Chapter 2: Bad Moon Rising
"Thanks for coming, Ric. Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?"
Damon led the history teacher in the Salvatore's living room, where Elena, Stefan and a special guest were already seated.
Alaric's steps faltered when he saw the woman sitting in front of Stefan.
He would have thought she was Elena if it weren't for her eyes and the aura she couldn't suppress.
Nadja smiled at the history teacher. "Alaric, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Nadja."
"She's Katherine's sister," Elena added in. "But don't worry, she's on our side."
Nadja's smile was neutral but on the inside, she was cackling.
In front of these children, she had only needed to save their newly turned friend, Caroline Forbes, and shed a few tears over a sob story from five hundred years ago and they were already in the palm of her hand.
Sure, Damon and Stefan were still a bit hesitant to trust the girl, but since their beloved Elena had made friends with Nadja, they could only endure.
Alaric took it in stride, sitting next to Nadja despite feeling the hairs on his arms rise at her presence.
"Elena mentioned you needed my help?" He looked around the group.
Their concern now lied in The Lockwood's, particularly in Mason and Tyler, this uncle and nephew pair of werewolves.
Nadja could have provided the information for them, but she liked seeing them run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Besides, when she learned of Isobel's extensive research on her kind, she wanted to see if there was more.
In truth, she was very curious about the Original family and hoped to find something in Isobel's research at Duke.
***
Outside the Mystic Grill, Bonnie was talking with Stefan.
"Do you trust this Nadja?"
Stefan shrugged at her question. "Not really but she's also eager to kill Katherine so who am I to say no."
"But to kill her own sister?" Bonnie frowned. "And what's with her being a vampire and a witch? How is that even possible?"
Stefan heaved a small smile. "We live for eternity, Bonnie. You would be surprised at how many vampire siblings actually killed each other," he mused. "Her kind is rare so I don't know much about it. But I was hoping you could find out more."
"I'm not going anywhere near a five hundred years old witch-vampire," Bonnie shuddered. "And her eyes ... freaky."
Stefan completely agreed but they had more pressing matters at hand.
"So ... about that daylight ring for Caroline ..."
***
On a deserted road, Damon, Elena and Nadja were in Alaric's car, the man himself driving them to Duke.
Damon was in the passenger seat while Elena and Nadja shared the back seats.
"How are you doing back there?" When Damon was ignored, he turned to look at Elena. "You know, this whole pretending to hate me thing is getting a little silly."
When Elena still ignored him and favored talking to Nadja instead, Alaric snorted. "I don't think she's pretending. You did kill her brother."
The night Nadja returned to Mystic Falls, her sister went to the Salvatore's to antagonize Damon, ending with him snapping Jeremy's neck in anger.
Nadja had to applaud her sister's unique way to get on everybody's nerves.
"There is a huge asterisk next to that statement: he came back to life."
Elena snorted at Damon. "Yeah, thanks to a ring that you didn't know he was wearing."
"Why are you so sure I didn't know?"
"Did you?"
"Yes." Damon's face revealed his obvious lie and Elena picked up on it.
"You're lying."
Damon tried one last time to defend his cause. "Elena, I saw the ring! It's a big tacky thing. Hard to miss."
Alaric looked at his own ring, a shadow crossing his eyes before he glanced at the rearview mirror, his gaze catching Nadja's.
... freaky eyes indeed.
***
"Isobel was officially employed by the anthropology department given that most paranormal phenomenon is rooted in folklore," Alaric told them when they entered Duke university. He then led them to an office before clearing his throat. "Excuse me, hi. I'm Alaric Saltzman, I called earlier."
A young brunette woman turned around, her eyes looking over the group before her heartbeat rose — grabbing the attention of Nadja.
"Yes, of course," the girl clapped her hands. "I'm Vanessa Monroe, research assistant, comparative folklore." She looked strangely at Elena and Nadja before clearing her throat. "Uh, let me just grab Isobel's keys."
Alaric motioned to the group beside him. "These are my friends Elena, Nadja and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition."
Vanessa shook her head. "Oh please, Isobel's office is right through there. Isobel was one of my first professors. I'm a grad student. She was brilliant, and one of the reasons I went into folklore. Uh, I have to ask — has there been any news?"
Alaric shook his head and lied. "No, I'm afraid not."
"It's this way," she opened Isobel's office door and they followed her in, eyeing the huge stacks of books and folders. "I'll grab the light, feel free to look around. It's fascinating, isn't it?" Vanessa said before leaving.
Nadja was looking through a folder of the tomb vampires several minutes later when Damon looked around.
"Where'd she go?" He asked. It'd been quite some time since Vanessa had walked out.
At that moment, Vanessa came back into the room with the crossbow, shooting an arrow at Elena. Damon rushed over and put himself in front of Elena to protect her.
Vanessa had wanted to shoot one at Nadja too but the witch merely flicked her wrist, pinning Vanessa to the wall before Alaric physically restrained her.
***
While Elena helped Damon with the arrow, Alaric and Nadja stayed with Vanessa.
The young woman tried to stand up from her chair in vain, as Nadja pushed her back down.
"Please! I freaked out okay?" Vanessa looked at Alaric. "Alright, you would have done the same thing, it's not possible! Katherine Pierce can't be alive and Damon Salvatore died in 1864," she turned back at Nadja. "This is crazy, who are you? This is not supposed to happen, okay? I read Isobel's research."
Alaric sighed. "Well then, you should know just how possible this is."
Elena and Damon entered the room once again.
Elena walked over to introduce herself. "I'm Elena Gilbert, Isobel's daughter and a descendant of Katherine Pierce. And this is Damon Salvatore who you just shot."
Damon's smile didn't reach his eyes. "I'd be extra nice to me right now."
"Look, we need your help okay?" Elena pleaded, "We need to see all of Isobel's research, anything related to Mystic Falls."
Nadja inwardly sighed. It was really hard to keep her temper in check. If she didn't have a facade to maintain, Vanessa's heart would have long been out of her chest for daring to kill her.
***
"So ... what was it like?"
Nadja raised her head to look at Damon at his question.
"What do you mean?"
There were only the two of them in the room, Elena being in the next one and Alaric with Vanessa in another.
They were looking for research about werewolves in Mystic Falls ... well, the rest were. Nadja, on the other hand, was trying to find something on the Original family.
"What was it like ..." Damon repeated. "Growing up with a psychopath of a sister?"
Nadja softly chucked, looking as though she was reminiscing the past. "Katherine wasn't always like the one you know today ..." her voice was soft. "We were very close. We spent almost every waking hours with each other." Seeing Damon's perplexed look, Nadja gave a small shrug. "Twin things, I guess," she then added. "But I failed to realize she was jealous of my gift. She thought there could only be one of us in the light."
Nadja looked as though she was trying her hardest not to cry, and Damon gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry," he comforted her. "Katherine'll definitely pay for all that she did."
Nadja sent him a grateful look before they both focused back on their search.
Inside, though, Nadja was making hurl motions, before applauding herself for her excellent acting skills.
***
"Hey guys, check this out," Alaric called the group over where he was standing with Vanessa.
In a corner, Nadja stealthily traced two claw-like symbols on the book she'd been looking for, making it disappear before she joined the others.
"There's no record of werewolf mythology in Mystic Falls, but here are some records of some of the lesser-known legends. Everything from Scandinavian skin-walkers to the Maréchal de Retz," Vanessa gave them a book with drawings. "Tonartsliitsii Metslii, which roughly translates into the 'curse of the sun and the moon'."
"It's Native American." Alaric said.
"Aztec," Nadja corrected.
She knew all about this curse since her sister's part in it had led to Nadja's entire family being slaughtered.
Vanessa nodded, agreeing. "It explains one origin of the werewolf curse traced through Virginia. The short story: six hundred years ago, the Aztecs were plagued by werewolves and vampires. They terrorized the countryside, made farming and hunting impossible until an Aztec shaman cursed them, making vampires slaves to the sun and werewolves servants of the moon. As a result, vampires could only prowl at night and werewolves could only turn on a full moon. When the full moon crests in the sky, who's ever unlucky enough to fall under the werewolf curse turns into a wolf."
"Can they control the transformation?" Damon asked.
Nadja rolled her eyes. "Darling, if it were a choice, it wouldn't be called a curse."
Oops, her usual level of sarcasm was already peeping through her facade.
"Werewolves will attack humans but instinct and centuries of rivalry have hardwired them to hunt their prey of choice: vampires." Vanessa declared.
Damon snorted. "Well, if werewolves were hunting vampires, I would know about it."
Vanessa shook her head. "Not if there aren't that many werewolves left alive. Hundreds of years ago, vampires hunted them almost to extinction."
Elena frowned. "Why would they do that?"
"To protect themselves," Vanessa paused before she dropped her next bomb. "Legend has it that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires."
All around the group, no one had the heart to smile.
"Oh ..."
***
That night, in the safety of her own home, Nadja opened the old book she had stolen from Isobel's office.
Right away, a single, archaic spell caught her gaze, her attention piqued.
"Interesting..."
It would appear that she was soon to meet an Original — at least in her dreams.
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