[ HER OUTFIT ABOVE! ]

⤵︎

CHAPTER 7. ❝THE DAMNED
HAVE TALKED AGAIN!❞

[3.08| PART ONE]

MOST HUMANS DON'T KNOW SUPERNATURAL CREATURES EXIST. The infamous vampires that hunt, and lust for blood. The predatory werewolves whom turn during the full moon. And most especially, the wicked witches that roam the earth with magic at their fingertips.

But for the humans who know, it may seem easier, taking more caution knowing that they exist.

But it also has a dangerous side to it.

Knowing too much can be dangerous, but knowing too little can kill you.

It was one of the main reasons that Everlyn Cromwell had slowly taught her granddaughter the ways of the supernatural world. She couldn't risk Lorelei being exposed to the horrific world without knowing what she was going against.

But at the same time, Lory was merely just a child.

MORNING.
APRIL 12, 2005

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄
𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐎, 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐒

     "As I've told you before, these runes, or as we modernly call it, Viking Scripts, have existed for a long time," Grandma Everlyn said, as she was hovering behind Lory, pointing to the letter alphabet she wrote out for her to understand while the Lorenzo was sitting near the kitchen table. "Way longer, than even the creation of America, heck—before it was even quote on quote, founded, by Mr. Columbus himself."

"We hate Columbus, right?"

"Of course, my dear! But I'll let your future teachers tell you why," she assured. "And if they don't, tell me, no one deserves to be misinformed about such a horrible person."

Lory developed a small smile on her cheeks. "Alright, Grams," she promised.

Everlyn returned the smile back before saying, "Good—now go on, try to write your name using that alphabet," gesturing to the alphabet.

With a sharpened pencil in hand, Lory's eyes trailed back and forth to the writing of each letter, attempting to write it perfectly identical.

"I'm sorry if it looks ugly, Grams," she warned.

"Nonsense, it's your first time, my dear Lorelei," watching her granddaughter complete in writing her first name fully. She grinned. "It actually looks pretty decent for a first time, sweetie."

In return, Lory twisted her head back, peering up at Everlyn, asking, "R-really?"

Her grin broadened. "Of course...Now here, give me your pencil," ordering towards Lorelei.

Handing over the pencil, she watched as Everlyn began to draw symbols like the moon and the sun. "Well see Lory, Vikings back in the day loved to use symbols, rather than just any ordinary word vocabulary," turning her head to the right at Lory. "People back then loved the idea of symbolism and leaving behind how their own society worked back then."

"And I'm supposed to think that it's cool?" Lory queried, sounding a bit obnoxious.

"Why of course it is," she shrugged out. "Because instead of reading and having to translate everything in such a boring way, we get to see bits of history in drawings and have more of a vivid image of what they looked like, and what kind of resources they had in parts of time."

Lorelei's eyes lit up. "Okay...maybe that's kind of cool," she sighed out.

"Truly, it is," Everlyn said, going back to the paper, studying the drawing of the moon and sun she'd drawn. "Which is why in certain eras of time, they used different types of symbolism," adding to her words, "Tell me--what do you see, child?"

At the sight of it, Lory's lips pursed up. "Uh...Grams if I'm being honest, all I see is some lame drawing of the sun and moon."

Indeed, Everlyn had the initial instinct of letting out a chuckle but had some self-control to stop herself. "And in a way, you are correct—but, although it may seem like an ordinary drawing of the two, it holds more meaning than you know."

"Seriously?" Lorelei replied, wondering what her Grams was going to tell her now to give the drawing's significance.

Hearing her granddaughter's unpleasant tone, Ev shook her head. "Yes," she said. "See, in supernatural terms, the moon-" circling around the moon with the pencil, putting a dashed line and writing out the word 'werewolf' right next to it. "-represents werewolves, since they turn into beasts on the nights of the full moon," then circling around the sun and putting another dashed line and the word 'vampire' close to it. "And vampires represent the sun because as I've told you before, vampires naturally burn in the sun. Well, unless a witch spells out a daylight ring using a stone called Lapis Lazuli to make them able to walk freely out in the broad daylight."

Now, Lory became interested in this aspect. "Okay—that's actually more cool than I expected it to be."

"Right?" Grams breathed out with a smirk. "Now, here's the more. . .  gruesome part of this whole thing," as she drew out a witch getting killed by a vampire. "These symbols upside down can also describe certain other things like death and all that," pointing the pencil to these new drawings. "This describes a vampire killing a witch. The witches symbol, being for this example, a star." she continued on in explaining, "Witches can have variations of symbols due to them being of everything that there is to nature, so it might seem a little hard to understand. But see," pointing to the drawing once more. "We could do the same thing as if a werewolf were to kill a witch, like how I drew the vampire killing the witch ."

Lorelei nodded, amused by all that she was processing and learning. "This all just seems, very strikingly interesting to learn now."

Everlyn smirked mischievously. "Oh sweetie, it only gets more delightful as it goes on,"

But untimely, the front door opened nearby the kitchen, revealing Aaralyn herself.

"Hey, mom!" Lorelei exclaimed, her grin burning bright.

As she placed her keys inside her coat, putting it on the hanger to the side of her, Aara greeted them both, "Hey you two," overseeing that they were doing something before she came. "Whatcha both up too?" she asked.

"Grams is teaching me about Runes and Viking Scripts at the moment—it's super cool," Lory replied.

Aara glanced over at her mother, who had an entertained expression on her face staring back at her.

Turning back to Lorelei, Aaralyn tells her, "That seems very nice sweetie," with a small smile. "You wouldn't mind if I take your grandma away from your study session for a bit, would you?"

"No I wouldn't, mom. Go," as Lory motioned her hand at Grandma to move by Aara.

This leaves Everlyn to sigh, taking a glimpse back at Lorelei before striding towards Aara, who crossed her arms against her chest.

"What are you thinking of doing, mother?" Aaralyn whispered.

Ev's eyes widened. "Why do you seem so agitated? I'm just teaching your daughter what I taught you before?"

"Right, but I thought we promised that we'd do it together, and not especially without me knowing."

Everlyn mumbled out a groan. "You're really getting mad at your great mother for having a small session about the supernatural without your supervision?"

"Yes!" Aara proclaimed in a soft tone. "Because I don't want my child to learn too much at such a fast pace," which caused Ev to roll her eyes again. "I mean—just last week, we were already teaching her about werewolves and vampires and all of that gruesome crap."

"Necessary, gruesome crap."

"Whatever!" peering away from Everlyn for a moment, placing a hand on her forehead, shutting her eyes. "I just hope you remember that she's still young."

"Well, I mean, I did teach you and Lucius all of this at an even younger age. You're lucky I let her wait this long without the knowledge we all have."

She opened her eyes once more at Ev. "A nine-year-old shouldn't have to know that there were bloodsucking creatures and werewolves in this world, at that age."

"It was for your protection," she assured.

For a moment, Aara stayed quiet before replying, "Sure it was, but it also caused us nightmares, especially for Luci." and just like that, Ev was now the quiet one, knowing that she was right. "Maybe we should keep some things from her."

"Oh? Like how she has a missing sib-"

"Mom," Aara cuts her off her trail of words. "Don't bring that up."

"That's one of the things in life that she deserves to know, Aara," Everlyn said, sternly. "Don't you tell me now that, that, was one of the many things you thought in keeping away from her?"

"I wasn't-"

"Then when were you planning on telling her that he's been missing the same amount of time she's ever existed?" now being the one to cross her arms. "Aaralyn, he's one of us, and you know what we say about family."

"That we don't abandon them. I know, mother," Aara replied. "You think we haven't used everything to find him, even Cecilia and Arlowe's magic, it's like he's off the damn radar of this damn planet."

"13 years shouldn't be an excuse to stop trying."

"Yeah, well 13 years is a pretty long time, and I'm tired," the Cromwell-Lorenzo stressed. "Henry's tired, Dad's tired, Alessia's tired, Cecilia and Zion are tired as well, and Lucius has been doing all that he could in his free time to help me, we're all tired, mom."

Oh, the look, and glare that Everlyn held in her eyes, saddened Aara. There wasn't a day that passed that the thought of a missing family member was out there, somewhere in this world, and they all couldn't find him. Especially at the thought that it was someone so dear to her, Henry, to everyone. It crushed her.

"I'll tell her eventually," she told her mother. "I just don't want her to also worry about it." looking over to her daughter, which also makes Ev look in her direction as well. "I mean—she is still just a kid, mom. Remember that," keeping her stare at the girl sitting by the kitchen table.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Lorelei was oblivious to the gazes that were behind her, as she was writing using the runic alphabet.

For a moment in time, she questioned what to write, until finally, she figured it out.

Quite a cliche, but to her, it didn't matter.

Slowly the words started unfolding before her own eyes, carving out each letter, as it reads, "Hello, my name is Lorelei Lorenzo. I'm 13, and one day, I'm gonna rule the world."

MORNING.
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2010

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:
MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL
MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

     YEARS AND YEARS LATER, the phrase would differ in a more cynical way.

"Hello there. My name is Lorelei Inej Lorenzo. I'm 18, and truly, I will soon rule this world in great glory." was what she wrote out today.

History class was dull without the usual Mr. Saltzman. Heck, every class was boring in general, but his class was the only one Lorelei had a decent attention span too.

While the substitute rambled on the topic he was assigned to cover, Lory was sketching on the folder paper infront of her, pressing the pencil onto paper.

Her mind was a ruckus of thoughts, correlating back to yesterday. Almost nothing she did to take her mind off of it wasn't working. Nonetheless, it gave her the excuse to draw in the middle of the boring class she had to endure today, but it wasn't helping as she would've preferred it to.

It was like she could hear her grandmother babbling about her drawings when she was younger, right behind her shoulder.

Unbeknownst to Lory, Bonnie, who was sitting a couple of rows back from her, was glancing back and forth in her direction, watching her pencil move in various directions.

The pit in her stomach of death since their first initial meeting still lingered her senses, but she could practically feel the misery that Lorelei had on her shoulders.

Bonnie couldn't imagine how awful Lorelei was suffering at the moment, knowing that it was only yesterday that she lost her own father.

In the midst of her doodling, Lory sensed someone's eyes on her, oddly. Something crawled in her system, inching her to look around the room to see who it was. So she obliged to it, turning her head towards the right, shifting her vision around the broad classroom around her.

For a moment, something struck her as surprising. It was the fact is that nor Caroline, Elena, nor Stefan was in class today. But to spike her bewilderment, she noticed Bonnie sitting near the back of the classroom, being the one her eyes caught as the one who was staring in her direction.

Bonnie's heart faltered in its beating, noticing her and Lorelei's eyes clashing together at the same time. Though, Lory eased Bonnie's anxious heart, giving her a smile, in which the witch herself returned back.

As the Lorenzo turned back to the paper filled with her drawings, she was half glad that Bonnie was the one who she sensed and not some lame person in their class. But her mind wandered, as it ordinarily does, why she was even staring in the first place.

*Bell rings*

There, both watched as students began to pack their stuff and leave, which they did as well. Bonnie, in a hectic manner, packed the things on her table and shoved them in her bag, wanting to leave the classroom as swiftly as light.

Not even giving another glance at Lorelei, the Bennett grabbed her bag and proceeded to fast walk out the door, but it isn't until she was right out the door, that a sudden hand patted her shoulder.

"Bonnie-"

A scared shriek left Bonnie's lips, turning to the direction in which she heard her voice, only to realize it was Lorelei, with her bag around her shoulders and her binder in hand with a paper laid on top of it.

Furrowing her brows, Lory said worryingly, "Oh wow you seem frightened..." she apologized soon after, "Sorry if I made you scared by doing such a gesture to you, but I can assume that judging by your franticness in leaving the room, you were anxious even before I asked for you," which she asks then, "Tell me, what's making the witch of this school anxious?"

You.

Is what Bonnie wanted to say, but that answer was only half true.

"I- uh..." struggling with all her might to think of something plausible to tell. "I just really wanted to go to my next class."

At her response, Lory shrugged, a soft chuckle leaving her lips to part. Lorelei was a lot of things, but surely, she was not one to be a fool.

"Yes, because that undoubtedly seems like a thing people our age would say about something so heinous as school," the Lorenzo replied, her sarcastic tone being loud and clear. "But dearly I don't want to waste any more of your precious time anyways. I just wanted to ask you something."

Bonnie's eyes narrowed at Lory's. "What did you want to know?"

She sighed. "Well judging by the untimely circumstances, seeing that it's only the first week of school and we already have a sub, I wanted to ask why that's that."

Of course, the witch took a second to process the question Lorelei had asked.

"You wanted to know where Mr. Saltzman is?" Bonnie repeats the question at hand. Lorelei nods, pursing her lips together. "Wha-why do you want to know? And why would you even ask me?"

"Well don't be shaming me for wanting to know what's happened to the only bearable teacher at this school," the Lorenzo said. "Besides, I would've asked that ever so loving friend of yours, Sunny Honey, if she was here, but seeing as I haven't seen her or your friends since the day has begun, you were the last option on my list." she added, "Plus, Rebekah has told me that our history teacher was once possessed by the idiot vile man, Klaus Mikaelson himself, so I assumed that you and your friends have ties to Mr. Saltzman because of it.

Not wanting to get on Lory's bad side with any more suspicion, Bonnie told her, "Well I haven't seen him or either of my friends either, so I don't know what else to tell you."

In defeat, Lorelei swallowed her disappointment, tearing her sights away from Bonnie for a second. "You don't need to tell me anything." placing her binder to the side of her chest. "Thank you for your honesty, little witchy, I'll see you whenever I see you."

But something in the moment had grasped onto Bonnie's attention.

Drawings, of things she had never seen before, yet felt this familiarity to.

Lorelei was about to turn around in the direction of her next class when she heard, "Wait!"

This led to her stopping her movement completely, shifting her gaze back to Bonnie once more. "What?" her voice indicating her confusion.

"I just-" Bonnie stammered out. "I just wanted to ask about those drawings." raising her finger, pointing to the paper on top of Lorelei's binder.

She caught onto what the Bennett was talking about and placed the binder between the two of them for her to look at the whole thing. "Oh these?" she said in a questioning tone. "These are ancient Viking scripts that my grandmother taught me to draw," marveling at her own work of art then. "This-" pointing to the one that looked like a talisman. "Represents a witch." noticing the irony of the situation she was in, being infront of a real witch. "It's one of the first things that she taught me," glancing up at Bonnie. "And she's also the person who told me about the supernatural world."

That sparked Bonnie to ask, "How does she even know about the supernatural world?"

Again, Lorelei shrugged her shoulders, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know," nudging her binder back against her chest before Bonnie was done studying the drawings. "My family just sort of-" tilting her head at the thought. "Never questioned it, ya know? I mean I guess we were just glad to even know these things that could kill us in a snap of our fingers, exist in this world."

For a brief moment there, Lory pondered why she never asked that question herself. But then abruptly, she states, "But I don't think it matters anyway, really...uh sorry if I make you late to your next period but again, thank you for your honesty, little witchy." as finally she turns away from Bonnie and starts to walk elsewhere.

Bonnie was too into the moment of ponderation to even catch that Lorelei left her presence, and it only hit her seconds after the Lorenzo was striding towards the other direction.

She didn't wish to question or pile further suspicion on Lorelei, but it was as if it was impossible not to do so. With her dubious attitude and motives, along with her family's knowledge of the supernatural world, those thoughts held her stuck with more to try to understand.

Who was Lorelei Lorenzo? And most importantly, What else does her family know about the supernatural world?

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, outside Mystic Falls High School stayed Rebekah Mikaelson, along with the rest of the cheerleading squad at practice doing a series of gymnastic moves.

Rebekah stretches her body, raising both her arms up before doing a couple of tumbles, flipping her body around before catching sight of Elena, watching her walk up to her just as she landed her last flip move.

"You!" she sighed at the sight of the doppelganger. "Goody."

"I was hoping we could talk," Elena said.

"About what? Stefan?" as Elena begins to visibly show her discomfort about such a topic, but Rebekah adds on, "Don't worry, I'm off him until he starts treating me better," but as she's talking Elena begins to grab something from her bag. "In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book if I'm being honest."

"Actually, I'd rather talk about this." as Elena holds up a photo of Rebekah's name written in Runic on the cave wall. Of course, the vampire's expression changes at the sight of it. "I'm curious why you and Klaus have spent a thousand years running from your father," the brunette added to her train of thought.

Rebekah quickly covered her look of terror, advising Elena, "I should get back to the girls. Homecoming's right around the corner." turning to leave.

"Well I see that you've abandoned your ultimate bestie for the cheerleading squad, haven't you?"

This forces Rebekah to spin herself around once more. "I'd have you know that I'm letting her mourn the loss of her beloved father, whom in fact if I can recall from my conversation with her this morning, helped your friends close the Other Side." she rambled on, crossing her arms. "I don't see you helping her grieve either."

"Well, that's not my problem, Rebekah," she replied.

Hearing Elena asserting such a response, Rebekah gritted her teeth. "I thought from a fellow orphan yourself that you'd atleast pity the poor girl of her loss of a father, but it seems as if you're too selfish to even consider anything else but yourself."

"You wanna know something? My problem right now is that you're trying to stray me away from what I came here to ask you about," which provokes Rebekah to roll her eyes. "But maybe instead I should just ask Mikael myself when we wake him."

Now again, Rebekah's expression hardened. "You're bluffing...You don't know where he is. No one does."

"So, then who's rotting in that old cemetery in Charlotte?"

Fear struck all across Rebekah Mikaelson at that moment, and it was clear to Elena that she was seeking to keep a strong front. "If you wake Mikael, we are all doomed!" she fussed to the Gilbert.

"So then, tell me."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why don't you want me to wake him?"

Of course, the question itself leaves the vampire in great ponderation, glaring her light blue eyes into Elena's, as it was fused with her anger. But Rebekah wouldn't confide in the Gilbert's demands. "I need to get back to the girls," she said, veering away from Elena, strolling in the opposite direction.

She was on the borderline between being startled that Elena had somehow known about such a thing and every bone in her body craving for her to tear Elena's body into bits and pieces for expressing such an insensitive thing about Lorelei.

In the end, the Original Vampire pursued her path back to the cheerleaders, but with those two thoughts fixed on her mind.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     AT ALARIC'S RESIDENCE, the Saltzman himself still was poring over the photos he took from the underground cave under the Lockwood mansion, gradually growing an understanding of the different symbols he was seeking to decipher.

A knock was abruptly heard on his door, as it opened to reveal Bonnie. "Hey there," she greeted him upon her arrival.

"Bonnie! Come on in!" Alaric says.

Closing the door behind her, Bonnie tells him, "Got your message."

"Yeah, great! Uh, I'm sorry the place is such a mess. I'm obsessed..." Alaric warned as they both walk beside each other to the table filled with the different photos he took earlier.

The witch holds up Elena's necklace. "I brought you the necklace that wouldn't die."

"Ahh, that's great," grabbing it from Bonnie's reach, examing it in his hand, only to look up at Bonnie and notice her unhappy expression. "You okay?"

She takes a moment to answer, considering the things that already happened today. "Been better..." trying to keep herself together.

"Listen, Jeremy is an idiot. And I know this with certainty because I was once a Jeremy. Trust me, we learn...eventually-"

"It's not only about Jeremy...if I'm being honest."

Alaric's raised a brow at her words. "Then what else is bothering you?"

It took Bonnie another minute to admit, "You know the new girl...Lorelei?"

"Yeah," he said. "What's up with her?"

"Well yesterday, she helped us in closing the Other Side because her father came to our side to warn us about it. But I don't know-" shifting her gaze away from Alaric. "There's just something off about her, something that I can't describe. It's almost like I can sense some sort of....danger to her."

The Saltzman took her words into consideration. "Well maybe it's a supernatural thing, but there could be a possibility that there's something about her that meets more than the eye," letting his own words sink into their system. "Just don't think about it too much, okay? We've got this problem to deal with already."

She shakes her head, giving him a sly smile. "You're right."

He reciprocates the smile back before grabbing one of the photos and presenting it to her. "So, I've been staring at this image all day, wondering why it looked so familiar," as he holds up the necklace, whose charm is the same shape as the drawing. "I was right," setting the necklace pendant next to the photo.

"It's the same design." the witch realized.

Alaric places the photo down as he recalls, "So, your grandmother said this necklace belonged to the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus, right? Well, this symbol is repeated all across the wall. I've been trying to figure out what it meant," as he begins to write something on a post-it note. "And now I know..." sticking it to the photo, showing Bonnie the note as it says "witch."

And within seconds of seeing the note, as well as other pictures on the table, that's when Bonnie had another sudden realization. One that she wished she didn't have. "Oh my god-"

"What? What is it, Bonnie?"

Her sights diverge at the table, as the realization kept striking her with each epiphany moment. "I-" she starts. "I think I might know a person that can dissect...all of this," pointing to the table filled with photos.

Alaric's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"I wish I wasn't."

"Why is that?"

"Because then I'd have to call.....her."

And it was only then, that Alaric realized who Bonnie was talking about, and why she spoke of it in such a daunting manner.

"Lorelei...."

lani's talking!

AHHH OMG MY GIRL LORELEI IS BACK !!!

After months of putting off my comeback, i'm finally...BACK, hopefully. I make no promises but I'll try to stay this time y'all.

omg I didn't realize how much I missed writing until I just came back here. i especially missed writing lorelei bc she's always been my cunning girly. the things I have planned for next chapter is just *chefs kiss* y'all better be ready for some interesting stuff. but we love rebekah defending her new bestie !!!!

anyways, i hope y'all have an amazing rest of your day :,)

— LANI <3