[KNOW THY ENEMY]

don't you want to be alive before you die?

    "HEY, IS SHE UP yet?" Alaric asked as he entered the Gilbert residence, worry and concern crossed his features. Juliette felt a pang of sympathy for the history teacher, his entire relationship came crashing down all within one night because of Isobel.

"She won't come out of her room," Elena informed, in the same state as Alaric. Juliette leaned against the cabinet, her mind racing with what happened in her dream, though she stopped the thoughts as she wanted to focus on Jenna.

"What'd you tell her?" The history teacher asked, crinkling his forehead in concern. Juliette could tell he was concerned for Jenna, especially the way she found out about Jenna.

Juliette spoke up, straightening up, forcing the thoughts about her dream with Elijah, and what she found out, out of her mind, having much more pressing matters to worry about. "Nothing, she won't talk to us, we've tried." She spoke, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We're going to have to fix this," Alaric turned to Elena, all three sharing looks as they tried to think of something that would make Jenna forgive them.

Juliette knew that Jenna wouldn't be so lenient, she was mad, and she felt betrayed. If that was her, Juliette knew she would be as pissed as Jenna was. It just didn't make it any easier to deal with.

Just then, Jenna came downstairs, dropping her bags on the floor. The three glance at each other, almost like they are dating each other to speak first. "Hey, Jenna," Alaric speaks first, stepping closer to his girlfriend as she opens the closet.

"I don't want you here, Ric. You need to go." Jenna replied, her voice cold and distant. It made Juliette's heartbreak that Jenna was hurt by this, she knew she should have told her the minute she knew who Isabel was, it would have saved a lot of hurt and betrayal.

"Okay, listen. I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now." Alaric tried his best to comfort her, though his efforts were in vain.

Jenna scoffed, tears brimming her eyes "Rage and betrayal would pretty much cover it." Jenna said, her voice trembling slightly as she pulled her jacket on before grabbing her bags from the floor.

Elena and Juliette share a confused look, "Where are you going?" Elena asked, stepping forward as Juliette watched Jenna closely. She knew she was leaving.

"I'm going to stay on campus. I have a thesis to write, and I don't want to be in this house."

Juliette steps forward, "Look Jenna, please just stop. Let us explain to you exactly what is going on." Her heart breaks as she watches Jenna's eyes fill with tears as she looks between the three of them.

Though, the blonde's efforts were in vain when Jenna turned to Elena. "I need you to go to the Lockwoods today and accept the Historical Society's check for your mom's foundation." She spoke, her voice cold and bitter.

Elena and Juliette shook a look before the brunette spoke, "Okay, but, Jenna, please just-" Elena tried to reason, but Jenna only cut her off.

"I don't have it in me to hear any more lies from you," the aunt's eyes were filled with tears as she picked her bag up and fixed her jacket, glancing at Juliette, "And I am even more hurt that you knew and didn't tell me."

Juliette winced at the comment, her jaw taut as she watched Jenna slam the door behind her, leaving the three feeling incredibly guilty for hiding this from Jenna.

"Let her go." John emerged from the kitchen, obviously listening in on the previous conversation. He had the ugly smug grin on his non-existent lips as usual. Juliette scowled as she glanced at the uncle who caused all this drama.

"It's better that's she not here, what with everything that's going on but maybe had you been a little more honest with me from the beginning, this-"

Alaric punches him straight across the face.

Juliette and Elena gasp at the sight as the blonde giggled, watching her uncle getting his ass beat was very entertaining. Alaric turned to the two Gilberts. "Sorry guys," he spoke, very much seething with fury.

"Nice swing man." Juliette pats his shoulder as he passes before leaving. She was heavily impressed with Alaric's handiwork as she looked back at John's bleeding nose.

Elena smirked at her uncle's condition too, "You know this is your fault, right?" She spoke, her eyes narrowed at John, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Right."

Elena scoffs before turning to go upstairs as Juliette giggles at her uncle's misfortune. Johns's eyes landed on her as his nose continued to bleed. "You deserve a lot more than that, be grateful they didn't do more."

John clenched his jaw, obviously angry with the blonde's comments.

"You might want to clean that up, John."

✧✧✧✧

    JULIETTE SIGHED AS SHE ended the call with. A very distressed Caroline, who was losing her mind trying to find Matt. After getting injured trying to protect Caroline when Jonas stormed the Mystic Grill, Caroline told Matt she was a vampire and he freaked out and left.

Juliette pocketed her phone as she continued to follow Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy, Spencer and Harlee to Jonas and Luca's apartment. Juliette only tagged along as she was looking for the amulet that Jonas had told her in her mind before he died.

And she also needed to tell Harlee that she was a witch, and maybe test it out, just to try and convince herself that she wasn't a witch, despite what Elijah had told her.

Though, from the moving objects with the flick of her wrists and the voices, the idea of her being a witch was becoming much more likely and Juliette hated it.

Damon opened the front door of the apartment, waving his foot in through the door. "Yup, everybody's dead," he smirked as he stepped into the apartment, the other four following close behind.

Juliette grimaced as she spotted Luca's burnt and shrivelled body lying on the floor.

Bonnie glanced around the apartment, "We should pack up the grimoires. They spent years collecting them, I wanna make sure they're safe."

Harlee whistled as she took in the sight of the amount of grimoires the two witches had collected. "They sure collected a bunch." She said, flipping through a few pages that were sitting on the table.

Juliette stood by Damon as the vampire looked down at Luca. "You know, we could just get another match and cremate him." He spat bitterly, smirking down at the dead teenager.

Bonnie shot him a glare from the other side of the room, "Don't be disrespectful. Not to him." She sadly stared down at the body. Juliette could see the sadness in the eyes of her friend, she knew Bonnie liked Luka, and considering they both were witches, she had someone to relate to.

Damon huffs and sneers down at the boy. "Fine. I'll bury him." he begrudgingly agreed, covering Luka's body with a blanket before dragging it towards the door.

Bonnie smiled softly before turning to look at the apartment, looking over the grimoires. Juliette too looked around, though she wasn't looking at the same thing Bonnie was. She was trying to find the amulet, the one Jonas told her to find, for whatever reason.

She had asked Harlee and Spencer to come along, mainly because they were the only people Juliette fully trusted to keep her secret. She couldn't tell Bonnie or Caroline or Damon because they most likely— No definitely— tell Elena.

And Juliette was ready for that yet, she needed to make sure it was correct anyway. She fully trusted Elijah, more than she should, but she couldn't fully process the bomb he dropped on her in the dream.

"You're a witch."

His words echoed through her mind continuously as she tried to deal with Elena and Jenna's issues, plus Caroline and Matt. It was all weighing her down slowly, growing too much for the blonde to bear. She just needed someone to turn to, and Harlee and Spencer were those people.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Jeremy asked, breaking Juliette out of her stupor as she stood in the middle of the apartment. She shook her head as she flipped through a grimoire on the table.

Bonnie stood next to Juliette as she glanced at the grimoire. "According to Luka's dad, one of these contains a spell that'll let me harness the energy that's left behind when a witch dies violently." She said, her voice firm and unwavering as she glanced up at Jeremy.

"I didn't know you and father which were so close." Juliette joked slightly.

Though, the witch rolled her eyes and huffed, "We weren't but when he gave me my powers back, he gave me a message." She replied, moving to stand by a bookcase filled to the brim with grimoire. "If I can find the spot in town, where the old Salem witches were burned, I can harness their energy to use when I need it."

Damon groaned bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Great. We'll have to put that on our list of things to do today. Harness ancient dead-witch power."

Juliette sighed, the list of things they needed to do today was growing significantly, weighing everyone down with dread.

Bonnie glanced at Damon, narrowing her eyes at him as she questioned, "You know where the witches were burned?"

Damon smirked, shrugging his shoulders "Did I forget to mention that?" He replied, raising a brow at the witch, almost as if he was pleased with himself that he knew this information.

Harlee looked up from a grimoire, grimacing slightly at the sight of the number of grimoires they were going to have to read through to find what they needed. "Are we gonna have to read through every one of these books till we find the right spell?"

"Yeah, because reading isn't my particularly favourite pastime," Spencer added, grumbling slightly as he creased his forehead. Juliette rolled her eyes at her ex-boyfriend, not really in the mood for his dead-panned jokes and comments, she had way too much stuff to focus on.

Bonnie smiled at the boy's comment, obviously being the only one to find humour in it. "Not exactly." She replied, turning around to face the bookshelf as she closed her eyes, raising her hands in front of her.

The rest of the group share a look as All of the books fall to the floor, booming throughout the hollow apartment. All their eyes landed on the one that landed open.

"It's this one." The witch said certainly, bending down to pick the book up. Juliette felt a huge rush of relief hit her because she didn't want to spend her day reading through hundreds of grimoires.

"Great. Grab the rest. Let's go."

✧✧✧✧
   

"YOU WHAT?" HARLEE AND Spencer say at the same time as they stare at Juliette, jaws dropped and eyes wide in shock. Juliette paced around the apartment as she tried to force herself to calm down and think rationally.

"Yes, I know it's insane, but I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense?" The blonde said, stopping her anxious pacing as she tried to make sense of what was going on. "I mean, Elijah wouldn't drop that on me unless it was true, right?"

The twins just continued to stare at Juliette, shock and disbelief still set on their expressions as they too tried to come to grips with this new revelation that had fallen upon their friend.

"Well," Spencer spoke first, trying to school his bewildered expression. "You hear voices, get these extreme and crazy headaches, and can move things with a flick of your wrist, it's not completely hard to believe." He replied, his voice uncertain.

"Yeah Juliette, It's a possibility," Harlee added.

Juliette huffed, covering her face for a moment, "But just because I'm supposedly a witch now, the voices and headaches don't add up. You didn't get them, right?" the blonde looked at Harlee with hopeful eyes, hoping maybe that someone else went through this and she wasn't going insane.

But Harlee shook her head, diminishing all the hope Juliette had.

The blonde groaned as she started pacing again, "Just... Let's worry about that later, Jonas told me that here is an amulet, we need to find it quickly before the others notice we're gone."

"Right, let's get to work then. Maybe it might help why you're on the verge of insanity."

"I'm going to beat you up."

✧✧✧✧

    AFTER AN HOUR OF searching in Jonas' apartment, checking in every crevice and corner, in every drawer and cabinet, the three have found nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

Juliette was becoming more and more frustrated with this, not being able to find what she desperately needed. Everything was weighing down on her and she just needed a moment to process everything.

She hadn't really processed what Elijah told her, not yet anyway. It all happened so suddenly and then when she woke up, she was whisked away into Elena's issues, as usual.

Juliette didn't know how long she could keep this in, she needed some help. Harlee and Spencer were doing their best but it was barely enough. She needed him.

She needed Elijah.

Juliette needed his wisdom and his knowledge because he knew a lot more about this than she did. But she also needed his comfort and his presence.

She just needed someone to lean on completely and not have to worry about someone else's issues.

"Any luck?" Harlee asked as she emerged from the bathroom whilst Spencer left the bedroom.

Juliette huffed as she shook her head, "You?"

They shake their heads too.

The blonde was beyond furious with herself, she didn't understand what was so hard about finding a stupid amulet. She groaned as she stood in front of the bookshelf, taking a moment to close her eyes and breathe.

All she needed was the amulet.

She needed it now and desperately. It seemed to be the only key to helping her figure out what's going on with her.

But if-

Just then, a book fell from the bookshelf, landing right in front of Juliette. The blonde froze, staring down at the book as did Harlee and Spencer.

"Did you..?"

"I didn't even do anything."

Juliette slowly bent down and picked the heavy book up, turning to face the twins as she set it on the table, opening it up.

There lay in the hollowed-out book was a golden ancient-looking amulet and a folded-up piece of paper. All three stood around the table as they shared glances with each other, both equally curious and nervous about this situation.

Juliette's trembling fingers picked up the small, worn golden amulet, the metal cold and smooth against her skin as she flipped it over.

It was just a simple golden amulet, nothing too special about it or anything that stood out. Juliette sighed as she glanced at Harlee and Spencer who looked equally disappointed.

"I've been stressing for hours over this?" The blonde huffed, running a hand through her hair as she placed the amulet back on the table and the twins chuckled slightly.

"What does that say?" Spencer asked as he gestured to the folded piece of paper in the hollowed-out book. Juliette picked the paper up and unfolded it, her eyes scanning it before widening in shock.

'Incantatio amplificus.'

✧✧✧✧

9/11/24

((if you say any spelling or grammar mistakes, no you don't i can't be bothered reading over))