Disclaimer: I do not own the vampire diaries. Also, forgive me for any mistakes I'm not the best with grammar but I love writing this story!

Ezra's POV

"The battle of willow creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" Mrs. Tanner asked looking at the classroom full of clearly bored high school students.

"Mr. Bennett?" She asked and you turned. Her words shaking Ben from doodling and obviously not paying attention.

"Um, a lot?" The whole class laughed.

"I thought you of all people in this class would know this," she pushed her glasses up her nose clearly unamused.

"Ms. Donavan? Would you like this opportunity to overcome your dumb cheerleader stereotype?"

"Ya know it's okay Mrs. Tanner I'm cool with it," she shrugged leaning back in her seat. You couldn't help but laugh which just made you realize how much you missed her. You turned back to the front of the room and Mrs. Tanner let out a very unamused chuckle.

"Ezra? Maybe you could enlighten us?" She glanced over the rest of her room.

You shook your head feeling you cheeks go red from being out on the spot.

"I'm sorry, I don't know," you answered awkwardly.

"I was willing to be leaniate last year for obvious reasons. But the personal excuses ended with summer break," she stated and your face only grew even more red as you looked down.

"346 casualties. Unless you're counting the local civilians," Serena interjected taking the heat off of you.

"That is correct," Mrs. Tanner replied looking over at her. She raised a finger to her, "Mrs..." she trailed off.

"Salvatore," she finished. You looked to her smiling and then back at Mrs. Tanner.

"Any relation to the original settlers of mystic falls?" She asked moving out from behind her desk.

You looked back to Serena and she seemed to be choking on the words, "distant" she finally said.

"Well very good. Except of course there were no civilian casualties in this battle," she replied smugly turning back to the chalkboard.

"Um actually there were uh 27," Serena pointed out. Mrs. Tanner stopped and slowly turned around throwing a mean glare her way.

"See the confederate soilders they fired on a church. Believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss."

Mrs. Tanner looked down knowing she was getting her ass handed to her by a new student making her look like a joke to the rest.

"The founders archives are store in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts," she suggested boldly.

"Ooooo," everyone else hummed.

Your jaw dropped as you looked back at her. You couldn't lie you were even more impressed. History nerd. And she just challenged the toughest teacher in this school.

Everyone started to laugh and Mrs. Tanner started fiddling with things on her desk knowing she was wrong. And Serena just held that glare knowing that she had won this battle. For now.

Serena's POV

The party was in full swing by the time you arrived. Everyone was drunk and enjoying themselves. It had been years, many since you had been to something like this. You looked around for Ezra or Ben since you caught on they usually were together but didn't see them.

You dropped your head focusing on all the conversations and voices around you even if they were no where near you. You attempted to search for Ezra.

You found Cameron with all the other football players. Kids drinking and enjoying the fire. And of course it wasn't a teenage party without some causal make outs. But still you searched filtering through each of the conversations pushing your hearing through the whole party.

"Just admit it Ezra you are so into her!" You had finally found Bens voice.

"Okay she's a little pretty," Ezra replied back.

"She has that girl next door vibe," Ben noted. Even from here you could tell they were both clearly drunk. You started to walk towards them when Cameron Frobes stepped into your way.

"Hey! You made it," he smiled at you with a drink in his hand your nose burned with the alcohol smell on his breath.

"I did," you smiled politely back.

"Well lets get you a drink," he smirked clearly attempting to flirt with you and grabbed your wrist.

"Well I'm," you pointed towards the fire attempting to stay in your spot without making your strength obvious.

"Oh come on," he moaned dragging you over to the nearest keg.

Ezra's POV

So where is she?" Ben asked looking around as you two stood next to the fire. You couldn't lie you were pretty buzzed and so was Ben.

"I don't know," you said looking around, "you tell me you're the psychic one," you replied smugly.

"Right I forgot," he joked.

"Okay so give me a sec, gramps says I have to concentrate," he rolled his eyes before closing them.

"Wait!" You exclaimed holding up a finger.

"You need a crystal ball," you said pointing at him. You turned looking around, before you picked up an empty beer bottle coming back over to Ben.

"Ta da," you joked handing it to him. Ben went to grab it but froze and his eyes went as wide as they could before he jerked his hand away from you. "What?" You shook your head.

"That was weird.." his eyes huge.

"When I touched you I saw a crow." Your grin dropped as you remembered the crow that chased you in the graveyard and the one you and him had almost killed.

"What?"

"There was a crow, a crap ton of fog..." he looked off into the distance.

You could feel the same panic you did in the graveyard building in your throat.

"I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. I'm gonna uh gonna get a refill" he said taking the bottle from your hands before walking away.

You looked after him, "okay.. Ben!" You yelled but he still walked away. You turned back to the fire and gasped softly when you found Serena in Bens place.

"Hi," she smiled.

You laughed nervously still attempting to calm down, "hi," you finally said meeting her eyes.

"I did it again didn't I?" She asked.

And you nodded, "yeah. Little bit."

"Sorry," she muttered you just nodded looking down again.

"You're upset about something?" Her brows furrowed in concern again like they had when you were in the graveyard.

"No. It's just Ben. He's..." You looked into the forest breaking off your sentence.

You turned back, "ya know what nevermind. You're here," you met her eyes again offering a real smile the fear in your gut had finally disappeared.

"I'm here," she echoed.

Juliet's POV

Your brother had decided to drag you along to the bonfire back to school party and you were dreading it.

"What's got you in a mood?" You looked up to find pretty much your only friend, Octavia Lockwood Trinity's younger sister. You nodded over to Trinity and Vince across the room. She sat down next to you stealing your beer.

"You're gonna have to get over that. Trin says he really likes her," you scoffed again taking a new beer from the cooler behind you as you watched them wander into the woods together.

Ezra's POV

Ya know you're kinda the talk of the town," You glanced at her as you two started walking.

"Am I?" She shrugged.

"Mhm, mysterious girl. Oh yeah, everyone's all about you right now," you nodded hoping she caught on to the joke.

She let out a faint laugh, "Well you have the whole mysterious thing going on too," You could see her look over at you but you kept your eyes on your feet.

"Twinged in sadness," she finished.

"What makes you think that I'm sad?" You communicated picking at your nails trying to calm the nerves you were feeling talking to her.

"Well we did meet in a graveyard," she offered.

"Right," you glanced up at the stars. "Well no technically we met at the bathrooms after you saw me nearly kill my little sister," you shot back and you both laughed.

It soon faded and you looked down to your drink, "you don't wanna know. It's not exactly party chit chat," you stated as you two walked across the tiny bridge to get to the falls.

"Well I've never been very good at uh, chit chat." It was like it was the first time she had ever said those words which made you laugh on the inside.

You took a few steps trying to find the words making it that much harder cause you could feel her staring at you.

"Last spring, my parents car drove off a bridge into the lake. And I was in the back seat and I surivived but they didn't," you shrugged trying to blink away the tears that were filling your eyes. You took a couple more steps and she was quiet, "so yep. That's my story." You stepped again but stopped turning when you realized she had stopped.

"You won't be sad forever, Ezra." She finally said. You nodded slightly it was kind of refreshing to hear it from someone new.

Trinity's POV

You and Vince had finally put enough drinks in the both of you that he had convinced you to go into the forest with him.

It wasn't long till he took your hand pressing you up against the nearest tree and started to kiss your neck. You giggled nervously, there was absolutely no way you were having your first time in the fucking woods.

"No," you finally said trying to push him away. "V I am not having sex against a tree."

"Come on it'll be fun," he muttered against your skin.

"For who? No it's not gonna happen," you tried pushing him again but he was stronger than you were.

"It's not gonna happen. Not here. Not like this. No!" You shouted you tried to move out of his grip but you couldn't.

"V you are hurting me!" You shouted again but he wouldn't stop or even acknowledge you.

"Ow! That hurts," you whimpered as he only held you tighter.

Juliet's POV

"Why are we walking in the woods again?" Octavia asked as she walked next to you. Until you came up to a tree seeing Vince and Trin making out against it. Until you realized Trin was crying in pain and trying to get away. Octavia noticed right away and ran over, "ay leave her alone!" She shouted as Trin finally pushed him off of her.

He looked back at the two of you, "ya know the both of you are really starting to piss me off," he stepped closer to you.

"Go Vince!" Trin cried pushing him away from you two, "get the hell away from me."

"Wow Trinity Lockwood says no. That's a first," he taunted pushing past the 3 of you into the woods.

"I didn't need your help," she said looking at the two of you.

"Are you sure about that? Cause from here it looks like you definitely did. You should have let me kick his ass," Octavia snarled.

"He was just drunk," she defended.

You couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you want to do this right now Gilbert?" She stepped towards you before Octavia stood in the middle. "Enough you two! We use to all be best friends! And now you guys hate each other for what? A fucking boy? You two are pathetic!" Octavia shook her head.

"I'm done with this," Trinity looked between the two of you heading back to the party, "J, I gotta go talk to her," she pointed.

"Go I'll be fine," you nodded and watched her run after her sister and you walked hopefully towards Vince.

Ezra's POV

"I like Ben. He seems like a good friend," Serena said looking as you and you two leaned against the bridge enjoying the view of the moonlit falls.

You turned towards each other, "we've been best friends since we were kids."

"And molly can't seem to take her eyes off us," you looked over and saw Molly and Cam staring at you two.

"Molly's that friend since childhood. That you start dating because you think you owe it to yourselves to see if you could be more," she nodded. "And?"

You sucked in a deep breath, "and then my parents died and everything changed. I stopped playing football. And it just was never the same. Anyways, when we were together it was um, it wasn't.." you searched for the words.

She narrowed her eyes, "passionate?"

You looked at her like she just stole the words right out of your mouth, "no. It wasn't passionate." You two held your stare for awhile. Until you noticed the veins under her eyes turning grey and her eyes becoming red.

"Hey um are you okay? Your eye it just.." her jaw kinda fell and she quickly looked away.

"Oh um," she rubbed her eyes softly.

"It's nothing um, are you thirsty? I'm gonna get us a drink," she took your cup walking back over the bridge.

Vincent's POV

You were walking drunk and undeniably pissed off at not only Trinity but her fucking sister. And of course Juliet. But you kept walking not seeming to noticed the fog growing thicker at your feet. Until you started to feel someone watching you and you stopped turning around, "Juliet?" You called, "is that you?" You now noticed the fog like a giant cloud at your feet. You shrugged turning and continuing to walk. This time you could feel someone directly behind you. But when you turned no one was there, "Juliet?" You called again you turned back not seeing the dark haired girl until it was to late and you let out a scream as she tore into your throat.

Ezra's POV

Serena was taking awhile to come back with the drinks so you decided to walk back to the party on your own.

You finally got back, nothing had changed except there were a few people passed out of the ground now. But you looked around trying to catch any sign of her. You sighed still scanning the crowd.

"Looking for someone?" Molly asked walking up and standing next to you. "Hey," you turned and she looked down little did you know Serena was watching you two.

"When you broke up with me you said it was because you needed some time alone. You don't look so alone to me," the hurt in her face made your heart break. You two had once been so close and it hurt to see that change.

"Molly, you don't understand.." you shook your head.

"No it's okay Ezra. You do what you have to do. I just wanted to let you know that I still believe in us and I'm not giving up on that." You had no words and couldn't even find any before she walked away leaving you to your thoughts.

Serena's POV

You emerged back from the forest after taking a few to calm down your thirst and you had watched and listened to Ezra's encounter with Molly. It almost made you sad because you could see how she still loved him. But he didn't love her. You were heading back over to him, when Cam of course stepped in front of you again.

"There you are. Have you been down to the falls yet? Cause they are really cool at night and I can show you. If you want." He was even more drunk than before making no effort to hide that he was interested in you. You sighed looking over the drunk teenagers around you quickly before looking back at him.

"I think you've had to much to drink," your politeness was running out.

"Well of course I have," he laughed "so."

"Cameron. You and me. It's not gonna happen," you put as lightly as you could. "I'm sorry," you added trying to soften the blow before walking away heading back over to Ezra.

"I was wondering who abducted you," he laughed when he saw you then looked over at Cameron. "But now I know."

"Is he like that with all the girls?"

"No. You're fresh meat. He'll back off eventually," he shrugged.

Ezras POV

You were enjoying your conversation with Serena when you caught sight of your very drunk little sister stumbling towards the woods.

"You have got to be kidding me," you groaned.

"What?" She turned.

"My sister."

"The drunk one?" She asked and you two watched her start off into the woods.

"That would be the one. Excuse me," you started to walk after her.

"Need some help?" She offered.

"Trust me you're not gonna want to witness this," You shook your head starting to jog after her. "Juliet!" You shouted.

"Juliet! Juliet where the hell are you going?" You asked when you finally caught up to her.

"I don't want to hear it," she turned dismissing before starting to walk away again but fell.

Your heart dropped when you saw what she fell on. It was Molly's younger brother. And her neck was covered in blood like something had tried to rip his throat out.

"Vince?" She asked in disbelief.

"No!" she looked to you, "oh my god it's Vince," she looked back to him starting to cry softly.

"Oh my god," you uttered looking over him.

"No," J crawled back over to him trying to feel for a pulse when he jumped up gasping for air. Making both of you nearly die from a heart attack.

"Somebody help!" You yelled as you and J carried him back.

"Vince?" Molly questioned running towards you two. And you laid him on the nearest picnic bench.

"What the hell? Call an ambulance!" Molly yelled pressing on the neck wound trying to get it to stop bleeding.

"It's his neck. Something bit him. He's loosing a lot of blood. It's bad," you took over for molly. Molly searched for her phone but looked up catching Serena's stare before she turned disappearing into the crowd.

Serena's POV

He had bite marks on his neck. You knew what this meant. But it wasn't you. Was there another vampire back in mystic falls?

You ran towards your house as fast you could without drawing attention.

"What's going on?" Your aunt asked from her office.

"Someone else attacked tonight. And it wasn't me," you said quickly before running upstairs.

You walked in your room and you had that same feeling making you pause. And you turned finding a giant crow fly into your room you watched it land on your dresser. You turned back knowing what the crow meant to find your sister looking back at you.

"Dakota," you said coldly.

"Miss me?" She smirked.

"The crows a bit extra don't you think?" She glanced at the crow that was now sitting on the balcony railings. "What till you see what I can do with the fog."

"When'd you get here?" You accused.

"Well I couldn't miss your first day of school little sis," she teased now looking over the art you had hung in your room. You were not convinced and you felt your guard being put back up.

"Your hairs different. I like it," she finally said.

"It's been 15 years Dakota," you pleaded.

"Thank god," she sighed "couldn't take another day in the 90's. That horrible grunge look?" She scoffed and half laughed, "definitely did not suit you."

"Why are you here?" You asked ignoring her rudeness.

"I missed my little sister."

"You hate small towns. It's boring there's nothing for you to do," you asserted.

She smirked again, "oh trust me. I've managed to keep myself busy."

"Ya know you left that guy alive tonight. That's very sloppy of you."

She sucked in a breath, "ahh. That could be a problem. For you."

You shook your head, "why are you here now?"

"I could ask you the same question. However I'm fairly certain your answer could be summed up into one little word, Ezra," she speculated.

You couldn't lie that you felt your heart drop a little at her last word.

Ezra's POV

The cops came bringing the animal conto unit to try and sniff out the monster that hurt Vince. And you helped molly when the paramedics arrived loading her brother into the ambulance. "Miss are you coming?" They asked and she looked to you.

"Go," she nodded and hoped in and they drove off to the hospital. You looked around trying to find Serena you had no idea she was long gone.

"Hey," Ben said. "We're gonna go grab coffee and wait for news," you sighed looking over at your sister. "I gotta take Juliet home. My uncles already gonna have my ass cause she's drunk."

"Ezra, there's no way I'm psychic," he admitted trying to ease the awkwardness from earlier. "I know that. But whatever I saw or I think I saw. I have this feeling," he shook his head.

"Ben what?"

"That it's just the beginning," he said after taking a deep breath.

Serena's POV

Took my breath away when I saw him. He's a dead ringer for Kian."

You barely knew this boy but you could feel the protectiveness as you took a step towards her.

"Is it working Serena? Being around him? Being in his world? Does it make you feel alive?" There's that damn smirk again that just made you want to smack her.

"She's not Kian," you put bluntly.

"Well let's hope not, we both know how that ended," she finally looked at you hoping for a reaction.

"Tell me when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?" She challenged stepping towards you.

You shook your head stepping away, "I know what you're doing Dakota. And it's not gonna work," you turned away until she pushed you. "Ya come on don't you crave a little?"

"Stop." She shoved you again.

"Let's do it together. I saw a couple guys out there. Or let's just cut to the chase and go straight for Ezra," she shoved you harder this time. You pushed her back, "Stop it!" You yelled.

"Imagine what his blood tastes like!" You could feel the veins growing and your fangs begging to come out.

"I can!" She had the murderous look in her eyes. You turned back to her, "I said stop!" You launched your body into hers and you both shot out of the window landing in the driveway. Only you landed alone gasping for air feeling as most of your ribs were cracked as you turned onto your back. You knew you would heal just not nearly as fast as she did.

"I was impressed," she said leaning against the garage watching you slowly get up.

"I'd give it a 6. A miss on style. But I was pleasantly surprised," she gloated.

"Very good with the whole face and yelling thing," she taunted.

You got to your feet, "it's all fun and games Dakota. But where ever you go people die."

"That's a given. I'm a vampire?"

"Not here," you shook your head "I won't allow it."

"I take that as an invitation," she smiled looking at her nails.

"Please Dakota after all these years can't we just give it a rest," you begged.

She clicked her tongue, "I promised you an enternity of misery. I'm just keeping my word," she shrugged.

"Just stay away from Ezra," you didn't have enough strength left into you to fight more.

"Where's your ring?" She asked ignoring your request. Your eyes shot to your hand seeing your ring was gone.

She sucked in another breath, "suns coming up in a couple hours. And poof ashes to ashes."

She saw the worried look on your face and laughed, "relax. It's right here," she walked towards you holding out her hand. You slowly moved your hand to take it trying to figure out if it was a trap or not. You snatched it when you realized it wasn't slipping it back on your finger. And the veins under her eyes turning black and she beared her fangs at you grabbing you by the throat throwing you into the garage in a blur. She appeared over you as you fell and turned over.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again," she glared for a few moments before smiling. "I think we woke up aunt Jenny," she grinned.

"Sorry Jenny," she whistles walking back towards the house.

Ezra's POV

You walked over standing next to your sister after you parted ways with Ben as he was taking a very drunk Cameron to the grill hoping to sober him up some.

You found her downing another beer, and you couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "You okay?" You asked trying to rub her shoulder but she just shrugged your hand off.

"I called Jacob. He's on his way. Ya know those people in uniforms over there. Last time I checked they were the police." She groaned before chugging he rest of her beer and throwing the bottle over her shoulder.

"People are gonna stop giving you breaks j. They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead cause they've got their own lives to live. And you and Octavia partying every night in the woods is not who they would want you to be. Or what they would want you to be doing. The rest of the world has moved on, you should try too," you encouraged.

"Yeah I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your journal. Is that suppose to be you moving on?" She snapped.

You shook your head looking down, "mom and dad wouldn't have wanted this," you muttered and the conversation between you two fell silent.

Bens POV

You somehow always got stuck on Cam duty. Since you guys first started drinking he could never hold his alcohol.

You sat him down at a table in the grill and ordered him the biggest cup of coffee they offered and got some for yourself while you waited for news on Vince. You weren't close with him but you were still close with molly.

"Are you sober yet?" You asked. Cam slowly looked up taking a big breath in, "no," he groaned looking back down. "Keep drinking. I gotta get you home. I gotta get me home." You pushed the coffee towards him again.

"Why didn't she go for me?" He asked looking up again probably at the spinning image of 3 of you. "Ya know how come the girls I want. Never want me?" This was the routine every time he would get drunk and then get in his feelings.

"We're not getting into this right now," you shook your head.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong things," he continued. "And Ezra always says the right thing. God he doesn't even try and she just picks him. And he's always the one that everyone picks for everything! And I try so hard and I'm never the one." You shook your head, "it's not a competition cam."

"Yeah it is."

Molly's POV

You had been waiting for hours for them to help your brother. Pacing back and forth in the waiting room. You were all each other had. You tried calling your dad but you knew he was to busy with his new family for you two.

"Molly?" The nurse asked. "You can come see him now." You jumped up walking to his room with her.

"He has been sedated so he may not wake for a couple hours," she explained and you nodded "thank you."

She gave you a sympathetic smile before leaving. And you sat in the chair next to him and waited.

He finally started waking up and you leaned forward, "hey hey," you cooed taking his hand as his eyes found you "it's okay shhhh. Don't try to talk okay? You're fine."

You watched him swallow hard, "vampire," he said barely above a whisper before falling back asleep.

Ezra's POV

I was so wrong. I thought I could smile and nod my way through this. Pretend like it would all be okay. Someone without the pain. Someone alive. But it's not that easy. The bad things stay with you. They follow you. You can't escape them as much as you want too."

Serena's POV

"I had a plan. I wanted to change who I was. Create a life as someone new. Someone without the past. Without the pain. Someone alive."

In Cameron's attempt of sobering up he found himself meeting the gaze of the prettiest girl when long straight black hair. And the icest blue eyes you had ever seen. And they both just stared smiling at one another.

Ezras POV

"All you can do is be ready for the good. So when it comes you invite it in. Because you need it." You stopped writing looking at the thing that caught your eye outside to find Serena standing in front of your house looking back at you. You closed your journal heading downstairs.

"I know it's late.." she started as you opened the door. "But I just needed to know you were okay."

"Ya know that's what everyone's wondered about me for months. If I'll be okay.." you shuttered.

"What do you tell them?" She asked.

You shrugged "that I'll be fine?"

"Do you ever mean it?"

You bit your lip, "ask me tomorrow." You breathed in, "it's warmer in the house. We can talk," you laughed the door open all the way, "would you like to come in?"