AFTERMATH [ 2 ] | LEGACIES

E I G H T

"Any updates on your end?" I asked into the phone, sitting in my bedroom after Rebekah whisked my mother away to talk to her. 

Elena, Damon, and Bonnie were all sitting on my head, listening to the conversation while I had Alaric on speaker.

"Jeremy found Landon and Rafael, and I'm probably gonna need you back here," he replied. "There was a gargoyle attack."

"A what?!" all four of us said together, and I glared at the other three since Alaric wasn't supposed to know I brought them back to New Orleans with us.

"Who was that? The voices weren't British enough to be the Mikaelsons," Alaric said.

"Well, Ric, the only one who has a British accent and is still in this country is Blondie Bombshell," Damon said.

"Damon?" Alaric asked over the phone while Elena whacked her husband in the arm, giving him scolding eyes.

"Hey, buddy!" he said, not giving a crap.

"It looks like you're busy on your end, too... what's going on?" Alaric asked. "I thought when you said you needed to leave Stefanie here for a weekend away, you two meant a romantic one."

"Um..." I said, scratching the back of my head even though I knew Alaric couldn't see me. "My mom's alive?"

"What?"

"Well, she's not alive," Elena said. "She's a vampire."

"What?!"

I explained to Alaric that we weren't sure how this was possible, or where she had been all these years. He told me all of these creatures were showing up with the knife, so he sent Dorian away with it to keep it safe, and so the creatures could pop up far away from the Salvatore School.

"Maybe Lorelle is another monster," he replied.

"Wouldn't she have come to see me at the Salvatore School, then? If she was coming for the knife? She wouldn't have attacked Bonnie first, she wouldn't have known I was coming to see Bonnie."

"She attacked Bonnie?!" Alaric exclaimed, once again. I could already see the white hairs growing from how much I stressed that man out. He sighed, and said, "Look, have Freya and Bonnie do magical whatever to figure out whether that's really your mom or not, and make it back to the school. I might need help with protecting the students here if these creatures keep showing up."

"Alright," I said.

Before he could hang up, I added, "Oh, and Ric? Make sure your daughter doesn't try jumping Rafael to make him love her."

I didn't give him a chance to respond when I ended the call, but I did hear the start of what would probably be another "What?!"

-

We were up in Freya's study, both her and Bonnie performing spells and tests. I stood on the opposite side of Lorelle with Elena and Damon. I was leaning my head on Elena's shoulder, and her arms were around me. I never really thought I would become friends with them, not after my old flame with Stefan, but having a piece of him was nice. I didn't still love him or anything, but I wish I could have made my amends to his fixed memory.

"Blood matches," Bonnie said, looking between Lorelle and I.

"So, ancient vampire is the mother of the other ancient vampire," Damon said, his usual sarcasm.

Elena tried to scold him with her eyes again, and she walked towards my mother, her arms crossed. "I don't understand. If you were alive all this time, why didn't you come find your daughter? Why didn't you look for the Mikaelsons?"

"I don't remember how I got here," Lorelle replied. "I woke up maybe a year ago in a time that isn't my own. Things now are weird, carriages don't need horses, people live in houses all lined up in order, food falls out of rectangular boxes. I just knew I had to try to find my family. I had magic at first, so I kept trying a locator spell on this."

She pulled out a chain with a ring on it.

"To try to find Elijah... but it wouldn't let me anywhere specific, so I started asking around in places where the ring was bringing me. That's when I ran into my first vampire. I don't know who they were, or their name, but they asked me if I knew the Mikaelsons personally. I said I was the love of Elijah's life, and the next thing I knew they're biting their wrist and forcing me to drink their blood before snapping my neck. I woke up hungry and fed, and that's when I realized. I spent the last year finding leads trying to find any trace of my family, and it lead me to Mystic Falls, to Bonnie. I had heard stories of Elijah Mikaelson's daughter, Lilah, and that's how I knew my daughter, that's how I knew you, were still alive."

I looked down, trying not to be sad. "Well," I said. "Now that we know you're really my mom, I need to go back to the Salvatore School."

"You just got here, you're leaving already?" Marcel asked. "C'mon, Cous."

"There's some crazy things happening there, and I gotta get back if I'mma keep your sister safe," I said to him, referring to Hope. "I'll be back as soon as I can..."

"Honey, maybe I can go with you?" Lorelle asked, looking at me with hopeful eyes.

I looked at her, still untrusting.

"Actually, Lorie," Rebekah said, linking arms. "I think it's best you stay here with us, so we can figure out what's going on, how you're here... and maybe if we can figure out how to do this with Elijah and Nik."

I looked at the woman, realizing for the first time she could be the answer to the project we had been working on. How the heck to get Hope and my dad back.

When I left, I left Bonnie, Elena, and Damon there. They said they wanted to help out however they can, Elena and Damon on research while Bonnie and Freya performed spells and looked through grimoires. As I walked to my car, Lorelle chased after me.

"Lilah, please wait!"

I stopped, turning to look at her, annoyed.

"You're angry with me, and I can't seem to pinpoint why."

I glared at her, hating how much she looked like me.

"Maybe because you didn't tell my dad about me," I said. "Maybe because growing up without a mother was hard, and growing up and watching my dad die was harder. Because maybe I want to know you so bad, but I'm scared if I do, you'll die like dad, and I have to deal with losing a parent, the same one, again. And I had to lose dad a bunch of times, I don't know how many times I can become an orphan again."

"You look so much like him," she said, grabbing my face in hers. "My sweet Lilah Rae. I'm sorry for the pain."

"I need a hug," was the only thing I could say before I started to cry.

She pulled me into herself, her hug feeling as endearing and motherly as I had hoped it would. I started to sob into her shoulder, and she rubbed my back.

"My sweet, sweet babygirl," she said. "Mommy's home."