"There you are!" Jenna found me circulating a stand advertised working with photography in one of the high school's familiar hallways. Her eyes flew between the stand's sign and me, before she shrugged and led me away. Good old Jenna, always knew when to keep her mouth shut, unlike Elena… But I was here to try and make amends with her, be the bigger person and all that shit. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I heard rumors of free food," I informed, just as we passed a locker I remembered pressing a guy up against for a make out session to earn points for a contest that the school had arranged for the different courses. Back then, I'd sacrificed all to win the thing. Now, I couldn't remember how the competition had turned out.

"Oh no!" Jenna grunted from my side, and turned us around in one rapid motion. Although her effort wasn't fast enough to prevent me from getting a glimpse of a grinning reporter with the receding hairline, dressed casually and busying himself with chatting up some students with a charming smile on his face.

"What is he doing here?" I wheezed through clenched teeth.

"I don't wanna stick around to find out!" Jenna answered in an equally strained tone, increasing our speed.

As we passed a classroom I vaguely remembered having had French in, I caught sight of Elena and Stefan, and although it killed me, I dragged Jenna back to it. I didn't want to see my sister, but this time Jenna's ex-boyfriend problem was a bigger priority than my stubbornness.

"Hide me," Jenna quickly told Elena, barricading herself between the two of us, peering over my shoulder back towards the corridor. My sister simply gave me a confused look, even she realizing that a temporary truce was necessary. Or maybe she didn't want to seem like a crazy bitch in front of her boyfriend; oh, I mean ex-boyfriend.

"The Scumbag is present," I answered for Jenna, who was clearly still being paranoid, thinking he would burst in through the door behind me at any second.

"Logan's here?" Elena sighed and her whole being suddenly radiated compassion and a shared understanding for idiotic men. I gave Stefan a suspicious look. His mood had abruptly changed to worry.

"Wait, Logan Fell?"

"The one and only!" I confirmed. Jenna made a gagging noise. "Get it together woman!" I urged my aunt and elbowed her lightly, as Stefan out of nowhere decided to run out of the room, a perplexed Elena following closely behind. When I tried to drag Jenna along with me to follow them, she refused to go and shook her head violently.

"Hell no!"

"It's the only way out. Or do you wanna be stuck in here if he enters?" I pulled with a little more force, and this time she reluctantly followed.

"Jenna!" Logan called out the second my aunt sat her foot in the corridor. She gave me a murdering look. Oops! "Are you dodging me?"

"It's a form of self-preservation," she told him coldly. Logan just kept staring at her, he seemed…off. His cold stare turned to me for a moment.

"Parka, I heard you were back in town. Shame it took so long to run into you." I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him; the least bad thing I could think of doing to him, by the way. I really hated that bloody nickname.

"And I heard you left. But sadly, that doesn't seem to be true anymore." I folded my arms over my chest and refused to break our eye contact.

"Always so charming," he muttered. I narrowed my eyes.

"Um, Elena, why don't you guys go somewhere else?" Stefan suggested cautiously. Logan moved his stare to Jenna, or more correctly, to her neck, which gave me a chance to see Stefan exchange a look of a bigger meaning with Elena.

"Let's go," she quickly spoke and grabbed Jenna's arm, pulling her away.

"Gladly," I huffed and moved to follow them, making sure I bumped into Logan's arm on my way past him. Hard.

He furiously swung around to grab my arm in an iron grip, inhumanly strong, and I saw the familiar veins play under his eyes. Quickly I gathered myself from the shock, but Stefan had already taken a step towards us. Always so protective, that one.

"Careful, Logie. You wouldn't wanna blow your cover, now would you?" I raised a teasing eyebrow. He grunted. Ripping my arm free from his grip with one quick and harsh motion, I stepped closer to hiss into his face: "Jenna's off limits, vamp."

"And who's gonna stop me?" Logan asked, confidently. Too confident, for my liking. Stefan cleared his throat, reminding us of his presence.

"I could take you down right here and now without his help," I fumed, releasing what prowled beneath my guarded surface, whilst nodding my head towards Stefan. Logan's eyes turned red by the threat, the veins growing larger.

"Parker," Stefan warned. He had to say my name twice before I took a reluctant step back, letting him take care of the scum. Afterall, Stefan would probably be better at not causing a scene whilst taking down Logan than I ever would. Discretion had never been my middle name at this school.

As I backed away into the crowd of students, I resisted the urge to give Scumfell the finger. He seemed inclined to be feeling the same urge.

All too quickly, I found Jenna and Elena standing in the middle of the next hallway, and managed to catch the last bit of their conversation.

"Listen to me very carefully. Do not, under any circumstances, talk to him again. I'm serious, Jenna. Like, ever!" Elena urged our strawberry blonde – and at the moment very much bewildered – aunt. In that moment, the new history teacher happened to slip by with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants.

"Hey, Elena. Jenna." He turned to greet in turn, granting my aunt the most of his attention. "Parker, nice to see you again," he said politely.

"Alaric." I nodded, casting Jenna a look, but she was too occupied with thoughts of Logan to notice it.

"Hi, Mr. Saltzman," Elena greeted, mannerly. When Jenna finally turned, distracted from her thoughts of exes, a smile instantly settled on her face as she began a flirty conversation with the teacher.

"Excuse us," I spoke up and grabbed Elena's arm, pulling her with me while she stood for the courteous smile. As we turned a corner into the next corridor, her smiled dropped, along with the tone of her voice.

"I think Logan's a–"

"Vampire," I finished for her as I continued dragging her towards the exit, on the lookout for either Stefan's familiar high hair or Logan's cold smirk.

"Wait. How did you know?"

"I may or may not have pissed him off enough to nearly make him want to eat me," I spoke carefully.

"What?" Elena let out. She quickly went on to sigh. "Why am I not surprised…"

I stopped and turned to face my sister. "If you're still pissed–" I began

"I'm talking to you, aren't I?" She crossed her arms and shot her hip out.

"And I'm so flattered by it, your majesty." Scoffing, I made a faint, mockery bow.

"You're unbelievable!" Elena snorted and threw her arms out in an exaggerated gesture. Cheez! Drama queen much? "Even when there's real danger, you just can't help yourself!"

"Well, excuse me then!" I shot back at her. "I'll just leave you and your boyfriend to take care of the murderous vampire all by yourself. Cause you clearly can't stand a third party helping!"

"I could if it weren't so darn stubborn with its decisions!" Elena snapped from between gnashing her teeth.

"Drop my damn job choice! We have bigger problems," I took a step closer and hissed at her.

"You're the one who brought it up!" Elena shot back. It was then that I realized we were still standing in the middle of a crowded hallway, and people were beginning to throw weird looks our way.

Once again, I grabbed Elena roughly and pulled her away with me. Soon, I found a door leading outside and pushed it open with my hip, hauling her out towards the parking lot behind the school.

"Bitch!" We were down to name calling now, I was really beginning to lose it.

"Oh, mature!" Elena's gaze stopped at something behind me, and I turned around to see Stefan on the phone by a railing that separated us from the rows of cars. Elena suddenly became very quiet.

"Afraid to speak up now that broody lover boy can hear you?" I snapped. She answered with a warning look, before leaving me by the door to approach Stefan. What was he doing out here anyway? He was suppose to take care of Logan, he couldn't have done that already.

I threw a look at the door, then one at Stefan and Elena now busy talking, before I ducked inside the school again.

It wasn't hard to find Logan. Even as a vampire, he didn't notice me shadowing him through the halls. He mostly talked to his 'admirers', or whatever you'd like to call them. Otherwise, nothing vengeful, violent or out of the ordinary.

Except for when he approached Sheriff Forbes, standing in front of the stand for broadcast journalism. By the looks of it, he meant to threaten her. If I were to guess, she probably knew about both his death, and had probably had a hand in covering it up, because she was clearly surprised to see him again; grabbed her gun in its holster and all. She had good reasons too, considering Logan's angry and crazy eyes when he whispered something in her ear. Whatever he said couldn't have been good, given Liz's terrified look following Logan as he left, and the fact that she instantly grabbed her phone to call for backup.

"Get a backup team to the school immediately. Keep it within the circle. It's a V5," I caught her speaking quickly and collected as she walked past my hiding place. Casually leaning against the wall, observing the medical stand opposite from me, I easily reached to slip out her gun from its holster as she hurried away, too shaken up to notice.

Quickly, I tucked the weapon into the back of my jeans, smoothing down my brown leather jacket to make sure it covered the gun's shape nicely, which would have been obvious with only my white, V-necked t-shirt on. Lucky me that it was cold enough to wear a jacket inside this damn high school building.

Even though I had many opportunities to take Logan out, I had to get him away from the crowd to not draw too much attention to myself. His clear target? Revenge against the Sheriff. Now, what better way was there to achieve that than by kidnaping her daughter?

My predicted theory turned out to be correct.

Shadowing him outside, I damn near lost him, hadn't Logan stopped his car to chat up Caroline, probably offering her a ride. As he was too busy watching her get in to notice, I slipped a small, round, black object out of my pocket and as I passed behind the vehicle I pressed it onto the back rear end of his car.

Swiftly, I kept on walking and moved to stand and lean against an outer wall of the school building. From my spot, half-hidden in the shadows, I saw how Logan slammed Caroline's head against the car window, knocking her unconscious, before he drove away with her. A small part of me scowled at the sight, but I knew there was a bigger picture to see.

My previous line of work had required me to be able to make tough decision and know what type of situations a sacrifice was needed or not. To always remain level-headed in the face of danger. And this was no different from that.

But that wasn't the only thing I'd brought with me from my former job, either. I'd also returned home with a few nifty tricks up my sleeve, like the GPS-app I now opened on my phone. The tracking device that I'd placed on Logan's car was moving away from my location. By the looks of how quickly the little red dot that was him moved across the screen, Logan probably didn't pay any attention to the signs informing of the speed-limit; yet another hit for the Sheriff.

Now, all I had to do was find Elena fast and get her car keys. Something I wish I'd thought of a little earlier. Either way, I really needed to get my own car soon.

Thankfully, it wasn't as hard to find my sister as I'd originally thought; she was stressfully hurrying through the halls, Stefan close to her back, as a protecting shield. I would never be able to stand that.

"There you are!" Elena exclaimed as she spotted me. "You can't just disappear like that, not now with Logan–"

"I found him," I cut her off with. Elena didn't look pleased at my interruption of her lecture, but Stefan spoke up before she could express it. However, she probably wouldn't have said anything with him by her side. I got the feeling she didn't feel like advertising her slightly bitchy attitude, which I was so very familiar with by now, in front of Stefan.

"Where?"

"He drove away." I sighed and added, a little reluctantly, knowing the reaction I would soon get: "...with Caroline." I squinted my eyes to blur Elena's furiously worried face. She turned her shocked gaze to desperately look at Stefan.

"Stay here," he ordered. Elena didn't protest, but I did.

"Hell no!" I grabbed Stefan's arm and pulled him back. "You have no idea where he is, but I do." I held up my phone and showed him the little moving dot that was Logan's car, speeding over the digital map of Mystic Falls.

"Did you GPS-track his car? How?" Elena asked, her brows furrowed in confusion. I ignored her question as Stefan made a move to walk away again.

"Hey!" This time, he didn't let me pull him back and simply continued walking, almost dragging me behind him as I refused to release his arm. I heard Elena's footsteps following closely behind us as we turned a corner into a dark and empty hallway. "You had your chance to take Logan down in the hallway before, now it's my turn!" Stefan finally stopped, causing Elena to bump into my back. Or so I thought, until whoever had bumped into me turned me around with a terrible speed, pinning me against a wall.

"And how exactly were you planning on doing that?" Damon asked with his forearm pressing on my upper chest, keeping me in place against the white, bricked wall.

"What are you doing?" Elena yelled. Glad to know my sister still cared for my well-being.

"Damon…" Stefan warned. The dark-haired vampire only threw the couple a glance before refocusing on me.

"With this?" he asked and slipped his hand behind my back, pulling the gun out and dangling it in front of my eyes, as well as my stunned sister.

"Parker!" Elena exclaimed, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping in shock. Damon smirked down at me. He wasn't that much taller when I had my high-heeled boots on, but the height difference was still noticeable; my forehead reaching just above his nose.

"No…" I said, my voice muffled. "With this." I pressed the barrel of Damon's gun, swiped from his own waistband only a moment ago, filled with wooden bullets against his stomach. We began a stare off. He cocked one eyebrow up, clearly believing I wouldn't pull the trigger. Oh was he wrong. My narrowed stare probably gave that away, since he slowly began removing his arm.

It was just for a second, and I might have imagined it, but he almost looked impressed. That I had pickpocketed the gun from him, without him even noticing? Or that I had placed a tracker on Logan's car? It could have been either, since Damon turned to Stefan to ask where the sleazebag. Stefan avoided his gaze and nodded towards me. I pulled out my phone without letting my eyes ever leave Damon, the gun in my hand still pointed at his chest.

"He's on his way out of town," I spoke coldly, my stare fixated on Damon. A thick silence landed over us, and it was broken by the last person expected.

"This is a waste of time," Elena burst out. "Caroline is with him! Who knows what he'll do to her!"

"We can't have blondie being hurt." Damon spoke, still staring at me. "Now can we?" I repressed the urge to pull the trigger. Of course he was referring to how I'd threatened him to stay away from her. Words I should've known would come back to haunt me.

"Parker, just let them save her," Elena pleaded, as Damon's gaze challenged me. The gunshot would echo through the school, and the backup Liz had called for earlier would probably come running.

Slowly, I lowered the gun. With my jaw clenched tight, I looked at Elena, before grudgingly handing the weapon back to Damon.

"Tid for tad." He smirked and gave me back Liz's stolen weapon. When I took it, he grabbed my hand to look at my phone one last time.

"Elm Street," Damon told Stefan over his shoulder. He held onto my hand a little longer, something unreadable in his eyes, before both of the Salvatore brothers disappeared in a flash.

"Thank you," Elena spoke up. For not saving her friend? For not even being allowed to have a part in it? I actually wanted an apology more. But maybe I was the one who should be handing those out tonight. After all, that was the original idea behind going here to begin with. Although I didn't feel like it anymore.

I grunted as a response, turning to leave, but my sister grabbing my arm prevented me from doing so.

"You do realize that the questions are piling up for you by the minute?" Elena spoke, lowly. "Like how you even had a tracking device. I've only ever heard of those in movies or books. And how you know how to handle a gun. Do I even want to know? Parker, what did you do while you were gone?" Elena's voice was soft, but not even her gentle and concerned approach would make me spill this secret. At least not right now, in the middle of a hallway at the high school. I turned my head slightly, not daring to look my sister in the eye, settling for her shoes instead.

"Stefan seems just like your type of guy," I muttered. "You should just tell him how you feel, instead of waltzing around like a lovesick puppy." My bitter tone probably ruined that a bit. Nevertheless. "He clearly feels the same. So just stop focusing that being together is dangerous or 'wrong' or whatever." Cliche vampire story much? "A helpful tip for you there." Elena's grip around my arm loosened at my words, giving me the perfect chance to quickly escape, leaving her stunned in the dark hallway.

After reassuring myself that Jenna was fine – the history teacher was no longer chatting her up, but at least Logan hadn't gotten to her before he snatched Caroline – I went home.

Just as I threw myself down on my couch, face first, my phone began buzzing. Grunting into the couch's cushion, I pulled it out, rolled over and laid on my back, before checking the display. With a frown, I slid the little green icon of a phone across the screen.

"Elena?"

"Parks!" she half-screamed, half-whispered on the other end. "You need to pick me up!" I sighed, bringing my hand to my forehead to massage it.

"Why?" Hadn't we had enough of each other for one night? Time to recharge some batteries before our next encounter.

"I found a picture." Elena's breathing was quick and shallow. "I look exactly like her, Parks!" I stopped my massaging. Attention piqued.

"Like who?"

"Katherine!" Elena wheezed. Panic wasn't far away for her, but there was enough anger in her voice for me not to worry too much.

"Where are you?" I asked and rose up, moving to grab my good old, dark brown, leather jacket from the coat hanger by the front door.

"At the Salvatore boarding house." She paused. "I… I took your advice." I stopped dead and let my mouth drop open.

"You did it, didn't you?"

"Yes…" my sister said, a little reluctantly. "But then I found the picture of Katherine."

"Afterwards? Ouch!"

"My car's got a flat tire," Elena spoke, pretending she hadn't heard my comment. A sound that suggested Elena had just kicked her car's said flat tire erupted from the other end. "I'm stuck here." She was near desperation, no doubt about it.

"You ran out on him while he wasn't in the room, didn't you?" I hurried down the stairway, but slowed my steps as I went past my landlord's apartment, speeding them up again once I'd passed. Elena responded with some muffled words. "That's my sister! I'm so proud of you!"

"Can you just hurry over here?" Elena begged, utterly defeated. "I don't know what I'll do once he notices that I'm gone and starts looking for me." Kindly, I chose to not point out to her that since Stefan was a vampire he would probably notice and find her before I even got there, no matter how fast I was. However, that didn't have to mean I wouldn't at least try to get there before that happened.

"Don't worry, I'll be right there," I told my sister calmly as I stepped out onto the street and began walking along it. "Hang in there." I pressed the call away and allowed my gaze to roam over my surroundings, spying for a car. Since that was the only problem: I didn't have one. However, the possibilities were endless when you knew how to hot-wire one.

A dark blue volkswagen golf caught my eye, and became the winner. It had one of those nice, old locks that you needed a key for, which meant that I could pick the lock; much better than having to break a window to get in.

Pulling out a hairpin from the pocket of my jacket, I squatted down to stick it into the keyhole, whirling the small pin around a bit to try to feel the locking pattern of the key. There was no exact science to it, more like pure luck and some skill; both something I had. The lock clicked and I opened the door, silently hoping that there was no hidden alarm that would be set off. I was in luck.

Ten minutes later, I was on the road on my way to my sister's rescue. Truth be told, I actually felt a little flattered that it was me, her bitchy older sister, that Elena had called when she was in trouble. And even whilst we were fighting! It made the gesture even more sweet.

My phone buzzed, letting me know that it had received a text. I fished it out of my back pocket and looked down at it for just a second, and all I managed to see was Elena's name before I looked up at the road again, facing the sight of a figure suddenly standing in the middle of the road.

There was no time to hit the brakes. All I could do was try to avoid running over the man. I jerked the wheel drastically to the right, a little too forcefully it seemed, as the car veered and even began rolling.

Whilst spinning, I lost count on how many turns it did before it finally stopped, upside down. Of course. My head was pounding, and I could already feel a stinging pain from the small cuts the broken glass from the car's windows must have caused. When I coughed, my lungs felt beaten, which matched the rest of my body's bruised state perfectly. However, after a quick check of the feel of my body, I came to the conclusion that I'd managed to avoid any serious injuries.

A movement outside of the car seized my attention, and when I turned my head to the right I saw how the figure I had hit slowly began to crack its bones back in place. When it was done, it got to its feet as if nothing had happened. And began walking towards me.

I should have hit it head on.