Come As You Are¹ || The Vampire Diaries

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟹𝟻: 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍

𝟗𝒕𝒉 𝑵𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟖𝟔𝟒,

𝑴𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒅𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒅,

𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏. 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔—𝑴𝒓𝒔 𝑳𝒚𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝑩𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝒓 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅.

𝒀𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒅.

𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔. 

𝑨 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑮𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒑𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒈𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆.

𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝑮𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒑𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒏.

𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏. 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 

𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐.

𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 

𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒓𝒔 𝑭𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆—

"Morning." Jenna walked into the kitchen with a big smile on her smile. She was almost skipping as if she had forgotten what happened last night. "Whatcha up to?"

I tilted my head to the side and put Edmund's letters back into the box where it was. I was careful not to crease the letters before I shut and locked the antique box. Jenna tried to peek at the contents of the letters but I moved quickly to put it all away.

"How are you feeling? Hungover?" I asked with a small smile despite Jenna's narrowed suspicious gaze on the locked box, I hoped she would ignore it and move on.

To my luck, Jenna got the hint and nodded with a sigh. "Don't get me started. I have this ringing in my head and everything is so damn bright." She ranted, pulling a barstool out and sitting down as I placed a plate of waffles with whip cream and fruits in front of her.

"Can't relate." I said with a small smile. I really couldn't. I hadn't been hungover since forever. I really couldn't think of the last time I was hungover. "I don't think I can get hungover." I added.

"Must be nice." Jenna said blankly as she forked a piece of waffle into her mouth. "Nate made this?" I nodded and grabbed my own plate. I sat down next to her with a cup of tea. "I totally get why you guys hardly ever eat out."

"Everyone can cook in my family and we've got a personal chef so my mom thinks it's a waste of money and she's a little health conscious"

"Because she's a doctor." Jenna pointed out. "God, I missed this." She said, taking another bite of her breakfast. "Like you probably don't remember used—"

"To make you lunch and sometimes a hangover breakfast." I said, cutting her off with a small grin. "I know. I was young but not blind. You two used to hang around our place a lot and then you stopped coming around after you started dating Logan Fell."

Jenna groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Please don't remind me of my dark past."

"Too late." I grinned and took a big sip of my tea. "Want some tea?"

She lifted her head and looked at my cup. "What tea?"

"It's a herbal tea. It's pretty good." I checked Jenna's reaction, hoping that my uncle didn't tell her the whole truth about vervain. "I heard you were meeting up with...um..." She didn't seem to react so I made her a cup and passed the tea to her.

Somehow I was a little nervous to mention Elijah around Jenna as if mentioning his name would somehow summon him. It was stupidly irrational but I was a little afraid of him. He was technically unkillable.

"Elijah?" Jenna seemed unafraid. She didn't know what he was or what he was capable of, of course she wasn't afraid. "Geez. It sounded like you were talking about a boogeyman or something." She said, laughing at my cautiousness as she stuffed her mouth with some waffles. "What? Is he a vampire too?"

I paled and started to laugh nervously. "W-why would you think that?"

"I don't know. Probably cause Nate seems to think so and Ric doesn't like him which is super weird cause he's a historian and Ric's a history teacher and your family is also big on history so I figured those three would get along—"

"But they don't." I added and she nodded. "They're worried about you."

"Well, at least one of them is honest with me—even if he sounds a little insane."

"He's just looking out for you." I pushed the cream to the side and stabbed a piece of cut strawberry. "You know how he is—you two have known each other forever."

"Yeah but vampires?" She tilted her to the side and looked at me in disbelief. "I mean...it just sounds ridiculous. What's next witches, werewolves...fairies?" I choked on my drink and started to cough. "Oh my god." She gasped and roughly patted my back trying to stop me from choking. "Woah there. Be careful."

"I'm...good." I choked out. "Just be careful around Elijah. He's dangerous."

"You sound like your uncle."

"He wants the best for you." I gathered my plate and glass, chucking them into the sink and turning on the tap. "I hope you know that."

"I know." She chuckled, finishing her breakfast and wiping her mouth. "I appreciate that he's a good friend...I just..." She paused as if she was lost in her thoughts as she cupped her face between her hands and looked out the window.

"Wish he was more—"

"What's in the box?" She said, taking me off guard.

I paused and turned my head towards the antique wooden box with etched floral design on the surface that was once painted with gold. I had almost forgotten about the collection of letters on the counter.

"Oh that box." I breathed out and dried my hands. I was already done washing up anyways. "It's just a collection of letters belonging to Edmund and Lydia Fitzroy. I think there's some of Theodore Fitzroy's as well, along with Roselyn Fitzroy's—you know Edmund's wife and my something great grandmother."

Jenna's eyes brightened with interest and she went over to the box. "Can I have a look at the letters?"

"It's nothing interesting, just more stuff about vampires—you won't like it."

"So everyone in your family was insane?" I made a sound and Jenna laughed. "Kidding. So can I see the letters?"

"It's not that interesting."

"There's nothing about the founding of the town."

"I don't know about the founding of this town but I can say with confidence that my family helped fund the earliest English settlement of this town and the subsequent other iterations of other settlements."

Jenna took out a notepad from her bag and started to note down what I was saying. "Where did your family get all this money, I mean I get your family were related to royalty—"

"Bastard son of a king."

"In that case, wouldn't your family not have that much money?"

"Oh." I didn't know what to say. I really didn't know where my ancestors got the funds to fund a town along with funding their vampire hunts. "You know what? I actually don't know." And I hated that I didn't.

"Maybe from the mines?" Jenna tried, seeing how troubled I must've seemed.

I shook my head. "We didn't own mines when my ancestors were still in England. Bastard—illegitimate son, remember? My ancestor was lucky to be given the title of a Baron but even so..." Something wasn't right. I never really questioned where all this money came from.

My ancestor's earliest journals were clear that he was a noble in name only but suddenly he came across a vast wealth. There were no real records of his wealth. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the family accounts were something I'd never seen.

No one even mentioned it to me.

Jenna laughed. "Look at you being all serious. Don't think too much about it. I'm sure wherever it came from doesn't matter now."

I nodded. "You're right." It clearly did bother me but I shelved those thoughts. Maybe I'd question my dad or my uncle about it later. "Well, I'm gonna go and leave you..." I trailed off as my uncle entered the kitchen and Jenna stood up. The two silently greeted each other and for a moment, I felt like a third wheel.

"What are you two up to?" Uncle Nate asked as he took out a bottle of orange juice out of the fringe and opened it.

"Not much, just interrogating your niece on your family's funds." Jenna answered.

Uncle Nate paused, his movements slow and almost mechanical and I swore I saw his eyes twitch as he took a big gulp of the orange juice. "Is that so?" His eyes flickered to mine and he seemed to relax once he noticed my confused expression. "Well, it's nothing special. Bastard son of a king turned mercenary."

I stared at my uncle in silence. His stiff face and hollow smile told me one thing: he was lying.

But I didn't call him out, instead I just stood there staring at him. I contemplated digging into his head, to find out why he lied or what my family was hiding but I chose not to.

Jenna didn't pick up on my uncle's lies or if she had, she didn't really care. She moved on and the two started to chat about something dull that didn't really catch my attention.

She paused mid-conversation as I hovered around the entrance of the kitchen. "Where's Mason? Did he go back to the Lockwood mansion?" She looked around at the clear absence of uncle Nate's other best friend.

"Oh. He's um...gone." Uncle Nate answered. "Road trip, remember?. He wasn't clear on where they were going but they're somewhere."

"He took Tyler?" Uncle Nate nodded and she giggled before pursing her lips and shaking her head in disapproval. "Carol's gonna be pissed."

"She called this morning actually, she saw him off. Mason did ask for permission."

I didn't bother to listen to them anymore and left the kitchen. Tyler had left town last night after writing me two letters for Caroline and Matt. I was still a little surprised he even did something like that. It wasn't like him to be so...sentimental.

The letters he wrote sat on my vanity table next to my many jewelry and perfumes. It stared at me sadly with its creased paper face. Tyler's scribbled handwriting on the top face with Caroline's name written in a hurried manner.

Tyler didn't deserve to be chased out of this town by something that wasn't his fault. I couldn't exactly blame Jules or Mason but I could blame Katherine.

"Hey," Lexi's voice greeted me on the other side of the phone as I placed Tyler's letters into my bag. "Sorry I missed your calls. Lee finally got a daylight ring so we went to Hawaii for a bit. We have a flight booked to the Bahamas later this afternoon and then we're thinking about backpacking through Asia when we come back."

"At least one of us is having a good time." I remarked. "It's fine. I just wanted to ask about the Originals and Katherine or the Sacrifice but I know Stefan already asked."

"Unfortunately, I really don't know much about the Originals or curse. I didn't have the displeasure of meeting Katherine while she was on the run. I avoided any trouble I could."

I sighed. I don't know what I expected. "Well, it was worth a shot."

Lexi laughed. "Sorry, I wasn't much help. I would've gone around more if I wasn't so worried about vampire hunters."

"Right," I said awkwardly. "I assume you probably crossed paths with my family at one point."

"Fortunately, no. I mean that with no offense—"

"None taken. I can only imagine what my ancestors were like."

"Well, they had a reputation of being...pretty scary. It got me to sober up and never go into a Ripper phase again."

I paused, my sketchbooks in one hand and my phone in the other. "Wait. You were a Ripper."

Lexi let out an awkward laugh. "Yeah, it was a loong time ago. I like to not think about it but I guess it helped me to understand and manage Stefan, speaking of—how is he? Still wallowing in self pity."

"Nope. Elena's taken that spot. I mean I love them but they are becoming the most depressing couple in town with how adamant both are to die—I mean Stefan's trying to keep Elena alive at the cost of his own life but Elena's trying to be martyr for the rest of us, thinking that if she hands herself over, we'll all be safe."

"She probably feels helpless and thinks this is her way of helping."

"Well, I'd like it if she didn't help. I mean I love her...it's just, she's stressing me out" I felt a sudden chill and shoved my sketchbook into my bag before reaching over for my sweater. I swear it wasn't that cold. "It doesn't help that Katherine managed to get inside her head and then she made a dumb deal with Elijah without even talking to us..."

"She's trying her best."

"I'm sure she is." I really didn't think so. "Well, I've gotta go. I'm meeting Bonnie at the Grill to catch up over last night."

Lexi said her goodbyes and hung up. I went over to my balcony, holding my hand out. Dusts of light gathered around at my fingertips as my hands got warmer. Carefully, I drew back the curtain, only to be greeted by nothing.

I glanced around the balcony and rushed inside. There was no one there but I knew I felt something. The dusts of light dissipated into the air as I rushed back inside, locking the doors and drawing the curtains. 

I turned away from the balcony doors and grabbed my sketchbooks alongside my pencil case while hiding my journal back into its safe spot. I wasn't stupid enough to keep it out in the open. With a glance over at my room, I left and made my way to my car to drive to the Grill.

The Grill was pretty empty when I walked in so it didn't take me long to find Bonnie and...Jeremy. I tilted my to the side and grinned. That was something but before I could even make my way over, Luka marched to Bonnie and Jeremy. His face was red with anger but his eyes were lost like he was scared.

That was weird.

He wasn't supposed to be like that unless...

He remembered what Bonnie did.

Damn it.

Trying to act as natural as I could, I strolled over Bonnie's table with a faux bright smile and sat down. "I've had the weirdest night—oh hey." Luka paused and glared at me.

"We were in the middle of something." Luka growled, slamming his hands onto the table. He was mad and very confused. "Do you mind?" He asked again in a softer tone, backing away.

"Oh carry on, I'll wait. Luka, right?" I said, taking out my sketchbook. "You're the new kid and the kid who got completely wasted over a few shots." I laughed to myself and took out my pencil case.

Jeremy and Bonnie shared a look before they turned to me. I pursed my lips, resisting the urge to curse at them. I was trying to save them the trouble and they were not helping me at all. Caroline might've sucked at lying but at least she knew when to play along, Bonnie, on the other hand, found it hard to play along.

I guess Jeremy got what I was doing because he cracked a smile and covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "Hey, I'm sure it's not his fault he was a lightweight."

"Says the one who was sober."

"Because of you."

I shrugged. Luka stared at me blankly and scoffed. "You think I'd fall for that?"

"Fall for what? You, my friend got so wasted that we had to get Tyler to haul you back to the park before driving you around town to keep the Sheriff from finding you drunk and that too before Tyler's trip."

"Tyler's trip?" Bonnie echoed. "Wait. What trip?"

"Oh, Tyler's on a road trip with his uncle." I said, opening my sketchbook to a random page as I ignored Luka. "And Luke, friendly advice from your student body President; don't drink. It was not fun seeing you try to fight Jeremy."

Luka shook his head. "Seriously? I was playing pool." He said slowly. "And the next thing I know is I am waking up in a bathroom stall."

I nodded and looked at Jeremy. "Seriously?" I gave him a disappointed look and shook my head. "I can't believe you and Tyler would just abandon him like that."

"Well, maybe you should've taken him home."

"I would've if I didn't have a curfew." I lied. Luka took a step back and breathed out heavily, his head was probably spinning. "You okay?" I asked carefully, eying Luka as he stumbled back and nodded.

"I-I can't remember what happened." He breathed out and for a moment I felt bad. I really didn't mean to lie to him but I didn't exactly have a choice. One look at Bonnie's nervous face told me that it was the right thing to do. Luka and his dad lied to Bonnie first. "Why can't I remember what happened last night?"

I nodded and pulled out a chair. "You wanna sit down and have some water to calm down?"

Luka shook his head. "No, I swear she–they—they—Bonnie and Jeremy did something."

"I don't think so. I just remember them talking to you." Luka looked up at me and motioned me to carry on. "Well, that's all I remember before you took a few shots from Tyler even though we warned you against it—Tyler does have a talent for mixing drinks."

"Tyler?"

I nodded and inwardly apologized to my friend who had escaped town. I was so sorry for using his name but the situation called for it and I needed to lie. "He left town this morning with his uncle."

"How convenient."

"You know Luka," I dropped my pen and tapped my finger against the table, signaling both Bonnie and Jeremy to calm down. Their nervousness was about to infect me and I didn't need that. "Not everything is a grand conspiracy. Tyler's dad died before you came to town and he hadn't seen his uncle in years. They decided to take a trip to clear their heads and grieve properly. Tyler, Caroline, Matt and I were supposed to meet up and talk. You, Bonnie and Jeremy just happened to be here when we were all drinking—wasn't anyone's fault that you're a lightweight."

He cocked his head to the side, trying to take in as much as he could. He was on the verge of believing me. I just needed one more push. "That's it? I drank with you guys?"

Jeremy and Bonnie nodded. I almost groaned seeing Bonnie's guilty face. I only hoped Luka wouldn't notice.

"And then I blacked out and you guys left me here."

"She had a curfew." Jeremy repeated my lie while trying to sound convincing. "Sorry, Ty and I left you in the stall—he had to run and I don't drive."

"So you guys couldn't have dropped me off at home?"

Bonnie awkwardly glanced at me and almost nudged me to continue. I sighed. "We don't know where you live." I blurted out without thinking. "The Sheriff was around and we were all drinking so if we got caught, we'd all get grounded or worse. We're sorry about leaving you. If you want, we can all make it up to you."

He stared at me blankly, studying my plastic smile before turning to Bonnie who didn't meet his gaze before she looked up and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't follow the guys to check if you were good. I had to take Caroline home." She lied and looked at me for support.

"—Might be telling the truth."

Trying to get inside Luka's mind was headache inducing. Still, I sat there with a smile and looked him in the eye and lied to him while trying my best to get inside his head.

"Right." Luka took a few steps back. "Remind to never drink with you guys." He said, turning away and walking out.

"It was a one-off thing, Luka!" I yelled out as he left before I sat down and turned to Bonnie and Jeremy who both looked relieved. "You two owe me. Big time."

Bonnie let out a relieved breath and slumped down onto the table, her head hitting the cool surface of the wooden table. Jeremy crumpled on the chair and sighed out loud. "That was close." He said, lifting his head and turning to Bonnie.

"I'm never doing that again."

"But you were good. I can't believe you came up with that on the spot."

I sighed and flipped to a clean page of my sketchbook. "It was easy considering you two left me nothing to work with." Bonnie looked away and Jeremy mimicked her. "And a bathroom stall? Seriously? Could you guys be any more suspicious?"

"If we took him home, his dad would figure out what we did." Bonnie pointed out as I put my pencil to paper. "Not to mention, he was fighting back and I was having trouble with the spell." She glanced over at the entrance of the Grill again and leaned closer to us.

Jeremy mimicked her as Matt passed by. "It would've been great if you stuck around." Said Jeremy with a sour look on his face but his face softened once he looked at Bonnie.

I stared down at my sketchbook and sighed.

Could he not turn me into the third-wheel while I was trying to help them?

"You know Bonnie can't use me as a magical battery for the rest of her life." I replied, ignoring whatever was going on between the two. "I'm not gonna be there all the time." I added.

Bonnie nodded. "Ava's right. I need to practice and there's so much I can draw from Ava without hurting myself as well. I need to get better."

"So we can practice." Jeremy said, leaning closer to Bonnie.

I hated to interrupt their moment but I was so confused how Jeremy, who was completely human to my knowledge, was going to help a witch. "Jeremy," He looked away from Bonnie as he remembered I was still there. "You know you're human right?"

He nodded. "So far." He joked and Bonnie lightly punched his arm. "Kidding. I love being a human." He joked.

I shook my head in disbelief, carrying on my sketching. "So what exactly did you two find out last night?"

Bonnie sat up as she clasped her hands together. There was a grim look on her face and it told me everything I needed to know. I had to mentally prepare myself for the worst. She moved away from Jeremy and closer to me. "Elijah's planning to go through with the Sacrifice." She said slowly as if she herself was trying to process the whole thing.

I nodded. I figured it out already. Elijah seemed a little too passive for someone supposedly trying to help us; that's why I didn't trust him. I frowned when I realized that Elena definitely knew that Elijah was planning to go through with the Sacrifice. I felt a surge of anger in me the more I thought about Elena's deal with Elijah. Nobody, not even Bonnie or Jeremy knew the exact details of the deal.

"Apparently," She lowered her voice again. "Klaus will be the weakest after the Sacrifice so it'll give him a chance to kill Klaus."

"But Elena and potentially a few more people will still be dead."

Bonnie nodded. "I know." Jeremy was upset and he was powerless. I understood him, I really did but I didn't think at the moment he wanted empty words. His sister was trying to get herself killed. "You know I don't understand why Elijah wants to kill Klaus so bad. He's an Original too, right? I figured that Originals would stick together." Jeremy said, looking around the table.

"I know right. That's what I thought." Bonnie agreed, glancing at me to see if I'd follow along but I didn't. Somehow, something was bothering me.

I thought back to every conversation with Elijah I had so far and every time, he was mysterious, telling me just what I needed to hear or what he wanted me to hear except...

I gasped softly. I put my sketchbook to the side and leaned closer to both Bonnie and Jeremy. "Okay this might be just a shot in the dark but what if Klaus is Elijah's brother?" I suggested. Both Bonnie and Jeremy stared at me dumbly. "I know it sounds ridiculous but listen, when Caroline got kidnapped by Mason's former friends, Elijah and I talked. He slipped up and I swear I heard him call Klaus his brother or maybe I'm overthinking this and I'm confused."

"So you think this is a family feud?" Bonnie pressed and I shrugged. I wasn't sure anymore. "That's kinda messed up if it is. Like we're caught up in a messed up family feud."

"Just a guess." I mumbled, biting the bottom of my lip. I wasn't really sure about what I was saying. Maybe I misheard it—it had been a while since that night.

Jeremy nodded. He didn't seem to believe me. I didn't blame him. I wasn't so sure. Neither of us could imagine wanting our siblings dead or being the ones to do it. He cleared his throat and quickly changed the topic. "Speaking of siblings, Luka also said that Klaus has his sister."

"Is that why the Martins are working with Elijah?" I asked. Bonnie and Jeremy nodded. "What if we got his sister out?"

The two paused and stared at me in disbelief. Jeremy let out a laugh of disbelief. "How exactly are we going to get Luka's sister out if we don't know even what Klaus looks like or what he's capable of."

"Well we need to do something about the Martins and Elijah working together."

"He has two witches and we have two, I think we're on even grounds." Jeremy added and I shook my head. Bonnie was a novice while uncle Nate, despite being naturally talented in magic, didn't practice the craft. "Hey we even have a fairy on our side." He joked.

I rolled my eyes. "You mean we have a novice witch and a warlock that doesn't practice magic along with a faery whose magic is barely under control."

"Hey, at least you're doing miles better than me." Bonnie chimed in and called over Matt who was about to go on his break.

"Hello to you too, Bon." Matt laughed and wrote down our orders. "I see you two are babysitting Jeremy." He said, glancing over at Jeremy whose face fell and he glared at Matt. "I'm kidding Jer." He turned away from Jeremy and looked at me. "Have you talked to Tyler?"

"He left town." I answered, a little surprised that Matt even asked about him. Matt, hearing Tyler left town, slumped his shoulders. He bit his lips and nodded along. "His uncle came back and the two are going on a road trip or something. I heard Mason's even going to take Ty to therapy so maybe he'll come back as a better person."

Matt forced himself to smile. "Let's hope for the best." He said as Bonnie gave him a sympathetic smile. "It's not because of me or Caro—"

"His dad died, Matt. Remember?" Matt's ability to blame himself was really upsetting at times to me. "It's not your fault. You're not responsible for him acting like a dick. Maybe this road trip with his uncle will help him. Just wait for him to come back. Besides," I took a letter out, checking if it had Matt's name written on it before I handed it to him. "If he was mad at you, he wouldn't have left you this."

He carefully took the letter from me. His eyes glued to the lettering of his name and he let out a laugh. "Geez, he's acting like he's never coming back." I scrunched up my brows and looked away. It would be great if Tyler never came back. He'd be much safer but I couldn't say that to Matt without upsetting him so I said nothing.

I watched as Matt pocketed the letter into his uniform and looked over the table. "Do you want to join us?" Jeremy offered, taking me and Bonnie by surprise. I figured he'd want to be alone with Bonnie and probably wanted me to leave as well so I was taken aback that he even asked Matt to join us. "That is if you're free." He added slowly, checking Bonnie or my reactions.

I was happy for Matt to join us and I guess so was Bonnie as she bobbed her head up and down with a bright smile. If only Caroline, Elena and my brother were here, it would be like old times, when things were so much easier for us. 

But Elena was at her family lake house being watched by Stefan to stop her from being a martyr, Caroline was dealing with being a vampire and my brother was running away from his responsibilities. I knew for a fact, Daniel would never come back to Mystic Falls and stay for long.

"Sure, my shift ends soon. I'll bring my lunch over after I get your orders." Matt nodded his head and left to give our orders.

"You guys don't have anything else to say, right?" Jeremy carefully asked, glancing between me and Bonnie. I shook my head. "Oh good."

"Actually," Bonnie began. "What happened at the Boarding House?" I was hoping she wouldn't ask me about that but she did.

I sighed and dragged my chair closer to her. "Werewolves attacked and tortured Damon for the moonstone after knocking out Alaric. I came in time and I guess I wasn't the only one. Elijah showed up and took care of the rest of our wolf problems."

"Elijah showed up." Bonnie and Jeremy said at the same time, taking each other by surprise as they glanced at each other and I nodded. "Wait. How did he even know what was going on?" I shrugged. Her guess was as good as mine.

"This was the second time he showed up to 'save' the day without even knowing what was going on. If you ask me, I think he's watching us."

Jeremy made a face. "That's so creepy." He said. "Why did Elena even make a deal with him?"

"Your guess is as good as ours." Bonnie said. She seemed tired of everything and I could only pat her shoulders in defeat. I didn't know what to say. "So anything else happened?"

I paused. Suddenly my cheeks felt hot as I could feel heat flooding the back of my ear to my cheeks. Bonnie and Jeremy took one look at me and both shared an exasperated look. "Okay. Can you not?"

"We didn't say anything."

"Yeah, we didn't say anything." Jeremy repeated with a grin. "So what happened?" He asked, still grinning and holding back a laugh.

"N-nothing." I stuttered out, trying to block the image of last night. What the hell was I thinking? Damon Salvatore. Oh god. I must've lost my mind. "Absolutely nothing."

Bonnie stared at me and tilted her head. She didn't believe me. She kept her eyes on me and refused to look away but there was a silly grin on her face that I absolutely hated. I felt terrible but it seemed both Jeremy and Bonnie seemed to be enjoying this.

"Nothing happened."

Something clearly did happen. I almost slept with Damon and the sobering reality hit me. I might've almost screwed up. I didn't even know if I actually felt anything for him but I knew he felt something for me and honestly, it scared me. Every time I thought about it, I was filled with an irrational fear that I knew had a place of origin.

Isaac's face would always appear whenever I tried to think about what I felt for Damon.

"So," Bonnie began with a quick look at Jeremy. "Something did happen?" She asked carefully.

"Well, I'm not gonna talk about it in front of Jeremy."

"Ouch. What did I do?" Jeremy stood up offended but he sat back down when he saw Matt coming over with our meals and out of his uniform. "Thanks Matt." He said, taking our meals and drinks from Matt.

I put my sketchbooks away and emptied the table. "You're Elena's little brother." I reminded him.

"So?" He grabbed a fry from his plate and dipped it into the ketchup before popping it into his mouth.

I sighed. Matt pulled a chair opposite me and threw us a confused look. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked and Jeremy shrugged.

"Okay, you three cannot tell this to Elena or Stefan. I'm debating if I should even tell Caroline this but," I sucked in a breath. Matt, Jeremy and Bonnie scooted closer to me. "I almost slept with Damon last night."

Bonnie let out a quiet gasp and Matt mirrored her. Jeremy stared at me speechless. "Oh my god." Bonnie said slowly. "Oh my god." She repeated. "Oh god!" She almost screamed but Jeremy and Matt pulled her down to her chair as a few patrons of the Grill turned around to look at us. "I gotta tell Caroline."

"No! No. Not yet." Matt stopped her and I had never been so thankful to him. "You know she's gonna make this a big deal." Matt said.

"It is a big deal." Jeremy said, laughing. "What were you thinking?"

I rolled my eyes and stole a fry from his plate even though I had some on mine. "Clearly, I wasn't. I didn't go all the way so you guys can stop with the judgemental looks."

"I wasn't judging you." Matt said between laughs and I lightly punched his arm. "I mean at least you didn't actually do it but seriously?"

"I know. I know. Okay. Leave me alone."

Bonnie cleared her throat and Matt passed her a glass of iced lemonade. She took a few sips as my words set in. Her smile faded and concern on her face. "I mean I knew he was a little weird about you but I didn't think you were in love—"

I made a sound interrupting her. Isaac's face flashed in front of my eyes and I dropped a sweet potato fry from my plate. "I don't. I don't know." I stuttered out. Both Jeremy and Matt stopped laughing. "Let's talk about something else." I suggested.

Matt smiled sympathetically and patted my arm. He sighed and clasped his hands together. "So Tyler just left town?" He began and I nodded. "I didn't expect that."

"I don't think anyone expected that." Jeremy chimed in. Despite his previous feelings towards Tyler, Jeremy had decided to be the bigger person and put behind any hard feelings he might've had towards Tyler. It did help that Damon had compelled him to forget all about Vicki. "I thought he and Mason would stick around..." He trailed off as I noted his eyes get bigger in silent shock.

Before I could ask him what happened, I heard Bonnie let out a quiet gasp. "Oh my god." She exclaimed softly as I felt a cold chill run down my back. I didn't even have to turn around to know. She grabbed my arm and pulled at it, stopping from looking at the entrance.

Matt decided to grab my other arm as well. The two stopped me from looking. "Don't look that way." He said, pushing my plate of food towards me.

"I wasn't." I mouthed and shoved a piece of sweet potato fry into my mouth. I felt confused but I didn't want to be so I shoved those feelings aside and focused on Matt in front of me. "Anyways, how's work?"

He raised his brow and shook his head. I might be great at small talk but at that moment nothing was going through my head. "You know, the usual. It's decent pay, that's all I can say."

I frowned. "You know you really shouldn't push yourself too much—between this, football and school, I don't know how you have time to breathe."

Bonnie chuckled. "Says the student body President whose part of god knows how many clubs and other stuff."

"Don't forget her part time job." Jeremy joked as Matt frowned. Instinctively I kicked him under the table. "Ow!" He looked at me in alarm and I shrugged.

"Sorry I was stretching my legs." I smiled at Jeremy. Bonnie laughed and Matt, Bonnie's drink almost spilling from her hands.

"Ava!" I heard my uncle call out and I groaned.

I gave my friends and Jeremy a look before grabbing my things and wiping my hands off with a napkin. My uncle had the worst timing.

Awkwardly, I went over to him and smiled at his party. Elijah noticed me and nodded his head towards me in greeting. I only blinked in acknowledgement. I really didn't want to be there.

"Do you need something from me?" I asked, avoiding Damon and Elijah's gazes.

"Do you have your phone with you?"

"My phone." I echoed and reached inside my bag. Without even opening it, I knew. "You called. Sorry I was...busy with stuff."

Andie giggled and covered her mouth.

With a tight smile, I lazily looked down at her. She grinned at me as she gripped Damon's arms. "What was so funny?" I questioned. I paused, noticing Andie's familiar scarf. A pale pink and violent printed mulberry scarf that I knew I had seen before. "Cute scarf by the way." I commented, my eyes going to Damon's who avoided my gaze.

I looked down at my bag and quickly rummaged through it before I let out a quiet laugh. Uncle Nate made a sound and shared a look with Jenna who gasped quietly. They knew I was mad. Of course, I was.

Elijah narrowed his eyes on Andie's scarf and the corners of his lips went up into a small smile. "It is a very beautiful scarf." He added playfully.

I gave him a dead look, telling him to stay out of it but he ignored me.

Ever so clueless, Andie giggled coyly. "Oh thanks." She said, playing with the scarf. "Damon gave it to me."

"Well, you see—" Damon tried to speak but I just laughed.

"That is so cute! Look at you two, already giving each other gifts!" I clapped my hands together, silencing him as I sat up. Alaric turned away like he wasn't even there. "It looks expensive." I commented.

"Right?" Andie agreed, dropping the end of the scarf she was playing with. "It feels expensive."

"It better." I mumbled under my breath. "It looks like mulberry silk to me."

"You Fitzroys are really something. I didn't think you'd be able to guess that."

"It is mulberry silk." Uncle Nate doubled down. He wasn't grinning or enjoying the awkward conversation unlike Elijah who stood off to the side.

"I don't know." Andie turned to Damon for an answer but Damon looked away. "Damon, what is the scarf made off again?"

"I don't know." Damon said quickly. "It's a scarf."

"It looks like mulberry to me." Elijah chimed in, leaning in for a closer look. "I would know." He added.

"You would?" Andie repeated and Elijah nodded.

"I have a talent for identifying things." He joked, surprising me. Why was he getting involved? I didn't know. I wasn't grateful, just annoyed.

"I had one just like that." I gently reached for the scarf. Andie didn't move away. "Not to brag or anything but mine was custom made by my family."

Uncle Nate's gaze hardened. "She got it for her thirteenth birthday. It was one of the few gifts designed by my...late mother—her grandmother."

Andie's smile faltered and she looked back at Damon. "That's...cute."

"Right?" I grinned brightly. "It even had my initials embroidered: A.R.F for Ava Rose Fitzroy."

She paused and quickly looked down at the scarf, fumbling around with it before she found a distinct embroidered edge. Her face paled as she looked back at me. I only smiled.

My feelings must've clouded my thoughts because I had completely missed Andie's neck. "Come to think of it, why are you wearing a scarf?" I asked.

Damon stopped Andie from answering. "She was cold." He said quickly.

Andie's or my old scarf loosened and I swear I could smell faint traces of iron. "She was cold?" I repeated, raising my brow and sharing a look with my uncle. "Oh my god. You did it again." I said under my breath, low enough for him to hear but I knew Elijah heard too.

He fed on her.

My eyes widened in disbelief. I looked at my history teacher who in guilt didn't meet my gaze and he wondered why Jenna was distancing herself for him.

Damon shrugged. "She offered." He mouthed to me. I shook my head in disbelief.

Who was I kidding?

This was Damon Salvatore. He was never going to change and I only felt like a fool for what I almost did last night. I glanced at Andie and my old scarf. I didn't even want to ask for it back. I was dumb enough to keep it in my bag all the time and didn't even check that I had lost it, not to mention there was a slight chance that the scarf had blood on it.

I sighed. I was so done with him. "Oh." Andie gasped out and looked at my uncle. "I should invite Ava to the dinner party."

"Dinner party?" I echoed, confused. There was no way Andie came up with that on her own.

I turned to Damon who didn't meet my gaze but I did catch Elijah's who once again was studying me. "I assume you're coming?" Elijah guessed.

I pursed my lips and shook my head. "I don't know, I don't think it's a place for me."

"Why not?" He questioned. "It's not like you're not welcome."

"Well, I don't want to be the only teenager there and kill the mood."

Elijah chuckled, ignoring my uncle, Jenna and Damon. "On the contrary, I think you'd make the mood."

I let out an awkward laugh. What was he doing? I didn't know but I couldn't exactly question him without raising alarms at the Grill. "I'm flattered but you shouldn't say things like that Mr Smith." I teased without thinking.

He grinned and spared a glance at Damon who clenched his jaws while pretending he wasn't there.

"Why not?" Elijah asked in turn, not really expecting an answer.

"Because people will get the wrong idea." Jenna said, cutting the tension and reminding everyone that she was still there.

Uncle Nate laughed in relief. "Exactly. Thank you Jenna." The two turned to each other and silently communicated with each other before Jenna cracked a smile.

Without a word, Alaric stood up, interrupting the two. "The dinner party?" He said all of a sudden.

"Yes, the dinner party." Damon repeated, clapping his hands together. He looked up at me. "You in?"

Elijah stared at me expectedly. He wanted to be there. I knew why; he was suspecting Damon—not that Damon helped with his jittery actions.

I tilted my head to the side and pretended to think. "I'll think about it." I said as Damon stood up to say something but I ignored him and turned around to leave.

I threw down a few notes onto the table where I was sitting and left. The table was empty. Bonnie, Jeremy and Matt had left with Bonnie texting me where they were. I was about to get into my car but he caught me by my arm.

Unlike the night before, his touch that afternoon was cold as ice just as I remembered it be. "Ava, listen I can explain—" He began.

"You owe me a new scarf, not an explanation, Damon." I muttered close to his ears and got into my car after lightly punching his arm when I took my arm back.

I was stupid enough to think he'd change. The lump in my throat felt suffocating as my eyes felt moist. I didn't want to be around Damon at that moment.

─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────

𝟏𝟖𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟖𝟔𝟒,

𝑴𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒅𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒅,

𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒊𝒏-𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔. 𝑰 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒔, 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔: 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 

𝑭𝒊𝒕𝒛𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍. 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐.

𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔.

𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕; 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒅. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆.

𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒔. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅,

𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑮𝒊𝒍𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕

─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────

"Jeremy, what am I doing here?" I stood with my arms crossed at the foyer of the Gilbert house. Jeremy stood next to me, checking his phone while I stared down at the floor where Jeremy had placed a bag full of candles.

He turned off his phone and turned to me. "I need your help. I somehow managed to rope Matt into distracting Bonnie while you help me set this up." He held the bag of white candles up for me to see and I sighed.

"Is this a date for Bonnie?" I asked, taking the bag from him and starting to set up the candles. At least one of my friends was having a decent love life.

"N-no." Jeremy stuttered out, almost dropping a candle but he quickly caught it before it hit the floor. "It's just us...hanging out."

I gave him a look and sighed, shaking my head. "Okay." I said, taking a step back from the few candles I'd arranged. "So can Matt and I—"

"NO!"

I grinned before bursting into fits of laughter. Jeremy stood there defeated, his hands on his hips as he looked down. I reached out and ruffled his hair while laughing. He scowled at me, fixing his hair in a hurry. "Relax. I was kidding." I said between my laughter, finding it hard to breathe. "This is totally a date."

He nodded tiredly. I know he was tired of me. At least it wasn't Caroline who wasn't the one helping out. She'd never shut up. "I don't want to call it a date 'date'..." He paused. "Because it's not. It's 'I kissed Bonnie but I don't know what we are' hang out."

I stopped laughing and stared at him in disbelief. "Oh my god. You kissed your sister's best friend."

"You're making this weird."

"I'm miserable." I retorted. I was. Of all the dumb people in this town, I had to go and pick Damon. "Leave me alone."

"Sure but you need to help me out here."

I rolled my eyes and finished setting up the candles. Jeremy left to go grab some more things from the storage and he came back with a plush throw that he carefully placed on the couch. "Could you be more cheesy?"

"Hey, this is potentially my first real date."

I grinned and raised my brow. "I thought you said it wasn't a date." I teased him.

He breathed in and out, trying his best to keep his cool and not blush like a fool. "It's...not." I nodded, not believing a thing he was saying. "Also I can't cook."

"I figured." I got off the wall where I was leaning and headed to the kitchen. "So what are you two lovebirds in the mood for?" I joked, opening up the fridge and scanning it. "Jenna might not cook but she sure does keep the fridge stocked up."

"That's because Nate comes around sometimes and he makes us lunch or dinner, sometimes breakfast if we're lucky."

I paused and turned to look behind my shoulders at Jeremy. "Uncle Nate cooks for you guys?" I asked and he nodded. "Well this is news to me." I knew that Jenna and my uncle were close but I didn't really expect them to hang out this often. "Thought Ric would be over more."

"Yeah well..." Jeremy laughed nervously. "They've been going through a rough patch."

"That sucks." I said, pulling out a bunch of things from the fridge. "Anyways, I think Italian is a no go. Too generic. What about Chinese, Spanish or Indian?"

"I don't know, you pick." Jeremy said, checking the living room. "You know what she likes."

"American Chinese it is." At least that's what I thought Bonnie would like.

Jeremy didn't disturb me in the kitchen as I busied myself, cooking until sunset. I was almost done with the rice when my uncle called.

"Where are you?" He asked, skipping the greetings. He sounded tired and annoyed. I could only guess that Damon or Alaric were behind his terrible mood.

I frowned and called Jeremy to put the food away until his date. "I'm at the Gilbert house helping Jeremy with his not-date date." I answered. "What happened?"

"Are you aware that Ric and Damon are trying to pull off a suicide mission?"

I rolled my eyes. Of course they were. Those two needed a hobby. "Let me know if it works. I'll be sure to book my holiday on the day their funeral is held." I said sarcastically.

"Ava." My uncle hissed at me.

"What?" I tilted my head, pressing my phone to my shoulders as I untied the apron I'd borrowed from Elena's kitchen. "They're always doing something stupid so forgive me for not caring."

"They're trying to kill Elijah."

I nodded. "Okay. Why?" Both my uncle and I were vampire hunters, even then my family had a strict rule to not poke the hornet's nest which essentially meant leaving vampires that did no harm alone.

Elijah hadn't really done much apart from trying to kidnap Elena but now he wanted to protect her until she was sacrificed. Maybe he did need to go. At the same time, he was the only one that we know that could possibly go against Klaus.

It was a tricky situation and I didn't know what to do. Trying to kill Elijah was definitely not a great idea and could easily backfire.

"Elijah wants to go through with the Sacrifice so to stop him—"

"I know. I know everything but it's not gonna change a thing." I cut him off. "Look I get Damon but he's not seeing the bigger picture. Elijah is probably the only person we know who can go against Klaus and not to mention, whatever method Damon's gonna use is probably going to backfire. I know that but nothing either of us say will change anything."

"They're gonna use John Gilbert's dagger."

My eyes widened and I sighed. Of course they were. "You mean the dagger that looks..."

"Yeah." He said. "It doesn't just look like our family dagger—it's the same. Our family gifted it to the Gilberts—your aunt Evelyn found records of a pair of daggers and we know we have one of them, the Gilberts had the other because we gave it to them. I know it can do the same thing."

"Okay." I nodded. "Damon isn't going to listen and if we tell them about the 'side effect' of using the dagger that's going to bring up more questions than we want to give answers for. It's up to you what you want to do."

"You're being too passive." He paused. "Oh my god. Are you pissed that Damon hooked up Andie?"

I scoffed. I was annoyed, yes but I wasn't pissed off at him about that. I was more about Andie potentially going through what Caroline did and the fact that I almost made a big mistake the night before. "I can't believe you of all people would think of me like that..." I trailed off when I noticed Jeremy standing in front of me. "Hold on." I put my uncle on hold and raised a brow in question.

"Damon's here." He said, awkwardly.

"Okay." I said in confusion. "What do you want me to do about that?" I sighed. Damon walked into the kitchen and I threw my head back. "If this is about the dinner party, I'm not going. I have plans with Caroline." I lied.

"You're lying." Damon said and I shrugged. Maybe I was but why did he care? "Look I just came to tell you that—"

"You're going to try to kill Elijah? Yeah I know." I motioned to my phone where my uncle was still on hold. "Good luck with your suicide plan. I won't be at your funeral but I'll help Stefan clean up your mess."

He stared at me for a second. I could've sworn he looked hurt for a minute or maybe I was seeing things. "Funny. You're funny." He laughed sarcastically as Jeremy quietly left the kitchen. "You're mad."

"I'm not mad." I retorted. "I'm..." I paused, trying to find a way to let him know what I felt at that moment without making it a big deal that maybe I was a little jealous but my concern over Andie's wellbeing overrode my envy with ease. "Annoyed. Yeah, I'm annoyed, not mad. How could you do that?"

"Ava, listen—"

"No, you need to listen." I cut him off and held my hand out in front of me, stopping him in his steps as he tried to come closer. "Do you not remember what you put Caroline through? Because I do. I remember how she used cry every single night because of you and then you had to go compel Andie to be another one of your walking blood bags!"

Damon took a step towards me and I narrowed my eyes at him. The lights above me started to flicker wildly, causing him to stop. "Why don't you calm down and we'll talk like normal people."

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" I spat. "Andie doesn't even know what you're putting her through just like Caroline didn't."

"It's different. Caroline was...a mistake I shouldn't have made." I scoffed. He was only feeling sorry because I called him for it. I didn't believe for a second that he was sorry. "Andie is different. I won't make the same mistake—"

"Oh my god. You don't even see that you're doing the exact same thing you did back then. I'm so mad at you and me for almost thinking you'd changed!" I breathed out, brushing past him to grab my things and leave.

He caught my arm and pulled me back, pinning me against the counters while I tried to avoid his gaze. "What do you want?"

Damon tilted my face up to make me look at him. His cold touch sent shivers down my back but I still held my anger. "I want you to leave Andie alone. She doesn't deserve what you're about to do to her."

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

I swatted his hand off of me and pushed him away. "I don't care about what you have to say just like you don't care about what I have to say."

"That's not true."

I nodded and crossed my arms across my chest. "Right. I believe that." I left the kitchen. He followed me out to the driveway. "I know you're trying to kill Elijah and you're only here to either tell me to avoid the whole thing or to help you kill Elijah."

"I was actually going to ask you for help."

I shut my eyes and sighed. Of course, he was. "Of course, you were."

He hesitated and his eyes trembled with an undefined emotion that I didn't want to figure out. "Its one of the reasons." He admitted and I looked down. "But yeah, I need you help. John Gilbert gave us the dagger that can kill Elijah; Katherine all but admitted that it works."

"You went to Katherine?"

"She's the only one with experience on the Originals—"

"That's besides the point." I interrupted him, pacing in front of my car. I noticed Jeremy looking in from the living room. He quickly drew the curtains when I noticed him. "Damon, Katherine is notorious for lying."

"She looked pretty scared about Elijah being dead, said how she'll be trapped in there for eternity if he dies."

Was that even possible? I wondered as I stood there with a heavy frown, my previous anger mellowing a little but still it wasn't gone. I was still angry at Damon for whatever he was doing with Andie.

"That doesn't make sense." I said out loud. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like compulsion didn't work like that. I didn't know the true extent of a vampire's ability to compel people let alone an Original. "Damon, how does compulsion work? Like how do we know that it doesn't break when the vampire dies."

He shrugged. He didn't know. I pursed my lips and looked away. I could easily ask Slater or Lexi but I didn't know if I had the time. Lexi was still on holiday with Lee and she wouldn't easily pick up the phone. It was a miracle she actually called me back that morning while Slater didn't have enough experience with vampires and was still researching things he didn't know.

"I think Katherine might be trying to mislead us or provoke you to kill Elijah."

"And why would she do that?"

"Because it's too easy!" I almost shouted, quietening down a little. "It's too easy. A dagger that kills an Original. There's a catch there somewhere."

He narrowed his eyes on me. "What do you mean by that?"

"What?" I let out a quiet laugh. "I just meant that there's gotta be something wrong with the dagger cause it all sounds too easy and we both know Katherine has lied before."

"So have you—you've lied before." That stung but he was part right. I blinked and looked away. "You know you've been acting pretty weird about the whole dagger thing and come to think of it so has your uncle."

I took a step back and turned around to unlock my car to get in. Damon stopped me. "Damon, I don't know what you're talking about so can you just—"

"What are you hiding, sunshine?" His voice whispered into my ear and I elbowed his chest, pushing him away before turning around to face him.

"Does it matter?" I asked in turn, keeping my gaze on the floor. "You won't care either way. All I'm saying is everything seems too convenient and besides if we play our cards right, we could convince Elijah come up with another plan to weaken Klaus that doesn't involve Elena dead."

"Yeah, you think that's going to work."

"We won't know if we don't try." I tried to convince him but he wasn't listening. He'd already turned away and was busy replying to a message Alaric sent. "You know what? Do what you want but advice, maybe have someone else do the deed like I don't know..." I trailed off as my senses numbed and vision dulled. For a second I wasn't there. "Ask John or Ric to do it. I'd suggest my uncle but he'll say no." I said blankly like I was in a strange trance-like state; I sure felt like it.

I blinked and that numb feeling was gone. Without another word, I got in the car and left Damon standing in the Gilbert's driveway. What happened that night wasn't my issue anymore. He could deal with his own problems.

─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────

𝟐𝟕𝒕𝒉 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝟏𝟖𝟔𝟓,

𝑻𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆,

𝑰 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐.

𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 

𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 

𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆—𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒔, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏, 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅.

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒆, 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏.

𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆,

𝑳𝒚𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝑩𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒏

"Wasn't she a romantic?" I remarked, rereading Lydia's letter.

Her old faded letters sat neatly on the metal outdoor table in my balcony. I sat there reading each and every letter that belonged to her and her brother while on the side my sketchbook lay open next to a bowl of pasta bake that the chef had made before calling it a day.

I was home alone. Almost everyone I knew was busy and it was fairly quiet. I didn't mind. Though, it was strange at first to have all this time to myself. I couldn't complain.

I almost jumped when my phone started ringing. It was Stefan. I didn't expect him to call and I guess Damon must've made a mess already.

"Hey," I greeted, putting the letters aside. "How's things going?"

"You knew." He said.

"Okay, straight into it—what are you talking about?"

"The dagger." He said. I could hear him pacing in the background. "You knew about it's origins and what it could do if a vampire used it."

I found it hard to breathe and I could barely speak before I managed to say a single. "Yes." I somehow managed. "I did." I added. There was no point lying to him now. "But I warned Damon about it." Not a lie but it wasn't the truth either.

"I'm sure you warned Damon." He didn't believe me.

"Stefan, listen. I had no choice, my family—"

"Your family dagger is the exact same." Stefan said. "When were you going to tell us that your family had run into Originals and knew exactly how to beat them?"

"I didn't tell you because I wasn't allowed to."

"John's trying to get Damon killed!"

And Damon was stupid for believing John and Katherine after everything either of them had put us all through. I held my tongue and forced myself to not blurt out what I was really thinking but instead I said something I wish I didn't. "That has nothing to do with me! I warned him!" I sat up and started pacing, furious that I was being blamed for this. I didn't have to tell them anything. It's not like they ever listened to me. "I told him to not go against Elijah!"

I froze when I felt an overfamiliar chill. My heart hammered against my chest and my stomach felt tight. I couldn't breathe but I could hear Stefan carry on with his words on the other side of the phone. Against my better judgments, I turned around.

"Elijah." I breathed out in fear. My heart dropped. Damon and Alaric had failed. Stefan's calls were interrupted when I noticed my uncle's numerous missed calls and his texts.

Stefan stopped talking for a second. "Ava." I heard him call out my name in concern, his anger from earlier gone. "What's going on—" He was cut off when my hands started to feel warm and static only greeted me as light started to pool around my other hand.

Elijah stood leaning against the railing of my balcony. "So you did know." Was all he said before I turned around to rush back inside but he was faster as I blinked and he had slammed me against the railing, my head almost hanging off.

The cool rush of air and the blood rushing to my head made me dizzy. I couldn't think straight or breathe. Elijah held me up, bringing me close to him. "I swear...I...I..uh...tried to stop him. I...didn't want you dead. I—" I said slowly, trying to catch my breath and get a sense of my surroundings once more.

He stared at me unmoving, his arms around my waist were cold. I couldn't help but bite down the silent urge to kill. I gazed up at him before I sucked in a breath, summoning warmth back. Dusts of light started to gather around my hands but he quickly grabbed them.

"I believe you but unfortunately, you are becoming quite the liability."

Oh god.

"You have a deal with Elena!" I tried.

He scoffed. "Damon and Alaric tried to kill me. Deal's off." I stared at him desperately, trying to summon light again. His skin started to sizzle and burn as the smell of flesh burning filled the air but he didn't flinch. "I don't have a deal with you and I'd suggest you stop struggling."

I was going to die.

"Make a deal with me!" I gasped out. Blood ran down my nose. The stench of wet iron and sweat mixed with the nauseating stench of burning flesh made me gag and I felt so sick. My head started to spin. I tried harder to summon more magic but he held on to my hands tight.

I watched in horror as his eyes turned black and dark veins appeared under his eyes. He blinked, moving his head away from me, trying to control himself before he returned to normal. "I'm not foolish enough to make a deal with a faery." He said calmly.

I was going to die.

"...You're going to kill me." I mumbled out without thinking. I was going to die because of Damon.

Elijah frowned at my words. With his cold fingers tucked, my stray hair behind my ear. "I would never do that." He breathed out. "And no, it's not because of Kamilah."

"Then why—" Pain shot through me like lightning as I fell forward into his arms. Tears blinded me as I looked up pleadingly at Elijah. My head felt like it was going to explode. My vision was fading. I couldn't breathe. "I can't bre—I can't—please—help—I can't—" I gasped for air as he held me close to his chest.

"It's okay. It'll be fine." I heard him almost try to comfort me but I couldn't be sure. "It's just a precaution." My head was spinning and I couldn't breathe. "I mean you no harm." I knew vaguely that this wasn't his fault but one of the Martin witches was around.

"Li...ar." I gasped out.

"Ava!" I heard someone shout my name. Maybe it was my uncle. I wasn't so sure. I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't breathe. "Ava!" That same voice called out.

"Uncle Nate..." I tried to weakly call out. Words barely came out as a whisper as the pain blinded my senses completely.

My limbs felt so heavy; I fought hard to hold on. I couldn't stand anymore as my legs gave up. Elijah must've caught me before I could fall. "You're putting on a good fight." I heard him say. I tried to push him off of me but my hands just wouldn't cooperate with me. "You really should've left when I asked you to."

I couldn't even say a single thing before my head went blank. I lost the fight. My head felt so heavy that I couldn't help but shut my eyes as my world turned black.

─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────

Spring Break 2009,

Droplets of sweat rolled down my face as I was rounding the corner of the lake, trying to focus on my breathing. I felt a familiar chill run down my spine and I halted to stop, kicking dirt off the group. I spotted Nik again. He seemed completely lost in his sketching; I didn't know if he noticed him just yet. I hoped he didn't but the way he engrossed in his sketching with his eyes trailing each stroke of the pencil on the paper sparked my stupid curiosity.

Before I could stop myself, my feet were taking me to him but I quickly gained control and took a step back. But he'd already noticed me as he sat up and glanced over his shoulder with that cocky grin that I was becoming way too familiar with.

"Running away from your problems again?" He asked, a slight smirk forming at the corner of his mouth.

I couldn't help but laugh at his question. Yet a part of me couldn't deny that he was right on some level. I wasn't just out for a casual morning jog; I had left the lake house to escape the surprise visit from my ex from hell, Isaac. Maybe I was trying to outrun Isaac. My pace over the last two miles was proof of that.

My heart was beating fast, I was still trying to catch my breath from my jog; it took me a while to find the strength to speak. "I was just on my morning jog." I said. My words sounded like an excuse, maybe there were excuses but I didn't care. I didn't know Nik enough to tell him the truth.

Nik laughed. "Is that so?" He mused, turning his back to me. "I didn't see you here the morning before."

"What? Are you stalking me?"

He glanced over at me and grinned. "No, I'm just enjoying the beauty of this lake."

I almost believed him. The way he sat by the edge of the water, so focused on his art, made me curious. What did he see that made him spend his mornings drawing here? I didn't know if it was me or the false calmness of the lake and woods surrounding it that kept him around.

"Somehow I don't believe that." I breathed out.

"Well, you'd be right but it is a beautiful lake and..." He packed his sketchbook into his bag, not even allowing me a single peek. He stood up and before I could blink, he was in front of me. "...it brought me to you."

My eyes widened with fear as I took a nervous step back. Nik intimidated me. Not because he was a vampire but there was something about his grin that sent shivers down my spine. He looked like he knew me better than I knew myself and I didn't like that. It was almost like Isaac before his spiral down below.

I wetted my dried lips, looking away as I tried to come up with something to say. Before I could even muster a single word, the clasp of my necklace came undone and slid down my neck. I didn't have time to react to catch it as it fell but Nik did. He caught the necklace by it's delicate chains before it landed on the ground and looked up at me with his brow raised.

I choked back a gasp and breathed out heavily. Something wasn't right about him. "Who are you, Nik?" I found myself asking before I could stop myself.

His grin grew wider and he got up from his knees, reaching for my hand. His touch was cold and I wanted to run away but he held on tight. He unclasped my hand and gently placed my necklace into my hands. He was saying something but I couldn't hear him. Even as his lips continued forming words, everything around me started getting hazy—almost dreamlike.

Colors and sounds of my surroundings seemed muted and displaced as if time had stopped or blurred between reality and unreality. Everything around me seemed to turn to dust, dissipating into darkness but Nik stood there untouched by the strange storm.

Pain suddenly clouded my vision as I tumbled forward, gasping for air.

When I looked up, I wasn't in the woods anymore.

Night had consumed the day and I was on the floor with glass and metal stained with blood strewn around me. I could distinctly feel the buzzing pain as it latched onto me like a parasite. I couldn't feel my legs. I was trapped. I didn't know where I was.

But I wasn't alone.

There were bodies around; they weren't dead. Some were still breathing. My eyes caught a shadow in the middle of the road that was staring right at me. I tried to get up and run but I couldn't feel my legs. My heart felt like it would leap out of my chest.

I was so cold.

I felt like I was dying with each breath I took as I forced myself to sit up. My hands landed on the rough asphalt road stained with blood—I don't know whose. The road cut into my skin, drawing out more blood but the cuts were healing.

"What the hell are you?" I heard Isaac say. His voice was distant but he was close enough to keep me in his sights.

Warmth flooded back to me. I didn't feel cold anymore as I let out a sigh of relief. To my surprise, dusts of light gathered at my fingertips but they flickered in and out before dimming down with a quiet hum.

My head was spinning. The light that had brought me warmth seemed to have sapped my remaining life away from me as I lost my last remnant of energy. I fell backwards, my head colliding against the hard and rough floor. Maybe I heard the sound of my head landing against the road; I didn't know or remember anything.

The last thing I saw was Isaac's head being ripped off before I turned away to look at the starless sky. Breathing out in pain, I shut my eyes and slipped away.

─────⋇⋆✦⋆⋇─────

A faint pain throbbed in my head, and the distant sound of arguing voices was the first thing I could hear.

"—I'm giving her my blood!"

I tried to open my eyes but they felt heavy like they were glued shut. The voices grew clearer as I continued to regain my bearings; it was Damon, my uncle, and Stefan arguing heatedly over something. I could even hear the sound of pacing. It must've been Elena, I guessed.

"It's too dangerous." I heard my uncle say.

"Her life is at stake here; we can't take any chances!" Damon's voice insisted, his tone strained with urgency.

"You do that and I will stake you right here and right now!" My uncle retorted adamantly.

Stefan tried to mediate between them. "Damon, let's just wait...

"She might be dying!" Damon's voice was louder than before and it rang through my ears, almost making me want to cover them but I couldn't move.

"I checked her pulse—she's alive!" Uncle Nate retorted.

It took me a second to realize that they're arguing about me. Damon wanted to give me his blood to heal me faster, but my uncle was rightly against it.

"One mistake and she's a vampire!"

"Damon, no!" I heard Stefan say at the same time as Elena shouted. "Damon, stop!"

The pain surged inside me, jolting me awake as I sat up with a sharp gasp. Instantly, my hands wrapped around my throat as I tried to claw myself, trying to breath. There was a scarf wrapped around my neck, I pulled it and it unraveled into my hands. I frowned. It was my scarf; the scarf that Damon gave Andie. How did it—I shut my eyes as the light disoriented me.

I could barely make out Damon, Stefan, Elena and my uncle; they all gathered around my bed. Damon disappeared and reappeared within seconds with a glass of water.

"Ava," He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw me awake. His eyes were full of concern as he handed me the glass. "Drink this."

Uncle Nate hurriedly helped me sit up straight as I reached out for the glass. My hands were shaky and I nearly dropped the glass but Damon caught it before it fell.

I didn't know where I was or what happened.

My head felt like it was going to crack open as I took the glass of water, holding with both of my hands. I downed the glass in one breath before my head slumped over onto my uncle's shoulders.

"You good, sunshine?" Damon asked.

"Don't," I warn him through clenched teeth. "Stay away."

"Ava, listen. I didn't know he was going to—"

"I...I.." I barely managed to breathe out. "I warned you that Elijah was stronger than you." His eyes trembled with pain as he shut his eyes. "Why do you...never listen?"

The lights above me began to flicker wildly. Light gathered at my fingertips but my uncle quickly grabbed my hands. "Easy there." He calmly said. "You just came out of a sleeping curse."

I shut my eyes and drew back. "Sleeping curse?" I echoed. I noticed the walls were wood and so was the floor. "W-where am I?"

Stefan and Elena took a step forward while Damon backed away in shame. He still lingered by the door. His concerned gaze on me. "You're at my family's lake house." I nodded as Elena began to speak. She sat down by the bed and took my cold hands into hers. "Your uncle and Damon found you by the town's border."

"What? No, I was at home—in my room, I was reading—no, I was doing my art homework, no—shit—what was I doing?" Every time, I tried to remember, my head would start to hurt.

"Don't force yourself." Stefan said, refilling my glass. "All you need to know is that everything's fine now."

"I feel like I might die." I retorted.

"The Martins did a number on you." I heard Damon remark as I looked up to glare at him. He threw his hands up defensively. "They put you under a curse so you'd stay out of the way while Elijah came to get Elena."

"He was going to take me out of town." I said, suddenly remembering what Elijah said.

"Yeah, we figured." Uncle Nate sighed and got up. "It took me a while to find you and then undo the curse but honestly, I think the Martins let me undo it."

I nodded and looked around. Elena tried to smile but her smile looked like a grimace as she looked away in guilt. "What happened?" I asked. "Where's Elijah?"

"About that..." Stefan and Damon shared a look with each other as Elena looked away. "Elena staked him."

Oh.

I got out of bed and shakily stood up. "Elijah's dead?" Uncle Nate helped me up and shook his head. "So he's not dead."

"Do you want to take a look?" Damon asked and I stared at him blankly before nodding.

I struggled to move but Elena and my uncle were at my sides in an instant, their hands offering support as I struggled to find my footing. The ache in my body seemed to intensify with each movement but I swallowed the pain as I slowly felt myself get better with each step.

Damon and Stefan led me outside of the lake house. With both brothers stopping every few steps to look over their shoulders to check on me. Though my head felt heavy, and my vision was blurry from exhaustion, I tried my best to keep up.

I stopped at the threshold of the house. I could see Elijah outside of the house. There, he lay on the dirt floor with a dagger sticking out of him. His gray and ash-like desiccated body overlapped with another as I stumbled back into Elena.

"I know." She whispered as I turned to look at her in horror. I noticed then that her hands were shaking. She was more scared than I was at that moment. I grabbed her hands into mine and without thinking, I transferred some warmth into her. "Don't." She pulled away.

"You guys made Elena—"

"We didn't exactly have a choice." Damon cut me off, turning around to check on me. "You were kidnapped and your uncle was looking for you."

Stefan nodded. "If either Damon or I tried to use the dagger, we'd die and," He looked at my uncle. "You and your family knew about the dagger, you knew it was a gift to the Gilbert family from yours."

Uncle Nate turned away from Stefan, his hands tightening around my arm. "Does it matter? You two got the job done."

"We could've died, Nate."

"Then maybe you should stop Damon from being reckless and tell him to start listening to Ava."

Stefan looked away in shame but Damon stood there defiant. "I had a plan." Damon spat out.

"A plan to get yourself killed." I laughed bitterly.

"Can we all please not fight?" Elena tried. "Elijah's dead and we're free."

Uncle Nate shook his head at Elena's naïve words. "The dagger doesn't kill Originals. It puts them into hibernation-like state, they're alive," He paused to look at Elijah's body. "But barely. Our ancestors didn't try to kill them, they tried to stop them and as you can guess—they failed."

"We're good as long as nobody pulls out the dagger." Damon said.

"Are we?" I questioned, letting go of my uncle.

I found myself drawn towards Elijah, my feet moving automatically without a thought. Overwhelmed by a strange urge, I reached out a trembling hand toward him.

Before my fingers could brush against his cold skin, Damon grabbed my arm with a vice-like grip stopping me in my tracks. His electric blue eyes bore into mine as he warned, "Ava, don't."

"I was just checking." I breathed out and slowly backed off. I turned back to Damon and Elena. "You know Elijah was the only one apart from Katherine who knew what Klaus is like and we all managed to piss him off."

"And now he's sleeping." Damon replied. "I just need to toss to the bottom of the sea and we're done."

"Don't do that." Uncle Nate reached out and pulled me away from him. "Don't throw Elijah's body into the sea. If he wakes up and..." He sucked in a nervous breath. "And he will, you and your entire bloodline is screwed. There's a reason why the Fitzroy family doesn't deal with the Originals anymore and I'd rather Ava and I don't get caught up in the storm."

Nobody said another word as I turned away and made my way back inside. The coldness and eerie quiet of the lake was getting to me. I folded my arms around myself and hauled myself back inside with Elena at my tail. The Salvatore brothers and my uncle didn't follow me back inside, they stayed there, standing over Elijah's body.

The weight of what had happened lingered in the air. Like a tangible thing, it pressed down on the both of us. As we made our way through the silent rooms, I could hear Damon, Stefan, and my uncle struggling to load Elijah's body into Damon's car.

Elena looked at me, her dark eyes filled with curiosity and fear. She swallowed nervously and made a sound, stopping me. "How do you do it?" She asked, her voice barely audible. "How do you hunt and stake vampires?"

I took a deep breath before answering. It wasn't often that people asked me about this part of my life, and it felt strange to try and put it into words. "It wasn't always easy." I admitted.

Being able to kill a vampire wasn't a skill I was particularly proud of, but it had become a necessity in dealing with the threat that vampires posed. My family had raised me to not only identify them but to kill them without hesitation when the time came. I wasn't proud of it, no one in my family was. It was a necessary skill we needed to survive and it was bound to my blood like a curse.

I knew how hard it was to kill a vampire. Isaac's bloody face and his distorted laughter clouded my mind as I shut my eyes, trying to block it out. It was hard. It didn't particularly help that the vampires that we had to kill looked so human.

I could see Damon look back at me from the kitchen window of the lake house as he slammed his car trunk shut with Elijah's body inside. I turned away. There was a strange lump in my throat; I struggled to breathe. I don't know why I was so upset about this.

I noticed her hands shaking slightly as she reached out to me. Staking Elijah had taken a toll on her. "Does it ever get easier?" She asked.

No.

"Yes. Practice makes it easy." I lied without meeting her gaze. She nodded, feeling a little bit more confident in herself. "Were you scared?" I asked her gently.

Her eyes met mine and she nodded. "I–I didn't want to do it but I had to do it. I was...scared. No," She shook her head before running her fingers through her hair. "I...I was terrified."

My lips twisted into a wry smile as I decided to share my secret with her. "You know, Elena, sometimes...rarely, but sometimes...I'm scared too." I admitted quietly as I unfolded my hand. Light danced around my fingers gracefully before folding my hand into a fist, snuffing out the light. "Whatever you're feeling right now? It's normal. The important thing is not to let fear control you."

"How do you deal with it?"

I glanced over at her over my shoulders and quietly I said. "I don't think about it. I push it down and forget and move on." It wasn't the healthiest option but it worked. I didn't say another word.

I left the lake house, brushing past a silent Damon who tried to talk to me and quiet Stefan who only stared as I left. Neither my uncle or I said one word about Elijah but we both knew that things were only going to get worse. Elijah was down for the moment but we still had the Martins to worry about.