For What You Are

“Well it certainly has changed,” Jayne said as she set her bag down next to her seat after an afternoon of trekking the streets of Mystic Falls.

“Time does that,” Hailey replied, sitting across from Jayne. “Do you want a drink?”

“I’ll get it,” Jayne responded as Hailey moved to get up. “What do you want?”

“Just a coke,” she replied.

“Nothing alcoholic?” Jayne asked.

“Around here, I’m still underage. And one of my old IDs won’t work when every single person in this room except those couple of tourists over there thinks I’m eighteen.”

“Your loss,” she said, standing up.

“You do know that they all think you’re Kara,” Hailey commented. “So you’re going to have to act your eternal age.”

“Oh…damn,” Jayne muttered before walking over to the counter and asking for two cokes.

“Haven’t seen you around here before,” the guy behind the counter said.

“New in town,” Jayne mumbled, taking the drinks. “Thanks.”

Walking back to where Hailey was, Jayne walked past someone who looked vaguely familiar. But she found herself walking straight past them like it was reflex…which it was. Because back when she’d been in California (just checking in on Kara last year), she’d had a run in with some werewolves and a purposeful avoidance of Katherine Pierce. But one of the werewolves that had particularly annoyed her – Mason Lockwood – sat there with his nephew Tyler and other than a pang of ‘Damn I want to kill him’ she gave no recognition.

“So, now that you’re back in town, what are you intending to do?”

“Monitor things I guess,” Jayne said. “Kara’s been acting a bit strange. I might need to keep an eye on her. And while I’m here I might have a look around for Katherine. She and I have a score to settle.”

“I think everyone has a score to settle with her,” Hailey answered, taking a sip of her drink. “Talk to any vampire in town and the odds are they’ll all want her dead as much as you do. She’s made a lot of enemies in her time.”

“Mmm,” Jayne murmured in agreement. “But she chose a really bad enemy in me. ’Cause I’ve carried this vendetta against her for the past three hundred years.”

“You really know how to hold a grudge don’t you,” Hailey commented.

“Well, better than Kale anyway,” Jayne replied as she spotted him walking in. Expecting him to come over, Hailey shuffled to the side but he didn’t. So, perhaps he did carry a grudge. Instead of sitting with them, he looked straight over their heads heading to the back of the room where he sat in a shady corner.

“What’s up with him?” Jayne asked, staring at him suspiciously as three others joined him. “Look’s like he’s dealing drugs the way he’s acting.”

“Nah, those guys aren’t into drugs. They’re his friends, well most of them besides Sarah.”

Jayne threw up her hands, “I maintain that it was self-defence!”

“Hey I don’t mind,” Hailey replied. “Frankly, she was a bitch. But Kale is my husband so I did have to tolerate her.”

“Yeah, yeah, for better or for worse,” Jayne said, emphasising her disinterest with a yawn earning a disapproving glance from Hailey. “What? It’s not like it really mean’s anything. I mean… ‘Till death do us part’? You guys are already dead!”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Hailey started.

“You’re right, I don’t.”

“I love him, and I want to be with him forever.”

“You got that wish ten years ago when you turned him. Then you had to keep with tradition and marry him, why I still have no clue. Trust me, in a hundred years, one of you’ll be dead because you got annoyed. For some reason I’m betting on the older and stronger vampire.”

“I wouldn’t do that to him.”

“Yeah you say that now.”

“Could you have killed Nathaniel?”

If Jayne was a cartoon, her eyes would’ve flashed red. “Probably not. But I wouldn’t have married him.”

“Why?”

“Because someday,” Jayne hesitated, “someday one of us would’ve died. Probably not by each other’s hands, but because of something else. And with a bond that strong, how can you live on after that? Especially if you’re immortal.”

“You find a way,” Hailey responded. “But it’s best not to think about it. It’s better to live in the now.”

“That might be so,” Jayne responded. “But my past has been dictating my present lately. And 'now' really sucks.”