"Can I walk you to your car?" Alaric asks as he and Eloise round up their conversation. Parent-teacher conference at school had just ended and Alaric and Eloise had just finished their conversation about Jeremy and Elena's process. They had planned to have their talk last seeing as Alaric also had his fair share of parents and caretakers to deal with.

It felt a bit odd to Eloise to discuss two students with her colleague like that but she was happy that Alaric took care of them. In Elijah's words, it was quite noble of Alaric to do so.

Overall Eloise had no complaints about the Gilberts, both were doing alright. She thought it amusing that Jeremy kept bringing up the supernatural subject in her classroom, it reminded her of the Twilight-rage that had taken place. Under a lot of pressure from her students, she had eventually allowed them to read those books instead of the assigned books.

Elena was not particularly active in the classes but carried out her assignments well and got good grades. She had hoped to get in touch with the teen a little more, but Elena seemed to have other things on her mind, which Eloise understood. Both Gilberts had been through a lot in recent years, as she was informed off by Alaric and other teachers.

"Thank you for your offer, but I walked today." Eloise replies, supressing a grimace. Her car had decided that this morning was the perfect time to break down. She had practically ran to the high school, barely making it before the first bell.

"You? Walking?" Alaric gives Eloise a disbelieving look. As far as he knew Eloise had the athletic capabilities of a door. She had once told him that teaching was enough of a workout as it was.

"Shut up." Eloise groans, slapping Alaric's arm. "I can be... athletic. I run behind a bunch of five-year-olds each month." Eloise defends, giving Alaric a pointed look.

As far as Eloise knows, Alaric did little exercise himself. According to him his weekends are filled with grading papers, watching bad reality TV, and drinking. She couldn't exactly judge him though, her weekends are spent on the couch or in bed, too exhausted to deal with the problems of life. Pathetically enough, this weekend she had gone to the park where she had met Elijah, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Of course, he wasn't there, but Bowie enjoyed the walk nonetheless.

"Alright, alright. You're... athletic." Alaric rolls his eyes playfully at Eloise's self-righteous expression. "I wish I could give you a ride, but I promised to check up on-" Alaric looks conflicted, he didn't want Eloise to walk home in the dark alone, but he also had an urgent appointment at the boarding house to discuss a certain Original-related situation.

"Don't worry. I have my super safe can of deodorant and a lighter." Eloise wags her brows. She wasn't sure if she could actually pull off the DIY-flamethrower Alex had shown her, but she imagined that getting deodorant in your eye was also unpleasant.

• • •

"People do this for fun?" Eloise grumbles, making her way past the Grill, which was already closed. Judging by the pain in her heel, she had a blister. As soon as she was home she would look up second-hand bicycles. She'd rather cycle than suffer another evening stroll like this.

Eloise looks at her phone and curses when she sees the stupid thing is out of battery. She had to pee, her feet hurt, and her battery was dead, which meant she couldn't call 911 when she was being attacked by a creep, her evening couldn't get much worse.

While walking, Eloise thinks about the parents' evening. The evening went well but she had noticed that neither Stefan nor Matt had a guardian to represent them tonight. She was aware of Matt's home situation and therefore had conversations with him about his results, but she did not understand why Stefan's guardian did not show up. Stefan's registration says Damon is his guardian. She wonders why Damon didn't seem to care about discussing Stefan's progress. Eloise resolves to ask Damon for another appointment the next time she ran into him.

Eloise is about to walk past an alley when she is startled by a loud scream. Her eyes widen and she automatically presses herself against the wall. Her heart races and she tries to even her breathing while listening to the noises coming from the alley.

A noise that sounded suspiciously like the breaking of bones, can be heard followed by a shrill cry. Unable to suppress her curiosity, Eloise peeks past the corner. In the alleyway, she can distinguish four people. Two were standing, one was kneeling, and one was on the floor. Eloise hoped desperately the person on the floor was taking a nap, she'd rather not be a witness to a murder.

"I do enjoy it when they scream." One of the standing people says, sounding gleeful about whatever had just transpired. A male, definitely a male.

Eloise tightens her hold on the can of deodorant, feeling incredibly silly with her good-for-nothing weapon. The lighter had been empty so there goes her plan of becoming an awesome heroine with a flamethrower. Perhaps if the deodorant also failed her she could always chuck it into someone's face.

"Music to my ears." The other standing figure agrees before letting out a short laugh.

Eloise cringes, these guys were downright insane for enjoying people's cries of pain. She slowly backs away from the corner as she sees one of the two approaching the kneeling figure. Eloise squints her eyes a little as she sees one of the men bending down. She blinks, not sure if her eyes were tricking her, it seemed like the man was kissing the other person's throat? No, not kissing, the person on their knees was thrashing noiselessly. He was being bitten?

Eloise shakes her head, whatever was happening, she had to get away, as soon as possible. In that regard she was an absolute coward, she'd rather live than try to fight those bad guys. There was no way she could take on two full-grown men who clearly had no problem with biting and or killing people. She retracts her head and is about to turn around when a voice speaks up.

"Leaving already, love?"

A/N:

Hello dear reader,

As mentioned in the summary this story will deviate from the TVD timeline/story. Certain parts of the TV series will be seen in this book, but won't be followed as closely as in my other stories. I do hope you enjoy this book anyway.

Lots of love,