AN: This scene contains sexual assault, I will put a trigger warning in the text where it happens so you skip it, if you want/need to.

Animal attack

I said my goodbyes to the group not long after, I was getting tired. I didn't have a car right now as it was getting repaired, something about the ventilation system, I didn't really mind though. I liked walking. It helped me free my head. Twenty minutes later I reached my house, located at the edge of the forest. The lights were on, indicating that my dad was back from one of his business trips.

"I'm home!" I said loudly upon entering.

"In here!"

I followed my dad's voice into the kitchen, where he was just filling a plate with spaghetti.

"You want some?" he asked pointing to the pot which was still half full.

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm fine, I ate something at the Grill. When did you get home?"

I put my bag down and sat on a barstool in front of the large kitchen island.

My dad looked at the clock above the fridge, furrowing his brows slightly like he always did when he tried to figure out how much time had passed.

"Um… an hour, maybe two," he said shrugging his shoulders. "So tell me, how was your first day of school?"

He moved to the dining table behind me to eat and poured himself a glass of wine. I turned on the stool to face him again.

"Ok, I guess… same old, same old." I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly and tried to think of something I could tell him. "We got a new student in our year, Stefan Salvatore, he lives with his uncle, Zach Salvatore."

I watched as my dad looked up. "Really? I don't remember Zach having any siblings," he wondered.

"Maybe they're distant relatives?" I suggested and tried to suppress a yawn.

My dad saw it of course.

"Go to bed, Lori, before you fall asleep on the stool," he said chuckling and turned on the television.

"Good idea," I said grabbing my bag and getting up. "Goodnight Dad."

I was almost at the bottom of the stairs when I got called back by my father.

"What is it?" I asked. My dad pointed to the television. The news was on. A couple has been found, killed by an animal.

"I don't want you walking alone at night," he said with a stern voice. "Get one of your friends to drive or accompany you home, you understand?"

I rolled my eyes. Naturally, he would be overreacting.

"Seriously? That was one animal attack, I don't think it's going to wander into town," I said a little annoyed. I liked my walks home.

"It's not up to debate, Lorraine. Either you get someone to accompany you, or you stay home." His tone left no room for protest.

"Fine," I said annoyed. "I'm going to bed."

I walked up the stairs purposefully a little louder than normal. I hated it when he went into full parent mode. Especially given the fact that he wasn't even home most of the time. I threw my bag onto my bed and went into my bathroom to get ready for the night. When I got out again, wearing my short pajamas, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, a tingling sensation, as if someone, or something, was watching me. I turned around to the window, looking out, but could only see the darkness of the forest.

I shook my head at myself. It was clearly time to go to bed when I let the news and a figment of my imagination get to me.

"Bonnie you've got to take me to the party tonight," I pleaded as we were on our way to History. "Please!" I added giving her my best puppy-dog-eye-look.

"Ok, ok, no problem," she said laughing. "But why? I thought you wanted to walk."

"I still do," I groaned. "It's my dad, he freaked out about the couple that got attacked by this animal a few days ago. He doesn't want me out alone at night anymore, and he said that if I have nobody to get me there and back again, I couldn't go."

"Yeah, my dad's also freaked out a bit about it," Bonnie said sighing. "Did they say what kind of animal it was?"

"Hey guys!" the blonde whirlwind named Caroline called, as she hurried over to us, interrupting our conversation. "We're still good for tonight, Bonnie?"

She had a big grin plastered on her face, she was genuinely excited for tonight.

"Sure," Bonnie said smiling. "We'll pick up Lori on the way."

"Didn't you want to walk?" Caroline asked, a confused look on her face.

"Long story," I simply answered.

"K," Caroline said, a smile back on. "See you later then!"

She was gone before any of us could have placed a word. Bonnie and I shared a look before we entered the classroom chuckling.

"The battle of Willow creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" Mr. Tanner asked. I looked down not wanting to be called upon.

"Ms. Bennet?"

I looked to Bonnie who seemed a little startled.

"Um.. a lot?" she said with a cute smile, making a few people chuckle. "I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

I was barely able to contain my laughter. Mr. Tanner however was not amused.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennet. Ms. Tate!"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course, he had to call me next.

"Maybe you could help out your friend here?" Tanner looked at me expectantly.

I gazed over to Bonnie before shaking my head in a defeated manner.

"I bet it wasn't a nice round number that's easy to memorize?"

I could hear Matt cough behind me as he tried to cover up a laugh. Something Mr. Tanner didn't miss either.

"Mr. Donovan! Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," he said calmly.

I could tell Tanner was starting to lose patience, and I swallowed when he stepped in front of Elena.

"Elena, surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significant historical events?"

Elena looked up helpless.

"I'm sorry, I- I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena, but the personal excuses ended with summer break," he snarled.

She looked down, clearly hurt by his words and the reminder of her parents' death. Jerk.

"There were 346 casualties unless you're counting the local civilians," Stefan piped up, making heads around the classroom turn.

"That's correct," Mr. Tanner said a little surprised. "Mister…"

"Salvatore."

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" Tanner asked interested.

"Distant," Stefan said.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle," Tanner said moving back to the blackboard.

"Actually, there were 27, Sir," Stefan spoke up again. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner."

They were audible gasps in the classroom and I myself was chuckling along with most of my classmates at how our dearest teacher was being schooled by the new guy. Something the former didn't appreciate at all.

"I'm leaving!" I yelled after I heard Bonnie honking outside my house.

"Be careful!" Dad reminded me from the living room, where he was working on his laptop.

"Yeah," I said as I walked out the door.

I jumped in behind Caroline.

"You're seriously gonna wear that?" Caroline asked with a disapproving look. I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a floral blouse under a leather jacket, with a pair of black skinny jeans and ankle boots.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked as I put on my seatbelt.

"Nothing," Bonnie said, sending Caroline an exasperated look.

"What?" Caroline said, apparently annoyed that Bonnie wasn't on her side. "I'm just saying that she can do better! There are gonna be a lot of boys out there tonight, there's nothing wrong with showing a bit more of your curves!"

I rolled my eyes at Caroline's attempts to get me a boyfriend.

"See the positive side," I said with a grin. "That way, there'll be more for you"

We arrived shortly after. Half the school was already there. The site had been prepped beautifully with fairy lights and a huge bonfire.

"I'm gonna see who's around," Caroline said smiling before disappearing yet again.

"I'm gonna go look if Elena's already here," Bonnie said.

"What? You're not gonna use your witchy powers to do that?" I asked jokingly, wiggling my eyebrows. Bonnie rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Ok, let's try it then," she said playing along and closing her eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I called out interrupting her. "Don't you need something from the person you're looking for?" I asked as I rummaged in my bag. "Would a hair tie work?"

Bonnie snorted next to me. "I don't think so."

"How about a picture then?", I said as I pulled out my wallet which had pictures of all my friends inside.

I could see the surprise on Bonnie's face.

"You still got those?" she asked in amazement.

"Of course," I said grinning. "So that I have a reminder of you, wherever we might be in the future… Too cheesy?"

Bonnie looked back at me, her head tilted to the side.

"No, it's very sweet actually," she said with a warm smile.

I placed Elena's picture into her palm, which she then covered with her other hand, before closing her eyes again.

She opened them seconds later with a shocked face, letting the picture accidentally fall to the ground.

"You ok, Bonnie?" I asked as I picked it up.

"Yeah," she said absentmindedly, before shaking it off. "I don't think it worked though."

I put the picture back into my wallet, still a little worried about my friend.

"I think I'm gonna grab me something to drink, if you see Elena, tell her I'm looking for her," she said heading off.

And with that, I was left all alone.

I tried to follow Caroline's example and started mingling with the crowd, talking my way through the people around me. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Tyler, Vicki Donovan all over him. I rolled my eyes, it was going to be a bitter awakening for her, once she'd realized that Tyler wasn't the relationship kind of guy. He enjoyed the attention his father's status gave him way too much. Matt stood a little further apart, talking with some other guys of the team. He was clearly uncomfortable seeing his sister with Tyler though.

I turned back to Dana, who just told me about her summer down in Florida, but my attention soon got caught again by the arrival of someone else.

"Oh no…" I muttered, shifting my position in hope of being hidden from his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Dana asked, turning around, allowing Duke to see me. Our eyes met and I could see him moving through the crowd towards us. Shit.

"It was nice catching up with you Dana," I said quickly, already shifting on my feet. "See you at school tomorrow?"

I didn't wait for her reply and literally fled from view.

I noticed Vicki had gone, probably off to get something to drink. I took the opportunity and quickly hid behind Tyler.

"Hide me," I said, as he looked down at me, a confused look on his face.

"What the hell, Lorraine?" he muttered before turning back to the crowd, looking for the reason I was now cowering behind him.

I heard him scoff. "Are you hiding from Duke again?"

"Yep," I said, looking carefully past him to see if I dodged him successfully.

"Why don't you just tell him to get lost?" Tyler asked, slightly annoyed at my childish behavior.

"Wow, I've never thought of that before!" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm, slightly relaxing as I saw him move over to the other side of the grounds.

"Lorraine? What are you doing here?"

I turned to see Vicki, clearly upset about me standing so close to Tyler. Just what I needed.

"Hi, uhm, Vicki," I said, taking a step back and away from Tyler. "Great to see you!"

Vicki just raised an eyebrow, which I guessed meant that she wasn't that excited to see me.

"Um… I'm just gonna…go," I said pointing in a random direction, "and let you go back to… um… whatever. Bye!"

I walked away cringing from the awkwardness. I looked around, searching for my friends, and saw Elena walking with Stefan towards the illuminated wooden bridge, but no sign yet of Bonnie or Caroline. Walking a little further away from the bonfire, I found them standing with Matt near the tree line.

"There you are!" I said happily as I joined them. "I've just spent the last 15 minutes avoiding Duke Douchebag."

Matt rolled his eyes while I heard Bonnie and Caroline giggle.

"He's not that bad of a guy, you know?" Matt said.

"Yeah? Well, I may change my opinion of him when he learns the meaning of the word ‚no'," I answered flatly.

Above us, Stefan and Elena came into view on the bridge.

"She told me she needed time," Matt said bitterly, taking a sip of beer. "Turns out she needed some other guy"

"Relax, Matt," Caroline said in a sympathetic tone. "It's not like they are together-"

"Yet," Matt cut her off murmuring.

"You're missing my point! He's the new guy, she's single, maybe she just needs to see that he isn't all that she wants and needs, and she'll come back to you," Caroline said in a hopeful voice.

I looked at Caroline with raised eyebrows. I had no idea where she got this optimism from, because from what I saw, Matt shouldn't get his hopes up.

The pair looked over at us, surely noticing our gazes.

"Yeah, well it sure doesn't look that way," Matt spat.

"Elena means well," Bonnie said softly. "She doesn't want to hurt you, but she misses you as a friend."

"I need a refill," he answered leaving the group. On the bridge above us, Stefan was leaving too.

"You know what, I'm gonna get a refill too," Caroline said alert all of a sudden.

"I'm coming too," Bonnie said sighing. "Lori?"

I shook my head smiling.

"I'm good for now. Besides, someone told me recently that I make bad decisions when I drink," I chuckled.

Bonnie nodded, smiling at me, and left with Caroline.

Once I was alone I let out a long sigh, leaning on the balustrade. It was hard and tiring to see Matt still hung up on Elena. His words from yesterday came into my mind again. I see you like a little sister. That one hurt for sure. I had a crush on him since before he started dating Elena, and while it had been hard to watch, it had been bearable because he'd been happy at least. Seeing him so miserable was heartbreaking.

"I think I'm gonna need that drink after all," I mumbled to myself.

I was walking back to the bonfire when I got pulled off the path and pushed against a tree.

"Ouch- What the hell?" I growled. I looked up to see Duke Douchebag. Great. Exactly what I needed now.

[TW: sexual assault]

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" I asked angrily as I pushed him away. Well, I least I tried to. He was a wall.

"Come on," he murmured, getting uncomfortably close to me. "You know you want it too."

I could smell the stench of alcohol coming from his mouth and grimaced. I tried to duck away and leave, but he grabbed me and strengthened the grip on my arms, immobilizing me.

"Duke, let me go," I yelled now more agitated. He was completely drunk, and I was actually scared of what he would be capable of in this state. He didn't react at all, but held my arms up, grabbing both with one hand, while the other wandered down to my waist, squeezing it.

"Come on," he mumbled again, nuzzling his face against my neck, kissing the skin there, making me shudder.

He seemed to think of it as a sign to continue and pressed his waist against mine, while his free hand moved up towards my breasts. I tried to wriggle free, but he just intensified his grip on my wrists which made me wince in pain.

"Let me go, you're hurting me!" I ordered but it didn't deter Duke in the slightest. His hand grabbed my right breast and squeezed as he bit and sucked on my skin, for sure leaving a mark. Once he was satisfied, his hand went up to my face and turned it so I was forced to look at him.

"You're mine," he said, his voice husky and dark before he pressed his lips to mine.

I shrieked and tried to get him off of me. The stench of alcohol filled my nostrils as he assaulted me and made me almost throw up. I could feel his tongue probing for an entrance, but I kept my mouth tightly shut, as I kept trying to move my head away from his.

He obviously wasn't pleased by that. He growled and grabbed each of my wrists with his hands again which he then painfully squeezed and slammed against the tree trunk, scratching my hands against the rough bark. I gasped at the pain, which he quickly used to force himself into my mouth.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get him off me, and I started to panic. I never felt so helpless before. Tears began to run down my face and I struggled more against him, not wanting to end up as a number on a statistics report, with people saying I was asking for this.

He put my arms together again, but this time behind my back, pushing me towards himself. He held them in place with just one of his giant hands again and broke the kiss, panting.

"I want you so much, Lorraine," he whispered into my ear.

"Duke, no, let me go! Stop this!" I sobbed. He just shushed me before his hand traveled to the button on my jeans. The fear from before was nothing to the panic I was feeling now.

"Duke, stop! NO! I said STOP!" I screamed and tried to kick him away.

[TW end]

Suddenly he was ripped off me, making me fall to the ground. When I looked up I saw Stefan standing between us.

"What the hell, man?" Duke slurred angrily.

"I believe the young lady told you to stop," Stefan said calmly, but decidedly.

"Dude, I don't know who you are, but you're making a big mistake here. The bitch was practically begging for it!"

Stefan pushed Duke against a tree, faster than I could look.

"You've had too much to drink, it's time for you to go home," Stefan growled lowly.

Strangely, Duke calmed down in an instant. Stefan released him, taking a step back from the football player.

"I've had too much to drink, I'm gonna go home," Duke murmured.

"Also you'll leave Lorraine alone from now on," Stefan added. Duke simply nodded before walking off.

I watched him leave in shock, as I was still gasping for air. The sudden change in Duke's behavior, his going away without a fight simply made no sense to me, and a part of me was afraid he would come back.

A twig snapped next to me and I flinched back into the tree. Stefan was crouching in front of me. I hadn't even noticed he approached.

"How are you?", he asked, his face full of concern.

"How– How did you do that?"

Stefan ignored my question and carefully reached for my wrists instead, examining them.

"This is going to bruise." He sighed and put them back into my lap. "You should press charges. Do you need me to accompany you as a witness?"

While my ears heard him, my brain simply couldn't process anything he said. I must have looked like a dear in headlights. "Lorraine?"

"What?"

"Do you want to press charges?" Stefan repeated.

I slightly shook my head to clear my thoughts. Did I want to? I knew that my dad would have my skin if he found out I didn't after what Duke had just done… tried to do… But as much as I hated him, as was afraid of the repercussions.

"No", I said as my voice cracked. "No, thank you, that won't be necessary."

I wiped away my tears and tried to stand, but my knees were still wobbly. Stefan graciously helped me up.

"Lorraine–", he started, obviously disapproving, but I cut him off.

"It's fine, really. Nothing happened," I tried to reassure him, smiling slightly, but it was as hollow as I felt.

"I wouldn't call that nothing," he said, pointing at my hands.

"Don't worry about that," I said, pulling my jacket sleeves over them. "I'm okay, really. Thank you."

Stefan tilted his head, the worried look not leaving his face.

"You're trembling," he remarked.

Looking down at my hands, I saw that he was right.

"Must be the cold" I said, trying to laugh a little to cover up how shaken up I really was. I didn't really feel like breaking down in front of the new guy.

I could tell that he wasn't buying any of it, but he didn't argue with me and played along.

"Do you want to warm up at the bonfire?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm good," I said, eyeing the fire cautiously, watching the flames dance in the wind. "I'm not a big fan of fire."

There was a silence, as I could not move my eyes away, still captivated by it, almost putting me into a trance, even if I did not dare go near it.

"Lorraine?" Stefan asked, pulling me back into reality.

"Yeah?" I said, slightly disoriented for a moment.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asked, now even more worried.

I shook my head to clear my mind for a second, before looking back up to him a smile plastered on my face.

"Yes, totally, I'm gonna get me something to drink. Thanks again!"

I waved him goodbye and turned around walking towards the shelter, where the drinks were. As soon as I was out of Stefan's eyesight I ducked back into the trees, trying to calm down a bit more before going back out. My heart was still hammering in my chest and the bruises on my wrists throbbed with dull pain. I lifted my sleeves a little bit to see the damages done to my hands. They were still red, the back of them a little scratched up. Stefan was right, this was going to form nasty bruises. My hand went to the other place I knew would bruise. The skin on my neck was still tender where he marked me. I dug my scarf out of my purse I had taken along in case it should get too cold and put it on to hide the evidence of Duke's assault.

I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the tree I was leaning on. Images from what happened only minutes ago came instantly and a tear slipped from my eye. Furiously, I wiped it away and tried to regain composure.

"Come on, Lorraine, you got this," I whispered to myself.

A branch snapping in the distance stopped my pep talk. I looked around but couldn't see anything but darkness. The feeling of being watched came over me again and I got tingles in the back of my neck. Deciding my luck was bad enough as it was tonight, I didn't want to risk any more bad surprises and decided to join the rest of the school near the bonfire. I really needed a drink right now.

I had just grabbed a bottle of beer, when someone bumped into me, making me almost spill my drink. I flinched inwardly, almost expecting it would be Duke.

"Don't stand in the freaking way," I heard Tyler grumble and relaxed slightly. He looked rather furious and didn't even look at me as he grabbed himself a beer from the cooler.

"Someone seems angry," I commented quietly, but he heard it nonetheless.

"Don't ask," he grumbled, clearly still pissed off, and walked away.

"Wasn't going to…" I mumbled and turned, almost colliding with Matt this time.

"Hey! Careful there," he said jokingly. Seeing Matt made me instantly feel much better. I felt safe. "I see you've gone back to drinking?"

He pointed at my bottle, chuckling.

"Well, you're no better," I answered pointing back at his. "Besides, I earned that drink after the evening I've had for now," I whispered the last part, more to myself than to him, but he still answered.

"Yeah, me too," he said, his gaze wandering back to Elena, who was back at talking with Stefan.

"It's not quite the fun evening we envisioned, right?" I said, a sad smile on my lips, as I couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't get better from here on.

"No, it's not," he agreed, looking down.

He suddenly grabbed my left wrist, bringing it to the light.

"What happened?", he asked, inspecting the abrasions I got from the tree and the red marks from Duke's strong grip.

"Nothing," I said quickly, removing my wrist from his grasp and pulling on my sleeves, so they would cover the wounds. Even though I couldn't stand Duke, I didn't want to create any tensions among the players. I knew how important football was to Matt and to his future.

"Lorraine… what are you not telling me?" he now asked, concern in his voice.

I was trying to come up with an excuse when someone screaming for help caught our attention.

I turned to see Elena, right behind her was Jeremy, carrying the lifeless body of Vicki?

"Oh my god," I gasped, slamming my hands in front of my mouth.

"Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?" Matt screamed, rushing towards the group, me following close behind.

Tyler ran up next to me. "What happened to her?"

"Somebody, call an ambulance!" Matt yelled into the sea of people standing around, while he was trying to assert the situation.

"Everybody back off! Give her some space," Tyler shouted to some people, who approached to gawp at the scene before them.

"It's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood, it's bad!" Elena told us, panicked.

I quickly removed my scarf and handed it to her.

"Here, put this on her wound."

"Vicki, Vicki, come on, open your eyes, look at me," I heard Tyler say, as tears started to cloud my vision.

I was paralyzed with shock, fear, and dread. This couldn't be true, it couldn't be real! How could something like this happen? And why did I feel like this was only the beginning?

Fifteen minutes later the whole place was illuminated with blue and red lights. Ambulance, police, animal control… Everybody had come to shed some light on the night's events.

I could see Caroline's mom, questioning Tyler a little farther away. He was the last to see her before the attack. Vicki just got loaded into the ambulance, and I watched Matt climb in right after, his face being distorted by worry.

"My dad just called," I told Bonnie as I walked up to her and Elena. "He heard from Caroline's mom and completely freaked. He's coming to pick me up."

"Alright then, Caroline and I are gonna go mainline coffee, wait for news."

"I gotta take Jeremy home," Elena said nodding.

I could sense that there was something Bonnie wanted to tell Elena, something she, for whatever reason, didn't feel comfortable saying in front of me.

"I'll just wait over there," I said pointing at the shelter behind me.

I saw that Tyler was no longer being questioned by Sheriff Forbes and wanted to walk over to him when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Lorraine, do you have a minute?"

I turned, seeing the sheriff with a concerned look on her face.

"Sure," I said, following her to a quieter corner.

"I've got reports that say you were in the woods, just a few minutes before they found Vicki, talking with…Stefan Salvatore," she said looking at her notes. "Did you hear or see something?"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't," I said shaking my head.

Now that the fire was out, it had gotten quite cold. I shivered and rubbed my arms to keep me warm.

"How did you get those?" she asked, pointing to my abrasions on the back of my hands. I could tell, that that was the answer she was really after. I looked at them, trying to come up with an answer that would fit, without revealing the truth.

"I stumbled," I lied, hiding my hands. "I scratched myself against a tree, falling down."

I could tell that she wasn't convinced. She grabbed my arm, inspecting my hand and wrist further.

"Those look like fresh bruises to me," she said, pointing to some swelling I had around my wrists, where Duke had held me down. "Who are you trying to protect? Is it that new guy, Stefan?"

"No, no, no! He was the one who helped me," I quickly clarified.

"Are you su–"

"It was Duke," I finally admitted with a sigh, looking down. "He was drunk, and he… he came onto me. I tried to push him away, but I couldn't. Stefan somehow heard me and intervened, Duke left right afterward."

"Are you alright?" She asked with almost motherly affection. "Did he–"

"I'm fine," I assured her with a small smile, pulling my hand back, which she was still holding.

"Do you want to press charges?" She now asked, back in police modus.

I shook my head. "No, it's ok, nothing happened, I don't even think he fully realized what he was doing."

Sheriff Forbes sighed. I could tell, she wasn't happy, but she couldn't do anything about it as long as I didn't press charges.

"Liz!"

I turned to see my father approaching.

"Frederick," Sheriff Forbes greeted him with a smile.

"Everything ok?" My Dad asked worried, putting an arm over my shoulders.

I shot her a pleading gaze. If my father were to know, he would go full Hulk on Duke.

"Yes, just asking if she saw or heard anything," she answered. "But I'm done here, you can take her home."

Dad just nodded and led me back to the car in silence.

AN: Chapter 2 is done, I hoped you liked it! I'll try posting once a week. Let me know if you have any suggestions in the reviews!