ETHEREAL

|𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞|

E T H E R E A L
chapter nine

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEFANO!" Selene happily burst through Stefan's door that led to his bedroom, and wrapped the sheepish vampire in a warm hug.

It has been a couple of days since Selene was persuaded into temporarily staying in the Salvatore Boarding House while her own mansion was prepared. To say that she had been wreaking havoc in Damon's room was an understatement.

After Caroline briefly explained that her mother's appointment went well, Selene encouraged the blonde to continue to stay with their mother and monitor her well-being. Although the woman was not the brunette's favorite person at the moment, she was still her mother – and it has been a long time since she could call a woman her mom. 

Jeremy also came to the conclusion that his obsession with Vicki was not healthy, and the person that opened his eyes about the whole situation was the witch. She basically told him that the girl had someone else, and that Vicki was uncomfortable with the attention she was getting from the teeanger. Jeremy had later explained that she was completely right and that it was wrong of him to chase someone who had clearly no interest in him. In the end, he was much better over the ordeal than Selene thought he would be.

Throughout her stay at the Salvatore house, Enzo, Stefan, and Damon had grown closer to the witch and some of the vampires had even developed more than friendly feelings for the girl — not that she knew about the situation. She was oblivious to anything that seemed to involve her. Even though Selene knew a lot about them, the show did not portray everything of their lives, so eventually, the witch ended up knowing everything about the vampires, the good and the ugly.

It came to the point where the vampires grew insecure about what she would think of them after all the ugly details were blurted out. The insecurity of the vampires led to an eventual heart to heart conversation which stated that Selene would never judge them, at no point in their lives. And she truly meant every word. She knew that it would be wrong of her to judge because it would make her a hypocrite. Everyone has their demons, and it's the person that carries them that gets to judge, not anyone else. It's safe to say that certain vampires grew deeply enamored with her mind and her heart.

"Thank you, Selene." Stefan Salvatore returned her hug, and subconsciously leaned into her body heat.

The vampire had many birthdays to celebrate throughout his life, so many that they all constantly blurred into the background of his play that he called life. He had celebrated alone a couple of times, and the scenes of the parties didn't seem to face him anymore.

But something told him that this birthday, specifically, was going to be a memorable one. And he believed that it would have to do with the girl he was currently hugging.

The witch drew back slightly from the hug and smiled at him, "I hope you allow me the opportunity to throw you a birthday party."

"My birthday isn't important enough to throw a party."

Selene fake gasped and smacked the vampire in his chest, making him wince, "Stefan! What kind of trash talk is this?" She glared at him as he rubbed his aching chest playfully, "You're getting a birthday party and that's final."

"But who's going to help you?" Stefan asked.

"You offend me Stefano." Selene pouted at him before she crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm Caroline Forbes' sister. Who do you think taught her how to plan beautiful parties? Huh? Me. That's who. But if I need help, she'll gladly step in."