Chapter 23: 2.8

CRESCENT MOONWords: 16658

Arielle walked next to Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena. The girl didn't really want to be there, but she knew she'd never hear the end of it from Caroline, so she sucked it up.

"Here we are. Senior year!" Caroline said, as excited as she could.

"Anyone else think it should feel slightly more empowering?" Bonnie asked making Arielle nod.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." she muttered.

"Ok. So prank night was a bust. But we are accepting it and moving on." Caroline announced.

The girls started walking as Bonnie spoke, "You're right. I mean, why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriend hinder this experience?"

"Yes! And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid by a psycho, I spent the summer with, put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day?"

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘐 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦." Arielle thought to herself as they slowed down and turned back to Elena who had stopped.

"Today's our anniversary." she said making the girls confused.

"What?" Arielle asked.

"Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year." she explained.

Bonnie sighed, "Yeah, you win."

Arielle scoffed, "Are we competing for all of our tragedies now?" she asked the Bennett witch sarcastically.

"Well, no, but-"

"Whatever, I'm gonna find Rebekah. See y'all later" she walked off without giving them another thought.

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Arielle was helping Caroline put up flyers for the bonfire when Elena came up to them, "I forgot about the bonfire." she commented seeing the flyers.

"You have to go." Caroline quickly demanded, "It's our first spirit squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole year-"

"Relax, Caroline. I'll be there." She assured with a small laugh.

Caroline went to say something but Tyler cut her off by kissing her making Arielle look away in disgust. Elena then noticed something red on the new hybrids shirt.

"Is that blood?" Elena asked making Caroline pull away and notice his shirt.

"Oh my God." Arielle muttered in disbelief. Caroline grabbed her boyfriend by the arm and dragged him to the nearest bathroom with Elena and Arielle close behind.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked as they entered the bathroom.

"Vampire 101...don't wear your breakfast to school." Caroline scolded as Elena checked the stalls to make sure no one was in there.

"Chill out. It's just a blood bag." he assured calmly.

"From where?" Arielle asked.

"Rebekah hooked me and Marcus up!" he told her.

"Rebekah?" Elena questioned, "Why are you talking to her?"

"Klaus told her to keep watch on me and Marcus. Protect his new assets." he said with a smile, as if he was almost.....proud?

"His what?" Caroline exclaimed in disbelief, "Why are you amused by this?" she asked noticing his smile.

Arielle noticed the tension starting to rise and excused herself from the bathroom. She wasn't going to get in the middle of that argument.

~~~

As Arielle walked to Alaric's classroom, she ran into Marcus, who gave her a hug as she got closer to him.

"I definitely wasn't expecting that." the girl muttered as they pulled away.

"We haven't seen each other in such a long time, Elles. What were you expecting?" he asked.

"Umm, well last time we talked, I kinda broke up with you, so I definitely didn't expect a hug."

"I guess, but we basically grew up together and I don't think that our breakup should mean our friendship has to end, right?"

"Sure." she answered unsurely but it seemed to satisfy Marcus. He swung his arm around her shoulder and walked into Alarics classroom where her sister, Elena, and Stefan already were.

She took a seat next to Caroline who gave her a pointed look, which she waved off as Alaric came in and started talking.

"Welcome back, seniors. Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders...Native Americans."

As if on cue, Rebekah entered the classroom, "What about the Vikings?" she asked with fake curiosity as Arielle and Caroline tried to hide their smile as she sat next to them.

"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled into the United States." he informed her hesitantly, "Who are you?"

"My name's Rebekah. I'm new and history's my favorite subject." she informed with a smile.

"I wonder why." Arielle muttered and only those with supernatural hearing heard. Stefan and Marcus ignored her comment, Rebekah sent her a small glare, while Caroline snorted at the comment as Alaric started teaching.

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Arielle was in Alarics classroom once again, but instead of learning history, she was learning how to make stupid plans. She was listening to the, '𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥' as she called them, plan to vervain Stefan and get him to flip the switch.

"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire. Then when he's distracted..." Elena began looking towards Alaric to finish.

"I'll shoot him." he finished.

"Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?" Damon asked.

"As much as I hate to agree with him, I'm wondering the same thing." Arielle spoke.

Elena shook her head, "I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this. I don't trust Stefan won't hurt her." she told him before turning to Caroline, "Caroline, are you covered?" she asked.

"Yes!" the blonde confirmed, "I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"We're forgetting a key player here." Damon voiced, "Rebekah? Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow."

"Which is why it's your job to keep her away." Elena spoke.

"How?" he asked, "She's an original. Last I checked, we're out of daggers."

"Not everything with originals can be solved with daggers." Arielle commented.

"Exactly." Elena agreed, "So you're gonna have to preoccupy her with your charm."

Arielle snorted, "Actually, let's go back to the daggers."

"Yeah, I agree with her." Alaric spoke.

Damon turned to him, "Are you ever not going to be mad at me?"

Alaric smiled bitterly, "Doubtful."

"Sorry, I'm late." Tyler said as he walked into the classroom.

"We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while." Elena explained.

"You can't do that to Stefan." Tyler denied quickly.

Arielle frowned, "Why not?" she asked.

"Trust us, Tyler, it's in his best interest." Elena added.

"Yeah. But it's not in Klaus's." he said.

"But, Klaus, killed you, Tyler." Caroline reminded him, "You know, why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion?"

"Uh-oh." Arielle muttered in realization.

"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything." Tyler said.

"Oh, boy." Damon said as realization flooded him as well.

"Ok, can we cool it on the commentary, please?" Caroline snapped.

"What is it?" Elena asked as Damon takes a vervain dart.

"I'm just gonna go." Tyler said and started to turn around but Damon rushed and stabbed the dart in his neck making him pass out.

"What are you doing?" Caroline yelled, leaning down and grabbing her boyfriend's head.

"He's sired, Care." Arielle informed.

"What?" Alaric asked.

"Sired. He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him." Damon explained.

"Loyal how?" Elena asked.

"He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. But maybe not so much in hybrids."

"If you think about it, it makes sense." Arielle voiced earning a confused look from everyone, "Think about it, Klaus's blood freed him from the pain of turning on the full moon, that's why he's grateful, that's why he's sired." she explained.

"How do I fix him?" Caroline asked her sister hopeful.

Arielle went to answer but Damon beat her, "Get a new boyfriend." he told her making her frown.

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Arielle was walking around alone, she was with Rebekah but then Marcus showed up and they started flirting, and she wasn't going to witness that.

"Hello, Arielle." Stefan said as he started walking next to her.

"Hey, Steffy! How you doing?" she asked with a fake smile.

"Great!" he answered, "How about you?"

Arielle furrowed her brows, "What do you care?" she asked back.

"I don't." he assured, "But Klaus does, so I have to keep him informed and all that." he told her making the girl more confused.

"Klaus?" she repeated in disbelief making the vampire nod, "Why does he care?"

Stefan shrugged, "Don't know, don't care! But he asked me to make sure you were fine and blah blah blah." he said coldly, "Now, you seem fine, so I have to go keep an eye on the human blood bag." he said before walking away.

"Human blood bag?" she muttered to herself, "That's a good one, I should've thought of that." she laughed to herself as she walked to get a beer.

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Arielle was off to the side talking to some people when Rebekah pulled her aside, "Your friends are distracting me. Why?" she asked angrily.

"Well, the only friends I have are you and your brother, so-"

"Arielle!"

"Fine, they want to put Stefan down. Get him to flip his switch back." she explained.

"So? That still doesn't explain why Damon's teaching me how to eat a marshmellow."

"Damon said, '𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸', so they had Damon distract you." Arielle explained.

Rebekah nodded as she took in her words, "And they thought that would work?" she scoffed, "Do I look like a fool?"

"Exactly!" Arielle agreed, "They have no common sense."

"Who has no common sense?" Marcus asked as he walked closer to them.

"No one." they both answered at the same time.

As

"Okay." he then looked towards Rebekah, "Is Damon still following you around?"

"Well, I stabbed him in the stomach, so I think he can take a hint."

Marcus smiled and held out his hand for her to take, which she gladly did as she said, "I'll talk to you later, Arielle."

"Bye, Bekah!" the were-witch called out as they walked away.

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Arielle was walking back home, enjoying the fresh night air, when her phone rang. She took out her phone and saw an unknown number, she hung up and put her phone back into her pocket.

Then, she felt someone touch her shoulder. She quickly turned around and saw no one there. She kept walking home, now being more aware of her surroundings.

A few moments passed before her phone rang again and she saw the same unknown number pop up. She debated answering as the phone kept ringing. Just before the last ring, she clicked answer.

"Hello?" she said hesitantly through the phone as she looked around the street.

"𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰, 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦!" the familiar voice made Arielle let out a breath of relief.

"Thank God! I thought you were a serial killer." she kept walking before saying, "Well, you are. I just thought you were one that was following me right now, and-"

"𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘐𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?" he cut off.

Arielle was surprised at how worried his voice sounded, "Yeah! Everything's fine." she assured, "I was just walking home and I thought I felt something, but no one's here."

"𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵." he muttered as silence overcame them for a couple moments.

"Why'd you call?" Arielle asked, breaking the silence, "Do you need something?"

"𝘕𝘰!" he denied, "𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨."

Arielle snorted, because that didn't sound like something Klaus would do, like, at all, "Really?" she questioned in complete disbelief.

"𝘠𝘦𝘴." he answered, "𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵."

"You mean, you drugging me?"

Arielle heard Klaus sigh before speaking, "𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦?"

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed through the line, "I didn't think the 'Great Klaus Mikaelson' apologized for drugging people."

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵." he said firmly, "𝘉𝘶𝘵, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴."

"I'm honored, that I'm an exeption." she joked. She was glad Klaus wasn't here to notice her smile, that she didn't even notice. It was an ear-to-ear smile, like a kid on christmas smile.

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨?"

"Good." she answered as she finally mader her way to her porch, taking out her keys and opening the front door.

"𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢'𝘴?" he asked as Arielle walked into her house and set her keys down, walking furthur into the house.

Arielle sighed, she definitely didn't need to explain this to him, but why did she 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 too? If she told him, he'll know something only two people know, and she wasn't sure if they were at that level of trust yet.

She bit her lip, trying to decide whether to tell him the truth or not, she decided she would, so she said, "It was my one year anniversary of being sober. And since I couldn't celebrate with Elijah, I figured I'd just do it on my own."

Arielle felt liked hours passed before Klaus spoke again, "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘥? 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴-"

"Well, not technically. I'm addicted to pills, not alcohol. So, I 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 haven't relapsed."

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴-"

"Look, I know what I'm dealing with, okay? I didn't relapse, because my addiction is pills, not alcohol, pills. So, don't worry."

"𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵." he relented.

"Am I ever wrong?" she joked. When Arielle heard him laugh through the phone, she felt butterflies in her stomach.

Talking to him felt natural, like there wasn't any pressure. Everytime Arielle talked to someone she felt like biting her tongue, but with him it felt like she could say whatever and he wouldn't judge.

She walked into her room as Klaus started telling her about his hybrids, which she listened because he sounded so proud of it, he sounded happy. And that was something Arielle hadn't heard from him since she knew him.

So they spent the whole night talking, about nothing and everything. And when Arielle fell asleep, Klaus stayed on the line until her phone died.

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The next morning, Arielle woke up to the sound of Caroline yelling at her to come into the living room. She groaned in annoyance as she got off her bed and walked into the living room.

As she walked into the living room she saw her sister and mother with a pair she'd never seen before, But they did seem, almost, familiar, to her.

She gave her sister a confused look making her take in a deep breath before speaking, "Ari, these are Corrine and Liam. Your-"

"Your parents!"

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𝐲𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐦, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬????

𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐣𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭

𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬....

𝐄𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐲𝐲𝐲𝐲