The Devil's Angel

Her heart felt heavy as she watched the burnt house. It was destroyed beyond recognition. She couldn’t even make out where her room was. She closed her eyes and sighed loudly, trying to release her inner frustrations.

“This is what damage is like,” she paused as she took her crossed arms in her hands, in a very self-comforting gesture, “It’s irreparable. Even if you build a house on it. It’ll never be the same again,” she finished and opened her eyes.

“Why here?” Enrique questioned, appearing from behind her, “Why relive it again?”

“Because it remind me of things,” she shrugged, keeping her back on him.

“Mia, you don’t need to remind yourself of the pain,” he paused and shook his head, “Of all the pain you felt for your…loss,” he said.
“No, Enrique. You got it all wrong,” she said as she turned to face him, “Not of loss but of lies and betrayal,” she stated.

“What do you mean?” he asked, slipping his hands in his pockets as he took a step forward.

“She sold me out,” she replied.

“What? What do you…”

“Claire sold me out. To Silas,” she said and looked at Enrique, gauging his reaction. She saw his eyes widen and his mouth hanging open for a second before he placed the mask on his face.

Mia had her answer and she knew she would’ve missed it if she weren’t paying attention. She had to say though, he was good. “I trusted her. I cared for her and it turns out, she was ally of Silas all along,” she scoffed.

“She…uh, didn’t seem like it. She was nice and cared about you,” he replied to her accusation, not knowing what to make of Silas part. How did she knew about Silas?

“Which make the matters worse,” she argued, “I cared back in return and this is what I get.”

"I'm sorry," he took a step forward towards her.

Mia scowled at him and he was taken aback by her reaction. Knowing her, he knew she wasn't capable of such thing when he was only trying to empathize with her. "Is everything...are you alright?" he asked, blinking twice.

"You know, I was researching...about the supernatural when I came to Mystic Falls first," she said, ignoring his question. "My project, which I didn't like to talk about," she clarified, seeing confusion on his face.

"Oh," Enrique said, not having any idea where she was going with the revelation. "What..." he started.

"I found you were not...uh, human exactly," she cut him off, "the last night," she added because she knew it would click in him the point of this conversation.

Enrique inhaled sharply as he looked at her, "Last...That's why you were mad at me," he said more to himself than her, "why you needed a break."

"So, you're not denying it?" she asked as she crossed her arms and squared her shoulders.

"What? No," Enrique said but Mia took a step forward, her posture still rigid as she raised her finger to silence him.

"I already know about that, Enrique. You don't have to explain this. There are things I don't understand and I want answers but first, I have to ask. Were we engaged?"

"Yes," he simply said.

"Where's the ring?" she asked, raising her hand to show she didn't have any.

"We lost it," he replied, squinting her eyes at her.

"Explain," Mia took on an authoritative tone.

Enrique had never been in this position before and he wasn't very comfortable at the moment. He was also worried about her. She never took that tone with anyone, much less him. He took a deep breath before starting, "When I asked you the big question, Mia. You said, yes. You agreed and I had the ring ready but then suddenly, there was this fire and I had to get you out. I lost the ring there. It never made it your finger."

"What fire?" she asked confused, dropping her arms. She didn't see the fire in her dream. It was Damon with his breath taking but pained face which tugged at her heart.

"The whole forest had caught fire, somehow. It took days to extinguish it. The house was completely burnt. I stayed that night at your place and then, the next day you left for Mystic Falls."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked.

"Because, there was no point," he argued.

"There is a point, Enrique. These are things that I don't remember and they matter to me. No matter how small or insignificant, they're part of me and you have no right to keep them hidden or lie about them," she argued back.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming herself. "Does Damon and Stefan know?" she asked.

"Know what?" he was confused again. What was up with her today?

"That you're their brother?" she raised her eye brows at him when she saw his widen.

"Ok, Mia. You need to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing's going on, Enrique. I just want answers and you better give me the true ones because I think I deserve them."

He shook his head and swallowed. "Ok. I'll give you whatever you want. Can we go somewhere else?" he looked around at their surroundings, "Somewhere comfortable where we can talk freely," he suggested.

Mia crossed her arms again as she narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't you see, Enrique? I don't wanna be calm and comfy here. I want answers because they're nagging me and..." she took a breath, "You're the only one who can answer me. So, I'm asking you...to just help me here."

"No," he sighed.

"What?" she said rather sharply, not believing that he just out right denied her.

He smiled and shook his head, "I said about them. They don't know me."

Mia looked skeptically at him for a moment, "Why not?" she asked.

"Probably because they never cared. And I never wanted to them near me or to know me."

"Why? They were your brothers, were they not?"

"Yes but it's just that I never liked them," he shrugged.

"Reason being..." Mia asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and excitement that she was gaining such knowledge.

"Giuseppe loved his wife and she died after giving birth to Stefan and he was pretty wasted and all. Then, after some years he had a short time fling with my mother who was working at his house."

"Oh," Mia said almost absently. She hadn't expected that. Though she knew about Zach.

"Well, he never accepted me as his son though he took care of mother and me. I never met him even but he used to send us money and everything was fine. Until then, I was only Enrique Parisi, carrying the name of my mother's family."

"So, her family accepted you easily?" Mia asked.

"Uh, no. She was uh, disavowed by her father. So, me taking on their name, nobody bothered."

"Why was she," Mia paused and swallowed, feeling bad about asking, "You know disavowed?"

"I really don't know. Sensitive topic. She never liked to talk about it," he shrugged off the matter with a flick of his hand and continued, "So, one day, Giuseppe came over and he was really upset. Mother invited him in, of course. He told us that his sons, Damon and Stefan had both died at the battle against the dark ones; creatures of the night."

"Oh my God," Mia said, the story becoming clear.

"He didn't had any heir or brother to carry the name of his family. So, he asked me to bear the name 'Salvatore' and welcomed me into his family, finally considering me one."

"You agreed, just like that?" Mia asked.

"Yes, well. Mother insisted. I didn't like him, of course. You do understand, right? I felt unimportant and secondary," he said but his voice was same, showing no emotion like the rest of his conversation.

"Sure," Mia nodded, feeling bad for him, "I'm sorry."

"No need," he smiled, "So, that's it. What else?"

"Ok," she sighed, "Uh, I know that you're a werewolf," she stated and waited for his reaction. When it never came, she continued, "Are Damon and Stefan like, hybrids of some sort?" she asked, stupid asking that question, she wasn't sure why.

Enrique chuckled, "No, they're not. They're just vampires. I know what you're wondering, it was my mother. She carried the gene," he said.
"Oh. Of course," she said, now understanding why she felt weird asking it. It was the most obvious thing.

"Werewolves are immortal right?" she asked.

"No, they're not immortal. They do age and die. They can easily outlive humans though because of the healing power they have. It kind of slow the aging process but it happens and they do die of old age," he explained.

Mia nodded at him, understanding a little more about the world she lived in when another question popped in her mind. "Why did you tell Zach not to trust you anymore?"

"Zach?" he said.

"Zach, yes. I read his journal and he wrote that you told him not to trust you after that night...it was some special night...I don't remember what it was called but he said that you were scared. What were you scared of?" she asked.

"The night of comet passing?" he asked, his voice a little strained and it alerted Mia.

"Yes, that's the one. Why were you scared?"

"Uh," he hesitated, unsure of how to answer that one.

Mia saw his hesitation and anticipation built inside her. There was something important here, she knew that but what could it possibly be? She thought about all his answers and how easily he provided them. What was wrong with this one? Then another thought hit her and she gasped.

"You carried the name 'Salvatore'? You had children?" she asked, particularly to no one and Enrique winced, "You must have been married and all... with a family and..." she breathed deeply, "How did you..." she paused, "You say they age and," she looked at him, checking his profile. He looked so young, she couldn't imagine all the things she just said about him. "You look twenty something. It's not possi...it doesn't make any sense. You need to tell me, Enrique. What the hell is going on?" she looked at him huge, panicked eyes.

Enrique was freaked out by her behavior by this point. He should never have listened to her. He stepped forward and raised his hands, "Mia, Mia. Calm down. I'll tell you everything, just calm down. Before I tell you this, I need to ask you. How much do you remember? The memories? I know they're coming, how much you know?" he asked.

"I uh, I...had all from start to uh, till the moment I died here...when uh, Maya killed me. Enrique, what's going on?"

"From the start, you said. Where was the first or which was?" he asked, putting his hand on her shoulders.

"With you. I was playing with you. We were both running and I had to leave and then, that accident happened and I woke with Rose and then I was engaged to you...Enrique, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Mia. I promise you, everything will be fine. You just...I still don't know, if you're ready but know this, Mia. Everything will change you for once again."

"What do you mean?" she asked, "Nothing but the truth, Enrique,"" she said with finality in her voice.

"Are you really ready to know that?"

"Yes," she gave him a single, rigid nod.

"I...I'm not him," he said in a firm tone, knowing he would regret it later but he couldn't see her breaking in front of him like this as if she was alone and lost in this world with nothing to help her.

"What?" she asked, her heart jumped in her throat.

"I'm not Enrique," he repeated in the same firm voice.

Mia stepped back from him, scared and unsure of the next words that were to come from his mouth. "What are you?" she asked, her voice thick with fear. She took another step back, "Who are you?" she asked again, her panicked eyes searching her surrounding for a beacon of hope for survival in case things went downhill from here.

"Answer me. Who are you?" she said and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Seeing he was about to answer, Mia held her breath and stared at him wide eyed.