Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries

Jules waited for the front door to open, anticipation thrumming through her.

Tyler had insisted on meeting with his little blonde vampire, he wanted to confirm what she'd told him about Mason's death and the Salvatores for himself. His hesitation to trust her was understandable, but still, he wouldn't actually believe a bloodsucker's word over her own, would he?

She glanced behind her, scanning the trees for any signs of disturbance. They'd know by now. They would know that Tyler was no longer in the dark, and they'd have to make a move. She just hoped Brady and the others got here before they did. She couldn't protect them against three vampires by herself.

The door in front of her creaked open, Tyler's apprehensive figure motioning her inside while his eyes flicked to the stairs at his back, no doubt making sure his Mother hadn't heard anything. Wasting no time, Jules slipped quickly inside, feeling far safer within the mansion's defensible walls than with the open grounds of the Lockwood estate at her back.

As soon as he'd shut the doors of the room, preventing their conversation from travelling, Jules couldn't hold the question in any longer.

"I was right, wasn't I?" He shifted in his seat, avoiding her eyes. "Your little vampire friend and the others killed Mason."

"It wasn't Caroline-"

"She's been lying to you, Tyler!" She leaned forward, frowning. "They murdered him because of what he was, what we are." She was pleading with him to understand. The vampires were not his friends. "Do you see why you can't stay here? It's not safe anymore."

Tyler's eyes widened, shock dominant in his brown, black orbs. "I can't just pick up and leave! I'm all that my mum has left! I have a life here-"

"Had a life here," She corrected him, her voice firm. "I want to help you, Tyler. I want to teach you how to live with the curse, how to survive. As a Lycanthrope, it is both my duty and honour to help you. Please, let me."

But all he did was shake his head, and she felt her hope plummet.

"I'm alright," He tried to convince her, staring her straight in the eye. "Yes, I was freaked out, I still am, but I've had help. I made it through my first full moon and I," He shrugged. "I think I can do this."

Jules sat back, her face hardening. "You had a vampire helping you, Tyler," She reminded him harshly. "You couldn't be further from having a handle on your transformation. You need to learn what it means to be what we are, you haven't anyone to teach you-!"

"But I do!" He cut her off, abruptly standing up from the couch.

Jules felt fury rise in her and she lifted herself from the seat slowly, "Who? Your little vampire?" She glared at him hotly. "She killed Mason!"

Tyler spun around, "Caroline didn't-!" He stopped himself, running an aggravated hand through his hair. "Anyway, I wasn't talking about her. There's someone else, a human, she knew a werewolf and she's been helping me. Answering my questions."

Alarm shot through her and she stepped forward, her first thought that he must have run across a hunter, but that couldn't be. A hunter would have killed him at the first opportunity.

"Who?" She demanded. "Who is it Tyler?"

He frowned at her, a stubborn light in his eyes that she recognised instantly. Mason used to look at her the exact same way whenever she would order him to break up with his vampire girlfriend, Kathy.

"Why do you want to know? I told you, she's human." He declared, his mouth thinning.

Jules closed her eyes, knowing that she'd need to take a different approach.

"I assume that this human also knows about Caroline?" She asked gently.

He nodded mutely.

"Tyler, did it ever occur to you that she was a part of Mason's death? Because I can tell you now, there aren't many perfectly ordinary human beings that have no issues with vampires, and those that do normally have a problem with werewolves." Seeing his confused look softened her. He was too young for this, for all of it. "Werewolves and vampires hate each other, it's written in our DNA to be enemies, Tyler. Sometimes, humans are dragged into the war between our species, but they too have to pick sides."

"You know how stupid that sounds?" Tyler scoffed, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Think about it," She grabbed him by the shoulders. "Why would she help you without an ulterior motive?"

"Because she's nice?! Is that so hard to believe?!" He broke her hold on his arms. "She's been helping me. She's the one that told me that being a wolf wasn't just something that was once a month, that I'd always have it inside of me, just beneath the surface. She gave me tips on how to control my temper that actually work! She's done more for me than anyone except Caroline!"

Jules could only stare at him, trying desperately to mask her shock. Not many people knew that the wolf was always there, just beneath the surface. In fact, the information was only ever shared with other werewolves. Even their human partners, if they had one, never learned that secret. It was intensely personal knowledge. For some random human to know…even if she knew of their kind, had met one of them, it still didn't account for…

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Tyler demanded.

With effort, she pasted an impressed look on her face, letting none of her inner turmoil show. "I'm just surprised. I hadn't really believed that this human had helped you, that she would have been able to help you-"

"Well, she has." He interrupted, giving her a suspicious look at her about-face.

Jules smiled a close-lipped smile.

"Tyler?" They both looked at the door at the sound of his mother's voice.

"You'd better go see what she wants, I'll wait here." She assured him.

The young man nodded at her, immediately crossing the room to leave, shutting the door firmly behind him.

As soon as the latch clicked, Jules pulled out the mobile phone she'd managed to slip from Tyler's jacket pocket when she'd grabbed him earlier, hurriedly scrolling though his call log. Popular boy, she mused internally, seeing the amount of different calls he'd gotten over the past four days alone. Concentrating, she kept going back until she reached the date of the full moon.

Caroline Forbes - 3 calls.

Mum - 1 call.

Rei Potter - 2 calls.

"Got ya," She whispered at the screen.

Bonnie smiled at Jeremy when she noticed him walking towards her, cutting through the square.

"Hello, Bonnie."

Her head snapped up only for her eyes to narrow a moment later when she recognised the person walking beside her.

"I have nothing to say to you, Dr Martin, or you son." She glared. "I know that you're working for Elijah. Luka's questions about the moonstone's whereabouts were less than subtle," She spat.

"You'll have to excuse Luka's enthusiasm-" He began, but she cut him off.

"I don't have to excuse anything," She shot back.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Luka forgave you channelling his power without permission, Bonnie."

She flushed at the reminder. "I don't trust you," She hissed, judgement blazing from her eyes. "And I apologised to Luka for that. Are you here to apologise for trying to trick me into telling you where the moonstone is? Because if you are, forget it. I'm not interested."

"I'm not here to apologise," He looked at her calmly, without a hint of remorse. "Although I work for Elijah, that doesn't mean my son and I aren't also looking out for you, Bonnie."

She gritted her teeth together, "Spare me the witch-loyalty crap, Dr Martin, I know why you're really here. I don't know where the moonstone is."

"Really?" He stopped to look down at her closely, a silent warning in his eyes not to lie to him.

Bonnie lifted her chin, refusing to back down.

"Is there a problem here?" Jeremy came up to her side, his presence lending her the confidence she needed to break eye-contact with the powerful warlock and shake her head.

"No, we're done."

...

Rei staggered under the weight of the giant pot plant she was trying to navigate towards her car.

"This," She growled, shifting her grip on the plastic rim of the pot, "Is not my day."

The young boy that had worked the cash register at the gardening shop, had wanted her to wait until someone came to cover for him so that he could carry the huge fern out to her car for her, but she'd refused. Rei had always been a firm believer in not allowing her small stature to inhibit her in any way, a stubborn goal that she was now regretting.

Great Merlin, but she was sure the circulation in her fingers had entirely disappeared!

"Need some help with that?" A male voice called.

Rei blew some of the curls out of her eyes before looking to her right, the action trickier than it looked as she swiftly moved her feet to accommodate the new, awkward position.

Standing on the pavement, hands jammed into his jacket pockets, was a man she could only describe as 'rustic'. Hair cut ridiculously close to his scalp, the man's brow bone was over-pronounced, making his eyes seem smaller than they really were as he towered over her small frame.

"Er, no, it's fine. Thank-you." She flashed him a quick smile before returning to her task of carrying the plant to her car.

"I insist," He said, but made no move to help her.

Rei frowned. "I'm fine," She stated firmly.

"Sure about that?" A female voice from her left asked mockingly.

Rei immediately dropped the cumbersome plant and spun around; unfortunately, they were quicker, and clearly more prepared. Before she'd even fully turned, a white rag was suddenly clamped roughly over her mouth and nose, an iron arm wrapping around her stomach, pressing her tightly against the masculine body holding her.

"Get her in the car! Quick! Before someone sees!"

Rei could barely make out the honey coloured hair through her blurring vision and weakening struggles when the man holding her lifted her easily off the ground, keeping the cloth held tightly against her face with painful pressure.

Despite the growing black spot in the centre of her vision, Rei took her one and only chance when his grip loosened as he lifted her. Snapping her head back, she heard the satisfying crunch of the man's nose breaking and his howl of pain before he dropped her. She scuttled away, trying desperately to get to her feet but for some reason she kept falling to the floor, her vision blackening further.

They'd drugged her.

"Help!" She screamed, grabbing the concrete column in front of her for balance before pushing herself off, trying to get further away from her attackers.

She could hear the curses behind her and quick footsteps approaching and quickened her pace only to trip and fall to the floor painfully.

"He-!" Her yell was abruptly cut off by a punished hand slamming down on her mouth.

She reached out with her fists blindly, trying to fight them off, but her limbs felt heavy and it was…it was so dark...

...

Caroline gasped and lurched upwards, a sudden, piercing pain in her head making her cry out with agony barely a second later.

Oh God! It hurt, it hurt! She clawed frantically at the bloody wound trying to get to the bullet, but her hands were trembling and every time she moved a hot lance of pain would explode behind her eyes making her scream.

"Stop! Stop, Caroline! Stop!" A familiar accented voice yelled at her, batting her frantic hands away from her forehead and swiftly taking their place.

Without warning, small, dextrous fingers probed the raw wound before delving in deep. Caroline screamed, her legs thrashing out in front of her in some effort to stop the pain.

"Almost got it, almost got it," The soft chant was the only thing that grounded her and she sobbed brokenly, trying in vein to keep still as she cried out at every movement of those fingers. "Got it!" The overwhelming pressure suddenly vanished, the presence she had sensed hovering over her disappearing as the person drew back.

Caroline bit her lip in an effort to stop her cries but nothing seemed to halt the tears that were running unhindered down her cheeks.

"R-rei?" She hiccupped, her vision slowly clearing as she healed. The sight that greeted her made her gasp with horror, a small pale hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Oh God," She moaned.

The entire left side of Rei's face was caked with blood, her right eye bruised and swollen, as if she'd taken a hit.

Scrambling to her feet, Caroline reached for her friend only to freeze when warning emerald orbs suddenly swung round to pierce her. She frowned with desperate confusion, needing to make sure that Rei was alright, but the other girl was clearly telling her to stay where she was.

"Rei?" She called, her voice small.

Green eyes flicked forward. Following her silent prompt, Caroline followed her gaze only to gasp with shock and fear when she saw the man who had shot her outside the Grill sitting comfortably in a fold-out chair, regarding her with a sadistic smirk. She pushed herself backward until her back hit up against what she now realised were the bars of a cage.

"Finally decided to join us, did you?" He leaned forward, eyes bright with anticipation. "Your little friend here was lucky enough to have come round thirty minutes ago. Unfortunately, she hasn't been exactly…helpful. As you can see," He pointed at a silently glowering Rei. "That didn't exactly make me hospitable."

Caroline couldn't help from glancing at Rei with new, horror-filled eyes. He'd tortured her. That's what he was saying. He'd actually tortured her, a human.

"You're a monster!" She spat at him, suddenly furious.

He shrugged, "I don't think that you're one to talk, bloodsucker. Now,...how many vampires are in this town?" He demanded, staring at her coldly. "She," He nodded at the eerily silent Rei. "Wouldn't tell me. Makes me think you lot compelled her to keep all your secrets."

Caroline shot her quiet friend a panicked look, was she alright? Of course she wasn't, but why wasn't she speaking?! Why was she just staring at their captor?!

"How many?" He asked again.

She shook her head mutely only to scream a second later as what felt like acid touched her skin.

"You are one sick son of a bitch, you know that?" Rei growled, and suddenly, she was in front of Caroline, stopping any more of the vervain water from reaching her vulnerable figure.

Sky blue eyes widened and she reached forward just in time to yank her friend away from the bullet he'd just shot at her.

"Thanks," Rei murmured softly, her breathing heavy with pained breaths as she pushed off of Caroline.

"That's interesting, I barely even hurt the vamp and you're suddenly miss chatterbox, huh?" He drawled, pulling back thoughtfully.

The door behind him suddenly flung open and Jules stomped in. "He wants proof," She sighed, holding out the phone.

The werewolf smiled, his eyes coming back to them.

Before Rei had time to do anything, Caroline's eyes suddenly hardened with determination and she shoved the small, black-haired girl out-of-the-way. The bullet pierced her arm, jarring through her entire body.

She couldn't have stopped the scream if she'd wanted to.

"Why am I only hearing about this now?" Damon demanded angrily.

"Stefan was worried that you would-"

"What, kill him? Yeah, I would have. Because, as you can see, we wouldn't be having this problem if it had been dealt with my way in the first place." He hissed furiously.

Elena sent him a helpless look. Did he always have to be so difficult?

"You can't kill Tyler, Damon. Yes, do whatever it takes to get Caroline back, but don't kill him," She pleaded. "Be the better man."

"…You've got to stop doing that."

She gulped at the dark look in his eyes, "Doing what?"

"Expecting that I'll act like the better man simply because it's you that's asking," He glared.

Her heart thudded, guilt immediately spreading through her as he called her on her actions, before she could speak though, her phone buzzed.

"It's Stefan again." She explained, silently glad to have avoided having to answer him.

"Does he have a plan?" Damon demanded hotly.

Elena clicked the text.

Jules has Alaric's friend, Rei, as well. She's there with Caroline.

"Why would they take Rei?" She wondered out loud.

Elena never, not for a moment, expected the elder Salvatore, who despised the English girl and had told everyone who would listen that he didn't trust her, to react the way he did.

"They took Rei?" He demanded, swiping her phone from her hands to read the message for himself before she even had the chance to answer him. "Shit!" He swore, his eyes darkening with, Elena blinked disbelieving, worry?

Shaking her head, she pushed Damon's uncharacteristic response out of her mind. "Why would they take Rei?" She asked him, a distressed curiosity churning in her stomach at the thought of the human girl in the possession of a group of vengeful werewolves. "She has nothing to do with this. With any of this!"

First Elijah assuming that she was important enough to Elena to be included in her list of loved ones to protect, and now she's taken with the clear purpose of being some sort of bargaining tool? Not that she wasn't scared for what could happen to Rei, but she didn't understand. Taking Caroline, that made sense. But they hardly knew Rei! Apart from Alaric, she hadn't had any contact with any of them, not really. Not anything beyond mere acquaintance, at least. So why?

"Like that matters at the moment, Elena!" Damon shot her a withering look. "We've got to get them back."

Of course, she shook her head. He was right. Now was not the time to be asking, there'd be plenty of opportunity for that later, when the two girls were safe.

"I'm coming with you," She declared.

"No."

"You can't stop me, Damon. It's Caroline." She tried to stare him down but it wasn't working. Besides Bonnie, the blond vampire was her best friend, she wasn't going to just do nothing.

"What's going on in here?" John Gilbert demanded as he walked into the bathroom, his eyes flicking between them suspiciously.

The familiar bitterness of her 'father's' face made Elena turn away, hating the sight of him.

"John," Damon clapped the man on the shoulder, "First Dad duty, keep your daughter grounded."

"Damon!" She shouted after the vampire as he glided swiftly out the door, but he didn't look back.

"You bastard!" Rei hissed through clenched teeth, glaring furiously at the sadistic smirk spreading across their captor's mouth with bubbling hatred, the sound of the blonde's pained cries from behind her only increasing her rage.

Jules just turned on her heel and stalked out of the caravan without another word, the phone pressed to her ear.

Since she'd woken up, her head groggy and her concentration all over the place, Rei had had to wait as her senses slowly came back to her, the drug gradually loosing its grip on her mind as more time passed. The female werewolf, the same one that had bitten Damon's friend, had instructed her lover to find out how Rei knew so much about werewolves. Apparently, the knowledge that she'd imparted to Tyler were 'trade secrets' that she had no business knowing.

They were cowards.

Drugging her and then putting them in a cage? He hadn't liked it when she'd pointed that out to him. When she'd kept up her relentless taunts he'd broken her wrist, hoping to scare her into submission. That had only increased her anger. If they thought they could break her, they had another thing coming. Compared to the concentrated hatred of the Dark Lord's supporters, their piqued interest was nothing. He was a worthless worm, and she'd told him so. That had gotten her a grasping hand through the bars that had forced her head to connect with the metal cage, opening a gash just below her hairline.

No. No matter what he told Caroline, she had been anything but silent. But as soon as the blonde had woken, screaming with pain, Rei knew that antagonising him further would only result in the vampire getting hurt. And she'd never been able to watch others suffering, least of all because of her.

So she'd shut up.

"Watch your mouth, little girl," He snarled at her through the bars. "The vamp might be able to heal, but you can't." He pointed a sharp knife in her direction, his eyes flashing with dark pleasure. "Best keep that in mind."

She reached backwards blindly, her eyes trained on the werewolf that was counting out small wooden darts on the foldout table beside him. Instantly, Caroline's hand wrapped around her own, squeezing comfortingly. Despite their situation, the small protective gesture made her smile. The vampire had no idea who she was or what she'd lived through, but something told her that even if she did, the blonde would still have taken that bullet for her.

Rei breathed in deeply, centring herself in a way that hadn't been possible before now. Her mind finally clear of the drug's cobwebs.

"So," The man looked up at them, grinning. "Where were we?"

Emerald eyes dropped to the shirt he was wearing underneath his jacket, noting the cotton material and the way it clung to his broad shoulders.

She saw the way it would start to smoke. Small at first, tiny curling trails that would grow as the material heated. The fibres of his shirt would stiffen, surprised by the sudden heat, the way it only got hotter until the perspiration on his skin could no longer delay the inevitable. The sparks would start at his cuffs. Clinging to material greedily, licking their way up, growing with intensity and heat until it was completely ablaze with a life of its own.

It's only purpose to burn, to grown, to heat, to hurt.

"Brady!" The terrified cry of Jules broke Rei out of her trance-like state instantly, the sudden interruption making her jerk back sharply and blink as she tried to orientate herself.

The woman was trying frantically to put out the flames that had engulfed the entire upper body of her lover, his screams of pain terrible, the smell of burning flesh stinging her eyes. Several people rushed into the caravan, blankets to smother the stubborn fire and water to douse it fetched with startling swiftness.

"Rei?" The scared whisper of her name had Rei looking quickly over her shoulder and connecting with shocked, sky blue eyes.

The fatigue came quickly and with a vengeance. She sagged against the blonde, exhausted, only now realising that Caroline had obviously dragged them both as far away from the flames as possible. Her pale arms were wrapped tightly around her body, keeping her safe as best she could.

"Rei, was that-? Did you-?" The blonde seemed both awed and scared in that moment as she searched for words.

Rei darted a quick look at the group of werewolves, worried about them overhearing. To her relief, it was apparent that in their worried exclamations over their leader's burns they had forgotten about their captives for the moment. Knowing their inattention wouldn't last long, especially given the strangeness of the fire, she turned back to the blonde, unsurprised to find wide expectant eyes waiting anxiously for her answer.

"You can't tell anyone, Caroline." She spoke lowly, barely a whisper. "No one can know. I'll explain what I can to you, and only you, when we get out of here." Seeing the sudden misery in the vampire's eyes, Rei softened. "We will get out of here. They wouldn't have called someone who wanted proof unless they wanted something more than to simply kill us."

The blonde nodded silently.

"Promise me," Rei grabbed her hand tightly. "I need your promise, Caroline." Her tone was urgent now, she could hear the group behind them beginning to calm and turn their attention to what could have started the unnatural fire. "Please!"

"Shush, Rei, Shush!" Caroline whispered, looking at her with blatant concern. "Of course, I promise." She squeezed her hand gently. "You didn't even have to ask."

"Give us back Caroline and Rei," Stefan heard his brother demand.

"Give us Tyler!" Jules glared frostily.

"Tyler can make his own decisions," He spoke up, feeling the young man he was holding tense.

That's when bodies began emerging from the trees, closing in until they were surrounded.

"Go on," Damon shoved Tyler forward. "Get over there!" He smirked at the armed werewolves. "We can take them." He muttered to Stefan.

He shook his head, eyeing the flame-thrower-type device warily, "Not so sure about that."

Damon scoffed, and without another word blurred forward towards Jules.

As Stefan sidestepped a wooden projectile he caught sight of Tyler rushing into the caravan and breathed a sigh of relief. He hoped that Caroline was in good enough shape to help them out, he wasn't sure they'd live through this encounter otherwise.

"Tyler!" Caroline shouted with relief as soon as she spotted him at the top of the steps.

His mouth dropped open at the sight of both girls covered in blood, and locked inside a cage that looked like it was built to hold a rabid animal.

"There's a latch, I can't get to it," Caroline pointed out its whereabouts to him quickly.

He couldn't make himself move. She'd lied to him. Looked him straight in the eye, and lied. She'd even been a part of his Uncle's death, had covered it up! And he was just supposed to…

"Tyler!" She cried, this time panicked as she correctly interpreted his hesitation for what it was. "Tyler please! Rei's hurt!"

His eyes dropped to the small body that Caroline was holding tightly in her lap. Emerald eyes were closed, as if she were nothing more than asleep.

"Why haven't you healed her?" He demanded immediately. Jogging over, he lifted the latch, worry seizing him as he took in just how much blood was soaking her clothes.

"She asked me not to," Caroline sobbed, holding the English girl close to her before gently passing Rei's unresponsive body through the gate and into his arms.

In that moment, Tyler felt nothing but sorrow for what the blonde had clearly suffered to keep her promise and not heal their friend.

When Stefan had first mentioned Rei's name while on the phone with Jules, he'd felt nothing but disbelief. There was no way they had her. She was human! But then Jules had confirmed it, confirmed that she was there too, and suddenly he wasn't just fighting his own desire to go rescue Caroline, suddenly he was wondering, had she lied to him too?

Looking down at her bruised and battered figure, he didn't see it mattering even if she had.

"Come on," Caroline led the way, glancing back at Rei worriedly. "We need to get her to a hospital."

...

Damon watched with bewilderment as all of the werewolves suddenly cried out with pain, clutching at their heads in a way he was intimately familiar with. His theory was proved correct a second later when Dr Martin walked into the clearing, both his arms outstretched at his sides as he focused his power on bringing their enemies to their knees.

"Elijah made a deal with Elena," The warlock declared strongly. "I'm here to see it's upheld," He promised solemnly. "When your friends wake up, tell them they need to leave town." He looked directly at Tyler Lockwood, waiting for a nod of acknowledgement, before leaving just as quickly as he'd appeared.

Damon looked at the unconscious bodies at his feet with wide eyes, sharing a look with his brother before swallowing. Far from setting his mind at rest, seeing the easy power that the Original vampire seemed to wield, both as himself and through others, had only increased his feeling of anxiousness.

"Give her to me, Tyler." He glanced up at the sound of Caroline's soft voice.

She was standing next to the werewolf, her arms outstretched, and for the first time Damon noticed that the Lockwood kid was holding something tightly in his arms. Almost a second later, he realised that Rei was nowhere to be seen in the clearing.

"Now." Caroline's voice was rough as she spoke, full of tears.

Damon wasn't interested in her pathetic emotional turmoil in the least. A cold suspicion had settled in his gut as his eyes fixed back on the unmoving bundle in the werewolf's arms, the blonde's words re-running in his mind. Give her to me, Tyler. Her.

He blurred forward.

Even injured, he recognised her.

Damon reached out to touch the half of her face that was coated with blood, his chest tightening with anger as he took in the evidence of the mutts torture. However, before his hand made contact with her cheek the werewolf pulled back, curling his arms more securely around the unconscious girl as he fixed Damon with a fiery glare.

His arm dropped.

"Why hasn't she been healed yet?" He growled angrily, his eyes flashing to Caroline.

"She doesn't want that. Don't you think I would have healed her before if I could have?" She snapped.

"I just assumed you were being your normal incapable self, Barbie." He sneered at her.

She ignored him.

Turning back to Tyler, Caroline held out her arms in silent demand, avoiding the boy's gaze as she did so.

The werewolf hesitated, his eyes darting down to Rei before he reluctantly passed her unresponsive body to the blonde. Damon frowned, he hadn't even known the two knew each other, let alone enough to put that look in the boy's eyes.

"…You'll call me? To tell me how Rei is?" Lockwood asked softly, his tone wary.

After a long moment Caroline finally gave a stiff nod of agreement and, without waiting any longer, suddenly turned and blurred away, leaving Tyler and the Salvatores behind in the clearing.

"Deal with him," He ordered Stefan, glancing at the werwolf in silent explanation. "I've got to catch up with Barbie."

Before he could leave, his brother placed a retraining hand on his arm stopping him. "Damon," Stefan warned. "If she doesn't want vampire blood we should respect her wishes-"

"To hell with that!" He scowled darkly. "She's hurt. Badly." Seeing his brother's eyes suddenly narrow suspiciously, Damon hurried to throw in a logical reason for his desire to feed her his blood. "How would we even explain her injuries to the doctors?"

"Why are you pushing this Damon? You've never willingly given your blood to anyone, let alone someone you don't care for." Stefan eyed him curiously.

"Was it your fault?" Rei asked, drawing a shape in the air with her hand, a constellation, Damon realised. "Is that why you almost killed that girl?"

He gritted his teeth, he refused to tell Saint Stefan anything about what had happened the other night. He didn't need to know that he felt something more than just 'owing' the English girl, that she'd made an impression on him last night, that he found himself actually liking her.

"If you go anywhere near my blood, I swear to Merlin, I'll castrate you, Salvatore." Nothing but blind fury filled those words. No fear, no anxiousness. He could hear her heart racing a mile a minute but the look in her eyes showed nothing but rage.

Damon glared at the knocked out werewolves lying at their feet furiously. The urge to kill them and be done with it hard to resist. He wrenched his arm free of his brother's grasp.

"Just handle this," He demanded before blurring away.

He caught up with Miss Forbes in no time, just before she turned onto the main street of Mystic Fall's hospital actually. Without giving her a chance to argue or time to fight him, Damon plucked the unconscious Rei from her arms, his bloody wrist pressed against her mouth a moment later.

"Damon!" He heard the blonde's furious shriek from behind him but paid it no attention. "What are you doing?! She's in no danger of dying and she doesn't want to be healed with vampire blood, you idiot!"

She groaned loudly, "I can't believe I'm about to say this," She muttered under her breath before continuing. "What's with the 'woe be me' attitude, blue eyes?"

He watched her features closely, the effects of his blood already apparent as the swelling around her eye rapidly disappeared, her split lip knitting itself together while the bruises on her cheek and neck vanished.

"No, she wouldn't have died," Damon looked over at a furious Caroline with a satisfied smirk, pleased to have gotten his way in the end. "But she would have been looking at a long recovery. Did you even know that two of her ribs were broken?"

The blonde's face dropped at that, and suddenly, reluctant appreciation that he knew she'd never give voice to crept into her eyes, making him laugh.

"You're welcome." He passed Rei back to her without having to be asked.

Then he was gone.

"Bonnie," Elena whispered softly, hugging her pillow to her chest as she sent her best friend a perplexed frown. "What are you looking for?"

Ever since Stefan had left them to go knock on Caroline's door, the witch hadn't been able to stop glancing behind them with searching eyes, her expression hopeful as she looked down the street.

Bonnie spun back around, an apologetic smile on her face, but before she could explain Elena heard Stefan's muffled prompt.

"…After what you've been through tonight, I figured you could use some company…"

Sharing a small grin with Bonnie, the two of them ducked around the corner.

"We're going to slumber it," Elena smiled, walking through the Forbes' open door.

Caroline wore an expression shock combined with an almost helpless happiness as Bonnie appeared from behind her.

"We haven't done it in ages," The witch said gently, holding her own pillow under her arm.

The blonde suddenly let out a laughing cry as the two of them wrapped their arms around her and for the first time in days, Elena felt content.

"…Is this a private party, or can anyone join?" The unexpected, softy accented voice startled her so badly that Elena actually jumped back, breaking the three-way hug immediately.

The shock that she felt when she looked up to see Rei Potter leaning casually against the open doorway was impossible to measure.

The foreign girl was wearing skinny jeans and a huge, white sloppy jumper that came halfway to her thighs. Dark hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head while escaped curls framed her make-up free face.

"Rei?" Her absolute shock at the girl's appearance at the Forbes' residence was plain. "What are you doing here?" She sent a covert questioning glance at Stefan, but he shook his head telling her he had nothing to do with this.

"Rei!" Suddenly, Caroline darted forward, grabbing the English girl in a close hug. "You're alright! I know that when I dropped you off at your house you said you were, but I was so worried and now-" She let out an emotional sob.

Of course, Elena realised, the two would have bonded over their awful encounter with the werewolves. She smiled to herself, happy to have solved the mystery.

"I'm glad you could make it Rei," Bonnie stepped forward with a relived smile. "I was worried that you wouldn't get my text in time or you wouldn't feel up for a sleepover-"

Her head snapped to the right, looking at her best friend with surprised confusion. Bonnie had texted her?...When did they even have time to exchange numbers?!

"Are you kidding?" Rei laughed, linking her arm with Caroline's as she walked further inside, the blonde at her side beaming at all of them happily. "Free junk food, alcohol and movies? That's my kind of night. Though, I practically raced over here and totally forgot to bring pyjamas-"

"Say no more!" Care interrupted, lifting a hand to stop her. "You can borrow some of mine. This is going to be fantastic!" She clapped her hands enthusiastically, and if there was a lingering sadness in her blue eyes from the events of the night, it was fading.

Elena coughed, "It's nice to see you again, Rei." The formality of her own words compared to the way Bonnie and Caroline had spoken to the girl couldn't have been any more apparent in that moment. She caught the concerned look that Stefan shot her from the doorway with a wince.

Bright emerald orbs, that somehow lost none of their impact in their lack of makeup, settled on her. "You too, Elena," Rei smiled.

"I'll see you girls later," Stefan called from the doorway, waiting until Elena gave him a nod before leaving.

As soon as the door shut, a Cheshire grin spread across Rei's lips, shocking all of them. From seemingly nowhere, she drew out an enormous, unopened bottle of Tequila.

"I hope you have lemons Caroline because I'm determined to consume my own body weight in margaritas tonight," With a spin and a laugh, she darted off down the corridor in search of the kitchen.

"Brilliant," Care grinned with admiration as she stared off in the direction the fey-like girl had disappeared. "Absolutely, brilliant!" With a shout to tell them that she'd get the ice from the freezer, she was gone.

Knowing that they wouldn't have privacy for long, Elena grabbed Bonnie by the elbow and pulled her into the adjoining room.

"Elena, wha-?"

"You invited Rei?" Elena asked quickly, making sure to keep her voice quiet so they wouldn't be overheard.

The witch looked at her with confusion, "Of course I did." She stated, as if that should be obvious.

"But," She ran a hand through her hair, or at least tried to until she remembered that this was one of the rare times she was wearing her hair in a ponytail. "I thought this was supposed to be like old times. You know, just the three of us?"

She'd been expecting a night of innocent fun, filled with reminiscing, but now…

Bonnie softened, "I'm sorry Elena, I forgot that you hadn't spent as much time with her as Care or I-"

"But you haven't though!" She interrupted her, finally giving voice to the confusion that had been building ever since Elijah had added Rei's name to her list of people to be protected.

"You're right, we haven't known her long, but she's an easy person to like. Give her a chance, Elena," Bonnie smiled at her hopefully.

As soon as her best friend acknowledged that she had a point about them not really knowing Mystic Fall's newest resident, Elena felt the tension leave her.

She was being silly and overly possessive for no reason, she chuckled inwardly at the panic she had been feeling a second before. Caroline was one of the world's most friendly people and she herself had admitted that the English girl was strangely impressive, was it any wonder that Bonnie had evidently felt the same?

"Yeah, of course," Elena shook her head with a sheepish smile, "I'm making far too big a deal out of this. Come on, let's go join them."

I've had that last scene, where Rei shows up at their girl's night to the complete bewilderment of Elena, in my head ever since I first started this story.

Did you like? Not like? I'd love to hear ;D