Papa Original is safely tucked away in a box in my trophy room, soul separated from his body and into a pendant. The old man had zero conversational skills that went beyond glaring and demanding to be fed. Couldn't take a simple joke.
Pearl is understandably shocked but trying her hardest to hide it. A light probe of legilimens is all it took to figure out why. If she was wary of me before, now she is paranoid. Paranoid enough that she was now double checking everything I made her do, just to make sure she made no mistakes lest she incur my 'wrath'. Interesting point of view but who am I to correct her?
My wealth of information spans much farther than she could imagine, rebirth and all. Now, I'm left with the dilemma of what to do next. On one table there's Isabel, Katherine and John to deal with, on another table there's Klaus and the rest of the Original family along with New Orleans and the drama the originals dragged on. Last but not least, we have the Spirits on the Other side.
So many things to consider, so much fun to be had.
-[Dahlia]-
Something was wrong, different. She wasn't supposed to be awake. The slumber felt shorter than usual, even if just a little bit. At first she suspected Freya, the disobedient girl that she was, but quickly pushed that thought away. Freya wasn't powerful enough to do it. It was someone else.
The spirits were anxious, that much she could tell. Though, this was worse than she ever felt them be. They were afraid of something, something very powerful. Though she felt some irritation that they interrupted her slumber, her interest was quickly piqued.
A warlock with magic unheard of. 'Dark magic' they called it, fools. There was no such thing as dark magic, it's only a term that naive idiots use to limit themselves from reaching their full potential. The boy clearly didn't care about such things. The fact that he was able to scare the proud spirits into dragging her into this matter was more than enough proof.
She could still feel her connection to Freya but her niece could wait. If the boy was even half as good as they narrated him to be, she had to find him. Mystic Falls…interesting.
-[Nathan]-
Dances aren't really my thing, never been. I guess new life, new experiences. Today is the kick off of the whole Miss Mystic Falls Pageant at the Founder's Hall. Everyone is excited and all dressed up for it. Not to brag but I fill out a tux pretty well.
Bonnie's been dodgy, not wanting me to see the dress she got. I could have easily found out but why spoil the fun?
"What a wonderful surprise. I didn't expect to see you here." A familiar voice said from behind me.
Seeing as how I already sensed him before he spoke, I wasn't startled. "Sure you weren't, Damon. Just like I didn't expect to see your sorry self here either. Feeding off high schoolers got boring?"
The older Salvatore walked into view, standing beside me in a way that wouldn't draw attention in the midst of the crowd we're currently in. From afar I see Stefan frown in my direction, or to be more specific, frown at Damon.
"I can upgrade my diet to hocus pocus brats if you're offering." He shot back with a forced smile. "You may have everyone else around here fooled but I know you're planning something and I'm on to you."
"I'm shaking in my boots." I mutter, with a roll of my eye. "Why are you so obsessed with believing that I'm some evil mastermind? It's not like I got someone's grandma killed and released a tomb of vampires or murdered someone and dropped them on your porch, right?"
"At least I didn't hide behind some saintly facade while doing any of that. I can't say the same about you." Damon said, giving a tight smile and a wave to a councilman who waved at him from afar.
"Uh-huh. But you're content playing human while playing the whole council like a fiddle. Well, most of the council."
Now his face became one of confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked.
I held back my smile.
"Oh you didn't know? John Gilbert is in town and he's got quite the story to tell about the Salvatore brothers." I said, getting his eyes to narrow. "To be honest, he's been kind of erratic since the last meeting you all had. I wonder what could have happened."
Damon's mind ran a mile a minute, eyes scanning the crowd for John. He caught him near the center, amongst a group of people. Still a bit fidgety but I could tell he'd somewhat calmed down. Damon couldn't, heaving a weighted sigh before slinking away.
With him pointed in John's direction, he has something to occupy his time and John has a bad month, everybody wins. I see Alaric following Damon close behind, probably to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Stefan isn't on human blood so he's not running crazy. Anna and Pearl are mingling with the crowd to cement their image with the locals.
I spent some time contemplating more ways to mess up the plot even more until it was time for the pageant contestants to be escorted for the event.
"Miss Tina Fell, escorted by Mr Bartholemew Whitmore." The announcer called out. The girl in question came down the stairs to be taken by her partner. Next was Caroline, her partner being a fill-in for Matt. Then came Elena who was escorted by Stefan.
"…Miss Bonnie Bennett, escorted by Mr Nathaniel Quinn." Looks like I'm up. Footsteps came down the stairs and I stared at the Bennett witch, clad in a maroon colored dress, light make up on and wonderfully done hair. I approve.
Upon meeting my eyes I could feel her nervousness. I gave her a slight mental nudge, pushing it down a bit as she reached the final step, taking my offered hand.
"You look amazing." I whispered, low enough for only her to hear.
She barely managed to squeak out a 'thank you' as I escorted her out of the hall and to the dance floor outside where the other contestants waited. I could feel Elena's eyes lingering on us as we stood, music playing in the background.
Who needs dance lessons when you can steal knowledge? For all their blood leeching, Damon and Stefan are good dancers.
My movements were smooth, going in tandem with Bonnie, our palms barely touching as we danced. At some point, I peeled into Carol Lockwood's head and stole some moves, using it to subtly guide Bonnie's steps. If I'm going to play, I'm playing to win.
Wait a minute, if Damon doesn't dance with Elena, does that mean that she doesn't fall in love with him or is that set in stone?
Xx-Xx-Xx
The event goes on without a hitch, the only irregularity being me mentally nudging the judges to pay less attention to the other contestants and more to Bonnie. Life isn't fair, deal with it.
The rest of the ceremony goes on perfectly and now it's time for Mayor Lockwood to announce the winner. Seeing him walk up the stage gave me a thought that I would surely be exploring very soon.
"Before I crown the winner, I'd like to offer a personal thank you to all of these young ladies for their efforts to better our community." he announced, gesturing to the girls standing on the stage behind him.
The audience erupted into claps and cheers for them. "So without further ado, it is my honor to announce our own Miss Mystic Falls…" he took a dramatic pause before revealing the answer.
"…Miss Bonnie Bennett!" The applause started once more. The other contestants smiled good naturedly and applauded as well. Caroline…looked torn between happy and devastated while Elena clapped absentmindedly, a bit sad.
Bonnie, on the other hand, was in disbelief, a surprised expression on her face as she stepped forward to take up the sash after receiving a brief hug from Caroline. The smile on her face grew as she locked eyes with me who was clapping with a proud look on my face.
She doesn't need to know what I did. This whole pageant is little more than a gimmick to raise her spirits and keep her happy and focused on me. If she's happy, then Sheila is somewhat satisfied and I'd be less inclined to use force to keep her cooperative. I don't have a problem doing that but it would sour the fun.
What's life without a little fun?