For What You Are

“Having fun?” Damon asked out of the blue, coming up behind Kara and making her jump.
“I noticed you were.”

His expression made Kara believe that he honestly had forgotten the girl he’d been making out with less than an hour ago.

“You, a girl, that wall over there. Close proximity of the facial kind if I remember correctly.”

“All right. Let me explain,” he started.

“It’s all right,” Kara said, feigning understanding. “You’re a dick. I don’t think it needs much explanation.”

The hallway seemed like a great place to be to her at that moment, but Damon seemed incapable of letting her go.

“SHE kissed me,” he responded. “Something about some crazy-ass ex-boyfriend of hers. I barely even know her.”

“I don’t even know why I care,” Kara replied with a sigh. “It’s apparent that you don’t.”

“Er…” he had no response to that. “Look…I’m…sorry…”

“Why do I have trouble believing that?”

“Why do you dislike me so intensely?”

“I don’t!” But immediately upon saying it she knew the anger she felt towards him was really just jealousy. She’d just let it slip…and she could tell by his expression that Damon knew exactly what she felt.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked randomly, completely ignoring the direction and tone of the conversation.

“Fine,” she said grudgingly, accepting to dance with him. A slow song started up just as they entered and all she could say was, “You picked the worst possible time, didn’t you?”

“I actually quite like this song.”

“Really?”

“No,” he scoffed as he took her by the waist. “It’s absolutely horrible. It just gave me an excuse to talk to you in a place I know you won’t run away from me and I never see you again.”

“Which would be a major bonus for me,” Kara said, sick of bantering with him.

“Your necklace is very pretty,” Damon, said making an attempt at a compliment. One which Kara shrugged off indifferently. “It’s a strange colour for wood.”

“I never asked what was in it,” she responded. “I got it from the girl I live with, it belonged to her mother.”

“That was nice of her,” he muttered, distracted.

“Yeah, apparently I was sick this morning and she decided to give it to me even though I can’t actually remember being sick. It’s like there are these little gaps in my memories.”

“Unfortunately time does that to us all,” Damon said as the song ended. “Would you excuse me? I need to have a word with my brother. Don’t worry, I’ll send Elena over here to talk to you.”

Kara found herself being less angry and annoyed as she walked back into her corner. A doorway next to her that had been closed before stood open a crack and she could see a small beam of light shining through. Peeking through the door, Kara saw about five people gathered around the table, pouring over books that looked centuries old.

Leaning too close, Kara accidentally pushed the door forward. Within seconds she was pulled inside and pushed against the door – strong hands clamped over her mouth and throat.

“How many times do I have to tell you to leave her!” Kale called from across the room.

“But she looks like the sorceress!”

“She isn’t,” Kale said. “Let her go.”

Kara breathed out in relief as the hands moved away and she stepped forwards, rubbing at her sore neck. Kale came towards her and starting speaking to her, “Nothing is happening in here. Go back to the party.”

“You honestly expect me to believe that?” Kara asked in astonishment, bounding towards the table but bodies covered all the papers in a millisecond.

“Get her necklace!” Kale yelled.

A hand reached out towards her and tore Ally’s mum’s necklace from Kara’s neck effortlessly.

“Ouch!” she exclaimed looking around for who had the necklace. “Be careful, that’s not mine!”

“Vervain,” the guy with the necklace said, looking at it carefully. “Rosewood, Wolfsbane and…Yew? Honestly, who makes necklaces out of Yew trees?”

“Either way, she needs compelling. Somebody please do it now, I really want this meeting adjourned.”

Kara attempted to run back to the door. She had no idea what was going on here but she wanted out. Really fast. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what every single person in this room seemed to be. Kale had her up against the door again and all Kara could whisper was, “So much for being a helpless little nerd eh Kale?”

“Go back to the party,” he said, “There was nothing here.”

“There was nothing here,” Kara replied vacantly. Her necklace was pushed back into her hands as she walked back outside. The door closed completely behind her and she leant back into her corner twisting the necklace in her hands…

But her old and plaited vervain bracelet tingled lightly against her skin beneath her gloves.