Chapter Ten: Vicki

Elena was quite relieved to spy Stefan in the corridor at school. She'd always been in two minds about freeing Damon and although he had no idea of her part in it, she wanted to make sure somehow that there had been no awful consequences.
"Hey, Stefan," She greeted him after hurrying to catch him up, "How's things?"

"Things are great," It was hard to tell whether he was lying or not because Stefan seemed perpetually serious about anything, but Elena hoped that he was being honest. "We haven't hung out much lately."

"I know. Hey, we'll be heading down to the Grill tonight if you wanted to join us. We can catch up properly there." And she could hopefully mine him for information on Damon and the rest of their history.

"Sounds great, Elena." Stefan smiled and she smiled back, pleased. You really couldn't make it up, how different the Salvatore brothers were from one another. The image of Damon when he had been presented with the chance to feed from her ran shivers up her spine and the nightmares had gotten even worse last night. She connected the nightmares to Damon now. They had gone the night he had arrived with her, and she assumed that meant vampires could change what dreams you had. They could mess with your subconscious mind anyway, that was for sure. Elena was hardly free of this conversation with Stefan when Matt approached her:

"Hey, Elena, have you seen Vicki? She didn't come home last night." Despite his determination to win Elena back and hate Stefan for competing for her affections, Matt did seem to finally be moving on and acting more normally towards her. He'd even grudgingly admitted that he liked Stefan. Elena was glad.

"No, sorry." She apologised.

"I just thought she might have been with Jeremy."

"Jeremy came home early last night. Maybe they had an argument or something." She didn't know this for sure but she would judge that to be the truth given Jeremy's strange mood last night.

"Yeah… I mean, this isn't unusual for Vick but ever since she got attacked by that animal, and she said… well, anyway, I've been worried about her since then, I guess." Matt sighed. Elena had always felt sorry for the Donovan kids. Their mother was flighty and never stuck around for long, especially since she had deemed them old enough to fend for themselves. It was small wonder Vicki had ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. Matt was too sweet and moral for that but he suffered all the same, what with having to work long hours at the Grill to get by. He spent a lot of his time and energy looking out for his big sister.

"I get it. But this is Vicki, I'm sure she's totally fine."

Elena would come to regret those words within minutes. Just as Matt had taken Stefan's place beside her as she walked through the school's corridors, Caroline came rushing up to her immediately after Matt's departure. The blonde's face was quite stricken.
"There was some kind of murder in the cemetery last night. Everything was burned so there was no evidence left, but there were a few bodies there."

She ended up calling Stefan much earlier than they were due to meet at the Grill. The guilt and worry had threatened to consume her all afternoon as more talk of the fire in the graveyard had broken out. The bodies in the cemetery were being identified and most of them were friends of Vicki's- other stoners and town throwaways. None of them were identified as being her but she was still gone. Elena had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach when she dialled Stefan's number, but she tried to keep her voice as normal as possible.

"Stefan? I… I'm helping Matt to try and find Vicki and I was wondering whether you'd seen her? You know… the fire in the graveyard and all… it has everybody worried about where she is." If her suspicions were correct then Damon was behind this- it was too much of a coincidence otherwise. She had to know.

"Uh, Elena, Vicki is fine. Well, I say fine, she's drunk. She's been with Damon all day." Stefan said this awkwardly, but she could tell he was being sincere. Vicki was alive! However, the relief was temporary, as she realised what being with Damon all day might mean.

"Is she… you know…? I think her and Jer had an argument…" She managed to stammer out.

"Elena, she's fine. She's safe." Behind the firm words she heard Stefan's plea: trust me. She let out a breath. She could trust Stefan to protect her. He wouldn't let Damon kill Vicki, she knew he wouldn't.

Damon stepped over Vicki's lifeless body on the living room floor. He'd quite enjoyed his day partying and feeding with the girl who refused to die and now it was just a matter of time before she woke up in transition. It would be fun to watch Stefan struggle to try and contain a brand new vampire. His brother had not been pleased about having to dispose of Zach's body, and he had been even less impressed to find Vicki and Damon drunk out of their minds. He'd be even less pleased to find her in transition when he got home.

It was a bottle of bourbon and a half's waiting time until Vicki would wake. During that time, Damon remembered his earlier fantasy of using Vicki as a tool to demonstrate to Stefan how weak he was without drinking human blood. His compulsion had been so flimsy that Damon had broken it simply by asking the right question and she had remembered everything about the first time he attacked her. Luckily, his own compulsion powers were fully intact. The only reason he hadn't followed through with his plan was because Elena had asked him not to hurt people. Obviously, he hadn't really listened, given what he'd done now, but it had been enough to make him hesitate.

The bones in Vicki's neck snapped back into position as she came around. She groaned as she sat up on the floor, looking about herself. Finally, her eyes found Damon, who was sat with his feet up watching her.
"Morning, sunshine." He greeted her sarcastically.

"God, I was wasted," She was still slurring a little as she grinned, but then she groaned, "Ugh, my head…"

"That's what drink and drugs do to you." Damon told her frankly, getting to his feet and standing over her. "What is it that makes your life suck so much that the only way you can brighten it up is by getting blasted on anything you can find? It's pathetic, you know that?" She looked hurt when he said that, and he felt a twinge of guilt. His humanity kept threatening to out him and he wasn't ready for that, especially not for it to be triggered by Vicki Donovan of all people.

"I just like having a good time… God what is it with this headache?" She struggled to her feet gingerly. "But if you're gonna be like that, I'm out of here." She was clearly in some state of shock because she didn't seem to recall all the biting and bloodsharing that had gone on.

"I'm not sure why you're in such a hurry." Damon said, with amusement.

"I'm so… hungry…" She frowned, "I'm starving." Damon heard the front door open in the distance and Vicki was so distracted by the strange feelings she was experiencing that she didn't notice him slip out of the room. Stefan had entered the house and his jaw was set the moment he saw Damon.

"You didn't kill Vicki while I was gone?" Stefan demanded of his elder brother immediately.

"Vicki's alive… in a manner of speaking." Damon slurred. Stefan did not look impressed by his drunken state, but Damon did not remark upon this. Self-righteous Stefan was never impressed by anything less than martyrdom.

"What did you do?" Suddenly Stefan's hand was at his throat, squeezing at his windpipe. Taken by surprise, Damon choked, but it only took him a moment to gain his composure and when he did, he reached up and wrenched Stefan's hand free quite easily, shoving him backwards across the hallway back against the front door.

"I might be drunk but I'm still stronger and faster than you Stef. Don't ever forget that." Before Stefan could say anything more, Damon was gone. He was going to let Stefan figure out what to do with Vicki himself. He wondered whether she'd find a way to complete the transition or die because noble Stefan was afraid she might hurt somebody. Damon sped down to the chest freezer in the cellar, where he retrieved one of the blood bags he'd successfully pilfered from the hospital. Opening it, he downed the blood inside. It was not as good as it would be fresh from the vein but it satiated his thirst nicely. The blood also flushed the alcohol from him, clearing his mind as he drank. Once done, he disposed of the empty bag and sped his way out of the house. As he passed the living room he could hear Stefan talking to Vicki about what had become of her.

Stefan was late to the Grill. Elena was happy hanging with Caroline instead, but she did notice the vampire's absence. He'd so become a part of their group already that it was strange not having him there, but she didn't show that it bothered her. They weren't a couple, as she constantly reminded everyone, so if he was late or didn't show it was none of her business.
"Where is Bonnie?" Elena asked Caroline, in order to distract herself from all things Salvatore.

"I don't know, I've hardly seen her outside of school since the car wash. She's been acting weird." Caroline replied. "She said something about something strange happening that day but I don't know."

"She said the water turned into fire at the car wash and that she did it." Elena hadn't known what to make of that story. Bonnie had never brought it up again, and it wasn't like her to lie. Elena supposed that if vampires existed then witches could, but she didn't feel right about demanding any answers from her best friend unless she was ready to spill the beans; after all, she and Caroline were both keeping the truth about the Salvatore's a secret from Bonnie. As if she could read Elena's mind, Caroline mused:

"Don't you think it's odd that Damon didn't come back to compel me to forget everything? It's what I'd do if I didn't want people to figure out I was a vampire." Elena's fingers instinctively found the necklace around her neck.

"You haven't told anyone so far." Elena pointed out. "Damon isn't as bad as…"

"As what? A psychotic killer?" Caroline hissed. Elena sighed.

"I know. I didn't mean that." But he had taken away her nightmares that time.

"You know it's got to have been him behind that thing at the cemetery? People do not just burst into flames. Accident, my ass." Elena happened to agree with Caroline on that and the thought had been disturbing her all day. Nobody had heard from Vicki, either, which was even more worrying. Knowing who she had been with all day wasn't helping.
Elena's eyes drifted across the Grill to where Tyler was sitting with his friends, guzzling beer and laughing without a care in the world. It didn't seem right to her that her little brother had spent all day being eaten up with anxiety about Vicki whilst Tyler, who had dated her for ages, didn't seem in the least bit concerned. Before she even knew she'd moved, Elena was halfway across the floor towards Tyler. Caroline called her name but she didn't look back.

"Tyler. Have you heard from Vicki?" She paid no mind to the meathead jocks she'd pushed out of the way to get to him.

"Why would I hear from her? Last I knew she was happily shacked up with your little brother."

"So you don't care if she's okay or not anymore, is that it?" Elena couldn't explain the anger she felt towards him at that moment. He may not always act it, but she knew Tyler was really a good person who was unfortunately the product of his upbringing. That was why so many people forgave him for some of the things he said and did, but Elena was not ready to be forgiving this time. "Your best friend is worried sick about his sister and you're in here drinking beer and acting like everything is fine!"

"Woah, Elena," She'd never lost her temper with him, or anyone really, before, so Tyler was clearly surprised, "If Vick wanted to see me she'd call."

"Really? If I was her and I was in trouble Tyler, you'd be the last person I'd call. You haven't done her any good before now." Elena reeled around and made to storm out of the grill. At that moment she was sick of everything and everyone in Mystic Falls, and the injustices of the world both mortal and supernatural. Elena didn't get very far before she walked into Caroline.

"What was that?" She demanded.

"I'm sorry Caroline, I'm just not feeling it tonight."

Elena had been counting on Stefan to show up and let them know what was going on with Vicki. She trusted him not to allow Damon to hurt her, but she didn't know how safe Vicki had been all day. The shadows of Mystic Falls by night seemed even darker than usual and Elena was relieved when she turned into her driveway and pulled up outside of her house. Turning off her engine, she sat for a moment staring at the front door. The world was a lot more twisted than she'd ever known, she was only just starting to realise that and she hardly knew anything. And people were more complicated than seemed possible; Damon had killed and hurt, and yet she sensed something in him. Something whole and good. She didn't even get the same sense with Stefan, whom she believed truly was good.

Elena was about to put her key in the door when it opened and Logan and Jenna appeared. Elena stepped back to allow Logan to exist. She did her best to return Jenna's gleeful smile as she passed by on the way inside. She didn't stick around to see them say goodnight to each other. Jeremy, for once, had stayed in for the night. He was sat between the home phone and his cell on the couch, staring at the TV without seeing it. It would be some time before his life returned to normal but she hoped that he gave himself enough time for that to happen. She grabbed some milk and headed up to her bedroom, thinking about getting into her most comfortable pyjamas and getting some of this chaos down into her diary.

She shut the door behind her and walked through the dark room, setting her milk down on the desk and reaching over to turn on the lamp. When she turned back around, it was to find she was nose to nose with Damon Salvatore again.

A/N: Thanks again to the people who have been kind enough to leave me reviews! Your feedback is special and helps me along so I'd appreciate it if you left some