Episode 7: Halloween

"A starving child is a frightful sight. A starving vampire, even worse."

― Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire

Mystic Falls, 1864

"Emily," I greeted the handmaiden. I had seen her around the estate often since she arrived with Katherine. They must have some sort of deal, why else would a witch follow a vampire so willingly? "I have a gift for you." I pulled an amber necklace from my apron pocket. It was the only thing I had kept before leaving Ireland.

"Oh, thank you, but I don't think I can accept." She tried to decline.

"It's okay Emily. Take it, please. This stone traps the power of the sun. It's very useful in magic against Vampires."

Emily's eyes widen but she took the necklace from my hand.

"Thank you." And as if seeing me for the first time Emily said, "You have a very old soul." She stared at the stone for a moment before continuing, "I fear I may have use for this soon enough."

"I imagine you're right," I agreed. "The townsfolk here are not as naive as the vampires would like to believe."

Emily grabbed my hand, "Will you help me?" She pleaded, "when the time comes, will you help me?"

"Yes." I placed my hand on top of hers, feeling like we had made a pact.

Mystic Falls, 2009

One month had passed since Vicki turned into a vampire. And in that time I had not seen the moment Damon killed Maggie. I was hoping since he had brought it up that I would dream of her death, but I got nothing. I couldn't fathom Damon killing her, he loved her. I know he did and he still does.

If he didn't why would he visit her grave still, 145 years later? I've gone by Maggie's grave to garden at least once a week. Sometimes he's already there and we have a brief conversation where I ask about Vicki and he gives me a one word response. Other times there's just a crow there watching me, I've come to realize that Damon can control it somehow.

Over the past month, Elena and I kept checking up on Vicki. So far she hadn't made much progress towards being able to rejoin society.

Halloween morning my phone rang.

"Hey Elena, what's up?" I answered.

"I'm going to the Salvatore's to check on Vicki." Elena said from the other end, we had made it a habit to call each other when we went over, for piece of mind or what have you.

"Want me to come with?" I offered, "Could be dangerous."

"No, I'll be fine. If Damon wanted me dead he would have done it already."

"That doesn't mean he still won't kill you. Besides, it's not Damon I'm worried about. At this point Vicki's more likely to do the deed."

"Charlie! I need your help!" Caroline called from her room.

"Hey, Sorry Elena, I've got an emergency to attend to."

"Is everything okay?" Elena asked, her worry palpable from over the phone.

"Yeah. Don't be so serious Elena, it's probably just a fashion emergency. Caroline's working on our costumes right now. Speaking of, are you going to that Halloween thing?"

"I don't think so."

"You should, it'll be good for you. Maybe take your mind off all the supernatural crap going on."

"Don't you know how many vampires are going to be there?" She joked. At least she still had a sense of humor.

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see it, "At least we know those ones aren't real."

"For all we know, they could be." She said, betraying how lost she felt amongst the supernatural.

My sister called for me again.

"Just a moment!" I yelled back. Returning to my phone call I cautioned Elena, "Just be careful. Vicki was a substance abuser when she was human, I can only imagine how that trait is transferring over to vampirism."

"I will. Have fun with Halloween. Someone has to." She hung up.

I grabbed my jewelry box and went across the hall to Caroline's room.

"Okay, Care." I said, placing the jewelry box on her desk, "What are we this year?"

"Witches!" She said excitedly, holding up three different witch costumes.

"Hitting the nail on the head are we?" I asked, eyebrow raised. Caroline had been surprisingly quiet about my new found abilities, except for the occasional pun about magic or fire.

"What? Halloween is the one day of the year that you get to dress up and show people exactly who you are without judgment." Caroline said very seriously.

"Aren't you supposed to dress as something you're not for Halloween." I countered.

Caroline's hummed in agreement. "And those choices can be very revealing. Plus, these outfits are cute and sexy. They just need a little accessorizing." She laid them down on her bed and started holding up different dangling earrings to each dress.

"Which one is for Bonnie?" I asked. Each dress had a different color scheme: Purple, yellow, green. Caroline pointed out the one with yellow sleeves and accents. "Perfect! I've got just the thing for her."

I pulled out the amber necklace from my jewelry box. Caroline grew wide eyed as she recognized it and snatched it from my hands.

"Isn't this Damon's? Why do you have it?" Her brow furrowed as she looked between me and the talisman.

"He must have dropped it." I shrugged, "Oh well, finders keepers."

"I think Damon gave it to me. Or he was going to give it to me." Caroline said, focusing on the stone. She was definitely thinking about Damon again.

I took the necklace back gently, "And now we're giving it to Bonnie as the finishing piece of her costume. Because Damon is old news and we don't want anything that has to do with him, right?"

I stared at Caroline until she answered.

"Right."

We met Bonnie at the high school to give her her costume. Every year the high school put on a Halloween party for the community and, as student council president, Caroline had a major role in putting the whole thing together. Which for Bonnie and I meant that we had to help out, at least with the decorations.

"I've got your costume. It's all here." Caroline said, handing Bonnie a plastic bag with her dress, hat, and necklace.

"Seriously?" Bonnie asked, holding up the witches hat. She wasn't impressed. She looked to me as if to say 'did you let her do this?'.

"Come on. Can someone please be excited that it's Halloween?" Caroline said. "I just wanna have fun, you know, just some silly, fluffy, Damon free fun."

I agreed. Damon was acting more on the down low since Vicki turned, but that didn't mean Caroline and I still weren't awkwardly running into him at the Grill or that Caroline wasn't having nightmares about him she couldn't remember because he compelled her to forget he was a vampire.

"Hey, what's this?" Bonnie was holding up the amber crystal.

"Damon gave it to me." Caroline said. Although that wasn't exactly true, I didn't correct her. Whatever helped her move on. "Wear it. Toss it. I don't care. I just want it gone. Hey, have you seen Elena? Do we know what she's wearing?"

"I was with Grams all week. I haven't talked to her." Bonnie replied.

"I don't think she's going." I answered.

"What do you mean she's not going?" Caroline asked, as if it was so scandalous for someone to miss out on Halloween. "What else could she be doing tonight?"

"I'll talk to her Care," Bonnie offered. "Don't pout, you're gonna get wrinkles."

Caroline rubbed at the crease in her forehead. "I'm not pouting. Just let her know it's going to be really fun." Caroline left to discuss the lighting while Bonnie and I hung up the fake cobwebs.

"You should keep the necklace Bonnie," I said as I stretched the spiderwebs out. "it used to belong to Emily Bennett. It's powerful."

"Bennett? As in—"

"Your ancestor? Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Because I gave it to her in a past life."

I'd spent a lot of time with Bonnie and her Grams this past month. That first night when Sheila recognized my soul I had sat down with the Bennett witches and we talked over steaming cups of tea.

"Does that make me a witch?" I had asked.

"You definitely have some sort of natural magic. Mandy did too, even if she wasn't particularly good at casting spells."

"What about fire?" I asked.

Bonnie suddenly sat up straighter, "Fire was one of the first things I made that really freaked me out. I kept lighting candles."

"Fire was always an element under Mandy's control," Sheila confirmed.

Leaving out the parts with Damon and vampires, I began to explain to them the dreams I'd been having and the strange occurrences of fire.

Sheila wasn't sure if I was a witch or something else, she'd searched through her Grimoires throughout the month but so far hadn't found anything pertaining to what I might be experiencing. Meanwhile, I practiced control with Bonnie. As she managed to levitate feathers, I figured out how to light candles with just my mind.

I stopped by the Boarding House after set up finished. When I got there Elena was walking briskly down the front steps.

"Hey, Elena are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." She said, but I didn't believe her. "Okay. Not so fine. Vicki threatened me. You were right, Charlie, she is dangerous. I wouldn't go back in there if I were you."

"Vicki can't hurt me, Elena. If she tries I'll burn her. I'll be fine." When I entered the Salvatore house Stefan was in the living room as if waiting for me. He probably was. "So I take it things are going well with Vicki?" I said sarcastically.

"She's on edge." He tried to defend himself and her, "Imagine every sense in your body operating at super speed. I mean, she's uncomfortable in her own skin. And then when you throw in her other issues…"

"Well, if it takes her as long to get over her issues as it did you. She's gonna be stuck here for a while." Stefan looked ashamed at my mention of his past.

"But I didn't have anybody helping me. I had to do it on my own," he defended.

"Do you have Vicki on your animal diet?" I asked.

"Yes. Although she hasn't really taken to it yet."

"Of course she hasn't. You guys are vampires, you're not supposed to feed on animals."

"So you'd rather have Vicki kill people? Because that's what would happen if she fed on people right now."

"So hand her some blood bags," I suggested. "She doesn't need an alternative diet, she just needs to learn self-control."

"Because she had so much of it when she was human," he argued.

I groaned in frustration.

"Vicki doesn't deserve this… and neither does Matt. He's been worried sick about her. Keeping her locked up, drinking coffee and animal blood…all it's doing is starving her and making her more dangerous to be around."

"So you want her to go live with Matt?"

"No, I'm not an idiot. She'd end up killing him on accident. But she should be going out, supervised, learning how to catch and release humans. That way, eventually, she will be safe to see her brother again."

Stefan sighed, defeated.

"Perhaps you're right. But I don't think I could help her with that."

"I know," I said bluntly. "Look we all appreciate you trying to help Vicki, Stefan, but you're not exactly the most functional vampire. Have you tried getting Damon to help?"

"Have you forgotten all the 'animal attacks' Damon caused?"

"No, I didn't. But he didn't kill anyone because he lost control. He's just a dick."

Stefan's lips twitched into something that was almost a smile.

"Okay, and how would you convince Damon to help?"

"He wouldn't want Vicki getting out on her own, she might spill the beans on the vampires in Mystic Falls. Which would be fitting considering she's the only known survivor of one of those 'animal attacks'. I know Damon's started to lay low since you guys ran into that vampire hunter."

"You know it's rude to talk about people like they're not there." Damon said as he and Vicki came down the stairs.

"Where are you taking her? She could hurt someone." Stefan said, visibly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Relax. I'm not takin' her to Disneyland. We're going in the front yard. Come on." Damon motioned for us to follow him out of the house. "I'm gonna teach her some of the perks. One of us has to teach her what it means to be a vampire." Damon said as he winked at me.

"Maybe you should start with the basics?" I suggested. I wanted Damon to help, so why was I feeling so uneasy now?

"This is basic." Damon said and in a flash of his super speed he was suddenly behind me.

"Oh this is a bad idea…" I heard Stefan murmur from the porch.

"Whoa. How did you do that?" Vicki asked, her head wiping around.

"Come on Vicki, live a little," Damon teased. "No pun intended."

Vicki used her newly found vampire speed ability and disappeared from the yard.

"Uh...my bad." Damon said, although he didn't sound too apologetic.

"I gotta go." I said, ignoring the barrage of texts Caroline was suddenly sending. "I'll keep an eye out for Vicki, but you better help look for her too," I pointed at Damon, "It's in your best interest."

When I got to my car I took a moment to just breathe. Everything about Vicki's situation was frustrating and so was Damon and vampires in general. And, glancing at my phone, I still had to get ready for Halloween. So much for having a good time.

That night Caroline, Bonnie, and I returned to the school for the Halloween Party. We met up with Tyler. I didn't particularly like Tyler, but when it came to parties he was always trying to get us to have a good time and get us all drunk.

"Cider for the ladies." Tyler offered, bringing over three drinks for us. "It's a Lockwood special."

"No way." Bonnie declined, shaking her head. "Last year I was hung over until Thanksgiving."

I took one of the ciders just to be polite, but with Vicki running around I couldn't afford to get drunk again.

"Lightweight." Caroline said, taking a cider for herself and taking a large gulp. "I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with."

"Sounds like a plan." Tyler laughed and touched his cup to hers in salute.

I caught a glimpse of Vicki, dressed as a vampire, and excused myself to follow her through the crowd.

"Hey, Charlie." Matt greeted, getting in my way. "So the witch thing, was that planned or…"

"It was Caroline's idea." I said distractedly. I was focused on watching Vicki behind Matt's shoulder. I watched as Stefan came up to her and moved her to a different room, away from all the people. Relieved I focused back on Matt, smiling. He looked like he'd seen better days. "I keep telling Care that she, Bonnie, and Elena should dress up as angels and follow me around for Halloween."

"And what would you be?" Matt asked.

"Myself. I'd be part of their costume, Charlie's angels. Get it?" I asked. Matt smiled a little and I felt a little better about everything that was happening with his sister.

"Maybe I should have asked you for last minute costume advice instead of going with last years'."

"No time for costume shopping?" I asked sympathetically. "I know Vicki's been worrying you lately."

Matt sighed. "Yeah, I just don't get it. She called me a month ago, telling me she was going to be away for a while. And then it's radio silence until today when she shows up out of the blue. I'm glad she's back...but I don't know. She's different, somehow."

"Everything will be okay, Matt." I said, although I didn't really believe it. "Vicki just needs to find herself. She's lucky to have a brother like you."

"Thanks. I wish I could do more…" Matt trailed off as he turned his head and noticed Stefan trying to restrain Vicki. Matt left me quickly to help his sister. I tried to follow and stop him, after all Stefan and Elena were just trying to convince Vicki to leave the party, but I literally ran into Damon.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." He said as he held my arms to keep me from falling. I stepped away quickly, not wanting to allow myself to feel comfortable in his arms.

"Are you here looking for Vicki?" I asked.

"Have you seen Caroline?" he asked instead, looking above the heads of the other party goers.

I grabbed Damon's shoulder to get his attention.

"Stay away from her, Damon." I stared hard at him, "I'm serious."

"Fine. I will." Damon agreed, shrugging off my hand. "But first I need my Crystal back."

"What crystal?" I asked, playing dumb.

"The one you gave to Bonnie."

"Oh! That crystal." I said, "No I don't think I will. After all Bonnie is the rightful owner."

"No she isn't, it belongs to me."

I tilted my head in faux curiosity, "Was that before or after Emily Bennett had it?"

"So you know about her too."

"Yep. And I know Maggie's the one who originally gave it to her."

"She was?" Damon's brows furrowed, it seemed he didn't actually know everything.

"Oh no." I said, noticing Elena and Stefan frantically looking around.

"What?"

"Looks like Vicki's gone AWOL."

"Come on." Damon said, grabbing my hand. "Let's go look for her."

"I think it'll be best if we split up." I said, releasing myself from his hold before it grew familiar.

A few minutes later I walked outside to the back parking lot just in time to see Elena land into a pile of garbage. As I ran toward her, she got up and began running in my direction with Jeremy.

Suddenly Vicki appeared, pushing Jeremy away and attacking Elena.

I rushed forward, grabbing Vicki's arm and pulled her away.

"Ah!" Vicki screamed, her arm was on fire. So much for practice, I hadn't meant to do that.

She shook the fire out and advanced on me. I held my arms out and grabbed her shoulders to keep her away, but Vicki was so angry and out of control.

"Stop, Vicki!" I yelled, but it was no use, she gained the upper hand and threw me to the ground. She bit into my neck and suddenly Vicki was engulfed in flames.

Vicki let me go and I watched from the ground as the flames consumed her. The flames were more intense than when Damon had bitten me.

Vicki screamed and screamed and I was surprised that no one came out from the school.

"Stop it, Charlie!" Elena sobbed.

"I can't. I don't know how." I had no idea how to stop a fire after I made it.

Stefan came behind Vicki and stabbed her in the heart with a wooden stake. The fire died down with Vicki's death.

"This is your fault, Stefan." I accused, shakily getting up. "Vicki wouldn't have been so out of control if you had trained her with human blood."

"You can't know that for sure." Stefan said.

Jeremy was crying over Vicki's burnt body.

"Can you get him out of here?" Elena asked Stefan. Stefan took Jeremy home using his vampire speed.

Elena and I hovered over Vicki's body, both of us crying.

"What do we do now?" I whispered. It was hard to look at Vicki's burnt, broken body.

"We wait." She said between sobs.

"What are we going to say to Matt?" I asked. It was the wrong thing to say, as soon as the words left my mouth Elena sobbed harder and latched onto me.

Damon arrived a moment later, his face devoid of emotion.

"You should go. I got this."

"You did this." Elena said, her anger overriding her mourning."Charlie blamed Stefan, but this is all your fault."

"You confuse me for someone with remorse." Elena struck at him, but Damon grabbed her hand before it landed. "None of this matters to me. None of it," He said evenly.

I stood up, wiping my tears with the back of my hand.

"God you're such full of shit," I said bitterly. "Life matters. People matter. Their death matters and you know it. Stop acting like the villain."

Damon looked between me and Elena who was still glaring at him.

"I just came to clean up." He said. He looked down on Elena and released her hands from his grip, "You should leave, you're hurt."

"Fine." She said shortly, her voice breaking. Elena stormed away.

"What are you going to do with her?" I asked, forcing myself to look at Vicki one last time. Half her body was charred and the other untouched half had turned ashen grey. The blame could be tossed around, but if I was being honest with myself, it was all my fault.

"I'm going to bury her, somewhere she won't be found." Damon said, picking up the- Vicki's body.

I nodded. I walked back into the school feeling numb.

I looked for Caroline among the throng of teenagers. She was no doubt drunk by now, but I needed my sister. I found her swaying to the music with Bonnie and Tyler.

"Hey." I said, wrapping my arms around Caroline's neck from behind. "I'm so over this party. Can we head home and watch Hocus Pocus until we fall asleep?"

A/N: Thank you everyone for the follows and favorites, it's really encouraging! Let me know what you think of the story so far in the reviews :)