Sighing, I gathered the used dishes off the table, stacking the plates and the cutlery on top of the plate. I brought them over to another table and started to separate the paper ones from the plastic before putting them into two piles.
Uncle Nate hovered around the picnic benches. In his grip was a cup from which I could faintly smell the familiar scent of vervain. Vervain tea, most likely.
I don't even know why I was here. Oh right. Volunteering that I had no choice but to sign up for because my family along with Fells decided to donate to the town for a park.
"Hey, do you want me to get that?" I pointed to the cup. At least I was making an effort. I still didn't want to talk to him or anyone in my family.
"Sure." He handed me the cup and backed off, watching me as I placed the dishes into the bin which was marked for recycling. "Want some help?" He carefully asked.
"I got it. Thanks for asking."
"Right...so. Mason and I talked."
"Uh-huh."
I had no idea why he was telling me this. It wasn't like I told him about Katherine's visit. I didn't know if I wanted to tell anyone yet. Somehow, I felt like that was probably gonna bite me in the ass later on but that was a problem for me in the future.
"He said Damon threatened him and he might tell the sheriff about Damon and Stefan."
Oh, that didn't sound so good. "What about them?"
"You know the stuff." I stood up and went to pick up the plastic dishes to throw away. Those weren't recyclable, all the while keeping an eye out for Mrs Lockwood. "He might tell Liz about Damon being a vampire. Well, if that wasn't enough..." Uncle Nate trailed off. He looked conflicted and pained about something. Usually I would ask but nowadays I just let him do whatever he liked. "Mason's a werewolf."
"Huh. Wow. That's something..." I already knew that thanks to his girlfriend Katherine. "How do you feel?" I found myself worrying about him without meaning to. Even if I was a little mad, he was still family.
"Complicated. I mean, on one hand, he's one of the only friends I have in this god-forsaken town but on the other," He sucked in a pained breath and sat down on one of the benches nearby. "I'm afraid."
"Afraid?" I echoed back, a little surprised. "Oh god, you're thinking of—"
"Werewolves are uncharted territories for people like us. Regardless of what you might be, you're still a hunter like us."
"A vampire hunter." I corrected, a little alarmed that he was already concocting plans to kill or maim one of his best friends. "We're not taking out werewolves. No. We don't do that."
"Because we didn't know about them. I'm not saying we're gonna go hunt them but...it's better to have a...uh...contingency plan. Look Mason said he killed someone."
"A vampire being that someone, I hope." My uncle shook his head. "Oh my god."
"He said it was an accident and the accident triggered the curse and he became a werewolf."
"Wait. Pause. Pause. Curse? Werewolf? He had to kill someone...a human...to be a werewolf?" So there was a curse after all, just attached to werewolves. I wasn't so sure about 'The Sun and Moon' curse.
"Yes. I was just as shocked as you were."
I sighed and shook my head, throwing down the remaining plastic dishes and utensils away. "Do whatever you want. It's not like I'm the one calling the shots."
"No but you and your brother are the future of this family. Speaking of, are we on speaking terms again?" Uncle Nate looked up, hopefully.
I looked away and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well, I figured since we're going to be living in the same house, I'd rather end this. I'm done throwing a fit but—but that doesn't mean you or anyone in this family is forgiven." His face dropped and he nodded.
"Ava. Listen, I...uh, I'm sorry."
"I know, I think I'm ready to talk—" Just as I was speaking Elena and Caroline rushed towards me with Elena almost tackling me.
"We have a problem." Caroline's eyes darted around. She froze, noticing my uncle. "It's...uh."
"I know." Uncle Nate said. "I know what you, Stefan and Damon...are." He added giving me a look that I knew all too well. This conversation wasn't over.
"What happened?" I gestured to the two to come closer.
"Damon and Stefan." Elena breathed out, looking around.
"Okay. What about them?"
Uncle Nate took a step back, following Elena's motions. "Shit." I heard him mutter under his breath. "He actually went ahead and did it." What? The three of us looked at my uncle who kept cursing to himself. "Mason, oh god. He went ahead and got himself involved with the council."
"The council?" Caroline questioned, looking at me and Elena. "What's the council?"
"Um. Vampire hunting secret town council founded by my family. Long story." I quickly explained before telling my uncle to carry on. It sounded ridiculous when I said it outloud but that was the sad truth about the council.
"Liz is missing too." Uncle Nate noted.
"What does my mother have to do with all of this?" Caroline looked a little scared as she took a step back.
"She's...part of the council." I carefully answered.
"The 'de facto' leader, actually in the council if we ignored Damon." Not helping uncle Nate. I glared at him and he shut up. "Nevermind, we need to hurry." I nodded and ran to grab my bag. I had some emergency stuff in there including a flask of blood. It was suspicious, I know but I'd be able to get away with it by calling it bait.
The four of us snuck out of the event and hurried into the woods. Caroline taking the lead. She ran so fast, I could hardly see her. I followed right behind with uncle Nate not too far. Elena struggled a bit to keep up.
Caroline stopped at a clearing. I followed her lead as she bent down to touch the ground. I noticed then that the forest ground looked darker on that particular spot. Uncle Nate and I shared a look. It was clear what that was: blood.
Slowly, Elena took a step towards the blood stains. Her mouth opened and closed in shock as she shook her head in disbelief. She must've thought the brothers were dead. I pushed her aside, taking off the gardening gloves I had left on since earlier that day and handed them to my uncle who kept a watch. I reached out for the blood, hoping that I'd get a vision.
"What are you guys doing out here?" I nearly jumped at Mason's voice and looked up.
Elena, without any concern for her safety, approached Mason. "Have you seen Stefan?" She asked him.
Mason wasn't looking at her. He looked at my uncle, unmoving. He was hurt and disappointed. He had every right to be but I knew once my uncle knew about Mason's relationship with Katherine, he'd react in the exact same way.
"Nathaniel." Uncle Nate took a step forward.
"I warned you." Uncle Nate replied. "I told you, don't get involved with the council." I knew why he did it. Not only was it out of concern but also, those who ended up getting involved had a major chance of death. Mason's brother was an example, so was Logan Fell.
"I didn't expect you of all people."
"I'm here for Ava."
"That doesn't make things better." Mason breathed out, walking towards us.
"You'd do the same thing for Tyler."
Looking between the two of them Elena tried again, repeating her question. Mason half-heartedly answered her. "Does your mother know what you are?" He asked Caroline, clearly trying to pick a fight with her.
"Caroline..." I warned her, looking up from the blood-soaked ground. "Don't."
Mason looked between the two of us and let out a cold laugh. "How adorable. A budding vampire hunter and her best friend, a vampire." He grabbed Elena into a chokehold.
Elena struggled in his grasp, clawing at his hands as Mason's grip on her. She choked and struggled to breathe. I looked at uncle Nate to do something and clenched his fists. He was thinking of using magic but he hesitated.
"Elena's innocent, Mason. Let her go." Uncle Nate decided to talk his way out much to my disappointment. "Please, she's human."
"And? She's one step away from becoming one of them."
"You're not human either, Mason. Just let her go. We don't want to hurt you."
"Oh. It's 'we' now? God, Nate. You really are something."
While uncle Nate tried to distract Mason, Caroline started to make her move but Mason caught onto her quickly. He dragged Elena around who was still being choked by his arms.
"Don't be stupid!" He warned, stopping Caroline. "Necks snap easy around here."
"I can take you."
"Wanna bet?"
"Please. She's innocent." I tried.
Mason's eyes flicked to a pale gold as he slowly loosened his grip on Elena before he blinked. I tried it again, focusing on his mind.
Let her go.
I kept repeating. Mason struggled against me but still he held on tight to Elena.
"Ahh!" He let out a scream of anger before his eyes flickered back to blue.
That was all Caroline needed, she rushed towards him as he was distracted. She pushed him against a tree. He dropped Elena to the floor. My uncle and I hurried over towards her to check on her.
Elena held onto her throat, trying to breathe. I could see the dark bruises forming around her neck. Carefully, I brushed her hair to the side. It looked more serious than I thought.
I held up my hand and a warm glow lit up my hand. The glow healed Elena, the bruise fading as Elena started to breathe a little easier.
When she could breathe more easily and there was no sign of the bruise, I took my hand away, helping her up.
"Caroline, that's enough!" Uncle Nate shouted as Mason was thrown to the ground. He ran towards his friend, checking on him but Mason swatted his hand away from him.
Angrily, Mason tried to get up. He growled at Caroline. He pushed himself off the ground, ready to attack her again.
"Sleep." I clicked my fingers together and his eyes flickered to pale gold before it rolled to the back of his head as he fell to the forest floor with a quiet thud.
"Why didn't you just do that from the start?" Caroline complained.
"Well, I tried. Okay? He was a little too strong."
She rolled her eyes and gestured to the left. "Come on."
"I'm staying behind." Uncle Nate crouched down next to Mason and started to help him up, putting one of his arms under his shoulder.
Elena nodded, turning to us. "We need to hurry." She breathed out as Caroline nodded.
I made a sound and ignored the two reaching for the puddle of blood. My hope bore fruit. I started to feel light-headed. Colors flashed in front of my eyes and my world started to spin. I fell onto the floor, shutting my eyes.
When I opened them, I was back in the woods but this time I wasn't alone. In front of me were Mason, Damon and Stefan. Mason was cornered by the Salvatore brothers, alone but he wasn't alone. I didn't think he was.
Damon looked pissed at Mason. God, he was still at it.
"Go ahead. Run. I'll give you a head start." I heard Damon say.
Mason looked between the two brothers before he ducked down and gunshots rang through the woods. I covered my ears in shock and shut my eyes before opening them. Damon was heavily shot. Stefan reacted, turning around to the source, only to be shot multiple times.
I put a hand over my mouth and stumbled back. That idiot. Damon didn't think this one through. Mason clearly set a trap and the two idiots walked straight into it. Oh god. I was too busy with myself the entire day to even notice those three.
More gunshots were fired and the two went down. Damon tried to hold on but he finally succumbed to the pain and fell to the floor.
I heard rustling around me as two deputies broke into the clearing from all sides, led by the Sheriff, Caroline's mother. She dropped to the floor, taking out a syringe filled with a pale yellowish liquid.
The colors swirled in front of my eyes again and when I opened them, I was in front of Mason and the Sheriff.
"It's down the stairs to the left." I heard Mason say. I noticed then that I wasn't at the same place I was before. No, I was somewhere near the ruins of a place.
Sheriff followed behind her deputies, keeping a close eye on them. "Careful. The wooden bullets and vervain won't keep them down for long." The deputies started to hurry down the stairs, each carrying a Salvatore brother on their shoulder. "What is this place?"
"Old slave quarters from the original Lockwood house." Mason answered as the colors swirled in front of my eyes before turning to pitch black.
I gasped awake and drew my hands away from the blood. Caroline was in front of me in an instant, helping me up.
"I know where they are." I stated, dusting my black jeans off.
"Already?" Caroline asked, looking at Elena and my uncle for an explanation. Neither knew what to say. I just nodded in response.
"Where are they?" Elena asked instead.
"Old slave quarters from the original Lockwood house." I repeated what Mason had told the Sheriff.
"Great. Where's that?" Caroline had no idea where that was and neither did me or Elena. We were back to square one.
"I know where that is." Luckily my uncle actually came in handy. He quickly came to us and started to draw a makeshift map of the woods on the dirt floor, pointing out exactly where we'd find the ruins.
I stared at the makeshift map before shutting my eyes. It would be easier if I let the memories of Mason or whoever guide me rather than follow the map but still I tried my best.
"It's here!" I stopped at the edge of the ruins from my vision.
The ruins were just like the ones in my vision. Crumbling stone and brick walls with ivy and moss covering their faces, lost in the overgrown plants. Elena stumbled on a rock, Caroline caught her and turned to me before she lost focus, looking elsewhere. I figured she was using her new vampire abilities Stefan taught her to control. Surprisingly she was really good at it, almost like she was natural.
Caroline noticed me staring and broke focus. "What? Did you find something?"
"I—" I stopped when I heard three distinct voices in my head, each overlapping with another. I stumbled back. It always surprised me whenever I heard voices that weren't mine.
"Follow her orders..."
"...Gotta keep these two down."
"Not him. Not Damon."
"...Monsters....kill."
"...Lied to me."
"The vervain...wearing off..."
"I trusted him."
"Backup should be here soon..."
"Three people." I gasped out. "Three including the sheriff." Caroline sucked in a pained breath and looked away. "More are on their way."
I pursed my lips and turned around to find the stairs leading down to the cellar. It was obvious that Caroline was conflicted. Her own mother was a vampire hunter. It was already hard for her to accept that about me but her own mother was a whole different story.
"And Stefan?" Elena asked. She was shaking with fear for Stefan but still she tried her best to stand tall in front of me.
"They're there." Caroline quietly answered, looking at her hands before she covered her mouth.
"What is it?"
"My mom. She's killing them."
"What?" Elena started to run down the stairs but Caroline quickly grabbed her. "We have to stop her!"
"No, I can't. Elena, she's gonna find out about me."
Even though I didn't want to, I figured I might as well. I owed her that much for letting her become a vampire.
"You don't have to go down there. I'll handle it on my own." I offered.
While I was busy trying to focus on Caroline, Elena just decided to be reckless. "Elena!"
"Damn it!" I hissed under my breath. "Stay here and stay out of sight."
Caroline looked hurt for a second before she nodded as I chased Elena down the stairs. I sucked in a breath and sprinted through the darkened stony tunnels. I felt the presence of the two deputies and the Sheriff. I didn't want to do this but I had no choice. Glancing down at my hand, I willed the light to appear. The light fizzled and sparked before it roared to life, gathering dusts of light together to form an orb.
I let the orb go before it floated above me. "Hey, what—"
"Hi." I waved at a deputy who had his gun pointed at me. "I don't want to hurt anyone so put the gun down." I motioned him to lower the gun and he did.
Pure panic flashed on his face as he started to shake and sweat began to drop.
"Now," I brought my hand up and snapped my fingers. "Sleep and you'll forget everything when you wake up." He collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
Damn it, Elena.
I could faintly hear her and the Sheriff. I needed to hurry up before the Sheriff accidentally killed her. Why does she never understand the type of danger she's in?
Ugh.
She was so frustrating at times like this. I paused again. Back up was here. "Hey—"
"Sleep and forget everything." I tiredly spoke and another deputy fell to the floor.
I stepped over his body to find the Sheriff and Elena standing off against each other before Elena was pushed to the side by another deputy that I guess was already in the cellar. He pointed a gun at Elena before I showed myself.
In confusion, the Sheriff pointed her gun at me. Her face dropped. She breathed out painfully, her hands shaking. "Ava...No—"
On the floor, Stefan was out cold while Damon rolled around in pain. Of all times, he had to go and provoke a werewolf, he had to do it then. Damon and I saw each other and he mouthed at me to get out. I would gladly leave him here if I wanted to but right now I didn't for some reason, Stefan.
Yes, Stefan was the reason.
"I don't want anyone to get hurt, Liz." I slowly approached the Sheriff, the deputy turned around and pointed his gun at me and I froze.
"The hell is that?" The deputy pointed the gun at the orb of light floating above me.
Without a warning he began to shoot at it. The bullets went straight through the orb. The sizzled and the smell of smoke filled the cellar. Wooden bullets.
"What is that?" The Sheriff motioned with her gun towards the orb, distracted. Elena and I shared a look.
I looked up and the orb somehow grew bigger. "Good question. Why don't you let them go and I'll gladly tell you?" The Sheriff looked at me in disbelief before pointing her gun at me. "Or you can put the gun down."
Her eyes flickered to a pale gold but then it reverted back again. She shook her head. I tried to get her to stand down again but to my horror, it seemed to fail.
"Sheriff?" The deputy called out to the struggling Sheriff who clenched her jaw in pain. "What the hell did you do to the sheriff?"
"Nothing. I just told her to put down her weapons and you—"
"Don't listen to her!" The Sheriff cried out clutching her head. "She's—AH!"
It was then I noticed her necklace. In the dim light from the orb above, I could see it a little more clearly. A thin silvery metal hung around her neck.
"Shit." I muttered under my breath just as the deputy got nervous and pointed his gun at me.
"Watch out!" I heard Elena yell as I heard a gunshot. I shut my eyes and waited but I didn't feel anything.
When I opened my eyes, Caroline had tackled the deputy and got him in a headlock. Oh no. I knew what was coming. Caroline bit into the deputy's neck as her mother watched, horrified.
"Caroline! Don't!" I shouted, the orb of light scattered as Caroline hissed and fell to the floor along with the deputy. His neck was still bleeding but it healed a little when the dusts of light touched his wound.
The deputy with his bleeding neck scrambled for his gun before getting up. He waved the gun around, moving from me to Elena before finally settling on Caroline who was also on the floor but Caroline recovered quickly. She jumped from her spot and pinned him against the wall.
Sleep.
The deputy collapsed on the floor with a quiet thud. Caroline turned to look at me and I nodded, confirming that it was me. "Oh god." I heard Liz whisper as Caroline finally started to gain some sense of herself.
She backed away as her daughter advanced on her. "Hi, mom." Caroline quietly greeted her mom. Her mouth was caked in blood. Black veins protruded from underneath her eyes and her teeth were slowly returning to normal.
The sheriff looked at me for an explanation. I know this part should've been easy considering it was my fault that she was even in this mess but my tongue got tied and I struggled to speak let alone breathe.
All I could say was. "I'm so sorry, Liz."
She couldn't accept my half-hearted apology and she choked on her saliva, backing herself into a corner.
Caroline tried to approach her, I held out my arm to stop her. "Give her some space. Liz, I know this is...is a little shocking—"
"Shocking? Is that what you think this is?" No, I didn't. I couldn't look her in the eye. Her daughter. Her only daughter was dead and in her place was a monster. Those were the thoughts that kept circling her mind but unlike the deputies, hers would cut off every now and then.
I didn't know what else to say. The fact that this was partly my fault still haunted me. If only I actually went ahead and checked on Caroline that night but I didn't.
This was Katherine's fault.
At the same time, it wasn't. Then again, there was no point playing the blame game. What was done was done. All we could do is get used to the new 'normal'.
"Mom—" Caroline tried to approach her again, only for Liz to back away. She reached for the gun before she dropped her hands and backed herself to the edge of the cellar.
Behind us, Elena was too busy nursing Stefan. She picked him carefully and put his head on her lap. Gently, she caressed his face and moved his hair away from his face.
Wait, I needed to watch Elena before she did something and gave Stefan her blood again. I didn't want to go through that whole thing again and I clearly didn't want to give him my blood. Damn it.
"Elena, don't do anything." I quietly warned her before dropping next to Stefan and bringing forward my bag.
The leather satchel laid in front of me before I opened it, rummaging through it to find the flask of blood. Quickly, I uncapped the flask and poured roughly a cup worth of blood into the cap and handed it to Elena. I heard Liz make a sound disgust. I ignored her and went over to Damon.
"Hey." I sat down next to his half-conscious body.
Tiredly, he turned his head to the sound of my voice. Dirt covered his face and he was riddled with bullet holes, still like his brother he still retained that Salvatore handsomeness. Damon opened his eyes, staring up at me.
"You look like hell."
He weakly laughed before his laughs turned to coughs. I could do it. Right here, right then. I could take a ball of light and shove into his chest, blowing him inside out. As I was thinking this, a quiet hum filled the room along with a buzz but I didn't hear or feel it.
The voices from my childhood clouded my vision and hearing.
I could hear my aunt Evelyn going over the history lesson of my family of how many we had lost and how much vampires took from us.
I could hear my father as he taught me how to use a stake and my uncle as he told me what to do when I saw a vampire.
The screams of my dead friends echoed in my ears as I pictured Isaac's bloody and distorted face on Damon.
I should do it.
"Ava?" Elena quietly called out to me, trying to snap out of my daze as dusts of light dragged itself from the floor to gather around my fingertips. "You okay?"
I could do it.
He was weak and miserable right now, I could easily take him out. The humming grew louder as the darkness in the cellar started to fade. I could just place my hands over his body and burn him like I almost burnt Vicki.
I could do it.
I could...
"Av—"
"I'm fine." I shut my eyes and the humming died as did the buzz.
The Sheriff got up in surprise and looked around. "What the hell was that?" She questioned us but none of us were in the mood to answer.
Elena handed me the cup and I poured her another cup for Stefan. I held the flask in my hand and loomed over Damon.
Sighing, I placed his hand on my lap and tilted it up towards the flask before tilting the flask. I could smell the faint iron-like scent of the contents of the flask as Damon greedily emptied it.
I couldn't do it.
When he was done. I quickly moved away, taking the flask with me. I jumped up, not caring that Elena was holding the cup in her hand. Stefan was awake. The two looked at me in concern even though one of them was near death mere moments ago.
I was fine.
I was perfectly fine.
I just couldn't do it.
After all that talk and planning, I couldn't do it. I tried. I really did. I thought about everything he had done but I just...
I don't know.
Damon sat up. His eyes burned with anger. Before I could blink, he was already over the unconscious deputy. "You're not killing anyone." I stated, not looking at him. "I gave you blood for a reason." I added.
"That's not gonna be enough." He tried to complain, only to shut up once I glared at him. "Okay, I'll just have a taste. I'll even let you heal him. How about that?"
"No killing." I firmly stated, folding my arms around myself.
He nodded and went over to the deputy before sinking into the deputy's neck. I turned away from Damon as he fed from the deputy. When he was done, he brought him over to me and dropped him near my feet.
I jumped back and glared at him. "Could you be any gentler?" He shrugged as I lowered myself and reached over to his neck.
"You want some deputy blood Stefan?" Damon asked his brother who quickly shot his offer down.
Caroline tried to convince him but Elena was firmly against it. She still remembered Stefan losing control, good for her and us.
"What's she doing?" The Sheriff got up, anxious that I might hurt her deputy. "Don't hurt him! Ava, please."
"Relax." Damon cracked his neck. His injuries were almost all healed up. "She's the good one in this little band of misfits so you have her to thank for every life saved in this town and right now."
He was pushing it. I was not the reason behind any of those lives being saved but I didn't bother to correct him. I just focused on healing the deputy. I felt him getting warmer as his wound healed up before he let out a small gasp.
"This is a most unfortunate situation." Damon began. I eyed, making sure he wasn't going to hurt the Sheriff or kill her in front of her own daughter. "Two deputies dead, and you."
"None of them are dead." I corrected him. "I just put them to sleep."
"Would you look at that Liz?" He sounded a little too proud of that even though he had nothing to do with it. When I looked up, I caught his gaze. He was looking at me. I quickly turned my gaze away to the awakening deputy.
Sleep.
I commanded in my head and the deputy fell back into unconsciousness. Leaving him on the ground to rest, I got up to check on Stefan. He looked like he was healing but a little slowly. Elena struggled against the idea of feeding him her blood. Luckily, she didn't.
"What am I gonna do with you?" I heard Damon say. I turned around to see his focus on Liz.
"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Caroline spoke up, reminding her mother she was still there.
Liz turned to her daughter and looked away, too afraid to face her. I understood her. It took me a while to come around as well.
"Mom? Mom? Please." Liz didn't look at her daughter, no matter how much Caroline called out to her.
"Look, I know that we don't get along and that you hate me but I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me, right?" Caroline desperately begged. "Mom, please. He will kill you."
"Then kill me." Liz answered hopelessly.
"You really don't want that." Everyone in the cellar turned to face the entrance as my uncle walked in. "Trust me Liz."
"You too? God. Is your whole family in on this?"
"I'm afraid it's just me and Ava." Uncle Nate found it difficult to speak but he still carried on. "Look Liz, what happened tonight was a mistake. You and your deputies almost became collateral damage to a century old feud between two warring species. I don't care about Damon and Stefan, what I do care about is you and innocents almost died because of your decision."
"Then kill me."
"That's a really harsh punishment. We're not going to do that."
"Even if it's what I want."
"What? Mom! No!" Caroline sprung up from her place and walked over to her mother who still refused to look her in the face.
Damon looked at Stefan before dragging himself over to Liz who backed herself into the wall. "Damon, don't do anything."
Uncle Nate pointed a crossbow at him before Damon leaned down and said something to Liz. It happened in the blink of an eye. Damon picked Liz up and slammed her against the wall. Stefan and Elena jumped up in protest, crying out for him to stop. Uncle Nate let an arrow fly through towards Damon but he dodged it.
"Damn it." I should've done it. I held out my hand as lights of light frantically gathered around my hands.
"Stop!" I heard Damon say. "Don't even think about it, sunshine. You've done enough, anymore and you'll end up at the hospital...again."
"Let her go, Damon." Stefan breathed out.
"Relax guys." To my surprise, he actually let go. "No one is killing anybody." He walked off before turning around to Liz. "You're my friend." Now, I didn't see that coming. He looked at the deputy on the floor and glanced around. "Oh we got our handful with this. How long till they wake up?"
"I don't know. If you guys want, I can wake them up now." I moved away from him and closer to my uncle, almost hiding behind him. I wasn't scared. I was, I don't know, a little nervous.
"It's not gonna hurt you."
"When have you ca—No. It's not." I quickly corrected myself, suddenly not in the mood to fight back. I snapped my fingers and the deputy in front of me sat awake, Liz jumped back in surprise. "Oh, I've already dealt with our problem with the memory thing."
"What happened?" He breathed out, looking at all of us. When he saw Caroline, he almost reacted but stopped.
"Take your fellow deputies and leave." Their eyes flickered to a pale gold as they nodded and gathered their guns before exiting the cellar, leaving the Sheriff behind.
"What are you?" Liz stared at me with a wide fearful gaze.
"Does it matter?" Uncle Nate countered, reaching for me and grabbing my arm. I was in trouble, wasn't I?
"We have to move her." I heard Stefan say as Elena helped him up. "Ava, can you—"
I paused and peeked from behind my uncle. "Can I do what?" I looked at Stefan and saw him motion to Liz. Oh, he wanted me to erase her memories. That was one thing I probably couldn't do. "I...can't."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I cannot do it."
"But the deputies—"
"—were a different story. Liz is different." I subtly motioned towards her neck.
Stefan followed my motions but still didn't understand what I was trying to do, neither did Elena or my uncle.
"Nice necklace, you got there Liz." I heard Damon say as Liz shrunk in his presence.
The silver necklace gleamed mockingly at me. It took uncle Nate a second before he got it before Elena and Stefan who I guess still didn't know.
"Guess, we gotta do this the old fashioned way." Damon said under his breath.
"We'll head back and cover for Liz." Uncle Nate said before pulling me out of the cellar. Caroline tried to talk to me but I had to go.
"How's Mason?" I asked, once I was outside.
"Out cold. I left him in my car."
"Want me to wake him up and erase his memories."
"I'd rather you don't—as much as I hate agreeing with that bastard, he was right. Anymore and you'll end up in the hospital again."
I rolled my eyes and followed him back to the park where the event was almost over. Mrs Lockwood who was now the new mayor was disappointed that the Sheriff, Mason, uncle Nate and Damon had disappeared, leaving her alone to deal with the event. Still, she kept her complaints to a minimal once she found that Mason passed out.
─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────
𝟕𝒕𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎,
𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓.
𝑵𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉.
𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕. 𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.
𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅'𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚.
𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕.
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟎𝒔.
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕-𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚, 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔.
𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.
𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕. 𝑽𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅
𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍.
𝑼𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒇.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒇'𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑳𝒊𝒛'𝒔 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎. 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.
- 𝑨𝒗𝒂 𝑹. 𝑭𝒊𝒕𝒛𝒓𝒐𝒚
─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────
I opened the door to the Boarding House and locked it behind me. The foyer was empty. I had a guess where they could be.
"Hey, make this quick, I have to go back and help with the masquerade gala set up...Oh my god!" I cupped my mouth when I walked into the room.
In the center of the room, Mason was chained to a chair. His neck was bleeding, his mouth was foaming and blood caked the edges of his lips. The chain dug into his flesh drawing blood.
"Oh, thank god. You're here." Uncle Nate hurried over to me from a corner of the room with Jeremy following him behind.
"What's going on? Why is Mason chained to a chair?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? We're questioning him." Damon answered in place of my uncle. He had a poker in his hand. He brought the poker to the fireplace and held it to the flames. "So...Katherine. How do you know her? What is she up to?"
Katherine again.
Uncle Nate pushed Jeremy to the side and stood over his friend. "Mason, just tell him the truth! It'll be all over soon."
Mason turned to him. He weakly started laughing as his wounds started to heal. Werewolves had fast healing. "Screw you."
"Wrong answer." Damon stabbed him with the poker as Jeremy and I looked away.
"Stop! You're going overboard." Uncle Nate tried to pry the poker away from him before looking at me. What did he expect me to do? "Ava."
"I have all day." Damon carried on.
"Mason, Katherine's using you."
"And Damon's using you or are you doing this for her." Mason looked at me. The look in his eyes was hauntingly painful. "Right. Family above all. Bullshit." He spat on the ground. "You're no different from Katherine."
"Keep her out of this." Damon was in front of Mason in a blink of an eye and stabbed his stomach with the poker. "Now back to Katherine—When did you two meet?" He began again. Mason looked away, not meeting his gaze but glaring at his former best friend. "Did she seduce you, tell you she loved you?" He carried on. "You're supernatural so she can't compel you but maybe..." Damon looked at me. Oh. I knew that look, now I get why I was here. "I'm sure she used her other charms. Katherine's good that way."
Jeremy walked back into the room with a box. He pulled out a purplish herb that uncle Nate recognized in a second. "Where did you get that?" He asked, hurrying over to him.
"It was in Ric's box of stuff." Jeremy answered.
"What's so special about this anyway." Damon ignored Mason momentarily and gave his attention to Jeremy and the herb.
"It's Aconitum Vulparia." Uncle Nate took the plant from him and handed it to me. "Recognize it."
"Unfortunately, I do." I did know this. I'd seen it plenty of times growing up but I was never allowed to touch it or even eat it unlike vervain.
"Wait, you guys know about this." Jeremy looked between the two of us, surprised. "It only grows in the mountainous areas of the northern hemisphere. Commonly known as aconite, blue rocket, and—"
"Wolfsbane and it can be found elsewhere."
"Some people cultivate this plant. It's tricky to cultivate." Uncle Nate carried on from where I left off. "Takes time and effort to grow it, once it takes root somewhere, it's hard to move it."
"You two know an awful lot about this plant." Damon commented.
"Yeah, well. We have it in our greenhouse."
"Which reminds me, how did this end up in Ric's box?" I questioned as Damon took the plant from me. "Aconite is classed as a poison unlike vervain, it can cause serious damage to humans when not handled properly so I'm sure you can't just get it anywhere."
Uncle Nate let out a sigh and finally spoke after a moment of silence. "I gave it to him. He wanted to study it."
"So your family was growing poison. Nice. Jeremy, what else did you read about it?" Damon didn't seem to care where it had come from, though he was curious to know why our family was growing poison. He seemed to know a little.
"Well, as Ava said, it's poisonous. Some myths said that it causes lycanthropy which sounded bogus."
"It is." Uncle Nate confirmed. "Lycanthropy, as we know it, is a curse. A curse that needs the life of another to be activated."
"Kinda like how vampires transition." I absentmindedly commented.
"Except we just need blood to transition, not necessarily kill someone." Damon corrected before he turned to Jeremy who stood off to the side. "Continue." He motioned Jeremy to carry on from where he left off.
Jeremy nodded but threw a curious look at me which I ignored. "Another one says that it protects people and another one says, well, it's toxic."
With the stalk of wolfsbane in his hand, Damon quietly approached Mason who tried to move against his restraints. He smiled and gently rubbed Mason's cheek with the stalk of wolfsbane. Mason's skin sizzled and burned with contact.
Now I understood why my family had been growing wolfsbane. Someone must've known about werewolves and their weaknesses. Wolfsbane is to werewolves what vervain was to vampires and what silver might be to me.
"Oh god. I can't watch this." I turned away from this as the familiar gnawing feeling of guilt started to form at the pit of my stomach. Then I heard him. Mason's pained thoughts.
"Hurts..."
"I'm gonna kill him."
"Katherine...Florida...curse...helped with curse...alone."
Without meaning to, I blurted out what I figured out from his thoughts. "You met Katherine in Florida after you triggered your curse. She helped you through your transition."
Mason frowned and shook his head in disappointment as he looked at me. "How did you—Ah!"
Damon let the wolfbane touch Mason's exposed hand where a burn mark the shape of the wolfsbane blossom was left imprinted. Unlike the other wounds, the wound inflicted from wolfsbane contact took longer to heal.
"Damon!" Uncle Nate yelled at him. "This wasn't the plan."
"What? My hand slipped." Damon shrugged with an innocent look on his face before he turned to me. The wolfbane was still in his hand. "So she helped you and you fell in love. Please, you can't be that gullible?"
Mason weakly looked up and glared at Damon. His eyes wandered to uncle Nate. The two stared at each other before Mason looked away.
"Look. Don't torture him okay. Ava can clearly get stuff out of him, just ask him questions and she'll find out." Uncle Nate desperately looked at me.
I sighed. If only things were that simple. It was actually hard to read Mason. His thoughts were disconnected but not like the Sheriff's who was wearing a silver necklace. No, his thoughts were hard to catch. I needed more focus. It was there, it just took a lot more effort on my part to hear the whole thing.
"Oh, well, actually. It's a little hard to read him. It's the same thing with Bonnie and you. I have to focus more." I revealed, even though initially I didn't want to. I didn't, however, tell them about the light headache that I was getting after constantly focusing on Mason's mind.
Damon stared at me, unmoving. He looked concerned for a second and like he wanted to ask me more but stopped once he glanced at Mason, remembering his goal. He turned away and faced the fireplace. "So I guess we just have to weaken his defenses."
"No, no. Don't. Ava can focus a little bit more." Uncle Nate tried his best to lessen Mason's torture and pain but I knew it wouldn't really matter. Mason and Damon seemed to have a personal feud. The two were clearly jealous of the other. "Can't you Ava?" I weakly nodded.
It was a lie. My headache was actually getting worse but it was me or Mason potentially dying.
Personally, I thought Damon hated Mason because he saw the younger him in Mason, a version of him who was affection starved and thought Katherine was the only one who cared for him.
Obviously that wasn't true. Damon had Stefan before he had Lydia and Edmund but he lost them later on. Similarly, Mason had Tyler and I guess even Mrs Lockwood.
"Wow, you really want your niece to end up dead." I flinched when Damon said that and turned towards him, narrowing my eyes at him. He didn't meet my gaze.
"That's not what I said."
"God. You two need to shut up!" I yelled, trying to focus. Mason's thoughts were getting jumbled along with Jeremy's and uncle Nate's interfering. "I can't make things out, if you all yell." The two shut up, immediately. "Okay, now, ask him your questions and don't go overboard."
"Ugh. Fine." Damon rolled his eyes and stood in front of Mason. "What's Katherine doing in Mystic Falls?"
"She's with me." Mason smugly answered. "Why do you ask, you jealous?"
Damon ignored his jab and turned to me. "Is he lying?"
"Partly." I answered.
"How cute. You got yourself a little human lie detector." Mason muttered with a laugh.
"How rude of me. You know, I just realized, I didn't offer you anything to eat." Damon grinned at him and Mason grinned back before Damon shoved the wolfsbane into his mouth.
Mason's muffled piercing screams echoed throughout the boarding house and I had to take a step back. He stopped screaming after a while and spat out the wolfbane. Uncle Nate rushed to him and started to check on him.
"You're going too far." Uncle Nate protested. I heard his thoughts, he was going through a series of different spells in his mind. If Damon wasn't careful, he'd be the one in pain soon. "Anymore and you'll kill him."
"Relax, this is just the small price to stay one step ahead of Katherine. Besides, I'm sure you want to protect your family." Uncle Nate sighed and looked away but not before muttering some spell underneath his breath, his eyes on Mason. I heard Mason sigh in relief. It must've been a healing spell. "Back to Katherine, why's she here?"
Mason didn't say anything. He glared at Damon like he was shooting bullets from his eyes before turning his gaze towards me. He still had that hateful 'I'm going to kill you' look on his face but this time I was on the receiving end.
"Hey, hey. I'm the one who you should be focusing on, not her."
"—promised Katherine—can't tell them—the curse..."
"Something about a curse." I walked towards Mason, almost reaching out for him before drawing my hand back and placing it near my temple. "Wait."
"No. I can't let them know about—"
"—must protect Katherine."
"The moonstone."
"Moonstone!" I said out loud. "Katherine's here for the moonstone."
"Why do you want the moonstone?"
"Katherine wants it."
"Katherine wants it."
"Shut up!" Mason yelled at me, pulling at his chain. "Shut up! I'll shut you up!"
Instinctively, dust gathered at my fingertips. The fire in the fireplace swayed in its dance, almost extinguishing.
The lights in the corridor flickered wildly. Flecks of light floated towards Mason without me controlling it and caressed his cheek, burning him.
"Shit. I can't let them know where the moonstone is."
"Easy there, sunshine." For some reason, Damon's voice felt distant. The parlor got brighter as more light started to gather at my fingertips. "Ava?"
"I left in the well...edge of Lockwood property—shouldn't be found—"
"Katherine's doing it for me."
"—need moonstone to break...curse."
"Ava!" Uncle Nate touched me and I gasped. Instantly the light disappeared along with the headache.
"The moonstone's in the well." I answered, blinking once. "Katherine wants moonstone for a curse."
Uncle Nate didn't take his hand away but instead he started to pull me away from Mason. The connection grew fainter and fainter the further I was away from him. I pushed past him and walked up to Mason.
"What curse is Katherine trying to break?" I was the one asking questions now.
"She's gonna use it to lift the curse." Was all Mason said which didn't help me at all.
"Of the moon?" Damon guessed and Mason nodded, confirming his answer. "Now, why would a vampire help a werewolf break a curse that keeps them from turning whenever they want?" Damon turned to me and my uncle, expecting us to have some answers.
"It's obvious. Katherine's using him. Werewolves only have to turn every full moon while vampires can't permanently go out in the sun. There's no benefit for someone like Katherine to break the curse 'of the moon'—if it even exists, which I don't think it does." I looked at my uncle.
"Neither do I." Uncle Nate agreed. "The information on it was too uniform and perfectly made, and didn't match with existing folklore—not to mention Sheila Bennett and my mother's grimoires mention nothing like that."
"It's real! Katherine's doing this for me so I wouldn't have to turn anymore." Mason suddenly sprung to life. Uncle Nate stared at his friend like he was some stranger.
"Why?" Damon asked.
"Because she loves me."
Damon couldn't help but laugh and I had to stop myself from making snarky comments.
Like that was you a couple of months ago, Damon.
When he noticed my gaze, he stopped. "Now—now I get it. You're just stupid. Katherine doesn't love you. She's using you, you moron."
"Kinda like how she used you." I chimed in while he scowled. It was the truth. Damon and Mason were more alike than the two realized. "Look Mason. This is who Katherine is. She only loves one person and it's not you or—"
"Me. Trust me, she let me know. She only loves herself."
"That's not really true." I muttered under my breath. I got the idea from all the effort Katherine was putting on Caroline and from what Elena told me about her trying to plant doubts about Stefan, it was clear to me that Katherine loves Stefan. "Point is, Katherine values survival over everything. You're just someone she can use."
Uncle Nate walked over to Mason and crouched down in front of him, taking his hand into his. "Listen to them, Mase. Katherine doesn't love you, she's using you. She's probably the one who triggered your curse."
"I triggered my own curse after I accidentally killed my friend." Mason countered. He tried to take his hands back but uncle Nate didn't let go. "And if you care about me Nate, you wouldn't have teamed up with him."
"Katherine tried to kill Ava, Mason. If it wasn't for Ava's ability to see the future, she wouldn't be standing there."
Mason's eyes trembled and he shook his head. "No. No, no. I'm sure she had a good reason—"
"To try to kill Ava, who by the way has nothing to do with Katherine or the curse." Damon chimed in, watching Mason closely like a hawk. "Oh by the way, Katherine actually turned Caroline."
"Wha—I'm done."
"So am I." Damon turned to Jeremy and me. "It's time to take a walk, Jeremy."
Jeremy moved away from Damon. "I'm staying."
"No, you should go. You too, sunshine. Thank you for your help but we've got it."
I shook my head. Something wasn't adding up. I knew Katherine didn't love Mason. She admitted that time we spoke and now she needed a moonstone.
Why would Katherine care about a curse that let vampires walk in the sun when they had daylight rings?
No, I didn't think it was because of Mason either. Werewolves turned once every full moon.
I don't know much about the transformation but I'm sure, once per month is bearable enough to not take the risk of breaking this so-called curse.
"Wait. You met Katherine in Florida right around the time your friend died—well you killed him." I asked, moving past Damon and crouching down in front of Mason.
"Look, he doesn't want to talk." Damon tried to move me but I pushed him off of me.
"Answer Ava, Mase. She's trying to help." Uncle Nate came down next to me and sat down in front of his friend. "Please." Mason let out a sigh and nodded.
"Okay." So I had a piece of the puzzle.
There was Mason, a werewolf and Tyler who had yet to activate his curse. I don't know why I forgot about Tyler. He was also a potential werewolf and considering the fact Katherine turned Caroline into a vampire when she could've killed her meant something.
Wait.
"I just realized something. Caroline's a vampire."
"You just realized that." Damon looked down at me with a sarcastic grin and I rolled my eyes. "That's not what you meant is it?"
I mouthed 'no', shaking my head. "You know if you think about it, there's literally nothing to be gained from having new vampires running around in Mystic Falls."
"Well, it's Katherine. She's screwing with us, it's what she does best."
Jeremy made a sound. "Yeah but why would she go through the effort when she could do it herself. I mean, I remember from Elena's journal...Vicki was not so stable."
Oh look, someone other than me is actually thinking.
"Because they're not. New vampires are pretty unstable." Damon answered. "Come on. It's clear that Caroline was just something Katherine used to send a message."
"Then why would she leave her alive?"
"Unless she still has a role to play." Uncle Nate guessed, he glanced at me and I just shrugged. Everything here was guesswork for me, nothing was concrete. "Okay. A vampire, a werewolf and a moonstone—guessing that Mason meeting Katherine wasn't a coincidence. Katherine's up to something and that's not just screwing with us."
I got up. "I guess there's one way to find out." I turned to Mason who had grown quiet as he listened to us. "Your friend, the one who you...killed—do you have something of his?"
"What are you planning?" Damon swung the stalk of wolfbane in his hand.
I ignored him and repeated my question to Mason. "Why? What are you going to do with it?" Mason's eyes drooped and he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Nothing really. I just need to check something."
"My wallet. I keep his dog tag inside—Jimmy, he—was in the military."
"Was it with him on the day he died?" Mason nodded. "Jeremy."
Jeremy hurried to grab Mason's wallet, going through it to find the dog tag with Mason's friend's name engraved on it. Jeremy handed me the metal dog tag.
Carefully, I took it. I didn't know if it was silver or steel. One way to find out. I grabbed it from Jeremy and held it in my hand, half-expecting to see something.
"Well?" Damon asked. "Anything?" I shook my head. "I don't know what you're tr—"
My mind began to wander as the images in front of me disappeared. I shut my eyes as the last memories of Jimmy invaded my mind.
I saw it then, a woman at a bar, alone. She approached Jimmy for a drink.
The woman looked familiar to me. She kept looking at Mason, eying him before going up to talk to him. Mason ignored the woman before coming back to Jimmy.
Katherine.
I recognized her then but Jimmy didn't.
Jimmy offered her a drink but Katherine declined and the two started to talk. I watched in silence as Katherine looked into Jimmy's eyes. To most onlookers, they thought the two were a normal couple but I knew what was about to happen.
"I need you to attack your friend." I heard Katherine say. "Don't stop no matter what." Jimmy's pupils dilated as he numbly nodded before going outside to follow Mason.
This was enough.
I gasped, letting go of the dog tag. Before it could fall to the floor, Damon caught it. "Katherine compelled Jimmy to attack Mason and not stop." I started to speak before I even managed to even gain full consciousness.
Mason painfully let out a loud audible breath. "I'm sorry, Mase." Uncle Nate said, still holding his friend's hand. "Katherine's the one who killed Jimmy."
"Doesn't really change anything." Damon said. I looked at him and pulled my hand away from his. I knew that look.
He was going to kill Mason.
Mason knew it too. He let out a sad laugh before swallowing up tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. "Hey Nate, I'm sorry. I was a shit friend, wish I told you what I did instead of someone I didn't know."
"It's okay. I can still help you now." Uncle Nate held onto his friend.
"Nah, it's too late."
"How touching." Damon stalked towards Mason, handing Jeremy the wolfsbane.
"Take care of Tyler for me like you've been taking care of Ava. He's a good kid, just a little rough around the edges and you were right, I should've fought harder for him instead of running away."
Damon reached Mason in a flash and placed his hands into Mason's chest but stopped. He let out a shout and fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain.
Uncle Nate got up, chanting under his breath.
"Ava, get Mason." I didn't have to be told twice. I ran towards Mason and started to undo his ties and remove the chains binding him while uncle Nate continued to chant under his breath. "I told you, I'll help as long as no one dies. You're not killing Mason."
In pain, Damon rolled on the floor clutching his head. "That's enough!" Uncle Nate's eye flickered to a pale gold and he lost concentration for a second and that was all that took for him to stop. "You've made your point."
"Seriously? The guy is a werewolf; he'd kill me the first chance he got!" Damon breathed out, glaring at my uncle.
"That sucks but you're not killing him."
"If I don't do it, Katherine will besides he wants me to kill him, anyway. Don't you, Mason? It really is a curse, isn't it?"
Mason looked away, breathing heavily.
"He's right." Mason answered. The two looked at each other, sitting on the floor. "I know Katherine. She'll kill me if I'm not useful."
"So you're gonna let him kill you!" Uncle Nate looked furious.
"You were about to leave Tyler alone as well." Jeremy reminded Mason who looked away, ashamed to even look at Jeremy.
I let out a sigh and shook my head. Even with Mason gone, I had a feeling that Katherine would just work harder to get Tyler to break his curse. Before I could mention it, a phone started to ring behind us.
"It's Katherine." Mason stated without even checking.
Damon got up from the floor and went to get Mason's phone. "It's Katherine." He repeated.
"Don't answer it." I said. I had a bad feeling from the call and knowing Damon's current state I knew he'd probably say something and provoke her. The phone stopped ringing just as it did so my head started ringing instead and the room started to spin. "...I think I should go home." I stared at the floor as the ringing got louder.
"Jeremy, help her to my car." Uncle Nate hurried over to Mason and lifted him up but not before saying something Damon that I couldn't hear. My ears were ringing. Jeremy gently grabbed my arm and dragged me along to the front door, helping me into my uncle's car before he got in himself.
"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked as the door to the front passenger seat opened and uncle Nate sat Mason down before he closed the door then took his seat at the driver's seat. "Ava?" Jeremy called out to me. I nodded. I was fine. I wanted to say that but for some reason I couldn't.
Uncle Nate dropped Jeremy home. Reluctantly he left, saying something to uncle Nate. The drive back to my house was quiet for me. Uncle Nate and Mason were busy talking and I didn't mind. When we got to the manor. Uncle Nate helped Mason out and dragged him inside where he was greeted by the butler with a first aid kit.
Mason was sat down in the living room on a steel chair that was brought in from the storage as his wounds were patched up. Already some of his wounds were healing quickly except the ones from the wolfsbane. "I'm sorry." He began. "I should've listened to you, Nate."
"Yeah, well, you've always been stubborn." Uncle Nate replied, securing the bandage around Mason's arm. "Now, we just gotta figure out what to do in the meantime."
"I'll go back to Florida."
"That's the first place Katherine will look for you."
"Then should I just leave the country? I don't want to leave the country, Tyler...needs me."
"You could go to Washington. I'm sure my brother and sisters would love to help you settle there."
Mason let out a laugh. "Evelyn hates me."
"She hates everyone. Diana and Gabriel won't hesitate to help someone in need."
"Guess so." I felt Mason's gaze on me and I turned to look at me. "Ava, I—I owe you an apology as well. I said some things I didn't mean. I—uh—doubted you. Thank you for telling me the truth." The ringing got louder in my ears. My vision was now getting blurry. "Your eyes...Ava?"
"I did what had to be done." I forced myself to say.
The moment I said this, I started to cough. I tried to stop but the coughs got more violent until I started to cough blood. My vision was getting blurry and my head was spinning. Suddenly I could hear whispers and people speaking. I could barely make those voices out. I heard the butler, some of the maids, uncle Nate and Mason. All of their thoughts in my head hit me wave after wave, I fell to the floor clutching my head before I blacked out.