Memorial
Louise wasn't sure how she got there, but she was in an unfamiliar room kissing a man she couldn't see. She presumed it was Damon, but by the way he kissed her... she knew it wasn't him. His kisses were soft, but passionate and even a little greedy, this kiss was hungry, overwhelming... dangerous.
The stranger kissed her neck, nipping at her skin. She moaned in arousal, her back arched against a wardrobe. All that she could see of the man was his dirty blonde, curly hair.
Then a pair of blue eyes looked up at her. She recognised those eyes... The owner smirked at her. "Hello, love."
"Gahh!"
Louise jumped awake, grabbing at the bed covers and looking around the room for Klaus. She even checked under the duvet to see if he was hiding under there. Of course, she knew the hybrid would have chosen a much better hiding place.
The door burst open and Elena barged in. She looked worried. Good to see she still has that motherly personality of hers, Louise thought. "Louise, are you okay?" she asked quickly. "You screamed... what happened?"
"Just a bad dream," Louise replied hastily. But it wasn't a bad dream... it was a good dream. A very good dream. "Go to bed, Elena. I'm fine."
"I know." That caught the elder twin off guard. She knew what? About her crazy Klaus sex-dreams? "I know you can't keep the blood from blood bags down. Caroline told me a few days ago, but she said that you were getting better. You told her that you were adjusting. Why did you lie to us?"
Louise sighed and brought the blankets up to her chin, hugging her knees as well as the duvet. "I didn't want anyone to worry about me. Look, Elena, I'll get better."
"When was the last time you fed?" she pressed. Louise looked at her lap guiltily. "Louise, when was the last time you fed?"
"Five days ago ago," she muttered quietly. Elena gaped at her.
"Have you tried drinking from animals?" Louise shook her head. "You should ask Stefan for help. He brought me out hunting yesterday, but animal blood didn't sit well for me. I think I'm gonna stick with blood bags." Elena gave me a small smile. "You should go with him. Let him mentor you."
Louise didn't want to feed from animals. She'd prefer to drink from a blood bag, but since that wasn't an option because of her weird moon blood, she was forced to drink from the vein. "Elena, I'm fine drinking from humans. I won't hurt them."
"But you don't really think that." Louise looked confused. "If you did, then you wouldn't have starved yourself for five whole days. You need blood. Let Stefan help you."
Louise stared at her twin. There were a few differences between them physically. Louise had higher cheekbones and blue eyes, while Elena had a perfect oval face and brown doe eyes. Elena's hair was dead straight, without the use of a straightener, and Louise's hair was curly, though their hair was roughly the same length. Elena's physique was slim; a supermodel's body. Louise had a slightly more muscular body, but her twin sister had gained muscle since she started her vampire training with Ric.
Personality wise, they were very different. Louise had a more sarcastic approach to problems. She preferred to deal with things on her own, especially since their parents died. She didn't allow herself to grieve properly, instead letting the grief for all her dead loved ones build up and up and up. She was like a dam ready to burst.
Elena had a smarter approach to their parent's dead - journalling. She always loved writing, and journalling allowed her to write down her feelings and get them onto paper. They were both intelligent and sometimes suicidal if it came down to protecting their loved ones, especially each other and Jeremy. Elena attracted the good guys, while Louise attracted the dangerous ones.
She let out a sigh and gave in. "Fine. I'll feed on bunnies."
Elena smiled. "Good. Thank you."
Louise rolled her eyes. "Just go to bed."
"Stefan?" Louise called after storming into the boarding house. The door slammed shut behind her. "Stefan!"
Her best friend was walking down the stairs groggily, looking as if he hadn't gotten any sleep. "What?" he groaned.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"I feel just fine, thanks," he bit back angrily. He calmed himself down before continuing, "I'm sorry, Louise. It's just... I've been having these dreams lately. Dreams of the night I didn't save Elena."
"Ah," she said, nodding. She could relate to unwanted dreams. "Your conscience is eating away at you, then."
He rubbed his head. "You could say that. I thought you were mad at me for not saving her?"
She shrugged. "I got over it. Besides, I need your help."
"Oh?" he pressed, piping up.
"Is Damon home?" He shook his head. "Good. I don't want him to know this."
"I won't tell him," Stefan assured me.
"I can't keep down blood from a blood bag. I don't know what the hell is going on with me, but I... I need your help," she practically begged.
"You want to feed from animals?" he asked.
Louise nodded. "Yeah. Will you help me?"
"Of course. You're the one who helped me with my ripper problems." He smiled at her. "But why can't you down blood from a blood bag? It's the same as blood from the vein."
"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe it has something to do with me being the luna bruja or something."
"Yeah..." Stefan trailed off. "You ready for a hunting spree?"
"I guess." She shrugged. Louise pouted as the thought of killing small, defenseless animals crossed her head. "Poor bunnies..."
Louise watched the deer from behind a bush. It had doe eyes... doe eyes! She couldn't kill someone with doe eyes that reminded her so much of Elena's.
She groaned. "I feel like I'm killing Bambi. Bambi. I love Bambi!" she whispered furiously. "And it has doe eyes... please don't make me kill a deer with doe eyes!"
He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to kill it. You can stop. I'm the one that can't, remember?"
Louise scoffed and fixed her attention on the deer. "Yeah. You've told me about a hundred times already. 'I'm the ripper. Rawr-rawr. Be scared. And you're the vampire that can magically stop because you've done it once. I make so much sense,'" she snapped.
"Woah, no need to get so angry," Stefan said, raising his hands in defense as if she was going to attack him. Louise detected a trace of a smirk on his lips.
"I just feel so angry all the time," she growled through gritted teeth. "Is there a vampire anger management class that I can go to?"
Stefan laughed and shook his head. "Afraid not. It gets easier, trust me." Louise stared at him questioningly. "Yeah, you're right. Don't trust the ripper. Probably best."
She patted his shoulder mockingly and laughed. "There, there, Stefan. You know I love you."
He smiled, but his attention switched to the deer, who was feeding on the grass. "It's distracted. Go."
"But..." Stefan shot her a look. "Fine. I'll bite doe eyes."
Reluctantly, she vamped over to the deer. It wasn't alerted to her presence, it didn't flinch or stop feeding. She grabbed the deer's neck and it squirmed, struggling to get away from her. "Damn those doe eyes," she grumbled before biting the deer.
The blood didn't taste half as good as human blood, but it had to do. It was better than nothing, she decided. The deer became too weak to fight her anymore and sunk to the ground. He/She didn't even kick her, and he had a perfect shot!
She was sure that if it wasn't for those big brown eyes, she would have no problem (maybe not no problem) feeding from a deer.
She heard the animal's heart beat become faint and pulled away. The animal recovered surprisingly quickly and limped away.
Louise stood up and wiped the blood from her mouth. Stefan approached her. "Good job," he commented. "I didn't realise how pale you were until you regained some of your colour."
"Huh," she said, her eyes fixated on the trail of blood the deer left behind.
"It gets easier," he assured her.
She nodded weakly, still feeling guilty. "Stupid doe eyes..."
"Remind you of Elena?" Louise snapped her gaze over to him. "Yeah, I get that problem a lot."
As she was about to reply, vomit rushed up from her gut to her throat. She clutched her stomach and bent over, emptying the blood onto the forest floor. Stefan patted her back. She felt disgusting. Their was blood dripping down her mouth and she was hungry, even more so than before.
"It's alright. It takes a little while to stomach animal blood, but you'll get it," he assured her.
"Will I?" she questioned. "Maybe I can only drink from the vein. Maybe we should just give up and I should go on a freaking ripper binge!"
There were tears in her eyes. She was stubborn and tried her best not to let them escape, but one did, followed by more the determined buggers. She wiped them away in one quick motion, but that didn't stop more from pouring down from her eyes. "Why am I crying? I don't cry."
"It's your emotions," he said. "They're heightened."
"As a h-human, I didn't cry," she said firmly. "As a vampire, I won't cry. S-see the pattern here?"
That didn't stop the sobs that escaped her mouth and made her stomach thrust violently. All of a sudden, she wasn't crying for the deer or her possible ripper future, she crying because of everyone she lost. Jenna, her parents, John, Alaric... she never quite dealt with the pain. Why was it surfacing now?
"Hey," Stefan soothed, pulling her into his arms. "It's alright."
His shirt became wet with her tears. Did she become a completely different person when she turned? Did she forget everything about who she was?
No. She was still Louise and she still didn't cry.
Gathering herself again, she straightened up and once again wiped her tear stained eyes. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine," she said, repeating the words like they were a prayer.
"Come on. We need to talk."
He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the forest. Louise just let him, feeling a little broken for the first time in her life.
"I haven't seen this happening before," Stefan said, pacing the length of his living room. Louise took to admiring the fact that he wasn't in ripper mode again, he was back to his normal, brooding and occassionally fun self. "There's never been a vampire who can't drink from a blood bag. Animal blood, I get, but blood from a blood bag? That's practically human blood."
Louise shrugged nonchalantly, but her expression told a different story. She was worried, Stefan realised. "Maybe Klaus knows something," Louise said hopefully.
Stefan also realised how fondly she mentioned Klaus lately. She mentioned him as if he was simply another one of their friends, not a psycho hybrid who killed anyone in his path. Who killed her Aunt Jenna.
"Don't get too hopeful," Stefan replied briskly. "He's not in town at the moment."
All hope disappeared from Louise's face. Did she seriously think Klaus would have been her saviour? "Then what am I to do, Stefan? I don't have a clue what's going on and neither do you."
"You said you can only digest blood from the vein," Stefan said.
She nodded. "It's weird, I know."
"Then you should drink blood from the vein."
Louise's jaw dropped. She thought Stefan would be the most opposed to that. At least he had common sense. Truth was, she didn't want to drink from the vein. Even though she was supposedly 'dark,' she didn't want to harm someone.
"I can't," Louise said, a little ashamed. "I don't want to harm anyone."
"You need blood." He pulled up his sleeve. "And you don't want to tell Damon, so..."
"You're going to feed me your blood?" Louise questioned.
"If you want it. But you can't tell Damon." She shot him a questioning look. Why couldn't she tell Damon? "Blood sharing is a pretty big deal with vampires. I'm just doing this as your friend, but Damon might be a little..."
"Damon," she finished. Stefan nodded. "Well, I need blood and since you're offering..."
"Go for it," Stefan said.
She sent him one last unsure look, he nodded. She greedily bit into his wrist and drank.
Damon was going to kill them.
Matt and Elena were laying pamphlets on the benches. The memorial was today. Louise wore a dress for once. She didn't feel uncomfortable like she usually did, or self-conscious, she felt confident. The dress was purple and fell to her mid-thigh. Her hair was plaited to the side and tied with a black bobbin at the end.
Elena walked over to April Young and sat next to her. Louise went up to Matt. "This is horrible," she said to him.
"Was it Damon?" Matt inquired immediately.
She shook her head. "I don't think so. He wouldn't lie about it, he'd be gloating."
Matt scoffed. "I don't know what you're doing with him, Louise."
She chose to ignore his comment. As a human, that would have difficult, as a vampire, it was close to impossible, but she might have... possibly looked up handling anger techniques on Google.
She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, before exhaling loudly. Matt shot her a 'have you gone crazy?' look. "Don't ask," she stated.
He nodded. "How are you doing with the whole vampire thing?"
Louise didn't know how she was doing. It was one problem after the next for her. "I'm fine. I'm doing fine." She might as well have been Elena at that moment. After their parents died, Elena was the one with the 'I'm fine's, Louise was the one who rolled her eyes and basically told them to f* off.
"Sure you are," Matt said. "That's why your staring at my neck like a hungry wolf."
She didn't notice she was doing that. She moved her eyes over to meet his baby blue ones and smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I... it's been difficult. Right now, I want to hug you, two seconds later, I'll want to rip your head off." Matt's eyes widened. "Not literally, but you get the idea."
He nodded frantically. "No need for very possible metaphors anyway."
She laughed at him and patted his back. "Well, you..." Her stomach was upset again. She felt her stomach churn. "Excuse me."
She ran into the bathroom, ignoring Matt's 'Louise!'s as she locked the bathroom door and vomited her dinner - Stefan's blood - into the toilet bowl. She gripped the seat as blood poured out of her mouth. It even splattered onto the walls and the floor. The place was a mess.
Louise wiped the blood from her chin and got her phone out from her purse, getting blood on that too. She dialed Stefan's number hurriedly.
"Louise, hey. There's a vampire hunter on the loose."
"Oh?"
"His names Connor and he's extremely strong and well equipped. Stay away from him."
"But I don't know what he looks like." She frowned. "Anyway, I need you to get down here as quick as you can. And bring a dress."
"Why? What happened?"
"Your blood's what happened. It's all over the bathroom in the church. Please, Stefan."
He sighed. "Right. I'll be there in a few."
She exhaled in relief and smiled. "Thank you."
Louise scrubbed at the blood on the floor. It was everywhere and it looked sickening. Someone knocked at the door. "Stefan?" she called.
"No, sorry. Name's Connor."
Connor. Vampire hunter Connor. Shit. Shit. Shit. "Sorry, I'll be a few minutes."
"Take all the time you need," the hunter said.
Louise scrubbed at the blood like there was no tomorrow. It was even on the ceiling. How the hell did it get on the ceiling? She used vampire strength and speed to try and clean the bathroom quickly.
With vampire hearing, she heard Stefan outside the bathroom door. "Louise? You in there?"
She opened the door slightly, slipping her head through the small opening. "Thank God, Stefan. You're a saviour." She smiled at him before turning to Connor and giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry. Spilled coffee all over my dress."
Connor stood up. He was suspicious, that wasn't a good sign. Can he smell blood?
Stefan edged his head towards the bathroom. She took the dress from him and nodded. "We haven't met. I'm Connor Jordan," the hunter introduced himself to the vampire.
He offered Stefan his hand. "Sorry, can't," Stefan said. "Serious germaphobe." He rose his voice so Louise could hear him. "Everything okay in there?"
"Perfectly fine!" she called back. "Two more minutes!"
Inside the bathroom, Louise shoved all of the tissues into her bag as Stefan and Connor stared at each other, waiting for the other to break. "So, what brings you to Mystic Falls?" Stefan asked him, trying to ease the tension. "Bible salesman or something?"
Connor laughed. "No, actually I'm in environmental clean up."
Stefan knew what he was getting at. "Oh?"
"Heard you had a bit of a pollution problem," Connor continued.
"Ah, well," he started. "I was completely unaware."
Louise rushed out of the bathroom. Her dress stuffed in the black bag Stefan brought for her. "Sorry about that," she said to Connor.
Connor smiled. "No problem."
"Enjoy your stay," Stefan said.
Louise and Stefan walked away from the hunter. That was close call, the younger vampire thought.
The elder vampire brought her outside to the front of the church. "I need blood," she whispered to Stefan. "I'm starving..."
"Hey," Stefan soothed, stopping by a tree. "That's why a brought this."
He held up a blood bag. "Stefan, I can't..."
"Wouldn't hurt to try," he said, handing it to her. "Drink it. If you spit it back up, so be it."
Louise nodded and ripped open the blood bag. The hunger had diminished any common sense she had left. She threw back her head and let the blood spill into her mouth. Quicker than usual, her stomach reacted and she spat up the blood.
"Shit," she muttered angrily. "It tastes horrible. When I first drank from a blood bag, it tasted fine. Amazing, actually. But now, it tastes like horse shit."
Stefan took the blood bag from her. "Guess that leaves the vein. You can handle it. I know you can."
She nodded weakly. "I'll try my best."
Louise smiled and walked away from him. Stefan prided himself on being one of the few people who could understand her, but she changed like the weather. One minute she was fearless and snarky, the next she was caring and kind... and that negative feature only magnified when she became a vampire.
"Ah, has our friend the ripper come to visit again?"
"Great," Stefan muttered, turning to face his brother. "Damon."
"You have a blood bag," Damon noted, gesturing to the bag full of red liquid. "And you were talking to Louise. Which can only mean two things, one, she was talking you out of becoming a ripper, or two, you were giving her a blood bag."
"Why do you care?" he pressed.
Damon shrugged. "It just seems a little odd. I'm not trying to be all Sage on your girlfriend, but you can't help but go Lexi on mine. What with the hunting trip and all." How did he know that? Seeing his confusion, Damon explained, "Elena told me. She's easy to interrogate when she's worried her brother might be flirting with her sister."
"What?" Stefan asked, shocked. "Elena's the one that told Louise to come to me."
"Looks like she regretted it afterwards," Damon said with a smirk. "After a little small talk..."
"Ah, I see." Stefan's blood was boiling as his hands clenched into fists by his side. "You turned her against me so you get information out of her."
Damon said defensively, "I only stated the facts."
"She can't stomach animal blood, Damon."
"So?" Damon asked. "It's a rarity that a vampire can. I'll hook her up with a blood bag or two and everything will be all right and dandy."
"She vomits blood from a blood bag up too," Stefan told him.
He looked shocked. "All vampires can stomach blood from a blood bag. It's the same for crying out loud!"
"It's different with her," he said. "Maybe it's because of her blood, but she can't stomach it."
Damon was shaking with anger all of a sudden. "And why did she tell you and not me?"
"Elena suggested it," Stefan said. "And Elena was told by Caroline who found her when she first started vomiting up blood, the day after she transitioned. She didn't want anyone to know, Damon. She can't keep any blood down except from blood from a human vein."
"Then we'll just have to find a donor," Damon said, smirking. The smirk fell off his face abruptly and was replaced with a scowl. "Wait. How do you know that?"
"Know what?" Stefan asked.
"You said human vein. Did she test it out with a vampire?" His younger brother pursed his lips tightly, a guilty look on his face. Damon nodded slowly but angrily at his brother and stated, "She tested it out on you."
"She needed blood, Damon," Stefan insisted. "She didn't want anyone to know."
"You let her - my girlfriend - feed from you!" Damon yelled. He quietened down when he realised they were in a very public place. "You're a hypocrite, Stefan."
Damon stormed away from him.
Louise walked into the church and took a seat between Matt and Jeremy. Elena was seated on the other side of their brother.
Jeremy looked worriedly at her. "Hey, you alright?"
"Peachy," Louise replied, staring at his neck. Stop it! This is Jeremy for crying out loud! Not some mid-church service snack!
"You look pale..." he started again.
Louise snapped at him, "I'm fine!"
"Alright, alright," Jeremy said. "Sorry."
She took a deep breath, not breathing out until twenty seconds later. "Hey, Louise, have you seen April? She wanted me to help her with her speech," Elena asked.
"No, sorry. Maybe she got pre-funeral jitters and ran out?"
Elena shook her head. "No, she wouldn't. She was really determined about saying her speech."
Louise shrugged. "Happens to the best of us."
A year and a half ago
Two coffins were placed side by side on the left of the alter. Inside those coffins, lay Miranda Sommers-Gilbert and Grayson Gilbert. On top of the coffins they're was a photo of each of them. Dad's photo was the trip to LA. He had ice cream all over his mouth. Honeycomb, his favourite. Her mother's photo was at Patricia's, her friend from Denver's, wedding. That was when they were alive, Louise found it hard to believe that they were just dead.
"Hey, squirt, you alright?" Jenna whispered. She had a habit of calling her 'squirt,' which was odd, since Louise was taller than her now.
The tears sprung to her eyes, but even then, she was too stubborn to let them fall. She rushed out of the church, ignoring the staring eyes. She backed up against the church wall and fell down against it, hugging her knees to her chest. But no tears came.
She felt empty, alone.
Jenna came out after her, giving her a pitiful look. She was used to them by now. Everyone looked at the three Gilbert's like they were china dolls, easily broken.
Her guardian knelt down next to her, staring at the blue sky instead of at her. She was thankful for that. Louise didn't like it when people saw her cry. "You know, when my mom died, I locked myself in my room for a week. I was twenty-four. You guys, you're so young. I can't imagine dealing with that much pain at your age."
"I just wish there was a way to make it stop," she said. "Like there was a switch. That could make the pain just go away."
"But there's not," Jenna sadly replied. She turned her head to look at me. "We have to fight. Dealing with your emotions is the first step to getting better."
Louise scoffed. "I'm not depressed."
"You lost someone you love," Jenna pointed out. "You're bound to feel some depression, but you're hiding it all inside of you and one day, you're gonna burst. There's no shame in feeling sad." Louise got onto her feet and Jenna's voice quickened. "You don't have to be strong all the time!"
She slipped the strap of her hand bag over her shoulder. "But I do, Jenna. Jeremy and Elena need me to be strong. I can't waste time being upset."
"You wouldn't be wasting time."
She scoffed and went back into the church, sitting beside Jeremy, who was sobbing beside her. Poor kid, she thought.
"Louise?"
The brunette snapped out of it and shook her head. "I'm fine, Jeremy. Just nostalgic," she said bitterly.
Jeremy nodded sympathetically. And if there was anyone who could sympathise properly with her, it was him and Elena.
Carol Lockwood took to the stage, standing behind the podium. "Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?" There was a deadly silence. It was wrong, nobody was going to speak kindly about the Pastor. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"
April Young was a good kid. Louise might not have liked her father - who turned out to a right dick - but April deserved someone to speak on her behalf. And since no one else stood up...
She got up onto her feet shakily. Jeremy shot her a worried look. The hungry vampire slipped out of her row. "Come on up, Louise," the Mayor encouraged.
Louise walked up to the podium. She smelt something... blood. Blood. She tried to ignore it, but it came at such a wrong, wrong time.
Damon dipped his hand into a bowl and made the sign of a cross. He smirked. "Don't know why but that always makes me smile."
He sat down beside Stefan, looking at his extremely pale girlfriend. "She doesn't look so good," Damon commented.
"That's what happens when a vampire can't digest any source of blood," Stefan whispered.
Damon's expression became serious and angry. "Maybe you should have told me she was rejecting all food sources, then."
"Jealousy's beneath you, Damon," Stefan said in a tired tone.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, bite me."
At the podium, Louise began to speak. "Um... My sister, Elena, was talking to April Young earlier. She said... said that she was nervous. And now I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too." Blood. So much blood. She gripped the side of the podium tightly, trying to prevent herself from killing everyone in the church. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
She could hear the blood drop from somewhere. She needed blood... she wanted to feed.
The rest of the Mystic Falls vampires could smell it too. "Do you smell that?" Caroline asked Tyler.
He nodded. "Blood."
Louise started to hyperventilate. Blood. Blood. Blood. That was all the vampire could think about. With vampire hearing, she heard Damon say to them. "Nobody move. Don't turn around, it's a trap."
Blood was dripping from the balcony and into the holy water, making the clear water go red. Her grip tightened on the podium sides and she was sure that if she held onto it any tighter, she'd break it. "Eh, I..."
The urge was too much to handle. She took deep breaths, but veins began protruding beneath her eyes as her hunger became uncontrollable.
Damon rushed up the aisle and wrapped his arm around her. "It's okay, it's okay. I got you, I got you."
He brought Louise back to the row she had been seated in. That was humiliating, but what was worse was the temptation.
"Please turn to page forty two in your hymn book. Let us join together in a song," the priest said.
Louise leaned into Damon's chest. "The blood. In the balcony. I can smell it, Damon."
"Uh, right," he said awkwardly. "What would Stefan say? Eh, focus, push back and eat a nutri-gain bunny?"
"Damon..."
"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked.
"How would you feel like if you hadn't eaten in a week, huh, busboy?" Damon asked.
Matt looked at him pointedly. "So, get her out of here."
"Well, that's a little hard when there's a stalker vampire hunter up on the podium," he snapped.
"Damon, I'm losing it," Louise whispered.
"I'm gonna rip his head off," Damon said angrily.
"Don't do it, Damon. Please," Stefan begged from the back row.
"Three, two, one. Bye." Damon got up.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait." He stopped as the busboy started to speak. "Louise, feed from me." Everyone turned to stare at Matt. "It's okay, everyone will think you're upset. Just feed from me."
Damon looked between us, before gently placing her in Matt's arms. "It's okay. You'll be okay."
She wrapped her arms around the quarterback and moved his collar, revealing a vein beneath his skin. Louise felt dark veins crawl up to her eyes as she bit into Matt's neck. Relief sunk through her as the blood pooled in her mouth. She swallowed it immediately, careful to not let a drop spill.
When she was completely satisfied, she pulled away. "Thank you," she said to the quarterback.
He nodded to her. "Any time."
Louise wiped the blood from her chin as Matt readjusted his collar, hiding the wound. Suddenly, Tyler rushed up the aisle. He knows he's walking into a death trap, right? Of course he did. Tyler was brave and loyal, like a true wolf.
"The blood. I can still smell it. It's got to be April. We have to help her," Elena whispered to Damon.
She tried to get out of the row, but Damon stopped her. "And become dead hunter meat? No thank you. Get back into your seat."
"No," she snapped. "I'll do it myself!"
Damon grabbed her arm and pulled her back, but that didn't stop the stubborn Gilbert from continuing her attempt to save April.
As Tyler began to speak, everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to him. "Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
Elena whispered, "What do we do?"
"Nothing," Damon whispered back.
They sat back down as Tyler continued his speech. "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of…"
He was violently interrupted when someone shot at Tyler. He fell to the floor with a groan. The people in the church panicked and ducked, most of them ran out of the church. Carol Lockwood rushed to her son's side.
"Oh my God," Mrs. Lockwood exclaimed.
Caroline ripped the stake out of Tyler's chest. "I'm gonna kill that bastard."
"Damon's way ahead of you," Stefan said, joining them. "Stay here, I have to help him."
Stefan made to leave, but Elena grabbed his hand. "What about April?"
"I got it. Go," Caroline urged.
Stefan nodded and rushed off. "I have to call an ambulance."
The blood was still so damn tempting. Louise felt her legs move towards the balcony like she was some robot. She had no control.
Up in the balcony, April was gagged and bleeding. Sometimes, Elena brought April over to their house. Elena was the main babysitter, but Louise liked to help sometimes. "April!" Louise exclaimed.
She stepped towards her, but stopped in her tracks as she saw the delicious red substance pour out of her. Her eyes darkened, black veins became noticable and fangs forced their way out of her soft gums. She never felt more animalistic in her life.
She rushed over to her, this time, not to help her, but to feed on her. She knelt down next to her and grabbed her shoulders. Her mind told her to stop, but all that she wanted was a taste. No, she wanted more than a taste.
Louise wanted to kill her.
The vampire threw her head back, groaning, before plunging her sharp teeth into poor April Young's neck.
Suddenly, a pair of stronger arms pulled her away from April and pressed her against the wall. "She's not dead, but if you feed on her you will kill her!" Caroline said.
The animal inside of her was still out and dying to kill. "Let go of me, Caroline!"
"Louise!" Elena rushed up the balcony. Her eyes lingered on April, more specifically her blood, but like Caroline, she exhibited control. Why couldn't she be in control like them?
She continued to try and pry her best friend off of her. "Look at her! Look at her, Louise! It's April. April Young. She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend!" The veins slowly disappeared from her face as the fangs shortened, turning back into her normal teeth. Caroline let her go. "She's an orphan. Just like you. She's scared. Just like you were."
Caroline bit into her wrist and gave April her blood, healing her. April gasped as she woke up. She began to cry and looked at Caroline pleadingly. "Please, don't hurt me. Please."
"No one's gonna hurt you. No one's gonna hurt you."
Caroline stood up. "She needs you," she said to Louise. "You can make her forget all of this."
The blonde vampire stood up. Louise nodded. "Right." She knelt down next to April and gently touched the panicking girl's shoulder. "April, listen to me." April looked over to her, her eyes begging. "Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like we got through it." She looked up to meet Elena's gaze. The doppelganger was smiling at her and gave her a nod. She began to compel her. "I'm going to help you. I promise."
April's pupils dilated. "I'm gonna be okay. You're gonna help me."
"You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things."
April smiled.
Damon banged the door shut behind him angrily. He ran his hands through his hair. The source of his anger walked out of his living room. "Hey," she said softly. Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "I know you're angry-"
"No, Louise," he replied, going to the alcohol cabinet and getting out some tequila and pouring it into a shot glass. "I'm furious. You fed from Stefan!"
"He was helping me, Damon," she insisted. "He's my friend and I... I didn't want you to worry about me."
He scoffed. "Well, I'm certainly worried now. Louise, feeding from a vampire as a vampire is a huge thing to us. Do you have feelings for him or something?"
"Stefan?" Louise asked in disbelief. "Stefan? No! What's up with you? You're jealous of every single man I talk to! Oh, are you jealous of Matt too, huh?"
"No!" Damon roared. "He's not a vampire, so it doesn't matter. But you fed from Klaus and you fed from Stefan."
"And I fed from you," Louise reminded him.
"Did you keep that down?" Damon questioned accusingly.
She looked down at the floor guiltily and said in a low voice, "No."
Damon laughed derisively. "So, more lies!"
"Stop it, Damon," Louise demanded. "I made a mistake. I'm tired of fighting with you. I don't want to fight anymore."
He pursed his lips together and walked up to her, placing a hand on either one of her shoulders. "You're right. I'm... I'm..."
"Sorry?" He nodded, not wanted to say the forbidden word. "It's alright."
He kissed my forehead. His phone rang suddenly. "Stefan?... Yeah, I'll be there... She's with me... See you then, brother."
He hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket. "Where are we going?" Louise asked him as he picked up his leather jacket.
"To do some teeny bopper memorial thing." Louise shot him a look. "I don't know. Ask nostalgic Stefan."
Damon and Louise got out of his car and walked over to Bonnie. "What are we doing here?" Damon asked her.
Bonnie shrugged. "I don't know. Ask Stefan."
Matt, Elena, Stefan, Jeremy and Caroline were sitting at a table outside of the school. Bonnie, Louise and Damon walked over to them. "Stefan, what are we doing?"
Stefan had paper lanterns in his hands. "We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." He handed Elena a lantern. "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away, we make a joke out of it, ignore how we feel. We've never just let ourselves grieve."
Damon stared at him as if he was a cerberus. "So, you're lighting lanterns?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we need to do this."
"What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the Council. We have more important things to be doing right now than this," Damon said.
"Not tonight, we don't."
Damon scoffed. "This is for my uncle Zach and my friend Lexi and for Alaric," Stefan said, lighting the lantern. He gave the lighter to Matt.
"This is for Vicki." Matt lit his lantern, giving the lighter to Caroline.
"This is for my dad. And Tyler's," Caroline said.
Jeremy took the lighter from Caroline. He looked between Elena and I. "This is for our parents. For Vicki. Anna. Jenna. And Alaric."
He made the big mistake of offering the lighter to Damon, who blatantly refused it. "No way. I'm not doing that."
Louise rolled her eyes at his difficulty. Damon stormed off. Jeremy gave the lighter to Bonnie, who took a lantern out of the box and accepted the light from him. She got up and stood between Caroline and Louise. "This is for my Grams."
She gave Louise the lighter. The brunette took a lantern out of the box. "Uh, this is for our parents, Jenna, John, Alaric, wow, this list has gotten long." She let out a shaky laugh and gave the lighter to Elena.
The doppelganger stood up next to Stefan. "This, um, is for my mom, my dad, Jenna, everyone that you've all lost, everyone that this town has lost. And for me, I guess."
Elena let go of her lantern, watching it drift off into the night sky. The others followed suit, staring at them as they floated away.
A/N: Keep those reviews comin'!