I woke up that morning on my bed, in my room. I sat up, the bed swaying a bit, since it was suspended from the ceiling, not actually touching the carpet, feeling exhausted. Most of my things were here…had the past few days all been a dream? Had the 20's dance nightmare never happened? I looked to my cell phone on her nightstand and realized it was mid morning.

But I knew it was all real, and that's why even after sleeping I felt like dead weight, ready to collapse. My father…my best friend…

I closed my eyes and gulped. I remembered how Uncle Kol had carried me up to my room last night while Uncle Elijah had put things back for me. The two of them had put me to bed, and I let them do all of this, not able to speak, or move, or even cry anymore. It just hurt too much. Too much to even grasp the concept.

Uncle Elijah had stayed with me, and Uncle Kol had gone to stay with his sister. When I fell asleep, my uncle was beside me, looking down at me like I needed to be protected…as if it were his job to be a father to me now. However, when I woke up, he was nowhere to be found. Both men had vanished.

I pulled on a simple lacey magenta tank top, blue ripped skinny jeans, my old black leather jacket, and my old black boots, and began to head downstairs when I heard my aunt throwing papers around and knocking things off of the table in the den. I shut my eyes and knew better than to continue down the staircase to where she was. She'd cover up her actions the minute I walked in that room because not only did she not want to appear weak, she didn't want to burden anyone else in our family then we already were.

Suddenly, I heard Damon in the house, talking to my aunt, and I knew shouldn't eavesdrop, but I did anyway.

"You should never sneak up on a lady." I heard Aunt Bekah trying to regain her composure. They shot retorts at each other, and then there was a struggle, a shot, and I heard Damon run off the property.

I knew I should go help my aunt, but something held me back…like self-preservation. I instead zoomed upstairs and dove into my closet where there were no windows or anything nearby. After hearing humans enter my house, I wondered why I was cowering in an empty storage room, when I should be going after someone else.

I got up, and understood there was no clang against my neck. Which meant my necklace was still gone. I'd thrown it at…him…on the night of the dance the other night. Man, it seemed like ages ago. Too much had happened since then. Alaric…Elena…my father…Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. I felt incomplete without that necklace, and panic flooded through me when I realized I hadn't the faintest clue where the gold chain may be. I heard voices coming up the stairs then.

"There was another girl. She's young. But don't fall for her childish tricks, she's a monster, and worse than any of them, since she'll be able to feed off of innocent people in the high school for 4 years if we let her. Be careful, and leave no door unchecked." My heart pounded, and I threw open the closet door, threw open my window, and leaped out, just in time, as I thought I saw a flying stake narrowly miss me.

I was running and running until I got to the Gilbert house, and I couldn't sense a soul inside, so I hid in there to catch my breath.

When I was sure I had lost the council, I stepped out of the empty, unlocked home and was walking hurriedly down the street to find someone to tell me where my aunt was…or better yet, find my so-called friends and beat them to death. Especially Damon, for going after my family.

There was a chill in the air, and I wasn't looking when I ran into a tall broad figure. Immediately I tensed, but it was simply Ben.

"Adeline. Are you sure you should be up and about today?" he looked concerned, his hands on my shoulders. He seemed ready in case the waterworks starting flowing. But something kept me from sobbing. A part of me had been closed off from the rest, and I just couldn't focus on my father and the past week anymore. I couldn't even show much emotion. I was like a selfish statue, a spying, evil little emotionless doll. Everything hurt, and I wished there was a real switch so I could go into ripper mode. But I wasn't even capable of doing that. My humanity was choking me to death, and I had never even been a human.

"Ben." I simply stated, the first thing I'd said all day.

"What's wrong? Don't you know the council is running around rounding up all vampires today?"

I nodded slowly.

"They just attacked didn't they?"

I nodded once more, wordlessly.

"We have to get you somewhere safe then."

"As soon as I get my aunt back." I swore.

"They got her?" Ben's eyes opened so wide, and his piercing eyes reminded me so much of a person who I was in an awkward state with at the moment, so I looked down. Ben crushed me to him. "I'll find her. It's too risky for you to go."

"Like hell. I'm not defenseless, and it's not your problem. Plus, I'm not letting you be captured either."

"They don't know I'm a vampire though." Ben shook his head. "I haven't been here nearly as long as all of you."

"They know enough to know your relations with me. They'll at the very least suspect I've been feeding from you." I sighed.

"Adeline-"

"Ben, please. I need to be left alone today. I need to do this by myself. It's my family problem, not yours. Just promise me you'll be safe."

He looked at me for a long time, and sighed. "You're not going to let me go anyway, are you?"

"Nope. I'll snap your neck if you try." And my threat was a promise.

He groaned. "Fine, I'll let you make your own choice. But if I don't see you in the next 24 hours, I'm going after you."

I shrugged. Seemed fair enough. He kissed me on the cheek, and was gone with a gust of wind.

I tried for hours to find them, but every 10 minutes I'd be diving into bushes or restrooms or whatever because I saw a council member, so I didn't get far at all. I was returning to the mansion late at night when I passed by the Gilbert house again, and saw Elena's room light was on.

Aggravated, I marched in, and up the room, not even bothering to tell them they should learn to lock their doors. And of course, who should be there but Elena, Jeremy, and Stefan. Jeremy looked at me and left the room, knowing he'd only get in the way, and Stefan stood up trying to shelter Elena.

I narrowed my eyes. "How are you still alive?"

"Adeline wait-"

I didn't wait for him to finish, and pushed past him to Elena, pinning her up against the wall of her room, choking her.

Stefan got up, but a simple kick managed to knock him down again. "I could easily kill both of you. Take two legs of that chair in the corner there, and stab them into your hearts. You'd both be dead."

"How did you-"

"Oh come on Ripper." I snapped. "You don't think I can't smell three vampires in this room right now, including myself? I'm an Original. You're a mere mouse compared to me."

"Adeline, don't do this." Elena managed to gasp, struggling against my arm feebly. Strange how I was supposed to be weak for a vampire, but when I got angry to the nth degree, I'd be unstoppable

"Ads. You don't want to be that girl you were months ago, back in Chicago."

I remembered how well Stefan and I had started out. We had despised each other and used each other like parasites.

"Drop it. It'll be okay. I'm still like your older brother right? You won't lose Elena, or me, or Damon, or anyone else." Damon's name made me think of the awkward rebound kiss last night and I snarled in Elena's face, "You just love toying with people huh? You little bitch. I can't believe I'm related to you. Sad excuse for a human- oh wait. You're not human anymore. You get to live forever." I mocked, flames licking at insides, burning me with anger and grief. "Why should you get to live when he didn't!" I screamed, tears pouring down my cheeks suddenly. I slammed her head back against the wall and she moaned dizzily.

"Adeline stop it." Stefan demanded. He wasn't like Damon who would've ripped me off and fought me for going after Elena. Damon was ruthless, and so was I. But I wasn't in the right reason. If I was, I would've been acting more rationally like Stefan does.

I needed to stop crying all the time. After tonight, there would be no more tears. I'd never shed another for any other being on this planet ever again. Getting close to people only resulted in loss and pain.

"I'm sorry Adeline! I'm so sorry about your father." Elena whispered.

I suddenly lowered my head and referring to Stefans's speech murmured, "You promise?"

Stefan nodded. "Promise."

I let Elena go and collapsed to the ground, Elena immediately pulled me into her arms and comforted me like a mother would, and then I thought, the closest she'd ever have to real children of her own was her brother and I. I wrapped my arms around her and quiet tears slid off my face. Stefan hugged me from the other side, and suddenly I was trapped inside all these feelings of love and family.

I let it stay for a minute or two, but it became suffocating to the point where I just had to go home at that very second.

My Aunt was supposedly safe now, according to these two, and I managed to leave quickly. They understood I needed to find my aunt within the next hour, or I'd explode.

I used the back door, since it was quicker to get upstairs that way, and I figured my aunt would be in her bedroom or something, but she wasn't. I was just exiting her room when I heard her downstairs. "How dare you save Caroline over me." I held my breath, confused as to who she could be talking to.

I crept downstairs slowly as I heard more of the conversation. It was Father! He was alive!

He seemed…aggravated at my aunt though. Probably for killing Elena, but still. She had good reason, and I would've probably done the same. He picked lust over love. He picked a girl who was spoken for, over his sister. Someone he's known a few months over one for over a millennia?

"You don't know anything about family!" she cried at him, and I wondered if this is how children felt when they heard their parents fighting. It was my father and his sister, but then again, if my parents ever got in close proximity, one of them would end up dead.

I heard Dad scream, and then him saying for her to drop what I guessed were the blood bags from Elena.

"I mourned you. We all did. My heart broke when I thought I'd never see you again." he seemed to care more for the key to his hybrids however, but she continued through her cries. "It's always been me. Not Finn, not Elijah, not Kol, not even Adeline…me. I loved you through everything and you didn't even care."

He screamed at her and I jumped.

I knew he attacked her after she destroyed the bags, because I heard her choking sounds from the middle of the stairs.

"From this moment on, you're not my family. You're not my sister. You…are…nothing." He snapped her neck, so she fell unconscious to the ground, and he walked out. I watched him heading out and I reached the bottom of the stairs, glancing for a moment at my aunt, wanting to help her, but knowing until she woke up, it was futile, and I went after my father.

"Daddy!" I yelled and he stopped, turning to me.

"What?" he seemed annoyed.

I took a step back. "You're scaring me." My old British accent somehow popped in for an instant.

"Too bad, so sad. Seems like you've been getting quite a lot of scares lately darling."

My eyes welled up with tears, but I knew they'd do nothing for him, so I held them back, and after my vow to myself, only let my vision blur.

"I lived my worst nightmare for the past day, and you think it's nothing? I thought you died! I regretted everything when I couldn't save you! I've always taken your side, and I regretted it when I didn't, because I thought I'd never even hear your voice again! Uncle Finn dying was hard enough, and I barely knew him, but losing you…I was ready to shut down completely. And you don't even care?" I cried out.

"Stop with the waterworks, you're just as bad as Rebekah." He said dully. "Even your mother is stronger than you are."

Why was he so cruel all of a sudden? I wiped at my eyes, and realized salty tears were all over my fingers.

"Daddy-"

"If you can't stand by my side always, I have no use for you. I don't need you Adeline. You only hold me back."

My heart panged and I stumbled backwards again. What parent would say that to their child?

He began to walk off again, but I couldn't hold back and watch him walk out of my life again, and grabbed onto his torso like a little kid would and cried into his shirt.

"Don't go. Dad, I need you." I sobbed. I'm sorry." I whispered. "I'm so sorry." He looked at me for a moment, turned and embraced me back for a moment.

"You're still my daughter, no matter what." He reminded me gently, and I sobbed, knowing he was going to desert me the second I let go. So I held on.

A/N: Yay! New chapter finally! And back to first person if you read the bonus chapter. I'm so glad to be back! For all returning readers, I hope you enjoy, and to all new ones- JOIN THE BANDWAGON OF ADELINE MIKAELSON AWESOMENESS. lol, but seriously ;).

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