CHAPTER FOUR !

A PLEASANT SURPRISE

————✩ ———— 

ASTRID HAD RECOVERED FAIRLY WELL from the semi-disaster that had been last week's ice skating trip. Semi-disaster before everything had gone pretty well until Lydia had her 'breakdown' or whatever that was. She had actually been bonding with Stiles and had enjoyed skating and then Lydia started screaming at the ice like she was being murdered.

Later on, in Stiles' jeep, on the way back, the boys had explained to her that she had been attacked the night of homecoming before Astrid had arrived, and that she ended up lost in the woods for today. Despite not actually remembering what had happened during those two days, nor why she had ended up naked, she was apparently suffering from some kind of PTSD. Not surprising, if you'd asked Astrid.

Sometimes, when she was lost deep in thought, she could hear Lydia's scream echoing inside her head. Or, other times, she'd see her struggling against Astrid and Stiles when they had tried to soothe her and calm her like a film on repeat inside her head. Why did this event stick with her so much?

Lost in her thoughts, once again, Astrid was startled to find faint red veins popping out under her eyes when she saw a glimpse of herself in her mirror. Gosh, how long had it been since she had last drunk blood? She was really out of it, these days.

She should be careful about that kind of thing, though. If such a thing had happened at school or when she was hanging out with other people. It wasn't supposed to as she carefully drank a glass of blood every morning with her daily coffee but, you never knew. It's not like she was interested in compelling an entire class, or worse, having to find a rational explanation for all of these werewolves she wasn't able to compel.

Taking another bag of blood out of her personal fridge, she noticed she only had one blood bag left, she made herself a mental self-note to pass by the hospital tomorrow after school. Still thinking about Lydia's episode, Astrid sipped absentmindedly on the blood.

"Astrid! Could you come done, please? There's someone here for you." her fake mother called from downstairs. Astrid frowned, she wasn't expecting anyone. Also, apart from Stiles and Scott, no one here knew where she lived. Did they?

She hadn't even heard the doorbell. She threw away the now empty blood bag and came downstairs, curious to find who was apparently waiting for her. She wasn't disappointed when she found out who was there. What was her surprise when, in the living room, was standing the one and only Kol Mikaelson?

"Kol!" Astrid practically screamed before jumping on her brother to hug him. How good it felt to see her dear brother again, to be able to touch him for real. After a life-squeezing hug, the two siblings finally let go of each other, only for Astrid to ask "What are you doing here? Not like I'm not happy to see you but weren't you on a train for Mystic Falls like, a week ago?"

Kol smiled, apparently happy that his surprise had succeeded. "Well, I may not have been completely honest with you, my dear sister. I was indeed on a train when I called but I wasn't headed to Virginia. I had some errands and business to solve in Nevada so I thought, why not go make a visit to my sister?" Astrid couldn't keep from grinning, oh how she was happy to be seeing him. "Of course, was I surprised when a woman I had never seen before opened the door for me and told me her daughter was upstairs."

Oh, that. Since he hadn't been her when she left, Kol probably didn't know about Astrid's plan to compel a couple to make them think she was their daughter.

"You know what? Why don't we go for a walk? I'll show you the block," Astrid told him before turning to Lana who was blissfully going about her business. "Mom, we'll be back shortly."

As soon as she had finished talking, she practically pulled Kol outside of the house, not leaving time to say anything about the whole situation before they were out of Lana's hearing.

"'Mom'?! What the hell?" Kol looked at her with wide eyes.

"Don't worry! It's not like it's not actually our mom. God forbid Esther found a way to come back to life again. But I'm supposed to be a sixteen-year-old teenager and sixteen years old don't often live alone with no legal guardian.

"So?" Kol crossed his arms, he was beginning to calm down but still looked at her fixedly, waiting for a response.

"Well, I compelled a couple to believe I was their sister. Like that, no one's going to be wary of me. Also, I now have a reason to be here, I'm simply returning to live with my dear parents!" Astrid told Kol, trying to be as convincing as possible on her whole plan. Knowing Kol, he probably thought the whole thing was a stupid idea, but oh well.

Kol looked at her for a few more moments before sighting. "Also, very important, no one needs to know you're my brother. I'm supposed to be an only child..." Astrid smiled at Kol, in hopes that he wouldn't be offended by that. Her brother had a way of being touchy about anything.

Kol only sighted again in defeat, or maybe exasperation. "If you want... I still think you're putting too much effort into this whole thing. You could always compel anyone when desire would come."

It was now Astrid's turn to roll her eyes. "That's exactly what I don't want! I would like to pretend, for once, that I can live a normal life and not have to compel anyone or have to worry about my vampire abilities. God knows I love you, Rebekah, Klaus, and Elijah, but I'm sick of always being associated with the supernatural because of our last name." Astrid took a big breath of air. She hoped Kol now understood why she was doing this and why she had left Mystic Falls in the first place.

————✩ ————

Astrid had convinced Kol to come with her to the school's lacrosse game. She had never gone to once before and had planned on going before her brother's impromptu visit. Not that she was going to complain about that but she really wanted to go. Of course, Kol had first complained about having to endure another high school experience, having had enough after Mystic Falls. Nonetheless, he had finally agreed after maybe a little push by his little sister. All he wanted to do was please her anyway. He would have probably preferred going out with her but they could always do that later.

They both arrived at the school's pitch and many students were already sitting in the bleachers. A few parents were there too. How she would have liked to have supportive parents as well...

She and Kol had spent the day talking, laughing together, and visiting the town, at least the places Astrid knew. Though they hadn't run into any of her classmates, probably for the better anyway, that now seemed inevitable.

As if answering her thought, Astrid saw Allison and an older-looking man, probably her grandpa from what she had gathered from Lydia at the rink. She didn't really have the time to talk to her at the ice skating ring but had had lunch with her and Lydia once in the following week. She politely smiled at her.

"Hey Astrid," Allison said. Astrid was about to go up the bleachers when the man next to Allison spoke up.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Allison looked between her grandfather and Astrid, obviously surprised.

"Oh, yes, of course. This is Astrid, we have a few classes together and occasionally hand out. Astrid, this is my grandfather." Astrid smiled politely again and shook the man's hand. However, she was a bit perplexed. Had she met the man before? He looked awfully familiar.

"Gerard Argent, nice to meet you." As soon as the man pronounced his name, Astrid nearly dropped the plastic-perfect smile she was addressing the man. Notably noticing this, Gerard added, "everything's all right?"

"Oh yes, nothing, it's just... your last name, it's french, right?" Astrid tried to shift the attention to the name's origins and not to the fact that she had definitely heard it before. She had never heard Allison's last name before that. But the last time she had encountered an Argent, it had been a total shit show.

Gerard only smiled, apparently unsuspicious. "Yes, it is. Familiar with the french language?" She nodded. Gerard sent a look to Kol who seemed to be hiding behind Astrid, probably not wanting to have to say hi to the grandfather of someone he didn't even know. "And who's the young man behind you?"

Kol, seeming to suddenly wake up out of his trance took a step closer to Gerard and Allison and shook Gerard's hand. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Kol-"

"...lin! Colin, that's a friend from Los Angeles, he's here for a few days." Astrid suddenly interjected, interrupting Kol who, in turn, looked at her, frowning. Thank God, he didn't say anything and just went with it.

"Alright, we'll find a place to watch the game. Enjoy!" Allison told the two siblings before walking away with one last polite smile to Astrid.

Once they had gotten far enough, and that Kol and Astrid had found a relatively good spot to watch the game, Kol leaned over. "Am I the only one who got the creeps just by looking at this guy?" he whispered to her. "Oh! He said he was called Gerard Argent, right? There's an old family of hunters called-"

"Don't." Astrid glared at him. If looks could kill originals, Kol would probably already be buried 6 feet under by now.

Seeing his sister's reaction, it took a few seconds before Kol understood what the whole deal was. "No shit! You think they are related? I mean, it wouldn't be surprising, you did say you thought there were werewolves in this town. That's why you said I was called Colin, no? Awful name by the way... You could have warned-"

The look Astrid sent him seemed to be enough to shut him up. Why, out of all the towns in the US, Astrid had actually managed to choose the one full of werewolves and with descendants of the Argent family? She wasn't gonna give up so soon but she was definitely cursed. Her mother, Esther, was probably laughing at her from hell, right now.

"Kol's not a common name anyway, dumbass. And a Kol and an Astrid together? Very not discreet for anyone who would have heard about the Mikaelson family." Astrid didn't want to show it, but in reality, she was fuming inside.

The sound of the whistle echoed through the pitch and pulled Astrid out of her thoughts. They were here to enjoy a game, she shouldn't be worrying about an old dude, long dead by now. She tried to relax as her whole body had tensed just from thinking about him.

"So... what's the point of this game?" Kol asked, maybe to try and diffuse the tension. Astrid glanced at him, he did seem completely confused about what was going on. The shadow of a smile appeared on her face.

"Well, I don't know if I understood everything but, apparently, each team has to throw the ball," she pointed to one of the goals "inside of the goal, while the other defends. And everyone uses lacrosse sticks." While Astrid finished explaining the sport, a player from Beacon Hills got knocked to the ground by another player, someone from the opposite team who looked like he was at least 6 foot 7.

"It seems violent," Kol stated.

"It is." Another player flew through the air before landing on the grass with a loud crack as if to support her assertion. Astrid winced. That must have hurt. The cause of the fall was the same guy from the opposite team.

"Come on, is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!" Coach Finstock practically screamed from where he was watching the match, as more and more players were getting seriously hurt. "Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?"

"I like it." Kol smiled wickedly. Astrid looked at him with an amused smile. Kol liking this sport was far from surprising. Thinking about it, Klaus would probably enjoy looking at it too. Not sure about Rebekah and Elijah, though...

Kol placed his hand on Astrid's arm. "You know, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't want to upset you." Astrid shrugged. "You know I would never intentionally harm my little sister, right? I might be an absolute pain in the ass sometimes, but only to tease you. I would never want you to feel bad because of me."

Astrid looked at him fondly with a small smile. "Thank you, Kol. That means a lot." It wasn't every day that Kol was talking about his feelings. She knew him well and, after having that much time with him, she also knew he was usually one to avoid them.

"Alright, now we should cut it with all that emotional bullshit. We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves, alright? Okay, I have a question for you." Astrid laughed. Typical Kol. "Go ahead."

"Well, you know how Rebekah's all about finding true love or whatever? Well, would you be interested in that, by any means?" Kol asked her. She frowned. In reality, she hadn't really thought about it. All this time, she had been interested in living a normal life, having normal friends and everything but did she want to find love?

"I haven't thought that much about it, to be honest... But, I guess? I don't mean that it's an obligation for me to be happy, but I imagine if I ever encounter... true love or just someone I like, I'd go for it, you know?" She obviously wasn't going to limit herself. Though, at the same time, being immortal had its issues. She wasn't particularly interested in watching the one she loved die. "And because I know you're noisy as hell, no one has caught my eye, for now."

Kol nodded. Why was he even asking her that? Like, sure, he was always one for drama, but that was a strange question. Astrid tried to refocus on the match. If she understood everything correctly, Coach had asked a boy from the bleachers to come play as the team didn't have enough players to play anymore. Also, Stiles had vanished, thus being responsible for the shortage of players.

She frowned and searched for him through the bleachers. Where was he? It was weird that he wasn't there, he probably would have been overjoyed to actually play. Well, Astrid wasn't his keeper anyway so she decided to look back at the game. Now, the giant from the opposite team was being tackled by the boy from the bleachers. Everyone supporting Beacon Hills rose in shouts, cheering for him and Astrid and Kol followed the movement.

"The bigger they are-- the bigger they are!" Coach shouted excitedly. Astrid laughed. He looked like the happiest man on earth. She had never seen him that happy. Well, to be honest, it's not like she saw him smile that much.

Once all the cheering had died down, the game continued. Now, both teams were at the same score. Quickly, Scott got the ball again. He ran down the pitch and threw the ball. The ball managed to get inside the goal but a player from the opposite team took advantage of Scott's momentum to hurl him to the floor and Astrid heard another loud crack. Immediately, Allison got up and ran down the bleachers and up to Scott who was now lying on the pitch's grass.

Nonetheless, Scott got up as if nothing had happened. Astrid was practically sure his leg had broken in his fall. That only further confirmed her intuitions. Kol frowned as well and turned to her. "You heard the sound his leg made when he fall, didn't you?" she nodded, "don't you think, if there are indeed hunters here, there is actually something worth hunting?"

"Honestly? From what I gathered, I think Scott's a werewolf and that he isn't the only one in this town," she told him frankly.

Kol looked at her with wide eyes. "You mean to tell me that, among the I don't know how many towns there are here, in the US, you managed to choose one infested with both werewolves and hunters?" Kol's tone was nearing mocking. Astrid knew there wasn't an ounce of meanness but he did seem amused by the situation. She could understand that, it was ironic, and completely bad luck for her. By running away from a town filled with the supernatural, she had run into another one, filled with the supernatural.

"Yes, but there's something weird about that one. The werewolves here, I don't think they're the same as the ones in Mystic Falls, or as Klaus." She could remember something about the boys being scared Lydia was going to turn because she had been bitten, or something to that extent. "Lycanthropy doesn't seem to be only hereditary here."

Kol hummed. "Yes, I remember something like that. It's a rarer form of werewolves, I think. Something about turning into a werewolf when you're bitten by an alpha." He paused and looked around the pitch, "honestly, it's been a while since I saw one. You must be in luck." he finished with a smile.

"Okay, I'm done, can we go home now?" Astrid said, frustratedly. Kol only nodded, his smile seemingly getting larger. The two siblings got off the bleachers and walked past the high school, ready to leave.

"So you go to school there? I honestly don't know how you found the motivation to actually go follow courses. I mean, it's not like you-" Suddenly, Kol was interrupted by a scream which sounded far from being human. "What was that?"

"Honestly? I don't know, it doesn't sound like anything familiar, and I don't really care. I'm tired of this supernatural bullshit, can we just go home?" Kol shrugged. He probably didn't care to be tangled in some werewolves' business either. The scream had been odd, though. Almost... reptile-like? Was that possible?

"You're right we should leave, but..." he made a dramatic pause, to which Astrid only rose her eyebrows at him, "I want to bring you somewhere, first." Astrid looked at him in confusion, how did he want to bring her somewhere in a town he barely knew? Noticing her confusion, Kol asked, "You trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, that's not really the point here, though." Kol smiled wickedly, probably with a clear idea in mind. This only further confused Astrid.

"Then follow me, I'll take care of everything."

————✩ ————

Initially, Astrid had no idea where Kol was taking her. They had got in the car with which he had come to Beacon Hills (had it been stolen? probably, Kol had most certainly compelled a random person to leave him their car) and Kol had started driving towards God knows where.

Despite Astrid's numerous questions about the destination, Kol had uncharacteristically remained silent. Some other times, Astrid may have enjoyed the silent drive but this one had not been one of them. Knowing her brother, what he had in mind probably involved something illegal or feeding off -probably even killing- someone. Or maybe even both. And she was afraid she might run into someone she knew and her whole plan would be destroyed.

After a while, Astrid noticed they had crossed the town's limit. Finally, they stopped at a dimly lit building, with a gas station right by it. Not sketchy at all. The two siblings got out of the car and Astrid understood the building was a bar. "Seriously Kol? You chose to take me to a creepy bar outside of town?"

Kol turned around and smiled at her. "Relax, darling. Besides, I know it's been a while since you had anything to drink. Being a goodie-two-shoe in this new town and all..."

Astrid scoffed "what kind of drink are you talking about? Alcohol or blood?"

"Both," Kol answered with yet another one of his wicked smiles. "You stopped feeding off people, right? I figured you might enjoy the fresh blood." Astrid didn't answer anything to that. She couldn't deny it, she did miss tasting fresh blood. Bags of blood were okay but... that was the problem, they were just okay. Sadly, with the threat of other supernatural beings in the town, she couldn't really risk having hunters after her or anything like that. She didn't want to have to flee the town or kill anyone after only being here for a few weeks.

"I know you, alright? You always want everything to go as you have planned it. But you also deserve to let go from time to time. Father is dead and we're far away from Beacon Hills that you won't get into any trouble. I went there on the way to Beacon Hills and I got to feed and taste their liquor. It's actually pretty good."

Astrid sighed, she couldn't hide it, she did want it. "Okay, you're right. Feeding won't hurt, on the contrary..." Kol was beaming, she nearly saw him make a little fist bump, in her peripheral vision.

The two vampires entered the building. Inside, the lights seemed turned down low with a few neon signs glowing from different corners of the place. Tables and chairs were spread with no particular order and there was a faint smell of liquor, mixed with sweat.

The place wasn't empty but there were not many people either. Astrid's eyes scanned the place. Two people were talking awfully close to each other in a less well-lit corner of the bar. A little further away, a group of three women, in their late 20s to early 30s were giggling together with a handful of empty glasses on the side of their table.

She glanced at the other side of the room, an older-looking man was sitting alone, reading something while a group of around 8 men looked like they were sharing a drink after work, still wearing construction gear and laughing loudly. Finally, a young man, probably in his 20s was sitting alone at the bar, not really focusing on anything other than his drink and his cell phone.

Astrid and Kol walked up to the man working behind the bar. He quickly looked at both of them up and down. "Two whiskeys please," Kol asked him.

The man simply continued drying the glass he had been holding. "The lady, is she of age?" he asked, rather rudely if you'd ask Astrid. Though that was one of the issues of having been turned at the ripe age of 17. In this godforsaken country, it was always hard to get a drink. It was in those cases that she was happy to be able to compel most people.

"Don't you know that's not something you're supposed to ask girls?" Kol retorted arrogantly. Astrid rolled her eyes. He was only making this worse.

She showed the bartender her best smile and decided to take the lead. "Yes, I'm of age, don't mind my brother, he just has an odd humor..." She looked at her brother pointedly to make a point but the brat didn't hold a care in the world.

The bartender seemed unconvinced but, after looking at the almost empty room, he seemed to decide he wouldn't mind a little more money. A little more turnover wouldn't hurt anybody. He served them two glasses of whiskey before taking care of something else.

Kol took both drinks and handed Astrid hers. "Since it's your first time in a while, I leave you the honors of choosing tonight's victim." Kol smiled then, in a more hushed voice, he added, "Besides, I know you like to play with your food."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I'm not like that anymore, okay? I said goodbye to this life a while ago." Nonetheless, she looked at the people in the room again. Groups were never a good idea so she decided against the couple, the three girls, and the group of men. That only left the older-looking man and the brown-haired guy on his phone. The older man seemed... less tasteful. Her choice was done rather quickly, "this one," she told Kol while discretely pointing to the man at the bar.

Kol nodded and took a sip out of his drink. "You'll have to get him out of the building, though. There's a dark alley between this place and the gas station. Believe me, it's a good place to feed in peace." Then, with a smile, he added, "you'll be able to lure him out, won't you?"

Astrid drank some whiskey as well and nodded. A little liquid courage won't hurt. The man seemed so engrossed in his phone she didn't even know if they had seen them walk in. Not that it mattered, he may have believed they were there together so it was probably better if he hadn't.

She thought about how to get him outside. The most obvious way would be to seduce him or something to that effect. And if that didn't work, she could always compel him.

"So, what are you waiting for?" Kol asked her while elbowing her. He was getting impatient.

"Wait for me outside." She simply told him before getting up and making her way toward the guy. Kol would probably take care of paying for their drinks, leaving her with her new task. Astrid stopped next to the man and decided to seat right next to him. The movement seemed to catch his attention and he turned his head to look at Astrid.

"Hum, hi?" he asked her, confused. It was only now that she was sitting so close to him that she realized she hadn't really thought this through. What was she supposed to say to him now? It wasn't like she was some sort of bombshell that would instantly seduce him.

"Well, you seemed lonely I guess. I thought you wouldn't mind the company. I'm Astrid by the way." She smiled gently at him, trying to appear as appealing as possible. As if that would change anything to how awkward this interaction was.

"Oh, hum, I'm Sky..." the guy responded, still looking {mal à l'aise}. Astrid understood and felt for him. This interaction didn't seem that natural.

"Tell me, why go to a bar if it's to stare at your phone all evening?" she asked, both to try and diffuse the awkwardness and because she had no idea what else to say. While listening to her, he actually put his phone away in his jeans pocket.

"What about you?" Astrid frowned, what was he on about? "How is it that you're sparking a conversation with another guy minutes away from when you were laughing at that table over there with the one that just left?" While the statement seemed a bit judgmental, Adam seemed to be more teasing than anything else.

"Well, my brother" she insisted on the word brother to prove her point, "decided to ditch me to meet up with his girlfriend. Leaving me all alone. I thought I could actually find some fun in talking to someone else to avoid my night getting ruined but tell me if I'm wrong and I should just walk away." she took a sip from her glass of whiskey before waiting for his response, not showing how that was all an act.

"Sorry about that. Shouldn't have assumed." Sky apologized. He waited a few more seconds before adding, "How old are you? If you don't mind me asking... It's just that... I see you're drinking something but, you do look young. No offense or anything."

Typical. "I'm 22. Why? How old did you think I was?" Astrid tried to have some fun as well, as this kind of question always seemed to embarrass others.

"Oh, I don't know..." Sky turned a bright tone of red. Astrid laughed. "Don't worry, I'm just messing with you, I'm not actually going to make you guess." She started playing with a strand of hair, seductively. Then, sick of waiting, she decided to go straight to the point. "Do you want to go back to my place? I feel like this place isn't as comfortable." Before risking a negative answer, she added, while focusing on her tone to compel him all the while. "I feel like you want to get out of there too, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, you're right." Sky suddenly stood up and took his coat and left a bill next to his finished drink. Astrid finished the last of her whiskey in one gulp, leaving a fuzzy, warm feeling in her throat, and put her glass down as well.

When they both got outside, a slight breeze caught on Astrid's hair. The wind was blowing past Sky, allowing Astrid to smell him. Now that she knew she was going to feed, she couldn't help but get excited, and maybe even impatient. "Follow me." She told him before walking towards the gas station.

Sky wordlessly followed her. When she saw the alleyway Kol had described, she turned and both she and Sky walked away from the artificial light surrounding the building. When they were hidden enough to her liking, Astrid stopped and turned around to face Sky.

"You won't make a sound and you won't feel any of this," Astrid said sternly while looking into Sky's eyes. She didn't waste time to get her vampire teeth out and immediately sank them into Sky's throat.

God. That felt good. After what seemed like multiple amazing minutes, she took a step back and breathed in. She wiped a drop of Sky's still-warm blood on the corner of her mouth and sighed. How long had it been? The feeling of tasting fresh blood was still enjoyable, as always.

Astrid had been so engrossed in the lingering taste of blood on her lips that she nearly didn't notice Kol creeping behind her. He cleared his throat, in case she was unaware of his presence.

"Well, well, well. Aren't you going to let me have a taste?" Astrid snorted while Kol joined in, feeding off the poor guy as well. Astrid went in for another bite. This was so addicting. That had always been her problem, she never seemed to know when to stop. She felt famished tonight, even if she hadn't drunk blood that long ago. This may have been due to her lack of fresh blood. However, as she felt Sky falter, she realized they were going too far.

"Wait! Stop it, we're going to kill him." She stopped Kol by grabbing his arm. Kol only rose his eyebrows at her. "So what?" Of course, Kol didn't care if this human was going to die or not.

"I don't want to deal with a body tonight, alright? I've had enough." She licked her lips, gathering the last traces of blood off them. If the Argent were there to hunt werewolves, that didn't mean they wouldn't get concerned if a dead body showed up not far from Beacon Hills.

Kol sighed but actually got away from the poor guy. Astrid bit into the inside of her wrist and moved it close to Sky's mouth. "Drink this," she ordered him. Once he was done, she looked him in the eyes again "You won't remember meeting me tonight, you'll just go home and sleep this off. Try not to get killed." Feeding Sky her blood kept the bite marks to linger on him and allowed him to get stronger after suffering such blood loss but she didn't want to have to deal with a newbie, nonetheless.

Sky slowly nodded and walked away from them. Astrid smiled with satisfaction, she couldn't deny it, it had felt amazing to taste fresh blood again. She turned to Kol. "We can go home now."

Kol chuckled. "Had fun?" Astrid smiled at him. It had been a nice night out, a little unexpected but still nice. And she had been with her brother so she couldn't really complain about anything.

"You're right, thank you Kol." Then, putting her arm around her brother's shoulders, she added, "what would I do without you? I'd probably die of boredom, I think." Kol seemed to glow with pride from his sister's words. The two of them started making their way to the car.

"Most importantly, if you ever want to come back here, for any reason, go for it!"

————✩ ———— 

【 NOTES ! 】 

hey guys! hope you liked this chapter. sorry for the wait, work was pretty tiring this week and i was stuck on the rewrite for the chapter on a while 

i'd be glad to have your opinion on this chapter! here it's more vampire diaries focused while still advancing on season 2. i don't want astrid to immediately be included into the supernatural stuff but it'll be there soon!

lots of love :)