Chapter 3: Night of the Comet


Jeremy's Aunt Jenna made another attempt to 'talk' to him about his problems, thanks to Tanner calling her in for a meeting on the third day of school. She knew all about his smoking habits and the couple of classes that he'd skipped before meeting his new friends, but was still trying to be the 'cool' aunt, pretending that she could relate to him. The second she wasn't looking during her taco hips speech, he'd bailed and gone to visit Vicki, who was doing a lot better.

Jeremy couldn't fathom why she seriously believed that 'Tyler was showing interest', considering that the interest he'd seen last night was just Tyler trying to force her to have sex against a tree. Tyler never even came to visit her in the hospital and Jeremy did, twice! She finally seemed to appreciate him a bit more and even smiled when he told her that he was the one who found her in the woods and carried her out.

After visiting Vicki, Jeremy had gone to meet up with Jake and Hamilton out at the quarry, where they were just floating around in their boat, mostly snuggling. Watching them all cuddly with each other, just enjoying each other's company without needing to get high made him a little jealous. It was almost like they could just get high together from the air and water surrounding them, and they looked so content just laying there wrapped up together on their side of the boat.

This time he did open up and talk to them about about himself and Vicki, and even though they didn't say anything judgmental, he could see it in their eyes that they didn't really approve of Vicki for whatever reason. Especially Jake, who looked really worried. It reminded him of Elena and Jenna, and he didn't need that crap. Jake and Hamilton were just clueless rich kids, after all, who didn't get his lifestyle. Granted, his life hadn't been much different from Hamilton's before his parents had died and he'd started seeing Vicki…

At least Hamilton was more laid back, and just said, "As long as she makes you happy, most of the time…" but it wasn't very convincing. Jake had just been completely hung up on the almost five year age gap, and had basically asked Jeremy what he had with Vicki besides the summer of drugs and sex. Hamilton had pinched Jake and looked apologetically over at Jeremy for Jake's bluntness, but Jeremy was already pissed off.

So, Jeremy had asked to be dropped off on shore and had gone off to smoke with an acquaintance of his, using his money to buy some of the stronger oxy prescription pain drugs that he planned on giving Vicki once she got out of the hospital. Unfortunately, he ended up getting sucked out of a bit more money than he planned to spend and was pretty wasted by the time he walked in the door at home. He had attempted to quickly walk upstairs, right past his aunt and sister. It hadn't really worked, and when Jenna threw an apple at him, he tried to pretend that he'd actually felt it, figuring it would look better if he acted dramatic. That way they wouldn't realize how dead inside he really felt.


Stefan was so predictable. Predictably pathetic. When Katherine's human lookalike had shown up at the boarding house, Damon had found it quite exhilarating. If he wasn't careful, Elena could easily get under his skin and he couldn't allow that. In a way, it was good that Stefan had arrived home to interrupt them.

There was no better way to keep his emotions safely buried deep than seeing 'Buzzkill Bob' aka 'Saint Stefan' moping around, reminding Damon that he was only here to have just a little fun until he could get Katherine free. Not enough fun to really make him feel anything, but just enough to distract his brother while he inserted himself into a founding family that would get him access to the amulet as soon as the comet passed by. Just a few more days, and he'd get everything he wanted. He hoped.

Deep down, he was terrified that if he let his emotions all back in before he saw Katherine again, he might end up ultimately wishing that they were still off… That fatalist notion that everything he did to get Katherine back was for nothing. He couldn't allow those thoughts to surface though, especially not the absolute fear that he kept buried under everything else. So, in part to ensure that he remained unaffected by any guilt that may want to resurface, he went and messed a bit with Vicki's head, figuring that it'd be just enough to weaken Stefan's compulsion and keep his brother on his toes.

He'd need to hold off on killing a bit now, probably. With four people already dead, and Vicki running around thinking vampires, he'd done plenty already. Now it was time to put the violence on pause and go find an 'in' to the social events where he would be able to get the invites he'd need. He already had the perfect target in mind; the little blonde debutante that he'd seen last night at the Mystic Grill. She was well connected and appeared desperate for attention, so would be easy to use to work his way into her world. Just a little bit of fun. Not enough to feel anything…


The next day had gone pretty well for Hamilton. Now that Vicki was doing better and getting out of the hospital, Matt got around to bringing the younger boy out to football practice to talk to the coach. Surprisingly, with his starting quarterback right there pushing to let him play, Tanner didn't seem to take much of an issue with letting Hamilton join in the JV practice. He said a few things, but Matt easily got him to agree.

By the time practice was over, Hamilton was beat, and thankful that he'd been really active all summer. It had been a ton of fun though, and the guys mostly seemed to like him well enough. A few of them asked questions about Jake just because they were curious, who'd sat on the bleachers watching Hamilton while doing stuff on her laptop. Hamilton told them that "Jake is just Jake", and they'd have to ask his best friend directly, but "Yeah, we're together."

He took a few hits that were pretty damn hard, but that could have just as easily been because he was the new guy being tested. After all, he'd just joined the team a few days late and was an outsider, yet the varsity quarterback had gotten Tanner to let him play on their junior team. He managed to catch and hold onto the ball through the hits, and was feeling pretty good about his spot on the junior team when he got some pats on the back after practice.

After football was over for the day, the pair discovered that the whole town was out in the square, gathering together for festivities before the 'Night of the Comet'. Hamilton had gotten permission from Roger to stay out til after the comet passed by, and it wasn't long before they found Jeremy out wandering around amongst the crowd.

Jeremy was smiling for once, stoked that Vicki had gotten out of the hospital, claiming that she had brushed off Tyler's advances for a change, and that she'd said she'd meet up with him outside soon. Jeremy didn't bother mentioning that he'd gotten on her good side by giving her some oxy.

"That's great!" Hamilton fist bumped the other boy on the shoulder. He was happy for him and hoped it'd work out. He also didn't want to cause Jeremy to stop hanging out with them, after all.

Yeah, awesome, Jeremy," Jake was on the same page as Hamilton. If their friend wanted to be with Vicki, that was his choice to make. Their reactions the day before hadn't been well received so they wouldn't make the same mistake twice. It was possible that they were wrong about Vicki, too. After all, they were the new kids in town.


None of them realized how close they were to being spotted by the vampire who looked exactly like Hamilton. Damon had been playing a bit of cat and mouse outside at the festival for fun with Caroline just before they'd shown up, but had already gone into the bar to also 'check on' Vicki, for a very different reason.

The lighting inside the Grill provided just enough glare in the windows as the sun began setting outside, so that his eyes didn't land on his young doppelganger. Instead, he was a little bit thrilled, but at the same time irritated, to find out that Vicki recognized him after all. Just as he'd expected, Stefan's compulsion was useless. So he decided to fix the problem in a way that would make his point clear to his idiot of a little brother.


When Vicki never showed up outside and he couldn't find her in the Grill, Jeremy's first thought was that she'd decided to get back with Tyler after all. That turned out not to be the case though, when he'd seen Tyler sitting around a table with everyone but Vicki. Jake and Hamilton had tried to help him look around too, and had followed him over to where the older teens were.

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy was really worried now, worried enough to try to get help from others who knew her.

"You're her stalker. You tell us," Tyler responded, bitterly.

"I can't find her," Jeremy admitted.

"We've been helping him look everywhere, it's like she disappeared into thin air," Jake added, getting a funny look from the other teens that had no clue who Jeremy's new friends were. Matt immediately looked worried, though. Before he could say anything, it was a different person who responded to Jake's unexpected arrival.

"You're hanging out with Jeremy and Vicki?" Bonnie asked, surprised. Bonnie had been less than pleased a week ago, just before school started, when her father had introduced her to her new temporary housemate.

Apparently, Jake was a sixteen year old freshman exchange student from New York that Bonnie's dad had agreed to rent a room to, hoping that Jake could keep Bonnie 'company' whenever he was out of town for days or weeks. So far, they'd barely said ten words to each other. Thankfully, the house had two bathrooms, so they didn't have to fight over one. Still, Bonnie had taken one look at Jake Pratt and decided that they had nothing in common.

Jake had immediately gotten the hint and basically just used the house as a place to stay at night, keeping quiet and in her own room during the evenings after Hamilton went home, staying out of Bonnie's way. Hamilton's curfew had indirectly become Jake's curfew too. Otherwise, Jake spent all day with Hamilton and, or at school. Not with Bonnie. Mostly, because Bonnie had given Jake some very cold looks right from the start and Jake didn't want any trouble. Jake had wired the payments for the room in advance of arriving so that the whole semester of room and board would be covered, and didn't want to get kicked out as long as Hamilton was still in Mystic Falls.

Tyler interrupted, smugly referring to Vicki, "She probably found somebody else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced."

Elena had been staring at Hamilton who was standing behind Jeremy, because apparently Stefan had also forgotten to mention that he had another, little brother too, that looked ridiculously like Damon, the older brother that Stefan had also not mentioned until she'd met him at the boarding house, but when she heard Tyler's comment, she bit out, "What's with the pill pusher?"

"Ask him," Tyler tattled, nodding at Jeremy.

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy really wanted to punch Tyler.

Elena was immediately upset at her brother, and wanted to know, "Are you dealing?"

Tyler ganged up on Jeremy at the same time, trying to push the kid over the edge while surrounded by his own friends, "She's never gonna go for you."

"She already did. Over, and over, and over again," Jeremy wasn't going to let Tyler win.

"Yeah, right," Tyler tried to make it sound like he knew Jeremy was full of shit.

Matt was getting pissed at them both, and the way they were talking about his sister. Just to rub things in, Caroline tactlessly blurted, "You slept with Vicki Donovan? I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?"

Tyler muttered in disbelief, "There's no way."

"And I didn't even have to force her into it," Jeremy added.

Jake and Hamilton looked at each other, worried that a huge fight was about to explode. Hamilton was getting ready to try to help Jeremy if necessary but break it up if possible. He hoped that he wouldn't end up fighting Matt too. Protecting Jake from taking any accidental hits would be his priority, though. Since everyone thought she was a boy, she could easily get hurt like one by someone like Tyler, just by being in the wrong spot at the wrong moment.

Luckily, Matt seemed to have a bigger problem with Tyler than Jeremy now, asking, "What the hell is he talking about, Ty?"

Tyler tried to save face, telling his best friend, "Nothing, man, just ignore him, he's a punk."

Matt decided to deal with Tyler later, because if Vicki was in trouble, they were all just wasting time, "You know what, how about all of you shut up and help me find my sister?"

Jake released a sigh of relief and Hamilton relaxed, ready to follow Jeremy back out to search for the missing girl.

Bonnie agreed, signaling to Caroline while ignoring Jake again, "We'll check the back," and the two girls walked away from the group. No doubt Bonnie was filling Caroline in all about Jake, who she had been treating like a freak since the moment Jake had arrived. Up until now, Bonnie had basically been pretending Jake didn't exist, but knew her close friends would have questions.

Matt announced, "I'll check the square," as Jeremy immediately replied, "I'll come with you."

Jake and Hamilton fell in behind Jeremy right as Elena began calling after her brother, pushing right past Jake to grab her brother's arm, "Oh, no, no, no. You are coming with me. So that's your game now, dealing?"

Hamilton wrapped his arms around Jake after she'd basically been bumped out of Elena's way from behind, and they waited a few feet back. If he hadn't done so, Jake was already steaming and about to rip into Elena. Instead Jake clenched her jaw and kept her mouth shut, this time. They could both see why their friend found his older sister to be extremely annoying.

"I'm not dealing," Jeremy answered, frustrated, "And you don't need to be so rude to my friends, either!"

Elena glanced over at the other two kids, unsure of what to make of them. The boy Jeremy's age that looked just like Stefan's older brother was protectively hugging the smaller boy from behind, like they were in a relationship. She had no idea how Bonnie knew the scrawnier little guy, and realized that she had indeed rudely plowed right through him. She softened her tone a bit, nodding over at him, "Sorry, but I just need a moment with my brother," then turned back to Jeremy, saying "Look, I'm sick of the tough love speech, Jere. It's clearly having no impact."

"You and Jenna, between the two of you; it's enough already!" Jeremy was so sick of this. She was embarrassing him in front of people again and he just wanted to go find Vicki!

Elena prattled on, "We can stop if you want. Send you to a therapist where you'll be forced to deal with it or to rehab where you'll sit in group and tell some stranger how you let your life fall apart. Or you could talk to me."

Jake and Hamilton backed away a bit, hoping that it would help Jeremy feel a little less awkward. Later on, they'd let Jeremy complain to them all that he wanted, but they figured that interfering right now would just make things worse. They'd only known Jeremy a few days and didn't know his sister at all.

"I vote for none of the above," Jeremy finally replied, before walking away, both of his friends following after him to help him search for Vicki, ignoring the looks from Elena.

The three friends had found Matt alone, looking around outside, and stuck with him in their search.

It wasn't that much longer before Vicki had suddenly wandered confused over to Matt, having torn her stitches and claiming that she must've accidentally taken too many pain pills.

Apparently, she'd run into Stefan Salvatore first, and he'd told her to find her brother because everyone was looking for her. Jeremy had been relieved, and his two friends had decided to head home for the night, since Hamilton's curfew was just about up. They both patted Jeremy on the shoulder in friendly support, and Matt brought Vicki back into the Grill to clean up her neck.

Shortly after saying goodbye to his friends, Jeremy went back into the restaurant to go talk to Vicki, only to see that she was already making back up with Tyler. In fact, she was making out with Tyler.


Damon was extremely disappointed with how the night had gone with Stefan. He'd hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could get his brother to break down and drink human blood, only this time he'd stop him in time. Instead of letting Stefan run off and become a ripper, he'd have forced Stefan to learn control this time… Teach him how to be a stronger vampire. Maybe they'd even become brothers.

Instead, it had been pointless, and now Stefan just hated him even more, just like every other time Damon had tried to rejoin Stefan's life. In the end, he'd just given in and compelled Vicki to forget everything, because Stefan was a lost cause.

He didn't know why the hell he'd even tried. It had been stupid, and just would have made things more complicated until he could free Katherine. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. If Stefan wouldn't join him, then Damon would let his brother continue to suffer in his pathetic existence as a sicker, weaker, fake human wannabe. It was better this way anyway, because this ensured that Katherine would only want Damon, once he got her free.

Damon was stronger, healthier, and superior in every way, thanks to Stefan's choices. So let him stay weak, if that's what he really wanted. If Damon had Katherine back, he wouldn't need his brother.

He bit back the despair that tried to flick his switch back on, and used his best compartmentalizing efforts to hold the damn switch down, because emotions would only ruin everything! Stefan wasn't worth it! Damon couldn't be sad, or angry. The anger was nearly as big of a threat as the despair. No! He had to remain cool.

That settled, it was time to work his way into little miss Caroline's world. Tonight she'd be his blood bag, and then she'd be his key to getting the amulet back. He just had to hold on a bit longer.

Big, bad, vampire predator mode, on. Check.

Damon grinned as his target walked out to the parking lot all alone.


That night, Elena went back over to the Salvatore boarding house to visit Stefan, again. Only this time, Stefan was the only one there. She decided not to accept his invitation to come inside, citing the comet passing overhead. It became clear pretty fast though, that she wasn't happy with him, wanting to know why he hadn't told her that he had not one, but two brothers. Especially after she'd already met Damon. Why had he forgotten to mention that Damon wasn't the only one?

Apparently, she'd finally spotted Hamilton. Stefan didn't have a clue what to tell her.

So, he'd hesitated too long, and she assumed that meant that he was building up a wall to hide behind.

He could have compelled her to think that he'd already mentioned them both, but it might not hold up. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't related to Hamilton anyway, as far as he knew. Obviously, though, everyone was going to think that was a lie. There was no denying that Hamilton looked like a younger clone of Damon. So therefore, they had to both be related to Stefan, unless neither of them were? Not only that, but it was just another reminder that Elena also looked exactly like Katherine, which was another example of the strange phenomena that he just wasn't ready to bring up.

Now, Elena clearly thought that he was a dishonest liar, full of secrets. When he tried to kiss her after his heartfelt 'journal' speech about how he believed that meeting her was so epic, she turned her head away, telling him that she couldn't be with someone that was hiding so much. Everything was falling apart, and he just didn't know what to do.


End Note: Thanks for reading, and if anyone out there wants to try doing a similar crossover with Jake and Hamilton in Mystic Falls, and Hamilton is Damon's doppelganger, I am giving everyone permission for anyone to take this idea and try to run with it! I'd love to read it if someone else wrote it!