A/N: Hello again and sorry for the long wait. To make up for it you'll get two chapters today, and I'll post another one-shot in a little while, hopefully today as well.

Thanks for the reviews, the alerts and the favourites. Love you guys!

Thanks to Dawnie-7, my fantastic beta, for correcting all of my errors without a single complaint! :o)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own fictional characters.

- Miss Sofie

Chapter 6 – It's My Party

The next couple of weeks I didn't feel like walking alone much, especially not at night. To make the situation even worse, Vicky Donovan disappeared again. Rumor had it that she had left town because of all that had happened to her lately, but I had a feeling it wasn't the whole truth. Apparently, she had told Jeremy that she was leaving, but no one else had heard anything from her, not even her brother, Matt. I must admit I found it all a little suspicious, but it was really none of my business, so I left it at that.

We had a new history teacher at school. Alaric Saltzman replaced Coach Tanner who had died from his injuries after the animal attack earlier in the fall. I don't think that Mr. Saltzman was a football coach too like Tanner had been, but he was rather young and good-looking, and it only took him a few history lessons to make Lily completely obsessed with him, though, of course, he didn't do it on purpose.

Lily would make me come with her every time she'd walk past the teachers' lounge, hoping to get a glimpse of him. And in our history class, she would sit up front, which she had never done before, and of course she made me sit next to her. After a while I began to feel a little embarrassed, but I didn't tell her. This crush of hers would probably wear off after a while. Her crushes usually didn't last long.

One afternoon she asked me go to the grill with her. She had heard somewhere that Mr. Saltzman came there a lot. I had never seen him there, but then again, I hadn't come to the grill much lately.

She convinced me to go, and as we entered, the first person we met was a very gloomy-looking Elena.

"What's up?" I asked her, ignoring Lily tugging at my sleeve to make me follow her.

"That's up." She said and looked at Stefan, who was playing pool with a blonde girl I didn't know.

"Who's she?" I asked and noticed Damon at a table. He was watching the girl, too.

"Stefan's old friend. Apparently, she's here for his birthday."

"It's his birthday today? I didn't know."

"He doesn't tell people that kind of stuff about himself."

"But she's just a friend?"

"That's what he says."

"I'm sure he wouldn't lie to you." I tried to comfort her.

"There's a lot you don't know about Stefan." She mumbled.

I failed to concentrate any further, as Damon came towards me, an almost empty glass in his hand.

"Hello Maica!" He said as he passed me on his way to the bar.

"Don't you dare!" I hissed in reply, but he just threw a cocky smile at me and continued past me.

"What was that all about?" Elena asked curiously.

"It's nothing." I said and noticed Stefan's blonde friend leaving the pool table. Elena noticed too, which made her forget about my reaction to Damon's hello.

The girl walked up to the bar and said something to Damon. She was very pretty, and I didn't like the way she seemed to try to flirt with him. I couldn't see if he was flirting with her, too, as I could only see the backside of him. A few moments later, though, the girl came towards me and Elena, carrying three drinks in her hands.

Damon caught my eye and motioned for me to join him at the bar, and as the blonde seemed to focus on Elena, I thought I'd better leave the two of them alone.

"Who's she?" I asked as I reached Damon.

"The cute, blonde girl?" He replied with a smile I couldn't read. "That would be Lexi. Stefan's best buddy."

"I thought you were his best buddy?"

"Me? And my pathetic baby brother? You gotta be kidding me!" Damon snorted and emptied his drink. "Want one of these?"

"No, thank you." I said and noticed Damon watching Elena and Lexi. "School tomorrow."

"Suit yourself." He replied and got another drink for himself.

"She's pretty." I stated looking at Lexi. "I wonder what they're talking about. I don't think Elena likes her too much."

Damon was watching the two girls talking again and didn't care to look at me when replying.

"That is so girlish! You guys...eh...girls...are always jealous. There's absolutely no chance that Stefan would ever get it on with Lexi, though he's had plenty of chances. Elena has no need to worry."

"Good for her." I replied feeling slightly jealous myself. Didn't he sound a little jealous?

"Oh no, Hannah, really?" He sighed and looked at me for the first time in a while. "Don't tell me that you're jealous, too? Doesn't suit you, you know."

"I'm not!" I exclaimed, but I'm pretty sure I blushed.

"Me and Lexi? Ugh...gross! It's even worse than me and Stefan being best buddies!"

He hesitated for a moment.

"Me and you? Definitely not gross, but so out of line!"

"Eh...?" I said at a loss for words.

"Gotta go deal with someone. See you later." He said and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Ciao, señorita!"

Seriously? That man was disturbed!

I went home early that night, as we had to go to school the next day. Lily was quite disappointed that we hadn't seen Mr. Saltzman at the grill, and since she got bored, she had invited everyone she knew to a party at my house the next weekend, her usual go to back up plan. My parents would be out of town, and Lily and I had been talking about inviting a few friends over, but now it seemed that it was going to be a full on party. Oh well, who didn't like parties? Except for parents, of course!

…

My parents left on Friday, and Lily and I spent most of Saturday preparing for the party. I know it would've been enough with just loud music and plenty of alcohol to keep a party going, but I had always liked to decorate and arrange, though I wasn't very good at it. After a couple of hours with one decoration disaster after the other, Lily suggested that we call Caroline. If anyone was good at arranging stuff, Caroline was the one.

I really didn't want to ask for Caroline's help. I hated the fact that she would feel pity for me because I couldn't do this on my own, and that she, at the same time, would love to get the attention as the party planner.

But in the end I messaged Elena and asked her to come early to help with the preparations. She promised to bring Bonnie and Caroline, and so the latter would have no idea that I had wanted her to come over early. I was rather satisfied with this plan of mine!

The rest of the afternoon went by pretty quickly. The five of us had a lot of fun while decorating the house, preparing snacks, a bowl of booze with some kind of green stuff that Caroline had brought, and, of course, gossiping about everyone in Mystic Falls. Even ourselves.

We talked all through dinner, and we completely forgot about the time. I hated to admit it, but I ended up really enjoying Caroline's company. But then again, I never really knew her that well to begin with, so it was a pleasant surprise.

At some point the topic was, as always, changed to cute guys.

When Caroline brought up me and Damon, someone unfortunately rang the door bell, so I got off the hook when I had to go open the door.

It was Stefan.

"Hi Stefan!" I said and gave him a quick hug (well, we had already had a few drinks before he came).

"Hello Hannah." He said with a big smile. "I see you're in high spirits today!"

"I sure am." I replied happily and stepped back. "Come on in!"

"Thank you very much!" He said politely and handed me a small present.

"Uh...you shouldn't have!" I said in surprise, but I took it anyway.

"That's just Stefan." I heard Elena say behind me. "Always polite. Hey Stef!"

She gave him a quick kiss and I looked away, concentrating on the gift. It contained 3 small bottles of an almost clear liquid.

"It's home brew." He said as I looked at the bottle tops, which had clearly been opened before.

"Ah, that explains it!" I said and opened one of them. I sniffed it and immediately there was a strong smell of alcohol. Then, after a couple of seconds, I could smell something else through the alcohol.

"What is this?" I asked with a questioning look at Stefan. "It smells like tea or something."

"Ah...not bad!" He replied with a nod and a smile at me. "It's herb schnapps. A family recipe."

"Interesting." I said and meant it. "Thanks again!"

"You're welcome." Stefan replied, and then the door bell rang again.

Within the next couple of hours, the house filled with guests. I wasn't sure if Damon would show up, but I hoped so. I hadn't exactly invited him, but Lily had. At least he would know about the party.

But he did. A little late, though, but I didn't care as long as he did come.

"Hey Maica!" He said with a big, charming smile as I opened the door. I couldn't really figure if he was just pretending.

"Hey Mon!" I replied and giggled. I was pretty drunk, I suppose.

"That's not even close to sounding as cute as Maica!" He replied and rolled his eyes at me. "Can I come in?"

"Hmmmm, I don't really know." I teased and tried to pretend to be insulted. "Did you bring a gift for the hostess?"

"Me being here is a gift in itself!" He replied holding out his arms in a very look-at-me kind of way. He flashed another one of those charming smiles at me, and I had a hard time not throwing myself into his arms.

"Well, but Stefan brought a real gift!" I said, still pretending to be cool.

"And what did my brother bring you, if I may ask?"

"Schnapps! He brought me schnapps!"

"And you've had more than enough of it already, it seems!" He snorted, though still smiling a little. "Did that schnapps happen to be with herbs?"

"How did you know?"

"Family recipe." He said, and in my drunken state I thought he looked slightly annoyed.

"I know." I said. Then I heard Lily shout my name from the kitchen.

"Gotta go help Lily." I said and turned to go. "Talk to you later."

A couple of minutes later I returned and noticed Damon still standing outside, the door wide open.

"Why are you just standing there?" I asked hurrying over to him.

I noticed Elena and Stefan looking very amused while watching him from the couch.

"You didn't invite me in." He replied, no longer quite as cocky.

"I never considered you the kind of guy who would wait for an invitation!" I said, trying to give him a sly smile. "Please, come on in!"

Someone laughed behind me, and I was afraid I had been talking too loud. I didn't mean for anyone but Damon to hear that.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Damon said and came inside. He looked at Stefan and Elena with a very fake smile. I'm pretty sure he wasn't trying to make it look real. That confused me for a moment.

Then he gave me a peck on the cheek, and I didn't care anymore!

Sometime during the night I went to the kitchen to get some more snacks. A moment later Leonard and Finn followed. I couldn't really figure out whether Finn was following me or Leonard these days. They both seemed to be very much around me when we were at the same parties, at school, etc. I guess it was just because Finn was so shy. He didn't say much, Leonard did all the talking, but he was always around whenever Leonard and I had a conversation, or even when I was just chit-chatting with Lily. Sometimes I felt a little watched by him, and it was starting to creep me out.

Anyway, they came to the kitchen with me (or followed me – again, couldn't tell) to help me get some more snacks.

A moment later Damon entered the kitchen as well. Leonard had been telling a story, but suddenly he grew silent. And Finn, well he had been silent the whole time.

"What a merry crowd we have here!" Damon said sarcastically and went to the sink to wash his hands.

"It was until you came in!" I replied with a smile at him.

When he had dried his hands, he took down a knife from the holder on the wall and balanced the tip on his finger, making it spin around as he did so.

"How did you do that?" I asked in astonishment. I had often seen boys from school trying to balance knives on their fingertips, but never had it spinning at the same time.

"You're such a show-off!" Leonard exclaimed, and I wasn't sure if he was annoyed or if he was just trying to tease Damon.

"Yeah, but she's impressed!" Damon replied, tilting his head with a vindictive smile at Leonard.

"Oh, shut up!" I said with a blush and handed Leonard and Finn the two bowls of snacks I had found. "Take these to the living room, will you?"

"Sure." Leonard said, and Finn nodded.

"Sending the kids out of the kitchen, are we?" Damon teased and threw the knife into the air and caught it between two fingers as it came down.

"Be careful!" I said and meant it. I didn't want him to get hurt.

He put the knife back in place, and took out two glasses from the cupboard instead, as I took a bottle of wine from the fridge. I filled one glass for myself.

"You want some?" I asked a little nervously. I wasn't sure why he had come to the kitchen with me.

"I took out two glasses, didn't I?" He replied, and I had a feeling he was standing right behind me, but I didn't have the courage to turn around and take a look.

The bottle accidentally hit the empty glass and knocked it over, probably because I was both drunk and a little nervous and couldn't control my moves too well.

Damon caught the glass just as it tipped over the edge of the table, moving his hand towards it with incredible speed. A split second later he let it fall to the floor, where it smashed.

I stared at the shattered pieces of glass and then at Damon's hand. What just happened there? It had happened so fast that I barely noticed, but it had happened.

"Why did you do that?" I asked feeling a bit dizzy.

"What?"

"Let it go?"

"I didn't. I tried to catch it." He said and turned away from me to find something to pick up the pieces with.

"You did catch it. And then you let it go!"

I was staring at him now, but he didn't meet my eye.

"That's ridiculous, Hannah, why would I do that?"

"Why don't you tell me? I saw it Damon, you were moving pretty fast!"

He finally looked me in the eye again.

"I almost caught it, but then it slipped out of my hand, that's all."

"You're lying." I said without a doubt.

"I'm not." He said and concentrated on picking up the pieces.

"Then why won't you look me in the eye?" I asked and made him look up at me. He looked somewhat insecure, or maybe even scared.

"I'll always look you in the eye." He said and got up, standing very close to me. I knew he was just trying to distract me, though I didn't know why, and it almost worked. His face was so close to mine now that it would've been easy to just reach over and kiss him.

"What's going on, Damon?" I asked trying to sound demanding, though I think I failed.

"Nothing's going on." He said and held my gaze for a while.

Then we were interrupted by the door bell, which was quite odd, as people were just coming and going without ringing the bell by now.

"I'd better go get that." I said still looking at him, and after a few more seconds he looked away, and continued to clean up the broken glass. He didn't say anything further.

As I opened the door I saw a guy standing before me, whom I didn't recognize.

"I heard there was a party." He said and showed me a bottle of scotch or something.

"Do I know you?" I asked trying really hard to remember. He had dark hair, though not as dark as Damon's, and his clothes were black, I think. He could have very well been one of Leonard's friends, but he definitely wasn't in my year. I would've known him. Then again...he also looked too old to be in Leonard's year.

"No, I'm new in town, but I hoped it'd be okay to crash your party and get to know a few people before I start at school on Monday."

"Sounds fair enough." I said and was about to ask him to come in.

"Don't..." I heard Damon's voice. "...Let him in!"

Split seconds later he was standing next to me.

"Why?" I asked bewildered. Did he know this guy?

"Just don't." He said and put an arm around me, not quite as casually as he was trying to make it seem.

"I'm sorry, but did I do something wrong?" The guy asked with a look at Damon. The latter stared back at him, and no one said anything for a little too long.

"I don't know? Did you?" Damon asked fiercely.

"Alright, what's going on?" I asked, removing Damon's arm.

"Don't you think he looks familiar?"

Then realization dawned upon me. The guy who tried to strangle me! Same height, same size, same black clothes...

I grabbed Damon's hand tightly and backed away. My heart was racing, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. In an instant, the guy had disappeared.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked as he came over. "You alright, Hannah?"

"You and I need to talk!" Damon said to Stefan and pointed his head at the door. "Outside. Now!"

"Don't leave me!" I said frightened and held onto his hand.

"We'll be right back." Damon replied and made Elena pull me away from him. "Just...Stay inside, and don't let anyone inside that you don't know!"

No one but Elena seemed to have noticed that anything strange had happened, so I tried not to make it too obvious that I was upset. But I was pretty scared. This meant that the guy's attack on me had not just been a coincidence. I had not just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But why on Earth would someone I didn't know want me dead? Why would anyone want me dead?

"Don't you think we should call the police?" I asked Elena as we went to the kitchen.

"Let's wait for Stefan and Damon to return." She replied. "Maybe they'll catch him or at least get a better look at him or his car or something."

"You really think so?"

"Well, he didn't really do anything, did he?"

"He tried to strangle me!" I exclaimed in disbelief. What was it with this repulsion towards contacting the police?

"We don't know for sure that it was the same guy. Look, when they return, we'll call the police, okay?"

"Okay." I agreed, though only half-heartedly.

But ten minutes later we heard someone screaming outside. We rushed to the door along with the rest of the people at the party. It must've been a pretty loud scream since everyone had been able to hear it in spite of the music.

Elena and I were standing behind the rest of the crowd, not able to see much.

"It's April!" Someone exclaimed, and a girl gave a shocked scream.

"What's going on?" I asked and elbowed my way through the crowd. There, in front of me, lay a girl I recognized from Leonard's year. April was her name. She didn't move, and there was a lot of blood on her neck and down her shoulder.

A guy was sitting with her head in his arms, and two girls were bent over her.

"She's not breathing!" One of the girls cried.

A couple of people were speaking on their phones, and someone, I don't know who, called the police.

Sheriff Forbes and her men came very quickly and made us all go inside and stay there. Everybody was crying, and I was worried about Damon. I could tell that Elena, too, was worried.

Nobody knew if April was dead, though "not breathing" sounded very much like it. Some guy had tried to give her first aid, but I didn't know if he had been able to save her.

After half an hour or so, Sheriff Forbes came inside and gave us the devastating news: April had been attacked by a wild animal, and due to the massive blood loss, she hadn't survived.

No one knew what to say or do, and after a while people's parents began picking them up and bringing them home. I wished that my parents had been at home, too, but they weren't, and Damon and Stefan still hadn't returned.

After a while only Elena, Lily, and Leonard were still there, and of course, the police.

Sheriff Forbes came and asked about my parents' cell numbers. Right now I didn't care that they didn't know about the party, though they would probably get mad at me. The only thing I cared about was if Damon was okay.

Suddenly the front door banged open and Stefan and Damon came rushing in.

I got up and hurried over and into Damon's embrace.

"Are you alright, Maica?" He asked and stroke my hair gently.

"Only shocked." I said and cried into his chest. "Did you see...?"

"Yeah. We did." He said and kept stroking my hair. It was nice and comforting. "It was another attack from a wild animal."

"I can't believe they're getting so close to the house." I said into his chest. "Did you talk to the sheriff? Did they know what kind of animal it was?"

"Yeah, I talked to her. And I don't think they know yet."

"Poor April!" I cried and hugged Damon tightly. He kept holding me for a long while, even though he didn't have to. I mean, he wasn't mine, and I couldn't really expect him to. But he did. And for that I was grateful.

"What about that guy?" I suddenly remembered and let go of Damon. "Did you find him?"

"No, we didn't." He replied with an annoyed sigh. I'm pretty sure the annoyance was because they didn't catch the guy rather than because I was asking about it.

"Should I go tell the sheriff?" I asked. And then I felt stupid. A girl had just died. Why would anyone care about a new guy in town who wanted to enter my party?

"I think she's busy right now. But if you want to, we can go down to the police station tomorrow, and you can tell them what happened then."

"Yeah. Maybe." I replied with a yawn. Now that I knew Damon was alright, the alcohol and late hour made me feel very sleepy.

"You should get some rest."

"I'll just sit down for a bit." I said and sat down on the couch. Damon sat down next to me.

It didn't take me long to fall asleep with my head on his hip and my feet on Leonard's. I didn't want to, but I couldn't really help it.

When I woke up the next morning, Damon, Stefan, and Elena had gone. Lily and Leonard were still there and asleep, Leonard sitting on the floor with his back against the couch, and Lily in an arm chair.

From the kitchen I could hear our parents, all four of them, though they were trying to keep their voices down.

Leonard grunted in his sleep and turned around laying his arm across my hip. It felt a little awkward, but I didn't have the heart to move it and risk waking him from his sleep, and soon I, too, drifted off to sleep again.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and please review, I LOVE reviews! :o)