"She's dead Mia, Lexi's gone''

These words ran through her ears like fire. She froze unable to speak or move, part of her wished that she could stay frozen forever so she wouldn't have to deal with what came next.

"I don't .... What do u mean?'' she asked hoping that he would tell her that it was a joke and that Lexi was on her way back to her, back to her home where she belonged.

Tears began to roll out her eyes as she stifled a sob. She couldn't fall apart, not whilst she was on the phone with Lee.

She felt her throat closing up but she managed to ask an important question.

"How?''

"It's that stupid town, its nothing but trouble'' he sniffled between words. Lexi had gone to Mia's hometown Mystic Falls to celebrate her friend's birthday. " all I know is I got worried when she didn't come back the other day like she was supposed to ,so I asked Olive to do a location spell but nothing showed up.''

"Wait.... Why Olive? Where's Bree?'' she knew this wasn't relevant but it was unusual for Bree not to be the first person to volunteer to do a spell. Especially when it came to helping her friends.

"You didn't hear?'' Mia braced herself for what he was about to tell her and expected the worse. "Bree's gone missing, she was here the other day but no one's seen her since, this whole situation is just so fucked up'' he began to sob. "Theres something else I need to tell you''

She hung up the phone, she couldn't hear anymore not when she still had to process and deal with what she was just told.

Lexi, Alexia Branson, her best friend, guardian angel and the closest thing she now had to a sister was gone.

Mia tried to make her way to the couch but her legs gave in and she landed on the floor with a thud. She didn't want to cry, she hated crying. She had to be angry, angry at the world, angry at whoever took the only person she had left.

However once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream. She screamed and wailed unable to stop. She hadn't felt pain like this for ten years and the one person who helped her through that time was now gone.

~~~~~

13th December 1999

Mia Pierce walked into her home which now lacked the spirit it once held a few days ago. Everything just seemed duller, less beautiful. She looked around but everywhere she looked reminded her of him. Jesse, her oldest friend.

Wherever she looked had memories of him, the staircase where the two of them fought over a cardigan which lead to them falling and landing at the bottom in a heap.

The fireplace where they would have their most personal talks, where he came out to her and she hugged him and told him that she loved him no matter who he was attracted to and loved.

And lastly the couch where she dragged him off and forced him to go to the club with her on that dreadful night.

She wished nothing more than to go back to the night and just leave him be maybe if she had he would've been alive.

"It was a really beautiful service'' she heard. She was brought back into reality as she turned around and saw Lexi. She was grateful that she still had Lexi, she was the only person who could even remotely understand what Mia was going through.

"Yeah'' Mia sighed and sat on the couch "he would've loved it.''

"Please, he wouldn't have shut up through it. Especially when you sang for him. He would've been in the corner screaming and cheering for you even though it's a funeral'' Lexi giggled.

Mia laughed, she hadn't laughed in a week, it felt good but there was a part of her that hated herself for it. She didn't have the right to feel happy especially when she was the reason, he was dead.

Lexi noticed her frown and spoke up "Stop it, Mia'' it was as if she read her mind.

"Stop what?'' she tried to act clueless but she knew that Lexi was aware of what she was feeling. Other than Jesse, Lexi was the one person who understood Mia better than she did herself.

"It wasn't your fault'' Lexi snapped "None of this is your fault''

"How?'' she stood up "This whole thing is my fault, he died trying to protect me, he was bit because he was protecting me!''

"You are not responsible for his life''

"No, just his death''

Lexi made her way over to her friend and placed her hand on her shoulders. "He loved you Mia and he always said that he would do anything for you and not regret it.''

"But I'm the one who forced him to go out that night, if I had just listened to him, he would still be here''

"You didn't know what would happen that night. No one did.'' Lexi stated "When Jesse confronted that guy, he didn't know he was a werewolf. All he knew was, that pervert had messed with you and that he was willing to do whatever it took to protect you''

Overwhelmed with the memories of that night, Mia walked out the room and made her way to Jesse's room. She opened the door and stepped in, the scent of his cologne immediately hitting her. Her eyes scanned the walls that were covered in posters and pictures of the three of them.

She sat on his bed and looked over at the framed picture of him and Patti LuPone, she smiled as she remembered how happy he was that day and how red his face went as he tried to form a sentence when Patti had first spoken to him.

Mia laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, there was a mirror there which took three attempts and two broken mirrors before it was placed properly. Jesse had insisted this was so he could see if he was an attractive sleeper. Despite Mia and Lexi's warnings that it could fall, shatter, and cut him in his sleep, he was determined to have it there.

She heard footsteps and felt the mattress sink next to her as Lexi laid there. Mia cuddled in close to her as Lexi began to caress her hair.

"Its going to be okay Mia'' Lexi whispered. "You have me, and I'm not going anywhere''

The two lay there in silence enjoying each other's company and grateful that they weren't alone.

They had each other and woe betide anyone who would try and tear them apart.

~~~

It had been a whole day. Twenty four hours later and Mia still remained in the same position. Curled up on the floor. She spent the night bawling, yelling, and hitting her hand on the wooden floor.

A knock on the door was what brought her back from her thoughts. She got up from the floor, her arms and legs aching from lack of use as she made her way to the door.

She looked into the mirror and was greeted by a girl she did not recognise. She had a tear-stained face and blood shot eyes. Her hand were stained with blood and there were splinters in the cuts. She looked as if she would never feel happiness again.

She opened the door and wasn't surprised to see that it was Lee. He too had looked like he'd be taken over by someone else.

The two immediately embraced each other, desperately trying to find comfort in each other's arms.

Mia had never been too keen about Lee. He was human when they first met him. He worked in a bar that she and Lexi would often visit. He was instantly attracted to Lexi, to her beauty but also the way she carried herself. She was confident, sexy and she just had this personality that drew people in.

He offered to buy her a drink and Mia rolled her eyes whilst he said cheesy pickup lines and tried his best to impress Lexi.

However Lexi, who would normally scoff at this behaviour was intrigued and she had agreed to go on a date with him.

Mia was surprised to see the relationship had lasted longer than a week, she was even more surprised when Lexi had told her that she wanted to turn him a few years later.

Every part of her wanted to discourage her best friend from doing this because she knew that once people were dragged into the supernatural world it was very rare that they would receive a happy ending.

But how could she? How could she deny her best friend love when she too had been searching for it? Lexi turned him and two had been together for years.

Mia was the first to pull away from the hug.

"I was going to come by yesterday when you cut the phone off but I thought you would need time to yourself'' His eyes scanned Mia's body, he was told by Lexi that Mia had the tendency to scratch herself when she was sad or angry. Sometimes she would do this so hard that it would break the skin. He saw her hands and shook his head.

"Mia'' he sighed

"Don't'' she interrupted, looking down at her hands and was almost brought to tears when she thought about how disappointed Lexi would be to see her like this. "Please I cant hear any lectures right now''

"The cuts haven't healed yet because theres still splinters in them'' he looked into the draw below the microwave where he found the first aid kit. From this he took a pair of tweezers and began to remove them one by one.

Lee took her hand and guided her to the kitchen sink where he began to wash her hands.

He looked up at Mia but her face wore an emotionless expression, it was one he couldn't read. He wished nothing more than for Lexi to be there. She was the only one who could read Mia like a book.

" There all done'' He watched as her cuts immediately healed then he took a towel and began to dry her hands.

"I can do it'' she took the towel from him and continued, desperately wishing that he would just leave her alone. ''Look Lee, I really appreciate you being here but I just want to be by myself.''

"I came to tell you what happened to her'' he told her. " I thought it would be better in person.

This immediately got her attention, unaware that what he was about to say would lead to how she would spend the rest of her life.

"Well'' he started "You know how she went to Mystic Falls to celebrate that Stefan guy's birthday. Well what she didn't know is that the town was cracking down on the whole vampire situation. They were suspicious of any new people that had showed up in town''

"What, so the council killed her?'' Mia scowled remembering the council, they were the people who had authorised for the Fells to adopt her and Ariana. They were the people who refused to help her when she told them about her mistreatment with the family.

"No, it wasn't the council'' he replied.

''Well who was it? I swear to god I will burn that whole town just to find the bastard that killed her!''

Mia was furious, she had already planned to go back into Mystic Falls in a few months so that she could do the usual check-up that she would do every time a Petrova had turned 18. This was because of the Petrova curse, this curse was created in the 15th century when her ancestor Katerina Petrova was banished from her home after giving birth to a child. This upset a witch who was friends with Katherine and she placed a curse on the whole family. Since then every Petrova girl had fallen pregnant at 17 or 18 and every time the family would either banish the girl or the girl died during childbirth thus continuing the curse. It was to teach the families to be kinder but instead it just lead to the misery and sorrow of a young girl.

Mia was meant to go to check up on an Elena Gilbert who was a Petrova but now it seemed her visit would have to be sooner than she thought.

Lee had been silent for a couple of seconds. He was aware of what Mia would do when she found out the identity of who killed her friend and he was unsure of whether he should tell her.

"Lee!'' Mia yelled, she knew what he was thinking '' Tell me who killed Lexi right now or I swear to god I will kill you.''

He stayed silent for while until he realised that there was a possibility she would go through with her threat. He sighed and just hoped that she wouldn't let her anger get the best of her.

''It was Damon Salvatore''

A/N : Hiii guysss. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

 Please if you can recommend my book to other people. Im trying to get a lot of readers because im so excited to share my ideas.

Just some info. The day Lee told her is a few days after Damon and Elena went to Georgia. So Bree is missing because Damon killed her 

Soooo Mia's going to Mystic Fall i guess.  

This chapter was so much fun to write and i loved writing about Lee because i feel like we didnt get enough about him in the series.

Cant wait for you guys to see what Mia gets up to in Mystic Falls and you will learn more about her and her past as the plot goes on.

Love you guys sooo much.

Published: 13th December 2021