Different

Different
Lilith POV

The lecturer finally left. Ava and I walked to meet Beauty before she left with Olivia.

"Hey, Enchantress!" I yelled. Olivia turned after hearing that, and Beauty stopped to look at me. She scoffed when she saw me. Ava was beside me as I walked towards her.

"I can sense she already knows who you are," Beauty said, looking at Ava. Ava tensed as if preparing to fight Beauty, then relaxed back into her normal posture.

"Yes, she does. What are you going to do about it?" I asked.

"Nothing. What do you choose to do?" she asked. I wanted to slap her. That was exactly what I wanted – to slap her.

"I know what you're up to, but I warned you, Beauty. I warned you. If you try to do anything to Daniel, I won't hesitate to cut your head off," I said, frowning.

Ava looked at me. "You can do that?" she asked. "Please don't do that."

"Anyway," I looked at Beauty. "If I find out that you use a spell on Daniel, you will see the worst of me. Trust me on this, Beauty. I won't speak to you again." I said. "Come on, Ava." I took Ava's hand. "That's just a warning," I said to Beauty as Ava and I walked back to the classroom.

Daniel avoided me. I wanted to ask him to go to the party with me, and I noticed throughout the classes that he was holding his head. They did something to him. I could feel it in my gut.

I sat on the chair as he walked towards me. "Lilith? Are you all right?" he asked. I looked at him. He remembered my name, at least.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'll be going back to my dorm very soon," I said, but I lied. I wanted to spy on Beauty and find out what she was up to with Olivia. They had done something to Daniel, and it bothered me. I thought of showing up at the community to check up on Theo, or perhaps to train. I wanted to become more powerful, and now that Ava knew what I was, I planned on taking her with me. Theo wouldn't like it, but whatever.

I remembered the very first time I saw Theo. Ava couldn't see him. I had exposed her to the supernatural world. I felt bad for her; her life wouldn't be the same anymore. She would begin to see things she wasn't meant to see.

"Are we going now?" Ava tapped me. I looked up and nodded.

"Let's go," I said.

"Bye-bye," she waved at Daniel as we both walked towards the door. She stopped and looked at me. I didn't know what she wanted. "Aren't you going to invite Daniel to the party? It's this weekend." she said as she pushed me towards him when I hesitated. I almost fell, but he caught me. I felt nervous in front of him. I didn't know what to say as I looked into his curious eyes.

"What's up?" he asked. I swallowed hard. I was a brave girl; I had always been, but when it came to Alaric or Daniel, I was always nervous. 

He had my button.

"Uh." The word wouldn't come out easily. "Uh." I swallowed again. "Will you go to a party with me this weekend? It's okay if you say no, I would understand…I…."

"Lilith?" he called. He interrupted me before I spoke. “Lilith!" he called again as he placed his hand on my shoulders. I looked up at him. He nodded and he smiled at me. "Yes, I will go. So stop talking like that. I won't bite you." He removed his hands and placed them in his pocket.

I sighed. I was scared of rejection indeed, but he didn't reject me. Maybe he was starting to like me. I wasn't sure, but his aura was positive. His aura was happy and calm. I smiled at him. "I'll get going now," I said, and he nodded. I waved at him as I daydreamed back to Ava. "He said yes!" I screamed along with Ava.

"That's awesome. Now let's go." I stopped her. "What?" She turned to me.

"What about Jackson? I thought you said he would be at the party?" I asked.

"He will."

"Then why did you let me invite Alaric?"

"Daniel," she corrected.

"I mean Daniel. Why?"

"Because it's fun. Jackson will know you're taken. That's fun."

"That isn't fun. I sense a bad thing coming from that boy. He looks—I don't know— I don't feel anything from him. I have a bad feeling about this," I said. Ava tried to calm me down.

"Don't worry, Lilith. He's a bad boy," she teased, but that wasn't what I meant by bad. "You guys will have so much fun," she said as we left. I couldn't talk about the party anymore. Ava seemed to have all the answers for everything.

We entered my room, and I dropped my bag on my bed.

"I need to see Riley at the Community after this," I said to her as I entered the bathroom.

"Can I come?" Ava asked when I turned on the shower. The water ran through my body, very cold, just the way I liked it.

I thought about it again. If I told Theo about Ava, he would get mad at me. Lately, I had been doing things to piss him off. I didn't tell him about the wolf that attacked me, and now Ava?

"I'm sorry, Ava. I'll make sure to take you next time. They will get mad if they find out you can see them. He would question me for opening your mind to the supernatural world," I said.

"I understand. I have to go out with Owen tonight," she said, but I could feel the disappointment in her voice. She felt let down.

I came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me. I went to the seat next to her. "All right. We will go. Fuck Theo. If he gets angry, that's his problem," I said, laughing. I was the Queen. Who did Theo think he was to talk to me however he pleased? Then it hit me that I was in his city.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I am in his city, so I mustn't let him hate me," I added.

Ava nodded her head the whole time. I wore different clothes as I began to think about what Theo had been up to lately. He had been good to me too. I wondered why.

"Go ahead and freshen up," I said to Ava. "Please wear the type of clothes you can run in," I added.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Theo might not like it. So... we could end up running. So go on." I dragged her up and pushed her gently towards the door.

I heard my phone ring the moment I was about to put my boots on. It was Elena. She was upset at first when I picked up. She asked me why I didn't answer my phone and why I didn't call her back. I told her the reasons. She calmed down and told me about her college, but I wasn't ready for that. I had a mission to go on, but I needed to listen to my friend. She told me that New York was okay and she visited the shadow world alone. She told me it was in good hands and Corner was back. I was surprised. I mean, he didn't call me to tell me he was back in the shadow world.

I told Elena about my adventures too and how close I was to making Alaric remember me again. She sounded happy and confused at the same time over the phone. I sighed. "You can relax now. I will get him back. I have to," I said to her, and she gave in to me. I always win arguments.

Elena hung up the call. She said she had homework to finish and just wanted to hear my voice after we spoke for almost an hour. Ava took a long time to have her bath. She knocked on my door at exactly 6:00 pm. I opened up.

"Is this okay?" she asked, and I looked at her. She wore long trousers and flat sandals. I nodded.

"Good. All right. Are you ready?" I asked.

"I'm kind of nervous," she said.

"Don't worry, Theo might look scary, but he isn't scared at all. He has a cool face, and you will love him. I promise," I said as we headed out. Ava drove her car as I told her the directions to reach the community. She stopped the car when I told her to. "Is this it?" she asked. "Nothing is here, Lilith." she said.

I smiled. "Watch the magic happen," I said as I closed the gap between us. My hand was wrapped around her shoulders. "Now, look closer." I pointed as the building began to appear.

Ava stood there with her mouth open. She was surprised. "What… the... fuck!" she said slowly. I began to laugh.

"I know! Now, let's go." We both walked towards the building. The door opened for me, and we entered. They were busy as usual. I told Ava not to bring up the wolf attack. Theo might get angry. And she nodded. She promised not to do that.

They all stared at us as we entered. I waved at Ethan when I saw him, and he walked towards us. He was shocked to see Ava. "She's human," he said as he leaned closer to her. He looked at me. "You brought a human here?" he asked. "And she can see us," he added.

"She's human. She can see us," I heard some people murmur to themselves. I guessed I was the only one who could hear them talk.

I nodded. "I need to find Theo," I said.

"Theo will get mad, Lilith. You know how my brother is," he said.

"I know," I said. "I need to talk to him. It's urgent," I added, and Ethan directed me to the room Theo was staying in.

"He's handsome," Ava said. "I want him." I looked at her and gave her the 'not now' kind of look. She understood and shut up.

I knocked on the door, and Theo told me to enter. He didn't know it was me until he saw me standing in front of the door.

"Lilith!" he called as he stood up to meet me. "You should have sent a message that you were coming," he said as he looked at me properly. Ava appeared, and his eyes went to her. He scoffed. "Human? Really?" he asked. But he wasn't upset. I was shocked. The Theo I knew was always upset at any little thing. "I'm not surprised. You always do things to piss me off on purpose," he said.

"That isn't it. Ava just caught me in the act. I couldn't harm her. I had to tell her everything, and she could see Riley. I guess I opened her eyes already," I said. "Can I come in?" I asked, and he nodded.

"He likes you," Ava whispered. I gazed at her with disgust.

"Not now," I said, and she stopped talking. She walked beside me as I took a chair to sit. Ava roamed around, touching things that amazed her around Theo's room. I had never been there before. This was my first time. I smiled as I looked at him. "You're doing well," I complimented. "What about Riley?" I asked, and he told me she had to run an errand and would be back very soon.

"You're up to something, Lilith Throne," he said. He smirked. "I don't know what it is, but... I can feel it is very dangerous. Spill it, what did you come here for?" he asked.

"Well, I missed the mission two days ago, and I'm sorry about that. I had an assignment to do. Well, I wanted to ask about the cave. Have you checked it out?"

"Not yet. We went near it, and it seemed dangerous. Powers were blocking it, but I feel that all the things that are disturbing this city come from the cave." He cleared his throat as he looked at Ava.

"Don't worry, you can say things in front of her," I said, and he continued.

"Well, the demon that attacked you the first time we met, I'm sure it also came from there. They could shapeshift too, and I feel that they are around us," he said as he walked to sit on his bed. He stared at Ava. "Your friend seems interested," he said. Ava was opening a book, checking it out.

"Nah, she isn't the studying type of person. She loves parties," I laughed, and she glanced at me. "Sorry," I mouthed, and she focused back on the book she was holding.

"That's a very interesting book. You can borrow it if you're interested," Theo said. The old Theo I knew would never say that. What happened to this Theo? Did a bloodsucker bite him or something? I was confused, but I loved the new Theo. He was... different.