18. I Never Could Love Like That

"Hey" Caroline greeted, entering the empty bar and seeing one of the workers looking at his fellow workers dead body in shock, "I'm sorry about your colleague, my sister is a messy eater".

"I am not" Aria said, speeding behind the already terrified guy and startling him, "It's not my fault that the little voice in my head that always told me to stop, that voice never came up when I was feeding on this person".

"Who are you guys?" the terrified worker asked.

"Oh, I'm Caroline, this is my sister, Aria" Caroline introduced.

"And that" Aria pointed towards the dead body, "Was extremely delicious".

"What's going on?" the worker asked.

"My sister thinks she has the ability to scare you to death" Aria replied.

"Like literally scare you to death" Caroline clarified.

"Yeah but she's never done something like this before, to be fair neither have I" Aria said.

"She tried to scare your friend, but then she just ended up eating him" Caroline added.

"I got impatient" Aria complained, "This whole scaring business is just so annoying, but for some reason Caroline thinks she has it in her to do what I didn't have the patience to do".

"This guy was my friend" The worker snapped.

"Then why aren't you freaking out?" Caroline complained.

"She was hoping you would die after seeing your friend's dead body" Aria said, jumping over to the bar and grabbing herself a bottle of bourbon.

"A panic attack, a heart attack, come on, give me something" Caroline said, the worker looked between Caroline and Aria and quickly ran towards the door but before he could run away, Caroline quickly speeded over to him and blocked his way, "I don't think you heard me" she said, starting to compel the worker, "You're having a heart attack".

"What are you--?", suddenly the worker started gasping for air, he clutched his heart, "My chest, what's happening?".

"She's taking the easy way out, that's what's happening" Aria said, taking a swig of the bourbon.

"Please, help me" the worker pleaded.

"Relax, you're not actually having a heart attack" Aria said.

"Now your throat's tightening" Caroline said, putting her hand on her throat and pretending to choke, while the worker actually started chocking, "You can't breathe", Caroline chuckled as the worker fell to the floor, "Oh, my god, are those spiders all over your body?".

"Ooo, spiders, that's cruel" Aria commented.

Caroline chuckled and both the sisters listened as slowly the workers heartbeat gave up and he laid in the middle of the bar, dead.

"Look at that, I did it" Caroline said, "Poor guy was so scared that he died of a heart attack".

"No, he died because of compulsion" Aria corrected.

"A win is a win" Caroline said, "So now you have to do what I want".

Aria sighed, "I hate you".

"Hate you too" Caroline said, looping her arm with Aria's, "Now, are you ready for the night of your life?".

"Oh please, doing karaoke isn't going to make my night better, it's going to make it worse" Aria complained.

"Well, suck it in baby" Caroline said, "I scared the guy to death, which means I decide what we are spending the night doing, and I decide we're doing karaoke".

Aria groaned in annoyance, "Fine" she said, walking out of the bar with Caroline, "But after karaoke, I'm getting drunk".

"You can get drunk at the karaoke" Caroline assured.

Aria sighed, "This better be good" she whispered.

***

It was now morning and both Caroline and Aria had spent the whole night singing karaoke, and surprisingly, Aria ended up enjoying the night but she would never admit that to Caroline.

Now, Aria was back at the bar while Caroline was still singing, annoying everyone who was trying to study.

"Hey, Taylor Swift, we're trying to study here" a girl snapped, annoyed with Caroline's singing, "Where's the manager in this place?".

Caroline looked towards Aria and gestured towards the the girl, Aria smirked and walked over to the oblivious girl.

"Hey" Aria greeted the girl, "The manager is currently busy, can I help you with something?".

***

Tyler and Matt entered the Whitmore café and to their shock, they saw Caroline singing and everyone admiring her, while Aria stood there, drinking from the girl's neck who tried to stop Caroline from singing.

"What did we just walk into?" A confused Tyler asked.

Aria stepped away from the girl and looked at Matt and Tyler, "Oh look, it's two people no one wanted to ever see" she taunted, Aria then turned to the girl she was feeding on and started compelling her, "You can get lost now".

"What the hell are you doing?" Tyler asked.

"Who said you can ask me any questions?" Aria asked.

Matt looked at Tyler, "We should get out of here".

Tyler nodded and both of them turned to leave when Aria suddenly speeded infront of them and shoved both of them to the floor.

"Yeah, that's not happening" Aria said, "Caroline wants a live audience that's not compelled by me to listen to her annoying singing, so guess what? You two get to be that audience, unless you'd rather I rip your hearts out?".

Tyler and Matt glanced at each other in worry, while Aria gave them a sinister smirk.

***

After Caroline finished her song, she turned towards Matt and Tyler who clapped for her very unenthusiastically.

"Look, we listened to you sing, we clapped our hands, can we go now?" an annoyed Tyler asked.

"Let's play Caroline trivia" Caroline said, ignoring Tyler's question.

"I don't even know what that is" Tyler said.

"Oh, sure you do" Caroline said, jumping off the stage and sitting down, "We used to be friends once upon a time, which means you should know everything about me, so I'm gonna ask you some questions about myself and whoever answers them right lives".

"You're sick" Matt snapped.

"When is my birthday? Tyler" Caroline asked.

"October 10th" Tyler replied.

"Very good" Caroline said, "All right, Matt, your turn, what is my favorite color?".

"It's a trick question, you don't have a favorite color" Matt replied.

Caroline looked at Matt, and after a moment said, "Correct, okay, now a tiebreaker, whoever answers first wins, what was my mom's final memory before she died?".

"How would we even begin to know that?" Tyler asked confused.

"Come on, ticktock, ticktock" Caroline said, "The judges are waiting for a final answer, what was my mom's final memory before she kicked the bucket?".

"So we might need another philosophy TA, once again the little voice in my head never piped up" Aria informed, entering the café and gaining the trios attention, she then turned to Caroline, "Also mom's last memory was of my mom and her teaching you and I how to ride a bike".

"Bingo, and Aria wins" Caroline announced, "Which means you two lose, which isn't that bad, actually, because now it just means we get to kill the both of you".

Aria smirked, "So, whose dying first?".

***

Caroline tossed a coin into the air, "Heads, I kill Tyler and Aria kills Matt, and tails, I kill Matt and Aria kills Tyler, deal?".

"Deal" Aria said, standing next to her sister.

Caroline looked at the coin and a smirk formed on her face, she moved closer to Tyler and Matt, to show them the coin, when Tyler smacked her hand away from them, causing the coin to fall from her hand and on to the floor.

Aria glared at Tyler, she speeded over to him and grabbing his head, she smashed it on to the table, she then grabbed him by his hair, "Your attitude isn't going to work here, Tyler".

Aria let go of Tyler's hair and walked over to a smiling Caroline.

Tyler glared at the two sisters, "You two wonder why everyone hates vampires?" he asked, "Look at you two, messing with people for no reason, that's really brave", Tyler suddenly stood up, grabbing his chair, he smashed it on the table and then threw it towards the two sisters who very easily dodged it.

"Wow, impressive" Aria said, sarcasm evident in her voice.

"What's wrong Aria?" Tyler asked, "Not used to people fighting back?".

Aria looked at Tyler and then suddenly started laughing, "God, you are such an idiot" she said.

Suddenly, Tyler fell to the floor in pain as Aria had used her magic to break his leg.

"What happened Tyler?" Aria asked, using her magic to stop Tyler's breathing and causing blood to come out of his mouth, "Why aren't you fighting back?".

"You really think you're gonna win against a tribrid?" Caroline asked.

"Aria, stop!" Matt yelled, worried for his friend, whose condition was getting worse with each passing side.

Aria looked at Caroline and gestured towards Matt, Caroline nodded, she grabbed a piece of wood from the floor and threw it at Matt, piercing him in the stomach.

Aria stopped her magic on Tyler and both the sisters watched as both Tyler and Matt fought for their lives.

"And our work is done" Aria said, grabbing her jacket, she turned to sister, "I assume, you've got them?".

"Nope" Caroline replied, "They're not my problem".

"Fair enough" Aria said simply.

And with that both Caroline and Aria walked out the bar, leaving Tyler and Matt alone to suffer.

***

After an eventful day with Caroline, Aria came back to the boarding house for a peaceful night, just as she was about to go upstairs, she heard noises coming from the living room, confusing her because she thought by now everyone would be sleeping or spending time with the triplets in their room.

Wanting to know who was in the living room, Aria walked towards the voice, entering the living room, she was shocked seeing her children there, all alone, with no one else in sight.

"What in the world?" Aria whispered, looking around for Damon and Kol, knowing there was no way they would just leave the triplets alone, but to her shock the living room was empty and there was no sign of those two anywhere, Aria turned back to the triplets, just in time to see Asher about to put something in his mouth, causing Aria to quickly rush over to him and take it away from him, "None of that" she told her son.

Seeing their mother after so many days, caused the youngest Salvatores to smile, they had missed her. Seeing the smiles her children were giving her, Aria could feel the walls she built crumbling down and emotions starting to surface again, so after making sure the triplets were safe, Aria quickly turned to leave when something made her stop.

"Ma".

Aria turned around and looked at her daughter in shock, she didn't know if what she heard was right or not, she didn't know if she was hearing things, all she knows is that hearing her daughter call out to her, made it even harder to walk away from them.

"You missed it".

Aria turned around and saw Damon standing behind her, "What?" she asked, trying her best to stop all the emotions from overwhelming her.

"You missed our daughter saying her first word" Damon revealed, "She started calling out to you two days ago".

Aria looked at Damon, then back at Mia, who after seeing her mother look at her, started happily clapping and mumbling, "Ma!".

"The last time you saw them, they just learnt how to crawl, and now they're starting to talk" Damon said, walking closer to Aria, knowing fully well that she was very close to letting all the emotions in, "They've missed you, just cause they couldn't speak didn't stop them from letting me and Kol know that they want their mother, they love me, but I can't deny that they love you more, they need you Ria, and I know how much you love them, and I know losing Liz hurt, which is why I told you to turn it off, but it's time to come back now, to me, to our kids, you and I have to watch our kids grow, you've missed one milestone, don't miss anymore, don't miss them growing into the best versions of themselves, don't let our kids grow up, thinking that their mother didn't love them enough to stay, because we both know that's not true, you love them more then your own life, so please Ria, turn it back on, come back to us".

Aria looked at Damon, then at her kids, once she turned back to Damon, her eyes were full of tears, letting Damon know that he succeeded in getting through to her.

"Damon" Aria whispered.

"Hey" Damon whispered, stepping closer to Aria, realising that emotions were overwhelming her.

"What have I done?" Aria cried, "Oh my god, Damon, what have I done?!".

"Shh" Damon said, pulling Aria close to him, "It's okay, Ria, you're going to be okay".

"No" Aria cried, shaking her head rapidly, "You don't get it, I hurt so many people, I even killed people, how could I do that?!".

"You weren't yourself, Ria" Damon said.

Aria pushed Damon away from her, "That's no excuse!" she yelled, "That's no excuse for hurting people, innocent people, mom would be so disappointed in me Damon, I can't even look into my kids eyes, I'm a monster, and they deserve better then a monster as a mother".

"None of that" Damon snapped, he walked over to Aria and cupped her face in his hands, "Our kids are extremely lucky to have you as their mother, you are not a monster, Ria, you are anything but a monster".

"I killed people, Damon" Aria sobbed, "I didn't even blink when I ripped their throats out".

"That's cause you had your humanity off" Damon said, "You weren't yourself Ria, stop beating yourself over this and concentrate on those three behind you, who have missed you immensely".

Aria turned back to her children, who were looking at their parents with curious eyes, without wasting a second, Aria kneeled infront of them and took Mia into her arms.

"I am so sorry" Aria whispered, hugging her daughter to her chest, and looking at her two sons, "I'm so so sorry, please don't hate me".

Damon kneeled next to Aria and smiled at his sons, "They can never hate you" he assured, "As long as you promise to never leave them and their father".

"I promise" Aria whispered, "I promise to never leave you guys again".

***

After talking with Kol and informing him about , Damon entered the triplets nursery where he saw Aria, standing over their crib and admiring her sleeping babies, for a second, Damon stood at the doorway and just admired the scene infront of him, he had missed this, he had missed Aria.

"So, Klaus and Kol are on Caroline duty, Rebekah is babysitting mini Mikaelson's, and I just introduced Mom to Uber" Damon informed, walking behind Aria and wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder, "I'm taking bets on which one goes south first".

"I talked to Ric" Aria said, "To tell him about me turning my humanity back on and he told me about Jo being pregnant, did you know about that?".

"Yeah, he told me when he came to see the triplets" Damon replied.

"I want to throw Jo a baby shower" Aria suddenly said.

"Whoa" Damon said, stepping back from Aria and turning Aria to face him, "You forget to hit your turn signal for that segway".

"I need a distraction, Damon" Aria admitted, "If I don't keep myself busy, then I'm going think about everything I did when I turned it off, and I'm going to think about mom's death, both of which I don't want to think about, plus both me and Caroline couldn't have our baby showers when we were pregnant because something or the other kept coming up, and Jo's pregnancy news is the best news we've gotten since Jayden and Hope's birth, we need to celebrate this because we don't know when we're going to get to celebrate something else".

Damon sighed but nonetheless, "Whatever you want Ria" he said, "Your happiness means the most to me, and if organizing Jo's baby shower will make you happy, so be it".

Aria looked at Damon, a small smile on her face, "And your happiness means the most to me" she whispered, "And I have some information which might make you happy, I think".

"What?" Damon asked, slightly confused.

"When you died, I had Ric compel your memories away" Aria reminded.

"Yeah, I know" Damon said.

"Well, what you don't know is that if I'm an idiot at times, other times I can also be smart" Aria said, "Which is why, when Ric compelled me, I made him add a loophole to the compulsion, you know, in case anything went wrong and he couldn't bring my memories back".

"What kind of loophole?" Damon asked.

"The day I fall back in love with you, I will get all my memories back" Aria replied.

Damon looked at Aria in shock, "What?" he asked.

"Do you remember the night of Rebekah's birthday, when I confessed my love to you and we ended up sleeping together?" Aria asked, Damon simply nodded, he was too shocked to speak, he had an idea as to where this was going but he didn't want to get his hopes up, "The next morning, when I woke up, I remembered everything, every moment, every touch, every I love you, it all came back to me, Damon".

"Why didn't you tell me this, Ria?" Damon asked confused.

"I tired" Aria replied, "But then mom's health started getting worse and I got busy with her, I'm so sorry Damon, for everything, I know I've troubled you a lot, but I swear, I love you, like a lot, a lot, and I can't imagine my life without you, you and our kids are best thing that's happened to me and I can't live without you guys".

Damon stared at Aria for a moment, slightly scaring her, then after a moment, a huge smile came on his face, and without wasting a second, he put his hands around Aria's waist, pulled her closer to him and placed his lips on to hers.

"I love you too" Damon whispered against Aria's lips, causing the tribrid to smile, however before the two soulmates could do or say anything else, Aria's phone started buzzing, making Damon groan in annoyance, "That better be important".

Aria chuckled, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked it, "It's Jo" she informed, reading Jo's message, "She's coming over".

"Now?" Damon asked confused, wondering what Jo wanted at this time of the night.

"Yeah" Aria replied, equally confused, "She said she needs to talk about the ascendant".

***

"Tell me you didn't hand the ascendant over to your mother" A panicked Jo said, entering the Salvatore living room where Damon and Aria were.

"Good to see you to" Damon said sarcastically.

"Jo, is everything okay?" Aria asked, worried seeing Jo's panicked state.

"We have to destroy the ascendant" Jo replied.

"Why?" Aria asked confused.

"Before you answer that, I should skip to the part where I already gave it to Lily" Damon informed.

"You need to get it back, now" Jo said, with urgency in her voice.

Damon looked at Jo in confusion, "Tell me" he said.

"Before the 1900s, your mother fell in with a group of witches that were cast out of the Gemini coven" Jo informed, "They were known as Heretics, siphoners like Kai, but not just that, Lily turned them, resulting in creatures that are both witch and vampire".

"Wait, I thought only the Connor bloodline could be both vampire and witch" Aria said, "Oh and Jayden and Hope because Nik is a hybrid and comes from a witch bloodline".

"These are witches that have magic only when they siphon power from another source" Jo revealed, "As vampires--".

"They have a constant course" Damon finished, "They can siphon off of themselves".

"They were on their way to destroy the Gemini" Jo informed, "But the coven got to them first, put them into exile, heretics are ruthless, vampires with witch power, an aberration of nature, they can never be allowed to escape".

"Jo, I'm a vampire and witch" Aria reminded, "And I don't think I'm that bad".

"That's cause you're from the Connor bloodline" Jo said, "Your bloodline is pure Aria, you guys are destined to be powerful so you can save this world from evil, the heretics are not like you, they want to destroy the Gemini coven, you managed to convince Kai to come to the good side, but you won't be able to convince them, they won't stop until the Gemini coven is finished, which means they will most like target--".

"The triplets" Damon realised.

"And your child" Aria added.

Jo nodded, "There is six of them" she informed, "You have to stop Lily from bringing them back otherwise the whole Gemini coven will be in danger, including our kids".

***

Presenting 6x18 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria and Caroline creating havoc in Whitmore?

Thoughts on Aria and Caroline torturing Tyler and Matt?

Thoughts on the two sisters leaving Tyler and Matt to die? POLL: Do Tyler and Matt end up dead or do you want me to save them somehow, or just kill one of them because honestly I'm in a mood to get rid one of the traitors.

Thoughts on Aria finally turning her humanity back on?