Trigger Warning: Recovery from PTSD, mature language
Bad Moon Rising - Part 1
The last few days...sucked.
They just really fucking sucked.
Everyone was pretty messed up from the funeral of Zach Salvatore, the betrayal of Kelly LeBlanc and Pearl Zhu, and the transitioning of Caroline Forbes. No one was mentally doing well...
...or emotionally...
...or physically.
Yeah, they weren't doing too hot.
Damon hadn't seen Lee since the funeral. Lexi, whenever she'd pop by to check in on Stefan or Victoria, would let Damon know that Lee had stayed in their room at their house for most of those days. Whenever he wasn't in there, he apparently had gone across the hall to check in on Amber, who had moved into the Branson-Ledger household. Besides that, he was only drinking the animal blood that Ms. Gibbons gifted Lexi to feed him with.
And speaking of Amber, the poor girl had been taken in by Lexi and Lee. Since her father had been killed by John Gilbert (pretty badly, if Damon was to believe the words of Liz Forbes after he had called her about the incident), Lexi had more or less adopted the girl into her household. The vampiress said that she checked the mail at Amber's house daily to make sure there wasn't anything coming from social workers or the Sheriff herself. According to Lexi, it was well-known that the teenager had only her father left, since her mother was who-knows-where, so that was a complication that would be showing up soon.
Meanwhile, at the Gilbert household, things were in an uproar and not in a fun party sort of way. Given the eavesdropping that Damon had done to Elena and Stefan's conversations (when it was safe), Jenna was in a similar state of Lee and Victoria. She was in her room constantly and whenever she came out, she would look at some random object in the house and just burst into tears. Jeremy was terribly shaken, but he was pretty much the Gilbert girls' rock. He hadn't been particularly close to Zach or Pearl, so her betrayal and his death didn't have the same sort of impact on him, but Kelly really did a number on him. Elena was worried that Jeremy was going to slip back into drug use, but Damon had seen the Gilbert boy enough to know that he wouldn't do that to his aunt and sister. Elena's concern came from the fact that Jeremy would be gone for hours at a time and she didn't know where he was going; Lexi had told Damon that Jeremy had shown up quite a bit at the house to try and keep Amber company. Damon had even witnessed him showing up at the boarding house to comfort Victoria.
Then, one finally arrived at the boarding house, probably the most screwed up household. Ms. Gibbons, Damon, and Harper were the three that were keeping the house standing. Ms. Gibbons always kept an eye out for Stefan, always passing him animal blood bags whenever he looked particularly antsy. Damon even once spotted her gently reading out some Shakespeare aloud in the living room in the comfort of an armchair while Stefan slept peacefully on the sofa. Stefan was having such a hard time without Zach, and it seemed only Ms. Gibbons' kind words, Elena's hand holding his own, and Damon's mere presence calmed him down.
Harper was on Caroline duty, though he himself was shaken terribly. Kelly and Pearl, he was close to, and Zach by the association of he lived in his house for quite a bit of a time. He didn't have nearly as much pep in his step as he used to, but he tried to keep himself positive for Caroline.
Caroline, meanwhile, was a wreck. Damon had been dividing his time between her and Victoria, and while Victoria was doing the more silent-destructive road, Caroline was verbally deconstructing. Kelly had threatened Amber Bradley to try and save her, and that gave Caroline such a bad guilt complex. Caroline was pushing the time between blood bags, and it was showing in the way that her cheeks were more sunken then usual and her skin paler. She seemed ashamed of the fact that she needed blood to survive, and no matter how many times Damon and Harper tried to persuade her, she would only drink blood every two days (which was pushing the time limit in between how much blood a baby vampire should be having).
And then Victoria.
His Mama Bear.
His Baby.
She might as well be described as a shell.
She barely spoke, except to say thank you whenever Ms. Gibbons would bring her up food. Victoria had planted herself in Zach's room, refusing to leave his bed and move anywhere. She wore the Whitmore sweatshirt that she had worn the day of the funeral and some of Zach's old pajama pants. She hadn't showered in days, and she certainly smelled that way (though Damon would still argue that she was beautiful, no matter the smell). Her eyes always seemed blank, as though she wasn't really seeing anything. Tom, who had moved his things from his hotel in the town to the boarding house and was currently staying in the cream room, had confessed to Damon that Victoria was disassociating and still in shock from the actual event. Tom had asked if Victoria had any previous trauma in her background that could have caused such a terrible reaction, and Damon had just snorted.
That was answer enough for Tom.
One night, while Tom, Ms. Gibbons, Harper, and Damon were down in the kitchen after a long and hard day (emotionally), some sitting at the island while others were just standing by the counters (Damon was planted on one of the counters and Ms. Gibbons hadn't even glared at him), Tom asked, "Is Victoria the only one who can die and come back?"
Damon swallowed his pancake slice (because breakfast for dinner, bitches) and grunted roughly, "No, but she's basically got invulnerability. There's only thing that can kill her, and it's really tough to actually do that. Meanwhile, vampires can come back but our 'can be killed by' list is higher than our 'can survive' list."
"Fire, wooden stakes to the heart, having our hearts ripped out," Harper listed out, ticking a finger for each point. "Those are the main three, but I don't suspect that any of us can come back if someone blew us up."
"You became a pirate, Harps, because someone tried to blow us up once," Damon snorted, taking a large swig of his bourbon (bourbon and pancakes. Never a more perfect combination). "So yeah, we can't always come back."
"Except for Zach that one time," Harper shot back, pointing a finger towards Damon.
"What happened with Zach?" Tom asked curiously, sitting up straighter in his seat.
"Someone tried to blow up the home that Ms. Zhu, myself, and Ms. Zhu's daughter had been living in," Harper explained in his little Southern twang (it got stronger whenever he spoke with Lee or Tom). "It was me, Ms. Zhu, Mr. Zachariah Salvatore, and Ms. LeBlanc who were there at the time. Mr. Salvatore jumped in the way of Ms. LeBlanc and got a wooden stake to the heart. Ms. LeBlanc somehow managed to bring him back from death with her blood."
"She fed it to him?" Tom threw out, glancing towards the others for an answer.
Ms. Gibbons was the next to speak, wiping her mouth daintily with a napkin before she placed it down onto the countertop. "Victoria's blood is deadly to vampires. She's like a venus flytrap for them. It smells delectable, and it probably doesn't taste that half-bad either, but you will be dead within minutes."
"Minutes?" Tom gasped in disbelief.
Ms. Gibbons nodded her head. "Some rogue vampires kept me under compulsion and I watched one of them take a nibble out of Ms. LeBlanc's neck. She, the vampire who did it, was dead within minutes. Rather satisfying to watch, actually; she was a bitch."
"Oh, Ms. Gibbons coming out with them nasty words," Damon snorted, cheers-ing his drink towards the woman in question. "That's how you know she's really pissed."
"So wait," Tom interrupted, holding his hands out like he could physically stop the conversation. "Zach died once, then Red brought him back with her blood, but not through feeding, and then he died again. Why didn't she heal him again if she did it once already?"
"Zach wouldn't let her," Damon sighed, shaking his head. "He didn't want to see Victoria in physical pain, I guess, as his last image of her. He was really far gone by the time she got to him."
"Victoria's blood can act like a booster for magical acts," Ms. Gibbons continued for Damon, giving Tom a little bit more of an actual explanation. "It's the way she was able to bring him back the first time. But in order for her to use it as a boost, and for something like that she would definitely need a boost, she has to physically draw the blood. A cut, anything. It has to be a pretty decent size too. She's too new to her powers to try and use just a single drop of blood."
"When did she get these powers?"
"Two months ago," came a new voice, and Damon almost groaned.
"McJudgey, the grown-ups are talking, please," Damon snapped, leaning a little to the side to see Elena standing in the doorway to the kitchen.
Except...
Elena didn't wear fitted leather skinny jeans.
She also didn't curl her hair (Damon recalled hearing her whine to Caroline, saying it made her look frightening).
"Katherine Pierce, you have exactly five seconds to explain why you are in my house before I call every vampire I know to hunt you down like the rat you are," Damon spat, feeling his imaginary hackles start to rise.
"Down, boy," Katherine snorted, rolling her eyes as if Damon's anger amused her. She strode farther into the kitchen and plopped down onto the empty seat next to Tom. She snatched his fork out of his hand and leaned over, spearing one of his sausages before bringing it to her ruby-red lips. She took a bite out of it, letting a little grease drop to her lower lip before licking it up. She spoke afterwards, acting oblivious to the way that Tom was staring at her, "I was visiting Baby Bear, if you must know."
Tom cleared his throat and his face took on a more notable shade of pink as he asked in a slight stammer, "H-How is she doing?"
"She reacted enough to tell me that if Damon caught me, he would kill me," Katherine replied, finishing the sausage before dropping the fork back onto Tom's plate. She snorted and rolled her eyes again. "As if Damon could actually catch me."
"If you are here to see Victoria, then why are you down here with us?" Damon demanded, throwing another piece of pancake into his mouth. He needed his fangs to munch down on something, and it was keeping him from vaulting the island to rip Katherine's throat out.
"I'm bored," Katherine stated, shrugging her shoulders. "This town hasn't been very exciting with everyone depressed."
Damon leapt to his feet and slammed his plate down onto the countertop, leaving a giant crack in his plate. "You know what? Fuck you, Katherine -"
"- You did that before -"
"- My fucking nephew died!" Damon hissed, feeling his fangs drop in his mouth. He could feel his eyes becoming more and more bloodshot and the veins under his eyes darken. "He was killed by your best friend and you are just going to come in here and complain that none of us are entertaining you? Shut the fuck up and get out of my house!"
"Out of the two of us, Damon, who's the one who is actively hunting down Pearl?" Katherine shot back, and that statement was enough to halt Damon's steps and anger.
She was...what?
Hunting down Pearl?
"What?" Damon croaked, not at all believing his ears.
Katherine pushed herself up onto her feet, and while she didn't come close to standing tall above Damon, it felt like she was nonetheless. "Pearl is my best friend, Damon. As her best friend, it is my duty to slap some fucking sense in that stupid ass brain of hers and show her that she fucked up. If you want in on the hunting party, because trust me, she is not coming back without some significant damage on her, come find me tomorrow night. If not, you'll be receiving a package on your doorstep in one to two business days."
Katherine slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a little slip of paper. She leaned over, getting all up in Tom's space, and the paramedic was blushing the same color of her lips as she placed the paper in his hands. Katherine sensually brushed her lips against Tom's ear before she stepped away and exited the kitchen, an exaggerated swing of her hips.
Damon's eyes immediately snapped to Tom, who was staring down at the little piece of paper in his hands like it held all the secrets of the universe. The paramedic unfolded the paper and took one glance at it before quickly folding it up. His cheeks were even darker (if that was at all possible) and he cleared his throat. "Well -" His voice cracked and that seemed to make him even more embarrassed. "- I think I'm just going to head off to bed."
Damon growled angrily and he stomped out of the kitchen. "Katherine! You do not get to defile one of the last innocent people here in this household!"
The only response he got was Katherine's twinkling little laugh.
Victoria took a deep breath, centering herself, before she allowed herself to fall.
Granted, she didn't fall very far, but just enough so she was hanging upside-down.
The rush of blood to her head held a slight pain that Victoria grabbed onto. She cherished the feeling, liked how it centered her, how it made her feel. To feel pain meant that she was alive. And being alive, it seemed, was a blessing only some got to have.
At times, it felt like a curse.
As she hung upside-down, letting all time slip past her, she focused on breathing, closing her eyes.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
"Unless...you are not referring to this Victoria. Perhaps you are just biding your time, until your real daughter comes back."
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
"I did it once, I would gladly do it again and again."
In.
OUT.
In.
OUT.
"Y-You have made me so proud. I-I love you, yeah?"
IN.
OUT.
IN.
OUT.
"Have humans evolved since the last time I was in Mystic Falls?"
Victoria cracked open an eye and saw Damon standing right in front of her, his picture upside-down in her view. Well, she was the one who was actually upside-down, but that was besides the point. He was just a smidgen taller than she was from where she was hanging, so her eyes were at his mouth.
"What?" Victoria whispered, confused by what he was asking.
Damon gestured up towards her. "Well, is it healthy to be hanging upside down from the ceiling? Also, when did you get this set up?"
Victoria risked a glance up. To be fair, there usually wasn't an aerial silk contraption set up in the living room, but Victoria had heard Damon and Tom leave the building and decided that she just needed to do something. Do anything to try and get her mind off of things.
Victoria dropped her head back and found herself staring into Damon's blue eyes. "You went out with Tom to get some groceries. I just wanted to do...something."
Damon's lips turned into a frown...no wait, she was upside. He was smiling, a soft smile that made his eyes glitter. "I'm glad, Baby. Aren't you supposed to be twirling or something on it?"
Victoria gave him a sheepish grimace and a little shrug of her shoulders. "I've actually never used one of these before, so I'm BSing it. I used my Wanderer's phone to Google how to make proper cradles so I wouldn't crash straight into the floor, but that was about it."
"You want me to get onto that Me Cylinder thingy to try and help you find some moves to do?" Damon asked, placing his hands on his hips.
"YouTube, Damon," Victoria giggled, shaking her head. "It's called YouTube, and no, I'm good. I don't mind hanging here. It makes me feel like Spiderman."
Damon's mouth, even from upside-down, took on its signature smirk and he took a step forward, so his nose brushed gently against Victoria's. It tickled against her and she scrunched up her face a little. When he spoke, his breath gently brushed up against her eyelids. "You make a very attractive Spiderman."
"Oh, you little flirt," Victoria teased, leaning forward to teasingly rub the tip of her nose against Damon's. "One of these days you are just going to sweep some poor defenseless girl off her feet and we're going to have to explain vampirology to her."
"What if I swept you off your feet?" Damon chided, reaching up with his hand to gently trace her cheekbone. "I'd be much more amenable to that."
"Well, I'm not even touching the ground right now, so your plan has a couple of flaws," Victoria replied. She frowned a little. "Though, my head is starting to feel a little fuzzy."
Damon understood what she was asking for immediately and he reached his arms up to catch her. She gently untangled her legs and arms from the silk and dropped a little, right into Damon's awaiting arms. Damon shifted her around until he was holding her in a bridal carry. Victoria rested her head against his collarbone and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.
He smelled like bourbon and blood.
He smelled like himself, and it brought Victoria a level of comfort she didn't think she'd be able to truly explain.
"You okay, Baby?" Damon hummed lightly, his chest rumbling against Victoria's side.
"I honestly don't think I'm ever going to be okay again," Victoria whispered honestly, holding on tighter to Damon. "B-But...But I'm better...ish. I think."
"Take it one step at a time," Damon told her, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to Victoria's forehead. He set her down gently, making sure she was completely steady before letting her go. "Ric should be showing up soon. Elena wanted to see if we could go check out the info her bio mom might have at her office in Duke."
"It's a smart plan," Victoria agreed, nodding her head. She paused, and she asked tentatively, "Would you like someone to come with you?"
Damon reached forward and grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers. "Baby, you know I would never deny myself the pleasure of your company. Plus, I'm going to need your mediating skills if I've going to survive a day trip with McJudgey herself."
A knock sounded from the door and Damon groaned before grumping, "Well, that's my cue." He gave Victoria a flirtatious wink before shouting up to the ceiling, "Steffie-boy! Your teacher's here!"
Victoria could faintly hear Stefan groan from up in his room and him reply with a whine in his voice, "I told you not to call me that!"
Then came Caroline's semi-sour reply from the library, "Wow, never thought that enhanced hearing would become a literal pain in my ass."
"Welcome to the club, Care," Victoria sighed, shaking her head.
Damon snickered and let go of Victoria's hand so he could go and answer the door for Alaric. Alaric looked awkward, and like he wanted to be anywhere but there, but he stepped inside nonetheless, holding a cardboard cup container with five drinks, and his teaching satchel placed around his body. "Thanks for coming, Ric. Can I or Ms. Gibbons get you something to drink? Coffee? Bourbon? Bourbon in your coffee?"
Alaric ignored Damon's attempts at being funny and just grunted, "Elena mentioned you needed my help." He caught Victoria's eyes and his sully mood pepped up a little and he said kindly, "Victoria."
"Hi, Ric," Victoria answered, giving him a little timid wave.
"It's good to see you up and about," he said honestly. With a free hand, he patted his satchel awkwardly and continued, "I managed to wrangle up some of the homework you've missed in the past few...well, weeks, and I told the principal that you were going through some familial issues. Pretty understanding. He said just try to get caught up before the end of the school year."
"Thanks, Ric. That really does mean a lot to me," Victoria confided. "Here." She met him halfway and grabbed the cups from his hand, moving to place it down onto the coffee table. "You can get the homework out and just place it on the table too. I suspect that these drinks are for the vamps?"
"The humans, actually," Alaric corrected her. "If Damon wants coffee, he can go out and buy it himself."
"Nice," Victoria snickered, nearly wanting to cackle when she saw Damon's pout. She called out loudly, "Tom, Elena, Ms. Gibbons! There's coffee for y'all downstairs!"
"Coming!" came Tom's shout in return.
Victoria found the coffee cup labeled with her name and she plopped down onto one of the couches with it as everyone in the house started to congregate in the main living space.
Harper and Caroline came from the library, as was typical for them. They spent much of their days there, if Victoria had heard correctly. Stefan, Elena, and Tom all came from upstairs, but Elena and Stefan came down first, with Tom coming a couple seconds later. Ms. Gibbons entered from the kitchen, her dusky red apron stained white from bleach (by the smell of it).
"Thanks for meeting with us, Ric," Elena said to him, grabbing her coffee. She took a little sip, humming appreciatively at the flavor of her roast.
"We were hoping you could help shed some light on the Lockwood family," Stefan admitted.
"So you came to me instead of asking Victoria?" Alaric questioned, sending Victoria a confused look.
Victoria opened her mouth to say something, but Damon cut her off, "Well, considering she was practically comatose until this morning and our second-hand source of information is seconds away from being murdered by our own hands, we didn't have much luck in the Wanderer department."
Victoria's jaw snapped shut and she felt her cheeks flush a little with embarrassment.
"Okay, that makes sense, I guess," Alaric conceded. He took the satchel off of his body and laid it down onto the coffee table beside the coffees. "But why would I know anything about the Lockwoods?"
"Well, you wouldn't," Damon huffed. "But your dead, not-dead vampire wife might."
"Isobel's research from when you guys were at Duke together," Elena explained.
Stefan nodded his head. "You said that she had spent years researching this town."
Alaric scoffed and shook his head. "Isobel's research here in Mystic Falls rooted in folklores and legends, but at the time I thought much of which was fiction."
"Like that amazing vampire story," Damon smirked, flopping down onto the couch beside Victoria. He automatically lifted his arm and wrapped it around Victoria's shoulder in an almost possessive manner.
"Aside from vampires, what else did Isobel write about?" Caroline asked, blinking her eyes up curiously towards Alaric.
"The lycanthrope."
Dead silence.
And then, Elena blinked her eyes and stammered, "W-Wait, like werewolves?"
"No way," Damon immediately refuted, shaking his head. "Impossible. Way too Lon Chaney."
Harper seemed a little unconvinced and he glanced towards Damon with a sliver of disbelief in his eyes. "Is it, Mr. Salvatore?"
"I've been on this planet one hundred and seventy some odd years, never came across one," Damon grunted. "If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?"
Victoria twisted around in her seat and gave Damon a look. "You had also never heard of Empaths or the Immortalis, who can literally manipulate emotions and die repeatedly, respectively, and werewolves are the things that shock you?"
"Silence from the peanut gallery, thank you," Damon shot back, not even looking at her as he reached up a placed a finger against her lips. Victoria frowned and glared at Damon as he kept on speaking, acting like she hadn't said anything. "I repeat: where the hell have werewolves been?"
"Why do you suspect the Lockwoods are something supernatural?" Alaric questioned in return, giving Damon a look.
Ms. Gibbons spoke up this time, her arms crossed loosely in front of her chest. "Because at the Founders' Day celebration, when all the deputies were taking down the vampires, vervain didn't affect the mayor. I saw it myself with Mr. Salvatore. But the Gilbert device did, and it affected his son, Tyler."
"Looking through some of Mr. Salvatore, senior's, notebooks," Harper began, and Victoria felt a hard pang in her chest. Zach. They always called Zach the senior Salvatore even though he was the youngest out of all the Salvatores, "his hypothesis was that the device played more on enhanced senses. It was the reason why it affected both the vampires and Ms. LeBlanc -"
"- Because while I may not be a vampire, I have enhanced senses," Victoria finished for Harper, and then she added, "And it affected Amber because she could feel all of the emotions of the crowd, plus my own."
"And at the school carnival, his uncle Mason exhibited inhuman behavior when he fought with one of the carnival's workers," Stefan explained. "Not vampiric, because I can hear his heartbeat. All the evidence suggests that it's some sort of a supernatural entity."
"We were hoping that Isobel's research could help us figure out what it is," Elena confessed, putting out all their cards on the table.
Alaric pursed his lips, staying silent as he stood in thought. After a moment or two like that, he turned to Victoria and asked bluntly, "Are the Lockwoods werewolves?"
"Yes," Victoria replied.
Damon let out frustrated curses in Italian (some naughty words that Victoria wouldn't dare repeat aloud in present company). "So this means Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney junior, which means Bella Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed."
Victoria interjected before Damon's thoughts could spiral any farther down. "I would still suggest going to Duke. I've got so many thoughts about supernatural creatures inside of my head, plus trying to learn more about my own species, that I'm not infallible. Isobel's research will be more focused and clear than I am."
"Well, all of her things are still at Duke," Alaric admitted. "I mean, her office is still there. She's technically still missing."
"So we can get access to it?" Damon asked hopefully. Alaric gave him a nod. "Okay, Ric. We need to know what we are dealing with. If this wolfman thing is true, and I am desperately hoping that Victoria is wrong, for once, I've seen enough movies to know that us vampires are going to have a shitty time."
Tom just watched the conversation with unabashed confusion and curiosity. "I have absolutely no idea what's going on, but I do know that this is probably way more interesting than my conference at the hospital." He raised his hand like he was a school kid and in that moment, his joyfulness made him look like he could play off Stefan's twin brother rather than somebody who just looked identical to him. "I wanna go to Duke too."
"So that's three," Alaric said, pointing to himself, Elena, and Tom. "Anybody else?"
"Sign me and Mama Bear up," Damon announced, reaching up to plant his palm firmly on Victoria's head. She felt like a cat with him doing that. "She's learned from the best on how to be a researching queen."
"We're pushing the limits on my car," Alaric grunted. "I think I need to cap it off there."
Harper shook his head and took a seat down on the couch opposite of them all. "I'm resting it here with Ms. Forbes."
"I can stay here and give you an extra hand," Stefan offered, though he did send Elena a certified puppy dog eyes look at the thought of having to leave her alone...ish.
"I'll hold down the fort," Ms. Gibbons concluded. "And I'll check in with everyone else to see how they are faring. I'll be here tonight as well in case anybody decides to show up." There was a noticeable look that was shared between Ms. Gibbons and Damon, and it had Victoria crinkling her forehead in confusion.
"Seems like we have a game plan," Damon announced, nodding his head. "Everybody, we should get ready for a nice little road trip!"
Damon made sure to pull Ms. Gibbons aside to the kitchen as soon as everybody had dispersed to get packed accordingly. He didn't move until he was sure that Victoria had actually left (he had seen her noticing the look that Ms. Gibbons had sent him earlier in the convo).
"Katherine has access to the house," Damon stated in a low, hushed voice. His grip on Ms. Gibbons' upper arm tightened just slightly. "If she comes by tonight and we aren't back in time..."
"Then I will join her on her hunting mission," Ms. Gibbons stated simply. Damon's mouth dropped in shock and Ms. Gibbons gave a dark chuckle that would have caused Damon to shiver if he could feel the cold. "Don't mistake me for some mild-mannered housewife, Mr. Salvatore. Besides Katherine and Harper, I am the closest thing Ms. Pearl has to a friend. She crossed a line when she stabbed Zach through the heart." That made Damon blink. She had actually called Zach by his real name. She never did that. Ms. Gibbons usually just called him Mr. Salvatore senior. "It is my duty as both the friend of the murderer and the deceased to make sure that Ms. Pearl pays. If you are not available to join in the mission, I am sure that Mr. Ledger has no qualms at being included as well as myself. I can wield a stake, Mr. Salvatore. It is not that hard."
Damon was stunned silent for a strong minute. Once he felt like he could speak again, his words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Victoria was right. You are a fucking gangster, Ms. Gibbons."
"Thank you, dearie," Ms. Gibbons sniffed. "Cinnamon bun?"
"I'm good," Damon replied, still eyeing Ms. Gibbons in disbelief. "Okay, so if we're not back in time, you and, more than likely, Lee, are going to join Katherine as she tries to hunt down Pearl. Am I getting that correct?"
"Seems clear to me."
"But have you ever killed someone, Ms. Gibbons?" Damon demanded, raising an eyebrow in question. "That sticks with you forever."
"Mr. Salvatore, may you perhaps name one individual in the realm of the supernatural, baring the Gilberts, who has not taken a life and/or lost a life?" Ms. Gibbons asked, returning the eyebrow raised look.
"Zach -"
"- killed that Raphael fellow -"
"- Tom -"
"- He is an EMT. I doubt he has not lost someone -"
"- Harper? -"
"- A soldier in the army. Very few made it out of that war without someone else's blood on their hands -"
"- Caroline hasn't killed anyone!" Damon interjected, pointing a finger triumphantly at Ms. Gibbons.
Ms. Gibbons' smile turned sad and she just shook her head. "Hasn't she, though?"
Damon's brow furrowed in confusion and his pointing hand slowly dropped. "What do you mean?" When Ms. Gibbons didn't answer immediately, Damon pressed harder. "Cordelia, what do you mean?"
"There was a carnival outside of the school the night that Ms. Forbes brought Ms. LeBlanc to you," Ms. Gibbons stated, and Damon nodded, because he had seen the carnival and thought about how much fun it would have been to do some of the games with Victoria. "After she pushed you, she ran into a man...and she was hungry, Mr. Salvatore. She tried to fight it, but the hunger was too much for a baby vampire. I'm sure you know this."
Ms. Gibbons continued to speak, interrupting Damon as he tried to think of the next thing to say. "She told Harper, who then in turn spoke with me. I do not mean to tell you this to harm your thoughts. I merely meant to state this because there is nothing particularly special about me. All my quirks were that I was made to be a human blood bag for weeks and I survived. If I can survive that, then I can survive driving a stake through the heart of the woman who put me in that situation."
A/N: Tada! Another chapter done and finished (it's a little bit short, but that's okay. We love chapters of all lengths and sizes). I love the Katherine/Tom scene in this chapter. He's so innocent and she's so not so it's so much fun to write it!
New Followers!: Pen-E-Lope-KT, mistywind
New Favoriters!: Pen-E-Lope-KT
Onto reviews!:
Child of Dreams: I'm glad you're feeling better! Yeah, that hoarseness at the end of sicknesses is always a pain in the behind to try and kick out. Here's this next chapter for you (and no promises about a Noble resurrection).
DBZFAN45: Yeah, the hits keep coming and they don't stop coming. Oh my gosh, it totally was like the Shipping Wars sort-of personified XD. It was so Twilight XD. Oh yeah, Jaime Ray can totally pull off a crop top. Amber/Allister moments are very cute to write too. I really like them. In regards to who would win, since Victoria is also kind of hybrid, between Victoria and Klaus, it all depends. If Victoria was holding back, probably Klaus, cuz he's got more experience. But if Victoria was full-on Immortalis powers, using her blood as a magical act, well...it would definitely be Victoria (she did blow up the ceiling of the vampire tomb when Sheila stabbed her, so yeah). Yeah, I didn't realize it, but the Jenna reaction is in the next chapter (not her POV, but Victoria's POV watching as Jenna reacts). Katherine McNamara would have been a great faceclaim for Victoria, but I'm still gonna stick with Jaime Ray Newman. I do have an OC that Katherine will eventually faceclaim, but she won't be around for quite a while.
kafo521: Aww thank you! I'm glad you like Zach so much that it hurts to see him gone. Yeah, it was originally just gonna be Victoria in his will, and then I was like, "Nah, I can't do that to Lee!". Do you mean Zach or Noble in your comment about the will? I don't think Zach did, he just updated/made his because he needed to, but I will say Noble probably just had his lists and ledgers written up for a long time and updated every so often as need-be.
charlievini: Katherine McNamara would have been a great faceclaim for Victoria! I should have thought of her. I'm still sticking with Jaime Ray Newman, cuz I got a great idea for who Katherine could play (she won't come into play until much later). If you want to picture Victoria as Katherine McNamara, go ahead! It doesn't really change anything about the storyline if you do so.
Next chapter update: November, the 21st!
Until next time my lovelies (what should y'alls fan-name be called? Give me some suggestions in the reviews if you have some ideas for ones)!
Stay healthy and stay safe!
BecomingFearless1F