A/N: Finally made some time to write:) Thank you to all who favorited/followed/reviewed. I love you all! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries.

Children of the Damned/Fool Me Once

Anna was harder to track down than we anticipated. Damon and I spent the entire morning checking places she would be most likely to be found. It wasn't until I caught a glimpse of her in the town square that we were able to track her down to a dingy-looking motel on the outskirts of town.

Damon knocks on the door, standing slightly in front of me.

What a protective fool. It's just Anna. She's practically my soul sister. When the door opens, however, it's not Anna standing there.

"Ben McKittrick?" I ask, befuddled. "What the heckity heck are you doing here?"

"Lacey Galileo. Stargirl." He crosses his arms, staying in the shadows. "I remember you. You're the freak Tyler Lockwood told the whole football team to avoid."

Alright, that's it. "Oh, you soggy tea biscuit!" I take a menacing step forward, but Damon holds an arm out to stop me. "Lemme at him!"

"Hush, darling," he murmurs. "Let me take care of it for you."

When I stop trying to get around him, he thrusts his other arm out towards Ben, yanking his shirt and pulling him into the sunlight.

And then, Big Ben is burning.

"Whoa." I stare, transfixed. "I totally forgot vampires burn in the sun."

Damon lets go of Ben's shirt, surprised at the latest development. "Who turned you?" He snarls, shoving Ben back into the shadows.

"I'm not telling," Ben groans as his skin heals.

Damon gives a short, incredulous laugh as he shakes his head. "I feel a crazy sense of déjà vu." He takes a threatening step into the room. "Were you buddies with Logan Fell? Because this conversation is sounding awfully familiar to me. So I'll ask you one more time. Who turned you?"

"I did."

Anna steps out of the bathroom, looking slightly guilty.

"You," Damon says, eyes widening in revelation at the sight of her. "You're Anna."

"I was wondering how long it would take you to find me."

"You know Anna?" I ask, walking into the room towards her. Ignoring Damon's protests, I greet her with a warm hug. Because I like those. It's a good thing I'm not a snowman.

"She was around back in 1864," Damon explains. "How long have you been here?"

"I arrived around half-past comet, watching you screw up every chance you had to open that tomb." She throws an arm around my shoulder. "But I can see why you don't really care anymore. This one's a catch."

I beam at her. "Awh, I knew there was a reason why I liked you so quickly."

"If you've been here the whole time, then why are we just crossing paths right now?" Damon asks, getting straight to business.

"I like to use others to do my dirty work."

Damon scowls, reaching out to pull me back behind him again. "Like Logan Fell? Oh, yeah, thanks for that, by the way. Little bastard shot me and killed Lacey's father."

Anna flinches at his harsh tone. "Logan was an idiot. I needed his family's journal." She looks over at me. "I'm really sorry about what he did, though."

I can't tell her that it's okay because it really isn't, but it's not exactly her fault Logan went crazy. Words, Lacey, words. Use them.

"…"

Nice one, Lace. Way to be real eloquent. Oh, now you can use the big words when you're talking to yourself in your head. Wait, why am I still talking to myself? What if I can't ever stop? Oh my God, what if I'm developing schizophrenia? What if-

"What'd you want with the Fell journal?" Damon asks, saving me from my psychotic break.

I dig in my pockets, pulling out a peppermint to give him as a thank you.

Damon looks at me, confused as I covertly slip the mint into his hand. At my theatrical wink, though, he just smiles, popping it in his mouth.

"I thought it contained the location of the witch's spellbook. I was wrong. According to her journal, Honoria gave the grimoire to Jonathan Gilbert. And, according to this," she says, presenting the Gilbert journal to Damon. "He gave it to your father. So now you're going to help me find it."

Damon rolls the peppermint around his mouth a few times, staring down at the journal. "Mhm," he hums disparagingly. "Why would I help you? Two of your little minions have hurt me and mine."

My heart flutters at his words, happy that he so openly calls me his, and I lean my head between his shoulder blades. His arm reaches back to wrap around my waist.

"You know my mother's in that tomb," Anna states. "I'm sorry for not having better control over Logan or Noah, but I won't stop until I get it open."

"Wait," I interrupt. "Your mother's in the tomb?"

She nods sadly.

"We have to help her, Damon."

"No we don't."

I put on my best puppy eyes, sticking out my lower lip just a little bit and bringing my brows together. "But it's her mother, Damon."

He narrows his eyes at me. "Fine," he grumbles, and I immediately grin, making his eyes soften.

A cough sounds from on top of one of the beds, causing the three of us to look over at Ben.

He makes a whipping gesture at Damon with his hand. "Whipped," he taunts.

Damon squeezes my hand before flashing over to him, hand going around his throat. "You're useless, and Lacey doesn't like you." He squeezes tighter, making Ben choke for breath. "Say one more word, and I'll kill you."

I tilt my head to the side and smile, enjoying the view. Damon looks back with a smirk when he catches me staring. "Or did you just want me to go ahead?"

"Hmm," I deliberate slowly, enjoying the look of fear on McKittylitter's face. "No," I say with a sigh. "I guess I'll let him live today."

Damon almost looks disappointed as he lets go of him.

Anna moves beside me, handing me the Gilbert journal. "Give this back to Jeremy. We won't be needing it anymore."

XX

I head home for a bit before planning to join Jeremy for family night at his house.

I've seriously been neglecting my mother with everything that's been going on and I miss her. She's slowly been coming back to life since Damon and I got back from Georgia. She's even taken a real liking to him. I figure now is the perfect time to get in some quality bonding hours.

"Moomaloo," I croon as I enter the house.

"In the guest room," she shouts back.

I skip my way up the stairs-

Crash.

My knee simply gives out. Well, I should have known how that was going to end. Who skips up the stairs? That's like asking for disaster. Unless you're one of those long-jumping Olympiads.

Sports are my Everest, my one sole weakness. In all other areas, I am perfection, a savant, a… what is all of this cardboard?

I scan the guest room where my mom is hard at work with her label-maker and quite literally a million boxes. "Uhm… what's going on?" I ask.

"I'm packing," Mom responds. "I've already done the guest bedrooms and dining room."

A sinking feeling fills my stomach. There's only one reason to be packing up a house, but I refuse to believe it until she says the words. "Why?"

"We're moving."

And there it is out in the open. "Why?" I ask again, not caring that I'm repeating myself.

"I can't be in this town anymore," she responds, finally coming over to put her hands on my shoulders and look me in the eyes. "Distance will be good for me, for us."

"But-"

"I already accepted a job offer in Philadelphia," she continues. "You've always wanted to see a historical city. I chose the location with you in mind. It's the epicenter of the American Revolution," she gushes.

My mouth falls open.

"We'll have this cute apartment. Three bedrooms and two of them, ours, will be on a loft floor with a spiral staircase! I knew you'd love that."

I put a hand to my forehead, eyes wide at how hard she's really trying to sell me on this. "Mom… I don't…" I can't tell her that I don't want to go when she's so excited. She hasn't looked this alive or happy about anything since Dad died.

Her eyes soften as she looks at me. "I know you have good friends here, but you'll make new ones." She pulls my frozen body into a hug. "Everywhere we go here is filled with memories. To move on, we need to move on."

I don't know what to say. I'm speechless, and I've lost control of my limbs because I can't move either. It must be that Galileo freeze trauma response rearing its head again because I'm feeling pretty frickin' traumatized right now.

Mom pulls away, picking up a large stack of boxes from behind her and handing them to me. "Here. We leave next week."

"Next week?!"

She pats my head. "Oh, sweetie, I know it's short notice, but you only have to worry about your room, I've got the rest," she says with a wink. "The new apartment is fully furnished, so that makes it easier."

"I just don't understand how," I continue to struggle to find words. "It's just so fast."

"I know," she repeats. "But there's no time like the present."

I stand motionless, dazed as my mind races to catch up.

"Uh," I clear my throat. "I'm going to Jer's for family night tonight," I eventually say and begrudgingly take the boxes from her.

"You tell him he can visit us in the City of Brotherly Love anytime, okay?" She chuckles. "That would be fitting, wouldn't it?"

"Mhm." I plod out of the room. Apparently, I have a lot of packing to do this afternoon.

XX

By the time I make it to Jeremy's house, my arms are sore.

I managed to pack up my bookshelves and half my closet, adding the boxes to the mountain in the guest room. I'm not giving in to the whole idea so easily, but I can't seem to come up with any viable excuse to stay in Mystic Falls. I won't stop trying, though.

Deciding to keep the move to myself until I'm sure I can't prevent it from happening, I nod and knock on the door. A few moments later, Elena opens it.

"Hey, Lacey," she welcomes me in. "Damon and Jeremy are in the living room playing video games."

I nod, walking through the halls I know as well as the ones in my own home. There are even some photos of me with Jeremy on the walls. In almost all of them, I'm making a loony face, crossing my eyes or sticking my tongue out. I try to memorize them, just in case.

I wave to Jenna before plopping down between Jeremy and Damon on the couch.

Jeremy remains intent on the screen, frantically smashing down on buttons, but Damon shoots me a concerned look, eyes lingering on mine. "You alright, sunshine?"

"Yup," I pop out while adjusting myself to lay my head on his lap and drape my legs across Jeremy's.

Damon looks unconvinced but lets it go because Stefan comes into the room all upset and out of breath.

"I need to talk to you," he states.

"So speak."

Stefan's face darkens. "Outside," he urges.

Damon gets up, gently placing a pillow under my head before joining Stefan and Elena on the porch at Stefan's insistence.

I pick up the abandoned controller to play a few rounds with Jeremy, pressing random buttons and actually getting in some winning hits.

"I don't know how you always do that," Jer complains.

I shrug. "It's a gift…" I lower my voice. "And a curse."

"How is it a curse?"

"It's a curse to all who dare go against me," I say as I kick his thigh hard to make him drop his controller when he starts winning.

"Ow! That's not fair. That's cheating."

I cackle maniacally. "Well, I do like to eat pumpkin muffins. Ergo, it's in my job description. I'm legally required to cheat."

Jeremy chuckles. "I guess I can't argue with that."

Damon wanders back into the room and sits on the arm of the couch. He winks at me before turning to Jeremy. "I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day. Who else did you show it to?"

I furrow my brows, sitting up in confusion before realizing that Stefan must be looking for either the journal or Anna. Damon must not have let on that we knew anything. I catch on and initiate my acting skills. Not to brag or anything, but I can cry on demand with only a 4-minute delay.

"You're kidding me, right?" Jeremy asks, chuckling again.

"Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Jonathan Gilbert's journal?" Elena cuts in.

"Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?"

I give Jeremy a rough elbow in the side.

"Ah, AH! Okay, geez. I only told Anna." He elbows me back, sending me flying into the couch cushions.

Damon shifts me back upright and sits back down beside me. "And who is Anna? The hot, weird girl you were telling me about earlier?"

"Yeah, who in the world is Anna?" I chime in. "What a name. I wonder who could have it."

"You've met her, Lacey," Jeremy says dryly. "You even invited her to the decade dance."

Dammit. I forgot about that whole encounter. I wonder why no one has ever called me Spacey Lacey before. Smiling nervously, I pat Jeremy's arm. Wait-

"You think she's hot?" I crow. "Oooh, Jeremy and Anna sittin' in a tree."

He punches me. "Now who's twelve? She wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight."

"Perfect!" Damon exclaims, jumping up and pulling me and Jeremy with him. "Let's go. I'll drive."

In the car, I fill a very confused Jeremy in on what's been going on.

"Anna's a vampire?" He asks.

"Yes, that's what I just said, Jer. Keep up!"

"I am, I am. It's just. Her mom's in the tomb so you guys are helping her open it?"

"You're repeating everything I just said." I raise my voice a few octaves to mock my previous words. "Yes, that is what I just said, Jer. Keep up!" I laugh. "You know, that is fun to do. Totally giving you a free pass, there, Jer."

Ha. That rhymed again. Mental self-high-five. Rhyming queen.

"I found out where the grimoire is," Damon adds. "Figured this would be the perfect time to let Anna know."

It was indeed the perfect time to let Anna know.

Despite her being absolutely shocked that Jeremy is in on the whole vampire secret and has been since forever, she's happy to not have to pretend to be a human anymore.

We now find ourselves on a journey into the woods… but not to grandmother's house. Instead, we're going to become graverobbers! I still have my fingers crossed for the fairytale happily ever after, though.

Damon gives me a piggyback ride to the grave, setting me down when we get there and reaching a hand out for the shovels, which he had unceremoniously shoved into Jeremy's hands when I was about to jump on his back instead.

We each take one and start digging, though I give up after about 5 minutes. I probably could have lasted at least 6 minutes, but my arms are sore from packing.

I flop myself down on the ground and take on the role of cheerleader, shouting "Woo's" and "Go Team's" at regular intervals. I'm a major contributing factor to their success in reaching the coffin.

When they do reach it, Damon jumps down into the 6-foot-deep hole, and I move over to Jeremy and Anna, giving them high-fives.

I give Jeremy a sly look, glancing pointedly at Anna and puckering my lips suggestively.

He glares at me, but I know he's just covering up his little crush. I'm onto him. I wave my hand like the ocean and mime swimming. I totally ship them.

Damon pops his head up from the grave, holding up the grimoire before I can put my charade skills to use anymore. Unfortunately, two visitors arrive at the same time, their eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

"Jeremy?" Elena's voice calls from behind us.

Turning around slowly, Jeremy gives Elena a sheepish wave. "Hey, Elena."

"Helloo, Elena," I chime in.

"Elena," Damon acknowledges.

"Damon," Stefan states, disdainful.

"Stefan," Damon mimics Stefan's tone, smirking.

"Stefan," I lower my voice, mimicking Damon.

"Lacey."

"Stefan," Jeremy pipes up, snickering.

"Jeremy."

"Stefan," Anna says, not wanting to be left out.

Stefan looks at Anna, taken aback. "Annabelle?"

"Annabelle?"

Elena groans. "Everyone be quiet. What are you doing with them, Jeremy? You can't trust Damon."

"I can't trust you," Jeremy scoffs. "You wanted my memory erased."

Elena turns to Damon with angry eyes. "You said you compelled him." She looks back at Jeremy. "You've known this whole time?"

"Uhm, remember. I couldn't be compelled," I interject. "You know me, Elena. There's no way I could keep this from my bestie. So, I spilled the beans."

"When?"

"The very next day," I smile innocently.

Elena sighs in unison with Stefan. They're such an iconic duo. Truly soulmates.

"You're not gonna open the tomb, Damon."

Damon jumps out of the grave, sauntering up to the 5 of us. "You're right, brother." He holds out the grimoire like he's going to hand it to him, but at the last moment shoves it at Anna.

"Oof," she grunts as her hands come up to hold it. She locks eyes with Damon for a moment before zooming away.

"She is," Damon smirks.

I give Damon a fist bump. "Nice one."

"This is no joking matter, Lacey!" Stefan cries out in frustration. "The tomb vampires will all be released. There're 27 vampires down there, desiccated and hungry for blood. They will destroy this town."

"Hmm," I muse. "27 is a good number. That's 3 cubed. Isn't that satisfying?"

"Lacey, this is serious," Elena chides.

"Anna deserves to get her mother back," Jeremy defends. "It's not like she's trying to release all of them. She doesn't want that."

At this, Elena looks down for a few moments, then she glances at Stefan. "Well…"

"No," Stefan says. "It's too dangerous."

"Stefan, it's just one. Or…" she glances at Damon. "Or two, including Katherine. If they're all desiccated it wouldn't make a difference."

"Elena-"

"They can go in, grab them, then we can get Bonnie to reseal the tomb."

I knew Elena would come around. I pull out one of those strawberry-looking candies that old ladies have from my pocket and hand it to Elena as a reward.

She takes it, unwrapping it and popping it in her mouth. "Thanks."

"No, thank you, Elena," I gush. "There's plenty more where that came from. Here." I hand her another one, making her smile happily.

"Elena, you realize what she's doing, right?" Stefan asks. "She's trying to condition you to do what she wants, and you're falling right into her trap."

"What?" My voice comes out all squeaky. "No I'm not. Pfft, don't be ridiculous."

"If she was I don't even care, these things are good," Elena mumbles under her breath before clearing her throat and speaking up. "It's the right thing to do, Stefan. We're helping."

Stefan groans, looking to the sky. "Fine." He points to Damon. "But anything that happens is on Damon."

"Uh, hello?" Damon asks. "What about these two?" He points to me and Jeremy.

"They're human and still on their first lifetime," Stefan calls out over his shoulder as he takes Elena's arm and pulls her away. "You should know better by now."

"Elenaaa!" I cup my hands around my mouth so she can hear me. "Get Bonnie to help uUuUsSsS."

"On it!" I hear her voice call back faintly from the distance.

"Well, that went well," Damon comments, picking the shovels up. "You want some ice cream, lovelace?"

"Ooh, yes please!"

"What about me?" Jeremy reminds us of his presence. "I want ice cream too."

"Buy it yourself."

I roll my eyes, mouthing to Jeremy, "I got you."

XX

Bonnie ends up being a tough nut to crack. She's so anti-vampire that Van Helsing seems friendly. It takes a few days, but luckily with Elena on our side, she eventually relents, and her Grams agrees to help as long as they set all the other vampires on fire.

Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, Anna, Damon, and I all stand at the entrance of the tomb, staring as Ms. Sheila lights torches.

"Hi, Ms. Sheila!" I call out, waving. "How are you doing tonight?"

"That's Grams to you, munchkin," she smiles at me. "I'm doing just fine. How's your mom holding up?"

Oh crap. My mom. We're moving and I never finished packing. GAH! What am I saying? I was supposed to be thinking of how to convince her to stay. "She's, uhm, good!"

"Good. You tell her that her favorite patient misses her."

Grams got to know my mom well when she was in the hospital last year for appendicitis. The nurses wouldn't trust Grams' natural remedies, but my mom let her use whatever herbs and oils she wanted. Now that I know she's a witch, I understand why that was so important.

"Will do," I say, shifting nervously on my feet and slapping my hands against my thighs.

"Air. Earth. Fire."

"Water," Bonnie finishes, sprinkling water from a bottle onto the floor.

Damon's hands reach out to grasp mine, stilling them. "Why are you so nervous?" Nothing's going to happen."

"I… ehehe," I laugh nervously. "I kind of have to tell you something. After. Later."

He narrows his eyes at me. "Okay."

All six of us watch in silence as Bonnie and Grams chant the spell, cracking the tomb's door open.

"It worked!" Bonnie exclaims, excited.

"Of course it worked."

Damon and Stefan get gasoline to build the fires while Anna darts in the tomb, holding an armful of blood bags to reawaken her mother with.

Damon comes back first, holding a torch. "Didn't want to go in the scary tomb?" He teases.

"I was just waiting for you, wimp. Let's go get the Kat."

He rolls his eyes, taking my hand. "Come along, dear."

Usually, I'm a fan of small, enclosed spaces. For some reason, they just make me feel safe. But there's something about literally walking into an underground tomb that rubs me the wrong way. Just because I like small spaces doesn't mean I want to be buried alive.

"Relax," Damon murmurs.

"I am relaxed."

"Your ridiculously loud breathing could wake the dead."

I huff, elbowing him. "It's the air. The quality is low. There's less oxygen down here."

"You know I won't let anything happen to you."

So he says.

We walk right past Anna, who's already leading her mother toward the exit. I stay silent, carefully watching the ground for any signs of possums. The evil creatures. I don't know why they would be in the tomb, but one can never be too vigilant in their lookout for them.

"About what you were going to tell me later…"

Dammit, I knew he was going to bring it up the first chance he got.

"I'm leaving," I blurt out, pulling my hand from his and messing with my fingers. I glance nervously up at him, seeing his jaw clench.

"You're leaving me?" He scoffs. "What did I do wrong?"

My eyes widen at how wrongly he took my statement. "No! I mean. You didn't do anything wrong. It's-"

"It's not you, it's me," he mocks. "That's a new one."

"Damon! Quit it," I blurt out, exasperated. "I mean I'm literally leaving Mystic Falls. In two days."

His shoulders relax. "To go where? I'll come with you."

I'm about to respond, but we reach the end of the tomb.

"Huh," Damon mutters. "Look at that. She's not here." He clenches one of his hands into a fist. "All those years I spent pining after her and she wasn't even in the tomb."

I reach my hand up to rest on his shoulder, making him lean into me.

After a few seconds, his fist unclenches and he puts the hand over mine. "Let's just get out of here. You're right. Another road trip sounds good."

To rip the bandage off or not to rip the bandage off.

"Actually, the thing is… apparently I'm moving."

I guess I'm ripping it off then.

The rest of the walk to the entrance of the tomb is silent; Damon doesn't utter a word. That is, until we reach the pile-up.

"What the hell?" Damon snarls.

Anna and Stefan turn around, glaring at Damon. "We're stuck. There's a seal."

"I guess you're not lighting those fires, then, huh?" I ask Stefan.

His lips thin. "I guess not."

"Move." Damon barrels past everyone to the exit. He curses when he runs into an invisible barrier.

"What's your problem? Upset Katherine wasn't there?" Anna snaps.

"I don't care about Katherine," he growls.

"It's down!" Bonnie announces.

Anna scrambles out of the tomb first, carefully holding up her mother. Damon pushes me out next before he and Stefan move the boulder back in front of the tomb.

And then the world is whooshing around me, and I can't tell which way is up or down as I'm hung over Damon's shoulder.

He places me down a little too quickly on the porch, making me stumble.

"What do you want her to know?" Damon asks.

"Her to know who? Huh?" I'm actually feeling a bit nauseated. Note to self: it's only fun going vamp speed during piggyback rides.

"Your mom."

"Oh, her," I say dumbly. "What?"

He sighs loudly. "I'm going to compel her not to move. What do you want her to know?"

"You..." I slap my forehead. I'm the world's biggest idiot. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're adorably one-track minded," he teases with a grin, leaning down to softly press his lips to mine. "Time's up. I'm going in."

I trek after Damon to my mom's room, where she's packing away the last of her clothes. She turns around when she hears us, a sad smile on her face. "I'll sure miss this place. Too bad it already got sold or I might've kept it as a vacation house."

I frantically start hitting Damon's shoulder, looking at him with wide eyes and motioning with my head towards the door. When he just stares blankly at me, I grab his arm, yanking him after me to my bedroom.

"We can't just compel her not to move now," I point out. "The house is already sold. Unless you want to go compel the new buyers and the realtor and the bank people and the new buyer's bank people."

"I know," he rubs his hand over his face, groaning.

"She's been so excited to move. She hasn't even been alive since my dad died, but she actually looks happy about moving," I ramble. "And she started going on and on and ON about how she picked Philadelphia for me."

"Do you want to go?" Damon sighs.

"No," I say quietly. "Everyone else I love is here. But… I don't want to stop my mom from being happy either." I plop down on the floor feeling lightheaded again. "I don't know what to do."

Damon sits down beside me, nudging my shoulder. "Then move into the boarding house. I'll take you to visit your mom every week if you want me to, but I'm not letting you go. That's why I was upset in the tomb. I thought you wanted to leave."

I mull the thought over in my head. I haven't really been spending a lot of time with my mom lately anyway, and she does seem to be happy about moving. She's got her new job and everything… And I could visit lots. If I change my mind, I can always move up there with her anytime.

"Okay," I whisper, nervously playing with the edge of my shirt.

Damon gets up, kissing the top of my head as he walks out of the room.

I sigh, tearing up a bit. It's like that one episode of Friends, the end of an era.

"Get out of my house!"

I jump up at my mom's shriek, tripping over the rug in the hallway as I race towards the shouting. I stop in my mom's doorway to see her with a slipper raised and pointed at Damon.

She glances at me when I appear before turning back to Damon. "Out," she scolds. "Now."

Damon holds his hands up innocently. "You neglected to tell me she was on vervain," he hisses quietly as he brushes past me.

What? She's not on vervain. Unless she drank some of my-

I glance at the mug on her nightstand. Verbena tea. Whoops. This is bad.

Mom troops after Damon, and I troop after her the whole way to the front door. She slams it behind him and whirls around to face me. "You want to move in with that boy?"

"What? Where did you get that idea?" I really need to get better at acting.

"He said you were going to move in with him."

"Well, that's strange," I say, stroking my chin like I see them do in movies to look convincing. "I don't remember saying that."

"You didn't say you were moving in with him?"

"Indeed, I did not say that." There, I didn't tell a lie. That makes it more believable.

Mom stares me down as she puts her slipper back on. "It's a good thing we're leaving," she eventually says. "I thought he was a good one, but that boy turned out to be a creep, trying to manipulate me into leaving you here."

I let out the breath I was holding. "Yeh, real creep that one is."

After exchanging a few more niceties, I pad up to my room and shut the door, knowing that Damon will already be here.

"You're leaving before that's going to be out of her system," he complains.

"I know. Look, I've come up with a super-duper failproof plan."

I pull out a sheet of notebook paper and grab a pencil. "I will go to Philadelphia with my mom," I say, drawing a liberty bell. "I will make sure she doesn't drink any more tea." I draw a flower and then cross it out. "And then you come up to Philadelphia two days later to compel her to let me come back." I finish by drawing a pair of fangs with a heart around them.

"Voila! Quickest thinking I've done in my whole life. Of course, you'll have to hijack a van or truck or something for all my boxes. There's no way they'd all fit in your convertible."

"Alright," Damon mumbles, disappointed. "There isn't really another option." He pulls me into a vice-like hug. "I'll be there bright and early exactly 2 days from now."

A/N2: Not me shamelessly having Lacey randomly go to another city for some unknown reason. Hmmm, I wonder why that could be.