CHAPTER THREE: THE NIGHT OF THE COMET

It was almost twelve by the time I got back to the Gilbert's house. I figured everyone would've been asleep by now, but I was sorely mistaken when I walked through the front door. Sitting on the couch was Elena and...Stefan?

"Persephone, where have you been?" Elena asked, jumping up from the couch as soon as she saw me. "What's that?" She was referring to the duffel bag on my shoulder.

"I robbed a bank and shot a little old lady. It's been quite a night," I deadpanned, glancing over at Stefan who was now standing as well with an unreadable expression on his face. "I'm going to my room to count the money and cleanse my soul, so you two can go back to whatever it is you were doing." I started to walk away towards the staircase, but Elena stopped me.

"Did you hear about what happened to Vicki tonight? She was attacked in the woods at the party," she said, clearly trying to engage in a conversation with me.

"Is she dead?" I asked, my voice sounding uninterested.

Elena furrowed her brows and shook her head. "Uh, no. She's at the hospital right now. Matt texted me a few minutes ago and told me that she would be okay."

"Good for her." I started to walk away again, but I was once again stopped. However, this time it was by Stefan's voice.

"Wait," I turned to look over at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. "Do you want to sit with us? We were just talking about this book; Wuthering Heights," he offered.

"As interesting as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass. There's something about larceny and murder that just wears a girl out." I didn't give either one of them a chance to interrupt me again as I finally stalked up the stairs.

"I need your opinion."

I looked over my shoulder to see Jenna standing in my doorway wearing a black dress. "On?" I asked, turning my head back to where I was fixing my hair in the mirror. The ends of my hair were curled like I usually did every morning.

"Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?"

I ran my fingers through my hair one last time before fully turning to face her. "What's the occasion?"

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference. Hair up or down?" She pulled her hair up and looked at me expectantly.

"Perfect if you're going for a boozy widow," I critiqued. When she let it down I said, "Even better if you're going for sexy stewardess."

"I'm not sure I like either of those options," Jenna said, her shoulders slumping.

"I would do half up, half down." I advised, grabbing my phone and slinging my bag over my shoulder. "Do you know if Jeremy needs a ride to school?"

"No, he left early. Something about getting to wood shop early to finish a birdhouse." I hummed in response and gave Jenna a knowing look. "There is no wood shop, is there?"

"Nope, but if it makes you feel any better, he probably is on school grounds, just not building a birdhouse. Although I'm sure he is building his weed tolerance. Extra curriculums and all that."

"Remind me never to come to you for reassurance."

I nodded. "Will do."

Not wanting to see Mr. Tanner today after my last encounter with him, I narrowly avoided school grounds during that specific class time. I figured I would just get the notes off someone else in my class. So at the end of the day when I was walking back to my car and I saw Stefan walking towards his own vehicle, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to just get the notes now, so I didn't have to worry about it later.

"Stefan!" I called from behind him, gaining his attention. He looked almost surprised to see me. "Can I borrow your notes from today's history class? I promise not to let my dog eat it."

"Uh," he glanced back to his car, looking as if he was late for something. "I really have to do something right now, but if you stop by my house in a couple hours, I can give it to you then."

"The Boarding House, right?" When he nodded, I said, "I'll be there." And with that, I turned around and headed back to my car.

Dear Diary,

Vampires are back in Mystic Falls. I know I don't have any solid proof, and maybe I'm a little paranoid considering my past, but I just have this feeling in my gut. My intuition has yet to fail me, so I doubt it would lead me astray now. Or at least I hope. If I turn out to be right, I'm not sure what I plan to do. I mean, I would obviously kill them, but I'm also confused as to why they are here now. After so many years.

I was rudely interrupted by a crow that decided it wanted to fly right by my head. I shooed it away from my seat at the bench that overlooked the lake in front of me. I came here pretty often, especially recently. Sometimes I just needed a break from the Gilbert household and just the people in Mystic Falls in general. Nobody ever came by this lake, so the chances of me running into someone I know were very slim.

The only people who knew I came here were…well, they were dead.

I shook my head, silently demanding myself not to spiral down memory lane. It never ended in anything good—usually bursts of rage. I shut my journal and shoved it back into my bag, deciding that I should start heading over to Stefan's house to grab the notes before I go back home. As I stood up, I readjusted the gun tucked into my waistband. I've been carrying it with me everywhere I go as a precaution. I was already at a disadvantage if I got into a fight with a vampire. They were much faster and stronger than me, so having a gun with wooden bullets made it at least a fair fight.

It took me around ten or so minutes to arrive at the Boarding House, and once I did, I noticed that the front door was open. Hesitantly, I pushed it open a bit further to look inside and see if Stefan was there.

"The last one?" I heard a familiar voice say.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet." Thoroughly confused, I decided to push the door all the way open, revealing Elena standing there inside of the house with a man I didn't recognize. He seemed to notice me before Elena did, because he switched his gaze to me and said, "And who might you be?"

Elena swung around to face me with wide eyes. "Persephone? What are you doing here?"

"Apparently interrupting what I'm sure was a very important conversation. Have either of you seen Stefan?" I asked, stepping into the house and approaching them, not missing the way the man's eyes were trained on me.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be here any second. And you're Persephone?" he asked me, taking a step in my direction.

"That would be me," I confirmed.

"Well, I'm Damon. Stefan's older brother." He stopped in front of me and held out a hand for me to shake. I looked down at it wearily before slowly taking his hand. It only lasted about two seconds before he ripped his hand away with a hiss of pain, and held it to his chest. He had a hard scowl on his face as he glared at me. It took me a moment to figure out what just happened, but then it clicked. He shook my right hand—the one I had my vervain ring on.

The confused look on my face quickly turned into a glare as we stared each other down, paying no mind to Elena who stood off to the side, clueless to what was happening.

Vampire. He was a vampire.

"Hello, brother. I was just meeting Persephone and Elena here," Damon said, looking past me. I spun around to see Stefan standing there, completely stiff.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over," he said, though his eyes were trained solely on Damon.

"I know. I should've called, I just-"

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time," Damon interrupted. "Isn't she, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But...I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." I looked between the two so-called brothers, trying to make sense of all this. If Damon was a vampire, was Stefan one as well? I didn't like the not knowing. Not knowing was an extreme disadvantage.

"Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Nice to see you," Stefan said, hardly glancing in the Gilbert girl's direction. "And, Persephone, I'll get those notes for you."

"Yeah, I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon," Elena said, politely. My eyes, however, were stuck on Stefan. If he wasn't a vampire, then he knew about them. There was no other reason I could come up with to explain his sudden rigidness.

While Damon bid his goodbye to Elena, I approached Stefan with careful steps. Once I was next to him, I placed my right hand on his bare forearm, causing my ring to make contact with his skin. And just as I anticipated, his skin started to burn and he quickly took a step back, out of my reach. He looked angry at first, but then realization soon took over his features. He knew that I knew.

"You can keep those notes," I said in a hushed voice so that Elena couldn't overhear me. "And do yourself a favor and stay the hell away from me." He opened his mouth to say something, but I was quicker with my words. "Come on, Elena. Let's get out of here."

All night. I was up all night racking my brain for a solution. I had expected vampires to be in Mystic Falls...but Stefan? He was the vampire I was worrying about? He's been invited into this house, and not to mention the fact that Elena is completely infatuated with him. Do I expose him? No, that would cause chaos within the Council.

I have to kill him. That's the only solution my brain could come up with. However, for some reason, I'm reluctant. I shouldn't be, though. All of those animal attacks over the last couple of weeks were him and his brother this entire time.

This was all I could think about throughout my shift at the Grill the next day. I had to figure out what I was going to do and preferably sooner rather than later. And, as if the Devil himself was playing a joke on me, I watched Stefan walk into the Grill and scan over everyone until his eyes landed on me.

I cursed to myself under my breath as I watched him approach me. Doing the first thing that came to mind, I turned to my co-worker, Josh, and said, "I'm taking my break now. Cover for me?"

I didn't wait for his response and swiftly left through the back door of the Grill. What had I gotten myself into? This is the last time I ever attempt to make friends with the new kid. Next thing you know, they have fangs and drink blood. I run a hand through my hair as I lean against the back of the building, thankful for the night breeze.

"Persephone?" I heard the exact voice I did not want to hear right now. I looked up and saw a cautious Stefan walking my way. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

I scoffed at that. "Say's every murderer ever. Did you say that to that couple that you killed, too?"

"That wasn't me, I swear. Just let me explain everything," he told me, still taking slow steps towards me.

"You're a vampire. Explanation over."

He shook his head. "It's more complicated than that."

Trying not to overthink it, I pulled the gun in my waistband out and pointed it at him, causing him to hold his hands up in the air. "You hurt people. I'd say that's pretty straight forward." My mind was screaming at me to pull the trigger, but for some odd reason, my body wasn't cooperating.

"Hesitation is a weakness. Never hesitate," I could hear my father's voice yelling at me. "It's either you, or them."

"I don't feed on humans and I haven't for a long time, Persephone," He tried to explain, keeping his voice surprisingly calm for someone with a gun pointed at them. "I feed on animals to stay alive."

"What about those people who died? What about Vicki? How do you explain that?"

"That was all Damon. I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," he swore, putting his hands back down.

"Then why are you here?"

"I needed to explain-"

I cut him off. "No, why are you here in Mystic Falls? There haven't been vampires here for years."

"I'll explain everything. Come to my house later tonight and I'll answer all of your questions."

I shook my head. "I might be a teenager, but I'm not that naïve. I pick where we'll meet. Outside the record store in Towns Square. There's a bench across the street from it. I'll meet you there after the comet thing."

"Okay, deal. Just promise me that you'll keep my secret. Please," he begged.

I thought about it for a moment, wondering what my father would do in this situation. I knew what he would say: "You can't trust him." Oh, how disappointed he would be if he heard what was about to come out of my mouth.

"Fine."

Later that night, I was walking through Town Square, planning on going to where I told Stefan to meet me, but before I could get there, I heard the faint sound of screaming. With furrowed eyebrows I looked around, trying to find the source of the screaming, until my eyes landed on the roof of some building not too far away from me.

I squinted up at the two figures on the roof, attempting to decipher who they were. It only took me about three seconds to recognize the leather jacket on one of the figures and that was enough to send me running into the building and climbing the stairs to get to the roof.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to you," I heard a painfully familiar voice say as I opened the door to the roof. The first thing my eyes landed on was Damon Salvatore holding Vicki Donavon's head in his hands while he compelled her.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me," Vicki repeated monotonically.

"Damon, please, don't do this," Stefan pleaded.

"What the hell is going on?" I finally spoke up, making them aware of my presence.

"Ah, look who it is. Persephone, was it?" Damon said, smirking my way before turning back to his brother who still had his eyes on me. "If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you can do now."

He ripped the bandage off of Vicki's neck, exposing her ripped stitches, before tossing her in Stefan's arms like she was some sort of rag doll. I gripped the handle of my gun that was still tucked in my waistband, ready to act if Stefan decided to hurt Vicki. I needed to know if he was telling the truth earlier—about him not hurting people. He looked to be struggling for a few seconds, veins threatening to appear under his eyes, but thankfully, in the end he pushed her away. I chose that moment to step in and catch Vicki before she could fall on the ground.

"Ugh! Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak. A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the power that you could have, that you now need. But you can change that. Human blood gives you that." Damon taunted his brother. "You have two choices. You can feed and make her forget. Or you can let her run, screaming 'vampire' through the town square."

"You two can keep your damn fangs to yourself. Nobody is feeding on anybody," I stated confidently, causing Damon to look my way. His eyes scanned over my face and lingered probably a little longer than necessary.

"That's what this is about?" Stefan spoke up, causing his brother to look towards him again. "You want to expose me?"

"No! I want you to remember who you are!" Damon exclaimed, frustrated.

"Why? So what, so I'll feed? So I'll kill? So I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again? You know what, let her go. Let her tell everyone that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. Let them chain me up, and let them drive a stake through my heart, because at least I'll be free of you."

Damon looked surprised for a few seconds after hearing Stefan's dramatic monologue. "Huh, wow," he muttered to himself before turning to Vicki and I. "Come here, sweetheart."

"Damon," I warned as he approached us, my grip on my gun still unwavering.

"Relax," he said, kneeling down in front of us. I kept my hand around her arm in case he tried anything, but I watched as he leaned forward and whispered something into her ear. When he pulled away, Vicki suddenly stopped crying.

"What happened? Where am I?" she asked, looking around before she groaned, "Oh, I ripped my stitches open."

"Are you alright?" I asked, furrowing my brows at her.

"I took some pills, man. I'm good." And with that, Vicki got up and walked back out the door as if nothing happened. I looked between the two brothers, who's eyes were now on me, before shaking my head and leaving them alone on the roof.

My mind was running in a million different circles, trying to figure out what I was going to do. Do I expose them? Do I try to kill them? But Stefan did prove tonight that what he said was true—he doesn't hurt people.

But what about Damon? He does hurt people.

I'm in way over my head.

AUTHORS NOTE: I don't really like this chapter much, but I promise the next one will be better. Also, thank you to everyone who has favorited/followed this story! It means a lot.