It didn't take long to track Vicki down.
Stefan managed to pull her off of Tyler just in time and held her back as she struggled against his grip.
"What's going on, Stefan? What's wrong with her?" Tyler asked frantically. Elowen almost felt bad for him. He was her boyfriend, after all. Tyler turned to Elowen, eyes wide. "I thought you were helping her get sober."
"You don't talk," Damon ordered before Elowen could respond.
"Screw you, dude," Tyler barked. Who even was this guy?
'"Dude?' Really? 'Dude'?" Damon mocked. Mentally, Elowen was already strangling them both. Again with the stupid alpha male bullshit.
"Damon, shut up," Elowen instructed.
"Oh come on. Who's gonna miss this idiot?"
"Damon," Elowen warned, her voice firmer this time. Damon rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in surrender. She sighed and placed a hand on Tyler's shoulder. "Sorry about this."
Tyler's confused expression went slack as Elowen recited the compulsion spell. As usual, his eyes became unfocused and he stared at nothing in particular.
"None of us were ever here. When I let go, you're going to get in your car and go home as if nothing happened. Understood?"
Tyler slowly nodded his head. Elowen released his shoulder and stepped back, grabbing onto Damon's arm. They all quickly fled the scene before Tyler came to his senses.
Tyler blinked and rocked back a bit, trying to catch his balance. He rubbed at his eyes and when he looked around, he saw he was alone. He shrugged it off and went back to his car. He left the parking lot without a second thought.
Before Elowen crashed last night, she'd called her mom and filled her in on what was happening. The last thing she needed right now was an overprotective mother on her case.
She set up camp in one of the various rooms in the boarding house and cast a quick protection spell to make sure Vicki wouldn't attack her in her sleep somehow. She woke up to Stefan calling her name from the doorway.
"I can't get in," he told her when she finally opened her eyes.
"Oh. Gimme a minute." She rolled out of bed, literally, and crawled over to the door. After a quick reversal spell, she crawled back to the bed. "Done."
Stefan set a test foot through the doorway. It passed through without a problem, so he walked the rest of the way in. "Huh. Interesting," he mused to himself under his breath. He came over and sat next to Elowen on the bed. "Just came to check in on you. Vicki asked me to."
"How's she doing?" Elowen asked as she crossed her legs on the bed.
"Well, her emotions are heightened so she's all over the place right now," answered Stefan.
"Makes sense. Where is she?"
"C'mon," Stefan nodded his head back towards the door. "I'll take you to her."
Turns out Vicki was in Stefan's room.
"I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here," Vicki was complaining. "Why can't I just go home?" She asked when Stefan and Elowen walked in.
"I dunno, maybe because the sun can burn you alive?" Elowen offered. She was making her way towards Vicki, with Stefan trailing behind her.
"Thanks for the optimism, Elle." Vicki rolled her eyes. She haphazardly tossed a pillow at her, but there was no bite to her throw. Instead, it landed in Elowen's arms as if she were simply handing it to her.
"No problem." Was Elowen's overly cheerful response. She plopped on the couch next to Vicki and set the pillow back where it belonged. She frowned at the sound of Damon fiddling with something and turned to see what it was. Her frown deepened when she saw a…. Compass?
"What the hell is that?" She found herself questioning before she could stop herself.
"What, the all knowing witch doesn't know something?" Damon sarcastically replied.
"Fine, don't tell me."
"If you must know, it's a very old, very special compass." He held it up for her to see better. "What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?"
"If you're so worried someone's onto you, why don't you leave town, Damon?" Stefan suggested. Everyone knew he'd do anything to get his brother out of town at this stage.
"We should all be worried," said Damon.
"Hey, um, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" Vicki asked, butting in. Stefan got up and grabbed a coffee cup from the table. When he turned around, he saw Elowen holding her wrist out to Vicki instead.
"Elowen!" He rushed over and pulled her off of the couch. "What are you doing?"
"She said she was hungry." Elowen shrugged. "How else is she supposed to learn control if you don't let her practice?"
"Finally! Someone gets it. I say let her do it, Stef," Damon encouraged. He stood and came and stand near them.
"I'm not endorsing your eating methods," she snapped before he got too close. "You use people. Kill them without remorse. I'm just trying to make sure she can control herself around other humans." Elowen pulled her arm out of Stefan's grip and sat down next to Vicki again. "I'm probably not the best person to take advice from. I'm not a vampire and the only ones I know are those two," she pointed a thumb over her shoulder at Stefan and Damon. "Not exactly the best examples."
Vicki let out a laugh. Stefan and Damon both made faces at Elowen's jab.
"But from what I understand, blood is like a drug to vamps. You need to treat it as such. Before you were turned you were trying to get clean, right? Your emotions are heightened now. Tell me what you're feeling."
"I don't want to go back to the girl I used to be," Vicki responded confidently. "I've never been more sure about something in my life."
"Okay. Now that that's out of the way, let's move onto the bloodlust. You can't let it control you like you let drugs control you. You need to take control of your life." Elowen offered her wrist to Vicki again. "Prove to yourself that you can do that."
Vicki hesitantly took hold of Elowen's arm. She could hear her heartbeat and smell the blood pumping through her veins. That was enough to draw her fangs out. When Stefan caught sight of the dark veins, he tried to intervene, but Damon held him back. Vicki sank her teeth into Elowen's wrist and moaned as the taste flooded her mouth.
Elowen grimaced in pain, but tried her best to breathe through it. Vicki willed herself to pull away a couple of seconds later. She licked her lips and looked back down at Elowen's wrist. This time she couldn't help herself and lunged down, latching her mouth back to her wrist. She was much rougher the second time around, causing Elowen to yelp. Stefan surged forward and pulled Vicki off, zooming her to the other side of the room.
"Let go of me!" Vicki yelled, struggling against Stefan like a rabid dog.
"Vicki! Vicki, calm down! Breathe!" Stefan had managed to turn Vicki around to face him. "You have to breathe through this!"
Vicki seemed to come back to her senses. The veins disappeared and her fangs retracted. She turned back around and sobbed at the sight of Elowen.
"I'm sorry," she apologized.
"Don't be," Elowen gently reassured. She was cradling her injured arm against her shirt. "You're still new. You'll get the hang of it eventually."
Damon bit his wrist and shoved it in front of Elowen's face. "You're dripping blood on the carpet. Drink."
"Ew, no." She pushed Damon's wrist away. "I'll be fine."
"Uh, Elle?" Vicki tentatively got her attention. "I can smell it from all the way over here. It might be best if you let Damon heal you, or whatever." Vicki wasn't facing her anymore, afraid that if she looked, she might attack again. Elowen sighed in defeat and stuck her hand out. Damon smirked and bit his wrist again, as the wound had already closed up, and handed it over.
Elowen made a face before she brought it up to her mouth. She only took a couple of sips and then threw Damon's wrist away from her.
"You're welcome," Damon sarcastically quipped. He walked out of the room without casting her another glance. Stefan sighed.
"I, um, have to get more." He picked the coffee cup from earlier up again. "You think you'll be okay without me?"
Elowen nodded. Stefan left, leaving Elowen and Vicki on their own. They awkwardly stood at opposite sides of the room. Elowen was looking at the various things on Stefan's desk while Vicki paced around. Finally, she latter gave in.
"I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I really thought I had it, but it's just, your blood tasted so good and-"
"Vicki," Elowen cut in. "Breathe before you start hyperventilating."
"Right." Vicki took a deep breath. "I'm starting to get sick of the overreacting."
"Stefan says that your emotions are heightened when you're a vampire," Elowen explained. "When you're new you don't know how to deal with it."
"That would explain the urge I have to leave right now, find Jeremy and just-" Vicki curled both her hands into fists. "Shit."
"Jeremy, huh?" Elowen raised an eyebrow. "I knew you guys had a thing during the summer, but I thought you were working things out with Tyler?"
"I think I was just trying to tell myself that I wasn't into Jeremy like that because he's just a kid. Not to mention, my brother's ex-girlfriend's little brother. And Tyler was finally starting to treat me like a person and not just a piece of ass. Ugh! It's all so jumbled and confusing right now." Vicki ruffled her hair and threw herself down on the couch.
"Well shouldn't it be a bit easier to figure out? I mean, what's screaming the loudest right now?" Elowen took a seat across from Vicki. The distance was probably smart.
"Jeremy," Vicki immediately replied. "He's always been so sweet and he sees me as a person. Not that I didn't like Tyler in some way. He was the hot football jock and he was interested. That would make anyone feel confident in themselves."
"But you can't stop thinking about Jeremy." Elowen stated.
"Exactly!"
"I'm only saying this because I care, but… be careful with Jeremy." She warned.
"What do you mean?" Vicki's voice has raised a little in pitch. She sounded almost offended.
"Well, you can't control yourself right now. What if you hurt him?"
"I would never hurt Jeremy." Vicki abruptly stood up, glowering down at Elowen. "I can see him if I want to and prove to you that I won't."
"Vicki-"
"How am I supposed to control my emotions if I don't practice, huh?!" Vicki started to yell. "Isn't that what you were talking about five minutes ago?"
Elowen suddenly regretted saying those words. If she'd known it was going to backfire on her, she would've just let Stefan give her the animal blood. She could pinpoint exactly when something changed in Vicki. Her eyes started to darken, but just before she could lunge, she screamed and dug her fingers into her scalp. She was down on the ground, writhing in pain, a second later.
Stefan entered the room and immediately jumped into action at the sight of the scene. He set the coffee cup down and ran over to Elowen.
"Elle! Elowen! Hey!" He shook her, trying to break her concentration. "She's down! She can't hurt you anymore."
Elowen broke eye contact and began to hyperventilate. Stefan tried to pull her into a comforting hug, but she pushed him away.
"No. I need to leave." She started to make her way towards the door when Stefan grabbed her arm.
"Elo-"
"No!" She turned and ripped his hand off of her. "I just hurt one of my friends! I don't care if it was self defense. I hurt her. I need to clear my head, alright?"
This time, Stefan didn't stop her.
Elowen was laying down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling when Josiah came home from school. He rushed over when he realized she was back.
"How's Vicki?" He asked quickly.
"Coping," she replied monotonously.
Josiah kicked her legs off of the cushion so he could sit next to her. He could tell something was up. "Caroline asked me to the Halloween dance later tonight, but I can call her and cancel if you want. We can have a movie night, like we used to."
"No, it's okay," Elowen declined. "You should go have fun with Care."
"Why don't you come with?" Josiah suggested without missing a beat.
Elowen rolled her eyes. "I don't even have a costume."
"Weeeeeeell, not exactly."
Elowen narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. "Spill."
"Caroline put together costumes for her, Bonnie, me and you, in case you were coming," he elaborated. "We're all going as, uh, witches."
"You're kidding," she deadpanned.
"No. Caroline thought it would've been a funny joke thanks to Bonnie. According to her, 'we're one, big coven!'. C'mon, it'll be fun."
"Okay. I guess," she sighed as she gave in. "One night of normal, high school shenanigans should be good for me, anyway."
"That's the spirit."
Later on in the evening, Caroline stopped by with the costumes.
"Where were you at school today?" She asked when she saw Elowen still lounging on the couch.
"Was out looking for Vicki," she lied.
"Oh. I heard she called Matt this morning saying she was okay. Anyway, let's get to work!"
The two were in Elowen's room now, getting ready for the Halloween carnival. Caroline spotted the amethyst amulet sitting on the nightstand and went over to grab it.
"That's so weird. Bonnie has one really similar to this."
"Uh, wow. What a coincidence." Elowen managed to sound nonchalant and gave herself a pat on the back in her head. Caroline didn't need to know that her necklace was the sister to Bonnie's.
"I told her it would match her costume perfectly, so you should wear yours, too." She said it as more of a suggestion, but knowing Caroline, saying no wasn't an option. "You two could be all matchy-matchy that way."
Caroline came over with the amulet in her hand and lifted it up. Elowen turned on command and allowed her to put it on. She could feel the magic in the amulet before it even touched her skin. It almost felt like it was humming, pulsing the boost of power through her body.
"See? It totally completes your costume. Now, I'm gonna go see if Josiah is ready."
Caroline left the room and Elowen to her thoughts. She leaned forward to inspect the amulet in the mirror. Truth be told, she had been scared to wear it anymore. She knew it was a family heirloom of sorts, knew it had belonged to Esperanza and knew it would help boost her magic, but she was afraid it would attract the wrong people. Tonight, however, she hoped it wouldn't cause any problems.
One night of normal, high school shenanigans.