Liza was just walking into history class just before the bell rang, supposedly they were getting a new teacher today. As she took her seat she turned her attention to the front as she heard a man's voice. "Good Morning everyone," he sat his stuff down on the desk, "Alrighty." He wrote his name on the board, "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful I know, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins, my family migrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston." Liza leaned onto her desk, actually interested in what he was saying as he moved to the other side of the board. "Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to announce it Ala-ric, but its A-lar-ic, ok? So you, can call me Rick, I'm your new history teacher." Liza smiled, happy to have an actual teacher she won't totally hate.
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It was later at lunch that Liza and Elena got an explanation for Bonnie acting weird all day. "And then I ended up in the remains of the old fells church before I woke up back in the woods." Liza and Elena looked at each other before Elena asked "And you always see your ancestor Emily?" Bonnie nodded her head, "That's weird," Liza said. Bonnie looked at them, "Do you believe in ghosts?" Liza nodded as Elena said "Two weeks ago I'd say no, but now..." "I think I'm being haunted." Liza leaned into her hand "Cause that's so what we need right now." Elena nudged her cousin, "I don't get it, why Emily?" Bonnie launched into her explanation. "Grams said she was a powerful witch back in the civil war days and that this medallion was hers. A witch's talisman." Liza perked up a little "And it all started when you got the necklace?" Bonnie nodded, "I think she's using it to communicate with me." Elena nodded "Ok well what does Grams say about it?" Bonnie shook her head, I can't call her, she'll tell me to embrace it. I don't want to embrace it, I want it to stop." Liza shook her head, "This is some weird shit."
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As Liza was walking out of school that day, she saw Stefan walking away from an obviously angry and hurt Elena. Liza was quick to rush over to her, "Hey, you ok?" Elena nodded, "I'll be fine." Elena then walked away, heading to Bonnie's car to wait for her. Liza shook her head and watched her go, unable to follow her as she was Jeremy's ride. It was then that Jeremy decided to join her, "Hey." Liza looked at him and smiled, "Hey, ready to go little cousin?" Jeremy chuckled at the nickname, "Yeah, I'm ready." Liza smiled at him and they walked towards her car, "So I heard you got called into see Mr. Saltzman today, what was that about?" Jeremy sighed as he got into her passenger side, "It was nothing like that, he was offering me extra credit, to turn my grade around." Liza was happy to know that Jeremy was trying to change, that he was improving. She still felt incredibly guilty that she had killed Vicki, that he doesn't know what happened to her, but she knew it was for the best now. She still couldn't face Matt, she chocked up every time she saw him, no matter how many times she tried.
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Liza, her mother, and Jeremy were all sitting at a booth in the Grille as the two students did homework as they waited for their food. "I love a man who can dine alone. A quiet strength." Liza and Jeremy looked at Mr. Saltzman. Liza shuddered as she thought about her mother with her teacher. Jeremy laughed at Liza as he asked Jenna "I thought you were still in that whole Logan depression thing." Liza quickly took a sip of her drink as she avoided joining the conversation. "Oh I've sworn off men forever, but it doesn't mean I can't observe them from a safe distance." Liza shook her head at her mother, she knew someone would come in and make her mom happy, she just had to wait. "Well I can introduce you." Jenna looked at Mr. Saltzman as she hesitated before shaking her head. Liza smirked as she nudged Jeremy.
They were finally eating as Jeremy and Jenna talked about his extra credit work. "Have you picked a topic?" Jeremy shook his head, "No not yet. It's gotta be local, and non-internet research so..." Jenna took a sip of her drink as Liza said to Jeremy, "Well that's easy, you got all your dad's stuff." Jeremy looked at her, "What stuff?" Liza looked at him, "About how the gilberts came over on the Mayflower stuff, all that family lineage from way back. Uncle Grayson really loved all that family history stuff, its all boxed up in the closet." That's when Mr. Saltzman came up to the table, "Mr. Saltzman!" Alaric looked between the three of them, Jeremy, What's up man? Liza, How are you?" Liza smiled at him as Jeremy introduced her mother to him "This is my Aunt Jenna, Liza's mother." Alaric looked at Jenna and held out his hand, "Alaric Saltzman, It's nice to meet you." Jenna smiled at him "Jeremy and Liza were just telling me about his paper, thanks for giving him a second chance." "Oh you know, it was my first day, wanted to make a good first impression."
Liza and Jeremy looked at each other as the adults looked at each other with interest. Liza looked at Mr. Saltzman and almost froze, there on his hand was a ring just like Stefan and Damon's. She knew what that meant, he was either a vampire, or knew of them. Which means there is a good chance he already knew about her. She looked at him with new hesitance and could sense death on him, almost as much as her family and herself. She knew that she had to be cautious with him from now on, and to at least keep an eye on him.
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Liza had left the Grille shortly after finishing dinner. She wanted to be back in time to spend some time with the girls, as she walked in they had all been in the living room. "...and I say this knowing that Elena is in the kitchen listening to my every word." Liza walked into the living room with furrowed eye brows, "Why would Elena listen to your every word, am I missing something?" Caroline and Bonnie smiled at her before Caroline switched her attention back to Bonnie, "Look, I didn't know how real this was for you, but I'm listening now." Caroline handed her the necklace she was holding, "Ok?" Bonnie nodded as Caroline smiled at her, Liza took that as her que to call Elena in, "Elena you can come in now, I think they're done." Elena came in smiling at them and then sat on the couch as Liza remained standing. "There is way too much drama in this room." Caroline nodded her head, "So what do you guys want to do?" Caroline then shot up, "I have an idea, why don't we have a séance?' Liza was quick to shake her head, knowing that a séance probably would not go well with the banshee side of her. Bonnie quickly agreed with the red head, "I don't think that's a good idea." Caroline, however, was not taking no as an answer, "Come on, Let's summon some spirits. This Emily chick has some serious explaining to do." Elena looked at the two of them, knowing Caroline was right. The two reluctant ones agreed, looking at each other with deadpanned expressions.
They had all traveled up to Elena's room, sitting in a circle surrounding some lit candles. "What are we doing?" Elena shook her head "I don't know" Caroline was quick to shoosh them, "Be quiet and concentrate. Ok, close your eyes. Ok, now take a deep breath." As she said this she took a breath, as did the other girls, knowing it was better to at least indulge the blonde. "Bonnie, call to her." "Emily, you there?" Caroline and Liza looked at each other before looking at Elena, "Really, "Emily, you there?" That's all you got?" As Caroline said this last bit she looked at Bonnie, "Fine, jeez" They all sat up a little straighter as Bonnie tried again. "Emily, I call on you. I know you have a message. I'm here to listen." It was quiet for a moment before the flames on the candles shot up, "Did that just?" "Yeah that just happened." "Mhm, yup" All three other girls said one after the other. The wind blew cold by Caroline, causing her to rub her arms. "It's just the air conditioning." Liza looked at Bonnie "Ask her to show you another sign." When Bonnie did nothing, Liza took control, "Emily, if you're among us, show us another sign." They waited a few seconds as nothing happened, causing them to relax slightly, then the window bursted open, causing a cold breeze to make its way into the room. "Holy shit!"
Bonnie quickly shot up, "I can't, I'm done!" She then threw her necklace on the ground by the candles, which then blew out on there own. "Get the lights!" Elena was quick to rush and turn on the lights, when she did, Bonnie looked down, "Guys, the necklace, it's gone." Liza was staring where the necklace use to be, then Elena accused Caroline of taking it before something caught Liza's attention in the hallway. When she quickly snapped her head over, the other three did as well, "Liza, what did you see?" She shook her head, "I don't know, nothing." She then walked towards the door "Jeremy, are you home?" She stopped just before she left the room, not wanting to leave them alone. Bonnie then called out to them, "Um, Guys." Liza was slowly making her way over to look in the bathroom with Elena as Bonnie walked in. As Bonnie picked up the necklace that somehow appeared on the rug, the door slammed shut. Liza, Caroline, and Elena all rushed to the door, hitting it, trying to get it to open. "Bonnie!" "Bonnie, open the door!" Liza went to the other door in Jeremy's room, hitting that one as well as Elena went to the hallway door. The lights started flickering and Liza started to hear the voices, becoming even more scared for her friend's life. "Bonnie!" Then it all stopped. The door opened and there stood Bonnie, perfectly fine, but Liza was still hearing voices.
"What happened, are you ok?" Bonnie picked her head up, looking between the three girls, "I'm fine." But Liza knew something was off, she just couldn't put her finger on it. "Unbelievable, you were totally faking it." Elena tried to rail the blonde back in. "Caroline come on." Caroline wasn't having it though, "No, you scared the hell out of me." She then walked back over to the bed with Liza as Elena stayed by the door waiting for Bonnie to come back out. As they all ventured out into the hallway Caroline was still seething, "I can't believe I fell for it." Bonnie just walked right past her, "I must leave." Caroline looked at the red head, "If she's leaving, I'm leaving." Elena looked between them, "You guys can't leave." Caroline looked straight at her, "Oh I can, I've had enough freaky fake witch stuff for one night." Bonnie looked at the pair of cousins, "Thank you for having me, I'll take it from here." she then started to walk down the stairs as Elena called her name, "Where are you going?" Bonnie kept going "back to where it all began." Elena kept calling out to her, trying to get her to stay, until Liza heard the voices clearly and called out the name they were telling her. "Oh my god! Emily!" With that Bonnie, Emily, faced them "I won't let him have it. It must be destroyed." And with that, Emily was out the door. As Liza and Elena tried to open the door after her, Caroline came down "What's happening?" Elena explained the door wouldn't open, until Jeremy opened the door startling them all as they screamed. Caroline looked at the girls as Jeremy walked by them, "I'm outta here"
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Elena was quick to pick up the phone and call Stefan, telling him what happened as they tried to figure out what to do. Little did they know Damon was listening in. As Stefan and Elena hung up, Damon was already gone and the girls were on their way despite Stefan telling them to stay put. When the girls got there however, Bonnie was in the middle of a pentagram, a pentagram that was on fire. "Bonnie!" Both Liza and Elena were worried about their friend, they didn't fully understand what was happening. They ran towards her, only for Elena to be stopped by Stefan and Liza the flames. As Emily, in Bonnie's body, threw her necklace up in the air, it shattered, causing sparks to fly out. As Emily left Bonnie's body, the flames died down and Damon raced forward to Bonnie, quickly grabbing her and began feeding on her. Liza was quick to react as Bonnie screamed, channeling her inner banshee and grabbing Damon, throwing him away from her friend as she crouched in front of her protectively. When Elena and Stefan looked at the red head, they were not expecting for her eyes to be completely black, not a single speck of white in them, almost like a demon. Elena and Stefan gasped, shocked at the red heads appearance. She looked almost ferocious.
Stefan was quick to snap out of it and rush over to the fallen burnette, listening for her heart. "She's alive, I can save her." He then bit into his wrist and put it to her mouth, giving her his blood. Liza had continued to stare at Damon, glaring at him with her mysterious eyes as he stared back at her in shock, before looking towards his brother. Bonnie's neck had started healing, causing Elena to be shocked even more than before. "Her neck, it's healing" This caused Liza to look at her friend on the ground, her eyes going back to normal, but not before Bonnie had seen her other ones.
As Liza and Stefan walked up to Damon, he was sitting on a bench, with unshed tears in his eyes. "Katherine never compelled me, I knew everything, every step of the way." Liza and Stefan looked at each other. While Liza hated him, especially for what he did just minutes ago, she did hold sympathy for the man. "I'll leave now." Liza sighed and turned to walk back towards the car, before turning around and looking at the two behind her. "Don't get me wrong, I am beyond happy to have met you, but if either of you harm another head on Bonnie, I'll kill you." With that she walked back to the car before helping Bonnie in as Stefan talked to Elena, knowing she needed to explain what she was to her friend before they explained anything else.
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As Elena had taken Bonnie to her room for the night, Liza was helping her mother downstairs with the boxes of things from the closet. When the doorbell rang she took the box from her mother's hands and put it in the closet as her mother opened the door. When Liza looked at the door she saw the face of the last person she would ever expect, quickly rushing over to stand by her mother. "Hello Jenna, Liza. Aren't you going to invite me in?" Liza glared at him, her mother greeting him coldly, "Logan."
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Cliffhanger!
~Sami