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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖

 -ˋˏ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 ˎˊ-

˚ 　 ✫ 　　　 ˚ . 　　　 ⋆

. · 　　 +

✧

╰┈˚ · ° .  IN WHAT SEEMED LIKE YEARS, I felt happy. Really happy.

Maybe it had been part my fault, I had after all preferred the company of only myself, chained but the reversion that I had of touch was easier this way, and it wasn't that I actually had a line of people wanting to be my friend.

I was content enough in being alone, until my heart panged at the sight of friends having fun together, of best friends doing slumber parties and sharing secrets and having each other's back.

Zyran was not the person that I would call only a friend. Even if my mind rationalized that it was better, my heart sang another song. Yeah. he wasn't just a friend. It wasn't love, at least not yet, it was too early for that, but my feelings weren't exactly platonic, and even if there hadn't been a time where he had pushed for more, I could see it– feel it, not even for him our relationship could have been described as friendship.

I was happy. I was really happy.

Not that much when the doorbell rang incessantly interrupting the peaceful cuddling session I was having with said boy.

I was really making up for all the lost time that I wasn't being able to touch someone. Even something as simple as a hand shake, I missed it more than I thought.

"Jeremy!" I lifted my head from Zyran's chest, yelling my brother's name with annoyance.

"I'm coming!" I faintly heard Jeremy shout and his quick steps as he jogged down the stairs.

The chuckle that Zy let out made his chest move underneath me.

"Not funny." I grumbled, relaxing myself back against him, this time though, hiding my face in the crook of his neck.

"No it's not." he said, faking his seriousness. "They are interrupting our cuddling session."

"Exactly."

He chuckled again, passing his hand— the one that was not wrapped around my waist— through my hair, fingers brushing against the scalp.

"You are cute." He mumbled with a smile before brushing his nose against my skin. Then, he snapped his head away, eyes trailed on the door.

"What now?" I asked confused.

"Vicki is downstairs, probably high off her mind, yelling at your brother and raiding your fridge." He replied.

"How-" I started my question only to be cutted off by a loud thud and ceramic breaking.

Annoyed by the interruption and kind of worried about my brother and the girl down stairs, I huffed, deciding that it was best to see what was happening downstairs.

"What's happening?" I questioned the two teens out loud. The kitchen counter was completely covered in food, Vicki going between plates and eating everything in sight. "Is she okay?" I then asked my brother, who was wide-eyed and at loss of what to do, stood watching his girlfriend.

"I think she took something, I don't know what." He replied.

"Vicki?" Zyran, with careful steps to not to spook her, approached the girl. "Why don't you tell us what is going on? How are you feeling?"

"I'm hungry!" She snapped, "And stop talking so loudly."

"I'm calling Matt." Jeremy said, stepping out of the room to make the call.

"What is it?" I asked Zyran. He looked deep in thought as his eyes studied the girl before him.

"Nothing." He replied. It definitely wasn't nothing from the way he stood straighter, eyes narrowed. Or from the way he positioned his body half in front of mine, shielding me away from the girl.

Matt arrived not even 10 minutes later, and in that time, Vicky had sat herself on the floor, drinking sodas and eating whatever she could.

"What is she on?" The brother of the girl asked as he saw the state his sister was in.

"I don't know." Jeremy told him.

Matt crouched in front of Vicki, taking her sunglasses off as he spoke. "Hey Vick. How are you doing?"

"Not good, Matty. It hurts."

"Okay, where does it hurt?"

"My gums. My jaw hurts. My gum... There's something in my gums. It hurts." Vicki cried.

"You're okay." Matt told her trying to comfort her, but Vicki pushed him away.

"No, just leave me alone."

"Don't be like that. Let's get you home."

"Just turn it off!" Suddenly the girl yelled.

"Turn what off?" Jeremy asked.

"The talking, the chatter." Vicki shouted, shoving her brother aside so she could stand up. "Just turn it off!" Her eyes watered as they landed on the tv, the news channel playing.

Jeremy turned up the volume, at the sight of the police on the tv. "Three bodies were found dead in a drug deal gone awry. The bodies have yet to be identified. They were discovered at the old Mystic Falls cemetery..."

"That's where we were last night." Jeremy stated.

"What happened, Vick?" At the silence of his sister, Matt said, "I'm calling the cops."

"No, don't." The brunette girl stopped her brother.

"What happened after I left last night?" Jeremy asked her, touching her arm to make her look at him, but panicking, with her emotion going haywire, Vicki pushed him away, strong enough to make him land on the floor.

"Jeremy!" I called my brother's name with worry, quickly going to him at the same time as Matt.

"Jer, you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." My brother replied not accepting anyone's help to get up.

"Vicki, calm down, no one is going to hurt you here okay." I placed my hand forwards as if to approach a cornered animal ready to lash out at any second. "Let's just sit down." The girl was very high and had probably seen a mass murder, yelling at her would not help.

Her hand grabbed my throat and my back slammed against the wall before I could even blink.

"Vicki!"

But she had been yanked away from me before the shout of Matt could have even been heard. Vicki landed in her brother's arm, pushed away from me by a very angry Zyran, whose eyes flashed blue for a fraction of a second before his breath calmed down, but his rage returned when his gaze fell onto Stefan Salvatore that had arrived with my sister.

Did I imagine it? Zyran's eyes, Vicki's... her sharper canines, fangs, that disappeared as soon as they showed.

"What's going on?" Elena asked, looking between all of us.

"She's really messed up." Matt told her motioning with his head to her sister.

"Elena, back up." Stefan commanded her girlfriend as he approached Vicki.

"Vicki, look at me. Focus. You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine." His tone was calming and gentle as he spoke with the Donovan's teen girl, reassuring as his hand cradled her cheek. Fortunately, Stefan had successfully calmed the girl's down. "Guys, take her up to bed.

Shut the blinds. She's gonna be okay. Come on. Come on." He commanded both Matt and Jeremy.

The two followed his orders, taking Vicki upstairs leaving just Stefan, Elena, a still very enraged Zyran, and finally me.

"You know what's wrong?" My sister asked her boyfriend.

Stefan looked at me and Zyran before hesitantly answering. "Yeah."

"What is-?"

Elena's question ended with a shout as Zyran pinned Stefan against the wall. Eyes glowing blue, and I swear, that what looked like steam oozed from his body before in a flash it disappeared.

"This is your fault Salvatore. Yours and your brother's." He spat at the boy who struggled against the hand choking his neck.

Their fault?

"Zyran stop!" Elena shouted.

"What are you?" Stefan asked between choked sounds.

What?

"Exactly what you are." Zyran replied and the word almost looked warped at his words. "Keep your fledgling and brother away from Andromeda, vampire. I will not tell you a second time. She gets hurt, you all die, and trust me when I tell you that you will not win if you'll try to fight back." With a last shove he let go of Stefan. Zyran was almost trembling with rage when he stepped back— until his eyes landed on me. "Shit." He mumbled under his breath, passing his hand all over his face.

Vampire?

This must be the best or worst day of my life.

"Darlin'."

"Vampires?" I squeaked out. Elena didn't look much surprised, making me think that she was already aware of it.

"I can explain." Zy said, eyes pleading with mine.

Vampires. They were real.

───── ⋆˖⁺‧ ☽◯☾ ‧⁺˖⋆ ─────

╰┈˚ · ° .  "Why are we here?" I couldn't help but ask. The silence was killing me. The last place I thought he would choose to talk was the forest. I let out a sigh, sarcastically commenting, "Tell me that you didn't bring me here to kill me."

"Do you really think that I could– no, want to do that?"

I didn't even have to think about it twice before answering. "No." Which was weird since I had just discovered that vampires were real, alongside probably other supernatural creatures.

"Here is good." He announced more to himself then actually to me. He stopped, sliding down against a tree until he was sitting down. "This is not how I wanted to tell you but... I guess it's better since your birthday is coming up." Once again he spoke the last bit more to himself.

"My birthday?" I asked confused.  What did my birthday have to do with any of this?

"Let's just start with something easier alright?" He grinned, but it wasn't his real one because concern and preoccupation strained it.

Silently, I wanted for him to regain his line of thought, deciding to follow his example and sit down facing him with my back against another tree.

"Vampires." he started, "Probably the most common supernatural creatures here. From what I know, every vampire descends from a single family, the originals, who during the centuries transformed people, and those people transformed others and so on. You have to die with vampire blood in your system to become one, and when you wake up, you can choose to complete the transformation by drinking blood or just let yourself die."

"Vicki, she is in transition, is she?"

"Yes." He nodded. "I'm sure that it was Damon."

"And they are vampires?"

"Yes. Stefan and Damon were transformed in 1864 from what I gathered. They have an infamous name to themselves. They both dated Katherine, as you already know, but she was the vampire that transformed them before she was killed. I think Damon blames Stefan for her death. Katherine is probably one of the most famous vampires and the most hated one too. She is known to be very manipulative."

"Damon has an over 100 years old grudge against his brother for a girl that manipulated the shit out of him. Good to know how low his standards are and the level of his intellect." I rolled my eyes. "What are the others? You said that vampires are the most common supernatural creatures, meaning there are others."

"Witches, like Bonnie. The Bennett line is known to be very powerful, but she is only now discovering her powers."

"Bonnie is a witch. Got it. I had already connected the dots after she predicted Mr. Tanner's death and her grandmother telling her that she is a witch. I was kinda hoping I was right, though."

He chuckled, eyes shining. "She is and you are taking this far better than I thought."

"Who doesn't hope that supernatural creatures really exist?" I asked with a grin, "This is awesome. Are the werewolves real too?"

"Yes but the vampires hunted them for centuries until they went into hiding."

"What else?" I asked, "What are you? You said to Stefan that you are like him but you are not a vampire, are you?"

"No. I'm not a vampire." Zyran grinned, widely and with a hit of a predator instinct. "I'm a dragon shifter."

I think this is the best day of my life.

"Oh fuck, that's awsome. Can you shift into a full dragon? Please tell me yes."

"Yes, Darlin', I can shift into a full dragon. Though, not for long. My glamour it's not strong enough to conceal a huge dragon for more than an hour."

"Glamour, like illusion magic?" I questioned.

"Yes. I will explain it better later but first there are some other things that you should know." He replied, looking away from me. He stayed silent for almost a minute before he started talking again. "There is a place, a world different from this one. This is where I come from. It's called Nàdar and its inhabitants are all Faefolk. There are so many species... from trolls to gnomes, mermaids and banshees. We live in peace, sometimes in war since we love to fight for the most useless things. We are ruled by lords and ladies underneath the guide of a powerful High Queen."

My eyes widened, getting bigger than coins. The stories, fairy tales, books that I've read... If there was something that fascinated me more than witches and vampires was the Faefolk. But thinking for a second at his words, the question came abruptly. "If you are from there then how are you here?"

"There are portals, like cracks that split the words creating passages between the twos. The Faefolk are the only one that can pass through them or even just see them. We cross them mostly in boredroom. We pass a century here and then we go back. But I..." he trailed off, not meeting my eyes, but his– his eyes were alight with happiness as he spoke, his smile was soft, titling up into a serene curve. "I heard The Call." He said, but before I could question him about what that was, he continued. "We spend decades, centuries most commonly, waiting for our mate. A soulmate. And sometimes, years before meeting them, the goddess sends you The First Call, letting you know that it is almost time. It's different for every mate pair or group. Sometimes it is the name, sometimes just the knowledge that they are near, sometimes only the color of their eyes." His gaze met mine, and a shiver traveled down my back. "Almost eighteen years ago I got The First Call. Mine was a pull, I followed it and it brought me to a portal. And when I crossed it, I ended up in a-town-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, America."

"And?" I asked, breath caught in my throat.

"And then, at the end of August, I got The Second Call. And the pull brought me here, to Mystic Falls." His eyes were like fire, scalding me with their heat.

The muscles on my back tingled, it has happened a lot since I met him. "Zy?"

"The first time I saw you, you were walking through this forest. Lost in your own world with eyes fixed on the stars. I swear, for a second I almost thought that my heart was going to stop beating. I wanted to wait to meet you when I found out that you weren't eighteen yet and that you were unaware of the supernatural. But... I couldn't. You were alone. And then I found out that both the Salvatore's brothers were in town. My instinct to protect you kinda over-ruled my mind, but I was still me enough to wait for school to start at least."

"Are you saying that I'm your..."

"Mate? Yes, Darlin', you are my mate." He laughed lightly.

Mates. We were mates. Soulmates.

And did he really just go to school just for me? That's something.

"How is it possible?" He hesitated, like he wanted to say something but didn't know if he should've. "What is it? Zy?"

And then, he finally admitted. "You are not human."

"I know." I revealed. "I don't know what I am but waking up on your seventeenth birthday with lavender hair is not normal. And it does not fade. Never." Saying it out loud, to someone that wasn't me, felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. It hadn't been easy. I was scared and I hadn't trusted anyone with this secret before, too afraid of the consequences. "Do you know what I am?" I then asked in a low tone.

"It took me a bit to find out but I'm pretty sure I'm right.." He said. "You are a Nymph. Or more precisely, an Asteriai. Most Nymph spirits are connected to something of nature. Like ​​the Dryads that are the spirits of trees, or the Naiads that are spirits of water. Asteriai are Nymph spirit of the stars."

"The stars." I whispered, looking up in the morning sky as if to try to find them. "How did you know about them? I never-"

"Told me about it?" He finished my question.

I had not told him because every person I had told before had frowned, ignored it or actually called me a freak. I looked away from him, moving my sight to the ground and the stamps of grass that I was yanking with my fingers.

"I pay attention, Darlin'." he chuckled. He stood up before crouching in front of me. He took my chin in his hand and moved my head until once again our eyes were locked together. "It's fascinating how you could stay looking at them for hours without getting tired of it. Smiling like they are the most beautiful thing in the world." He smiled, caressing my skin with his thumbs.

"They are. For me, at least, they are." I answered in a whisper too lost in his touch to manage a louder tone.

"I know what that feels like." He winked, grin forming once again.

Me. He was talking about me.

The soft smile that curled my lips was unexpected, but a lot of things that had happened recently, or even just that day, were unexpected. "The mating bond, is that why I can stand to touch you?"

He winched slightly, relaxing back onto the grass. "It's probably why you can't stand to be touched, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"I told you a lot of things today, Meda. I can tell you the rest some other day." he said.

"No. It's okay. I'm okay. You can tell me."

"Nymphs are born from only a mother, who too is a Nymph. It's a child blessed from nature itself."

"Then how- I'm adopted?" The question came before I could even finish the first sentence.

"No." He said, once again winching, this time at his own thought. "You are a changeling."

"So my biological mother left me after she kidnapped a human baby?" I asked in horror as I recalled the myth.

"No." He chuckled, lessening my fear. "I don't know how you precisely ended up here but usually, in cases of changeling it can be a few things. One– the mother was on point of death so to save her child she gifted it to another female. Two– it can be to pay depth, but this is a very rare case even in changelings that are few and spars. Three– what I think could fit your case more since it's very unusual to send changeling in the human words to human mothers– You were sent here to do something. What, I do not know."

"Okay." I gasped the word, taking in a gulp of air in my lungs. "And what about my birthday? You mentioned it twice before. Why is it so important?"

"Because it's your eighteenth birthday. And whatever charm was put on you to keep you mostly human, is going to break. Your hair is already a sign that is weakening."

"Oh." I did not know what to say more than that.

Yeah, it was kind of a lot. Not that I would have preferred to be human, most of all not in a town where now I knew vampires were roaming free.

"Can I tell you something that I know is going to boost up your morale?" He said. Zyran placed his head on my shoulder, grinning his smile at me.

"Go on."

"Edward Cullen is very much real and his real name is Stefan Salvatore. I'm pretty sure the author of Twilight took inspiration from him. He is obsessed with your sister, stares at her whenever he can, I would not be surprised if he actually appears in her room at night just to stare at her when she sleeps, and he is a vegetarian vampire. He drinks bambi to survive. The only difference, really, is that he does not shine in the sun but burns. And can't read thoughts."

"You are kidding me?" Zyran shook his head amused. "Oh my god, this is awesome. I am so going to call him Edward Cullen. This is the best thing ever." 

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!!

Meda knows everything now. I really love the Fae and all the faefolks, and I wanted to incorporate it in this story alongside matebonds.

I am a fantasy reader after all.

She is a nymph, her powers will be discovered along the way. And as stated before, this is a Why choose book with all ocs. I hope you are going to like them even if they are not really character from TVD.

I can tell you that it's going to be them against the word always, even if they are going to choose a side later on with the all Elena's group vs Mikaelson.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Wednesday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾