The Vampire Diaries

I can't shake the feeling something bad is going to happen today.

I should be braver and should just put down this sense of foreboding to bad past experiences…but somehow I've learned that when things settle in Mystic Falls its simply a sign of a greater evil to come. Stefan isn't worried, he never is, he's a Vampire that's lived through some scary, uncertain times. This for him is probably now different. The same goes for Damon…he's so effortlessly calm it leaves me…in awe of him. Of Damon. That sounds messed up to actually see it written down.

Elena put her pen down and looked to the door, Jeremy was stood there, a silhouette framed in the light of the landing. He crossed the room uncertainly and settled at the end of her bed, as though he wanted distance from her – was he afraid he might bite? Afraid he could lose control and descended into a bloodthirsty feeding frenzy? It didn't faze Elena she already lived with three Vampires in regular proximity to her who might snap at any moment – Jeremy was just a newer addition to the group, and he was also closer to her. Clearly this was harder for him than she'd imagined.

"Jer do you believe in yourself?" she probed.

"Sure," he murmured from the end of the bed, though Elena found herself sceptical of him, she wasn't even sure he truly believed himself, "I guess…just getting bloodlust under control is…difficult."

"Doesn't have to be," Elena reminded, "Stefan gave you some bags to put the fridge just in case you have a moment of weakness, and you can always go hunting with him or Damon or Caroline any time you're hungry," she didn't reach out to him, acutely though silently aware that he was trying very hard not to focus upon her because then his animalistic instinct might take over, "I know you miss her Jer – you just need to give her time."

He shrugged, "I gave her time…and she spent every minute I gave her with Matt, Elena…I knew being a Vampire would be hard for our relationship but she's completely forgotten we were ever together…at least that's how it seems…she doesn't spend time preparing while we have a breathing space…she spends it with him. Training him or tutoring him…or something…I can't help but feel that me being turned into a Vampire by Klaus has a purpose…and it's more than causing friction."

"We have enough friction alone," Elena soothed in a sisterly fashion, "between Matt spending time with Bonnie and Caroline spending time with Tyler…there's a gulf between us all…I just…I can't get rid of this idea that something bad is coming Jeremy…it's like when we knew Giuseppe was coming back, except this time it isn't so much a dark shroud falling across the town as some evil building up beyond Mystic Falls – and I think it's Klaus…or at least something to do with him," Elena caught Jeremy's look and understood, "you…get some rest or…whatever it is you need to do." Jeremy nodded and left her to her own devices.

Sometimes I wonder if my parents could see me what they would think of how I've grown up, what they'd think about me dating a Vampire…

Her thoughts trailed away as she strained to hear sounds downstairs – she thought she'd heard a noise. She opened the door to her room and scanned the landing – Jeremy had gone, she could see the curtains flapping in his window – and contented with that moved to the stairs, half-sprinting down them until she stopped at the bottom step, scanning the living room for any signs of life. "Anyone down here?" she didn't know why she called out or why anyone ever did – if there was an intruder they weren't likely to do something.

She could smell something though? Was that coffee? At, she looked at the clock and regretted it, 01:55 AM. She walked toward the kitchen and froze and for a moment and she was transported back years. Jenna stood at the counter, her leaf-in-fall coloured hair cascading down her back perfectly while she made coffee – it was all she was good at making, it was universally accepted Jenna had not been made to be the perfect housewife – and she'd turn around, Jeremy and Elena's mugs already filled and prepared to order and before they all left they'd have a nice little chat. Sun might be streaming through the window while they discussed plans for the day and lost track of time. Then they'd all realize that they were hopelessly late and run out the door in a rush.

"Jeremy's changed," Jenna murmured from her spot at the coffee pot, she turned around and smiled that same reassuring familial smile Elena had known so well for years, "he seems so hungry to enjoy new experiences around the world, he has this…this thirst for knowledge, to explore and to see everything you know what I mean?" Elena lunged for the draw pulling it out and grabbing a knife but before she hat time to even use the knife she had in her hand and plunge it into Jenna's ribcage Jenna had crossed the room and snapped the knife roughly in two dropping it to the floor. "Surprised to see me?"

"I didn't invite you-"

"-in?" Jenna finished confidently, "Sweetie I already died once, I'm not really here – or at least not yet, which means any of the laws you thought applied to me no longer do," she smiled sweetly at Elena, "now why don't we have a nice little chat?"

"About what?" Elena dared.

"About being a family, silly."

.

"If you want to hunt with me then you'll run errands with me," Damon snarled under his breath as he turned onto the track that led deeper into the woods – he just hoped that they'd be coming back along that same track in no time at all, "besides you'll get to see your ex-girlfriend, doesn't that sound like fun?" Jeremy just gave him a reproachful look, despite his youth as a Vampire he still resented being treated as the baby, much less being treated as a minor in a world of majors – it somehow made him feel so incredibly small and uncomfortable to the point of madness. Not that he'd cross Damon – he wasn't that hurt or stupid.

"Why are we meeting them anyway? Don't they want to leave here – I mean last time they decided to stick around instead of leaving they got rounded up and killed," Jeremy could remember all too well the first few deaths of the Vampires followed by the cull of them, Damon would have died that day too if it weren't for Elena and Stefan, "besides why do we need to speak to them? Don't we have the home advantage or something?"

"Just shut up," Damon turned to him and pulled the car to a halt, "let me do the talking and don't for a second react to anything going on around you, before you've thought it I've seen it, before you've heard it I've acted to counter it, before you lock eyes on the threat it will be eliminated and cold in the ground – you're simply here for the unlikely event that they want a new chew toy," Damon paused grinning at Jeremy, "that was a joke."

The house loomed out of the darkness like the home of Old Man Smith or Jones or any variant of the villain in a Scooby Doo cartoon, its was a tall thin building, dilapidated with shutters hanging off their hinges and smashed windows and at its peak Jeremy was almost sure he saw Bats circling, silently swooping through the night to snare their unsuspecting pray. He shivered as he thought of the bad connotations of that metaphor and instinctively swung his head around defensively to ensure that there was nobody boxing them in from behind.

The first Vampire that greeted them was Anna's mother, her eyes razor-like cutting through the both of them as they crossed the threshold, at odds with her warm smile – she was, Jeremy realized belatedly trying to spook them, and clearly with him it had worked, Damon remained effortlessly cool and collected, that was something Jeremy would have to learn how to do because at the moment he was sure that he looked as if he was running scared.

"It's a pleasure to entertain you Damon," Pearl greeted in her soft tones, "and a new member for your little clique, how quaint."

"Two new members," Damon reminded with an edge to his voice that seemed to wash over Pearl, she clearly remembered how to be politely civil, Damon had lost them somewhere in the past century or so, "a boy and a girl, if we were rabbits we'd have a hell of a lot of baby rabbits running around – but let's cut to the chase Pearl."

"Of course, would you care to come through to the Drawing Room, care for a drink?" Jeremy followed her and Damon through to the edge of the Drawing Room and he could see a small collection of young teenagers – Cheerleaders and Jocks mostly he noticed sitting in a relaxed fashion drinking alcohol spread out across the room: clearly the Town Vampires were planning on having a party, Jeremy almost considered joining in until he received a warning glance from Damon.

"We're here to talk business Pearl – why are you staying in Town and what do you want from us to keep a peace between us?" Damon quizzed with very real interest though he didn't admit it.

She smiled, "Direct and to the point as always, a guarantee of our safety from the Werewolf and the Witch you keep company with, you don't interfere in our affairs and we won't interfere in yours."

"No feeding from the town," Damon said casting a glance towards the assembled group of living, breathing food, "we don't want any unwarranted attention – any attention actually, you hunt anywhere but here understand?"

"Perfectly, if you can guarantee you won't interfere then we won't destabilize things here."

"Why are you staying here?" Jeremy asked, receiving a fiery look from Damon, everything happened very quickly after that, Damon had Pearl gripped into a headlock, she was in the process of twisting his arm and snapping it and then they both stopped and straightened up, Jeremy turned around and saw Anna standing in the doorway.

"Because it's safer," she said as though it was the most simple thing, she moved into the living room and clicked her fingers, at that point the teenagers there collected sprang to their feet and filed out of the house casually, leaving the four Vampires alone together, "your terms are accepted Damon, Jeremy's intrusions are not. Beyond saying that we are staying here because it is safe we would prefer to say nothing."

"Sure," Damon said, swiftly stepping away from Pearl, "if you're in trouble, just die, okay?"

He grabbed Jeremy roughly by the shoulder and steered him out of the house and back to their car, he half-threw Jeremy into the passenger seat and then slipped into his side, "You know I should kill you myself but one, Elena hated me for a long time the last time that I killed you…even though you did come back to life afterwards and two your little stunt actually helped back there."

"It did?" Jeremy quizzed as they pulled out of the yard.

"I know they're scared – which means we have something to be scared off." Damon punched him on the arm in what would have shattered a normal human arm, in Jeremy it just left a ringing pain, "Don't do anything like that again."

.

"Stefan will be here any minute Jenna," Elena said, unsure whether her Aunt, now a Vampire would discern that she was lying through her teeth – it was at least a realistic lie, why wouldn't she have her boyfriend over – also a Vampire – to her House, "and he's older than you, and you should really leave. I mean it Jenna."

"Please," she said laughing confidently with a tinge of menace, "nobody's coming for you Elena, and even if he did you're too emotionally attached to me to let Stefan kill me, besides that presumes that he could overpower me, he might have been older than me once but he hasn't been killed either, there was a lot of powerful, residual magic in my body when I died Elena," she flashed her fangs malevolently, "I'm more powerful than your boyfriend ever will be."

"And what do you mean family Jenna? Ric? He already has one Vampire ex-wife terrorizing him, like he'd run back to his ex-girlfriend," she wasn't sure why she was taunting Jenna other than to try and get in command of the situation, or at least on an equal footing with her, "or maybe you met a guy when you went to the other side and fell in love – you can't have kids Jenna, you're a Vampire."

Jenna had remained completely disinterested throughout the entire rant, examining various objects littered about the kitchen, "The wonder of magic Elena, I'm going to have lots of children, but I can't leave you children here all alone, Jeremy needs guidance more than other know he's a Vampire and you Elena, well you're a doppelganger, and isn't that a rare commodity," she crossed the room and reached out to stroke Elena's chin but Elena jerked her head away warily, "such a shame Elena."

"Why a family when you know you're going back?" Elena quizzed, pulling further away and manoeuvring around the kitchen to try and put distance between herself and Jenna, Jenna however anticipated this and in a flash was in front of Elena again, blocking her escape route to the front door.

She grinned, "There are so many things you don't understand Elena, yet anyway, and in time you'll come to recognize them, suffice it to say that if I form a physical bond to the living world then I can remain here, and so can he."

"Who's he? John?" she quizzed, she had remembered seeing him draw up in the car that day, going of with Isobel and Stefan, and now she was wondering where he had been in the midst of the chaos? She hadn't seen him since that time and it had only just occurred to him that there were more than enough Vampires, Werewolves and Witches that wanted him dead that had passed through Mystic Falls that he was probably already cold and dead in the ground.

"Please your father? Why would I marry my brother Elena, my husband, my King is far more powerful," she looked over Elena's expression, "you are concerned for your father? He is still alive, and in a foolish bid to discover more about how we came back, he will not find sympathy from those who he is seeking information from, in fact I think he's going to end up dead Elena, again. And if Isobel doesn't kill him I certainly will."

"Jenna how did you come back – you can't expect me to believe that you just came through the veil because it was opened, spirits don't just leave, otherwise every time someone died then you'd all just flood through the temporary hole wouldn't you?" Elena nudged, she needed to know now, regardless of whether Jenna was about to kill her or not, she needed to know why this was happening, and now.

"It was Klaus Elena, it always was." There was a rush of air and Jenna disappeared as the front door opened, admitting Damon and Jeremy into the House, both seemed alert –they had caught Jenna's scent before she left the house, they sprinted into the kitchen and found Elena, standing awkwardly and uncomfortably.

"Did she hurt you?" Damon had her wrapped up in his arms and crying into his chest before she knew what was happening, Jeremy went to the back door and Damon stuck out his hand, "Don't go after her," he whispered into Elena's ear, "it's okay…just breathe."

.

"Guess you were pretty feral," Tyler said grinning as Caroline rolled off him onto the other side of the bed, taking deep breaths and occasionally giggling girlishly, "if I'd have known that Vampires were so good I'm not sure I'd have waited so long to go after you."

Caroline rolled back on top of him placing a finger on his lips, "One, I told you I was in love with you so I get all the credit for the amazing sex we just had," she grinned, "second you were pretty fierce too," she removed her finger and pecked him lightly on the lips and then found herself opening her mouth and forcing her tongue into his, she stroked at his muscular chest and rolled onto her back allowing him on top of her and then she felt a bolt of lightning shoot through her and this time it wasn't coming from a part of Tyler's body, "hold still," she said parting her lips regretfully from his, "I thought I heard something."

"It was nothing," Tyler reassured kissing her again and this time she through the Werewolf off her and sprang to her feet, creeping to the door, she sprang back an instant before it blew of its hinges and she leapt across the room, landing in a defensive stance on the opposite side of the room, "or maybe it was," he said getting to his feet and dropping beside Katherine on the opposite side of the bed, "what do you want?"

"To talk Tyler," Jules murmured from the doorway, she had a pistol in her hand, loaded presumably with wooden bullets and was pointing it at Caroline though she wasn't holding it as confidently as she used to – something had really spooked her, "if your Vampire friend over there will let me."

"Five minutes." Caroline replied domineeringly, she didn't want the Werewolf to have time to trap them if that was her intention – this could all be a distraction for the real attack, and she didn't want to risk having someone sneaking up on her, she allowed part of herself to remain there in the room, the rest of her extended, searching the Lockwood Mansion for any other sign of the danger, just in case her hunch about this Werewolf being a lying bitch bore fruit.

Jules nodded appreciatively, "I…Tyler…I want to be here to help you, mentor you through your changes at the time of the Full Moon, help you get it under control once you turn, I mean don't you remember, when you left with me we were so happy? We could get to that again – I mean we'd stay here obviously so you could be with your friends and besides I'm…I'm tired with running…I have to make a stand somewhere…and somehow here it seems as if you've tied everyone together – Vampires, Werewolves and Witches – you work as a unit…and…I'd like to be a part of it."

"What are you so afraid off?" Caroline asked, ignoring Tyler…it wasn't specifically his choice to make whether a new Werewolf joined them in Mystic Falls.

"Klaus is building…some kind of army…like he had before, only this time it's so much more than that…he's looking for the ability to become a Witch, to make himself truly invincible, as a hybrid whether he admits it or not he's vulnerable to specialized types of magic," Jules said quietly and calmly, "I want to help you fight him and his informers."

.

"She was shaken up?" Stefan quizzed, handing a Scotch to Damon.

"Badly, Jenna's spooked her…I think it's all about Klaus coming back, last time Klaus tried it with Elena…now he and Jenna can actually do it," the painful memory flashed before their eyes, "she's normally stronger than this…do you think?"

"Things aren't that bad, yet." Stefan rejected definitely.

"There might be a time when she needs to turn Stefan, could you do it?" Damon prodded, "Because if you can't then is it best to keep with her Stefan, because some day she will become old and decrepit and you have to question whether you could deal with that, seeing her grow old and then die?"

.

Hope you liked Chapter 6,

Reviews welcomed and appreciated,

Chapter 7 up soon,

Acrobat

X