TEMPTATIONS

Chapter Seven

The Lucky Ring


Hazel's POV…

When the celebration for The Night of the Comet came around I was inside The Grill hanging out with Tyler.

"The town has really gotten involved with this comet thing, haven't they," I said.

"Wait till the founder's days celebrations come around," Tyler said as he leant against the pool table beside me.

"I can't wait," I said before sighing.

I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy them or hate them.

"Vicki, what are you doing here?" I heard Jeremy ask.

"Fighting with Robert about my schedule, you'd think getting ripped up by a rapid animal would merit an extra sick day," Vicki replied.

I smiled at the rapid animal comment. If she thought Damon was a rapid animal she hadn't seen anything. I was far worse that Damon.

"Why are you smiling?" Tyler asked.

I couldn't think of a good enough lie so I just looked over at Jeremy and Vicki as if it bothered me and eventually Tyler forgot about his question.


GPOV…

Meanwhile Stefan was in his room getting ready for the celebration when Zach came into his room and wanted to talk.

"What is Damon doing here? Why did he come back?" Zach asked.

"Because I came home, he wants to make my life miserable, it's how he enjoys his," Stefan replied.

"And Hazel, what about Hazel," Zach asked his voice was filled with concern.

"I have no idea, I was very young when she visited me last so I have no memory of her, but I know she likes Damon and will do anything for him and do anything to protect him."

"Well they are both putting us at risk, this girl in the hospital could talk," Zach said.

"She won't, I took care of her," Stefan said.

"You're sure."

Stefan sighed before he headed towards the door. But he stopped before he reached it.

"I'm not sure Zach, I don't know how well it worked, I'm not as strong as Damon or Hazel," Stefan said.

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Zach asked.

"I don't know, I'll deal with it," Stefan replied.

"Is she worth it, Uncle Stefan? This girl you came back for?" Zach asked.

Stefan didn't reply and just left. Zach was left standing in Stefan's room. Zach eventually left Stefan's room after hearing Stefan leave the boarding house.

He made his way towards his office. Zach didn't want to trust Hazel/Florence for a very good reason. It was possible that Stefan and Damon didn't know Hazel as well as they thought. Once in his office Zach found an old slightly stained folder. He opened the folder and pulled out an old newspaper report which had been laminated.

Someone in the Salvatore family had discovered Florence's secret of vampirism. The newspaper report Zach was holding was of The Great Chicago Fire that happened in 1871. Somehow whoever discovered Florence's secret also discovered something much darker.

They had discovered that Hazel, Florence at the time, had created the fire to cover her tracks. Zach learned of Florence's dark side from his father and it went back from there. He learned that The Great Chicago Fire was not the first of Florence's attempts to cover the truth and he also learned that it was not the last.

Unknown to most because they are blind of the truth but to a few that managed to figure it out like Zach had learned from his father Florence Salvatore has caused countless deaths across America and Zach was worried that Mystic Falls would become the newest addition to the long list. Zach knew that Florence/Hazel was worse than anything Damon could do to this town and worse than any plans he had for this town.


Hazel's POV…

Later that night I was outside with Tyler, Caroline and Matt. I had been accepted into their little group of friends which was good for me because now I could get to anyone I wanted too if someone decided to do something to stop my fun.

I was holding a candle in my left hand but I didn't care that much about it. I started talking with Tyler again which I had nothing against. I hated making human friends and Tyler wasn't anywhere near that sort of status with me but he could become the only living human in the world that was my friend and hadn't been compelled into it. Granted he was being lied to about basically everything but that was better than my compelled or even blackmailed human friends.

"Say something in Italian," Tyler asked.

"Seriously," I replied.

"It's like you first language, so it's not that hard," Tyler said.

"It's easy I just don't see the point, you're clearly not going to understand since this school hasn't got an Italian program," I said.

Tyler just smiled. I really didn't see the point. I would have to repeat myself. Knowing languages that other people didn't know was fun because you could insult them and they would never know, unless they looked it up. But having a different language as your first language was lonely. I was more comfortable speaking Italian and if it wasn't because of Travis I would speak it all the time but that brainless idiot won't learn it even though he's been living in the country for a decade or more. It was also very annoying in other countries like here.

"Parli inglese," I said.

"What did you say?" Tyler asked.

"Now that wouldn't be very fair, would it," I said.

Tyler just stared at me and I knew if I didn't say anything he would continue to stare at me.

"Fine, I said, do you speak English?" I said.

Tyler chuckled and smiles as the celebration continued. I watched as Elena and Bonnie joined the group. Caroline gave Bonnie a candle while Matt lighted Elena's candle with his own candle. When Elena lighted Stefan's candle I started to play with my own candle.

I started trying to pitch the flame. It burned a little but it didn't bother me too much and it wasn't enough to be noticed by anyone else. Technically if anyone had noticed they would have noticed a burn for sure. Being a vampire meant that your skin was different or something. All I knew was that it caught on fire easier that human skin. It sounds gross but makes sense in a weird way.

Fire was clearly dangerous to vampires, even small amounts because it could spread quickly but I wasn't afraid of this little flame. It felt overpowering and gave me strength because I was overcoming a common fear for a vampire. But of course the fear of burning to death was still there.

As soon as I started thinking about burning to death I started to think about my bracelet. A few decades ago I had gotten an upgrade of my bracelet. The old one was starting to become obvious and I had lost it a couple of times. Now I had a band bracelet, which reminded me of those bracers peopled used to wear on their wrists in the ancient times. It was one piece of metal which was gold plated with a small line of blue crystals at the end that just covered my wrist. One of these blue crystals was the actual lapis lazuli that had been spelled to protect me. The only two people that knew which one it was, was the witch that created the bracelet, who is very much dead and myself. Let's just say I don't take the idea of someone knowing my weaknesses well. So yes I killed her, another reason why I am not welcome in a witch community.

As I stared down at the bracelet I noticed the pale mark around my ring finger. I had gotten the mark from the fact I used to wear a ring a lot before I was turned. I know wedding rings are meant to go on that finger but this wasn't a wedding ring far from it. The ring just felt comfortable there and at the time I couldn't care less what people thought of me. But I had once tried the same ring on other fingers but it was never the same.

The ring I used to wear was my lucky ring and I had worn it for a long time including most of my vampire life. The reason why I wasn't wearing it now was because I may have lost it but knowing my definition of lost it'll be sitting on my bedside table at home or something like that.

Now that I was thinking about it I wanted it back. It was my lucky ring and even though it may have never brought any luck to me or anyone around me it was a part of me in an odd way. The next time I called Samson or he called I would have tell him to find it and send it over because now I felt terrible without it. I swear that ring was given more emotion that anyone else, aside from Damon and possibly Stefan.

It wasn't just a normal ring it was gold with ten small dark blue crystals, I have never figured out what them crystals are, probably sapphires. I don't care about that much because it looked beautiful and I loved it. The ten crystals sat beside to top of the ring but there was still enough space for the 'E'.

"We're going inside The Grill now?" Tyler said bringing me from my thoughts.

"Okay," I replied softly.

I blew out my candle and walked with the others as we all went inside The Grill. I sat next to Tyler but I didn't touch him because he was still with Vicki or something. I was talking with Tyler and the rest of the group. Bonnie was still giving me a funny look but I didn't care. I tried to remain calm around Bonnie.

The logical thing would be to kill her before he found out the truth but Bennett witches weren't very easy to kill and even if I tried I knew something bad would happen if Bonnie died. Because she couldn't be the only Bennett witch in town, especially if Bonnie mentioned her grandmother telling her about all this. The last thing I wanted was a Bennett witch coming after me and killing me even though I totally deserved it because of so many reasons.

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy asked bringing me from my thoughts.

What is with this Vicki chick? I thought.

"You're her stalker, you tell us," Tyler said.

"I can't find her," Jeremy said.

"She probably found someone else to party with," I said stating the facts.

Everyone turned to look at me and I just stared at them. It was a free country and I could voice my opinion.

"Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you're been replaced," Tyler added.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena asked while I just smiled because I knew what they were talking about.

"Ask him," Tyler said.

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy asked.

"Are you dealing?" Elena asked.

"She's never gonna go for you," Tyler commented.

"She already did, over and over and over again," Jeremy replied.

If I was drinking a drink I would have spat it everywhere. There was no way someone like Vicki would go for Jeremy.

Maybe she was on some strong stuff, I thought.

"Yeah, right," Tyler said.

"Okay, you slept with Vicki Donovan, I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline asked.

"There's no way," Tyler said obviously not thinking about the drugs.

"I didn't even have to force her into it," Jeremy said.

Oh I highly doubt that, I thought.

"What the hell is he talking about Ty," Matt asked.

"Nothing man, just ignore him, he's a punk."

Good work with that Tyler, everyone heard him, I thought.

"You know what, how about all of you shut up and help me find my sister," Matt said.

"We'll check the bathroom," Bonnie said.

This was first thing she had said since we came inside and to this table.

"I'll check the square," Matt said as everyone started to get up.

"I'll come with you," Jeremy said.

"Oh, no, no, no, you are coming with me," Elena said as she grabbed his arm.

Tyler just turned to me and I couldn't help but shake my head.


AN: Hazel's lucky ring has meaning to Hazel and there is a reason why she wore it so much before she was turned and after. I could tell you but I just don't wanna.