Pretty Little Vampires ▹ pll + tvd

1.20 - Scheming

"So, what, there have always been vampires in Rosewood Falls?" Hanna asked Aria, slightly puzzled as she stared at the computer screen in front of her. The two had spent their Saturday researching vampires ever since Aria had left home. Mrs. Marin hadn't questioned it much, she just knew Aria needed a place to stay because things weren't going well at home, and any friend of Hanna's was welcome under their roof, as far as she was concerned. Hanna, however, decided to keep the events of the murder she saw Damon commit a secret from Aria, since she knew it would be far too much for her friend to bear. Aria had confided in her about Damon and Stefan, however, and Hanna went along with it, pretending to just vehemently agree, instead of disclosing she had witnessed it first hand.

"It looks like it. Or at least as far as the founding families are concerned." Aria nodded, pointing to a passage in the text they were reading on screen. The founding families had always been known around town as the original founders of Rosewood Falls. The Montgomery's were a family, along with the Hastings and the Salvatore's.

"You know, I used to never believe all this internet crap, but this has me wondering about mermaids and area fifty-one." Hanna sighed as she kept scrolling through website after website concerning local folklore. "Ew, so they really do drink blood? Ugh, gross."

"I can't believe A knew about this the whole time, and we had zero idea."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure that was the point. It's not like they tell us much of their plan, anyway. They just blackmail us with it."

"Yeah, well not for much longer. We have to tell Spencer and Emily. It's time to figure out how we're going to take A down with this."

Almost instantaneously, their phones buzzed a familiar ring. The two girls looked at one another hesitantly before checking their messages.

"That's right ladies, better keep me a secret from Damon and Stefan, we wouldn't want even more secrets getting out now would we? – A"

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Stefan barely raised his eyebrow as he heard the front door slam open, Damon storming inside after it. Damon stopped directing in front of his friend, barely able to control his heaving breaths of anger.

"I almost had her, Stefan. After all these years, I almost had her." Damon panted out, unable to contain his frustration. In the habit of his destruction from earlier, he picked up a wooden chair, and smashed it against the wall, satisfied at the crunching sound it made when it fell to pieces. "She's not getting away with this." He yelled, even more annoyed with Stefan's overwhelming calmness.

"You almost had Katherine? Damon, how is that possible?" Stefan questioned his friend, confusion and partial amusement crossing his face.

"Well, I thought I did. I killed some meaningless girl instead, and Hanna...." The pain and horror in her face was still plastered in his mind, running on repeat. He could not believe he had hurt her, and might have lost her too...

"So you killed some girl who looked like Katherine, and she probably set you up for it." Stefan rolled his eyes.

"I don't think it was Katherine that set me up. Maybe it was. The text tipping me off was from someone who signed it -A?"

Stefan's eyes narrowed, trying to wrack his brains for an A. "A? Never heard of them."

"We've got to get her, Stefan. Get up off your lazy ass and let's do something about this for crying out loud!"

"I'm not lazy, Damon, I'm patient. We need to wait for the opportune moment."

"Now! Now is the opportune moment!" Damon mocked him in frustration.

"No, it's clearly not!" It was Stefan's turn to raise his voice now as he stood up to face his friend. "What you did only proves my point more, Damon. She's eluded me for over a hundred years now, you think one day is time to catch up to Katherine? We're going to need a plan, and we've got to take the time to calculate this out before we strike. But, at least I agree with you on one thing, it has to be soon."

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Alison wiped the tears off her face as she watched Matt's body slowly but surely heal itself with her blood. After Katherine had left, she had spent far too much time debating whether or not to give it to him. If he died and he had it in his system, well then, he was doomed to the life she now possessed. But, if not, then it would really just heal him and he'd be okay. She realized she'd hate herself forever if she didn't at least try and help him, so she made the choice. Thankfully, it was the right one.

"Alison?" Matt's eyes fluttered open to see the beautiful blonde hovering over him, her hair perfectly framing her angelic face. "Alison, what happened? Why am I --" Matt looked down at his own body in fear as he saw deep wounds healing themselves in seconds.

"Shh." She comforted him as he lay in her arms, "It'll all be okay. Just look at me, Matt."

He tilted his eyes to look directly into hers, and suddenly, he was in a trance.

"You were working late, and you were sleep deprived, so you fainted. I came to say hello, and found you back here." Her eyes grew large and hypnotic as she spoke, compelling him to forget the night's events. She knew she couldn't risk his life again, and if it came down to it, she would have to leave him to live his normal, human life. That, or somehow take down Klaus and Katherine, which currently seemed like the less likely of two evils. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she quickly checked her texts.

"See, isn't it better without her? Stay away from Katherine, and Klaus, or who knows what will happen to poor Matty next? - A"