Edited on 2/25/12
Chapter One- The Birthday
I saw a blond woman walk outside her house into the darkness of the night.
"Rudy!" she yelled before whistling, " Rudy, come on. It's too hot to make me come look for you."
She bent down to pick up something off the ground and when she stood up she saw Klaus
"I'm sorry." he said, without his usual accent, " I didn't mean to scare you."
"Can I help you?" the woman asked him
"Yeah, my car ran out of gas a few miles back." he said, " I feel like I've been walking forever, yours is the first house I came to so I was hoping I could use your phone?"
" Sure." she said
"So, can I come in?" Klaus asked
"No, I'll get the phone and I will bring it out to you."
" I thought you county folk were supposed to be more trusting." Klaus said, his accent returning.
"I'm from Florida." she informed him
"Well that explains it." he said before grabbing the girl by the neck and starting to compel her, "Now show me a little southern hospitality. Sweet pea."
Then the scene shifted and I saw a woman cooking in a kitchen.
"I bet you a hundred dollars that dog ran out to a house with air conditioning." she said before turning around and seeing Klaus holding the other woman by here hair.
"What's going on?" the second woman said
"Please don't be alarmed." Klaus told her, " I was told Ray Sutton lives here."
"He's almost never here." the second woman replied, " He's on the road mostly."
"But I expect he makes it home, once a month." the woman didn't say a word, " That's what I thought. Where is he now?" Neither of the women said anything, "If I have to make you tell me it's going to be evidently more painful for you."
Then the girl ran but when she opened the front door Stefan was standing there.
"I love it when they run." Klaus said walking up to them
"He's in Tolly, it's near the boarder." she exclaimed, " A bar called Southern Comfort
It's on highway 41."
"Thank you, love." Klaus said before turning to the blonde woman, " Now, may my friend come in?"
"Yes." the blond
Stefan walked into the house and Klaus pushed the blonde girl into his arms.
"Kill that one quickly." he said before turning to the second one, " And make the other one suffer. I'll be in the car"
"Please don't." the blond girl said before Stefan bit her in the neck and the two girls started screaming.
Outside Klaus smiled as he continued to walk to the car.
I gasped and sat up in my bed, waking up from my nightmare.
After I had gotten dressed in my purple tank top and black jean shorts my phone started ringing.
"Hello." I answered tiredly
"Hey." Care replied in her usual chipper voice
"What are you doing?" I asked her
"Just shopping for the party you're trying to bail out on."
"I'm not the only one trying to bail out on it." I said, walking down the stairs, " It's Elena's birthday. Focus on her."
"Since I missed your birthday I have to make it up."
"Who told you that?" I asked
"I'm not telling." she said in a sing song voice
"Well, I don't remember agreeing to come anyway." I said
" You were never going to." she said, " Which is why I planned it anyway. And my mom want's you or Elena to call her."
"Did she find something?" I asked as I saw Elena walk into the kitchen, " Elena just walked in, let me put you on speaker." I set the phone on the counter and put it on speaker, "Continue."
"An animal attack in Memphis, It's the third one this weekend in Tennessee."
" And you're sure it's a vampire?" Elena asked her hopefully
I looked over at Ric to see him struggling with the coffee machine. I walked over to him and helped him out.
"Yes, but it doesn't mean that it's Klaus." Care replied
"Doesn't mean it's not." Elena countered, "I'll call her."
"Well call her on her cell." Care told her
"Tell her thank you for her help." Elena said
"Alright. Why I gotta go. I'll see you in a bit"
"Wait, Care." I said, " Just keep it small tonight. Please."
" Make sure you two wear something pretty." Then she hung up.
" Was that Stefan news?" Ric asked making his bed on the couch
"Could be more Klaus victims." Elena suggested
I didn't mention anything about my vision to Elena because I didn't want to upset her.
"You certain Stefan's still with him?" Alaric asked
"Easy to be certain when the alternative is that he's dead. Are you sure you're still okay on the couch?" Elena asked him
"Yeah, Yeah, I'm good."
"Because you spent half the summer on it." I said, " If you need your own bedroom…"
"Sleeping in Elena's dead parent's room or my dead ex-girlfriends room. Nah."
"I guess you have a point." I said
"Hey, Elena." Ric said
"What?" Elena asked turning towards us
"Happy birthday."
"Thanks." she said
After Elena had called Liz she wrote down the address the attack had happened and I told her I would take it to Damon. When I got to the boarding house I walked in and up to Damon's room.
"Good morning." Damon said from behind
"Hey I was gonna…" I started as I turned around to see a completely naked Damon, " Oh!" I turned back around quickly, " You heard me. You knew I was here."
"Yeah, You should really learn to knock." Damon told me and I could hear the smirk that must have been on his face, " What if I were…indecent."
I found a towel and grabbed it before throwing it behind me to Damon. I put a hand over my eyes before turning around. I slowly moved my hand to see Damon had covered himself with the towel.
"Sheriff Forbes gave us another location." I said, " In Memphis."
"Another dead end you mean." he said
"Give your dead end crap to , Elena." I snapped, " I know you've been tracking him since he left. Trust me, you should check this place out. I had a vision last night of Stefan and Klaus and Stefan is not looking so good."
I handed the piece of paper to Damon.
"When you and Ric go and check this place out, I'm coming with you."
"And risk Klaus finding out your alive? No way." Damon told me
"The thing is I already know where this place is so you can take me and make sure I'm safe or I can go by myself."
He thought about it for a moment before saying, " Fine. I'll pick you and Ric up later."
" See you then." I said before walking out of the house.
A few hours later we pulled up in front of the house I had seen in my vision. Damon's phone started ringing but he ignored it.
"Elena?" Ric asked as we got out of the car
Damon nodded.
" I don't know why you just don't come clean and tell her where we are." Ric said
"Because Andie said this was a half lead and I don't want her to get her hopes up."
"Yeah, well there all half leads, and I'm you're accomplice. What do you want me to say to her, I'm practically living there."
"This isn't a half lead." I said, " Stefan and Klaus we're here."
"You know this how?" Ric asked
" I had a vision of this house last night." I informed him, " It's quiet."
"Yeah." Damon agreed, " Too quiet."
We walked up to the house Damon put his hand through the door before walking in with Ric and I right behind him. We walked down the hallway I had seen last night and there was blood everywhere. When we walked into the living room the bodies of the two girls were sitting on the couch.
"Oh, my God." I whispered
"Vampires for sure." Ric said
"Stefan for sure." Damon corrected him
"How do you know?"
"Well, Audrey's vision and the fact that it's his signature; it's a reason they call him 'the ripper. Feeds so hard he blacks out and rips them apart, but then when he's done, he feels remorse. That's the thing ," Then he kicked one of the blond girls leg and her head fell of and rolled onto the ground "he put the bodies back together."
" Back together." I repeated with disgust
"Definitely Stefan."
"What are you doing?" Ric asked as Damon came back with a tank of gasoline
"Covering their tracks." he said, " Obviously they have no intention of staying in the dark but I do."
I stepped back to get out of Damon's way and heard the floor creak underneath me. I looked up at Ric and Damon before bending down and moving the rug I was standing on to reveal a trap door of some sort. Damon stopped pouring gas and came over to where I was crouching. Ric opened the hatch and below was a cellar with a bunch of chains.
"Well, what do you know." Damon said, " Werewolves."
Ric closed the hatch and he and I walked out of the room as Damon lit a match and started the bodies on fire.
I was sitting in Stefan's bed , after I had changed into my black cocktail dress, keeping Elena company.
"Here." I said handing her a box, "Happy birthday."
"What is it?" she asked before opening the box. "My necklace, I thought this was gone forever."
"Ric found it in his apartment." I explained, " I thought you might want it since it's actually the real deal and mine was some cheap knock off."
"Thank you." she said
"You are welcome."
She turned back to the mirror and said, " I'm not gonna lose it. At least until the cake."
"I didn't say you were." then I saw that she was talking to Damon, " Hey."
"It's your party you can cry if you want." he said walking into the room, " Ah, Stefan, such a pack rat."
I got up off the bed and straitened out my dress.
"I'll be downstairs." Elena said looking between Damon and I
"See you in a bit." I told her as she left the room
"I got you something." Damon said, " I know I told you I wouldn't buy you anything so I didn't pay for it."
"You stole it?" I asked as he pulled out a black box
"No." he said opening it, " I own it."
Inside was the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen, it was silver with a sapphire in the middle and one hanging off the bottom.
"It's beautiful." I said taking it out of the box
"It belonged to my mother." he told me with a smile, " She gave it to me before she died and said to give it to someone special"
I looked up at him and smiled.
"Thank you." I said
"You're welcome."
"Can you…" I started holding the necklace out to him
"Absolutely." he said taking it
I turned around and Damon put the necklace around my neck and secured it. I turned back around and Damon put his arm out.
"Shall we?"
I linked arms with him and we made our way out of Stefan's room were Elena was leaning against the wall.
"Care to join us?" I asked
"Sure." she said grabbing hold of Damon's other arm and we continued down the stairs and into the party.
We walked into the living room and it was full of people.
"I'm gonna kill her." I said to no one in particular
A girl was about to walk past us when Damon grabbed the bottle in her hand and stopped her.
"Hey." he said compelling her, " You don't want that. You want the cheap young stuff next to the cheap young people."
The girl nodded before walking away.
"You like?" Caroline said coming up to us, she saw our expressions then added, " Don't answer that."
"This is keeping it small?" Elena asked
"I am NEVER coming to a big party." I said, making Caroline laugh
"What are we drinking?" Elena said making Care laugh
"Sell out." I yelled after her before turning to Damon, " I'm going to find Aurora."
Then I walked off into the crowed.
I found Aurora and Jace after a few minutes.
"Jace, long time no see buddy." I said, " How's life?"
"Amazing now that I have my girl back." he said before kissing Aurora
"Mind if I hang out with you guys for a bit?"
"Why would we mind?" Aurora said, " We should sing."
"Are you drunk?" I asked
"No?" she asked me
" You got into Damon's stash didn't you?"
"Maybe."
"I can't believe you." I said, shaking my head, " And I refuse to sing."
"Why, you're such a good singer." she said drunkenly
"Um… there's not a mic." I said, trying to get her off my case
"If there's a mic, will you sing?" she asked
"Sure." I said
She smiled before walking off leaving me with Jace.
"I would be very scared if I were you." he told me
"And why is that?" I asked
"That was her determined face."
Five minutes later I saw Aurora standing on a table with a mic in her hand.
"Excuse me." she said and everyone became quiet
"I can't believe it." I said, " Where didn't she find a microphone in five minutes?"
"My friend Audrey is going to sing for us." she continued before looking over at me, "Isn't that right?"
Everyone turned towards me.
" I would but I don't have and music." I said, coming up with any excuse to get myself out of this
"That's okay. I have the karaoke version of Domino on my Ipod." she said, " Come on. Sing. Sing. Sing."
" Sing! Sing! Sing!" Everyone started chanting
I walked over to Aurora and she helped he onto the table and everyone cheered.
"I will get you back for this." I whispered to her
"Have fun." she said, handing me the mic and getting off the table
She headed over to the stereo and turned on the music.
I'm feeling sexy and free
Like glitter's raining on me
You're like a shot of pure gold
I think I'm 'bout to explode
I can taste the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air
Now I'm breathing like I'm running cause you're taking me there
Don't you know...you spin me out of control
As I was looking at the crowd I spot Damon gaping up at me and I smiled as I continued to sing
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
We can do this all night
D*mn this love's skin tight
Baby come on
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Pull me like a bass drum
Sparkin' up a rhythm
Baby, come on!Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Rock my world into the sunlight
Make this dream the best I've ever known
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
Every second is a highlight
When we touch don't ever let me go
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
You got me losing my mind
My heart beats out of time
I'm seeing Hollywood stars
You strum me like a guitar
I can taste the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air
Now I'm breathing like I'm running cause you're taking me there
Don't you know...you spin me out of control
Then I jumped off of the table and headed into the crowd. I quickly found Matt and started dancing with him and he joined me albeit reluctantly.
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
We can do this all night
D*mn this love's skin tight
Baby come on
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Pull me like a bass drum
Sparkin' up a rhythm
baby, come on!Ooh ooh ooh ooh
Rock my world into the sunlight
Make this dream the best I've ever known
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
Every second is a highlight
When we touch don't ever let me go
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
I laughed at Matt's reluctance before continuing into the crowd and finally stopping in front of Damon.
Ooh baby baby got me feeling so right
Ooh baby baby dancing in the moonlight
Ooh baby baby got me feeling so right
Ooh baby baby dancing in the moonlight
Ooh baby baby got me feeling so right
Ooh baby baby dancing in the moonlight
Rock my world into the sunlight
Make this dream the best I've ever known
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
Every second is a highlight
When we touch don't ever let me go
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
When I was done I turned away from a still staring Damon and the crowd cheered. " Thank you." I said with a smile before heading off to find Elena.
I found Elena walking out of the study and she seemed angry.
"What happened to you?" I asked
"Jeremy's smoking again." she told me, " I was on my way out to talk to Ric about talking to him."
"I got it." I said told her, " You go and enjoy your party."
"Thanks." she said, " Nice singing by the way."
"Thanks you for that." I said heading to the porch were I found Damon and Ric.
"Drink." I said, holding out my hand to Damon and grabbing his glass, " Jeremy's smoking again." I said before taking a sip and turning to Ric, " Talk to him, please. He looks up to you."
I gave Damon his drink back before heading back into the house.
I walked into Damon's room after an hour, looking for him.
"Damon?" I asked
I sighed when there was no response. I turned around and came face to face with Stefan.
"Stefan." I said, backing away from him, " What are you doing here?"
"Trying to send Damon a message." he replied, " And I thought you could help me with that."
Then he grabbed me.
Stefan had brought me to the channel nine news station and tried to compel me to be quiet before handing me over to some compelled man. I did as he said so he didn't hurt me. After twenty minutes Damon walked in.
"Stefan." he said
"Hello brother." Stefan said
"You don't write , you don't call…"
"I need you to stop following me." Stefan told him, " You're causing some problems."
"With who?" Damon asked, " Klaus? I'm supposed to care what he thinks?"
"What you're supposed to do is let me go."
"Saw you're latest artwork in Tennessee. Walking a fine line there my friend. Keep that up and there will be no saving you."
"See the thing is I don't need any saving. I just want you to let me go." Stefan told him
"Nah, I got a birthday girl at home that's not gonna let me do that."
"You know, maybe I haven't made my point." Stefan said, "Hey, Andie, Audrey, you two still there?"
"What?" Damon said
I was brought out by the guy that was holding me and I tried to get free but he was to strong.
"Damon." Andie said, " I can't move. He told me I couldn't move."
"No, no, no. It's gonna be okay." Damon said to us before turning to Stefan, " Not cool brother."
"Oh, come on." Stefan insisted, "It's a little cool. No?"
" Hey Andie, you can move know." Stefan started before turning over to me, " Jacobi, you know what to do."
Suddenly I was slammed against the wall by my throat. Jacobi continued to choke me as I was lifted a few feet off the ground.
"No." I heard Damon say as Andie walked forward and Jacobi continued choking me, " No, no, no."
Then Stefan held him against the wall as Andie fell to her death. I tried to escape Jacobi's grasp by kicking and clawing but nothing worked, plus I was starting to get lightheaded from the lack of air.
" I said, let me go." Stefan yelled to Damon
Stefan let go of him and disappeared. I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness when I heard a sickening snap and felt Jacobi let go of me as I fell to my knees, gasping for air
"Thanks." I choked out when I could talk
"You're welcome." he said, helping me up and putting an arm around my waist before we both looked over to see Andie's lifeless body
Damon and I walked into his room to see a very angry Elena holding up papers.
" What?" Damon asked, " What are you doing in here?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, " Why did you keep it a secret?"
"Can we not do this right know?" I said, rubbing my throat " We're having a really bad night."
" All summer, every time I came to either of you with a lead you made me feel like an idiot for having hope."
"You were an idiot." Damon told her
"Damon…" I started
"We all we're." he continued
"Tell me what you know, Damon." Elena said
" I know you need to get back to you're party Elena." he said walking past her
I walked past both of them and sitting down on Damon's bed.
"We're all supposed to be in this together." Elena said, " Why didn't you tell me you've been tracking Klaus's victims."
"Because they aren't Klaus's victims, Elena." Damon snapped, "They're Stefan's."
"What?" Elena asked
"He's left a trail of bodies up and down the eastern seaboard." Damon told her
"No." Elena said, "You're wrong."
"Elena, he's telling the truth." I said
"I've seen it before." Damon explained, " He's flipped the switch. Full blown ripper mode."
"Stop it, Damon." Elena said
"No, you stop it, Elena. Stop looking for him, stop waiting for him to come home, just stop." Damon snapped, " Stefan is gone and he's not coming back, not in your life time."
Then he walked out of the room and Elena looked as if she were about to cry. I got up of the bed and wrapped my arms around her.
"Everything's going to be okay, Elena."
"I need to get him back, Audrey." she said through tears
"I'll help you get him back." I promised her, " No matter what."
Elena and I walked into the house to see Ric putting his things into a bag.
"What are you doing?" I asked him
"I'm not gonna stay here anymore." he said, turning to us
"What?" Elena asked, " Why?"
"I'm not a role model." he said, " I drink to much, I say the wrong thing, I encourage bad behavior. At school I can pull it together but in my own life…The way I miss Jenna, it's just, I'm really not any good to anybody right now. I'm sorry, you two . You're both 18. You can do all this alone now. You can do it better without me."
He grabbed his bags and headed out the door, leaving Elena and I standing there by ourselves.