CHAPTER ONE
the salvatore saviour!

Why do people do the things they do? But it's not really the 'why' that Iylah Hale was interested in the most, but another question. How far can you go down the wrong path before it's too late to get on the right one?

Although, thinking about her life before ten years old, that message would be a lot different. Where Iylah wasn't going through the five stages of grief, until that night, when her home engulfed in flames unexpectedly, killing every family member stood in that home but herself.

As somehow after the eventful torture, Iylah Hale had miraculously survived when she was found outside her home, feeling nothing but pain as the image of what happened that night had already imprinted on her skin — leaving her hospitalised for three years.

Following on with the aftermath that led for Iylah moving to Mystic Falls to live with her Grandma and cousin. Little did she know what she would soon be getting into, with her pain either getting better or worse from then onwards.

It was September in 2009, and Iylah had already been out the hospital for two years, although she was still recovering from both her injuries and feeling the loss of her family.

"So Grams is telling me I'm psychic." Bonnie, her cousin was driving her and Elena to school, and along the way, the Bennett decided to inform her friend about her recent discovery. "Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that. I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it. I'm like, 'put this woman in a home already'."

If only you knew. Iylah was sat in the backseat of the car, with her eyes glued to her book, listening as her cousin continued. "But I started thinking, I predicted Obama, and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands."

Bonnie glanced at her friend to see if she was still listening, when she found the brunette zoned out as she stared out the window. "Elena!" She called out, snapping her out of it. "Back in the car."

"I did it again, didn't I? I'm sorry, Bonnie." Elena sighed as Iylah felt empathy for her. She had only lost her parents that spring during a car accident that she almost didn't survive either, just like she did five years ago. "You were telling me that—"

"That I'm psychic now."

"Right, okay," Elena smiled lightly and glanced at Iylah for a second to check on her. "then predict something about me." She told Bonnie.

Bonnie sighed. "I see—" She trailed off, when the sight of a crow flying into the bumper of the car, interrupted her thoughts as they flinched before the car skidded to a stop. "What was that?"

"Oh, my God." Bonnie gasped before turning her head to look at Iylah on first instinct, with Elena doing the same. "Moon, are you okay?"

The fifteen year old only responded to Elena with a nod. "Yeah. Are you?" Iylah asked, turning the attention onto her as the cousins looked worried, considering her recent traumatic event. However, Elena simply nodded, responding with a lie but would reassure whoever asked. "I'm okay. I'm fine."

"It was a bird or something." Bonnie said, trying to think what might have flown past the car. "It came out of nowhere."

"Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life." Elena told her best friend who looked at her for a moment before predicting. "I predict this year is going to be kick-ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over. And you," She looked back at her cousin and added. "and Iylah, are going to be beyond happy."

If only that were true.

The car started again and Bonnie drove away and continued down the road as they headed towards school. As soon as they pulled up in the parking lot, Iylah said a quick goodbye to the girls before walking ahead of them.

Jeremy Gilbert was found near the stairs, talking to Quinn while they waited for the third member of their trio. The Gilbert boy was in the middle of rolling his eyes at the girl who pointed out his use of drugs when he spotted a familiar dirty-blonde walking over.

Almost instantly, he took the weed away from his mouth and chucked it in the trash can before the girl approached with a half-hearted smile. "Hey. It's about time you got here." He called.

"Aw, did you guys miss me?" Iylah tilted her head and smiled playfully at her two friends when the Gilbert boy gestured to Quinn, feeling amused as he replied. "Absolutely, because now that you're here, you can be the one to listen to Quinn rant about her summer."

At his words, Quinn whacked Jeremy on the arm, making him groan as Iylah laughed at their antics before they carried on their way into the building.

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"Dude just got rejected again." Quinn looked past Iylah with a wince as she watched Vicki Donovan walk away from Jeremy yet again. Now that their first day back at school was finally over, the girls were hanging out at the Grill that evening while playing pool. Quinn chuckled and looked back at Iylah with furrowed brows, seeing the girl appear to be struggling with putting her cue closer to the ball. "Girl, you okay?"

"Just short girl problems." Iylah grumbled before she finally took a shot to pot her ball in one of the pockets but failed, making her frown. "I hate this game."

"Really? Because I love it." Quinn teased, giggling as she took her turn to pot her ball into a pocket and did it successfully. Iylah stared at the girl for a moment before sighing. "Do you want to take a break and get some food?" She began to walk off and continued. "because I sure am hungry."

"Oh, come on." Quinn groaned and followed after her best friend in correction. "You're only saying that so you won't lose the game." She may have did that as a joke, but to be fair, Iylah was getting hungry. She approached Tyler who stood beside Caroline and passed him her cue. "Tyler, do you and Matt want to take over for us?"

"Umm sure. Thanks." Tyler nodded before taking the cue right off their hands and continued his conversation with Caroline while he was waiting for Matt to finish talking to Bonnie.

"Hey, Iylah." The bartender smiled as she walked up to the bar. "The usual?" He theorised what she was going to ask, getting an innocent smile from the girl in return. "Yes please. Thank you."

"And I'll just have a water please." Quinn ordered her drink with a smile, and playfully, she clicked her finger and pointed it towards the man at her reply. "Thank you, Stavros."

"It's Steve, Quinn." The man corrected, chuckling softly as if it wasn't the first time she pretended not to know his name. Like always, Quinn waved him off with a shrug, which amused the two next to her before Steve went off to the back, leaving the girls to talk.

From across the restaurant, was Elena who stood beside Stefan Salvatore who had just joined their school that morning. After Matt had walked away from them, Elena spotted the dirty-blonde at the bar talking to Quinn and instantly smiled before turning to Stefan. "Oh my gosh, you have to meet Iylah and Quinn. They are sat over there, come on." She started to bring him along towards the bar, adding to her introduction. "They're honestly the sweetest people you'll ever meet—"

Just as the pair got closer, they suddenly stopped in their tracks just as they overheard Iylah's next words. "Am I gonna have to slap a bitch?"

"Are you sure? That didn't sound sweet." Stefan's words came off as a joke, which got a laugh from Elena before she told him. "I'll call them over in a minute. Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure." Stefan nodded and started to follow Elena to the table where her friends were sat at. Just as they settled down, Caroline managed to get the girls' attention and called them over to the table while they waited.

As they approached the table, Elena smiled softly and looked at Stefan for an introduction like she promised. "Stefan, this is Iylah and Quinn. They are in my brother's year," She gestured between the girls, not seeing Iylah's slightly dazed state as she looked at the Salvatore, almost as if she could recognise him. "You must protect them with your life." Elena added with a chuckle.

This can't be possible. Iylah thought as she finally looked away, trying to shake the awful flashbacks out of her head that suddenly appeared once she saw him. He looked exactly like the man who had saved her from getting burned from the fire with her family.

"It's nice to meet you, Stefan." Iylah greeted him after Quinn, speaking rather softly when the boy nodded back at them. "You too."

"Ooh, Steve's back." Quinn gasped before pulling Iylah along with her to get their order, although it was also an excuse to talk to her privately, being the only one who noticed Iylah's behaviour apart from Stefan himself. "Moon, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Iylah quickly replied, hiding her panicked expression as Quinn studied her for a second before answering. "No reason. I was just wondering." She knew Iylah too well to know she was lying, but decided not to push and let Iylah tell her when she's ready.

"One water," Steve passed Quinn her water bottle first before turning to Iylah with her glass. "and a coke. Your cheesy fries will be out in a second. I will bring them to your table."

"Thank you." The girls smiled before returning to the table and sat beside Bonnie and Caroline who was first to question the Salvatore. "So you were born in Mystic Falls?"

Stefan hummed and nodded. "And I moved when I was still young."

"Parents?" Bonnie asked as Steve approached the table and quickly placed down the bowl of cheesy fries in front of Iylah who thanked him before he left to go back behind the bar.

"My parents passed away." Stefan answered sadly and the girls frowned while glancing at Elena and Iylah who could unfortunately relate and with the latter keeping her eyes glued to her fries, Elena looked at Stefan sympathetically. "I'm sorry. Any siblings?" She wondered.

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle." Stefan answered her question.

"So, Stefan," Caroline spoke up before starting to inform him about an event. "if you're new then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

So he wouldn't get confused, Quinn looked at the boy before she elaborated on the subject. "It's a back-to-school thing at the falls." Stefan nodded before looking at Elena to ask. "Are you going?"

"Of course she is." Bonnie smiled cheekily as she answered for the girl who grinned at her before turning to Stefan with the same expression.

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Iylah never really went to parties. However, if she did, she never wanted to be left alone but kept by her friends' sides — more in case anything bad happened. So here she was, at the back-to-school bonfire, standing next to Quinn as they listened to Elena and Bonnie chat about Stefan.

"Just admit it, Elena."

Sighing in defeat, the Gilbert girl smiled shyly as she admitted. "Okay, so he's a little pretty."

"He has that romance-novel stare." Quinn, while speaking up, joked before attempting to imitate an author of a book. "'Stefan looked deep into her eyes, piercing her very soul'." The Henderson girl smiled when she saw Iylah chuckle at that, since the girl hadn't spoken that much during the day.

The truth was, dreadful memories that she never wanted to relive kept coming back to her after the encounter with Stefan at the Grill. As if her mind was trying to get her to remember a part of that night that was blocked out.

"Where is he anyway?" Bonnie looked around her for any sign of Stefan as Elena shrugged. "I don't know. You tell me. You're the psychic one." She pointed out to the Bennett who smiled. "Right, I forgot. Okay, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate."

"Wait. You need a crystal ball." Elena interrupted and turned around before grabbing a beer bottle for Bonnie to use. "Ta-da."

Bonnie shook her head with a laugh before going to grab the bottle from Elena, and as she touched her hand, the Bennett suddenly froze in her spot and looked at Elena with widened eyes. Soon, she pulled her hand away and snapped out of her trance as Iylah piped up, looking at her cousin in concern, even though she already had an idea of what just happened. "Bonnie, you okay?"

"That was weird." Bonnie looked confused before explaining. "When I touched you, I saw a crow."

Elena looked shocked. "What?"

"A crow. There was fog, a man." Bonnie started to describe more about the vision and stopped when it was starting to get freaky serious. "I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it." She played it off, looking confused at Elena's worried expression. "Yeah? Okay, I'm gonna get a refill."

"Okay? Bonnie?" Elena called after her before she turned at the sound of Iylah's voice. "We'll go and see how Jeremy is doing." She told the girl who looked confused at their sudden reason to leave when she turned her head to see Stefan standing in front of her just as the girls left.

Whilst the Gilbert girl went off with Stefan to see the falls, Iylah and Quinn searched the party for Jeremy and when they couldn't find him at first, they assumed he was still sulking over Vicki, not wanting to believe she had ditched him for Tyler.

But when they finally found him, the fifteen-year old boy stood near the woods with a frown after seeing Tyler and Vicki. Considering how rude the Lockwood boy just was with the girl, she was still rejecting him.

"I don't know what to do, Moon." Jeremy started to speak in his drunken state as he turned to his best friend with a sigh. "She doesn't want to be with me anymore."

"Oh, Jer," The dirty-blonde sighed. "You may not want to hear this right now but you need to stop chasing after her. It may be a one-way street with her, but I have hope that one day, you'll find that special someone who likes you for you."

"Yeah, I can definitely agree on that." Quinn said, almost smirking as her eyes stared at the side of Iylah's head.

"You really think so?" Jeremy wondered, looking up at the girl so innocently as if he was hiding a smile. "Oh, I know so." She nodded softly before playfully nudging his shoulder as he stared at her in awe, until it quickly dropped and was replaced with a pout. "Oh, I don't get it."

The brown-haired boy turned on his feet, making his way towards the entrance to the woods, and following their duties as his best friends, the girls sighed before following the drunk Jeremy, being joined by Elena who saw him leave.

"Jeremy. Jeremy!" Elena called out for the boy as she walked ahead of the girls so she could have a chat with her brother. "Jeremy, where the hell are you going?"

Not stopping his footsteps, he turned his head to look back at Elena with his reply. "I don't wanna hear it—" He cut himself off, not hearing Elena's response as he tripped over and was met with Vicki's unconscious body.

"Vicki? No." Jeremy backed away in shock as the girls finally approached him, reacting similarly as he continued. "Oh, my God, it's Vicki."

"Oh, my God." Iylah panicked, brushing her hand through her hair as Jeremy went to check Vicki's pulse, but was even more shocked to see the girl suddenly open her eyes with a gasp.

Jeremy wasted no time and scooped the Donovan girl into his arms before the girls led him back to where the party was, where they began calling for help as Iylah reached her shaky hands into her pocket to grab her phone.

"Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?" Matt looked scared and immediately ran towards them as soon as he spotted his sister in Jeremy's arms.

"What happened?"

Matt ignored Tyler and instead, showed his panic while calling out. "Somebody call an ambulance!"

"I'm on it." Iylah informed and turned around as she put the phone to her ear when she dialled the number, tuning everyone out while she started to explain Vicki's situation as soon as somebody answered.

Meanwhile it was happening, there was one thing on Iylah's mind that really struck out to her as all she could see was the blood when she saw Vicki.

Shit. Was this just the beginning?

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megan speaks!

my babies are finally here AHHH!! i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you think in the comments if you would like! i love reading them and it actually motivates me to write more 🫶🫶

thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33