The Sorceress | Klaus Mikaelson

T H I R T E E N

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"Wow, has your bar lowered," Damon remarks as he throws open Arabella's curtains. She hisses as the sudden sunlight burns her skin, speeding from under her covers to a shadowed corner.

"What the hell, Damon?!" Arabella shrieks tiredly, painfully watching as the blisters on her skin heal. Damon watches in amusement.

"You don't wear your Daylight ring to bed?"

"I took it off last night."

"While you were screwing the quarterback?" Arabella rolls her eyes, holding her hand out. Damon picks up the chunky blue ring from her bedside table, tossing it to his sister. "Caught him sneaking out this morning."

"You're not exactly one to judge, brother," She snaps, striding over to her bed and snatching her phone. "What about the reporter you've been dragging around?" Damon's silence confuses her, and what confuses her more is the saddened look in his eyes as she turns around.

"Andie's dead," Damon speaks bluntly, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Stefan killed her last night. Punishment for looking for him," Arabella sets her phone down, sighing.

"I'm sorry," She gave her condolences quietly. "But I told you to leave it alone--"

"Is now really an 'I told you so' moment?"

"I'm trying to help you," Arabella frowns at him. "I really am sorry, though. Andie was... nice. I liked her."

Damon snorts. "No you didn't."

"No, I didn't," The corner of Arabella's lip raises slightly. "But you did. So I'm sorry, but if you have any sense at all, you'll stop before he kills someone you really care about," Arabella brushes past him, making her way to the shower.

But she's smarter than to think Damon will actually listen.

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Arabella huddles over the backpack that lays on the floor, stuffing an assortment of herbs and potions into it, alongside a few blood bags. She's planning a trip. A very short trip, but a trip. To visit... friends.

She's spent the day drinking, and thinking, and then drinking some more. Mystic Falls is stressful. It always has been. It reeks of death and despair. She needs out, just for a day or two.

"Are you going somewhere?" Arabella sighs at Damon's voice, sitting up. She had been hoping to get out before he got home.

"Just taking a short trip," She explains, standing up and walking over to her closet. She had already decided on ripped black jeans and a tank top, considering the heat. Snatching a long flannel from the closet, she walks back towards her backpack. "I should be back soon."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I just think I need to get out--"

"Stefan's humanity is still in tact," Arabella tenses up at his words, slowly standing up from where she had been crouched on the ground. She looks up at her brother with a weary gaze.

"What?"

"I talked to him, Bella," Damon stresses, walking forward. "He's trying to pretend it's gone, but I talked to him. The broody, boring Stefan we know and love is still there, he's just trying to get Klaus off of our backs."

"For Elena," Arabella realizes, nodding. "Makes sense."

"Does that mean you'll help in getting him home?"