Parker is no longer a prisoner."
Aurelia smiled at her, before walking past her, only to stop. "Why, though?" She asked.
"It's a reward for Stefan's honesty." Lily answered. "Go, before I change my mind."
"Thank you." She said, before speeding out of the house.
!
Stefan took a sip from his glass of bourbon, looking at the fire. He sighed, before his mind raced with more ways to find and help Aurelia.
"Stefan?" His eyes widened and he turned around to look at Aurelia, who had just walked into the deserted Grill.
"Aurelia." He said, standing up as she smiled and ran into his arms, gratefully burying her face into his shoulder. "You're here." She nodded, pulling away.
"I'm here." She said, as his arm slipped to her exposed hand, only to hiss in pain as he made contact.
"Ah." He said, looking at her in disappointment of the fact that he couldn't touch her. "How did you get out?"
"I didn't." She said. "Lily let me go."
"She did?" He asked, surprised. She nodded.
"Well, I guess today's full of surprises." She said slowly, as he realized what she was talking about. He looked at her sheepishly, as she sat down on the step.
"Heh, I was just a kid when I met Valerie." He said. "Just a troubled boy mourning his dead mom. I was young and human." He explained
"You were young and human when we first met." She began. "I was a troubled vampire when I first saw you. Still going through the guilt of killing for four years straight." She said. "But I still remember the first time I saw you. You were standing outside the Veritas Estate, waiting patiently for the guest to arrive. When I stepped out, my eyes landed on you, and I was mesmerized. You were young, human, and looked innocent. You even had that boyish glint in your eyes, which when away within a matter of months when you turned 17. You let me take your hand and looped it with your before introducing me to your brother." He looked at her, slightly stunned by how vividly she remembered when they first met. "But do you remember the first time you saw me?" She asked, before letting out a breath at the sight of his guilty reaction. "I'm sorry. You were hooked onto Valerie, and I was helping you get through her abandoning you like that." She said with a frown. "That was so unfair. I'm so sorry."
"The first time I saw you like I do now," He began. "Was on September 29th, 1863." She looked at him, confused. "That one day, you were talking to me, asking me how I was, and repeating the same advice you had given me for the past weeks. At that point, I thought, "She cares so much for a person that was going to run away with a girl he had just met" and wondered how you felt when I told you about everything."
"And then I told you once you asked."
"You told me that I had hurt your feelings, but it didn't matter because I was the one in need, and not you. I believed that to be wrong, because you never asked for anything. You'd go help the maids make tea, you'd help cook meals, and you'd be there for everyone." He said. "I found that quality attractive. And soon, I began to appreciate every part of you as I thought about it. You were my dream woman, the one woman that I wanted to marry when I heard of the old fables. When I realized that, I though, "Heck, the woman I'm in love with is standing right in front of me and I was moping around about someone else for months"." She chuckled. "I may have loved Valerie, but the circumstances changed."
"Well, she's back—"
"And that doesn't change anything." He said, making her look at him. "I don't wonder what could've happened if she came that day, because it doesn't matter anymore to me. I don't care about any past except for ours. I care about the fact that you're here with me, and that you're safe now." She smiled, going ahead to place her hand on his arm, before she stopped and frowned, realizing she would hurt him.
So, they lovingly looked into each other's eyes.
~