"I still don't know why you wouldn't let me kill Mason," Damon said. "That guy was an ass,"
"Takes one to know one Damon," I said.
We were walking through the woods, looking for the well that apparently had the moonstone in it.
"Yeah, but he's a bigger ass than me," he said.
I looked at him.
"Okay, I admit, maybe I'm more of an ass, but I'm far more attractive than him," Damon said.
"You're so- Wait," I said, shoving my hand out and stopping Damon. "There's the well,"
"Finally," Damon muttered.
I dodged a couple of trees and walked out into a bit of a clearing. In the middle of it was a well that had a metal grate on it with a padlock.
Without saying anything Damon leaned over and broke it.
"Why would he hide it in a well?" I asked.
"Probably to piss us off," Damon said.
"You know Damon, not all of us do things just to piss others off," I said.
"Why not, it's fun," he said. He grabbed hold of the grate and lifted it off the well.
I climbed up to the edge and peered down.
"It would help if there was light," Damon said.
I sighed and clicked my fingers. A ball of fire appeared in my hand and I threw it into the well. It gave us a brief view of the inside of the well. The water at the bottom was filled with vervain plants.
"Yeah," Damon said. "You can go in and get it."
"If I don't come back up tell everyone I'll haunt them when they sleep," I said.
I jumped down, using the air to soften my fall. I splashed into the water and it came up to my waist.
"You okay?" Damon called from up the top.
"You owe me new shoes," I yelled back.
I looked around and decided how I was going to do this.
"Okay, let's do this," I muttered to myself.
I held my arms out and moved them away from each other. The water parted up the sides of the well and left the bottom dry.
"Found it!" I yelled. There was a small box tied to a string that was hooked onto the floor.
I picked up the box and ripped it off the string.
I flexed my hands out and I shot up out of the well.
"It smelt really bad down there," I said. I motioned my hand and all of the water that had soaked up in my clothes floated up and dropped on the ground.
I opened the box, expecting something epicly cool. My excitement dimmed when I got a good look at it.
"That's it?" I asked. "That's what everyone is making a big fuss about?"
The moonstone was about the size of a hockey puck and was a cloudy white colour.
"Looks like a bar of soap," Damon said.
"It really does," I said.
"The first ever vampires to roam the world are after this thing," Damon said. "Not to mention Katherine and probably half of the supernatural population."
I grinned. "And we have it,"
"Come on," Damon said. "Let's head back."
He started walking.
"We are too cool," I muttered to myself, still grinning.
I took the moonstone out of the box and shoved it in my pocket.
I through the box back in the well and caught up to Damon.
"Now all we need to do is find a hiding place," he said.
"I have a place," I said.
"You're going to hide it in your bathroom?" Damon asked, as we walked into it.
"Trust me," I said. "No one will find it where I'm putting it."
In my bathroom one of the walls was made of stone. I walked over to it and flicked my hand to the side. The first layer of rock slid to the side, revealing a secret compartment.
"It's impossible to open," I said. "Unless you can control the elements like me, and even if someone does find it, I cast a spell for the compartment to move to a different place if it isn't my magic that opens it. It is impossible for anyone but me to open it."
"Clever girl," Damon said.
"I try," I said. I pulled the moonstone out of my pocket and put it in the compartment in the wall. I flicked my hand to the side again and it closed.
"How are you going to find it if the compartment moves?" Damon asked.
"I can sense it through the wall," I said.
"Oh," he said. "Well, sucks to be them,"
"Yep,"
"I have to go to a Founder's council meeting," Damon said. "Something about the masquerade ball and protecting it from vampires if they show up."
I pulled my phone out and checked the time.
"Crap, I gotta go see Jeremy," I said.
"Have fun with lover boy," Damon said.
I laughed and left the room.
"Jeremy?"
I knocked on his door, waiting for an answer.
"Come in!" I heard from the other side.
I opened the door, walked in and closed it behind me.
"Hey Jer," I said, a smile coming to my face.
"Hey," he said. He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to me. He leaned down and kissed me, wrapping his arms around me.
"I missed you," I said, breaking off the kiss.
"I missed you too," he said, "How was you're weekend with Damon?"
"It was great," I said. I launched into the story of my weekend, including everything about the moonstone and Tyler.
"Tyler's a werewolf?" he asked.
"Pretty much," I said.
"And Elena has the oldest vampires of all time after her," he said.
"Yep," I said.
"This is insane," he said.
"Tell me about it," I said. "Are you going to the masquerade ball?"
"Yeah," he said. "My Uncle John is making me go. He keeps going on about how it's our duty as a founding family or something."
"Wait, you're Uncle John?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, he's visiting for the Founder's celebrations," he said. "None of us particularly like him, especially Jenna, but we can't really stop him from visiting."
"Oh," I said. "Well, Jeremy, will you please come with me to the masquerade ball?"
"Hmm, I don't know, I was planning on going with my girlfriend," he said.
I laughed and playfully slapped him.
"You'd like her," he said. "She's beautiful, smart, funny, very sarcastic, oh and she also has magical powers."
"Hmm," I said, "She doesn't sound very interesting,"
He laughed, "Trust me, she is."
He leaned down and kissed me again.
"I love you," he murmured.
"I love you too," I said.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Jeremy called.
The door opened, revealing a man either in his mid thirties that had light brown hair and blue eyes.
I was guessing this was John.
"Oh, who's this?" he asked, looking at me.
"Um, this is my girlfriend, Marni," Jeremy said. "Marni, this is my Uncle John."
"Pleasure to meet you," he said.
"You too," I said.
"Are you going to the masquerade ball Marni?" John asked.
"Well being part of a founding family, I suppose I should," I said. I don't think he realised I was mocking him. Jeremy did though, and I saw him try to keep a straight face.
"What family?" John asked.
"The Salvatores," I replied. "I'm Damon's little sister, perhaps you know him?"
"Yes, I met him today actually," he said. Aka, John's on the secret Founders council.
"Oh, cool," I said.
"You guys haven't been here that long have you?" he asked.
"No, we moved back after we found out uncle Zac passed away," I said.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he said.
I shrugged. "It's fine, I didn't really know him that well anyway,"
"Jeremy, Jenna wants to see you downstairs," John said.
"Okay," Jeremy said. He got up and walked out the door.
I went to follow him, but John grabbed my arm.
He waited until Jeremy was out of earshot to speak.
"Leave my nephew alone," he said.
"Excuse me?" I said.
"I know what you are," he said. "It was once our ancestors job to kill you disgusting creatures. Your brother has some nerve being on the Founder's coucil when he is a vampire as well,"
"I think you're mistaken," I said.
"Don't play dumb," he said. "I know that you, Damon and Stefan are vampires, and I don't want my nephew having anything to do with it, let alone know about it. And if you don't leave him alone, I'll drive a stake through your heart."
I started laughing.
"I'm not a vampire," I said.
"Don't try to deny it, I know what you people are," he said.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, Damon and Stefan are vampires, but I'm not. I'm a witch. And Jeremy already knows all about it, and he's fine with it. And just to let you know, I won't be staying away from him, because that is not your choice to make."
I turned to leave but paused.
"Oh, and John? One other thing," I said. I turned pack and pinned him up against the wall by his throat, using my vampiric strength. "I may not be a vampire, but I am a lot stronger than you, so listen up and listen up good. You ever try to hurt me , I will kill you. Not to mention that Damon and Stefan will hunt you down too. And don't even think about telling the council about us because Damon will kill each and every one of them without blinking. You can't just come back into this town and expect people to do what you want them to do. Life doesn't work that way, I would know because I've been alive a lot longer than you. You should know better than to threaten a witch John, especially one that is Damon Salvatore's little sister."
I noticed that he had one of the Gilbert rings on. Back in 1864, Jonathan Gilbert had invented two rings that brought you back to life if you died of a supernatural death. Little did Jonathan know, Emily Bennett was actually the one who charmed the rings to work.
"Oh and that ring of yours?" I said. "Can easily be ripped off your fingers, so don't think it will protect you. And the fact that you're Jeremy's Uncle doesn't mean anything, I will still kill you. Do you understand?"
He nodded shakily.
"Good," I said.
I let him go and turned to walk downstairs.
"I'd watch my back if I were you John," I said without looking back at him.
I joined Jeremy down in the kitchen.
"What took you so long?" Jeremy asked.
"I'll tell you later," I said. "What did Jenna want?"
"She was just letting me know that she's staying at Alarics tonight and that it would only be me and John here because Elena's staying at your place," he said.
"Oh," I said. "Do you want to stay at mine too?"
"If you wouldn't mind," he said, giving me a greatful smile.
"Of course I don't," I grinned. "Look, I gotta go home and get changed into clothes that don't smell like dirty water, but I'll be back in half an hour and we'll go to the Grill yeah?"
"Sounds great," he smiled.
"Okay, I'll see you later," I said. I reached up and quickly kissed him then turned around and left.
"Damon?" I called.
"In here!" his voice said, coming from the parlour.
"Hey," I said as I walked in. "How did the council meeting go?"
"Same old, same old," he said. "Although some guy called John Gilbert showed up. Liz said he's an important member of the council, although she thinks he's a jackass."
Liz was the town's sheriff, aka Caroline's mom.
"I think he's Elena and Jeremy's Uncle," Damon continued. "He know's what we are, he confronted me about it."
"I know," I said.
"How?" Damon asked.
"He threatened to kill me," I said.
"He did what?" Damon said, looking extremely pissed off.
"He said if I didn't stay away from Jeremy he would shove a stake through my heart. I'm guessing he didn't realise I'm not a vampire, but he does now," I said.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"I told him what would happened if he tried to hurt me," I said. "I don't think he'll be trying anything anytime soon though, I think I scared him."
"Well, if he does try anything, tell me, and I'll rip him limb from limb," he said.
"Oh, by the way, Jeremy's staying here tonight," I said.
"Okay, but you're sleeping in seperate rooms," Damon said.
I looked at him incredilously.
"I'm kidding!" he said. "God, who do you think I am?"
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Stefan and Elena are at the Grill, Lexi is visiting Bree, vampire Barbie is on a date with some Matt guy and Anna is with her mother," he said.
"Caroline and Matt are on a date? Aww," I said. "Ooh, that reminds me, I have to go,"
I ran upstairs and quickly picked out something to wear. I ended up wearing a purple dress with black tights and a black bolaro jacket. I slipped on some black ankle boots and headed over to Jeremy's.
When we entered the Grill I immediately spotted Elena and Stefan. They were sitting at a booth on the other side of the room. We ordered then went over to them.
"Hey guys," Elena said.
"Hey," Jeremy and I said.
"What's up?" Stefan asked.
"Not much, we're just chillin'," Jeremy said.
"Sit down, join us," Elena said.
I grinned and slipped into the booth, Jeremy beside me.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked.
"I'm avoiding my Uncle John," Elena said.
"Ah," I said. "I met him before, I don't think he likes me,"
"Why?" Jeremy asked.
I explained to them about what happened with John.
"He threatened to kill you?" Stefan hissed.
"Yep," I said.
"That bastard!" Jeremy said, slamming his fist on the table.
"Look, he won't try anything soon, and when he does I'll easily beat him," I said. "We have nothing to worry about."
"I swear to god I'll kill him if he tries anything," Stefan muttered.
"Sorry," I said. "Damon already has dibs on that, and you don't kill people, you're more of a bunny killer."
"Not funny Marni," he said.
"Aren't you afraid that one day all of the woodland creatures are going to band together and bite back?" I asked.
Jeremy and Elena laughed.
I spent the rest of the night in a happy mood, laughing and joking.
I walked out of my wardrobe wearing a pair of purple, blue, pink, green, and white striped pajama pants and a purple tank top. Jeremy was already in my bed when I walked out and I climbed in, snuggling closer to him.
"Good night Jeremy," I yawned.
"Good night," he said. "I love you."
"I love you too," I said happily.
He wrapped his arms around me and I fell asleep.
It was Friday afternoon and I was getting ready for the masquerade ball.
I finished putting my mask on and walked downstairs.
"Wow," Damon said when I walked into the living room. "You look beautiful."
"Did I just get a compliment from Damon Salvatore?" I asked, faking to be shocked. "I'm honored."
He laughed and shook his head.
"Thank you," I said. "You don't look to bad yourself,"
Damon was wearing a black suit with a white collared shirt and a black tie. He was also wearing a black mask that went with his suit.
Stefan walked in at that moment wearing a suit similar to Damon's but he was wearing a dark red and black mask.
"Are we ready to go?" Stefan asked.
"Yep," I said.
We arrived in Damon's Camaro and I noticed that Tyler was looking at me from the door as we walked up the steps of the Lockwood Manor.
"I'll meet you guys inside," I murmured to Damon and Stefan.
I walked over to Tyler.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," he said.
"How's everything going with, you know..." I said.
"Complicated," he said. "Mason has just up and left, saying something about going to Florida. And the other day, I got really scared, because... I almost killed someone."
The last part came out as a whisper.
"What? How?"
"The other day, I had a couple of friends over, and one of the girls, Sarah, grabbed something and wouldn't give it back. I chased her to the top of the stairs and tried to get it back. She lost her balance and fell down them. For a moment it looked like she was dead, and I started freaking out, but then she started laughing, she had just been tricking us. But in that moment, I'd never been so scared in my life."
"Are you okay?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, but... I just never want that to happen to me," he said. "I like being normal."
"Hey," I said. "It's won't happen to you. Just don't kill anybody and you'll be fine,"
"Thanks," he said.
"I gotta go meet the others, but I'll talk to you later, okay?" I said.
"Yeah," he said.
I walked off to find Jeremy.
I felt someone tap my shoulder.
"You look beautiful," Jeremy said as I turned around.
"Thank you," I said. I leaned up and kissed him.
"Ugh, get a room," Damon said as he walked past.
I laughed.
"Wow Marni, you look great," Elena said as she and Stefan walked up to us. She was wearing a pretty black dress and a delicate gold mask.
"Thank you," I said. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you," she said.
"Hey guys," said Caroline, appearing next to me.
"Hey Caroline, how are you and Matt going?" I asked, grinning at her.
"Amazing," she sighed with a dreamy smile on her face. "He's so adorable."
"They were all over each other yesterday," Bonnie said, joining us.
I laughed.
Jeremy and I were standing oustide on a balcony, talking and laughing, when a girl named Amy Bradley came up to us.
"Hey guys," she said. "Elena wants to see you upstairs,"
"Um, okay, thanks," I said. I raised my eyebrow at Jeremy but he just shrugged.
We made our way upstairs and found Elena in an upstairs living room. Only it wasn't Elena. She was wearing a different dress and mask and her hair was wavy, not straight. Her mask almost covered her whole face.
"Katherine," I said, narrowing my eyes.
"How'd you guess?" she asked. She took off her mask and grinned evilly.
"I can sense the bitchiness radiating off you," I said. "That and you smell really bad. I suggest a shower every now and then."
"Still making jokes, I see," she said.
"Well, I'd call it the truth, but okay," I said.
"Ha ha, very funny," she said.
"Okay, I'm bored, what do you want?" I asked.
"The moonstone," she said.
"Obviously, but what do you want with me?" I asked. I was pretending I didn't have the moonstone.
"You have the moonstone, I want it," she said.
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
"Because it wasn't in the well, and Damon tortured Mason into telling you where it is, put two and two together and here we are," she said.
"I'm sorry, but it was already gone when we got there," I lied. "We thought you had already taken it, but it appears not."
"You're lying," Katherine said. "I know you have it, and I will do anything I have to to get it."
"Maybe Klaus already has it," I said.
"You have it Marni, and I will get it," she said.
In the blink of an eye she was across the room and had Jeremy by the throat.
"NO!" I screamed.
"Because of you, my plans have been made difficult," she said.
As easy as snapping a twig, she twisted Jeremy's head to the side. I heard a sickening snap, and the life drained out of his eyes. It felt like a hole had been plunged through my heart.
"JEREMY!" I screamed.
Katherine dropped his body to the ground and headed to the door.
"If you don't give me the moonstone soon, I will continue to kill each and everyone you love and care about," she said, then left the room.
I collapsed to the ground and crawled over to Jeremy's body. I grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him
"Jeremy, wake up," I pleaded, tears streaming down my face. "No, don't leave me. Wake up. Jeremy wake up!"
"Marni, what's- Oh my god,"
Damon was at my side in a flash.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Come on Jeremy, wake up!" I cried. "No, you're not dead. You're not dead. You can't be dead."
"Marni," Damon said gently. He touched my shoulder and I shrugged him off.
"No!" I yelled. "He's not dead. He'll wake up, I know he will. He wouldn't leave me."
"Marni," Damon said again. He moved around so he was facing me. "He's gone,"
He wrapped his arms around me and I sobbed violently into his chest. He took my mask off, so not to ruin it with my tears.
My whole body had gone numb, but it felt like something was repeatively stabbing me in the chest.
"What happened?" Damon asked quietly, while stroking my hair.
"She killed him," I whispered. I starting sobbing again when I said it out loud.
"Katherine?" he asked quietly.
I nodded. I was never going to hear Jeremy's voice again, never going to see him laugh at me and Damon arguing, never going to feel his arms wrapped around me.
Damon held me there for what seemed like forever.
"Come on," he murmured. "We have to get out of here and tell the others,"
He helped me get up. He kept his arm around me, in case I collapsed or something. I was guessing he was going to move Jeremy's body when I wasn't around. That was if someone didn't find it first. The thought brought tears to my eye's again. Just before we made it out of the door, I heard a gasp.
I spun around and my eyes grew wide.
Jeremy was sitting up, looking around shakily.
"Jeremy?" I frowned in confusion, wondering if I was hallucinating. I rubbed the tears out of my eyes. Jeremy was still sitting there. "Jeremy!"
I ran over to him and slammed into him, like I was clinging for dear life.
'You're alive!" I said. "You’re not dead."
Tears started streaming down my face again, but they were tears of happiness.
"She killed me," Jeremy said. He held his hand in front of him. "My ring."
I pulled back and looked at his hand. There was a ring with a blue gem on it.
"Where did you get that?" I asked.
"I made John give it to me, because it is rightfully mine," Jeremy said.
"It brought you back to life," I realized. "I thought you were dead."
He wrapped him arms around me.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," he said in my ear.
"I thought I'd lost you," I whispered.
"I'm here," he said. "I'm alive."
"I love you so much Jeremy," I whispered.
"I love you too," he said.
I clung to him more tightly, if that was possible.
"Come on," Jeremy said. "We have to go back downstairs."
I got up and wiped my eyes dry. Thank God I was wearing water proof mascara. I got up and helped Jeremy up.
I walked over to Damon and he handed me my mask.
"Thanks," I said.
"Ooh, that bitch is dead," said Damon, obviously implying Katherine.
Everyone had to be extra careful from that night on, seeing how easily Katherine had killed Jeremy.
We were all sitting in the living room, trying to think of a way we could give Katherine the moonstone, but not actually give it to her.
It was like a light bulb went off in my head.
"Of course!" I said, smacking myself on the forehead. "Why the hell didn't I think of this sooner?"
"What?" Lexi asked.
"My multiplier crystal!" I said. "I can make a duplicate, but not transfer the curse because it's a rare piece of magic.
"That's brilliant!" Shadow said.
I grinned. This was genius.
And I was the one who thought of it.