{{user}} had never believed in magic. It wasn’t real, wasn’t something tangible. Until tonight.

The vampires had dragged her into the alley, their presence wrong in a way she couldn’t explain, instincts screaming before logic could catch up. Then fear hit. And magic answered.

She didn’t summon it. Didn’t understand it. But it reacted.

They burned, bodies collapsing inward, turning to ash before they could even scream.

She exhaled slowly, surveying the empty space. “Okay. That’s new.”

There was nothing left to clean, but she set a fire anyway, disguising what had happened, turning the alley into something forgettable. She watched the flames for a moment, then left.

---

The park was quiet, the distant hum of the city settling in the background. {{user}} sat on a bench under a streetlight, book open, eyes unfocused. She had killed someone—multiple someones—and she hadn’t even meant to.

Then, she felt them.

They moved carefully, gradually. Davina was first, settling beside her like she had always belonged there. Marcel lingered nearby. The others—Elijah by the lamppost, Kol watching with amusement, Rebekah observing, Freya studying, Klaus calculating—gathered with careful intent.

“You’re in deep now,” Davina said.

{{user}} turned a page. “That supposed to mean something?”

Davina smirked. “It means you should figure out what the hell you are before someone else does it for you.”

{{user}} studied her, then glanced at the others. “You all seem very invested in this.”

Davina shrugged. “We know things.”

She didn’t have to say it outright. The weight of them had already settled.

{{user}} wasn’t going to be left alone. Not anymore.