11.
Jeremy was… flapping. Flapping around the house like an angry moth smashing itself against a window. His agitation imbued itself into Elena, Jenna, and I, and the three of us avoided each other all day. When forced into conversation, we determinedly avoided the topic of Jeremy's missing girlfriend. We refused to give a name to the anxieties pouring through him. Everything was normal. But it was the kind of normal you see in a horror movie when the protagonist is home alone and about to hear a bump in the night. An undercurrent of anticipation ran through the house, and I felt unsettled and on edge all day. Something wasn't right. Something was coming, I could feel the weight of it in the air.
Halloween was my favourite holiday. It had been for as long as I could remember – I loved the creepy decorations and the costumes. I hadn't stopped trick-or-treating until I was fifteen. We were going to the annual school Halloween party as witches this year – Bonnie, Caroline and I. Elena had outright refused, wincing at all mention of witches and goblins and vampires.
My costume was green and black, the skirt made of layers of netting which barely hung past the tips of my fingers. As always, Caroline had come dangerously close to breaking the Mystic Falls High dress code – especially with the dress being sleeveless. She'd offset this by adding black opera-length gloves. My pointed hat had bits of wispy green netting hanging from it, and I was glad for the occasion to leave my hair unbrushed – it was very witchy-looking in its natural state. I'd dug out a pair of fishnet tights to match and abandoned the heels Caroline had given me in favour of my usual tennis shoes.
Elena and Jeremy were waiting for me at the door as I left.
"Can we catch a ride?" Elena smiled. She was in last year's nurse costume, while Jeremy was wearing his usual ripped jeans and hoodie.
We piled into my car. The party was in full swing when we arrived and the parking lot was already packed – luckily enough for me, my best friend was Caroline Forbes. A freshmen flagged me down as I crept through the lot, looking for somewhere to park. She and two of her friends were sat in space next to Care's car, shivering slightly in the cool October breeze and jumping at the many irritated yells directed at them.
"Caroline asked us to save you a spot," One of the girls told me as they hopped out of the way.
"You know its so wrong she does that," Elena scowled.
"Just be thankful we didn't have to park on the street." I smiled sweetly.
The front lawn of the school had been lined with string lights and tables piled with snacks. Dozens of students milled about, including my two best friends, wearing the same outfit as me but in gold and purple. Elena and Jeremy sloped off into the school while I made a beeline for Care.
"Get that away from me," I batted aside the red cup Tyler offered me as I approached, wrinkling my nose. I couldn't even stand the smell of the Lockwood special anymore. I'd thrown it up way too many times.
"You're late." Caroline raised a brow.
"Fashionably so," I nodded, "thanks for the freshmen, by the way."
"Oh, Lucy and Violet? They're trying to get onto the cheer team. I might give them a shot – next year, of course. If they grow out of that fashion sense."
Caroline launched into a rant against the freshmen of Mystic Falls and their unfortunate proclivity for leopard print. I cut her off when I saw a familiar face come running out of the school, look wildly around and dash back in.
"Is that Elena?"
Caroline immediately swivelled her head round to scan the crowd.
"And in last year's costume." she rolled her eyes, "You know, I had an outfit planned for her – she was going to be a blue witch, but she insisted she was staying home. Now look – we're going to look odd! Our group pictures are going to suck!"
"She decided to come last minute. We'll crop her out." I patted Caroline's shoulder, "I'll be right back."
I took off after Elena, worry pulsing through me – why had she just gone running into the school like a maniac? It was disorientating inside with the school packed with people. The party had spilled into the halls, lights flashing, and music blaring and I stumbled through them, trying to figure out where Elena had gone.
A hand shot through the crowd to grab me, and I whipped around in surprise to see my sister.
"Have you seen Jeremy?"
"No!" I frowned, leaning closer to hear her over the noise, "What's wrong?!"
"Vicki! Danny you've got to help – she might hurt him!"
"What? How?"
Elena looked exasperated for a second, "If I promise to explain later will you just help?"
I nodded slowly, and we dashed off down the hall. I spotted an open fire escape door near the cafeteria, which I knew lead to the dumpsters – but something made me yank Elena through it. As soon as the music was dimmed by the night air, I could hear my brother.
Elena and I broke into a run, sprinting between dumpsters towards the yelling.
They were behind the furthest from the door, Vicki had her face buried in the crook of Jeremy's neck. It looked like she was hugging him. But he was yelling in pain and trying to shove her away.
"Vicki, no!" Elena screamed. Vicki tossed Jeremy to the side like he was a sack of potatoes and rounded on us. Elena snatched up a discarded plank of wood, striding forward, but I grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing?" I asked, aghast.
Then I saw the blood. Dripping down Jeremy's neck, a dark patch spreading across his hoodie. I had taken the blood smeared over Vicki's chin and mouth to be park of her costume, like the fangs and the veins under her eyes.
"She bit me!" Jer gasped as I caught his eye.
I didn't have time to process this information before Vicki leapt at Elena. To her credit, my sister didn't hesitate – she swung for Vicki with the plank and hit her so hard over the head it snapped in two. Vicki barely even blinked, gripping Elena by the arms, and launching her through the air in a move that should have been impossible for a frail teenage girl. Elena screamed, arms and legs waving and landed in a pile of broken furniture.
"Vicki!" I lurched forward as she began advancing on Elena and managed to grab hold of her cape, yanking her back.
She hissed and whipped around; face hideously contorted. One hand shot out and gripped hold of my hair, wrenching my head back to expose my throat. I screeched as I felt her bite down into my neck. I could hear Elena and Jeremy shouting over the blood rushing in my ears. One of my flailing hands contacted her cheek, and abruptly, she released me and reeled away, a look of pure shock crossing her badly burned face.
Then Stefan was there, slamming her against a dumpster. She floundered for a second before managing to shove him back and disappearing. For a moment, the alley was completely silent, the only sounds our gasping breath as Elena picked herself up and crept forwards, looking around her nervously.
"What's going on?" I gulped, one hand putting pressure on my neck, "Elena, what's she doing?"
"I said I'd explain- "
"No," I shook my head frantically, "she has fangs. Explain right now."
"Go." Stefan instructed my sister before she could answer, "Get inside!"
Elena lurched into action, grabbing Jeremy and I and running straight for the doors. She'd just pulled the closest one open when something shoved Jeremy and I aside and grabbed her.
Elena screamed, struggling against Vicki as she dragged her back from the doors, I could see her lift her head, fangs exposed and threw myself at her, gripping her arm with one hand. Her skin immediately began to hiss and smoke and on instinct I slapped my other hand over her eyes. Again, the effect with instantaneous and she dropped Elena and began trying to wrestle me off – but every time her hands touched mine, blisters appeared.
Vicki was inching her head down, teeth snapping. She was at my throat when she froze. Her scrabbling hands fell away. When her legs gave out, I saw Stefan behind her, looking between my hands and the third-degree burns on Vicki's face and arm. Then, I saw the point of wood poking through her chest and realised what had happened.
"Oh my god." I staggered back, "Did you – did you just- "
"VICKI! Vicki – Vicki!" Stefan turned away from me to grab Jeremy before he hurled himself at the body on the floor.
"Get them out of here." Elena commanded, her voice shaking badly.
Stefan gripped Jeremy and I by the shoulders and steered us towards the door. All the way out the school to my car. He pressed me into the driver's seat.
"Take him home," Stefan instructed gently, "Elena will be with you soon. We just have to- "
"Hide the body." I whispered, my lips feeling numb.
He gave me a look that told me my assumption was not incorrect.
"We need to call the cops, we have to- "
"I promise what happened here tonight has an explanation, Danny." Stefan told me gravely, "Just please go home and wait for Elena before you tell anyone what happened here. You saw Vicki. Look what she did to you." He pointed at the two perfectly round holes at my neck which were steadily oozing blood onto my dress.
I nodded slowly, jumping a little as Stefan slammed the car door. Jeremy sat in frozen silence. He didn't say a word all the way home. Made no sound apart from a few shuddering breaths. I left him in the car. Walked on shaking legs to my bathroom and got into the shower, shedding my bloodstained clothed and throwing them straight into the small trashcan in the corner.
I sat on the cold bathroom tiles once I had showered and dressed. I sat there for a long, long time trying to understand what had happened. I reached a point where I was so stressed, I was calm. Then I dragged myself to my feet and re-entered my bedroom, I froze in the doorway at the sight of Damon perched on my bed. My heart hammered in my chest as he shot me a wide smile, eyes crinkling. I felt absurdly vulnerable stood in my threadbare winnie-the-pooh pyjamas. He took them in with a smile.
"No need to be afraid," he told me smoothly, "I'm just here to have a talk."
"About what?" I asked, my fists clenching at handfuls of my t-shirt.
"About tonight. About what you're going to remember happening." He gazed around the room with the air of a person very much enjoying his own theatrics, "You see, vampires – I assume you've figured out that's what we are by now – can do this thing, a form of mind control. Kind of like hypnotism. We call it compulsion."
"And you're going to do that to me." I deduced.
"Mm-hmm." He fluttered his eye lashes, "I've already made Jeremy forget all about the party."
I grit my teeth, "And did you talk his ear off first?"
"Jeremy doesn't have a… talent for burning people - burning Vampires." Damon winked as though he thought he were paying me a compliment, "I told your sister this was pointless – you're going to be part of this world eventually whether you like it or not -"
"Why?" I interrupted, "Because I – because I can…"
"Burn people's faces off?" he offered with his customary smirk, "yes. You see, I'd bet that little… gift is actually just some rather witchy abilities beginning to manifest. You're about the right age, after all."
"But why does Elena want me to forget tonight, if I'll just find out later?" I felt my brows furrowing as I tried to work it out – like he said, it was pointless. How long would it be before I found out again? And besides, what gave her the right to get a vampire to mind control me? Who decided she was the one who made those choices for me?
An expression close to sympathy crossed his face, "I think she just wants to introduce you to all this is a less… traumatic way."
Traumatic. Yeah, I guessed you could call a girl you'd known all your life trying to eat your whole family and then getting stabbed traumatic. At the very least.
"Caroline." I said suddenly, "You were-"
"Feeding from her. Yeah."
I nodded slowly. So, he hadn't just been… abusing her. He had been drinking her blood, "Does she remember?"
"No."
"And Vicki, you were the one who... made her?"
"That's me." He smiled.
I rocked back on my heels a little. It was a lot to take in, but what I found most surprising was the fact that, well, I wasn't surprised. It was although some part of me had already known what kind of creatures walked the earth and had already known exactly what they were capable of doing. Damon got to his feet.
"I think we've talked enough now. Elena's wondering what's taking so long." He strolled closer, an easy smile on his face before it contorted, fangs pushing past his bottom lip, and veins blackening around his eyes. The whites of his eyes turned red, the blue becoming so bright it almost glowed. I yelped and reeled back, but he made no further movement towards me.
"Haven't I already said I'm not going to hurt you?" his voice was a little different, rougher almost. He bit into his wrist and held it out to me, blood welling from two circular puncture wounds. His face returned to normal, "You need to drink it. My blood will heal your neck – stop you from asking too many questions afterwards."
I was very aware of the two options I had – drink or he would make me. What he said made perfect sense – if I woke up tomorrow with an injury like that, I would want to know how it had happened, and why I couldn't remember. Damon inched closer, stood beside me, his wrist centimetres from my nose. I slowly leaned forward, pressing my lips against the puncture marks. I nearly gagged as I felt it slide down my throat, warm and thick and metallic tasting.
"Come on, it's not that bad." Damon rolled his eyes.
I pulled away when I felt the pain in my neck fade and disappear. I touched a hand to my throat to feel nothing but smooth skin. It hadn't itched or felt sore as it healed – I supposed the vampire blood bypassed the normal stages of healing. It simply hurt, and then didn't.
"And now…" he gripped my shoulders, wheeling me round to face him. I didn't burn him. I guessed it didn't work unless I felt threatened. Damon tilted my head up to look him in the eye, "You are going to forget everything you learned tonight about vampires. You don't remember seeing Vicki at the party. You got sick, left early, and went straight to bed. You don't know where she is – you're just glad she isn't hanging around Jeremy anymore."
His pupils dilated and contracted as he spoke until he gave me one last smirk and vanished into the air, the way Vicki had earlier. I stood very still in my bedroom, trying to unlock my fingers from around my locket.
