A/N: I posted this sooner than I thought I would but I'm going to be busy the next couple of days so I figured I would post it now and make more edits later.

FYI I changed the date of the Eclipse prison thing with Kai Parker and the day Damon kills Gail form 2994 to 1992.

Also I mention Kol in this chapter and I did that because I wanted to give Kol more reasons for being so unhinged after his transition. I feel like in the show he was a very shallow character and I wanted to fix that.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think!

-Wicked

CH.2: THE BLOODY BONFIRE

Jenna and Erin were in the kitchen discussing the up and coming Comet Festival when Elena came in to grab her purse.

"Hey! I'm off to the Grill to meet Bonnie. Erin are you sure you don't want to come?" asked Elena. She had hoped Erin would change her mind and come with her, at least with her there she could reign in Caroline's awful habit of offending people on accident.

"No Thanks. Jenna and I are going to watch Rom Com's and eat junk food. Tell everyone I said hi" Erin smirked as she popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth. Elena rolled her eyes with a sigh and Jenna gave the girls an amused smile. For a moment she felt a brief pang of grief thinking about all the times her and Miranda shared playful banter like that. Miranda was gone now and Jenna couldn't help the melancholy feeling that came over her every time she watched her nieces interact.

"Have fun!" Jenna called as Elena headed towards the door. "Oh wait! I've got this!"

Jenna took a deep breath, fixed Elena with a stern look and said with mock seriousness

"It's a school night. Don't stay out late".

Erin snickered from the couch as she scrolled through the movie list. "Nice Jenna. A plus Parenting." She snarked, smirking when Jenna shot her an amused filled glare.

"Hush You. No commentary from the peanut gallery."

Elena smiled and grabbed her jacket as she headed towards the front door. Erin frowned when she heard Elena call out a halted farewell. She only had a moment to wonder if Elena tripped out the front door again when Jenna giddily plopped on the couch, craning her neck to try and spy into the front hall.

"What is it? Did she fall again?" She asked. Raising an eyebrow when Jenna shushed her, biting her lip in excitement. Jenna leaned closer to Erin but her eyes remained glued to the front door.

"There's a boy. A hot boy." Jenna practically squealed when Elena and the mystery boy left for the Grill together. Erin could only assume that that was the new school hunk with the penchant for running away from bloody limbs.

"Ah" nodded Erin who turned back to the movie. "Must be the "hemophobic hottie" Elena ran into earlier."

Jenna, who had finally settled down to watch the movie, paused mid popcorn consumption and blinked at Erin in befuddlement.

"The what?"

The next morning Erin headed down to the school, it was one of her student assistant days and she had the wondrous pleasure of being assigned to Coach Tanner. The man was, to put it simply, an ass. But he had a fondness for Erin. Most likely because Erin was the youngest member of the Mystic Falls Historical Society and he liked to claim credit for her historical "genius". Which Erin found infinitely amusing, seeing as how the man could barely get the facts of major events right. She often amused herself by finding how many mistakes he made in his tests or lectures.

She was in the teachers' lounge for less than an hour before Coach Tanner stormed in, he was visibly flustered and wasted no time in barking at Erin.

"Gilbert! Are those papers graded yet or are you staring into space like that air headed sister of yours?"

Erin, who was far too used to Coach Tanners abrasive attitude, simply held up a stack of complete papers. She knew that when he got into a mood he would cheer himself up by writing rude disparaging remarks on the students' papers. It gave him a special sort of joy.

Coach Tanner snatched the papers from her hand and angrily flipped through them. Eyeing her begrudgingly when he noticed they were completed.

"At least one of you Gilberts are worth something" He grumbled. Pausing as he turned to leave and he looked at Erin speculatively. "The Battle of Willow Creek. How many casualties were there?"

Erin raised her eyebrows at the odd question, wondering what brought it but answered anyway. "346. Unless you include civilian casualties of which there were 27. I believe Confederates fired on a church?" Or the Council burned a bunch of vampires alive. Bet that's not in any history books.

The words were barely out of her mouth before Coach Tanner snarled and stalked out of the room grumbling about smart ass kids.

That man was just full of sunshine and rainbows. Erin secretly wondered if he lived off the tears of small children. She could only shrug as she continued to grade papers for some of the other teachers and ponder on the wisdom of having Coaches teach more than sports.

School was barely over when Erin's cellphone rang. Caroline was ecstatic, just like Elena had said she'd be. The new boy at school was apparently gorgeous and Caroline had decided that he was husband material.

"He's the one, Erin. I can feel it. Our children would make Michelangelo weep." Said Caroline.

Erin rolled her eyes as she let herself into her house with her cell wedged between her ear and her shoulder as Caroline rambled. Caroline was, without a doubt, one of her best friends. Just like her Grandmother, Charlotte Forbes, had been in her previous life. There were only three living people who knew exactly who and what she was. Charlotte being one of those three. Erin still visited her longtime friend even after her rebirth, but it was becoming harder and harder to see her. Charlotte was getting old, she wouldn't be around much longer and Charlotte knew it. Maybe that's why she pushed Erin to open up to Caroline so hard, Charlotte was convinced she needed someone besides her who knew what she was but Erin couldn't bring herself to burden Caroline like that. She was such a care free girl and Erin refused to be the one to change that.

Erin's attention was snagged by the next words out of Caroline's mouth.

"His name is Stefan Salvatore"

Salvatore. Stefan Salvatore. The new school hottie was named Stefan Salvatore and he had an extreme dislike of blood and a fondness for her sister. Her sister who just happen to be the spitting image of Katherine Peirce. Coincidence? Not fucking likely. That was just great, Stefan Salvatore was back in town and with him always came his brother Damon. He always popped up like a cockroach that just wouldn't die. Erin's dislike for Damon was almost as great as her dislike for the Petrova bloodline. He had an awful habit of screwing her over, whether he knew it or not.

"He lives with his uncle up at the ugly old Salvatore boarding house. You know the one you help garden at? Apparently he hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family. So they moved around a lot." Prattled Caroline as Erin walked around her house tidying up on her way to her room.

Erin frowned when she heard that Stefan was staying with Zach. Zachary Salvatore was one of the few people from her past that she kept tabs on. Funnily enough, he was her only remaining great grandchild. One of her daughters, Dolly, had married Joseph Salvatore. They had had one son, David Salvatore, before Damon killed Joseph in 1953. Zach was an only child and her only remaining living descendent. She vaguely remembered Zach having a beautiful girlfriend named Gail but she never found out what happened to her after she died in 1992.

"He's a Gemini and his favorite colors blue." Sighed Caroline happily. "We're thinking of a June wedding. That is if Princess Elena doesn't snatch him up. Did you know she showed up at the Grill yesterday with him? I thought Matt was going to lose it."

"Caroline, maybe you should ease up on Stefan. You don't want to over whelm him so soon after moving right?"

Erin knew Caroline wouldn't back down, she saw it as a competition between her and Elena. She always did. Care had to be the best at everything she did. The best cheerleader, the best volunteer, it didn't matter. Caroline had to be the best or she felt like she wasn't anything. Her friend had some serious insecurities that caused her to lash out but she knew Caroline didn't mean anything malicious by it.

Caroline scoffed, and Erin could hear the sounds of her riffling through her closet.

"Don't worry after he sees me tonight he won't even remember Elena's name. You're coming right?"

"To the bonfire?" asked Erin as she spread out across her pink bed. "A party in freezing woods at night? Nah I think I'll pass. "

"No no no!" objected Caroline angrily. "You can't back out on me! I need my wing-woman. So I better see you tonight, ready to party and dressed in something cute. Got it?!"

Erin snorted looking at the clock in the corner of her room, she had just enough time to get ready and stop by the Boarding house on her way to the Falls.

"Fine. I'll come but if I get cold I'm leaving. You know I hate going out there at night." She couldn't stand the woods at night, it brought up old memories and made her anxious. She had similar problems with being cold. She hated it, it reminded her of the chilly numbness she'd feel when dying. There were a lot of fights over the thermostat in her house. Apparently Jeremy didn't appreciate her trying to bake him alive in the winter.

Erin finished her phone call with Caroline, knowing she would need ample time to primp. Only Care would spend hours getting ready to go romp around the woods. Erin made sure to dress in her warmest clothes and yanked on a pair of boots. She needed to stop by the Salvatore Boarding house and she could only hope Zach was alone.

Zach had only started to relaxed after Stefan had left for some party when his doorbell rang. He warily eyed the front door, hesitant to open it and possibly find Damon standing there with his infuriating smug face. Zach didn't think he could hate anyone more than he hated Damon Salvatore. That monster had taken everything from him. His family, his love and even his child. The man was a walking nightmare.

Surprisingly the person on his porch wasn't Damon or Stefan, it was Erin Gilbert. It wasn't unusual for Erin to stop by on her volunteer days and help Zach take care of his large property. Something Zach was eternally grateful for, but that was before Stefan returned to Mystic Falls. Now he felt nothing but anxiety at Erin being anywhere near his homicidal relatives.

"Erin" said Zach, looking around anxiously for any sign of Damon's classic car. "What are you doing here? "

He wasn't expecting her and he wanted her gone as soon as possible. He knew Damon would snap her neck just to make sure Zach knew his place, the man liked to make sure Zach knew just who's house he lived in.

"I'm sorry to drop by unannounced Zach, but I was hoping to pick up a few plants from the basement." Said Erin, she had a pleasant smile plastered on her face but Zach could see the calculating gleam in her too sharp eyes. She could tell something was wrong. Most people assumed Erin was nothing but a spacy nutcase but he could always tell there was something more underneath the harmless face Erin showed the world. He wasn't sure what it was, but his gut told him to be cautious.

As far as the council was concerned Erin Gilbert knew about vampires. All they knew was she had found the Gilbert journals a few months ago and the council made the decision that someone in the Gilbert family needed to know the truth about the town's history after the death of Greyson and Miranda. Erin wasn't actually part of the council, she wouldn't be until she came of age but she was kept informed of current events. Like the real reason behind the recent suspicious animal attacks.

"O-of course" gulped Zach nervously. If Stefan or Damon knew he was growing vervain they would kill him. He couldn't imagine the torture Damon would inflict on him if he knew Zach was supplying the council with it. "Did the Mayor send you?"

Erin shook her head as Zach let her into the house and headed towards the basement where he hid his small greenhouse.

"No, this is just for me. Better to be safe than sorry, right?"

The only response Erin got was a nervous chuckle as Zach started to collect a box of dried vervain.

"One box enough for you?" he asked. Eager to get Erin to leave before someone caught them.

"Actually I was hoping to get a few of the potted plants for my green house. Perhaps it would be best if more than one of the founding families grew vervain." Erin watched Zach's reaction carefully as he nervously fidgeted. Giving her a jerky nod Zach started to rush about preparing a few plants to be moved. He was a mess of nerves, practically sweating bullets under her searching gaze. He obviously knew about Stefan and Damon. Erin could only hope he wouldn't be as stupid as Joseph had been when dealing with the Salvatore brothers. She may not have been particularly close to Zach but he was her last living relative and she wouldn't see him dead anytime soon if given the choice.

"There. That should be enough to get you started." Zach handed Erin a large box filled with three potted vervain plants and a large box of ground dried vervain. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you Zach "replied Erin with a strained smile. She let Zach quickly usher her out of the house obviously eager for her to leave but before he shut the door Erin called out to him.

"Zach" She called with an unusually serious voice "You should think about getting out of town for a while. Take a vacation. "

Zach's face paled but he didn't respond as he watched her get into her car and drive off. Somehow, Erin Gilbert knew that he was housing vampires. So why hadn't she alerted the council?

Erin pulled into the mock parking lot between the trees by the Falls. Why someone thought having a party full of drunken teens in the middle of the woods was a good idea, was beyond her. The woods are creepy. Hell she'd died in this area of the woods at least twice, both times were equally unpleasant and bloody. So you can see why she was hesitant to go traipsing around the woods at night again. It was always a bad idea. Always.

By the time she made her way through the masses of grinding teens, she spotted Bonnie by the drinks. She looked spooked, her eyes darting around nervously and her brow furrowed in confusion. Erin frowned as she made her way closer, gently touching Bonnie's arm to get her attention.

"Bonnie? Are you alright?" She asked. It wasn't like Bonnie to space out, that was her thing.

Bonnie startled, her eyes anxiously darting towards Erin's hand and her face. Bonnie had expected a vision but nothing came to her. Maybe it only worked on skin to skin contact?

"Y-Yeah I'm fine, It's just.." Bonnie trailed off unsure if she should say anything. She sounded crazy even to herself.

Erin gave Bonnie a concerned look but simply waited for her to continue. That's one of the things she liked about Erin. She didn't push you to admit your problems or dig like Elena. She simply waited. It was refreshing at times but other times it made Bonnie feel as if she just didn't care if you told her or not. Like she was bored.

"I had this- this vision" Sighed Bonnie. She was probably making a big deal out of nothing but what happened really disturbed her. "When I touched Elena hand. I saw this image of a crow and fog and this- this man! I don't understand what happened. I don't know. I'm drunk. It's nothing"

Erin didn't laugh like Caroline had or brush it off like Elena, she didn't even roll her eyes like Bonnie expected her to. Instead she gave Bonnie a grim nod, her eyes completely serious as she observed Bonnie.

"I think perhaps it's time you had a talk with Shelia, Bonnie. Perhaps there something to those tall tales of hers."

Bonnie frowned at Erin's expression, she opened her mouth to ask her what she meant but before she could ask Caroline and Matt cut into their conversation.

"Erin! You made it!" chirped Caroline happily. Matt gave Erin an awkward smile and a nod in greeting. Bonnie sent him a sympathetic smile, it had to be hard watching your ex move on with someone else, right in front of you.

"I see Elena's already got her hooks in Stefan" sneered Caroline, her face twisted in jealousy as she watched Stefan and Elena talking on the bridge across from them. It wasn't fair, Caroline saw him first! Why did Elena always get the guy?

Matt stared at Elena and Stefan, he knew Elena was moving on, He could see the way she was looking at Stefan. He just didn't understand why she hadn't talked to him. Hadn't she said that she needed time to be alone? She didn't look so alone to him. While Caroline and Bonnie started talking about Stefan's "Romance novel "stare, Matt moved closer to Erin so he wouldn't be over heard.

"Hey, Er… Has Elena said anything about me? About us?" He knew the answer by the way she smiled at him pityingly. Erin gave Matt an encouraging pat on the shoulder and motioned towards where Elena was waiting for Stefan alone.

"Maybe you should ask her?" she said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jeremy coming out of the trees and heading towards the beer keg. He seemed upset, no doubt about Vicki Donovan. Matt's less than respectable older sister. Unlike Elena, Erin didn't really care if Jeremy screwed around with Vicki. She knew better than most that people coped in different ways. If Jeremy wanted to get high and run around with Vicki then that was his business. Erin moved away from the others and closer to the fire. Her hands were frozen and her cheeks were stinging from the cold air. She was just about to find Caroline and tell her she was going home but she stopped when she saw a flash of something among the trees.

Standing at the edge of the party, in the shadows, was Damon Salvatore. He looked the same as he always did but his mouth was covered in blood and black veins slithered under his eyes. She blinked and he was gone. Her eyes swept across the party, sure she had been the only one to see him and he hadn't seen her. Who was he watching? Stefan or Elena? She doubted it could be anyone else here but she wasn't staying to figure it out.

Erin scowled as she headed back to her car, If Damon was here then someone was dead and she wasn't sticking around for that drama. By the time she reached her car the screaming had started, it didn't take long to figure out the victim was Vicki Donovan and her sibling had been the ones to find her. Erin didn't stick around, she left as soon as she was sure that Jeremy and Elena weren't actually hurt. Why couldn't she have just one life where everything didn't go to shit? All her life times and how many times did she actually make it to old age? Four. Four times. Granted, old age wasn't a particularly pleasant experience but she had only made it into old age four times. She wanted to be old again, Damn it! She wanted to hold grandbabies and shake her cane at kids on her lawn. She had no desire to die bloody and in pain because some vampire ripped her throat out. Again.

Her drive home was uneventful and when she got home, Jenna was already gone. Elena had probably called her from the party. Erin didn't bother going inside, she grabbed the box of plants from her trunk and walked around back to her small green house. Miranda had it built when she learned of Erin's green thumb. It was a talent that her original mother passed down to her and her brother Kol. Though Kol's power lied more in the use of magic to revive dead plants. He was the only magical child in their family, though he often told her he suspected Henrik of possessing the gift. Gardening had been one of the many things they shared. Where Elijah, Rebekah and Niklaus always had each other, Kol had Henrik and her. The death of their brother nearly crushed him, it hurt Erin to think of how her death must have affected him.

Erin yanked on a pair of gardening gloves and knelt down near an empty patch of dirt and started replanting the vervain next to her aconite plants. She liked to keep a full garden, despite keeping her nose out of the supernatural. You never knew when one would need a magical herb. Perhaps to poison a rather dickish vampire? Damon Salvatore was an annoying thorn in her side. He always had been. In 1864 when Erin had been Agatha Fell, she had been engaged to Damon Salvatore. A man which she met all of three times. Her father, William Fell, ran the local paper mill and Giuseppe Salvatore owned a majority of the wood mills around Mystic Falls. Naturally a union between the two families would have been very profitable, had Damon not been a love sick puppy. He was nearly ten years her senior and not afraid to express his distaste with the match. He was devoted to Katherine Peirce, the snobbish girl with Tatia's face. It hadn't taken long to figure out that, while she did have Tatia's predilection for brothers, she didn't have her memories. Katherine wasn't like her. She was like an echo of the original and a mystery to Erin. One she had no desire to unravel.

Unfortunately it turned out Kathrine also shared Tatia's predilection for murder. Apparently she didn't appreciate someone trying to make her share her toys. One of the only times she actually spoke to Damon Salvatore, it ended in her rather gruesome murder.

Damon had taken her on a walk, which at the time surprised her, he wasn't subtle in his objections about marrying a child. So his willingness to go on an outing with her should have been a red flag. He took her deep into the forest, farther than what was appropriate for the time period. Then proceeded to degrade and belittle her. Mocking her for ever thinking he would want a child, when he had Katherine. She knew what he was trying to do. To make her reject the marriage offer and had Agatha actually been the innocent child she appeared to be, his words would have broken her little heart. So she had feigned tears and Damon had abandoned her alone in the forest. Except she hadn't been alone. Katherine had been the one to convince Damon to take her into the forest. The moment he was gone, she had ripped Agatha's throat out and tossed her body down a hill. It had hurt like a bitch, but what stung the most was dying in that same forest, killed by that same face. Honestly it pissed her off. She was glad when she found out that bitch, Katherine burned to death in 1865. She hopes it hurt like hell.

Erin finished planting the vervain and brushed the dirt off her pants. She headed inside, noting that Jenna's car was back. She made sure to keep her footsteps light as she crept up the stairs with the box of dried vervain under her arm. She paused briefly as she passed Elena's room, she could hear soft voices inside and when she peaked through the open door her heart nearly stopped. He was inside. Elena had invited Stefan Salvatore into their home. She had no idea what kind of beast she had just let in.