The Vincentio II

Chapter Thirteen

The Truth Sort of Comes Out

Val's POV…

Elena dragged me along until I snapped out of my shock.

"What is going?" I asked.

"Damon has been hurting Caroline," Elena said as she let go my wrist.

"He has," I asked softly.

I couldn't believe what was going on. My mother had just said that he was dangerous and I didn't believe her. I continued to walk with Elena as we headed over to Stefan who was standing by the lake.

"I'm sorry, I take it all back," Elena said as we reached him. "You're completely right about Damon," Elena added.

"What did he do?" Stefan asked.

"There are bruises all over Caroline's body, bite marks," Elena said.

Shock filled me again. My mother was right and even though I hated her being right I wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"And he has her all confused and messed up in the head," Elena continued.

I said nothing because I was in shock. Caroline had got hurt and I think it was my fault. Damon was trying to get to me, I think and I didn't want that. I was hoping that it wasn't my fault but I knew differently.

"You don't look surprised," Elena said bringing me from my thoughts.

"Ah… I'm handling it," Stefan replied.

"Handling it?" I asked.

"Stefan, you should be having him arrested," Elena said.

"Elena, please," Stefan said before he looked over at me. "I… I don't expect you to both understand," Stefan said.

"I don't understand anything Stefan, so why don't you just clear it up for me?" Elena pleaded.

Yeah I would like someone to clear it up for me too, I thought.

"Look, there are things that you don't know, okay? Things that I want to tell you," Stefan said to Elena. "And you," he added as he quickly looked at me. "But I can't and I may never be able to and I just need you to trust me," Stefan said.

"Trust is earned, I can't just magically hand it over," Elena said.

"Yeah," I said in a whisper.

There was a short silence.

"I'm so sorry, I have to go," Stefan said before leaving us.

I stood there staring at Elena and Elena stared at me.

"I have to go," I said.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked.

"I have to apologise to my mother," I said I started to walk away.

"Wait why?" Elena asked.

"I'll tell you later, I promise," I called out to her.

I headed away from the Lockwood mansion and towards my house. At this rate it would take at least an hour but I didn't care. I was just hoping that Damon didn't appear. That was something he had done a couple times now.

I was lucky because I didn't run into him or anyone which was good.

I stepped inside my house and headed down the hallway. I hadn't noticed because the cold air had made my face a little numb but I had been trying to prevent tears coming forward. I kept blaming myself for what happened to Caroline.

In the living area my mother was sitting on the lounge reading a book. I knew she was waiting up for me and I didn't have a problem with that. She looked over at me and closed her book when she noticed that I had stopped moving.

I stood there as still as I could because I was in shock. I still couldn't believe what happened. She got off the lounge and came over to me. She wrapped her arms around me before she asked me what happened.

"Damon has been hurting Caroline and it's my fault," I said as the tears escaped my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

"Hey, it's not your fault," she said calmly as she ran her hand over my hair. "You didn't know what was happening," she said.

At that point I no longer cared why Damon was dangerous and why I wasn't safe around him because my mother was right he was dangerous and that's all that matter.

"But if I just kissed him when he told me too this would have never happened," I said.

"He told you to kiss him?" my mother asked pulled us apart and looked at me.

"Yeah, he was staring in my eyes and told me to kiss him. It was really weird and creepy so I slapped him and walked away," I said honestly.

She looked at me oddly before speaking.

"Has he tried this before?" she asked.

I thought about it quickly and as far as I knew he hadn't tried it.

"No, it happened that night when you told me to get your jumper," I said.

"Okay, everything is going to be okay," she said before she pulled me into another hug.

Zach's POV…

After we placed Damon in the dungeon under the boarding house I received a call from Shannon, Val's mother.

"Did you give Val vervain before the football rally night?" she asked suddenly.

"No, I haven't given her anything," I replied.

"She must have some because Damon tried to compel her and it didn't work," Shannon said.

Stefan came into the room at the same time she spoke. I looked over at Stefan. I knew he would have been listening to my conversation.

"I didn't give her any," Stefan said.

"Stefan said that he didn't give her any," I told Shannon.

"You trust him," she asked.

"Yeah, he's different to Damon," I said.

I continued to look over at Stefan and he appeared to be thinking.

"Okay," Shannon replied.

"Val has this necklace that I noticed when we were talking that night she came over," Stefan said.

"Stefan said that Val has a necklace that she was wearing that night you two came over, do you know about this necklace," I asked.

There was silence on the other end. Shannon was thinking.

"Does Stefan know what it looked like?" she asked.

"It appeared to be an item made of metal about ten centimetres in length," Stefan said to me.

I repeated what he said to me to Shannon.

"James' whistle," she replied in almost a whisper.

"James as in your son," I asked remembering that James died six months ago.

"Yeah he told me that he lost it but he must have given it to her, they were always close," Shannon said.

"So this whistle is imbedded with vervain?"

"I don't understand how because he got it from his…" she paused. "I should have known," she said mostly to herself.

"Who gave him the whistle?" I asked.

"His grandmother on his father's side, she was the one to tell me about vampires and Stefan and Damon," Shannon said.

Stefan's POV…

"His grandmother on his father's side, she was the one to tell me about vampires and Stefan and Damon," Val's mother said.

I had made a guess and guessed that Zach told Val's mother about vampires since they were close but when I heard this I started to think. If Val's mother learned everything from Val's grandmother and her mother in-law that meant either Val's father side of the family was the side that was related to Nicolette or they were hiding something big. But how could Nicolette have known that Damon and I were vampires if she never came back to Mystic Falls. I continued to think until I realised that we didn't know about her coming back to Mystic Falls because she officially never did but she was in love with Damon so she could have come back to check up on us and I had a bad feeling that she came back the night we died. It made sense if that happened but I would never know if that was the truth or not.

"It's probably best if you let her keep the whistle," Zach said.

"Okay, thank you Stefan," she said because she knew I was listening.

I continued to think. If Val got the whistle from James and James got it from his grandmother then why didn't Nicolette have the whistle when I knew her? This is the first time I had ever known of this whistle. Nicolette wasn't a jewellery type of person.

Val's POV…

I lied in my bed but I couldn't stop thinking about Damon. I was so worried that he was going to come for me. I couldn't go to sleep so I sat up and leant against the wall at the head of my bed.

There was a knock on my bedroom door. I didn't say anything because I couldn't and I didn't know what to say. The door opened and Tristan walked into the room. He turned the light on as he came over to the bed.

"I heard what happened and I decided to do something reckless," he said as he sat on the edge of my bed and faced me.

He held out his hand and on his hand was James' ring which had been at the Lockwood mansion.

"You stole it," I said.

"Technically I just took it back," Tristan said. "Instead of getting it back later I figured you would want it now," he added.

I smiled softly as I reached over and grabbed the ring. I placed it on my right hand on my middle finger like James used to do. As I looked up at Tristan I noticed that he had moved closer.

He leaned closer and kissed me gently on the lips. I kissed him back before he stood and left my room. He turned the light off as he left and even though I couldn't see the ring I continued to stare at it.

General POV…

"Thank you for staying so late," Mayor Lockwood said as he entered the room.

"Did you get the Gilbert watch and the McDaniel ring?" Sheriff Forbes asked.

"She claims it's packed away in her parents' things and the ring is missing, someone has stolen it," Miss Lockwood said.

"I can get the Gilbert watch," Logan Fell said.

"Good, we're gonna need it."

"Are you sure?" Mayor Lockwood asked.

"Five bodies all drained of blood, I'm certain," Sheriff Forbes replied.

"They've come back," Logan said.

"That's why we need to get the watch and the ring, who would have stolen the ring?" Mayor Lockwood asked.

"The only people from back in the day that knew what the ring could do were Kenneth McDaniel, William Forbes and Benjamin Lockwood," Sheriff Forbes replied. "And we are the only ones today that know what it is capable of," she added.

"Is it possible that Val McDaniel stole it? We know that she could do it," Mrs Lockwood asked.

"It is very possible that she has it now but how do we get it back, she's smart and technically she didn't really steal it if it belongs to her family," Logan said.

"True," Sheriff Forbes said.

For all they knew it could have meaning to her and that's why she took it so they couldn't just arrest her for stealing when it was on loan to the Lockwood family. She had just taken it back before they had the chance to give it back.

"We need to get that ring because without it whoever uses the watch is at risk," Mayor Lockwood said.

Val's POV…

I continued to stare at the ring until my phone started to ring. I reached over and grabbed it off the bedside table. I noticed that I didn't know the number but I answered anyway.

"Hello," I said.

"Hey Val, it is Elena," she said.

I didn't need her to tell me that it was her but it was nice.

"How did you get my number?" I asked.

"Jeremy, I asked and he gave," she replied. "He told me to tell you that he doesn't hate you because of the other night," she added.

I had completely forgotten to talk to him about that.

"Thanks," I said.

"I just called to check if you're okay, you seemed pretty shocked."

"Yeah well I'm okay now, thanks for asking," I said.

"I'm glad that we agreed on this truce," Elena said.

"Me too," I replied.

For some reason making the truce with Elena was making me like her a little more. I guess now that she's not judging me on the past and my friendship with Jeremy things is pretty cool between us.

"Is Caroline okay?" I asked.

"She's a little shaken up but I think she's going to be okay, she's missed you, you know the old you," Elena said.

"I sort of have too," I replied.

"Well good night Val."

"Good night Elena."

Elena hung up and I placed my phone back on my bedside table before I rolled over and went to sleep.

AN: The whistle does come from the side of the family that is related to Nicolette if that wasn't clear. The secret council knew about the ring being back in Mystic Falls since Val and her family came back to Mystic Falls but they didn't play a part in James' death. At first the council didn't believe that they were related to the founding family McDaniel but when they saw the ring on James' hand they knew that they were related to the original family. Kenneth McDaniel was Nicolette's father. I know I said that said that Val and Elena have their issues but with everything that is happening and everything that is going to happen they will get closer.