Halfway home, we saw Vicki standing by Jeremy's car at the Grill. We all got out, to see Damon compelling Tyler, who was glaring at Jeremy, Vicki and Damon intensely.

"Forget what you saw here tonight. None of us were here."

Tyler walked away with a dazed look on his face, and then Damon proceeded to compel Jeremy, who climbed into his car and drove away.

Damon turned to us next. "Oh, good, the fun police are here. Help me load Vicki into the backseat so we can take her back to our place."

Stefan groaned and rubbed his temples before they pulled the struggling Vicki into the backseat of my car and buckled her in. Damon climbed into the back with her, and kept her still as Stefan climbed into the front with me.

"Go on, drive. You're gonna drive her crazy with your heart, Blondie." Damon ordered and I nodded once, glancing at them in the rear-view mirror before pulling away.

~The next morning~

Early the next morning, around six, I heard a loud bang and I sat up uncertainly in my bed. I had just finished writing in my diary, so I got up and made my way into the hall to hear Stefan and Damon fighting. I went into a guest room to see Stefan holding Damon back as best as he could while Vicki spoke to her brother.

"No Matty, I just need some time to figure things out. Just know that I am okay, okay? Please don't worry about me." she hung up afterwords and Stefan let go of Damon. She groaned, throwing herself on the bed. "I don't understand why you guys make me stay cooped up here! Why can't I just go home?"

Stefan rubbed his temples and sat down next to her. "Because you're changing, Vicki, and it's definitely not something you want to do alone."

Damon came back with a newspaper in his hand. "There's nothin' about that reporter guy I killed in here. Not a word." he tossed the newspaper in the trash. "Someone's covering it up!" he pulled the compass out of his pocket and watched as it idly spun around in circles.

"What is that?" I asked, walking over to Damon. "Is that my grandfather's pocket watch?"

"This is a very special, very old compass-slash-pocketwatch." He turned to Stefan and furrowed his brows. "What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you even a little bit curious?"

"Curiousity killed the cat." I mused, leaning against the door frame.

"Satisfaction brought it back." Damon parried.

The younger Salvatore shook his head. "Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?"

My head bobbed in agreement. "That's a wonderful idea!"

Vicki glanced warily at me, then nudged Stefan in the ribs. "Hey, um, I'm hungry, do you have anything to uh – eat?"

Damon came over and nudged me. "Here."
"No." Stefan said quickly, running into another room and appearing a split second later with a cup.

"Here."

Damon rolled his eyes dramatically. "What is it?" she asked and Stefan swallowed nervously.

"It's what you're craving."

The elder Salvatore laughed. "Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right Stef?" he chuckled again and Vicki looked at the cup and then to Stefan suspiciously.

"What is it?"

"Yeah, hunter, what is it? Skunk? Saint Bernard? Bambi?" I flinched at the thought of Stefan killing a cute little doe.

"Go on." Stefan prodded. "Give it a try."

She nervously took a small sip, but didn't comment on the taste.

Damon groaned and got up. "She's new! She needs Blondie blood." he winked jokingly at me. "She can't sustain on that stuff."

Vicki eyeballed me again. "Yeah, why can't I just eat Caroline?" she paused for a moment, then added. "No offense, Caroline."

"Yeah." Damon encouraged, glancing to me and then to his brother.

The younger rubbed his temples in frustration. "Because." looking at Vicki seriously, he continued. "It's wrong to pray on innocent people, Vicki."

She laughed and looked at me. "Caroline is hardly innocent."

"It's still wrong." he murmued.

Damon sat down on the other side of Vicki. "You don't have to kill to feed. Just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory after wards. It's so easy."

Vicki seemed to be leaning towards Damon's idea, so I spoke up. "There's no guarantee she could control herself, right? Wouldn't it take years to learn control?"

Stefan nodded. "You could easily kill someone, and then you'd have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made clear, is eternity."

Damon groaned, and got up off the bed. "Don't listen to them. They walk on a moral plane way out of our eye line. I say snatch, eat, erase!"

Vicki was obviously very confused, and I felt bad for her.

"Hey." Stefan said softly. "Look at me. We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are."

Damon groaned and walked out the door, calling, "Okay count and countess deepak, I'm out of here!"

"Can I have some more?" Vicki asked and Stefan and I smiled.

I went to my room, but before I got to enter, I heard the doorbell ring. I jogged down the stairs and answered it.

"Hi Elena?" I said uncertainly. A nervous, forced, smile appeared on her face.

"Is Stefan here?"

I nodded, stepping aside. Elena stepped in, and I heard Damon enter the foyer.

"Go away Damon." Elena and I both said.

"And good morning to you, little miss "I'm on a mission"." he smirked.

I groaned, and pushed by him. "Nobody has time for your arrogance, Damon. Go stiff some vervain." I rolled my eyes and headed towards my room when Damon grabbed my arm.

"Nobody has time for your bravery calling me, a vampire, arrogant."

"If you wanted her dead," Elena spoke up, "She'd be dead."

"Yes," he smirked at me and allowed me to jerk my arm from his grasp. "She would – if I wanted her to be."

"But neither of us are." I pointed out, and he smirked wider, raising his eyebrows once.

"Yet."

"Where's Stefan?" Elena asked again, rolling her eyes at Damon.

"He's upstairs with Vicki." I said before Damon could say anything. "C'mon."

We made our way upstairs when I heard Damon call in a sing-song voice. "Don't get eaten!"

"Bite me!" I called back.

I heard his laugh. "Don't tempt me!"

I rolled my eyes and Elena and I went into the guest bedroom.

Vicki was nowhere to be seen, but I saw the bathroom door shut.

"What happens now?" Elena demanded as soon as she saw Stefan walk into the bedroom. She crossed her arms and continued. "Because I'm lying to everyone! What am I supposed to tell them?"

What's new Elena? You lie all the time. A snide voice in my head whispered and I smirked to myself.

Stefan groaned. "I'm working with he r, but it's gonna take time. She has a very volatile and impulsive personality. She's a drug user. I mean, that's all gonna play a part in how she responds to this."

Elena groaned again running a hand through her hair. "She's a vampire with issues? What am I gonna do? What's gonna happen to me if they find out about her?"

I rolled my eyes. Elena just had to make herself priority number one, again.

"I'm gonna keep her here with me until I know she's safe." Stefan said, drinking a glass of alcohol.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Vicki walked in, eying Elena and I. "How long is that?"

"We can talk about that later," he said nonchalantly.

"Hey again Vicki." I greeted with a nod. "Doing any better?"

She rolled her eyes and scowled even deeper when Elena asked, "Yeah Vicki, how are you?"

"You're kidding, right?" her scowl seemed to be glued to her face.

Third Person POV:

Damon sat on one side of Mystic Grill, sipping bourbon idly. Mayor Lockwood and his wife, Mrs. Lockwood were on the other side, talking about the watch.

"We never should have trusted that Logan...weasel...with the watch!" he exclaimed quietly, before taking a big gulp of his drink.

Damon's ears perked up at the mention of the watch, and he zero-ed in on their conversation.

"How many are we dealing with?" his wife asked nervously, glancing around the grill.

The mayor shrugged. "The coroner thinks three. Something about the wound radius and the jaw pattern. It's had to tell though. He said some bites were a bit different – looked a bit smaller, deeper."

Damon heard Mrs. Lockwood's heartbeat increase ever-so-slightly and he rolled his eyes. "Are we in danger? I mean, if it found the watch, then it knows we know, and could it come after us?" she grabbed the mayor's drink and took a tentative sip. "A-and should I even be saying 'it'? Or...or is it a – uh – he or a she?"

Mayor Lockwood shrugged, running a hand through his short dark hair. "If it has any historical knowledge of the town, then it'll know where the watch came from. So yes, we could very much be in danger."

She swallowed. "So what do we do?"

Her husband sighed. "For now, just keep in quiet. We can't have the entire town aware of this. We need to find it before it finds us."