IV - 𝔤𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔱𝔰 & 𝔴𝔦𝔷𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔡𝔲𝔡𝔢𝔰

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"WITH HOW THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING, I THINK A LITTLE WALK IN THE PARK IS OUR BEST BET."

Lilura spoke confidently from her ridiculously high pillow fort she had managed to create on Damon's bed, sucking a cola lollipop.

"And I'm supposed to take you seriously how?" snarked the vampire, going through his clothes like lightning.

"Maybe by putting on a shirt. Have you ever heard of those?"

Damon flung his pants at Lilura, smirking at her discomfort. "I have the sudden desire to dance naked."

At that moment with Lilura giggling like a madman and Damon swinging his boxer clad hips repeatedly, Elena Gilbert walked in.

Immediately she paled, "What the hell?"

"He's been like this all morning," a nonchalant Lilura rolled her eyes, grabbing the nearest pillow and throwing it at Damon's wiggling butt.

"Strip teasing?" Elena remarked dryly, color slowly returning to her face.

"There's not much to tease," Lilura chortled.

"Rude!" Damon pouted.

"Get dressed, princess!" The enchantress crowed in return, dragging the doppelganger out with her. "You two need to freshen the fück up."

———— Δ ————

"Mystic Grill?"Damon hissed disdainfully.

"Don't hate!" Lilura pushed the doors open. "Last time I was here, Mystic Grill was an adult's playground."

Spotting someone in the distance, Lilura's entire being glowed brightly.

"SALTZ!" She roared, startling an old couple who were munching on some soggy old fries.

"It's Saltz, guys!" She whispered to Damon and Elena with childlike excitement.

With a swift glance at the table again, Lilura saw a shiny forehead of receding brown hair. "Ugh, who's that creep?" She muttered.

Elena sighed, "My biological dad, but we don't talk about it." To Damon she ordered sternly, "We just need answers. Please don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, but stupid is so much more fun." The vampire grinned, letting the warning fly over his head.

"Damon, I mean it," Elena hissed as the trio neared the table. "All I'm asking is you try to keep it together. Be the better man."

"HA!" Lilura huffed, quieting down when Alaric jerked his head over in bewilderment. "Fat chance, Elena."

"Okay then," Damon smirked.

"John, mate, how have you been?" Lilura broached cheerily.

John Gilbert smiled, "I've been all right, Miss. I don't think we've met."

Grasping Lilura's hand John smirked, "I've heard many great things, Lilura Anthemoessa."

———— Δ ————

"When I said we needed a break," Lilura shuffled closer to Damon, "I meant a break, not a ceremony for victims we may not or may have killed."

Elena's brown orbs widened to the size of dinner plates, "Could you say that any louder?"

"Actually I can," Lilura grinned, getting ready to yell.

"Ok, shut up," Damon bumped his shoulder with Lilura's, sending the unprepared Siren tumbling into a green eyed giraffe.

"Sorry," The enchantress grimaced, getting back on her feet with the help of the stranger.

"No worries," He smiled, unfocused eyes staring over her shoulder. When he finally laid eyes on the young woman, he seemed to have seen a ghost.

He quickly retracted his hand, almost like he had been electrocuted.

"Are you alright?" Lilura inquired, eyebrows pulling together in concern.

"No, no. I just —" His eyes rested on her face. "You look like someone I used to know."

Lilura chuckled, "That's a first."

"Marcel," He offered, blushing beet red when Lilura accepted his handshake.

"What a beautiful name!" Lilura grinned, blue eyes already on the search for Damon Salvatore and John Gilbert.

Marcel seemed to have read her mind — or looking back on it, maybe he was really good at understanding social cues— and began to bid her farewell. "It's been a pleasure, Li."

Distracted by Damon's frantic gang signs of S.O.S, Lilura completely spaced over the use of her age-old nickname and the knowing glint in Marcel's green eyes.

She mumbled something under her breath and ambled her way to a slightly annoyed Damon.

"911, what is your emergency?" The blue eyed Salvatore spoke in a perfect falsetto. "Oh, OK. I'll be there close to never."

Lilura frowned, "I was not that slow."

"Andie Star was about to ravish me on this table, Lily."

"Oh no," Lilura cooed. "Poor girl."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you totally blew her off," Lilura snorted and she looked over to a sniffling Andie Starr.

"I'm steering clear of all women at the moment."

"So, you're in love with someone you can't have, and the solution you bring to the table is celibacy?" The siren asked incredulously. "I hope you look good bald, Salvatore."

Elena walked over to the conversing duo at the same moment. Pointing to her phone with a manicured hand, the brunette gestured for Damon and Lilura to listen carefully.

"Stefan? What is it?"

Collectively, faces paled at what Stefan had to say.

———— Δ ————

"Why am I just finding out about this now?" Damon fumed in the women's bathroom, blue eyes practically exploding the stalls as he glared at them vehemently.

"Stefan was worried that you--"

"That I'll what? That I'd kill him? Of course, it's what needs to happen."

"No, Damon, not Tyler. Do whatever you need to do to get Caroline back but just leave Tyler out of it, okay?" Elena said, glancing over at Lilura as if to call for assistance.

"Why? He's a werewolf, he needs to die. I'm willing to kill him, it's win-win."

"Damon please, okay? Too many people are dead," Elena's gaze softened, placing a gentle hand on Damon's tense form.

"I'll do it," Lilura hopped off the sink she had been perched on. "I can rescue Carol."

"Caroline, and why would you—" Elena began.

"I'll do it so Damon doesn't have to go through this am I good? am I bad? identity crisis and you don't have lose your bloody marbles groveling for his help."

"She's right," Damon noded. "You need to stop doing that."

"Doing what?" The doppelganger frowned, removing her hand from Damon's arm.

"Assuming that I'll play the good guy because it's you who's asking."

"Be the better man, Damon."

Lilura shook her head and bit her lip from defending Damon. Elena really didn't know when to stop pushing buttons and boundaries.

Damon had been a self serving prick (and Lilura meant it in the best way possible) for so long, it was hard to change. In the short time knowing the Mystic Falls gang, the enchantress had seen Damon slowly changing for the human. He was softer, gentler, and overall a much better person.

But things like this took time, and right now Elena was not giving him time.

"Do you mind?" Damon spun on his heel to face a hesitant but determined John Gilbert.

"What's going on?" He demanded, fully entering the bathroom.

"Nothing, we just like hanging out in the women's bathroom with the smell of piss and poop in the air as we gossip," Lilura said, completely emotionless.

"It doesn't look like nothing," John insisted, chosing to strategically ignore the enchantresses' sarcastic quip.

"Well guess what John, trust works both ways. Get out," Damon sassed afterwards, clearly waiting for John to obey.

"Look, we don't have time for this. We need to get Caroline back," Elena chimed in.

"We don't need to do anything. I'll take care of it," Lilura stated, quickly tying her hair in a tight pony tail.

"Things are about to get a tad messier."

———— Δ ————

"Who's this Carol again?"

Damon hissed as a branch hit him in the face. The vampire had insisted on coming with the siren, no questions asked despite telling Elena he wasn't a good guy. "Smooth," He quipped when he saw Lilura dodge a particularly narly branch.

When they reached a clearing, Damon tugged on Lilura's jacket sleeve and forced her to crouch beside him.

"Where's Caroline?" Lilura could just make out the monotonous baritone of Stefan Salvatore.

"Locked up tight," A woman answered, smug.

"Let her go, and I'll release Tyler. It doesn't have to get any messier than it already has. I'm not your enemy, Jules."

In the bushes, Lilura scratched her lip. "What are we waiting for?"

Damon narrowed his animalistic eyes, "For a dramatic entrance."

"It's a little late to be waving the white flag, don't you think?" Jules smirked, crossing her arms and walking around.

"You need to leave town. No one else has to get hurt," Stefan insisted.

Her brown eyes fell on a struggling Tyler, "I'm not leaving without him."

"Tyler is free to make his own decisions, as soon as you release Caroline."

Without warning, Damon sprung from their hiding spot, brandishing a wolfish grin and his aggravating air of animosity. The hostility clung to the vampire like the smell of smoke and leather. For a moment, Lilura thought he looked like someone she used to know who never shied away from a fight. Whether it was in crass or classy establishments, the circumstances didn't matter to Kol; nothing did except the thrill of danger and the swing of a heft right hook.

"My brother the peacemaker. Since Stefan got here before me I'm gonna let him try it his way before I resort to my way, which is a little bloodier."

"And a lot more fun," Lilura pipped up. She had followed Damon's lead with the confidence of a squirrel, which wasn't much, but was making up for it by the hard glare she possessed. "So give us Caroline, wolfbïtch."

"Let go of Tyler," Jules bargained.

"Give us Caroline. Without a full moon it's not an even fight and you know it. We will take you," Damon tensed his shoulders, braced for the oncoming fight.

"I'm not so sure about that, tough guy," Jules whistled and soon the vampires and the siren were not alone.

"God!" Lilura hissed, mentally kicking herself. "Of course they come in packs."

Jules' acomplices carried various torture weapons, including stakes, crossbows, and flame throwers.

None that could potentially kill the siren, though she still winced at the sight.

"Let's try this again. Give us Tyler."

Damon looked at Tyler, "You heard her. Go. Get over there."

"Which one of you killed Mason?" The wolves circled closer to the triad of supernatural creatures.

"Mason!?" Lilura mouthed to Stefan to which she received a tired sigh. Another skeleton in the Salvatore's dreary closet?

"Uh, that'd be me," Damon claimed proudly.

"Boys, make sure that one suffers."

"We can take them," Damon said to Stefan. "We can total—"

Lilura's splicing war cry silenced the entire clearing. She had missed the rush of adrenaline and the inevitable result that she would always come up on top.

She was much like the originals— like Klaus — in that way.

"Well then..." Damon drawled.

His tone was a complete contrast to his actions. Whereas he spoke slowly and deliberately, Damon's jump was swift and purposeful.

At first, silence.

And then : pandemonium.

Jules and Damon dodged and gifted blows to each other. Stefan cleverly manipulated the arms of a male werewolf and had the flame pointer facing away. Lilura was dancing left and right, breaking through skin and bone as if it were paper. Tyler rushed inside the RV, frantically searching for the blonde vampire barbie.

A quick survey and Lilura's spirits lessened just a little. They were still hilarious outnumbered and literally outgunned.

As she observed, the fighting seemed to be slowing down.  The werewolves looked like they were wading through syrup and clawing through cotton, but the siren's attention was focused on an archer aiming straight for Stefan Salvatore's heart.

Without a moment wasted, Lilura ran in front of the brother she loved to dub boring and serious.

The impact was much more painful than she had anticipated.

"What in the devil's name...?"

Snapping out of his daze, Stefan yanked the arrow from Lilura's back and threw it back to the perpetrator.

A hand pulled the Siren up shortly after.

"You ok?"

In true Lilura fashion, the young woman cackled, "What? You getting sleepy?"

The forest eyed Salvatore sent her a small smile. She watched as he raised a hand to pat her on the back and —

Then he was on the ground with a stake driven into his back, dangerously close to his heart.

A few yards away, another familiar leather clad body fell to the ground, wooden bullets imbedded in his skin like tattoos.

Lilura could only shake her head as fifteen or so werewolves circled closer, hungry like vultures, scorned like wolves. She was tearing them up, but it evidently wasn't fast enough. Some were already near and burning her arm hairs with their wretched flame throwers.

Maybe she could charm them all to sleep.

But another glance around her quickly squashed the plan. There were too many, and she had to focus. With fire literally in front of the siren's face, Lilura would not be able to properly use her enchantress powers to escape.

Suddenly, the remaining wolves dropped to the ground. They held their head in their hands, groaning in abject pain.

Appearing from the lunar crazed creatures like a god, a man of mystical properties spoke loud and clear, "Elijah made a promise to Elena. I'm here to see it's upheld.

His eyes fell on a limping Caroline and Tyler, "You need to go. Get out of here. Now."

Lilura obeyed too, snatching up the unconscious Salvatore siblings and hauling then pass the warlock.

"He says: your promise is a promise too, Lilu." Jonas whispered.

The smile slowly spread across her stunning face until it was ear to ear. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes in amusement. That was Elijah Mikaelson, a young man who believed strongly in the best of family — in the best of Lilura.

"Tell Elijah he's going to be stuck with me for a long time," She chuckled. As an afterthought, the Siren turned around, "Always and forever."