[ HER OUTFIT ABOVE! ]

⤵︎

CHAPTER 2. ❝BRUNETTE BUFFY!❞

[3.06| PART TWO]

     THERE WERE COUNTLESS WAYS LIFE HAD IN THROWING UNEXPECTED SHIT RIGHT AT YOU, Lorelei just didn't expect encounters with an Original, an off-switched vampire and Sunny Honey would occur on the same day.

That was life for Lory; wild, impassioned, blended in together like pandemonium.

Right now, Aaralyn was sitting by the kitchen table as Lorelei was telling her about her first day of school. "Okay—so you're telling me you encountered two vampires; one had their humanity and one that had his turned off, and you're also now suspecting your new friend to be Rebekah Mikaelson?" she recapped.

While at the other end of the room, Lory was pouring orange juice for herself. "One of the best first days of school I've had by far. Next to my first day in Chicago. An iconic moment of me pouring this juice at the popular girl after she called me a whore."

Aaralyn chuckled at the detail that'd been told. "You should know that I'm still mad, but happy that you did that." pressing her lips together to form a line. "But you're not afraid of them? Especially Rebekah?" Ary asked.

Lorelei shot her a disbelieving glance. "Well, well, let's look at who's talking here," Lory sauntered by her, sipping the juice. "Aren't you one of the many people who taught me how to kick someone's ass growing up and how to be fearless in this world? Do you have any idea how ironic you sound?"

Ary's pointer finger raised up at Lorelei while she walked over by her. "Hey, you should be thankful for that. I wasn't going to let you out in this world weak and without knowing how to defend yourself from others," she said sternly.

"I know mom. But you know, Rebekah isn't as scary as you and Grams told me. She's actually really, really beautiful." sitting down on the seat across from mother.

Aaralyn scoffed, her right hand moving to her forehead. "Sweetie, please, please, don't tell me you have a crush on her," she grumbled.

"Wha-" Lory halted in her words. "Alright just because I even tell you someone's beautiful, doesn't give you the right to assume I have a crush on them!" she said at first. "Besides, my dear mother, this'll be an opportunity for you to meet and see an Original vampire for real. Well—if it is her. Maybe she has the same first name and I'm being the paranoid young girl I am."

Ary sighed, glancing away from Lorelei. "I hope so." her eyes falling to the table.

"But, isn't quite a coincidence that Caroline told me Rebekah was 'dangerous', don't you think?" Lory spoke again. "I mean, if a literal vampire is telling me she's dangerous and doesn't want me a part of that, then maybe there's something more I don't know."

Silence swelled the room as they fidgeted in their seats. Both Lorelei's hands wrapped around the cup, her fingers tapping on the glass as Ary phased in deep thought.

"Well, what are ya gonna do to prove your theories right or wrong?" Aaralyn asked, her eyes peered to Lorelei, shattering the tension between them. Her daughters' lips formed a smirk, one filled with pure mischief. "Oh god, what is my little wicked daughter thinking of as a plan of action?" she asked.

Lory internally giggled at the question asked. "Surely, I'll tell you that it's not necessarily a plan of action, mother dearest,"

Aara's eyes narrowed at Lorelei's gaze but listened on, "See, there's this thing that the students of Mystic Falls High School do every year. It's a "Back To School Party". I've seen flyers around the school promoting it. From what I've heard, it's this bonfire party where they celebrate the beginning of the school year. Weird, but I like the school spirit."

Aaralyn's head tilted at Lory, her expression turning foul. The daughter assured, "Okay, okay, leaving the snarly comments after I tell of my master plan." those words coming out in a single breath with a small growl. "To put it out simply, someone wanted me to come."

By that point, Aaralyn got the hint of who this 'someone' was, almost like a lightbulb had lightened up above her head. "You're telling me Rebekah wants you to come?" her brows risen up, eyes tightened.

"Her words, not mine," Lory said.

"Well, I'm not letting you go to that thing." the mother declared, her arms folded across her chest.

She groaned. "Are you kidding?!" with much irritation to her tone.

"If there are more vampires in this town, then maybe Caroline was right about that thing, Lory. Maybe you should stay out of all this,"

"Yeah, stay out of the fact that I could make friends with someone I've heard stories and tales of since I was a young girl?" her vision squinting at Ary. "It's like you don't know me at all, woman," as one of Lory's hands took off the cup to rub her left eye.

"Oh, I do sweet Lorelei. I just love annoying you." Ary said, poking fun at Lorelei.

Her hand falls to the surface of the table as she glared at Aaralyn. "You really are no fun," Ary offered her a smile in regards. "Okay, just think about it mom—If by any chance or that I'm able to be friends with Rebekah, then don't you think I should take it?"

The mother joked with her tongue, "Take a death wish because that is what it sounds like what you planning on doing."

Lorelei rolled her eyes. She expected that sort of remark, especially coming from her mother. "Hardly, mom—I mean, think about it. I'll have an Original vampire by my side. She'll be my bestfriend and protector at the same time."

Ary stutters out hasty breaths, snickering in the midst of this. "An Original vampire being your protector? What is this? Twilight? Do you also want the whole Mikaelson family to be your protectors and fall in love with one of the brothers?" she spat out sarcastically.

This conversation proved that even being her own daughter didn't discard Lory as being someone who didn't get the terrible end of Aara's attitude and remarks.

Lorelei shifted her attention away from Aara, her dark brown eyes flickering. "And you wonder where I get my never-ending sarcasm from." peering back at her in a glower.

"Well, that's one of the many exceptional Cromwell specialties we have, Lory," Aara said in reply.

Her hands thrashed up in the air. "Oh, how I'm so glad to be a part of this bloodline!" Lory exaggerated. "Let's see if I get Uncle Luci's ability to profile criminals around the entire country, or Gram's ability to still be a badass bitch at 72?" her voice laced with mockery.

See, like the mother, Lorelei had numerous abilities up her sleeves. One of the more evil ones being able to agitate someone out. To get under people's skin, rattle their cage, and get on their nerves easily.

Aara grunted. "You are going to be the death of me one day, you little devil." Lorelei pouted her bottom lip to Aaralyn's demise. "If I say you can go, will you at least try to tone down on the sarcasm?"

Lory shrugged her shoulders. "Oh please, that's like me asking you to tone down on your red wine consumption. At this point you drink so much of it, I feel like you act like it's water, "

The mother scowled. "I do not drink a lot of wine, child."

Lory rolled her eyes again. "Tell that to the eight bottles in the wine cabinet." bringing her hand to her right cheek, and laid her elbow on the hard surface. "But you must also know that lying is bad, mother."

"Yeah, and so is stepping on a crack but my back isn't broken now isn't it?" Ary asked.

"Great point." she sighed out, pointing at Aara. Lory got up from her seat and started to pace out the room. "I'll be home before 11!"

Aaralyn yelled back, "Don't push it, Lorenzo, make it 10:30!" pushing her body forwards over the table. "Love you, mean it!" Ary shouted, shaking her head while grinning.

Lorelei's voice echoed from the hall. "Hate you, kidding!"

Oh, how this is going to be fun.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     IN THE VAGUELY LIT UP CLASSROOM during the early hours of the dark, Elena, Damon, Alaric, and Caroline were huddled together to plan out how they were going to get Stefan. Or at the very least, subdue him.

Elena spoke, both her hands on Alaric's table, "I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire. Then when he's distracted-"

"I'll shoot him." Alaric finished her sentence.

"Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?" Damon asked from behind Elena, sitting on top of a chair while his back was against the wall and his head slightly tilted up.

The Gilbert shook her head. "No, I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this for the time being. I don't trust that Stefan won't hurt her." Elena glanced to the Forbes. "Caroline, are you covered?" questioning towards her.

"Yes! I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready." Caroline advised, walking over by Alaric.

"We're forgetting a key player here." Damon brought up. "Rebekah?" he also added, "And from what I'm hearing from blondie here, we also have another new girl who apparently knows about the existence of supernaturals. What was her name again? Lara? Lana-"

"Lorelei." Caroline deadpanned.

He scoffed at the name. "Whatever. But aside from brunette buffy, Rebekah's like a dog wanting to follow its owner. Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow."

"Which is exactly why it's your job to keep them away from him," Elena said, turning a shoulder.

"How?!" Damon breathed out. "One of them is an Original while the other sounds like a scary sociopath judging by blondie's scardey cat description."

Caroline's mouth gaped open, giving him a cold glare. "I'm not a scaredy-cat,"

Damon smiled harshly in her direction. "Likewise, Barbie vampire," which earned an eye roll from the Forbes herself. "But also, last time I checked, we're out of daggers."

"So then preoccupy them with your charm," Elena assured.

Alaric joked in reply, "I think you'll have better luck in finding the dagger." his arms folded together across his chest.

Damon eyed Alaric. "Are you ever not going to be mad at me for a day?"

"Doubtful," the Saltzman said.

Out of the blue, Tyler finally walks into the classroom they all were in. "Sorry, I'm late. What's going on?" was the first thing he said.

Everyone's attention turns to the hybrid as Elena instructed him, "We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Get enough to keep Stefan down for a while."

They watch as he shook his head at the plan. "You can't do that to Stefan," he told to them.

Elena's brows pulsed together at Tyler. In the meantime, Caroline asked, "Why not?" just as confused as the rest of them were at him.

The Gilbert poised, "Trust me, Tyler, it's in his best interest."

"Yeah. It's not in Klaus's," tilting his head at Elena.

All of them sit in awkward silence at Tyler's statement. Damon internally is piecing this behavior of the hybrid's together while the rest are staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler. You know, why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion." Caroline questioned, wondering why her boyfriend was like this.

"Uh oh." Damon echoed, getting off of the chair and slowly walking towards the group.

"What?" Alaric voiced.

Tyler turned to his girlfriend in advising her, "Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I just owe him everything."

"Oh boy," Damon commented again.

Caroline twirled around at the group, darting her eyes at everyone. "Okay, can we cool it on the commentary, please?"

"What the hell is going on?" Elena asked.

Damon takes a a hold of the vervain dart off the teacher's desk and grips it into his hand.

"I'm just going to go." Tyler exhaled as he turns around and starts walking to the door.

Damon uses his heightened speed to run over behind him and inject the hybrid with the dart, as Tyler collapsed down to the floor.

Caroline shouted at Damon, "What are you doing?!" rushing towards her boyfriend.

"He's been sired," Damon admitted coldly.

"What?" the teacher said again.

Damon turned a shoulder back to Elena and Alaric. "Sired. He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him."

"Loyal how?" Elena suggested, lowering her eyes to Tyler's body.

"He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. Maybe not so much in hybrids." Damon explained.

Caroline sought to know, twisting her body to face the Salvatore. "So how do I fix him?"

Damon snarled, "Get a new boyfriend." as he stared down at her with an annoyed grin.

The Forbes wanted to say something more, but couldn't find the words to even mutter out after Damon's statement, leaving her quiet and confusion plastered on her face.

This is gonna be a long night....

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     AT THE INFAMOUS BONFIRE, Rebekah's currently standing by a tree near a Keg Pump, pushing the handle up then down.

"Hold on their blonde beauty!" she had heard someone yell distantly.

Rebekah turned to her right, noticing Lorelei as she was walking towards her. "Oh please don't tell me you were gonna start your fun night without little ole me," Lory said.

She beamed at her, watching Lory grab a cup from the table by them. "Well, sorry to say it but I doubted you'd be here" she admitted. "But you've proved me wrong, Lorelei."

The Lorenzo sneered as she caught hold of the faucet. "Yeah well, if anything you should be lucky I'm breaking my personal rules for your sake." pouring beer into her cup, then handing the faucet to Rebekah when done.

"I'm quite thankful that you took my words into consideration." Rebekah smiled, as Lorelei did the same back at her back.

Abruptly in the middle of their conversation, Stefan comes by them and snatches the faucet. "You all right there?" he asked the two, yanking Rebekah's cup from her hand.

She shifted her attention to him. "Is it any of your own business dude?" Lory growled.

He chuckled at her attitude and tone of words. "Why aren't you a bit feisty."

Rebekah snarled, "Stefan shut up."

The Salvatore's hands raise up in defense. "I'm sorry for commenting on the obvious." he took a second to observe the Lorenzo at her truest. "But you're the new girl. Lorelei, right?"

Lory narrowed her eyes. "Wow, I guess you don't have short-term memory. Though, it still doesn't shy away from you being an asshole."

He snickered in a soft tone to himself while staring down. When he brought his attention back to her, Stefan smiled. "I like you."

Lorelei raised her shoulders up. "Oh how sad, the feelings not mutual," she replied.

Rebekah shied away from their bickering for a moment. "I thought Tyler would be here."

"You're into Tyler now? That's kind of fickle." Stefan commented, filling up Rebekah's cup.

Who the fuck is Tyler? Lory thought at that moment.

"When you're willing to give me the time of day again, then we'll talk. Until then, a girl has needs." Rebekah grabs the cup from Stefan and drank the beer.

By then, a dark brunette trails over by them. "Excuse me," she said, seizing the faucet from Stefan.

Lorelei questioned then, "And who might you be?" facing her direction.

"I'm Elena." introducing herself while pouring the beer into her cup. "You're Lorelei, right?"

Lory nodded. "Yes, I am." she added, "I see people already know of my new existence in this town, how delightful."

Elena said in reply, "You should know then that Mystic Falls is a pretty small town,"

"So I've seen." Lory grinned, sipping the beer from her cup.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked Elena.

The Gilbert peeped up at Stefan at his question. "I'm having fun, Stefan. You have a problem with that?" she challenged.

All three watch her drink the whole cup filled with the beer she put. Lorelei is impressed while Stefan's the opposite. "All right, take it easy. We know you're kind of a lightweight."

Lory's eyes flickered with irritation at Stefan. "Oh don't be such a mood killer, Steffy. Let the woman drink her beer in peace,"

Elena glanced at Lorelei once more. "Thank you," she said, continuing to fill her cup up. "Besides, Stefan. Do you really think I'd let someone, especially you of all people, tell me how to drink?" throwing the beer line to the ground, walking away from them.

"Now that." Lorelei points in Elena's direction. "Is the type of feisty that I like." she grinned widely back at the two of them.

Oh Mystic Falls, you have one hell of a storm coming your way......

EVENING.
JUNE 14, 2007

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐎'𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄
𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐎, 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐒

THE SUN HAD JUST SET IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO. Right in the Lorenzo residence, the family of three had just hosted a summer party at their house. Some time had passed by since the whole event had wrapped up and it was once again quiet in the household. Henry had left a while ago to drive one of his best friends back to his house. He had a little too much much to drink and knew it wasn't at all safe to drive home by the time the party had ended.

Aaralyn had just said her goodbyes to the last family that left, as she scattered to the living room, finding her 15-year-old daughter, passed out on the messy couch.

"Lorelei Lorenzo! Wake up!" she shouted, her voice echoing the living room.

The mother walked over by her daughter, only then to notice that Lory hadn't woken up. "Lory wake up! I said you need to help me clean up," she instructed while taking a seat next to her.

What Lorelei said next, not only shocked but utterly confused Aaralyn to her core. "Mom. . . I think I might just throw up any second now, and I'm concerned."

Aara's lips gaped open. "Wha—what do you mean you're gonna throw up? Lorelei-" as she rushed to the kitchen grabbing the trashcan, as well as paper towels to bring by her daughter.

"Mom, I really, really don't feel so good," Lory muttered lazily, sitting up as she snatched the trash bin and placed it by her face.

"Lory you need to tell me why."

She wailed out, "I-I don't....know. My stomach feels like it wants to explode." suddenly in a flash, Lorelei vomits into the bin, pouring her guts out while Aaralyn shuts her eyes but overhears her hurling.

A few seconds afterward, it hit Aaralyn Cromwell-Lorenzo as she opened her eyes, like a truck hitting her at full speed."Oh my—you did not."

"I did not what? M-mom." she stuttered in a hiccup, putting the trashbin on the ground and taking some napkins to wipe off the puke from her lips. "Did I eat something bad?" Lory thought out loud, throwing away the napkin into the bin. "Oh wait, please don't tell me this is the cheesecake I made. Mom if it is I'm going to sob on this couch for the rest of this week. Aunt Katy said it tasted good. OH MY GOSH, is Aunt Katy going to get sick because of me?! I'll feel so bad if she did."

Aara shook her head once more, planting a hand on Lory's right shoulder. "Lorelei Inej Lorenzo, did you drink alcohol and got drunk without my permission?"

In hearing the question, Lory gasped softly, "Oh my gosh my own mom thinks I'm drunk. Oh god why." she said quietly, shifting her head in her direction. "Be honest with me mom, What else do you think I am? Hmh? High? Crazy? An alien?" slurring her words.

"Lorelei. . ." Ary trailed off.

"Okay I'm sorry mom, but I swear so much that I did not even touch any alcohol. I promise I promise you so much." reaching out to grab a hold of her mother's hand on her shoulder. "I only drank from the red cups that Uncle Freddy put out on the table. Though some of the cups did taste a bit sour—"

Adding this to her trail of thought, it only assembled together why she'd been oblivious to her own behavior. "Lory, some of those cups were filled with alcopop." Aaralyn said.

Lory's lips gaped open. "Ohhh. . . I just thought it was just really good sparkling water, or uh something." she told her mother.

"Sparkling water?" Ary asked, moving her hand away from Lory's shoulder.

"Yeah. . . though I should've guessed that it wasn't that. Considering I also hate the taste of carbonated water," Lorelei commented. "My god did I think that today was the holy day that I'd find myself liking that of all things." she sighed.

For once in the whole conversation, Aaralyn actually chuckled at Lorelei's thoughts. While then, Lory suddenly frowned, "But am I in big trouble for all of this? I-I-I really didn't know like—at all."

Again, Aara swayed her head sideways. "No, because right now, you need to sobber up." patting her daughter's back.

Lory coughs loudly out into the atmosphere. "Okay, chill mom." coughing more and more. "Oh fuck I think I'm gonna-" clutching the bin and splurging out her stomach out to the bin again. Aara continued to pat her back, making sure she threw up everything foul in her system.

EVENING.
SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2010

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:
MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL
MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

     "YOU ACTUALLY GOT drunk at 15—and it was on accident?" Rebekah asked after just hearing that story. The Lorenzo nods, her lips grinning smugly. "You are really quite a woman, Lorelei Lorenzo." Rebekah's head shook then.

Currently, they were sat on a lodge in front of a bonfire with their drinks in hand. They've spent the past hour with one another. Talking, gossiping, and sharing parts of themselves to each other, developing an evident bond between each other without even knowing.

Lory chuckled at Rebekah. "I've had many horrors up in my head but I certainly don't want to keep the topic of discussion about me. I also want to also know about you." she continued, "What chaos have you been through in life?"

Rebekah sighed out a vast breath off her chest. She stared down for a moment in time. "There's too many to tell." remembering then that she didn't want to blow her cover with Lory, or at least, not at this point in time.

For once in her immortal existence, the Original wanted to have a decent friendship with someone. Someone like Lorelei. Human, for all she knew.

"But indeed my life hasn't been as epic as yours." Rebekah smiled out.

"Nonsense, you must have some epic stories that are just waiting to be told." sipping some of her beer. "You're the one who told me to live a little,"

"Yes, because anyone with a working brain would know that activities like walking and writing are tedious and boring."

Lory's lips parted in making an O shape. "It's not!" she sputtered out, placing her cup on the small empty side of the log and faced the blonde one. "Okay here's the thing. You know how to some people, painting's a metaphor because you are in control of everything about a canvas. Like, what colors to use, and how they create their masterpiece on it?"

Rebekah nodded her head, understanding the Lorenzo's words. "I do, quite frankly. My older brother actually paints." setting her cup on the ground.

"Oh how nice," she said, composing a grin. "But anyway, that is what writing is to me. I write on paper, and I can control what I write and what to write about...I actually journal my thoughts often. It's helped me a lot in the past year, as well as walking. Most of the time I walk myself home because I have a lot on my mind, and I just need to do something to get my mind out of whatever's bothering me. I also get exercise too, which is a bonus."

In the end, the Original chortled at the small comment at the end. "Yeah, I can assume." only then to stare off into the blazing fire beside them wistfully.

Lorelei watches her carefully, noticing her change of expression. "What's wrong?" she questioned at the sight of it.

With her attention yet fixed at the flame of the fire, Rebekah's face kept blank. "Nothing, nothing," she said. "Just something on my mind suddenly popped up."

Her brows drew together, staring at the side of Rebekah's face. "Do you have the time to tell?" Lory asked.

For a moment there, the Original pondered revealing herself to Lorelei. To reveal her identity, just plain expose herself to the human girl.

It caused her mind and thoughts to split in two ways; one, being that if she knew, it would be easier for her to be vulnerable (if she ever did bring herself to) and that she wouldn't have to feel pressured to hide things from her, but two, from the moments they've already spent with each other, Rebekah never wished to ruin Lorelei. If she were to tell Lory about all that was to her, she'd be sucked into the world that constantly wanted her and everything good she touched dead, and Rebekah Mikaelson, couldn't afford that.

"Rebekah?" Lory said, pulling the vampire out of her thoughts. "It's okay to talk to me."

A tiny smile appeared on Rebekah's lips, curving up her cheeks softly. "Thanks, but I don't think my thoughts are up for sale today."

Lory raised a brow. "So can I assume that  they cost more than a penny?" causing Rebekah to move her head at Lorelei's gaze, meeting with her eyes daringly. "Okay fine. Not the time, but just know that okay? I may have known you for less than a day, but you're already a better friend than the ones I've made in my life." Lorelei's eyes glanced up at the dark sky in thought. "And to be honest, as hard as it may seem, I haven't had any real friends in my life that I've made a genuine connection with besides you."

Rebekah's bottom lip pouted a bit at Lorelei's words. It made her warm inside. "That's the nicest thing. . . anyone has said to me in a really, really long time," she said.

"Well, you should know that being nice is not necessarily my strong suit. I guess you're changing that about me."

Rebekah's gasped obnoxiously. "Oh am I suddenly becoming Lorelei Lorenzo's soft spot?" she asked, inducing Lory's eyes to roll. "At this pace, I'm sure to actually be your new best friend by the end of the week."

"Nonsense, you already are," Lory affirmed.

In hearing that, Rebekah's eyes twinkled while grinning. "Well then, I guess that makes it the two of us."

"Surely it does." only then swiftly, the mood of the conversation shifted when Lorelei spoke, "So, with that fact aside. . . When were you planning to tell me that you're a vampire? Specifically that you're Rebekah Mikaelson?"

Oh boy, the way Rebekah's expression just dropped, her face losing all of its colors, was one that Lory would never forget, ever.

"What?" she muttered out, stunned to her core.

Lory sighed, her shoulders slumping down. "Please don't tell me you were never going to tell me, even though that would never have worked out anyway. I mean have you seen those movies of people who have? It just never ends well. Whether in death or a tragic accident, it's sad."

On the other hand, Rebekah was yet trying to grasp Lorelei's past statements. "Wait, wait. . . How? How in the bloody hell did you know?" she asked, her face plastered with shock.

"Well, I'd have you know that a girl named Caroline Forbes, or as I've nicknamed her 'Sunny Honey'. Whom I can assume you know, considering that she trapped me inside the girl's bathroom after school just to advise me to stop talking to you. She even told me that you were dangerous," Lory explained.

"She actually did that?"

"Yup, and even tried to compel me to do so but thankfully, my mom likes to slip in vervain into my water all the time." wandering her stare to the fire with a mischievous grin. "You should've seen the look on her face when it didn't work and I taunted her, especially about Steffy and how I knew that he's also a vampire and has his humanity off."

Rebekah's pupils flared. "You know about him too?"

"Yeah." veering back to Rebekah. "I've had people in my life teach me about the different aspects of the supernatural world." as she went on, "Vampires who don't have their humanity switch on are emotionless, making them carefree and remorseless about their actions. Impervious to guilt and conscience, it often turns them into remorseless killers."

Rebekah gave her an unhinged look. "It was Vampire 101 from one of my grandma's many friends, Cecilia Huang," Lory disclosed.

"I might have to meet those people who taught you all of this," Rebekah commented. "But Lory I-" stopping amid of her words. "I-I'm so sorry." her tone filled with guilt.

"Don't be. . . seriously. I can understand why you did it initially, but as I said, stuff like that doesn't end well." Lorelei assured. "But now with all that put aside as well. Why don't you tell me what you're doing here in Mystic Falls in the first place."

Rebekah swallowed a lump in her throat, sucking in a breath. "If you insist on me telling you." she started. "My brother, Klaus, had just woken me up from a ninety-year coma. He daggered me in the early 1920s when I tried to run away from my beastly father Mikael, with Stefan."

"Steffy?"

She nodded. "Yes, Steffy."

Lory grew a disgusted expression on her face. "Oh my god ew." she spat out.

"Shut up!" Rebekah roared, pushing her hand forward to slap the side of Lorelei's shoulder. "He was way more charming back then."

She chuckled quietly, rubbing her shoulder. "So you're telling me he downgraded to whatever that was?" recalling from earlier. "Damn, how unfortunate."

"I know, right?" the vampire said. "But going off of that, long story short, my brother, Klaus, broke the curse my mother put on him to suppress his werewolf side and wanted to create a hybrid species but horrifically failed. It ended up making him and Stefan go to Chicago to ask of a which we knew back in the 20s. He undaggered me because the witch said I had something she needed but unfortunately, I didn't have it. The witch died somehow, me, Klaus and Stefan decided to go to Mystic Falls, and the rest of the story just kind of complicates itself more."

Lorelei stared at her blankly as Rebekah was earlier, struggling to understand what the Original had just told her. "So, in smaller terms, Klaus is a bad brother and Stefan is a bad suitor?"

"Yes," Rebekah said.

"Oh. . . alright." Lory breathed out. "Just remind me to slap your brother in the face when the circumstances come that I do meet him."

She grinned at Lorelei. "I do the honors first, love." Rebekah snickered. A second later, she asked the question back, "Now, enough about my reasoning of being here. How about you, Lory? What brought you and your mother to Mystic Falls?"

The Lorenzo turned her eyes up again at the dark shadowy sky above her, trying to find the words to explain her situation.

"My mom thought it'd been a good change of scenery for the both of us after something had happened to us many weeks ago." Lory told, shifting her attention back at the Original. "Crazy enough, we were just in Chicago about a week ago before we moved here fully only yesterday."

Rebekah became interested suddenly. "Why exactly happened?" she asked.

In a second, Lorelei Lorenzo's eyes darkened at the question, not understanding why it had such a hold on her, given her initial reaction.

"I'm so sorry." she apologized given the look on Rebekah's face that grew of worry. "It's just I haven't really—gotten over the situation that happened and just thinking about it makes me uneasy to even say or write it down."

Rebekah shook her head. "Oh don't be apologizing, love. I understand trauma. It's okay if you need time to heal." she assured.

Her lips turned up to make a weak smile, and for a moment, Lory began to dissociate from the conversation. She only felt bad when she noticed herself in the act, as Rebekah just watched her carefully.

"You alright there?"

Lory's mouth twitched as she was about to respond. "Yeah. . .yeah totally." her fingers fidgeting together. "But uh—do you think I can just walk around alone for a while? I'm a bit anxious."

"Of course." Rebekah said. "I'll be here when you need me." she assured lightly.

"Thank you." Lory told Rebekah before she got up from the log, and left the sight, leaving Rebekah alone with the moderately sized fire in front of her in peace.

That went better than I expected.... she thought.

But then again, the feeling of relief swayed and comforted her whole body, knowing that Lorelei knew about her, and unlike others, didn't hate her afterward. She was different after all.

lani's talking!

AH YES CHAPTER TWO is finally here!! I know it's been a while since the first chapter and I just want to say that I'm sorry it took me awhile to finally get this chapter done.

As you all may have known, I just finished my junior year of high school. Yay. Which means I can finally write in peace again without the burden of my grades to weigh me down

Does this mean more frequent updates? Yeah, probably not.

BUT that's only because I spent a lot of time with my chapters so that they can be published and read out to you guys the way I want it to be (if that makes sense).

But in all honesty, thank you everyone for continuing to read and wait patiently for more chapters, you guys rock! And I hope you all have a good one!

— LANI <3