After we had our dinner, Damon confessed more about his own past, his own turn, him and his brothers long history of ups and downs, and mostly, the love triangle with him and Stefan's own sire, the original doppleganger Katherine. When he was done I was quiet for a moment.

"I have never met Katherine, but I have heard stories, mostly from Klaus. None of them very good to be honest"

I cleared my throat, knowing full well killing me probably wouldn't upset Niklaus too much. Our alliance was only temporary after all. "Ahh. So why haven't you killed me then?"

We turned into Mystic Falls and headed in the direction of my house. "Stefan made us all promise nobody would hurt you." he said, looking a bit agitated.

I laughed at the irony of the situation. The man who I had been hunting and planning on killing for over 100 years was now the only person really standing between me and my own death.

"He'll regret that." I said as we pulled up in front of my house. I got out of the car, "But thank you for the lovely evening, and Im sure I will see you at the party tonight."

Damon sneered at me and rolled his eyes before spinning away.

When I opened my door and walked inside there was a box in my mattress with a note attached to the top.

It said, in Niklaus's neat cursive handwriting,

"River-

I noticed you were lacking in appropriate clothing for the founders party.

I have done you the liberty of choosing this dress and will be expecting you in it by 8pm sharp.

I know you will look presentable and be on your best behavior.

Love,

Klaus."

I couldn't help but think how he sounded like he could be my father but shook off the thought as I jumped into the shower and proceeded to get ready for tonight. The dress he had given to me was beautiful, but obviously not my style. I wasn't one for dresses, but they were easy to wear and required little effort. This one was a light pink color at the top and tapered down to an even lighter color at the bottom. It was a chiffon like material with a sweetheart neckline , the top clung to my breast and waist and the bottom was flawy thank god, as it was easy to tuck some small stakes onto my upper thigh with some ribbon and have them completely concealed.

I put my makeup on and Niklaus showed up exactly when he said he would, knocking on the door and looking at me with a stupid expression when I opened it.

"What?" I said, putting my curled hair behind my ear and locking the door to my house behind me.

"You look stunning." he said.

I blushed a bit despite myself, "Don't sound so surprised." I said.

He rolled his eyes and offered me his hand. We got in the back of the town car he came in and I stared out the window while he talked.

"Tonight, I want you to talk to Stefan."

I opened my mouth to object, "No fu-"

"Ah, SHhh. I am in charge love, remember that? And Im telling you your going to be on your best behavior and your going to talk to Stefan."

I crossed my arms and furrowed my brow, it was a mistake to agree to come to this, "Maybe when hell freezes over."

He shot me a mean look,"Stop pouting it really doesn't look good on you. And you will talk to Stefan tonight, and you will tell him your starting to see the error of your hate and your going to back off your vendetta. I saw you've already gotten close with one Salvatore anyways." He didn't look at me while he said this, and I wondered if he was a little jealous of Damon.

"And Damon will never believe I just stopped hating Stefan. We talked about this today and-"

Niklaus cut me off, "Yes please enlighten me on your little outing with Damon." he sneered,I could tell he was jealous now, so I caught him up on my little adventure with Damon.

"This is all old news. It is not necessary for you to talk to Damon, he is untrusting by nature and even without your little dinner date he wouldn't believe your not still trying to kill Stefan." Niklaus sighed and rubbed his temples, "You have a great way of making bad situations worse River. If you hadn't attacked Stefan in the first place we would've had a better chance. That was your first mistake. Now your telling Damon things he shouldn't know, your mystery was the biggest edge we had. "

"The only mistake was not killing him on the first try." I said remembering my epic fail, "But your right. I should've waited until I was more prepared to attack, but I disagree about my outing with Damon, by going out with him not only have I presented myself in a non-hostile way but I gave some humanity to our case. Also, I have made the first step in integrating myself. That was no mistake."

He thought about it for a moment but didn't make a comment as we had arrived to the founders party, It was at the Lockwood house, a huge mansion that looked like it had been there for a long time. Niklaus opened the door for me and we locked arms as we walked towards the home, We were greeted at the door and invited in to the large party. It looked as if more than half the town was here, and Niklaus greeted people left and right. Elizabeth Forbes, the town sheriff was introduced to me by Niklaus and I shook her hand and excused myself to find a drink.

I grabbed two glasses of champagne and went to a corner of the party that was very inhabited, the library, there were a few people talking in some sections, but I ignored them and headed over to a place that had an empty table so I could set one champagne flute down and drink the other one. I took a large gulp out of the glass in my hand and leaned against a love seat.

"Hey." I heard a voice from behind me and turned around, it was Jeremy Gilbert.

"Hello." I said, he was in a suit and I couldn't help but note he looked very well built for a 17 year old.

"Enjoying the party?" he asked, looking me up and down as I finished the glass of champagne I was drinking.

"Oh yeah its a blast." I tried not to sound sarcastic but it came out worse than I expected.

Jeremy smiled at me weakly and grabbed two more champagne flutes off of a platter a passing waiter was carrying.

"You know, if its worth anything, I know how you feel."
I scoffed, thinking of my impending conversation with Stefan, there was no understanding that.
"Yeah, I bet you have to go to these things a lll the time." I finished my second glass of champagne and Jeremy handed me one of the two he was holding before taking a sip himself and shaking his head.

"I mean about seeing Stefan again. About not getting your revenge. Or at least, how it stands right now."

I studied his dark eyes for a moment, "How is it that you out of everyone understands? How could any human try and understand the intensity of vampire emotion?" I said finally.

"Well, my was aunt murdered or-sacrificed i should say- not long ago…"
I saw Niklaus enter the far side of the room and talk to Caroline Forbes, who had stepped in a moment ago. She rolled her eyes at him and I heard him try and sweeten her up a bit.

"By who?" I asked, and he nodded to where Caroline was now accusing Niklaus of sending her true love away or something like that.

"…anyways, I don't know much about vampire emotions, but if you loved your parents as much as I loved Jenna, I can empathize with your pain. I imagine killing Klaus in 500 different ways before I eat breakfast, especially recently." he paused and glanced at his arm, then finished his champagne. "But Jenna will still be dead, and killing Klaus really won't make me feel better about it." Klaus walked towards us as Caroline left the room and Jeremy and I held eye contact for a moment before he said, "Have a good rest of your evening." and slipped out of the room as Klaus came up to me.

"Had a nice chat with the hunter?" he asked wrapping his arm around my own and leading me from the empty room and back into where the bulk of the party was.

"Hunter? Like the five?" I asked slowly, realizing i had greatly underestimated the boy.

"How do you know about the five?" he asked then before I could answer said, "You can tell me later, for now, you need to go have your chat with Stefan. I've arranged for a dance with Caroline, Damon will be dancing with Elena, and I've convinced my lovely sister to dance with your friend from the bar. Now all you have to do is be the bold yet polite young woman I know you can pretend to be and ask Stefan for a dance."
I almost gagged at the thought.
"Oh no way!" he increased the pressure on my arm and whispered a threat in my ear, so I yanked my arm from his grasp and walking over to the corner of the room where I had spotted Stefan sipping his drink and watching people have a good time.
He didn't see me coming and when I stood next to him and said my "Hello," he jumped a bit and turned to me.

"River." he said, all kinds of emotion dripping off of his words. I tried not to look into his eyes as I talked to him, I pretended he was someone else, that I didn't get a flashback every time I saw him. That even though he stood before me in a proper suit, well cleaned and with a look that read as human upon his face, I still saw him as I had that night, his mouth smeared red with the blood of my parents, his eyes red to match, his teeth bared as he ripped my fathers head off. I felt my eyes well up with tears again as I heard the sickening plump of my mothers body against the kitchen floor, as I smelled their decomposing bodies after they had been there all night. My vampire senses heightened the hallucination and I felt my vision blur around him.
"River- are you okay?" he had a hand on my shoulder and I came spinning back to reality.
I took a deep breath. Pretend its someone else, I said to myself, repeating the words over and over and hoping beyond all hope that I would blink and he would be gone, that I would blink and I would be talking to someone else.
"I-I w-wanted to talk t-to you." I said breathing deeply and looking at a spot on the wall right behind Stefan. He studied me for a moment silently, "Maybe we could have a dance?" I asked finally, talking fast so I didn't eat my words before I said them.

"How about we go outside? You look like you could use some fresh air." He led me out of the house and to the porch where there was a set of chairs. I took a seat and we both sat silently trying to avoid the others eye contact. I suddenly thought of how Niklaus would be mad that I had not stayed where he could easily hear our conversation but brushed it off, I would deal with that later.

We both started speaking at once, him starting with, "Look- I know it cant mean mu-"
and me starting with, "I wanted to talk about-"
when we both stopped, I said, "Go ahead"

"It cant mean much. But when I was in Savannah, I wasn't myself. Im sorry, I know it sounds dumb, and I know it sounds fake, but I really am sorry for what happened that night. And Im sorry for not compelling you to forget. I no longer consume human blood, Ive been eating animals for a long time now, Im less powerful but I can control my bloodlust. What you went through wasn't right, and if it wasn't for Elena I would tell you to kill me yourself to relieve your pain. But she had no one, but Damon, and Jeremy and I and I cant let her lose someone else. I suffer everyday for what I've done in the past, if I could take it back, if I could stop myself, or reverse time, if I could give you back your innocence… And now, seeing you, it brings back, it brings back everything that Ive done. Everyday since you came, it feels worse, I feel guilty for being alive. I realize the effects my actions had on the world, but never experienced firsthand how it can effect an individual. I've gone through loss, and sadness and even the dark side of falling in love, but never have I felt a sorrow or remorse as intense and all encompassing as this."

I nodded, and tried to pretend like I wasn't crying. But I couldn't even catch my breath to say anything, it was like the weight of the world bore out from within me, and everything I had done to come to the moment when I would hear this apology spun through my head. It was supposed to be different, to be spat at me before I ripped his heart out of his chest, to be lost in the gags of pain from his headless body. But it was none of this, it was heartfelt, it was moving, it was genuine, and that hurt the most. My whole body was shaking now, and my makeup was smeared all over my face. This wasn't how this was supposed to be. This wasn't the same man that killed my parents. The reality of this broke me, and I fled the party, telling Stefan to excuse me. I was not worried about Klaus or revenge or anything really.

I felt completely different.
Like nothing at all really mattered. It was like I was on cruise control. It was like I had lost all my emotions.

I saw a teenager struggling to get into her car, and I compelled her to come with me. I ran into an old man walking down the street with a cane, and compelled him to join us, and we walked into the woods behind Tyler's house and I drained them of blood.
I left their bodies in a shallow grave, then walked back to the party, wiping my bloody hands on the dress and leaving the blood on my mouth.
It didn't really matter anyways, the worst they could do was kill me, and why was that so bad after all? I had only one purpose on this earth, and now that I had questioned that purpose I felt the will to live dwindle away.
And then there was the hunger, intense and burning like a gaping hole, it ate at me, I walked back to where the cars were, and spotted a potential victim, a man with dark hair standing alone against a car talking on the phone.
"Come here." I said walking blankly towards him. He spun around and I recognized him as Damon Salvatore.
"Is that your blood?" he asked. I shrugged and turned away, I could smell blood around me, all around, beating in the human bodies at the party, sweet and hot.
Stefan appeared before me then, blocking my path.
"Thats human blood on you, I can smell it." he said softly putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Yes, not all of us can drink animal blood."

I saw Niklaus slowly walk out from behind Damon.
"I will take her from here boys, thank you."

But Damon was already looking at me strangely, "Who did you kill?" he asked after a moment.

"Nobody. Nobody you care about at least."

Damon sped so his hand was around my neck, "You cant just waltz in here and first try and kill my brother and then kill innocents." he said angrily.

"She can do whatever I say she can do Damon." Niklaus said now pulling his arm from me, "But you cant just kill people when we already have the founders sending hunters after us."

I smiled, "I will now be doing whatever I want to do. You guys can keep playing your little games here. I am leaving Mystic Falls. Tonight. Enjoy this little cure search."

Niklaus looked confused from me to Stefan,"What did you say to her?" he asked after a second.
Stefan held up his hands, "N-nothing, just apologized and stuff…"

"She's turned off her emotions." Niklaus said, before reaching up and breaking my neck.