And I'm back! Gosh, I really needed this vacation, and it gave me lots of inspiration. It was not easy to figure out how to continue with this, (I hit a really bad writer's block) but now I got it all figured out.

So, here's the new chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs and that little diary of George Lockwood. (I hope you like the twist!)

March 5th

Rayna POV

My day started quite early today, with me driving to Elena's place so we could drive together at the picnic Carol Lockwood had organized. I was just dropping her there though, since I would have to join Mrs. Lockwood and a few others from the Historical society to help them sort things of the founding families and place them on the exhibition room of the Founder's Hall. Damon left quite early too, since he had to go by his place to change clothes, but I would see him at the picnic later. He had volunteered to keep an eye on Caroline, since her behavior was quite weird last night, according to him. I didn't care much, as long as he was away from the Lockwoods, I was fine with it.

Elena was just bringing Jeremy and Anna up to speed about what we had discovered at Duke University when I entered her bedroom.

"Gosh, I can't believe that Tyler Lockwood is a werewolf," Jeremy sighed, sitting on his sister's bed. "If someone else turns out to be a fairy, I'm officially freaking out."

"Jeremy, this is not a bedtime story, this is the real thing. And we're not sure that Tyler is a werewolf, only that Mason is. We also know that werewolves are extremely dangerous, especially during a full moon. Mason attacked Stefan during the last full moon, and it was pure luck that he didn't bite him," Elena scolded him.

"So, have we figured out why Mason Lockwood is still around?" Anna asked from beside Jeremy.

"No, not yet. According to Damon, he is here simply to support his nephew, but something tells me that's not all of it," I shook my head.

"Maybe Tyler knows, we can ask him," Jeremy suggested.

"He would never tell us if Mason instructed him to keep quiet," Elena shook her head.

"Maybe not to you, but he might tell me. We have a few things in common, I can try and see if something comes up."

"Absolutely not," Elena shook her head. "It is way too dangerous."

"I'm not a vampire Elena, he has no reason to hurt me. Besides, I'm just going to try and throw some hints, feel him out, not go right up to him and ask him if he is a werewolf."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Anna asked her boyfriend.

"I'll find him, then try to open up a conversation. I'll work it up from there, it should be easy enough to figure it out," Jeremy replied confidently. I thought about it. The plan had some possibility to work, as long as Tyler wanted to share what he knew.

"Jeremy, absolutely not," Elena stood her ground. "It's bad enough that you are involved in all of this, you shouldn't be getting yourself in harms way for no reason. It's not your fight."

"If there's a guy walking around, turning into a wolf every full moon and trying to kill my girlfriend, then it is my fight as well Elena," Jeremy looked at her. "You can at least let me try."

"I'll stay close to you the whole time, just in case. You might need my help," Anna added, looking protectively at him.

"Then let's go find him," Jeremy got up, Anna following him.

"Be careful, please," Elena called after them.

"Gosh, when did our lives become so weird?" I sighed, sitting down on Elena's bed. Suddenly, Stefan came from the window, and was actually surprised to find me there.

"Oh, hi Rayna," he said uneasily.

"Hello to you too. Come to fake fight with Elena again, or are you planning to do that only in front of Caroline?" I smirked at him, catching him out of guard.

"How did you-" he started, but I cut him off.

"Damon is not that easy to fool, just so you know. He told me about your fake fight at the Grill last night. What is going on you guys?" I looked at both of them.

Elena sighed before she answered my question. "We think Katherine has Caroline spying on us, to see if we are together or not."

"But why would Caroline agree to this?" I questioned them both.

"We think Katherine is blackmailing her somehow, after all that is her usual style, getting others to do her dirty work. In order to keep everyone safe, we have to pretend that we broke up until we can figure out what we can do about her," Stefan replied this time. I sighed, irritated with the vampire bitch once more.

"Okay, I'll go wait for you at the car El, give you guys some time alone. Let me know if you need my help with this plan, okay?" She nodded and I made my way out of her room, leaving the couple alone. My sentence from before came to mind again. When did our lives get so weird? Sure, I was never normal to begin with, but all this was a little too weird, and something told me that things were going to become even worse.

I drove Elena at the place where the picnic was going to take place and then, Carol Lockwood and I went to the Founder's Hall to sort through the many items we had to put in the exhibition room. "Alright, you can sort through those boxes, let me know if you have any questions, okay?"

"Yes Mrs. Lockwood," I nodded. "Is Tyler coming to help?" I asked her, and she turned to look at me with a confused expression.

"Why do you ask dear?"

"I was just thinking, he might be better around other people, occupying his mind rather than thinking about his father. It's not good to keep it all in, it won't do him any good. He is my friend, I want to help him."

"Oh, he said he was going to walk around today, so maybe he might come by, you never know. Thank you for your interest Rayna, I really appreciate it," Mrs. Lockwood smiled at me.

"He is my friend Mrs. Lockwood, I will always care for him," I assured her. She smiled at me again before heading out of the room, leaving me with the many boxes to sort through. I sighed, getting myself into work.

About two hours later, I had finished with three boxes of things, most of them too damaged to be displayed. It seemed the founding families had stored everything they had in the Hall's storage area, and the moisture had done its damage on most of the things, mainly clothes and books. It was on the bottom of the fifth box that I made an interesting discovery. I was about to toss the box away when a small book fell from it. It must have been hidden in the very bottom, and I would have missed it if the box's bottom hadn't given out and it didn't fall on my feet. At first, I thought it was yet another book, a novel that one of the town's ancestors had, but the neat writing on the first page left no illusion about what this was.

Diary of George Lockwood, 1864

It was like a gift from the heavens. I remembered how Anna had told me that Damon never liked George Lockwood when he was human, but also that Mason and Tyler's ancestor behaved strangely after he returned from the war. Maybe he was a werewolf, and maybe this could shed some light on how things worked about werewolves. I sat on one of the chairs and started reading. The first entry was on September 23rd. It read:

"I finally came home. The cruelty of the war seemed like hell, and being back home, among my people seemed like paradise. I don't deserve it though, since I'm a monster that belongs in the lowest pits of hell. I have only been in Mystic Falls for 2 days, and yet death has followed me here. Last night, it was a full moon. I have no idea what I have done to deserve this curse, but I couldn't help myself. In the morning, I wokeup in the middle of the forest, naked as the day I was born, with blood on me, but not my own. I can barely remember what happened, but the bodies of those poor people that were discovered, ripped to shreds leave no imagination. I know I did that, and yet I also know I couldn't help myself. I have no idea what I am, but no one must know my secret. Maybe this is the reason why I started this diary, to let my secret out somehow, otherwise I will go mad.

September 24th

Tonight was the first Founder's Ball. My father decided to organize it not only to honor our town, but also to honor me for returning from the war, a victor and a good son. If only he knew of my secret. I don't think I'll ever tell him, it is almost certain he would never believe me, and even if he did, he would have me killed.

The most peculiar thing tonight was the presence of that strange woman, Katherine Pierce. She has the entire town fooled with her kind ways and smiles, but she hides so much darkness underneath. To everyone else, she is an orphaned girl from Atlanta, and Giuseppe Salvatore has been kind enough to take her in, obviously a fatal mistake. From what I saw tonight, she already had both the Salvatore sons wrapped around her finger. She didn't even flinch when she mentioned her true nature, and I was surprised when she confronted me about what I really was. She even offered me the choice to help me, for a price. What should I do? It goes against every fiber of my being to help a vampire, but my sense of self-preservation is also strong. I could kill her to protect my secret, but I could also help her, and get rid of my curse. She said she had a way. Could it be true?

October 5th

Today, my father dragged me with him to a secret council meeting with a few other members of the town's founding families. According to them, the town is infested with demonic creatures, vampires who feed on our blood, killing us left and right. They said that soon we would have to act on the matter, and I agreed to help in any way I could. This was my time. I could save Ms. Katherine, and the cure to my curse will be mine.

October 14th

I told Ms. Katherine of the council's plans, and that I will help her escape, if she helped me get rid of my curse. She agreed, since she knows that the council is not far from discovering her true nature. She said that her maid is a witch, and she has a special stone that will put my curse to sleep, permanently. I hope she speaks the truth.

October 23rd

It has been decided. Tomorrow, during the Battle of Willow Creek, the council has decided to root out the vampires using Johnathan Gilbert's inventions and burn them to clean this town from the evil creatures. Since Giuseppe Salvatore is getting suspicious of Ms. Katherine, I suggested, as per her plan, to put vervain in his son's tea without him knowing about it, and if Ms. Katherine bites him, her true nature will be revealed. Despite my hate for her kind, even I have to admit that her mind works in devious ways, her plan is very cunning, though I wished it wouldn't involve putting the Salvatores in danger. Even though I had barely any contact with Stefan and I had sort of a rivalry with Damon ever since I could remember, I would never want him dead at her hands. He deserved so much more. She assured me however that, after I help her fake her death, she would leave both of them at peace, and they would continue their lives like nothing had happened. I really hoped this part of her plan would come to fruition. I would personally see to that. After all, they were people of my town, I had the responsibility to keep them safe.

October 25th

It went both good and bad on many fronts. On the bright side, the council members managed to gather all the vampires and trap them in the old Fell's church and burn them. I managed to get Ms. Katherine out in the last minute, and let everyone else die. On the bad side however, both Salvatore brothers were so in love with her, they died by the hand of their own father as they tried to set her free. The worst is not that however. It seems that Ms. Katherine had fed her blood to both of them, and since they died with her blood in them they turned into vampires themselves. They are able to walk around in the sunlight without burning however, probably a spell of Katherine's maid. She has vanished, but at least I got my end of the bargain. The Salvatores both vanished after their father died, a victim of a vampire attack. I wonder if he died by their hand.

November 15th

Today, that last of the evil beings that were roaming our lands freely were burned alive at the stakes. The council went on an evil being hunt after the devastation in Mystic Falls and gathered every woman that was indeed a witch and burned them, to cleanse this world of the evil as they said. I was there when they burned, and I saw Katherine's maid among them. it felt wrong to let her burn when it was her spell that had saved me from my curse, but I had no other choice. I have to keep my secret to myself. When we returned from the burning however, we found the bodies of several council members dead, bled to death, with bite marks on their necks. Johnathan Gilbert was among the few that survived, and he said that he didn't manage to see who was the attacker. Could there be vampires in the area still?

November 18th

She lied. Katherine Pierce tricked me. She said that the moonstone would end my curse, but last night, during the full moon, it happened again. I turned and lost control of myself. I woke up this morning in the forest, just like every other time, with no clothes on and blood all over me, not my own. The spell didn't work. Is there no end to my torment?

I put the diary down, shocked by what I had just read. I knew Katherine was a manipulator, but this was way beyond what I could imagine. That was not the important thing though. What was this moonstone George Lockwood mentioned in his diary? It seemed to be a magical artifact of some kind, otherwise, why would Katherine give it to him? It couldn't remove the curse, obviously, but I had the feeling it hid more than it did. Maybe it was still around, somewhere. I had to find it, just in case.

I hurried to hide the diary in my bag as Mrs. Lockwood came to see my work. "My dear, you have outdone yourself, very nice. We are taking a break to go eat something at the picnic, wanna come with us?"

"Sure," I nodded, grabbing my bag on my way out. I had to show this to Damon.

When I arrived at the picnic, there was no sign of Damon or Stefan, but Elena was sitting all by herself, looking all sad, no doubt part of her role.

"Hey El, why are you all by yourself?" I asked as I sat beside her.

"I'm taking a break," she sighed, just as Caroline came to join us.

"You okay?" she asked Elena.

"No," Elena shook her head.

"You know, maybe it's for the best," Caroline suggested, and I had to suppress a laugh. She was really faking it, and I wanted nothing more than to call her out on it.

"It's not for the best Caroline, none of this is for the best," Elena exclaimed, looking all frustrated.

"I don't mean to take it out on you, I'm sorry," she apologized immediately.

"You're just being a good friend," she glanced at Caroline.

"No, I'm not," Caroline muttered. "I'm not being a good friend at all."

Caroline's attention was drawn to the leaving form of her mother, a few meters away.

"Is she leaving now? Where is she going?" she wondered aloud as she watched her mom walk away from the picnic site. We both watched her as Caroline went up to where her mother was standing, talking on her phone.

"What is happening? If the Sheriff has to leave, that means that there's trouble somewhere," I assessed as Elena got up from her spot.

"Did you hear what she said before? She feels guilty," Elena whispered as we walked slowly towards where Caroline now stood alone, her mother gone.

"What's going on?" Elena asked our blond friend as we reached her.

"I don't know, something's up," Caroline replied as she started making her way to the woods.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" I asked her, but she didn't even pause to answer, she just continued her way further in the woods. I briefly wondered if this was some sort of plan Katherine had come up with to get us away form any humans so she could get rid of me, so I made sure my senses were on high alert.

"Where are you going Care, what is going on?" Elena asked her and finally Caroline replied.

"I need to be able to hear better," she replied as she continued further in.

"Hear what?" I asked my friend.

"Something's wrong," Caroline said as she strained to hear something that was beyond our hearing abilities.

"Caroline…" Elena started, but Caroline shushed her. She listened intently on whatever we couldn't hear when suddenly, her eyes went wide with fear.

"Caroline, what is it, please tell us," I urged her.

"Stefan and Damon," she whispered, and I felt my blood freeze in my veins.

"What?" Elena gasped.

"What about them?" "My mom found out about them, they caught them," Caroline replied.

"Can you find them?" Elena asked her, already looking worried.

"I think so," Caroline nodded, and started walking quickly towards another direction. We both followed her, close on her heels.

We made our way deeper in the forest when Caroline stopped, looking around frantically. I tried to reach out, try and locate my boyfriend, but my worry and fear had paralyzed my powers. I was so confused, I had no idea what to do.

"What is it?" Elena asked her, hanging by our blond friend's lips.

"They've been here," Caroline replied, her gaze drawn to a small plant close to her feet. It had blood stains on it.

"What?" Elena asked, just as I noticed someone behind her.

"What are you two doing here?" Mason asked, watching each of us closely, his eyes quick.

"Have you seen Stefan?" Elena asked him

"Yeah Elena, I've seen him. I've seen Damon too," he added, turning to me.

"Where are they?" I demanded, now furious with the man before us. And to think I had done everything I could to save him from Damon's wrath.

"You don't need me to find them" Mason replied. "I'll let your friend here sniff them out," he motioned towards Caroline before leaning to speak to her directly.

"Does your mother know what you are?" Caroline's nostril's flared as she tried to contain herself from attacking him. "I'll be happy to tell her," Mason taunted her, and Caroline took a step forward, but Mason was quicker. He grabbed Elena in a headlock, keeping her in front of him, and Caroline froze on her tracks. "Don't be stupid. Necks snap easy around here," Mason warned us.

"I can take you," Caroline replied, her eyes focused on him.

"Wanna bet?" Mason taunted her.

"Yeah, I do," Caroline replied before she vamp sped to them, getting Elena out of his arms before he could do anything and pushing him against the tree that was behind him. "Told ya," she chuckled darkly before she kicked his leg, forcing him on the ground. She kicked him on his stomach hard, the force sending him to a tree a few feet away. He collapsed on the ground, groaning. "Come on," Caroline hurried to wherever the boys were with Elena following her close, but I lingered behind for a second.

"You should know better than to mess with us Mason," I taunted him, and he turned to look at me, a grimace of pain marring his beautiful face.

"You have no chance," he groaned, holding his stomach. "She always gets what she wants." I kicked him harder, and I swear I felt one of the ribs breaking. You are an idiot," I growled at him before hurrying to find my friends. I was horrified with his words, but I stored them away for later consideration. I had more important things to think about right now.

We arrived at some ruined structure that stood out in the middle of the forest, and Caroline froze on her spot.

"What is that?" Elena asked, looking at the ruins that were not even five feet away from where we stood. Caroline didn't reply, she looked like she hadn't even listened to us. Something was going on in those ruins, and Caroline was trying to focus in on that. I motioned for Elena to keep quiet, so Caroline could listen in. After a minute of silence, Caroline gasped in horror.

"What is it? Caroline, what is going?" I asked her, getting frustrated with this whole thing.

"My mom, she's killing them," she muttered, and I saw Elena freaking out.

"What? We have to stop her," Elena said, but Caroline didn't move an inch.

"Elena, I can't. My mother can't find out about me," she shook her head, but Elena didn't stay still. She ran into the ruins to rescue them.

"Stay here, I'll get them out. If any of the deputies or your mom comes out, run and don't look back, okay?" I instructed her before I ran after Elena into the ruins.

Elena had already knocked one of the guards down and she was talking to the Sheriff when I went down the stairs. I won't let you kill them," Elena stood her ground, while the Sheriff and her deputies stood over Damon and Stefan, who looked like they had at least three bullet holes each on their bodies.

"Sheriff, let us explain before you judge them," I pleaded with her, and her eyes widened when she saw me.

"Rayna?"

"They are not like the others, you have to trust me, please," I tried to persuade her, when a noise came from outside, and the door behind me closed by itself. Caroline, she was here.

"What was that?" one of the deputies asked s he looked around, scared. "Who else is with you?" the Sheriff demanded, just as the deputy that stood over Damon disappeared, and the other fell on the ground, unconscious.

"Hi mom," Caroline said softly, coming into the light. Her eyes were still pitch black, and blood stained her mouth. The Sheriff froze at the sight, and I used the moment to levitate the gun away from her hand. She watched that the gun flew to my hands, and her face was the mask of absolute horror.

"Sheriff, you may wanna sit down," I advised her.

Elena and I helped our men get the wooden bullets out of them and Damon pulled the dead deputy's body, feeding from him to regain his strength and heal his wounds. Elena sat beside Stefan, who looked a lot worse than his brother.

"You need to drink some blood to heal your wounds," Damon said as he let the body fall on the floor.

"I'll be fine, it's just going to take a little while longer to heal," Stefan said, his voice showing the pain he had experienced.

"This," Damon stated as I helped him up, "Is quite an unfortunate situation. Two deputies dead and you," he stopped in front of the Sheriff. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You won't tell anyone, will you mom?" Caroline asked her mother, but the woman wouldn't even look at her. "Mom, please look at me," Caroline pleaded. "Look, I know that we don't get along, and that you hate me but I'm your daughter and you'll do this for me, right?" The Sheriff stayed silent, deaf to her daughter's words.

"Mom, please, he will kill you," Caroline sobbed, on the verge of tears.

"Then kill me," she turned to Damon with a dead voice.

"No!" Caroline exclaimed, looking horrified.

"I can't take this. Kill me now," the Sheriff continued staring at Damon, her voice not even faltering.

"But you were going to drag it out so painfully," Damon retorted, and Caroline almost jumped at him.

"Damon no, please!" she cried as I held her, barely able to.

"Damon don't," Stefan warned his brother.

"Relax guys, nobody is killing anyone," Damon assured us, and I knew in my heart that he was not going to hurt the Sheriff. The old Damon would have, but not this one. "You are my friend, and I don't hurt my friends," he said to the Sheriff. He looked at the bodies of the dead deputies that lay a few feet away from him. "We need to get that cleaned up," he stated, looking at me.

"What about my mom?" Caroline asked him, almost shivering in my arms.

"I promised not to hurt her Caroline, and I plan to do exactly that. Go to your house and get some of her clothes. She'll be staying at the Boarding House for some time, until the vervain is out of her system and I will be able to compel her," Damon instructed her, and Caroline relaxed, somewhat. She turned to look at me, as if to confirm that Damon was not playing her. I nodded, and she nodded back before I let her go. She sped out of the ruins, and I turned to the Sheriff.

"Come on Sheriff, we have to go."

"Why are you helping them?" she asked me.

"Even if I tried to explain, you wouldn't understand Sheriff. I can tell you this though, they are not as bad as you think they are."

We all drove to the Boarding House, the Sheriff staying silent for the entire trip. Damon locked her in the cells at the basement, until the vervain would wash out of her. Caroline arrived about half an hour later, with a luggage of her mother's clothes.

"Hey, did you get some bunny in you?" she asked Stefan who sat on the couch beside Elena, while I paced up and down in front of the fireplace.

"Yeah, I'm much better now, thank you," Stefan chuckled. Trust Caroline to be making such comments on a time like this.

"How long is my mom going to stay here?" Caroline asked as she put the luggage down.

"Three days, tops, until the vervain is out of her body," Elena assured her.

We all made our way downstairs, where Damon was talking to the Sheriff. "Can you please keep Caroline away from me?" I heard the Sheriff saying. "I don't want to see her right now." I looked at my blond friend and the hurt in her eyes was more than evident. Poor girl, her life had turned upside down in the last few weeks.

"She's your daughter Liz," Damon reminded her.

"No, not anymore," the Sheriff replied bitterly. "My daughter's gone." Caroline put the suitcase down and headed back upstairs, not saying a single thing.

"You have no idea how wrong you are about that, " Damon replied to the Sheriff as he put the suitcase in the room and closed the door on his way out. "Well, another day in Mystic Falls," Damon smirked at me and I lunged myself in his arms, hugging him tightly.

"I thought I was gonna lose you," I whispered, holding him, not wanting to let him go.

"But you didn't," he replied as he pushed me away a little to look at me.

"You will never lose me," he whispered before he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

Stefan, Elena and Caroline were sitting in the living room by the time we went back upstairs. "Thank you for not killing my mom," Caroline said to Damon.

"Like I said, your mother is my friend, and I take good care of my friends, even when they don't like it," Damon replied, holding me close.

"You want me to take you home?" Elena asked her, and Caroline lowered her head, looking guilty.

"I can't go home, " she muttered, staring at her hands.

"Why not?" I asked her.

"Because I'm scared," Caroline replied, still not daring to look at any of us.

"Why are you scared Caroline?" Elena asked her. "Caroline, you can talk to me," Elena tried again when Caroline didn't reply.

"Katherine's gonna be there and she's gonna want me to tell her everything that happened today. She told me I had to spy on you and report back to her," she finally replied, looking like a kid that had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"I know, and I've been so mad at you," Elena replied to her, holding her hands.

"But then I tried to put myself in your position so that I could understand why you would do this to me and to Stefan because he's been such a friend to you. Who did she threaten?"

"Matt, she said she would hurt him and I'm so scared of her Elena! I am so scared of her," Caroline broke down, sobbing in Elena's arms.

"You should be Care, we all should be, I sighed, desperately wishing I could get my hands on Katherine, to end all this torment she had cause on all of us.

"Why is she doing this? What does she want?" Caroline asked, looking at me.

"That is the million dollar question," Damon replied, sighing. Elena hugged Caroline, rubbing her back to soothe her. Poor girl, she had gone through so much lately.

When I finally got home that night, I felt so exhausted, I though I was going to fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, but that didn't happen. My mind was buzzing with the events that had occurred, and Damon had decided to stay at the Boarding House to keep an eye on the Sheriff, in case she tried anything. I thought about the diary that was still in my bag, and how all that fit into the whole thing. George Lockwood had been deceived by Katherine, and she had given him a moonstone to supposedly heal his werewolf curse, but that hadn't worked. Now, another Lockwood werewolf was in town, and so was she, trying to do heaven knew what, tormenting us in the process. Then, it clicked in my mind. I remembered what Mason told me just before I kicked him.

"She always gets what she wants."

Could it be? Mason Lockwood was working with Katherine? But why, and what could he get from such a deal?

I hope I'm not taking this down a road you don't like people.

As always, review, favorite, you know how it works!

XOXO