The Gilbert Twins

Chapter Fifteen: Haunted Part III

Holly was searching through the crowded Halloween carnival for any sign of Vicki. She had ditched Damon the minute, he had told her Vicki was here and she desperately wished that she had something of Vicki's to do a locator spell.

Her cell phone rang with a text from Elena.

Elena: We found Vicki. Hallway across Mr. Betts's classroom.

Holly felt relief as she scurried over there and found Elena, Stefan, a very annoyed looking Vicki, and Matt. She forced a smile, despite the obvious tension in the room. "There you guys are! What's up?"

"What's up is that Stefan is bothering my sister." Matt said coldly glaring at Stefan.

"Matt, calm down." Elena insisted, but she could tell it was hopeless.

Matt pushed Stefan against the locker. "Leave my sister alone, all right? She doesn't deserve your crap."

"I'm trying to help her." Stefan said through gritted teeth.

"Matt, he's telling the truth." Elena managed to pull him off Stefan.

Holly looked over her shoulder. She had become distracted by the Matt-Stefan fight that she had completely lost track of Vicki. "Guys, she's gone."

Damon was walking through the carnival, a slight smile on his face still remembering the freaked out expression that Holly had, had when she told him that Vicki had run loose. His smile froze when he saw Bonnie. She was dressed as a witch wearing a very familiar yellow crystal around her neck.

Without offering a greeting Damon approached her and demanded. "Where did you get that?"

Bonnie moved backwards. "From a friend."

"Caroline." Damon gave her a fake smile. "Well, it's mine. Give it to me."

"I'm not giving it to you," Bonnie snapped. "I'll give it back to Caroline and if she wants to, she can give it back to you!"

Damon felt himself growing annoyed. "Well, then I'll take it." As soon as he touched the yellow crystal he felt a burning sensation in his hand. Damon pulled away and Bonnie took it as her cue to leave.

"Why do we have to carry these again?" Elena whispered to Holly raising slightly the heavy wooden stakes that Stefan had given to her and Holly. Elena had teamed up with Holly and Stefan had gone to look for Damon.

"Just for protection." Holly said. "My magic should be enough, but just in case."

Elena started walking faster. "She better not hurt Jeremy, otherwise I'll jab this is her throat."

"Easy, Buffy." Holly murmured. "Let's not attract too much attention to ourselves."

"Holly," Elena suddenly griped her arm. Her eyes widening. "Look. She's hurting him."

Vicki had pressed Jeremy against a storage shed and was feeding on him, ignoring Jeremy's cries of discomfort. "I won't let her, hurt him!" Elena said as she jogged towards Vicki before Holly could respond. "Leave him alone!" she shrieked as she dug the stake in Vicki's shoulder blade.

Vicki stopped feeding from Jeremy. Jeremy limply fell on the floor. She glared at Elena and pushed her down roughly. In a flash Vicki had pulled her up and started feeding from her neck. Elena screamed

Holly's mind went blank. She couldn't remember a single spell all she could see was Elena screaming in pain and Jeremy all bloody and bruised. Holly gripped the stake that Stefan had given her and jabbed it as hard as she could in Vicki's heart.

Vicki gave out a chocked sound as she slightly turned to Holly. Her eyes filled with hurt as she turned gray and fell to the floor.

"I'm so sorry." Holly whispered.

Elena rushed towards her and hugged her sister. "Are you ok?" Elena whispered.

She nodded numbly, her eyes filled with tears. "I had to do it . . . it was the only way."

"I know." She murmured as she watched Jeremy's heartbroken face. "I know."

Stefan and Damon appeared a second later, both of them stared at Vicki's deceased body. Stefan looked at them. "What happened?"

"Vicki tried to attack Elena and I killed her," Holly murmured. "I'm sorry my mind went blank and I just started practicing magic and I'm so sorry."

"It's ok." Stefan put reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, you did the right thing."

"I should probably bury the body, a nice gift for the squirrels." Damon said sarcastically.

Elena glared at him as she slapped him hard across his face. Damon didn't look amused. "You did this," she growled. "Everything is your fault, if you hadn't turned Vicki none of this would have happened. She wouldn't have hurt Jeremy and Holly wouldn't have had to kill her! She's going to live with that for the rest of her life."

Holly flinched.

"You confuse me with someone with remorse." Damon saw her bloody costume. "Besides Holly did what she had to do. You should go home, your wounds are bleeding."

"Here." Damon handed Holly a glass of whisky later that evening. Holly was still dressed in her costume and she was waiting in the Salvatore house while Stefan compelled Jeremy to forget about today's incident. "It should help you sleep."

Holly took a small sip of the whisky and nearly spit it out.

Damon chuckled as he handed her a napkin. "Yeah, it's strong."

Holly shrugged. "Thanks for the offer though. I appreciated it." She whimpered. "Can your believe I killed someone today without a single second of remorse, I killed Matt's sister. I'm a killer, I'm a horrible person-"

"Holly, stop." Damon instructed, but she didn't seem to hear him.

"What about Elena and Jeremy and my Aunt Jenna?" she demanded. "It's bad enough that I'm already a witch, and now they have a serial killer for a sister."

"Holly stop," Damon said as he sat on the couch next to her. "Killing one person in self-defense does not make you a serial killer, trust me. Besides Vicki had it coming and I surely didn't make things easier when I turned her. So stop crying, I'm sure Elena and Jeremy are proud of the sister they have." He dried a stray tear from her face.

Holly's lip trembled as she buried her head in Damon's chest. "I never thought I would say this, but I'm really glad you're here."