ATHENA

Ah, thanksgiving.

As much of an asshole as I am, I do have a certain excitement that builds up over the holidays.

Even so, I can't say that I'm not feeling stressed as I wake up to an exorbitant amount of missed calls from Caroline concerning the "Friendsgiving" that she's poured her heart and soul into planning.

I groan and lean over the bed, picking up my phone off of my bedside table. I squint at the bright screen and listen to one of the voicemails. "Athena!" she all but yells over the line. "Just calling to remind you that you have to bring cranberries today. And I mean you have to. You absolutely must." I raise my eyebrows at how threatening she sounds over some cranberries. "Anyways," she croons in her normal sickly sweet voice. "See you then, Athena. Love you."

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and get to my feet. I practically drag myself to the wardrobe. I need a coffee. I trudge out to my black 1970 Chevy and wince at the loud engine. Why the hell did I get such a noisy car?

I go over everything I need to do today on the way to the cafe. First up, get cranberries. There's no telling what Caroline would do over a missing commodity at the Friendsgiving table.

I order an extra large latte and sit down at a table in the far corner. I've barely had a moment to relax when my phone starts ringing. I sigh and pick it up.

"Hello, my favourite little Amazon," Damon's sneering voice says.

I sigh. "Hello, Damon. Why do you feel the need to make me listen to your irritating little voice at this hour in the morning?"

"I have some string beans to buy, I'll have you know. It's a life or death situation."

I roll my eyes. "And? Why are you telling me this? Go get them."

"Here's the thing, Athena. I'm on my way to Portland."

"What? Without me?"

"Yeah, here's the thing: you're an idiot. A lovestruck idiot. Which means that if I take you to Kai's house you'd most likely try to get that weasel out of his prison, which will likely result in another massacre."

I huff out. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll spell it out to you. Girl likes boy. Boy is in a supernatural prison. Girl tries to get boy out of the supernatural prison."

"I'm not going to break him out of prison, you dick."

"Oh, really?" I can hear a breathy chuckle over the line.

The waiter sets down a cup and I murmur a thanks. "Yes, Damon!"

"I don't have the time to argue with you. I need to get to your boyfriend's humble abode."

"He's not —"

"Look, just buy me string beans. I don't want Caroline to deal with when I get home."

And with that, he hangs up.

I sigh and slump back into the seat, sipping my coffee. Thank god for coffee. I barely have enough time to bask in the tranquility when a very hostile Enzo sits across from me. I roll my eyes. "Really? I've already had to deal with an annoying vampire today," I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

He doesn't smile, he doesn't laugh. His face stays frozen into a seemingly permanent scowl. Huh, I've never seen him look this serious before. "Athena," he says levelly.

My lips curl into a smile. "Yes, that is my name."

He gives me a scolding look. "Look, Athena. Whatever happens, I think you should keep your distance from Kai."

I squint at him, leaning over the table. "Tell Damon that if he wants to talk to me about Kai, he can tell me himself and stop being a pussy."

Enzo cracks a smirk for the first time. "Listen, love. I can break your neck just like that." He snaps his fingers. "And anyway," he says, leaning back, "it wasn't Damon."

"And why would I listen to you?"

"I'm telling you, Athena. The guy killed his family. He's a sociopath. He doesn't care."

I set my jaw. "You're a real dick."

I slap a five dollar note onto the table and get to my feet, starting towards the door. Enzo catches my wrist in his hand as I stomp past him. "I'm just worried you'll get hurt."

I purse my lips before worming my wrist out of his grip. "I'm not yours to worry about anymore."

I trudge out of the cafe and to my car. I duck into the drivers seat and sigh as I stick the key in the ignition.

It's a few hours later when I show up on the doorstep to our Thanksgiving party brandishing cranberries, string beans and vintage Merlot, no less. I balance the items haphazardly on my arm as I stroll into the party, realising I'm early. Goddamn, now it have to help set up.

Caroline smiles. "Oh, Athena, I'm so glad you're here. You'd have no idea how many of the stupid boys have bailed on Friendsgiving." She rolls her eyes before taking the string beans and cranberries and placing them on the table.

I grip the bottle in my hands and walk over to Jo who's lingering by a table topped with other bottles and glasses. "Hi," I say as I approach. "I'm Athena."

She smiles. "Jo," she says in way of introduction. "I saw you at the border that night. I remember you. You want a drink?"

I sigh gratefully. "Oh, yes please."

She reaches out and takes a bottle, before tipping it over and letting red wine stream into the glass. I raise the glass to my lips and take a big gulp. A door opens and my eyes dart to Liv and Tyler walking through. Liv already looks pissed (as usual) as she charges towards the drinks.

"Hi. I'm Jo," Jo says, smiling to the occupied young blonde. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

Liv looks up at her, her lower lip jutted out in resentment. "Liv, and no, but you're dating my occult studies professor, which I guess somehow earned you an invite for Thanksgiving dinner."

Jo looks taken aback - stunned even - at Liv's outburst. She widens her eyes. "Nice to meet you, too," she mumbles.

"Where's Luke?" Caroline demands.

Liv sighs. "He's outside testing a new filter on his phone. He's making me this stupid retrospective video for our birthday."

I turn to Jo. "Don't worry about her. She's always finding something new to be angry about."

"Liam, hey," Elena's voice piped up. I turn around promptly, curious to see the latest of Elena's potential suitors. I raise my eyebrows. She moves on fast. "You're here."

The dark haired boy shrugs. "Bearing the white wine of surrender." He holds up the bottle as a small smile plays on his lips. "I owe you an apology."

He's awfully scrawny compared to her past boyfriends. Where Stefan and Damon were brooding, tense and — let's be honest here — sex gods, Liam had boyish looks and a nervous demeanour. What a downgrade, I think to myself.

Liam continues his incredibly boring monologue. "I checked Lady Whitmore's medical records again, and everything was normal, which I would have known if I had double-checked them before making accusations that were unfounded, baseless, dickish..."

"Is that enough adjectives?" Elena asks with a subtle chuckle.

"Getting there."

Jo walks towards Liam, her eyes sparkling at the bottle of wine gladly. "Am I glad to see you," she beams. She looks up at Liam. "You, too, Liam."

As Elena trails after Jo, I'm left with Liam. I purse my lips. "You must be Elena's new beau," I say, raising my eyebrows and lifting the glass of red to my lips.

He smiles shyly. "Yeah, sort of."

I squint at him. "You have a very punch-able face," I say, studying him. "Like I just sort of want to —" I gesture by swinging my fist in an upward arc.

He widens his eyes and looks behind him. "Oh, yeah," he yells behind him. "I'm coming Elena." He turns back to me. "Elena's calling for me," he whispers before scurrying off.

When my eyes fall onto Elena, she's talking to Jo in a hushed voice. I let out a breathy chuckle. Gotta love humans.

"All right!" Caroline's voice sings out among the hum of conversation. "If everyone could gather around the table at their assigned seats, then, um — oh." She cuts herself off in surprise as Luke strolls into the room, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Sorry I'm late," he says.

Caroline purses her lips in annoyance before continuing. "We will each share something that we are thankful for in one hundred words or less."

I take my seat between Caroline and Tyler. "Uh, anyone want to see some embarrassing baby videos of Liv?" Luke says.

Caroline sighs. "You know what? Now would actually be an excellent time just to shut down anything with an on-off button."

I do have to agree with Care. Friendsgiving was planned so that we could forget about how absolutely shitty our lives are in the supernatural world. Watching young witches in home videos falls way below eating turkey in my priority list.

The video starts, and from it comes the voice of what sounds like a young woman. "Whoever wins has to make — " the woman in the video begins as Caroline speaks over it.

"No," Caroline snaps. "Please let the food get cold. Whatever that is is far more important."

The young woman in the video speaks again. "Happy Birthday! Wave to me!"

"Hi, Josie," says a child's voice.

"Hi, Josie." I establish that the video must be of a woman talking to Luke and Liv on their birthday.

"How old are you?" the woman asks.

"Four."

"How do you add that? You guys want to do some numbers? What's one plus one?"

"Two! Two plus two?"

"Four!"

"Nice."

"What are you watching?" Jo asks, walking back into the room. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is slightly open.

Elena lets out a soft giggle. "That kind of sounds like your voice."

Jo furrows her brows. "That is my voice," she says. "I took that video eighteen years ago at a birthday party for the twins." She fixes her eyes onto Liv and Luke. "Oh, my God.
Lucas and Olivia?"

"Jo as in Josette?" Luke urges.

Elena knits her eyebrows together. "Hang on. You guys know each other?"

Jo lets out a breath. "I'm their sister."

Caroline narrows her eyes. "So if you don't know each other, then how did you all just happen to end up at the same tiny liberal arts school?"

"We had a family friend here," Jo explains. "Sheila Bennett."

"You knew Bonnie's grams?" Elena asks.

"She took me under her wing," Jo says softly. "She also helped my family put Kai away."

I almost spit out my wine all over the table. I get to my feet. "Kai? As in 1994 Kai? About this tall," I raise my hand above my head, "slightly sociopathic and hot as hell?"

Jo gives me a look before saying. "As in our brother. My twin."

"There are two sets of twins in your family?" Caroline asks.

"Yeah," Luke says. "There were until my coven put Kai in a prison world."

"Now there's just Luke and me," Liv says.

"I'm sorry," a voice pipes up. Liam. "Did you say coven?"

"Oh, my God," Elena exclaims. "Liam is still here."

"I think he meant oven," Tyler contributes.

"Oh, look!" Caroline says. "We don't have a wine opener on the table." She turns to Liam, compelling him. "Liam, you have a wine opener in your room. Why don't you get it? Take your time."

Liam nods and turns on his heel, making a start towards the door. "As you were saying," Elena says once the brunette had disappeared behind the door. "You put Kai away?"

"Kai killed four of our bothers and sisters to make a point, but he was really targeting Lucas and Olivia," Jo continues.

"Why them?"

"Because in our coven, twins are in line to be leaders," Luke says, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Hence our lame-ass name, Gemini," Liv mutters.

"Kai wanted to be the leader, but that wasn't possible if Lucas and Olivia were alive," Jo says. "So I protected them with magic."

"Which just pissed him off more," Luke remarks.

"My brother was born without his own magic," Jo says. "He can only draw it from others. It made him feel like a freak. My parents saw him acting out, isolating himself, and they realized that he'd never be capable of leading our coven, so he kept having children until another set of twins were born." She takes a deep breath. "Kai figured it out, and he snapped."

I bite my lip. "Okay, so what you're saying is that Kai's parents treated him like shit, like he was nothing, reduced his self esteem to zero, and it's his fault. He was a kid. He couldn't help the way he was born." Luke opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off. "Your parents ruined Kai, and then locked him up in a supernatural prison for the rest of his life. I don't think anyone deserves that."

I don't realise how loud my voice has gotten until Elena flinches across the table from me.

When Jo answers, her voice is level and calm. "He was a psychopath, so they sent him away."

Liv presses her lips together in a firm line. "Kai went to his prison, Jo dodged a bullet, and now the leadership falls on us."

Caroline raises her eyebrows and smiles. "Okay. Well, now that we've all gotten to know each other a little bit better, could someone please pass the dinner rolls?"

"Sorry that my family drama isn't appropriate dinner conversation, Caroline," Liv snaps.

"That's not what I meant," Caroline sighs.

Liv pushes her seat out and charges towards the exit. "Liv —" Tyler begins, hot on her heels.

"Leave me alone," she says.

And with that, she's gone.

"Okay," Elena says. "I think I may have missed something. If you and Liv can both be the leaders of your coven, why did she just get so upset?"

"Because there aren't two leaders, are there, Jo?" Luke looks over at his sister.

She intakes a sharp breath. "In our coven's tradition, after their twenty second birthday, the twins merge their strength. The stronger one wins, absorbing their twin's power, and the weaker of the two..."

"The weaker of the two what?" Elena demands.

Luke's voice is soft when he speaks next. "The weaker one dies."

* * *

I'm already late for my first Egyptology class back, I think, checking my phone and swearing. I'm stuck in a bout of traffic, and it doesn't seem to be budging at all.

I need more coffee, I think to myself. A taxi behind me beeps twice and I let out a string of curses, trying to refrain myself from getting the sword in my trunk and carrying out some very violent road rage.

Half an hour later, the traffic starts edging along. It's moving along barely, but it's still progress. Once I finally get through the sea of cars, I turn off into a side street. I park my Chevy in a parking lot further away from Whitmore College than I'd like. Goddamn how busy it is today.

I all but slam my car door as I hurry through the parking lot, balancing a coffee, my bag and more books than should be humanly ethical.

I check my phone again, swearing as I see the time. I feel myself slam into somebody else. "Shit," I mutter, trying to keep everything in my hands from dropping.

I look up at the person to apologise, but my words catch in my throat. The man before me bears those familiar dark blue eyes, dark brown hair and a cunning smile. My mouth can only form one word, one name.

"Kai."

Ω Ω Ω

Hello my loves! It's been so long since I've last updated but, in case you didn't read my last update, I can't open the document on which I wrote this story. I re-wrote this chapter instead of using my original one. Hopefully I can get back the original copy but until then I'll be trying to re-write the book up to where I was last time. Sorry for the wait! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.

Georgina xx