Elizabeth, if that was even her name, wasn't crazy, but she couldn't be sure as her mind tried to break through the haze that she was in. Crazy? Why did that word seem to mean something else to her? Question after question started to assault her fragile mind. Was Elizabeth even her name? The only reason she knew her name was because of the locket that she seemed to be clutching when she woke up on the forest floor. All of a sudden one thought came to her in perfect clarity.

She was lost. No-that wasn't the right word. Looking? There it was. She was looking for something, or maybe someone. She was supposed to be meeting someone. Wasn't she?

Somehow, she knew the that without a doubt that she was lost.

Her body seemed to be an autopilot as like it knew where it was going if she didn't. Her hands had long gone numb from the cold, and somewhere in her subconscious she knew frostbite was close to setting in. She kept trudging forward even when she felt the sharp pain of the rocks as they dug their way into the soles of her feet. All she knew was that she had to keep walking. One foot in front of the other. One breath after another. Soon all that she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. Thump. Thump.

She kept walking until she saw the glow of a campfire and the kids who looked to be her age wandering about in the woods. Maybe one of them will give her answers. She was focusing on using all of her energy to lift her legs over a tree that had fallen. It wasn't enough as the last ounce of strength she had vanished, and she felt herself fly forwards. Her hands were still numb that she didn't even know she was hurt until she saw the crimson blood dripping down her arm. Looking up to see if anyone had heard the commotion she flinched when the suddenness of a light was shined into her eyes?

"Hello, who's there?" she heard a guy's voice say before her mind the formulate a response. She tried so hard to force herself to say something, anything, but her own voice betrayed her, and nothing came out. She squinted her eyes as she heard the rustling of twigs and heard heavy footsteps coming closer to her. She finally felt a whimper forcing itself out of her throat before she knew it. Maybe it was her body trying to help her the only way it knew how. She didn't know if this person was actually there to help or hurt her.

"Lizzie?" Lizzie? Must be short for Elizabeth. That was her. Wasn't it? Before she could say anything, the voice, spoke up, "What are you wearing?" The young girl almost had to laugh at the question and how to some people it would be the simplest question in the world. One that seemed to have a not so simple answer in her case.

The person lowered the light and slowly his silhouette came into focus. It was dark, but she could make out a few distinct features. Maybe it was the fact that he had kind eyes, or the fact that she was just so tired, but her body instantly felt relaxed. It was as though deep down a part of brain was telling her that she could trust him.

"Who are you?" the girl suddenly found her voice. At first, she wasn't even sure it was hers. She didn't know what her voice should've sounded like. It was like she was a stranger in her own body.

"Are you serious?" The guy laughed then noticed the confusion written all over the young girl's face. "It's me, Landon." The stranger tried to look for any sign of recognition in the girl's eye. This wasn't the same girl who constantly got pleasure from insulting him. He would never admit it, but he secretly liked those insults he had come to think of as familiar and sometimes borderline friendly.

"Landon?" Lizzie tested the name even though it felt foreign on her tongue. Landon looked at her hopefully like she would all of sudden she was joking.

"Yes, do you know who I am?" Landon tried again.

"No…I'm sorry."

"Ok…this isn't good…of course you have amnesia. What's a magical boarding school without a case of amnesia." The stranger seemed to be prone to rambling. Not that it was doing either of them any good. The stranger—Landon—seemed to notice and snapped out of whatever mindset he was in. "Ok, we need to go find your dad. Yea, your dad will know what to do." All of sudden this stranger developed a take charge attitude.

"Can you stand?" The guy—Landon—reached down to grasp her arm to help her stand.

"I think so."

"Ok, good."

"Wait…I don't feel so good…." She barely felt herself get the words out she before she felt herself falling to the ground below her. The last thing she remembered was staring into the darkness and meeting the dark eyes of a wolf.

For the record, Josie would like to point out that she had never been drunk before that night. In the long run there would be no historical significance, but for the sake of her reputation, Josie needed for people to know. At first, the red cup in her hand just served as a reminder of how she was normal, the complete opposite of her twin sister. Then as the warm liquid made its way into her system it became a crutch. With every sip she found herself becoming more and more alive. For once in her life she had found herself not worrying about her sister or the implications that came along with it. Don't get her wrong, she loved her sister, probably more than humanly possible. But there was a freedom that came from focusing on her own life and what she wanted.

Josie lost count of the number of drinks she had. She didn't even like the lukewarm beer. To be honest she thought it was disgusting. But drinking at a party in the woods past curfew is exactly what a normal teenager would do, and this was as close as anyone at the Salvatore Boarding School would get to being normal. Even if she knew her dad would ground her for life if he ever found out she didn't care. For once in her life…she didn't care about the consequences.

"What are you doing here?" Josie heard a low voice growl from behind her. Even in her drunken haze she could tell the question was directed at her and it sounded pissed. She slowly turned around half-expecting to see her own father, but who she saw standing there in the glow of the fire was much, much, worse.

"Fancy seeing you here." Josie lied. Her father wasn't stupid, he knew better than anyone what happened under his roof, or more importantly what happened outside of it. He probably sent Roman out there as some sort of mission to shut down the party so he wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of drunk, hormonal teenagers. Even her father had his limits, he was probably in the middle of getting drunk himself.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you would be in if your father caught you out here?" The hardness in voice softened at little, but Josie could see the anger looming under the surface.

"Roman, has anyone told you, you really need to loosen up?" Josie tried to lighten the situation. Since he arrived, he had been her father's very own personal watch dog. Josie knew that he was going to straight to her father to tell her of her indiscretions.

"You're drunk." It was less of a question and more of an accusation. Then Roman's eyes softened as he looked over the teenager. Something about her seemingly innocent expression to both annoy him and amuse him at the same time.

"Yes…I mean no…" Josie scrambled trying to find an answer that would seem less incriminating. Somehow in her intoxicated state she decided by throwing the cup in her hand beside her that it would somehow convince him the opposite of what he already knew. She was drunk and there was no hiding it. A sentence he never thought would apply to the responsible and logical twin.

"Unbelievable." Roman just mumbled and turned his attention to the burning campfire in front of them. He took a seat in an empty chair and Josie took her place in the one next to him. Maybe he wasn't there to crash their party after all.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Josie asked the vampire. Surely, he had better things to do than hang out with a bunch of actual teenagers.

"Trying to enjoy the party."

"No!" Josie shouted before she could stop herself. She lowered her voice when she saw Roman's startled expression, "I mean like here, here. At the Salvatore school?" That was the question that everyone seemed to be asking since Roman visited to Salvatore school and never left.

"Honestly?" Roman looked up to see her curious expression. She wasn't just asking for gossip's sake. She actually wanted to know that answer and for Roman that was refreshing I don't know what I'm doing her, but luckily for me your father believes in second chances."

"What about you?" Roman attempted to get the attention off of him. Josie could tell he never preferred to be the topic of conversation, but was always curious about the students that attended the school. "Something tells me you didn't come out here because you like the taste of cheap beer."

"The truth?" Josie avoided his eyes that seemed to be staring into her soul. There was something about his gaze that made her want to tell him things she had never told anyone, not even Lizzie. "I thought by coming out here would somehow prove how normal I was."

"I hate to break it to you, Princess, but this place is anything, but normal." Roman laughed and Josie found herself laughing too. "You know when I was little, I used to think us…the people here…that we were the normal ones. It was just everyone else who was screwed up. How messed up is that?" Josie placed a hand on the dirt covered ground and whispered something under a breath. She caught another cup as it floated over to her.

She brought the cup to her lips, but before she could get a drink the vampire snatched the cup out of her hands. She thought he was about to toss it on the ground already littered with empty cups, but instead he brought it up to his own lips and took a big sip. Josie turned and raised an eyebrow at the vampire. Roman was intrigued at how she managed to look curious and judgmental at the same time.

"I thought vampires couldn't get drunk." If he wasn't seeing her with own eyes he wouldn't think this was Josie. The Josie that he knew…that everyone knew…wasn't snarky like this. He preferred it to the perfect and responsible Josie that she wanted people to believe that she was.

"We can't" The vampire looked over towards the witch and smiled. "At least not off cheap beer." Josie smiled and turned to focus on the scenes in front of her. To anyone else they just looked like normal teenagers, drinking and breaking curfew, but there were the monsters in the stories that humans were warned about. It may not have been normal, but to Josie, it was her normal.

"We should really get you back. Don't tell anyone, but you dad is planning on breaking up this party in exactly five minuites."

"Right." Josie said. She had almost forgot she was doing something wrong. Everything since she had arrived that night had just felt so right. Including talking with Roman, the vampire she had been warned about. Roman stood up and offered a hand to help the witch up. She hesitated for a brief moment before she placed her hand in his. In one swift movement he had pulled her to her feet.

Even though the alcohol numbed most of her senses she shivered when the felt the cold air across her bare arms Apparently, Roman noticed this too. Roman shrugged of his leather jacket and brought it around her shoulders. "Thanks." Josie gave the boy a small smile. Over the years she had heard stories about Roman, a vampire who had gotten a werewolf killed but, none of that prepared her for the gentleness that he was showing her. Surely, he couldn't be that bad. Could he? Her head seemed to be spinning in circles. Her thoughts muddled together as one sentence seemed to flow into another.

"Are you ok?" Roman's voice broke her out of the drunken stupor that found herself in. She tried to formulate a response as she got this nagging feeling in the pit of stomach. "You don't look so good." She was closed her eyes as she was vaguely aware of the vampire's hands rubbing circles on her back.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Josie managed to say before she turned and vomited on the guy standing next to her. Josie was mortified to look up and see Roman's face. To be honest she half-expected him to freak out or possible vamp out on her, but she saw no traces of anger in his eyes. Instead, she saw concern in his blue eyes, as he tried to help Josie stand up straight.

"Feel better?" He continued to rub circles on her back as she tried to catch her breath "How about we get you inside before you dad sees you."

"Sounds good." Josie nodded as he grasped her arms to help in the school. They had almost made it to the stairs when Josie heard a voice say, "Josie?"

"Hi, dad." Josie tried to pull Roman's jacket tighter around her even though she knew it wouldn't help. If her bloodshot eyes didn't give her away, she knew the smell of booze would.

"Have you've been drinking?" Alaric asked even though he already knew the answer. He had been there enough times to know when someone was drunk.

"Mr. Saltzman…" Roman tried to explain, but Josie knew it was no use. All her dad knew was that his underage daughter was drunk. That was enough for his dad to cast a glare in Roman's direction.

"I will deal with you later, right now we have bigger problems." Alaric turned his attention back to his daughter. She had seen that look multiple times over the years. And it was never because of anything good.

"Lizzie? What happened?" That was all Josie needed to sober up. Her dad took a creath before he tried to answer,"Landon found her wandering around in the woods with no memory of how she got there."

"I need to see her…I need…" Josie demanded, but her father cut her off, "You aren't going anywhere. She's asleep in the infirmary, you can see her in the morning."

"Daddy…" Josie tried to find the words that would smooth over the situation, but nothing was coming to out.

"I am so disappointed in you Jo, what were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking?" Josie scoffed like she couldn't seriously believe he was asking that. All of sudden 16 years of anger came bubbling to the surface. "I was thinking that I just wanted to be normal. What's your excuse?" Josie stepped forward and felt Roman's hands leave her arms. Well, if he wanted to be her dad's lap dog all of sudden, he should probably know what he was getting into.

"What does that mean?" Her dad questioned.

"Forget it." Josie mumbled as she turned to go up the staircase.

"No, you obviously have something to say so say it."

"Do you know how many empty bottles Lizzie and I have found in your office over the years? Or the fact that sometimes we could hear your crying downstairs after you put us to bed? You have two daughters who are here, and they need more than some-half version of you."

"I didn't realize I was such a disappointment as a father." There it was, the truth that until that moment, Alaric Saltzman had prided himself in being a good father. He didn't realize it would his own daughter that would tell him otherwise.

"Dad…" For the first time in her 16 years Josie felt herself know what it was like to finally tell her truth. But seeing the heartbreaking look on her father's face didn't bring her any absolution. It only brought her more pain.

"I think we should all get some sleep." Her dad said after a couple moments of painfully awkward silence. Then he looked to the vampire Josie had almost forgotten was an unfortunate witness to this family showdown. "I trust that you can her to her room."

"Yes, sir." Roman nodded, just like Josie expected him too. The walk to her room was a slow and heartbreaking one. When they arrived, Josie had half-expected Roman to bolt but instead he walked in and shut the door behind them. Josie waited until Roman had shut the door

"He hates me." Josie blurted as soon as she had heard the door close. She kept her back to him for the fear the she would break down with one look into his eyes. The night was already Hell without her crying in front of him. Still, a part of her was relieve that for once someone knew the real story of the Saltzman's' not the preconceived notion that everyone had of them.

"He doesn't hate you." Roman assured her.

"How can you tell?" Josie questioned him. Apparently, whether she wanted to admit or not Roman could have the answers to questions that she didn't even know she needed answered.

"How can you not?" Roman spun her around so that she was facing him. She slowly raised her eyes to look into his. It was like an electrical shock had occurred between the two without touching. "He built a school just so his children would never have to hide who they were. He has spent the last 16 years making sure his children and others like them were protected." Josie took in everything that he was saying. He whole life her father had protected her. She just needed someone to remind her of that.

"How about you get some sleep" Roman said as his gaze left hers. Josie nodded and Roman turned to leave. He was opened the door and was halfway out when Josie whispered, "Roman?" If he wasn't a vampire, he wasn't sure he would have heard it.

"Yea?" Roman turned to look at her, to really look at her.

"Thanks, for helping me." Josie stuttered, even though part of her wanted to say so much more.

"Later, Princess." Roman winked and walked out of her room.

After Roman left Josie tried to turn her brain of in hoping of getting a decent night's sleep. Unfortunately, her thoughts were consumed by her alcoholic father, crazy sister, and 100-year-old vampire. This was her normal as messed up as it was.