03. Bad Moon Rising

"Thanks for coming Ric" Damon said, leading Alaric into the living room, where Aria, Stefan and Elena were waiting for him, "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, bourbon, bourbon in your coffee?".

"Elena and Aria mentioned you needed my help" Alaric replied, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah" Stefan said, "We were, uh, hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family".

Alaric looked between Stefan and Damon in confusion, not know where this was going.

"And why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?" Alaric asked.

"Well, you wouldn't" Damon started.

"But your ex wife Isobel might" Aria finished.

"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together" Elena clarified.

"You said that she had spent years researching this town" Stefan said.

"Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls was rooted in folklore and legend" Alaric informed, "At the time, I thought most of which was fiction".

"Like that amazing vampire story" Damon mocked.

"Aside from vampires, what else?" Elena asked, ignoring Damon.

"The lycanthrope" Alaric replied.

Stefan and Damon looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what Alaric was on about.

"Werewolves" Aria whispered, fascinated with the fact that werewolves might be real.

"No way, impossible" Damon stated, "Way too Lon Chaney".

"Is it?" Stefan asked.

"I've been on this planet 160 some odd years, never come across one" Damon said, refusing to believe something like werewolves could exist, "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?".

"Maybe you haven't come across them because they have been in Mystic Falls this entire time, a place both you and your brother have avoided for quiet some time" Aria pointed out.

"Well why do you suspect the Lockwoods?" Alaric asked.

"Because vervain didn't affect the mayor on Founders Day, but the Gilbert device did" Damon replied, "And it affected his son Tyler".

"And at the school carnival, his Uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought one of the carnival workers" Stefan informed.

"We also saw his eyes glow yellow" Aria interjected.

"It suggested some sort of a supernatural entity" Stefan continued.

"We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is" Elena said.

"Well, all of her things are still at Duke" Alaric informed, "I mean, her office is still there, she's technically still missing".

"So can we get access to it?" Damon asked, "Ric, we need to know what we're dealing with, if this wolfman thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good, it means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney, and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney Jr, which means Bela Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed".

***

"Sorry you can't come too Stef" Damon mocked, as Stefan and Elena walked over to the car.

After talking to Alaric, Damon, Aria and Elena decided to go to Duke with him and check out Isobel's research, while Stefan stayed here with Caroline and taught her how to control her bloodlust, Aria wanted to stay with Caroline but Damon wouldn't have it, and after much assuring from Stefan, Aria agreed to go to Duke, she also didn't want to leave Elena and Damon alone, knowing both of them weren't the greatest fans of each other.

Elena glared at Damon and shoved her bag inside the car.

"Call me if you need anything" Stefan told Elena.

Elena nodded and pulled Stefan into a kiss, the way she was kissing Stefan seemed like she was trying to show off, which confused both Damon and Aria.

"Alright, enough is enough lovebirds" Aria said, "Get in the car Elena, we have a long journey ahead of us".

Stefan and Elena separated and Stefan opened the door for Elena, while Damon helped Aria in.

"Bye Stefan!" Aria yelled, as Alaric drove away.

***

"How are you two doing back there?" Damon asked the two girls.

"I'm having the time of my life" Aria said, reading twilight.

"Seriously Ria?" Damon asked, looking at Aria in amusement, "Why are you reading twilight?".

"Ever since I've known about real life vampires, I love comparing them to vampires from twilight, it's actually really funny how they portray vampires in this" Aria answered, keeping her eyes on her book.

Both Damon and Alaric laughed at Aria, while Elena stayed quiet.

"You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly" Damon told Elena.

Alaric scoffed, "I don't think she's pretending, she doesn't trust you with her best friend".

"She's to blind to see how happy you make me" Aria taunted, everytime the topic of Elena not approving of her and Damon's relationship came up, Aria always lost her mind.

Elena glared at Aria, "Seriously?".

"Seriously" Aria replied.

"I'm not blind Aria, I see the way Damon is manipulating you into hating me" Elena snapped.

 "Honestly Elena, no matter what I say to you, you're going to somehow twist my words so I'm just going to ignore you, because if you were my true friend, you would be supporting me, like Bonnie and Caroline are, not taunting me every five seconds" Aria snapped.

"Why are you so sure I'm going to hurt Aria?" Damon asked, slightly pissed with Elena, how could she even think that he would hurt Aria.

"Because that's what you do Damon, anyone that comes near you gets hurt, and the same thing will happen to Aria" Elena said, frustrated with the fact that no one was getting her point of view.

"The same thing can be said about you Elena" Aria said, "Whoever comes near you ends up getting hurt by you, you hurt Stefan, you hurt me, you even hurt Jeremy".

Elena looked at Aria in shock, not wanting to believe what Aria was saying was true.

"Ric, press harder on that accelerator, the negativity in this car is suffocating me" Aria said, really hurt with Elena's words.

Damon looked at Aria through the rear mirror, to see her staring out the window, from her facial expressions he could easily tell she was hurt, Elena not being a supportive friend hurt Aria way more then she showed, no one realised that Aria was masking her hurt with anger, no one except Damon.

***

After the argument between Elena and Aria, the group decided to stop at a gas station to fill up the tank for the rest of their long journey, Aria took this opportunity to call Caroline and check up on her.

"So did you like it?" Aria asked.

"Like it?" Caroline asked, "I love it Aria, you know my choice of jewellery so well".

Before leaving Aria had made Caroline a daylight ring, knowing all to well Bonnie wouldn't do it.

"Of course I know you, you're my best friend" Aria said, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you Care".

"It's okay Aria" Caroline assured, "Stefan told me what you guys are doing, I know you being in Duke is way more important then you being here".

"That is not true Care, I only left you because I trust you, and I know how strong you are" Aria said, "I know you can get through this without my help".

"That is so not true" Caroline said, "I am in control, only because I don't want to disappoint you, I don't want to break your faith in me, you're one of the few things that's keeping me sane".

"I'm always here Care" Aria said, a smile forming on her face.

"Enough emotional talk, tell me how's the road trip going?" Caroline asked.

"It was going fine, until Elena and me had another argument" Aria replied.

"Let me guess, another argument about you and Damon?" Caroline asked, knowing all to well about Elena's hatred for Damon.

"Yeap" Aria replied, from her tone, Caroline could tell Aria was upset.

"Aria don't worry about Elena, it doesn't matter what she thinks, what matters is your happiness" Caroline said, "I hate Damon for everything he did to me, but I've seen the love he has for you, the kind of love is very rare, don't let it go because of someone like Elena".

"I wasn't planning on it" Aria assured.

Unknown to Aria, Damon was eavesdropping on Caroline and Aria's conversation, and he felt happy that the most important person in Aria's life, approved of their relationship.

***

After a fairly long and quiet awkward journey, the group of four finally arrived at Duke.

"So Isobel was officially employed by the Anthropology Department given that most paranormal phenomena is rooted in folklore" Alaric explained, leading the trio towards Isobel's office, where they saw a young woman, "Excuse me, hi, I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier".

"Yes" The girl nodded, she stepped forward and shook Alaric's hand, "Uh, of course, I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore", Vanessa's eyes stopped at Aria and slightly widened but before anyone could notice she composed herself, "Oh, let me just grab Isobel's keys".

"I'm sorry, these are my friends Elena, Damon and Aria, I hope this isn't too much of an imposition" Alaric introduced.

"Oh, please, Isobel's office is right through there" Vanessa said, grabbing a key from her drawer, "Isobel was one of my first professors, I'm a grad student, she was brilliant, and one of the reasons I went into folklore", Alaric gave the young girl a small smile, "I have to ask, um, has there been any news?".

"No, no, I'm afraid not" Alaric lied.

Vanessa nodded, "It's right this way".

Vanessa opened the door of Isobel's office and the group walked right in, "I'll grab the light, feel free to look around, it's fascinating, isn't it?".

"You have no idea" Aria said, looking around amazed.

Aria walked over to a shelf and started looking at the various books, one book in particular shocked her.

"Damon" Aria called out, "Look at this".

Damon walked over to Aria and was shocked seeing the book in Aria's hand, "The Stories Of The Connor Witches" Damon read.

"There's a book on my family" Aria said amazed, she opened the book to the context page, where it listed the first Connor Witch to the last, it started with Ariana Connor, and ended with Natalie Connor, "From what I can tell, according to this book, Connor bloodline ended with Natalie".

"Well clearly whoever wrote this book is wrong" Damon said, grabbing the book from Aria's hand and trying to find the authors name, but whoever wrote this book, only put their initials, K.M, "Seems like whoever wrote this book didn't want anyone to know they wrote it".

"Do you think Vanessa will let me keep this book?" Aria asked, really wanting to know more about her lineage.

"Of course she will" Damon said, handing Aria the book, "It's about your family, you have more right on it then she does, and if she doesn't, I could always compel her".

Aria smiled at Damon, she then looked back at the book, she ran her thumb over the initials K.M, for some reason these initials seemed familiar to her, a sense of deja vu fell over her, but she didn't think much of it.

"Where did she go?" Damon asked, looking around for Vanessa who had just disappeared.

Aria turned around just in time to see Vanessa standing behind her with a crossbow, Aria gasped and before she could even register what was happening, Vanessa shot at her, Aria closed her eyes and prepared herself for the pain, but it never came.

Aria opened her eyes to see Damon hovering over her, pain shown clearly on his face, Damon had taken the arrow for Aria.

***

"Pull it out Ria" Damon said, leaning over the table in pain.

"It's going to hurt" Aria said, guilt rising in her heart seeing Damon in pain.

"Ria, not the time to feel guilty, just pull it out" Damon said, "I can't reach it, just pull the damn thing out, it hurts".

"Okay, okay" Aria said, grabbing the arrow, "Pulling it out now", Aria quickly pulled the arrow out of Damon's back making him groan in pain.

Damon stood up straight and shook his body, trying to get rid of the pain, "That bitch is dead".

"Uh, you're not gonna kill her" Elena said, glaring at Damon.

"Watch me" Damon challenged, "She tried to hurt Aria, you're delusional if you think I'm letting her live".

"Damon hold up" Aria said, grabbing Damon's wrist, "I think we are missing something here".

"What?" Damon asked confused.

"Why the hell did Vanessa attack me, if she has read Isobel's research then surely she should have attacked Elena, she is the one who has the same face as Katherine, maybe I reminded Vanessa of someone" Aria said, "Something tells me she didn't just attack me for the fun of it".

Damon sighed, "I hate when you have a point Ria".

Aria smiled, "Trust me I know, now come on, let's find out the mystery behind this attack".

"Please" Vanessa pleaded, as Alaric pushed her down on to the chair while Damon, Aria and Elena walked over to them, "Okay, I freaked, you would have done the same thing, it is not possible, Ariana Connor can't be alive, she died a thousand years ago, and Damon Salvatore and Katherine Pierce died in 1864, okay, I read Isobel's research".

"Well, then you should know just how possible this is" Alaric snapped.

"Wait, did you just call me Ariana Connor?" Aria asked confused, "I think you have me mixed with someone else".

"No I don't, you look exactly like her" Vanessa said, looking at Aria in a mixture of awe and frightfulness, "The fact that you look like her but aren't her, it means the prophecy came true".

"What prophecy?" Damon asked confused.

"You should read this book" Vanessa said, handing Aria the book about her family, the book she dropped when Vanessa attacked her, "Open it to Ariana's chapter, you will know why I'm so shocked".

Aria looked at Vanessa in confusion, but nonetheless, opened the book to Ariana's section, and what she saw shocked her.

"Oh my god" Aria said, looking at a very old painting of Ariana Connor, "That's me".

"What?" Damon asked shocked, he took the book from Aria's hand and he was left equally shocked.

"Does that mean Aria is Ariana's doppelganger?" Elena asked.

"Not exactly" Vanessa said, making everyone look at her in confusion.

***

"So there's something you should know about this book" Vanessa told Aria, "All the chapters in this book are written in modern english, making it readable for everyone, all except one chapter".

"Which one?" Aria asked.

Vanessa turned the book over to Ariana's section, "The chapter about Ariana, this chapter is written in a now extinct language, which made Isobel think that whoever wrote this book is centuries old".

"A vampire" Aria realised, making Vanessa nod.

"These are Isobel's notes on Ariana, they are not much, as Isobel could only decode only small parts of Ariana's story" Vanessa explained, "Isobel had this theory, that whoever wrote this book, didn't want Ariana's story to be out there for everyone to know, that's why he or she wrote it in kind of a code, a code only they would understand".

"Almost like whoever this person is, was trying to protect Ariana" Aria said, looking at the initials on the book with mixed feelings, "You mentioned something about a prophecy, what did you mean by that?".

"See what Isobel managed to decode, was that Ariana was in love with a very powerful vampire, but being that Ariana was a witch and the guy was a vampire--".

"Their love was forbidden" Aria whispered, her eyes landing on Damon, who Aria knew was listening on to their conversation.

"Yeah" Vanessa said, "During that time a vampire and witch together was a big no no, so some witches gathered together to kill Ariana, but before they could do that, the vampire Ariana loved, he gathered some of the few witches that were still loyal to her, and he made them do a spell".

"What kind of spell?" Aria asked, her heart beating insanely fast, for some stupid reason whatever Vanessa was saying, seemed oddly familiar to Aria, but she doesn't know why.

"A spell that would bring Ariana back" Vanessa revealed, "But, a thousand years later, according to the little amount Isobel could detect of the prophecy was that Ariana is suppose to come back one thousand years later to complete her incomplete love story".

"Oh my god" Aria said shocked, realising why Vanessa was so shocked seeing her.

"You're not Ariana's doppelganger Aria, you're her reincarnation" Vanessa revealed.

***

After Vanessa dropped such a huge bomb on her, Aria quickly ran out of Isobel's office, she needed to get some fresh air otherwise the thick air inside the office was going to suffocate her.

All Aria could think about was that she was a reincarnation of the first ever Connor witch to exist, she was on this earth just to fulfill a thousand year old prophecy.

"Ria" Damon said, walking over to the young witch.

"I'm a reincarnation" Aria whispered, questioning her entire existence, if it wasn't for the prophecy would Aria Connor even exist, "I'm a reincarnation of the first ever Connor witch and I'm on this earth to fulfill some stupid prophecy".

"Hey, look at me Ria" Damon said, grabbing Aria's shoulders and making her face him, "We don't know if all this is true, like Vanessa said, that chapter was written in a language that doesn't even exist anymore, maybe Isobel decoded it wrong, maybe you're not a reincarnation, maybe you're just a doppelganger, like Elena".

"But that's the thing Damon, for some reason, I know that everything Vanessa said was the truth" Aria revealed, tears spilling from her eyes, "There's this sense of deja vu I keep getting when the name Ariana is mentioned, there's something on the back of my mind that's dying to come out, but it's like there's a huge barrier stopping it".

"Don't cry Ria" Damon said, wiping Aria's tears, "We will figure this out, I promise, we'll figure it out together, like we always do".

Aria hugged Damon tightly, "I don't want to complete a thousand years old love story Damon, I want to complete our love story, I want Aria and Damon to be together, if it's true about Ariana, then I'm scared that Ariana's past love is going to come between us and I don't think I could handle that".

Hearing Aria's words, Damon's grip on Aria tightened, just the thought of losing Aria scared the shit out of Damon, he doesn't know what he will do if it turns out that Aria is destined to be with someone else, someone that isn't him.

"Don't think like that Ria" Damon said, "We still have our whole lives infront of us, and no one is going to come between us, Damon and Aria are going to be together forever, and if I have to, I will fight our destiny, just so we could get out forever".

"Promise?" Aria asked, a immense fear of losing Damon rising in her heart.

"I promise" Damon whispered, in his heart vowing to never let go of Aria, no matter what.

***

 After calming Aria down, Damon and Aria both went back into Isobel's office where Elena and Alaric were still looking through all of Isobel's research.

After making sure Aria was okay, Damon went over to Alaric while Aria went over to Vanessa and Elena.

"Can I ask, does vervain really work?" Vanessa asked the girls.

"Nope, not at all" Damon called, eavesdropping on the girl's conversation, making Aria laugh.

"Can he hear us?" Vanessa asked.

"No, that would be creepy" Damon whispered.

"Can he read minds too?" Vanessa whispered.

"You know, if you wanna see me naked, all you have to do is ask" Damon said, "Oh wait, that's only reserved for one girl", Damon winked at Aria while she looked at him wide eyed.

"Shut it Vampy" Aria said, while Damon smirked at Aria's flustered state.

"No, that, he can't do" Elena snapped, hating Damon and Aria's interactions, "He is very capable of being a first rate jackass".

"Not all the time though" Aria said, as Damon gave her a small smile.

***

Elena and Aria were looking through some other boxes of Isobel's research, trying to find out what she knew about Katherine, when Damon walked over to them.

"Any luck?" Damon asked.

"Nope" Aria replied, "Everything Isobel has we already knew about Katherine".

"Oh, man, you know Elena, it's a bummer you're so against mine and Aria's relationship" Damon said, "Because I could tell you what I know".

"You're manipulating me" Elena accused.

"Hey, guys, check this out" Alaric interrupted.

The trio walked over to Alaric and Vanessa.

"There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls" Vanessa said, "But here are some records of some of the lesser known legends", Vanessa handed Aria the book, "Everything from, uh, Scandinavian skin walkers to the Marechal de Retz", Vanessa pointed to a page, "That phrase roughly translates into, the curse of the sun and moon".

"It's Native American" Alaric said.

"Aztec, actually" Aria corrected, looking at the symbols she spent ages studying for extra credit in Mr Tanner's class.

"Right" Vanessa said, "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia, the short story, 600 years ago the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires, they terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible, until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon, as a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon, when the full moon crests in the sky, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf".

"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked.

"If it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse" Vanessa retorted, "Werewolves will attack humans, but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice, vampires".

Aria looked at Damon in shock, suddenly scared for him.

"Well, if werewolves are hunting vampires, I would know about it" Damon said, refusing to believe Vanessa.

"Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive" Vanessa said, "Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction".

"But why would they do that?" Aria asked confused.

"To protect themselves" Vanessa replied, "Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires".

"Oh" Damon said, now worried.

***

"What are you reading?" Damon asked, walking over to Aria.

"I'm reading about Natalie" Aria revealed, "Check this out, whoever wrote this book knew about you and Natalie".

"What?" Damon asked shocked, taking the book from Aria's hand.

Their love was forbidden, if anyone found out about their love, it would end up in a disaster, but Natalie Connor didn't care, just like the other Connor witches, Natalie was one stubborn girl, she didn't care if loving him would end up killing her, all she cared about was him, all she cared about was Damon Salvatore, the guy she loved with everything she had, the guy she had promised to protect with her own life, and that's exactly what she did, right till her dying breath, Natalie Connor protected her love Damon Salvatore.

"How the hell did this person know about me and Natalie?" Damon asked shocked.

"I don't know" Aria said, "But whoever wrote this book, they knew about every single Connor witch and their story, the way this book is written, it's almost like this person has witnessed the stories with their own eyes".

"Hmm" Damon said, looking at the picture of Natalie, "If this person knew all about Connor witches, then surely they would have known that Natalie wasn't the last Connor witch, so why did they just end this book after Natalie's death?".

"Quick question" Aria said, "Did Natalie have a child before she met you, a child that continued the Connor bloodline?".

Damon shook his head, "No, Natalie never had a child, but she did have a sister, a sister who gave birth, but ended up dying in the process".

"What happened to the child?" Aria asked.

"Natalie didn't know, by the time she got to her sister, she was already dead and the baby was given away" Damon informed, "All Natalie knew was that after her, there was someone out there who would continue the Connor bloodline".

While Aria and Damon were reading about Natalie, Elena was going through more of Isobel's research, when her eyes landed on a picture of Katherine in 1863.

 "Hey, um, have you done any research on doppelgangers?" Elena asked Vanessa.

"Well, the word means a lot of different things to different cultures" Vanessa explained, "But typically a doppelganger is a living, breathing double of oneself".

"Did Isobel have anything that'd explain the link between me and Katherine?" Elena asked.

Vanessa pointed to Isobel's research, "That's all she had on Katherine, unfortunately", Elena sighed and looked down upset, frustrated with the fact she wasn't getting any answers, "But I can tell you that, doppelgangers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives, it's not exactly uplifting".

"And more things we already know" Elena said, staring at Katherine's photo, "Just--I wanna know why we look alike".

Damon sighed, "Head scratcher, isn't it?".

"Do you know something?" Elena snapped, "Or are you just being yourself?".

"Well, if I know anything, I'm not gonna tell you" Damon said, walking over to Elena, "Not with that attitude".

"That's good, and this is coming from someone who wants me to approve of his relationship with my best friend" Elena said.

"He doesn't need your approval Elena" Aria snapped, fed up of Elena's attitude.

Elena glared at Aria and Damon and walked away from both of them, while Aria went back to reading about her lineage.

***

Elena stomped over to the car and tried opening the door, but failed.

"Here" Damon said, unlocking the car, "Allow me", Damon opened the door for Elena, but before she could get in, Damon blocked her way, "You're not gonna be able to hate me forever".

"Can we just go?" Elena asked, not wanting to talk to Damon.

"You didn't dig deep enough" Damon said, handing Elena a book.

Elena grabbed the book from Damon and read the title of it, "Petrova? I saw this on the shelf".

"Katherine originally came from Europe" Damon informed, "Petrova was her real name, Katerina Petrova to be exact".

"How did you know that?" Elena asked confused.

"Natalie told me" Damon replied, "I also saw it engraved on an old heirloom, men snoop too, you know, let me know what you find, very curious myself, turns out Aria's family is not the only one with a book about them", Elena looked at the book and proceeded to get in the car but Damon stopped her once again, "You have every right to hate me, I understand, but you need to understand that I will never in my life hurt Aria, I love her too much to even think about hurting her, in your hatred for me, you're hurting Aria, someone we both care about Elena, if not for me, then please for Aria's sake, can't we just be friends?".

"Thank you for the book, Damon" Elena replied, ignoring Damon's question.

Damon nodded and stepped aside, letting Elena enter, he closed the door behind her, as he closed the door he saw Aria standing behind the car with a small smile on her face.

"Thank you" Aria mouthed, really appreciating Damon's efforts.

Damon and Aria both knew, Aria could say that Elena's approval didn't matter to her, but the truth was it did, Elena was her best friend and Aria hated being at odds with her, from the inside it was killing her and Damon couldn't stand that, so he had to do something to get in the better books of Elena, even if he personally could care less about Elena's opinion, but for Aria, Damon could do anything.

***

After a long journey, the group finally arrived back at Mystic Falls, Aria had managed to fall asleep in the car and Damon didn't want to wake her up so he decided to to carry her up to her room.

"Road trip worked well for us" Damon commented, following Elena with a sleepy Aria in his arms.

"This doesn't mean I approve of you and Aria" Elena clarified.

"Oh, come on" Damon said, "You know I chipped a little bit off of your wall of hatred".

"I need to know the truth" Elena said, "If Natalie wasn't in love with you, would she have died?".

Damon looked at Elena in shock, if he was to be honest he was a bit taken back from her question, he never excepted her or anyone else to ask him that question, the answer to which he has been avoiding for a very long time, Damon sighed he knew if he wanted to get on Elena's good side he needed to be honest with her, no matter how painful the truth is, "No, if Natalie didn't love me, then Katherine would have never compelled her, she would have never died such a gruesome death", just admitting that out loud hurt Damon way more then he liked to admit.

Elena nodded, "Thank you for being honest with me, and the answer to your question about us being friends, is no, we can never be friends Damon".

"But you knew that already, didn't you?" Damon snapped, "You used me today".

"You had information about Katherine that I needed to know" Elena said, in an attempt to justify her actions.

Damon glared at Elena, "You and Katherine have a lot more in common then just your looks Elena, bringing up Natalie's death, that was a low blow, and I know why you brought it up, you think Aria being near me puts her in danger, but as long as I'm alive I will never let anything happen to her, but just so you know, I'm done playing nice with you, against my better judgement I tried being your friend but I should have known better, you're Katherine's descendent after all, I don't need your approval for mine and Aria's relationship, I know what we have and she knows it too, and that's all it matters, you Elena Gilbert can go to hell".

After snapping at Elena, Damon took Aria inside the Gilbert house, leaving behind a shocked Elena, who did not except that from Damon.

***

Damon carefully laid Aria down on to her bed, and after placing the comforter over her, slowly bent down and kissed her forehead.

"I will never let anything happen to you Aria" Damon whispered.

"You can't catch me!" A girl young girl yelled out, running away from a young boy.

"Don't test me darling" The boy said, chasing after the girl.

The girl laughed and started running faster, while she was running the girl managed to trip on a rock and nearly fell into the cliff next to her, but before she could do, the boy quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her to his chest.

"Ariana" The boy said, "Are you okay, did you get hurt, is anything bleeding?".

Ariana took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down from her near death experience, she looked up at her lover with a small smile on her face, "Thank you".

"For what?" The boy asked confused.

"For saving me" Ariana replied.

"I will always save you, I will never let anything happen to you Ariana" The boy said, kissing Ariana.

Aria shot up in her bed with a gasp, "What the hell" Aria whispered, the dream she just had going around in her head like a loop.

Though Aria couldn't see the face of the mysterious boy, she did see Ariana's face, it was her, but not in this time period, it was her in a very old time period.

Aria looked to her side table where Damon had placed the book about her family, she quickly grabbed the book and opened it to Ariana's painting.

Aria slowly caressed the photo of Ariana, and wondered if Vanessa was right, was Aria, Ariana?

"Who was the boy in my dream?" Aria wondered, looking down at the painting of Ariana.

***

Do you think Aria is Ariana's reincarnation, if so then who could her past lover be?

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