04. Family Ties

A sleeping Aria was startled awake when a loud noise from downstairs reached her ears, the Connor girl slowly proceeded to get out of bed and walked towards her closed bedroom door.

"Hello?!" Aria called out, opening her bedroom door and stepping out of her room, "Jeremy?! Elena?!".

As Aria leaned against the stairs railing and looked down, she saw a shadow pass by, immediately causing her to run down the stairs and towards the kitchen where she saw the shadow go, hoping and praying she wasn't about to come face to face with a intruder or worse, a murderer.

"Hello?" Aria asked, flicking the lights switch in the kitchen, but for some reason, none of the lights wanted to work today.

Aria's attention went towards the living room when the TV suddenly turned on, "This is Logan Fell coming to you live from Mystic Falls with breaking news of another deadly animal attack". Aria walked into the living room and looked at the TV, a curious expression on her face, "The wild animal terrorizing citizens has claimed another victim local high school student, Aria Connor", a mixture of shock and fear ran through Aria's body, when she watched the news about her death, "Police are certain that evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks".

"You know what's coming next", Aria looked to her side to see Damon standing there, seeing Damon there, a extremely terrified Aria quickly turned around and ran towards the front door, she quickly proceeded to open the door, she then let out a startled scream seeing Damon standing on the other side of the door, she immediately shut the door on Damon's face.

Aria turned around to go hide somewhere, only for eyes to land on Damon, who was standing in the kitchen, with her breathing extremely heavy, Aria closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door, really hoping all of this was just a nightmare and soon she was going to wake up, after a moment Aria proceeded to open her eyes, she let out a relieved breath when she saw no sign of Damon, she then proceeded to take a small step forward, when suddenly Damon came from behind her and bit into her neck, causing the Connor girl to let out a painful and loud scream.

Stefan sat up in his bed, his breathing heavy and erratic from the dream he just had of Damon attacking Aria.

"Bad dream?" Damon asked, sitting on Stefan's desk and playing with the chess pieces, "Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood, it might even the playing field", Damon looked at his extremely furious brother with a smirk on his face, "Football reference, too soon?", Stefan glared at Damon, he then used his vamp speed to grab a knife from his desk and throw it at Damon's chest, a unaffected Damon looked down at the knife, he then got up from his seat and very easily removed the knife from his chest, "All right, I deserve that, but I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit, the animal responsible for killing Coach Tanner and all those people".

"What are you talking about?" a confused Stefan, wondering who did they catch for his brother's doings.

"A mountain lion, really big one" Damon informed, "It attacked a hunter this morning, it's all over the news, deadly beast captured, all's well in Mystic Falls".

"Why would you cover your tracks?" Stefan asked, looking at Damon with uncertainty.

Damon gave Stefan his signature smirk and walked over to one of his bookshelves, "I've decided to stay a while", Damon turned to face Stefan, "And I'm just having way to much fun here with you and Aria".

"You're not going to hurt her" Stefan stated, "You will never hurt Natalie's descendent".

Damon shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe, maybe hurting Aria isn't my target at all, believe it or not Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion, some girls just can't resist my good looks my style and my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift", while talking Damon made his way over to Stefan and stabbed him in the stomach, the knife effecting Stefan much more than it effected Damon, causing him to fall to the floor in pain, Damon looked down at the blood stain on his shirt, "This is John Varvatos, dude, dick move".

As Damon walked out of his brother's room, Stefan removed the knife from his stomach and watched his wound heal, he then turned around and glared in the direction Damon had left in.

***

"Scum ball, scum bucket".

Aria entered the kitchen and looked at Jenna in confusion, "Who are you talking to so nicely?".

"Him" Jenna said, gesturing towards the TV, Aria looked towards the TV and saw that Logan Fell was on TV, reporting about the authorities catching the mountain lion going around killing everyone.

"The news guy?" Elena asked, walking into the kitchen, having heard the conversation between Jenna and Aria.

"Also known as Logan 'Scum' Fell" Jenna said, "Did your mom tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?".

Elena laughed, "Oh, no way".

"You and him?" a slightly shocked Aria asked, "Would have never imagined that".

Elena looked at Logan, "He's cute" she said.

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you Elena?" Aria asked, looking at Logan Fell in disgust "He is anything but cute, yuck".

"Aria's right, he is not cute, there's nothing cute about him" Jenna said, turning the TV off, no longer wanting to see Logan's face.

"What are you doing with that?" Jenna asked, seeing Elena with a box full of old Gilbert antiques.

"I went yesterday and I got it from the safe deposit box" Elena said, sitting down on the dinning table and proceeding to clean the antiques, "Mom had told Mrs Lockwood that she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display".

"Is that grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked, picking up a ring and examining it.

"Originally, it was great-great-grandma Mary's wedding ring" Aria informed, leaning against the counter, drinking her hot chocolate, while Jeremy also entered the kitchen.

Elena looked at Aria in amusement, "It's stupid how you know more about my family's history than I do".

Aria shrugged and sipped her hot chocolate, "I like history".

Jeremy grabbed something from the box, "How much do you think this stuff is worth, like, on eBay?".

Elena grabbed the thing off of Jeremy's hand, "You're not gonna find out".

"That stuff is mom and dad's, you can't give it away" Jeremy protested, walking over to the coffee machine and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Well technically she's not giving it away, she's loaning it" Aria said, placing her now empty mug in the sink and then sitting down next to Elena to help her clean the antiques up, but before she could start cleaning, the doorbell rang, causing Aria to get up to check who it was, Aria opened the front door and saw Stefan standing on the other side, immediately causing her face to fall slightly, Damon's words from last night lingering in her mind.

"Hi" Stefan greeted, completely missing Aria's sudden discomfort.

"Oh hey Stefan" Aria greeted, quickly gathering herself, "Here for Elena?".

"Yeah, but also you" Stefan clarified.

Aria looked at Stefan in confusion, "Me?".

"I wanted to make sure you were okay after the whole fight between Jeremy and Tyler, but I couldn't find you anywhere last night" Stefan informed.

"Uh, yeah, last night wasn't the best of nights for me" Aria admitted, "But I'm okay now, it's a new morning, meaning it's a new me".

Aria's words caused a smile to form on Stefan's face, "I'm glad you're okay".

"Of course, I had great people looking after me" Aria said, her mind going back to Caroline informing her about Damon taking care of her after her panic attack, "Anyways, let me tell Elena you're here, she's been waiting for you", Stefan nodded his head and Aria ran to the kitchen, "Elena your boyfriend is here!" 

A smile formed on Elena's face hearing that Stefan was here, she quickly stood up from her seat and ran to where Stefan was waiting for her and quickly took him up to her room.

Once Elena and Stefan disappeared, Jenna turned to Aria with a teasing smile on her face, "So Elena has gotten herself a boyfriend, when are you getting yourself one?".

Aria narrowed her eyes playfully at Jenna, "I don't have time for a boyfriend Jenna, I already have to much on my plate with school, cheerleading and all the extra curricular activities Caroline keeping signing me up for".

"What happened to Damon then?" Jenna asked, making Jeremy look between Aria and Jenna in confusion.

"Whose Damon?" Jeremy asked confused.

"No one" Aria said quickly, really not wanting Jeremy to get the wrong idea, "I swear people need to stop bringing Damon up in every conversation".

"The way he brought you in here yesterday, in his arms, all hero like, didn't seem like no one to me" Jenna teased.

"I was unconscious" Aria defended.

"Unconscious?" a suddenly concerned Jeremy asked, "What happened?".

"Panic attack" an embarrassed Aria informed.

"Why?" Jeremy asked.

"Came across Tanner's dead body" Aria lied, not comfortable with telling Jeremy that the actually reason she got a panic attack was that she possibly had predicted Tanner's death before it even happened.

"And where does this Damon guy come in all this?" a curious Jeremy asked.

"You're asking an awful lot of questions" Jenna observed.

Jeremy shrugged, "Just curious".

"Damon and Caroline were there when I had the panic attack" Aria informed, she then turned to Jenna, "And Damon helped me, because his a nice guy, or at least I think he is, and nice guys help other people when they need help, that's it, there's nothing else going on between us".

"Caroline will beg to differ" Jenna stated.

"Caroline has lost her mind" Aria retorted, before leaving the kitchen and walking up to her room, not wanting to give Jenna another chance to tease her about Damon.

After Aria left, Jenna turned to Jeremy, "You know, you asked Aria about Damon, but you forgot to ask her if she was okay after the panic attack".

Jeremy looked at Jenna, his eyes wide, "I--".

"Save the excuses Jeremy" Jenna said, "Look, Aria cares to much for you to ever call you out, so I'm going to do it for her, Elena told me how you pushed Aria last night and didn't even apologise, I get that you're hurting Jeremy but taking your hurt out on the person whose just trying to be there for you isn't right, if you keep doing this, it won't take long for someone else to take your place in her life, someone who will never treat her the way you've been treating her".

Once Jenna had walked out the kitchen, Jeremy looked in the direction Aria just went in, with guilt and fear rising in his heart, guilt of what he did last night and fear of losing Aria to someone else.

***

The doorbell rang once again and this time Jeremy ran down the stairs to open the door, but when he saw Tyler on the other side he immediately tried to close the door but Tyler stopped him.

"I'm here for my mom" Tyler clarified, not wanting to interact with Jeremy either, "Supposed to pick up a box".

"It's right here" Aria said, walking up to Tyler and Jeremy and handing Tyler the box, "Please be careful with this box, Tyler".

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick" Jeremy said, glaring at the Lockwood boy.

"Guys" Aria warned, "Let's not fight today okay, just one day without a fight, please, just one".

"I'm fine, he's just being a punk" Tyler said.

"I got your punk" Jeremy retorted.

"Tyler, time for you to leave, tell Mrs Lockwood we will see her tonight" Aria said, not wanting the two boys to get into another fight.

Aria stepped back, letting Jeremy close the door, but before he could fully close the door, Tyler stopped him, "Hey, would it make a difference if I told you I actually like Vicki?" he asked.

Aria looked at Jeremy closely, for some reason she wanted to know the answer too, "Not even if you meant it".

Aria sighed, she doesn't know what she was expecting, maybe she was expecting Jeremy to tell Tyler he would back down, letting Aria know that she still had a chance with him, the having answers for everything Aria Connor, these days had no answers at all.

***

"Delicate Flower versus Naughty Vixen" Bonnie said, showing Aria and Elena two different nail polishes.

"Tough call, can we mix them?" Elena asked.

"Hell yeah we can" Aria said, grabbing the two bottles from Bonnie.

"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date" Bonnie told Elena, "You seem happyish".

"I am-ish" Elena replied, "Tonight's gonna be a good night, but don't let that stop you from telling us whatever it is you wanted to tell us as soon as you walked in through the door".

"What if I tell you in the morning?" Bonnie asked, "I don't want to ruin the night".

"Okay, officially curious now" Aria said, "Spill it Bonnie". 

Bonnie sighed, "Okay, but it has to go in the vault because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed".

"Damon?" Aria asked confused.

"Apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story" Bonnie started.

"Tell me about it" Aria mumbled, Damon's words about finding out what he and his brother are still going round in her head.

"Do you know what happened with his ex girlfriend Katherine?" Bonnie asked the two girls.

"Both the brothers dated her which caused both of them to have issues with each other" Aria stated.

"Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon" Bonnie revealed, "And that drove Stefan mad, so he did horrible things to try and break them up, he manipulated Katherine, he filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked and she turned against Damon".

"That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's" Elena stated.

"I just wanted you to know" Bonnie said.

"Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business" Elena said.

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar" Bonnie said, applying nail polish to her fingers.

"Okay hold up Bon" Aria said, finally interfering after letting all the information sink in, "Let's not judge Stefan without knowing his side".

"Yeah, Damon's just trying to create trouble" Elena said, making Aria frown.

"Or maybe in Damon's mind that is the truth" Aria stated, making the other two girls look at her in confusion, silently asking her to elaborate, "Look this is just my opinion, but I think the brothers got played, they fell in love with an evil bitch and she was the one who pit them against each other, filled their minds with hate and lies for each other, I bet in Damon's mind whatever he said was the truth, but in Stefan's the truth is something completely different".

"Yeah? How do you know?" Bonnie asked, not knowing why Aria was defending the Salvatore brothers so much.

"I don't Bonnie" Aria said, she then turned to Elena, "But Elena, if you want your relationship to work with Stefan you need to trust him, let him open up to you in his own time, don't force him because of some stupid rumors you heard from other people, otherwise that will be the downfall of yours and Stefan's relationship".

After stating her point, Aria got up and went upstairs to her room, leaving behind her two friends, who were lost in their own thoughts after hearing Aria's words.

***

Aria walked into the bathroom she shared with Elena and Jeremy, where currently Bonnie was busy curling her hair and Elena was applying mascara.

"Hey, just came to tell you that I'm leaving for Caroline's" Aria informed Elena, "We're going to get ready together".

Elena opened her mouth to say something, but before she could the phone in her room started ringing, "Don't leave yet" Elena told Aria, before running into her room and picking the phone up, "Hello? Hi, Mrs Lockwood, what do you mean? It is? Are you sure? Because I saw it" Elena asked, but suddenly she realised something, "Let me check, Mm-hm, I will find it and bring it, okay, bye".

"What's wrong?" a confused Bonnie asked, seeing Elena go towards Jeremy's room.

"And why did you ask me to stay?" an equally confused Aria asked, but Elena ignored both her friends and rushed towards Jeremy's room, Aria frowned seeing Elena's urgency, she followed Elena, wondering what happened this time.

Elena barged into Jeremy's room and slapped his headphones off of his ears, "Ahh! God, what now?" an annoyed Jeremy asked his sister.

"The pocket watch, where is it?" Elena asked, making Aria look at her in confusion, she swears she saw the pocket watch in the box with the other antiques.

"What watch?" Jeremy asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"The one you stole from mom's box" Elena stated, "Look, Mrs Lockwood just called me freaking out, it was on the list Jeremy, she can't find it and she thinks she's the one who lost it".

"And maybe she did, maybe Tyler took it" Jeremy suggested.

"Don't even play that card, you took it" Elena said, making Aria wonder how was Elena so sure, "If I go online am I gonna find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?".

Aria frowned at Elena's words, in her opinion Elena was being too harsh on Jeremy, he will never sell the pocket watch, Jeremy had once told Aria the importance of the watch in one of their many late night talks when they were still friends and didn't act like strangers.

"Elena" Aria warned.

"Screw you" Jeremy snapped at Elena, he got up from his seat and took the pocket watch out of its hiding place and slammed it on Elena's hand, "I would never sell this, okay?".

"Then why did you take it?" a confused Elena asked.

"Because it's supposed to be his" Aria informed, making Jeremy look at her with a surprised expression on his face, surprised that not only did Aria remember how important the watch is to him, but she also understood why he took it.

Jeremy nodded his head, "Dad said it goes to the firstborn son, his father gave it to him and now what?".

"And he was gonna give it to you" Elena said, sadness in her voice.

"Yeah" Jeremy whispered.

"Look Jeremy, it's still yours, okay?" Elena assured, "Mom promised Mrs Lockwood, what do you want me to do?".

"Just take it and get out" Jeremy said, not wanting to talk to Elena anymore.

Elena sighed and walked out of Jeremy's room and Aria quickly followed after her.

Before Elena could enter her room, Aria grabbed her wrist, stopping her from entering her room, "Elena wait", Elena looked at Aria in confusion, wondering why she stopped her, "Give me the watch".

"What why?" Elena asked, confused as to what Aria was going to do with the pocket watch.

"Elena that watch belongs to Jeremy, you can't just take it from him" Aria stated.

"But Aria, Mrs Lockwood--".

"Who cares about Mrs Lockwood, all I care about is Jeremy" Aria snapped, "Elena that pocket watch belongs to Jeremy, you or me or anyone else can't decide what happens to it, only Jeremy can, now give it to me so I can return the watch back to its rightful owner".

Elena sighed, but nonetheless she knew Aria was right, so without arguing any further, Elena placed the pocket watch into Aria's waiting hand, Aria then walked back into Jeremy's room and placed the pocket watch in Jeremy's lap, making him look at her in confusion.

"This watch is yours Jeremy, no one has any right to take it away from you, not even Elena" Aria said, she gave Jeremy a small smile and left the room.

After Aria left, Jeremy picked up the pocket watch and looked at it with a small smile on his face.

***

Aria arrived at the Founder's party with Caroline by her side, their arms looped together.

"Hey, Mrs Lockwood" Caroline greeted, while Aria simply gave her the older woman a smile.

"Hey guys, come on in, have fun" Mrs Lockwood greeted the two girls.

Both Aria and Caroline gave Carol Lockwood a polite smile, then proceeded to enter the party together.

"I hate these parties" Aria complained, looking around the room in distaste.

"Yet you never miss one" Caroline teased.

"Thanks to you" Aria retorted.

"You're welcome" Caroline said, making Aria chuckle.

A chuckling Aria started to look around to see if she saw any familiar faces, when her eyes landed on Damon, who was already looking at her, Aria quickly broke the eye contact, she didn't want to look at Damon because whenever she got near him her judgement got cloudy and she hated that.

***

After meeting up with Elena, the two girls decided to check out the Gilbert's antiques display, more so they wanted to look at the wedding rings of Miranda and Grayson Gilbert.

Stefan walked up to where Elena and Aria were standing, he placed his hand on Elena's back, "Your parents?" he asked Elena, looking down at the rings.

Elena nodded, a sad expression on her face, "There's a lot of history here" she said, before moving over to a wall that had the guest list of the first ever founder's celebration, "The founding families of Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural Founder's Council Celebration, wow, look, it's the original guest registry".

Aria perked up hearing Elena, "That's awesome" she said, quickly rushing over to the wall, Elena looked at Aria in amusement, while Stefan looked worried, "Elena look at all these familiar names" Aria looked at the wall with extreme fascination, "Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood" suddenly Aria frowned seeing names that shouldn't be up there, "Wait hold on, does that say Damon and Stefan Salvatore?".

Aria looked at Stefan in confusion, she didn't know why but she felt something is seriously wrong here.

"The original Salvatore brothers" Damon clarified, walking over to the trio along with Caroline, "Our ancestors, tragic story, actually".

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past" Stefan said, scared Damon will spill things to Aria and Elena that he'd rather them not know.

"It's not boring Stefan, I will love to know about your family's history, history fascinates me, a lot" Aria said.

Damon smirked at Aria, he knew exactly why Aria was so interested in his family history, it wasn't because history fascinates her, it was because she wanted answers, she wanted to figure out what him and his brother were.

"Aria's right" Elena said, "We will love to hear more about your family".

"Well I'm bored, I wanna dance" Caroline interrupted.

"Then go dance" Aria said.

"But Damon won't dance with me" Caroline complained, "He wants to dance with his someone special".

Both Damon and Aria looked at Caroline, one with amusement, the other in annoyance.

"I'm going to kill you" Aria mouthed, knowing all too well as to what Caroline was hinting.

"No you're not" Caroline mouthed back, before turning to Elena, "Could I just borrow your date?".

Elena looked at Caroline, suddenly caught off guard, she didn't know what to say, "Oh, uh--"

"I don't really dance" Stefan replied, coming to Elena's save.

"Oh sure he does, you should see him" Damon said, "Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk, he does it all".

"You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?" Caroline asked.

"Actually she would" Aria replied, not wanting Stefan and Elena's date to be ruined and for Elena to have another reason to not like Caroline.

Elena elbowed Aria, indicating her to be quiet, "It's up to Stefan".

"Well, sorry, but I'm not gonna take no for an answer" Caroline said, grabbing Stefan by the hand and taking him to the dance floor.

Aria loved Caroline, she really did, she just wished sometimes she would learn to take no for an answer.

***

Damon, Elena and Aria were still standing where Stefan and Caroline left them, Damon turned to Aria.

"I wanna apologise to you for what I did last night" Damon trailed off, Aria knew he meant the incident when he tried to kiss her and she also understood he didn't want Elena knowing what happened that night, and she completely understood why, Elena was known for overreacting a bit to much sometimes.

"You don't have to apologise Damon" Aria assured, giving Damon a small smile.

Elena looked between Damon and Aria in confusion, "Why are you apologising again?" she asked Damon.

"Elena, that's a secret between me and Mr Salvatore" Aria said, "We can't really tell you".

Elena looked between the two suspiciously, but she knew better than to push Aria to talk about something she didn't want to, but that doesn't mean she wasn't suspicious about whatever was happening between them.

Aria then turned to Damon, "So Damon, how about you tell us about your ancestors, I'm very intrigued".

Damon smirked at Aria, knowing fully well what her intentions were, "Well, men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry, and it all started with the original Salvatore brothers, the Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town until the war, there was a battle here--".

"The Battle of Willow Creek" Aria interrupted.

"Right" Damon replied, impressed with Aria's knowledge of history.

"Sorry for interrupting you, I just couldn't stop myself, when it comes to history, I tend to babble a lot" Aria explained, a bit embarrassed.

"I know" Damon replied simply, making Elena narrow her eyes at him while Aria just gave him a smile.

 "Wasn't it that confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside?" Aria asked.

"Correct, but what the history books left out was the people that were killed, they weren't there by accident" Damon said, "They were believed to be union sympathizers, so some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive", Aria listened to Damon's every word carefully, she was very intrigued by all this new knowledge that was coming her way, "Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church", Damon looked down at the replica of the church, for some reason he seem genuinely sad to Aria, "And when they went to rescue them, they were shot, murdered in cold blood".

"Who was the person they wanted to save?" a curious Aria asked.

"A women, I guess" Damon replied, looking at Aria, "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a women?".

Damon and Aria stared at each other for a moment, that was until Elena decided to speak.

"Look I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you but me and Aria can't get in the middle of it, Damon" Elena said, "I just, I hope you two can work it out".

"I hope so too" Damon said.

"I know so" Aria replied, making Damon look at her, "You both are brothers, of course you will work it out".

Damon didn't say anything just gave Aria a small smile.

***

Damon, Elena and Aria, went outside where Caroline and Stefan were dancing.

"What'd we miss?" Damon asked.

"We were just chatting" Stefan replied, he then held out a glass of champagne, "Drink, Damon?".

"No thanks, I'll pass" Damon replied.

Aria looked at Stefan and Damon and saw they were having some kind of glaring competition so she decided to intervene, "Stefan, you should go dance with Elena now".

"Absolutely" Stefan said, grabbing Elena's hand and taking her to the dance floor.

Aria then moved away from Damon and Caroline, where she couldn't hear them, but they could still see her.

Caroline saw Damon staring at Aria, "Why don't you ask her for a dance?".

"She wouldn't dance with me" Damon said.

"You never know until you ask" Caroline said, giving Damon a small smile and then walking away from him.

Once Caroline had left, Damon looked back at Aria who stood next to a candle that suddenly blew out because of the wind, Aria remembered something Bonnie's Grams said about lighting candles just by concentrating on them, this was the perfect way to find out if she really was a witch or not, so Aria cleared her head and concentrated on the candle, and suddenly the candle was lit, Aria looked at it in shock, not believing what she just did.

 Aria quickly blew the candle out, yeah she joked around about wanting to be a witch but like Elena said, there was a huge difference between real and fantasy world, and right now, Aria wasn't happy, she was freaking out.

Aria looked around, making sure no one saw her do what she just did, and that's when her eyes landed on Damon's, who was already looking at her with a frown on his face, Aria immediately came to the conclusion that he saw everything and now thought she was a complete and utter freak, so she quickly ran away from the spot to go find a bathroom so she could calm her breathing, what she didn't know was that Damon wasn't frowning because he thought she was a freak, he was frowning because he saw how panicked and worried she looked, and wondered what her reaction will be when she finds out about vampires and the history between the Salvatores and Connors.

***

After calming herself down, Aria met up with Elena and Bonnie, and Elena told her everything that happened at the dance floor, how she got mad at Stefan because he wouldn't tell her about his past with Katherine.

"You can not be serious Elena" Aria said, giving Elena a disappointed look, because that was what she was, disappointed, despite her explaining to Elena that this is how relationships end, Elena still went ahead and tried to intrude in Stefan's life.

"This is my fault, I planted doubted, I'm a doubt-planter" Bonnie said, with a guilty expression on her face.

"It's no one but Elena's fault Bonnie" Aria said, she was actually quiet angry at Elena for jeopardizing her relationship with Stefan just because of his past, there's a reason it's called past and not future.

"I feel terrible" a guilty Elena admitted.

"As you should" Aria stated.

"Aria" Bonnie warned.

"I said I wouldn't get in the middle of it and that's exactly what I did" Elena said, she wasn't even upset with Aria's behaviour towards her, Aria never got upset at her, and if she does it was always because Elena was being stupid, and Elena knows she was being stupid so she didn't blame Aria for reacting the way she is reacting, "I got all snotty".

Aria scoffed, "Elena let's be honest here, his past is none of our business, I mean come on you guys haven't even slept together for you to being asking such personal questions, look, I'm not saying you don't have a right to know about his past, you do, but you can't force him to open up, if his past his something traumatic, you need to give him time".

Before Elena could reply to Aria, Carol Lockwood walked up to the three girls, "Elena, honey, there you are, I noticed the watch still isn't in the collection".

"Oh we're sorry Mrs Lockwood, it seems like we misplaced the watch somewhere, we couldn't find it anywhere" Aria lied, making Carol look at her with a worried expression.

"I guess it's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere" Elena added.

"I see, please let me know if you do find it" Carol said, smiling at both Elena and Aria.

"Okay" Elena said, nodding.

After Carol Lockwood walked away, Aria turned to Bonnie and Elena, "Is it just me or is Carol Lockwood showing too much interest in that pocket watch?".

"It's just you" Bonnie replied.

Aria frowned, something told her it wasn't just her, there was something off about the way Carol Lockwood so desperately wanted the watch, and if the past few days have taught her anything, then it was to trust her gut feeling, because these days, all her gut feelings were absolutely correct.

*** 

After telling Elena off a bit more, Aria made her way outside and sat on one of the many tables, she was feeling a bit claustrophobic inside, it was all too decorative and crowded for Aria's taste.

"May I have this dance, Aria Connor?".

Aria looked up to see Damon standing infront of her with his hand out, waiting for Aria to put her hand into his.

"Oh I don't dance" Aria replied, in all her honestly she loved dancing, she has been waiting all night for someone to ask her to dance but no one did, and now some one has but that someone was Damon, the same Damon who has seen Aria light a candle with her mind, she was scared he was going to hate her now.

"Funny, neither do I, come on, only one dance" Damon said.

Aria sighed, "Only one".

"Only one" Damon confirmed.

Aria placed her hand in Damon's and let him pull her towards the dance floor, once they reached the dance floor, Damon wrapped his hand around Aria's waist and pulled her close, leaving almost no space between the two and both of them started swaying to the music.

"You told Caroline you don't dance and yet here you are dancing with me, may I ask why?" a curious Aria asked.

"I only told Caroline I don't dance so she would dance with Stefan" Damon replied honestly.

Aria looked at Damon confused, "What why?".

"So I could talk to you, without Stefan being around" Damon replied.

Aria sighed, "Damon, I--"

"I know, you think what ever is happening between us, is happening too fast, and I agree, which is why I'm not trying to start anything here, at least not yet" Damon said, "You intrigue me Aria Connor, I just want to get to know you better, as friends".

"Only friends?" Aria asked.

"Only friends" Damon replied, "For now at least".

"But why me?" a confused Aria asked, "Why are you so intrigued by me?".

"Because your beautiful, smart, quiet but not afraid to speak your mind when necessary and let's not forget the biggest thing" Damon listed.

"What biggest thing?" Aria asked.

Damon leaned forward and whispered into Aria's ear, "You can light candle's with your mind".

Aria looked at Damon wide eyed, "So I was right, you did see me".

"I did" Damon confirmed.

Aria looked at Damon with a worried expression on her face, "You hate me don't you?".

Damon frowned, he then spinned Aria around and then pulled her back to him, "And why would I hate you?".

"Because I'm a freak, you probably want nothing to do with me, right?" Aria asked, for some reason the fact that Damon potentially hated her, really made Aria's heart hurt.

"I will be insane to hate you Aria Connor, plus your not a freak" Damon said, he spinned Aria again and this time he dipped her down, "You're a witch".

Damon pulled Aria back up and she looked at him shocked, "How--how do you know that?".

Damon once again leaned forward and whispered in Aria's ear, "Because I'm supernatural to".

Aria looked at Damon in shock, "You're a witch as well? Is that what you meant by find out what you and your brother are? Holy is Stefan a witch?!".

"Not exactly" Damon replied, a smirk forming on his face.

"If your not a witch, then what are you?" Aria asked confused.

"Something very deadly" Damon said, shocking Aria.

"What?" Aria whispered, suddenly scared, not of the man infront of her but of what he could potentially be.

Damon smirked, he leaned forward and whispered something in Aria's ear, making the Connor girls eyes go wide in shock, fear and disbelief.

After telling Aria what he was, Damon quickly left the dance floor, even though he wanted to tell Aria everything right there and then, he knew she needed time to process everything and he didn't want to bombard her with all this information at once.

***

After Damon dropped such a huge bomb on her all Aria wanted to do was go home, but she couldn't find any of her friends, it was almost like they all knew she wanted to go home and were now hiding from her.

Luckily, while searching for Caroline, Aria bumped into Tyler, who was eagerly looking for an excuse to leave the party, so he was more than glad to drop Aria home.

After coming back home, Aria rushed to her room, completely ignoring the clutch that was lying on the stairs, a clutch that belonged neither to her or Elena.

Aria ran to her room, she sat on her study table and opened  her laptop up, she needed answers and since Damon wasn't currently here to give them to her, the internet was going to be her next best resort.

Aria opened up a new tab on her laptop and started typing, vampires.

***

Presenting 1x04 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Damon making Stefan dream about him hurting Aria?

Thoughts on Jenna telling Jeremy off for what he did to Aria?

Thoughts on Aria telling Elena off for not giving Stefan time in opening up to her?

Thoughts on Damon revealing to Aria what he is?

Published: 26th August 2020
Edited: 22nd February 2024