Chapter 6: That was epic!

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I walked beside Caroline toward her cheerleading practice, listening to her rambling about what she would make them do today. Honestly, I didn't understand how anyone could work under Caroline's commandment voluntarily.

I mean, she's my sister and I love her, but she's a despot.

We made it to the terrain where all the girls were gathered, and Caroline squealed when she saw Elena. "God, I was afraid you wouldn't come! Okay, girls, everyone is here?"

"Hey, Bonnie. Are you okay? I haven't seen you since yesterday evening." I asked with concern, she had been really freaked out by her 'vision' yesterday.

"I'm good Claire, thank you," she smiled, but I could see she was not totally good.

"If you say so," I said before turning toward Elena. "Hey, Elena, I heard your boyfriend tannered Tanner this morning!" She chuckled, but Bonnie seemed to become even more uncomfortable. "First Tyler, then Tanner, looks like the guy isn't afraid to talk back."

"Yeah, he isn't… And it looks like he's going to try out for the football team…" She looked behind me with a fond smile. I turned to see Salvatore running toward the football terrain, in uniform. A vampire in a football team, well, that, that was weird. And probably cheating, too.

Before we could continue our conversation, we were cut by Caroline, coming in our direction, her anger clearly palpable. "Did you see Gwen? She's not here. Who does she think she is? She can't just skip practice!"

"She wasn't in English this morning," I added, helpfully. But I was just rewarded with a glare.

"She wasn't in History and Physics, either. Maybe she's sick?" Bonnie said with a frown.

"She can't be sick! We need to practice, we have a match tomorrow night, we can't afford to not be excellent. And we will not be if someone decides to not come to practice!"

"I will call her, okay, Caroline. Don't worry I'm sure she—" but Elena was cut off by a car coming in our direction.

I couldn't tell the model or the brand, it was a blue car and it seemed expensive. Gwen was in the car… with Damon Salvatore. Looked like he found another poor girl to compel. I can't help but feel a pang of guilt toward the girl but… I would choose Caroline over anyone, anytime.

"Oh my God… It's Damon, Stefan's brother." Elena said when she saw him.

"Look like the guy has a thing for underage girls…" When Bonnie and Elena turned toward me curiously, I shrugged. "He hit on Caroline yesterday, and now it's Gwen. Both are underage, seems like he has a type. Honestly, he was a little creepy when we talked to him," I said, knowing that he was certainly listening.

He smiled in our direction, waved at Elena, and disappeared with his car as soon as Gwen was out of it.

Gwen walked toward us with a smug smile on her lips and a scarf around her neck. "Hey girls. Caroline, honey, sorry I'm late. I had… Better things to do, if you see what I mean. Elena, I got your boyfriend's brother, we're, like, already sister-in-law at this point, right?" She laughed at her own joke and made her way toward the lockers room.

Caroline blinked at her back for a while. "I was sorry for her for, like, three seconds, but now I just want to kill her."

"Elena, I'm sorry, but I have to tell you. Your boyfriend's family is creepy," I said to the girl with a fake apological look. They all laughed and a smile broke on my lips. "Okay! Bye, girls, I let you with this despot! I mean, with my lovely sister!" I waved at them and ran out of there as quickly as possible before Caroline could kill me.


Tonight was game night. I've had that feeling since this morning, but I don't know why and that was driving me crazy.

"Are you listening?" Caroline finally snapped, walking through the crowd of students in search of Bonnie and Elena.

"Huh? Oh sorry, you were talking about Bonnie?" It was a guess, but she didn't seem to be too angry so I was probably right.

"Yeah, she told me that Elena organized a dinner with her and Stefan yesterday. She approves of him again, by the way, apparently, he's charming," she rolled her eyes and I laughed. "And guess what? Gwen and Damon showed up. Stefan wasn't really happy about that. And Gwen was a bitch. I mean, I don't especially love her but, usually, she's not a total bitch."

"Damon probably compelled her to piss off his brother."

"You think? That's twisted. Oh, here's Elena," she froze with a frown, and I looked at Elena to see what was up. Oh uh… Elena wasn't in her uniform… "Oh no. No, no, no. She is not doing that to me."

Caroline walked toward Elena with determination and I— I walked in the other way, I was not going to be near her when she was going to explode. No way.


"I can't believe they keep up the Funder's party despite Tanner's death," Bonnie said, taking a sip from her soda.

She, Caroline, and I were at the Grill for lunch before we had to prepare ourselves for the party.

"It's Mystic Falls, it seems like they live for those events," I shared a look with Care, before adding, "and they caught the mountain lion that attacked Tanner so…"

"Yeah…"

"So… You told your Grams about those numbers?" I asked innocently, I wanted to know if she believed the witch thing or not yet.

"You're crazy? She'll tell me something about witch again! This thing freaked me out already, I won't be adding to it."

I was going to reply when a fourth person sat at our table. We all turned to face Gwen with incredulity. What did she- No, scratch that, what did Damon want.

"Hi, guys. Look, I know we're not close and all but… I saw you sitting there and I told myself: 'Gwen, you can't just stay silent!'. I'm not supposed to tell you that but—" she leaned toward us and, somehow, I doubted the fact that she was not supposed to tell us that. "Damon told me something about his brother and I thought that you would want to know."

"I'm not sure that this is necessary, Gwen, thank you," I told her, not wanting to play Damon's game.

"No, I want to know what you have to say," Bonnie looked at me with widened eyes. Of course, she didn't understand that she was manipulated.

"Look, there was this girl, Katherine. They both dated her, okay? And then, she chooses Damon over Stefan. Of course, he wasn't happy about it and that's when things got screwy," she looked around her, like not wanting someone to hear her, and I caught myself weirdly curious about her story. "He began to lie to her, made up things Damon never did, manipulating that poor girl until she finally broke up with Damon. The poor thing was devastated, I'm sure he still hasn't moved on, you know?"

"That's tragic, really, but that sounds like one point of view here. You know that there is more than one truth, Gwen, right?" I smiled at her with hypocrisy, knowing that she was manipulated by Damon right now.

"If you don't want to believe me, that's your call, I just thought that I had to tell you… You know, female solidarity and all that," she shrugged, standing up and left without another word.

I looked at Bonnie and was dumbfounded when I realized that she was actually considering Gwen's story. Seriously?


The party was in full swing, everyone was dancing or talking. I, personally, was at the buffet, spying on Gwen and Damon. I knew that he had some sort of necklace/stone he needed to take tonight, but I didn't know when.

Gwen was dancing with Stefan, probably Damon's idea, again. And Damon was talking with Elena. He seemed very obsessed with Katherine, that guy.

"Yeah, I didn't want to push my way in, but I wanted to be there for you," I suddenly heard from behind me. I turned around to see Logan Fell, the news' guy, talking with Jenna. "And when I heard you were staying in Mystic Falls, I thought maybe…" I covered my mouth with my hand. Was he trying to get Jenna back? "Well, maybe I could have a second chance to make things right."

He was! I tried not to laugh, listening to Jenna as she leaned toward him. "Her name was Monica, wasn't it?" Before turning around and letting him there, dumbfounded.

I walked toward her with a big smile. "That was epic!" I told her when I reached her. "You're my hero, Jenna."

"God, Claire, I was at that," she showed me her fingers close to each other, "to tell him yes. I'm weak." She put her head on my shoulder with a whine. I was pretty close to Jenna, she always acted younger than her age and, I, older and we bonded when she used to babysit us. I was in the first row to witness their ugly break up.

"But you didn't, not yet. That's a victory, no?"

She smacked me on the arm, "stupid girl. I'm going to grab a drink. I need a drink so bad." She got up and made her way to the bar.

I followed her with my eyes and that's when I saw Damon and Gwen go down the stairs. Oh, there it is…

When Damon made his way outside, leaving her alone, I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the bathroom. "Hey! What's wrong with you?"

"What did Damon do, Gwen?" I asked her with concern, because… she was in this situation because of me, after all.

"Claire?" I turned toward Elena with surprise. Fuck, I hadn't seen that she was there. "What are you— Oh my God! What is that, Gwen?!" She grabbed Gwen's vest, which had moved when I pulled her and put it down. I could see her bruised back in the mirror. Again, I feel a pang of guilt at that. She's hurt because I changed things…

But an image of Caroline with the same bruises drowned that thought easily. I'll do anything to protect Caroline.

"Is that Damon? Gwen?" Elena asked urgently.

"No! He didn't mean to hurt me!" She pushed Elena from her. "Leave me alone! Both of you!" She stormed out of the bathroom, and Elena was not long to follow. I sighed, tired of all this shit.

And that wasn't even the beginning!

I followed and found Elena threatening Damon outside. When she left, his expression put a dread feeling in my gut. I was afraid for Gwen's safety and decided to follow him.

I stayed at a good distance when he took her in the back garden. Surely that he wasn't planning to kill her— Not in the back garden of the mayor's house— Right?

I almost screamed when he bit her in the neck. I stepped toward them, but he was suddenly on the floor, seeming to suffer. Stefan got there and said something about spiking her glass.

Oh, vervain…

He took Gwen's pulse and disappeared with Damon's body. I ran to Gwen, taking her pulse. Thank, God, she was alive. "Gwen? Gwen?"

She jumped awake, pushing my hand away. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Gwen, you need—"

"I don't need anything! I'm fine!" She snarled, arranging her scarf. She stood up and I did the same.

"Gwen, you—" But she cut me again.

"Are you going to leave me alone or not? I'm fine!" She snapped again and finally ran toward the house.

I watched her go, not knowing how to react. I decided to follow her when I walked on something on the floor. I kneel and grabbed it and, to my great surprise, it was a necklace with some sort of brown/yellow stone. Probably Damon's.

How interesting.


I parked my car with the other ones, at the high school's car wash. Paying for a wash was the only way for me to not be the one who did the washing. I smiled at Dana and Gwen when they approached my car.

"Hey, Claire, we got your car. Your sister is at the cash register, over there."

"Thanks, Dana." I gave her my keys and took the mentioned direction.

"Hey, sister of mine, I'm here to give you all my money," I joked when I sat in the chair by her side.

"Claire! You came, good. You're still absolutely sure you don't wanna help?" She looked at me with her puppy eyes.

"No way in hell," I told her with a shake of my head.

I stayed with her for a while, waiting for my car and helping her here and there.

"Hey, we're out of towels and those shimmy things," Elena said, some time later.

"I'll go get some more," Caroline replied, standing up. "Mind the money."

"I leave you to it, Elena, I have to get my car back," I told her with an apologetic smile.

I found Dana quickly, but she was alone. "Dana? Gwen is not with you?"

"Ah, Claire, here are your keys!" She exclaimed, giving me my keys back. "Gwen left halfway through it, she said something about her boyfriend calling her. I call bullshit on it, the girl didn't even have her phone."

"Her boyfriend?" I asked, blanching at her words.

"Yeah, it's what she said. I thought Stefan's brother was out of town, though," she shrugged and got back to the car she was washing.

I got in my car quickly and drove around the school, finding Caroline who was getting out of the main building.

"Care!"

"They locked the supplies room, how stupid they are? How can I—"

"Care, Gwen disappeared. She said something about her boyfriend calling her to Dana. Without her phone."

"What? But I thought Stefan took care of his brother?"

"Me too," I looked around, worried. "We need to find her before—" I trailed off, not wanting to finish this sentence.

"Yeah, I'm coming. They could do without towels anyway."


We didn't find her and, the next day, she walked through school as if nothing happened. But I knew something was up because they found bodies this morning.

'A drug deal turned sour' they said, but how that could explain three bodies found burnt in a cemetery? I was sure that it had something to do with Damon.

Then, Vicki went missing. Matt thought she was on a bad trip, after witnessing the death of her drugs' buddy in the woods. I wasn't so sure about that, though.

I was sure that it had something to do with Damon, too.


When I saw Vicki walking into the Halloween party besides Matt, disguised as a vampire, I knew what was happening.

"Sorry, I'm going to see if I can find Dana," l said to my sister and Bonnie. They just waved me off and I took the direction of the school building, where I last saw Vicki.

I asked around me, but nobody had seen her and I couldn't find her. After a while, I finally found her, alone in one of the corridors.

"Vicki!"

She turned around and looked at me curiously. We used to hang out together when we were kids; when our siblings played together. Our paths separated when she entered high school, and we didn't talk much since then.

"I know you're a vampire, Vicki."

"That's pretty obvious, Claire," she said, looking down at her disguise with a smirk.

"Don't play dumb with me, Vicki. It's Damon, isn't it? He's the one who turned you." Her eyes widened and I took that as a confirmation. "I'm not here to tell you what to do, Vic. The Salvatores probably tried anyway, right? It's just… We used to be friends, so I wanted to offer something…"

"What?" She asked suspiciously.

"I know someone, he is like you, he can help you. Teach you how to feed on humans without killing them, how to control your hunger. Maybe he can even search a daylight's ring for you. But you will have to leave Mystic Falls, he is in England and you will have to go there…"

She frowned and I knew what she was thinking.

"I know you don't want to leave Matt or Jeremy behind but… Whatever you say, you know you have to learn control. I just wanted you to know that you have another choice; you're not forced to learn from the Salvatores."


"Hey, Jeremy," Vicki said with warmth, and I could see how important he was to her. "I'm sorry, I had to leave the party before seeing you."

I looked at her in my rearview while driving. She was sitting on my backseat, on the phone with Jeremy, saying her goodbyes.

"It's not really bad, it's just that… I'm sorry Jeremy, I have to go. I can't continue like that, I have to control my life again. And I can't do that if I stay in Mystic Falls," she said. I could hear Jeremy's pleading but couldn't make out his words. "No, you can't come with me. I— I'm sorry Jeremy, it's something I need to do alone." She cut the call and looked sadly at her phone.

"I'm sorry, Vicki."

She smiled at me with sadness in her eyes. "Thank you for letting me say goodbye to Matt in person, that meant a lot."

"How'd that go? He didn't try to stop you?" I asked curiously, looking at her in the rearview. There was still an hour before we got to Richmond, we had time.

"He did, at first," she grabbed one of the few blood bags I stole—again—from the hospital, half an hour ago. "But he understood when I told him I needed to take care of my addiction problem. I didn't tell him I'm a blood addict, though," she stayed silent for a while, looking thoughtful. "And what about the guy you send me to? You told him about me?"

"I called him when you were with Matt," I said, nodding. I had to convince him to not come back, because what Damon did to her only served to convince him that I needed protection. Thankfully, he understood that Vicki needed to be as far from Mystic Falls as possible.

"Tell me more about him, why did he accept to teach me so easily?"

"Enzo… He has a past with Damon, you know, so when I told him he was the one to change you… He was pretty much convinced— Sorry, but it's his story to tell," I added when I saw her curious expression. "But he was mostly happy to help me. He said he will look for a ring, but he is not sure he will find one."

"Thank you… I know it's because of me if we are not friends anymore so— Thanks for helping me, Claire." She looked through the window, sipping in her blood bag.

"You're welcome," I whispered back, knowing she would hear me.

"So… How do we do that? I take a plane to London?"

"I'm not sure it's safe to leave you alone in a plane with hundreds of people, Vic." I looked at her with an eyebrow raised and she chuckled. "No, you'll stay at the airport's motel for a day or two, until Enzo gets there. Then, he'll take you to London with him. I'm sorry I can't stay with you until he comes…"

"It's okay, don't worry, you already did enough." She put a hand on my shoulder with a grateful smile. "Thanks, Claire."


I closed the door of my house behind me three hours later, exhausted.

I was making my way to my bedroom when a throat clearing made me jump. I turned around to face my mother, standing in the doorway of her room. "Mom! You scared me!"

"Can I know where you were, young lady? It's almost three in the morning!" She said with a frown.

"Because now you care?" I asked her, astonished.

She looked hurt for a second but got back to being angry quickly. "Don't try to change the subject, where were you?"

"I'm not trying to change the subject, I'm just stating a truth. You care about us one time every other week, when you remember you have daughters." I knew I was cruel to her, but it seemed like the situation touched me more than I wanted to admit. "But if you want to know, before going back to your blissful ignorance of motherhood, Vicki asked me to drive her at the airport."

"What? You took her? You can't do that, Claire! You know I need to interrogate her about what happened in the cemetery!"

"I did it. What are you gonna do? Arrest me? Great idea! You can even throw me in a cell beside your office, we will spend more time together, like that."

I turned around, not wanting to say more things I would regret. A part of me hoped she would storm after me in my room, trying to continue our conversation.

She didn't.


A/N: Hey, first, thank for the reviews, I love hearing from you! So, we passed numbers of episodes here... For the curious, if I didn't mention anything, now or in the future, you can assume that it went the same as in canon.

Thanks to my beta, WinchesterGurl1967 for her wonderful work!

I hope you're alright in those times, guys. Know that if you feel the need to talk to someone, my pm are open. Or you can also send me a message on Tumblr: miss-dragonish dot Tumblr dot com

Stay safe!

XxxX Miss Dragonish