Glitch in the Reflection

Death of an Original

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Caroline asked El as she leaned up against the driver side door of her car.

“Nope.” El threw her bag into the truck of the blonde’s car. “But this is the best plan I could come up with after I realized my original one is a no go.”

Caroline’s brows furrowed at the confession. “Do I even wanna know?”

“Honestly?” The witch slammed the truck before walking to the passenger side and looked at the blonde over the car. “No.”

She shrugged. “As long as this isn’t a way to avoid Stefan.”

The brunette made a sound similar to a cat being strangled at the accusation. “I am not avoiding him.” El pointed a finger at her friend. “Why would I be? I just have things to do that don’t involve him.”

“Right.” Caroline drew out the word while giggling before looking over the Doppelganger shoulder. “And he is differently not behind you right now.”

The brunette’s eyes go wide before turning around to see the vampire staring at the two from across the street, no doubt having heard their entire conversation. “Great.” El mutters before turning back to Caroline. “Just give me a few.” The witch saw a glisp of a nod before she began to drag her feet in the man’s direction. When El reached him her fingers bounced around on her thigh. A nervous habit that transferred from one body to the other. “Stefan.”

“El.”

The seconds that tick by seemed to go on for forever, for the two teenagers did not know what to say to one another. Having enough of the tension of who would speak first, the witch spoke the question that was floating in her mind. “What are you doing here Stefan? I’m uh, kinda busy.”

“I wanted to check on you, seeing you weren’t at the Comet last night.” Stefan looked down before glancing into her eyes. “Caroline said you weren’t feeling well.”

El grimaces a bit while nodding. “Yes I was. Terrible headache. No amount of ibuprofen or spells would get rid of it.” 

The vampire squinted at the girl. “Funny. She said you had food poisoning.”

“Huh.” Elena’s lips puckered, knowing that she has been caught. “Well, I uh-you see…” her lips made a popping sound after not coming up with a believable excuse. “Yeah, I got nothing.” 

“What’s going on El?” Stefan questioned.

Said person just shocked her head. Not wanting his help. “I can’t tell you. It’s on a need to know basis.”

“‘Need to know basis?’” Stefan scoffed. “And Caroline is part of that group?”

El was taken back at the tone of voice he used. “Yes. Same with Jenna, Dasher, and my mentor. Jermey is too, but he’s been avoiding me recently so I haven’t been able to catch him up.”

“How many people have you told about this? About the supernatural?”

“I just told you.” It was the dopplegangers turn to squint at him, not liking this attitude coming from him. He was acting like she was a child that didn’t know how the world worked. She hated it. “Now if you excuse me I need to go, Care’s waiting.” 

Just as the witch was turning to walk away Stefan grabbed her arm. Acting on instinct, El muttered a spell. “Δύναμη εκατό ανδρών, έπεσε με.” The doppelganger witch ripped his hand off her arm ignoring the vampire’s shout of surprise, which then morphed into a scream of pain when she broke it. Kicking him away from her, she then held out her hand giving him a magical aneurysm to keep him from getting up. “I like you Stef, I really do. But grab me again,” she knelt down and tilted her head, “and you’ll find out what exactly I am capable of.” The body snatcher lifted the spell as she headed back to the car, trying to unsee the look of horror on the bunny eater’s face before he zoomed away.