A life in the shadows

18

"Hide me!" Caroline ducked under the table. Siobhan looked around to see what it was she could be hiding from. Matt was nowhere to be seen.
"Who is it?"
"Tyler." She said.
"Oh." Elena said. "She kissed Tyler."
"I did not kiss Tyler!" Caroline said indignantly. "He kissed me."
"Whatever it was, you kissed. And then you ran from him."
"Caroline Forbes" Siobhan drawled, with a grin. "Do you like him?"
"A little bit..?" She frowned. "But I'm heartbroken. I can't like someone else."
"It's okay to move on. Look, Matt broke up with you because he couldn't handle your awesomeness. But that's okay, because one day you'll look back and you'll realise he was part of your journey into becoming this amazing woman that someone deserving will love. And maybe that someone is Tyler, maybe not, but you like him, and I can tell he likes you, so why not give it a try?"
"How many guys have you dated?"
"Okay, so when Matteo and I first started our friends with benefits thing, I had never been with anyone before. And then I kinda fell for him, and I knew that wasn't healthy, so I broke things off with him and tried to put myself out there. I dated a few guys, but they never made me feel the way Matteo did. And I could never actually have sex with them for some stupid weird reason so I gave up. After a while things sort of just flowed between us. I loved him and I'm sure he knew, but he didn't bring it up, to spare me any humiliation. And then we were super close friends, and I don't know. I think we started being a couple long before we were a couple."
"That's so cute." Caroline squealed again.
"Okay, so what do you say? Give Tywolf a chance?"
"Yeah." She grinned.
"Go on then. There's no time like the present." Elena encouraged. Caroline looked at her best friend.
"But what about you?"
"We'll be fine, Care. Go!" Elena nudged her. She nodded and walked over to him.
"I think that's another successful match, wouldn't you say, miss Gilbert."
"Why, yes indeed, Madame." She stopped short. "What's your last name?"
"I don't have one." She said. "When I left my family behind, I more or less forsook any claim I had on our family name."
"But it's your name too."
"I go by just Siobhan."
"It's a nice name."
"Thank you. I chose it myself. I named myself after the woman who helped me find a new life."
"Wait, so Siobhan isn't your real name?"
"I've been Siobhan much longer than I've been anyone else."
"I'm sorry."
"Okay. New rule." Siobhan sat up straight, determined. "No more sob stories. We are two strong women, who aren't defined by our pasts. It's been hard, I know, but today we are going to look forward."
"I like that."
"I'm still not buying you any alcohol."
"My brother's behind the bar. I can get it."
"Nuh uh. I'm supposed to be a responsible adult." Elena snorted. "I am being serious. No alcohol."
"Fine. As long as you take back the responsible adult part."
"Don't make me make you regret it, Elena. You know I will." Siobhan smiled. "Matteo's here."
"What?" Elena looked around. "No, he's not."
"Yeah, he is." Siobhan nodded at the door as he walked inside, "See?"
"How did you know?"
"I'm a vampire. I can hear things, Elena." She lied.
"Oh, right." She said. Matteo walked over.
"Hello, darling. Hi, Elena." He greeted.
"No." Siobhan shook her head.
"No to what?"
"I am hanging out with Elena for the rest of the day." Siobhan announced, head held high. "So I will see you tonight."
"Okay. I was just going to say I figured the thing out, but you girls have fun. You need anything?"
"Your car?" She asked him hopefully.
"Don't crash it." He pleaded before handing her the keys.
"Thanks." She grinned, standing up, and heading to the door, Elena right behind her. "Bye babe."
"See ya." He shook his head and walked over to the bar. He saw Jeremy and gave the kid a high five. "Hey, you have a job?"
"Well we need some source of income, we can't rely on Alaric forever."
"I'm sorry, dude."
"For what?"
"That you had to grow up too soon."
"Not your fault, man." Jeremy said. "So what'll you be having?"
"Bourbon please." He said, and Alaric came and sat next to him.
"Hi."
"Hey Alaric. How you doing?"
"I don't know." He said.
"Drink?" Matt asked. "On me."
"Sure," He said and ordered a beer. "So you're a Salvatore. Must be strange seeing your brothers after all these years."
"Strange to be able to talk to them. It doesn't feel real yet, that I can just walk over and actually say hi. That I can just give him advice or a hug."
"He's a lot different from what you remember."
"I know, they both are. But they're still Stefan and Damon. My little brothers. I helped raise them, too. Something like that- never goes away. I'm always going to see the little boys covered in paint who ran around the house driving everyone half mad."
"What was Damon like? As a child?"
"He cared a lot. He was smart, and he was really mischievous. He always wanted to help."
"Damon?"
"Yeah. I know he's a lot different now."
"He's misunderstood, I think."
"How'd you meet him?"
"I tried to kill him. He killed me."
"Right. Why not?"
"I heard you and Klaus are kind of friends?"
"Kind of, I guess. Similar to your story with Damon, only I didn't try to kill him. He tried to kill me, didn't really succeed."
"So you're friends?"
"I don't know what we are. Sort of friends, I'd say. I mean the whole blackmailing my brother? Friends don't do that."
"But...?"
"But he has been there for me before. So there's hope for him."

Matteo's phone started to ring. It was Kaia. He sat up straighter as he answered. "Hello?"
"Matt. How is your mission going?"
"It's different, from the normal ones."
"How so?" She asked and he looked over at Alaric for a second.
"I'll call you later with Siobhan."
"You have company?"
"Yes." He replied.
"Okay, I'll talk to you later." She hung up.
"Everything okay?" Alaric asked. He nodded, before drinking the last of his cup and paid Jeremy.
"Yeah, I got to go." He explained. He got three hundred dollar bills and passed it to Jeremy. "Here's your tip."
"Uh thats three hundred. Tips are usually five dollars, max."
"What can I say? I had good company."
"Listen, I appreciate you trying to help out-"
"Jeremy, it's a tip. Although, if ever you do need anything, just ask. Whether or not I'm in town."
"You're going to leave?"
"Not yet." He said. He wrote his number on a napkin. "Here, if you need advice or anything else whatsoever, you can reach me here."
"Thanks."
"Of course." Matteo gave the kid a little wave, nudged Alaric on the shoulder, before he walked out.
"Matteo!" He heard a voice behind him.
"Hello, Caroline." He smiled. "Hi, Tyler."
"Siobhan's hanging out with Elena all day."
"Yeah, I know, I'm just on my way home, I think."
"You think?" Tyler asked.
"I'm just trying to clear my head." He shrugged. "Anyways, how are you two doing?"
"We're good." Caroline smiled.
"Hey, I wanted to apologise, Caroline told me I bit you. I'm real sorry,"
"Hey, you were a wolf. It was your instinct to bite, it's fine, not your fault. You weren't really you at the time."
"Still, I'm sorry." Matteo nodded at the boy.
"So, what's going on?"
"I just have a lot to think about, I guess." He shook his head. "Hey so, um, when is Bonnie coming back. I had a favour to ask her."
"Not till the end of summer, sorry. Is it a witch favour?"
"Sort of. I was wondering if she could help me contact Emily."
"Oh, um, I'll ask her for you, if you want?"
"It's fine. She's on summer break. She should have fun right now. Anyways, I gotta head home. You kids stay safe."
"Vampire. Werewolf." Caroline pointed at herself and Tyler respectively. "I think we'll be fine."
"Alright," he chuckled and headed away. Once he was alone, he ducked into an alley and started to rise into the sky. He did have to look for the banshee. It seemed Caroline was its preferred host, that she was supposed to end up being the banshee but for some reason she wasn't.
Matteo flew over the town twice before he got a glimpse of the grey blur he'd come to recognise as the banshee. He followed it, and chased it for an hour before he caught up to it.
"Hey!" He called. It turned to him and opened what Matteo assumed to be its mouth. "I know what you're after!" He said quickly, before it could knock him out of the sky again. It cocked its head to the side. "Caroline Forbes. She's supposed to be your host, isn't she? What is it? What stopped you?"
The creature opened its mouth yet again, but instead of screaming, it rasped out words. "She was destined to be a creature of death."
"A vampire." Matteo frowned. "You sensed that, even then. She couldn't be your host because she would have screamed for her own death. She wouldn't have been able to become a vampire, the scream would have permanently killed her?"
"Yes."
"So you want her to host you know? Adults and teenagers don't survive the process. Isn't that why you tend to go after babies and toddlers?"
"Yes, but she's a vampire. I have to transfer my power into her."
"You can't find another host?"
"There is only one host per Banshee." The creature croaked out. "I must transfer the power into her. She won't be able to use it, being a vampire. But she was made to hold the power. And until I give it to her, she will never feel whole."
"So you just need to give her your power. What'll become of you?"
"I'll pass on."
"You'll die?"
"It is what is meant to be,"
"So you will pass your powers onto Caroline, but she won't have the same abilities?"
"Correct."
"What if she eventually dies? Will she have to pass on her power to someone else. Forgive my questions, there isn't much lore on banshees."
"We are husks containing the power. We bring the power to the human meant to bear it, and pass on. She will grow and survive, and if she dies, another will come to pass her power to the next host." The banshee explained.
"Will it hurt her?"
"No, it'll be more of a feeling of euphoria. She has a vampire body, it'll be able to carry the power. And she'll be receiving a part of her she never experienced."
"What if her body rejects it?"
"I will give you the answers you seek, but you must have patience." The banshee screamed and Matteo was once again knocked out of the sky, though this time unconscious. There was blood trickling out of his ears.