Bab 5: 5.

After extending my hearing out, listening for signs of human life. Not having far enough range I start heading in a random direction. Humming a tune I know not of, I start trying to use my magic to light my fingers on fire, as Silas did in season 5 or 6, I think.

Seeing the fire come alive on my fingertips I gauge how costly this is to my reserves. Not a lot, but since this is just theatrics and can't do any damage I up the heat on it. Ohh, now that's costly but epic.

Having a super hot flame right on your skin burns, obviously, however, this also presents an opportunity to test more of my healing power. Intaking a sharp hiss of breath I extinguish the fire after a few seconds. Taking fast, short pants I look at my hand. The burnt skin and nails are regaining their original shade from the black and darkened crust they had. Healing burns doesn't take very long either, a few seconds later my skin looks perfect again, like the grotesque and destroyed skin was never there in the first place.

Grinning I test out how my magic capacity reacts to the intake of magic from siphoning. I'm hoping that the magic I intake gets permanently added but I doubt it. Such an overpowered ability would be overkill to my already awesome self. Taking out a magic item used for being able to provide the user a higher intake of magic when doing large spells, I start siphoning. Yes! My magic is being refilled, or I guess the term is replenishing my somewhat used reserves.

You see, each time you use magic, your overall intake gets better. Even if the amount is small it is still needed. That's also the reason Bonnie in the original show always got nose bleeds in the early seasons and when performing large spells. She hadn't trained her magic 'muscle' long enough and was jumping to bench 400lbs when she should start with pushups. Such stupid use of magic would've handicapped her ability to use magic, the only reason it didn't permanently hurt her is, most likely, the 100 witches she used against Klaus helped fix her overused, small capacity of magic.

Okay, I understand my own magic and what siphoning does to it. Basically siphoning refills my spent reserves and very slightly increases my max. The rest of the magic siphoned becomes its own source, foreign to my own. I can still use it but I know for a fact it's not mine because it feels less natural. Growing up for 19 years with this ability and now it feels foreign while my new magic I've had for maybe 5 minutes feels natural. Such a contrast is weird, having two magic sources in the body, oh I can also feel the siphoned magic losing its amount, becoming less and less.

The crunching of leaves and sticks on my feet come back fully into focus as I hear a car drive by. About 200 meters in front of me is a road. Although dark, my increased vision allows me to clearly see the yellow double dotted line down the middle. The only reason I can see that is that the formation of trees is spotty and gets barer the closer I get to the road.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally standing at the edge of the road, the side edge of course I turn left and start heading there. If this direction isn't towards Mystic Falls then I'll just head in the opposite direction. A super simple fix for a relatively easy problem. Walking down the road I keep my eyes alternating between my feet and in front of me, looking for any signs of lights to- oh I guess I am going the right way.

Seeing the Mystic Falls sign to my right, on the other side of the road I continue walking, only stopping once I reach the outskirts of town.

Something I need to do right away is have a place of residence so I start looking at houses I pass by. Knocking at doors and seeing if anyone's home is suitable for my presence. I mean I can't just kill the owners of a home I'm staying at because then I'll be susceptible to unwanted vampire attacks. Also, I wouldn't want the locals to become suspicious as I don't want to mass wind wipe the townspeople. I'm a villain, sure, would I do such a thing? Yes of course, but if there's no reason to needlessly lose my first experience near people that's away from my parents, then I don't want to. If I were to mass-mind wipe people then all the fun is spoiled.

What I want is to find a nice, elderly couple who graciously opens their home to a nice, down-to-earth guy who is finally moving away from home for the first time. Such a scenario is acceptable in this situation. Afterward, I'm going to go around town and look for clues so I can find out what season I'm in. I'm hoping for season 2 so I can start with my favorite season and introduce myself to the infamous Katerina Petrova. Also, I can try and curry favor with Klaus, as he is a major power and I don't want to be on his bad side. Another positive about working with Klaus temporarily is I can grab the moonstone after he releases his curse with it. I already have one from the prison world, but having the fabled stone of the sun and moon curse would net me a huge profit if I sold it to someone. Another reason I want the released moonstone is that the one I have still has the curse in it and I want to see the difference between them, mainly to see if a witch can tell the difference considering I am completely one now.

Doing such a thing may make my name known to Klaus if it gets back to him, but he'll probably just not care and keep looking for werewolves to turn.

Finally, I found it, the perfect house. The people that live here are an old couple that are some of the kindest people I've ever met. Perfect people to open their home to a young and wealthy 20 year old new in town. Setting my backpack to rest of the floor next to the bed, I lay down. The bed is quite hard and the pillow sucks so I'll have to buy a new one, but besides that this is nice. Taking my necklace off I pulse my magic through it and get out an empty canvas with my paint tools. I'm sure I could buy new ones as these are quite old but that's for future me, the me right now wants to get the room all set up then head out to the grill. I hope it's at least somewhat good, also depending on which season I'm in I can get a good idea on what arc we're in.

~~~~~~~~~~

Walking into the grill with the same casual clothes I had on when I did the merge, I walk with my hands in my pockets looking around for a seat. This place is, actually bigger than I thought it would be. Seeing the bathrooms to the left of the establishment I decide to head down there in a minute.

It's quite late at night so sitting at the bar, it was quite packed. Or at least it is for such a small town I'd assume. Spreading out my magic I sense for any vampires in here. Considering Damon is usually at the bar it shouldn't be that big of a stretch if I find him-

Oh, how interesting. Looking to where I feel a vampire I'm surprised it's not Damon but that one bartender that died super early on in the show. So if he's here and still alive then that must mean I'm in early season 1. How boring, nonetheless it gives me the opportunity to better instill myself into the main cast. I wonder if Damon's gone with Elena to Georgia yet, whatever I'll find out later.

Ordering a drink I call out to him, "Hey, can I get an orange juice?" Smiling without showing teeth I appraise him, scrutinizing his weak power. Considering I can obliterate him I feel more than safe around him. If it, however, came down to only a fight using physical strength then I'm screwed, sort of. If he comes upon me and I somehow can't use my magic then he'll most likely taunt me with his premature vampire arrogance, then when he's most likely drinking from me, rip the top half of his head from his jaw. Gruesome sure, but definitely epic.

"Of course sir, would you like to open a tab?" Preparing a glass of orange juice he speaks to me in a formal tone. Considering I'm not here to stay for long I reply, "No thanks, how much is it." The left side of my mouth is tilting upward, creating a small smirk.

"That'll be 2 dollars, sir." He says, setting the glass in front of me he continues the conversation. "Are you new to town? I don't recognize you." Saying the second half of his sentence with a matter-of-fact tone. Looking up towards him again I say "Yes I am new, how come?"

Smiling at me, almost predatorily he says "Well I know almost everyone in town considering I grew up here." Pausing for a moment, probably to draw my attention back to him as I started sipping my OJ. "Would you like to hang out after my shift? So I can show you around the area, of course." He finishes with a half-embarrassed expression for making it sound like he's asking me out on a date.

I almost laugh, putting my head down and smiling at his attempt to lure me out and most likely eat me for dessert. However, that doesn't stop me from agreeing with his invitation, after all some boundaries need to be set you know. "I'd love for you to show me around town." Looking back up at him and smiling wide, trying to show that I'm happy for the help. "I hope we can even become friends after!" Speaking in a tone of childish joy then rubbing the back of my neck I continue, "I mean, only if you want to, of course." Stopping and looking down to my right to show I'm embarrassed he laughs. "Of course, I'd love to be your friend. Just let me finish work, I'm off in 10 minutes anyway." He starts walking away with a smile, happy at the easy meal he thinks he's got.

Dropping my embarrassed expression I go neutral. This is a good opportunity to understand where I am in the story. Finishing my OJ in a few gulps I stand up and leave five dollars next to the glass. A nice tip for the tremendous service he'll provide, I saunter out of the lackluster grill and wait by the entrance.

~~~~~~~~~~

True to his word 10 minutes later he comes out the front and waves, greets me, then urges me to walk with him. Looking at the streets of Mystic Falls, lightly lit, and quite desolate, It's a perfect place to commit murder; is most likely what he's thinking, just seeing his eyes always dart to my neck is hilarious.

"You've lived here your whole life right?" I question him, drawing his attention back to my eyes. Seeing him nod his head I continue, "Do you have any recommendations for someone looking for a place to eat at? Other than the grill of course." Making sure to clarify I want to know places to eat other than where he works, mainly because the only food that looks good there are the fries.

"Um-" He begins but pauses, looking around and behind me. In the prison world after experiencing that obstacle course time and time again, I've developed an acute awareness of danger aimed at me, and that alarm is sounding off in my head towards the direction he's looking at. Quickly cloaking myself, turning my body 90 degrees to the right, and taking a step back, I narrowly miss a hand that would've pierced through my chest. Looking at the person who did it I see a face full of confusion that quickly turned to one of realization regarding what I just did.

"Noah-" The guy I was walking with starts. "-what are you doing here?" He sputters in confusion because he has zero clue on where I've gone. Most likely believing this Noah has something to do with my disappearance.

"Ben we need to leave right now!" Noah gets out in a tone of hurried fear, before speeding off. Ben following after him a couple of seconds later, still with a look of utter confusion.

I start walking back to my place of residence and uncloak myself. Once I'm a ways away from where that incident took place I start laughing. I put a spell of tracking on Ben in case he fled when he was serving me an OJ. This idiot Noah just made my night. I feel like I know him from somewhere though, from the show of course. Whatever it doesn't matter that much right now as I'm gonna get a good night's rest then head over there tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~

It takes a little while to walk back to where I'm staying, passing by the grill and continuing down the sidewalk I look around me at the scenery provided. It's honestly quite nice to look at, inviting to the eye one could say. Playing with my senses, testing out how far I can hear, see, smell I notice something. Passing through the neighborhood I stay in my sense of smell is bombarded by something; something that smells delectable. Is this what vampires smell with blood? It's a type of smell that completely soothes you, resting your mind even if it was being weathered in the harshest of storms. Turning to my left I look at a window in a second-story house, one that's across from my own.

I catch the eye of someone so beautiful, wow, I guess the doppelganger allure is a real thing. Seeing Elena Gilbert in her bed writing on her journal, I'm guessing she felt someone staring because she looked up only a moment later and turned toward me. Not wanting to be seen as a creep because if you caught someone staring at you through your window, some warning bells will ring through your mind.

Breaking our staring contest I walk up to her door with the intention of introducing myself as her new neighbor. Doing such a thing may crush any feeling of disgust she may have toward me, maybe. Knocking on the door I hear her answer through the door, "What do you want?" she says this in a tone of determination, masking her fear at my answer.

"Um Hello. I-ah-" Swallowing quite loudly trying to express nervousness I continue. "-Sorry for staring at you- I know- It's like super weird and yeah- anyway I wanted to introduce myself as your new neighbor. Well, actually I wanted to do that tomorrow but uh- I was walking back from the grill admiring the scenery and ending up being a total creep- I am just so sorry. Total-" Stopping my jumbled, rushed-out paragraph of an apology I'm greeted by her opening the door.

At midway through the apology I started pacing outside her door, making me seem anxious and scared of her opinion of me. All of this was fake, an imitation of what I think an emotionally filled boy would say and do; however, what wasn't fake was my reaction towards her appearance. Her face was free of any makeup and her hair was undone and messy. Mouth slightly open with a blush on her face, most likely from the cold air rushing into her home. Her left hand is behind the door still gripping the nob and her right arm is crossed over her body, hand resting on the crook of her elbow. Lightly dressed in a loose t-shirt, short shorts, and an oversized cardigan that looks was just thrown on. She was gorgeous.

"No um, it's uh fine. I don't think you're a creep, really it's just my fault for not closing the blinds." She says the first part awkwardly then seeing my disbelieving expression she takes the blame as her fault, not my own for blatantly staring at her through her window. Not wanting this opportunity to escape me I start talking again, "No no it's my fault for looking through your window in the first place, I'm so sorry-" Letting out a breath of laughter I continue. "-This was not how I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Malachai Parker, I go by Kai. I live across the street from you with the Martin's, I'm currently renting a room from them since I'm new to town and all." Sticking out my hand I smile, hoping to make a good impression.

She smiles with me, letting out her own closed-mouth bout of laughter. Removing her right hand from its position she grips my hand and starts shaking it, introducing herself. "Hi, my name is Elena, it's nice to meet you." I, however, intend to do something else, flipping her hand over so her knuckles are facing upward I bring them up to my lips. Bending at the waist a little I make sure to keep eye contact while kissing her hand. "The pleasure is all mine." I'm guessing this was quite charming as her blush gets darker in shade.

Looking down a little as I let go of her hand, most likely embarrassed at my greeting she says. "I'm sorry it's pretty late, would you like me to show you around sometime?" She says the first part a little hushed, then that same tone gains a hint of questioning at her invitation.

Smirking I answer her "I would love for you to show me around. Is tomorrow okay?" Instead of speaking she only nods and starts closing the door with a "see you tomorrow." Turning around, walking down her steps and across the street, pleased with how our first meeting went.

(I have a headache, praise my love for this novel. Sorry for not updating yesterday. Also another sorry for the interaction between Kai and Elena, I may go back in the future and change it to another way. IDK)